Title: Imagery usage in non-profit advertisements: a case for millennial consumers

Authors: J.C. Blewitt; Kyle Mckiernan

Addresses: King's College, McGowan School of Business, 133 N. River St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711, USA ' WebFX, 1705 N. Front St., Harrisburg, PA 17102, USA

Abstract: This article investigates imagery preference for millennial consumers in the context of non-profit advertisements. We propose that the millennial generation has a tendency to be a more promotion-focused group and thus, prefers positive ad-imagery to negative ad-imagery. Terror management theory and regulatory focus theory guide the hypothesis development in this research. A study of 140 millennial consumers supports the central premise of the paper that millennials prefer positive ad-imagery and respond more favourably to ads that elicit feelings of positivity over fear. These results suggest that non-profit firms seeking donations should consider using strategies that incorporate positive ad-imagery when targeting millennial consumers, who will make up a large majority of their donors in the coming decades.

Keywords: non-profit advertising; millennial generation; regulatory focus; promotion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEI.2021.119295

International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2021 Vol.6 No.1, pp.72 - 81

Received: 21 Jul 2021
Accepted: 15 Aug 2021
Published online: 30 Nov 2021 *

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