Elaboration Likelihood Model and Visual Marketing Communications

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 1,3, University of Frankfurt (Main), language: English, abstract: Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model this thesis aims at consolidating diverse research approaches to give an extensive outline of the various ways how visual elements - especially images - can influence a person's attitude towards the issue of a marketing communication. They can be persuasive arguments communicating relevant information, serve as peripheral cues that cause affective responses, or influence the amount or direction of the cognitive processing of other elements in the marketing communication they are used in. As a major part of marketing communications, visual elements have received extensive attention in marketing research. Many studies were conducted concerning their attitudinal impact on viewers, yet the majority only focuses on a limited range of their possible functions. Some concentrate on their ability to communicate product information, while others examine their ability to attract the viewer s attention to other message components that yield relevant information. Depending on its respective role in a persuasion process, a visual element can influence attitudes in various manners, and the resulting attitudes also differ in their persistence and behavioral impact. Therefore, it is crucial for marketing managers to understand the situational (e.g. distraction) and personal factors (e.g. need for cognition) as well as the properties of a visual element (e.g. issue-relevance) that cause it to assume one of these three roles on one occasion while assuming another in response to the next exposure.