Heading the Right Way? The Influence of Motion Direction in Advertising on Brand Trust

摘要

Integrating research on visual marketing, spatial associations, and brand inferences, the authors conduct four studies demonstrating that when consumers see an ad featuring an object moving in a left-to-right, rather than a right-to-left, direction, their trust toward the featured brand increases. This effect is mediated by an enhanced sense of "feeling right" resulting from the fit between how Western consumers are accustomed to envisioning action and information unfolding (from left to right), and the direction of implied motion in the ad. The authors identify stereotypical gender associations of the brand as a theoretically relevant moderator, such that the favorable influence of a left-to-right motion direction on brand trust is enhanced when the advertised product is strongly (versus weakly) associated with masculine characteristics.