The Impact Of Involvement And Cognitive Needs On The Effectiveness Of Humorous Appeal Microblogging Advertising

Micro-blog is an indispensable part of advertiser in the we media era. Though humorous appeals had an important position in the field of advertising and it had been widely used, less research focused on the applicability of humorous appeals. Involvement is the relationship between consumer and the goods, and need for cognition is the tendency of individuals participate in and enjoy thinking. According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, involvement and need for cognition could influence the choice of the route of the information processing because of the influence of the elaboration likelihood. In order to research the applicability of humorous appeals micro-blog advertising, two empirical studies were designed. Two empirical studies used eye movement and subjective assessment(advertising attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention) as dependent variable to combine subjective and objective indicators together. In the first study, we used involvement and humorous appeals as the independent variable, and we used a 2×2 within-subject design to research the effects of different involvement on the humorous appeals micro-blog advertising; In the second study, we used involvement and humorous appeals as the independent variable, and we used a 2×2 mixed design to research the effects of need for cognition on the humorous appeals micro-blog advertising. The conclusions were as follows:1. Humorous appeals had an important influence on the effects of micro-blog advertising. When the micro-blog advertising used humorous appeals, audience would process information more deep and comprehensive, and would have more positive advertising attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention.2. Involvement would influence the depth of the information processing, but would not influence the quantity of the information obtained or the subjective assessment, such as advertising attitude, brand attitude or purchase intention.3. Need for cognition would influence the depth of the information processing and the quantity of the information obtained, but would not influence the subjective assessment, such as advertising attitude, brand attitude or purchase intention.4. The influence of the humorous appeals on low involvement products’ advertising attitude and brand attitude was more significant than high involvement products.5. Only when audience had low need for cognition, would humorous appeals micro-blog advertising be more effective.