Onderzoeksartikel

Toeristische reclame: herinneringseffecten van emotionele folderteksten

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Abstract

In tour brochures emotional information is often used to draw the attention of the target group, to intensify their interest, and to communicate the essence of the marketing message. But does emotional information also affect the recall of the message? To examine this question four types of holiday brochures are developed. The brochures describe vacation situations and are identical in outline, except for the type of verbal information (emotional texts vs. non-emotional texts) and picture size (large vs. small). The central research question in this paper is whether emotional texts and picture size have a positive effect on the subjects’ recall of the brochure. To test this recall effect, 200 brochures of each type were distributed to the target group of The Netherlands Board for Tourism. The target group consisted of households in better neighbourhoods (primarily houses with gardens). Two weeks after the distribution 65 respondents from each brochure group were interviewed. It turned out that emotional texts and picture size did not affect the extent to which people remembered the delivered brochure. On the other hand, it was found that the brochures with emotional texts were significantly more frequently recalled in detail than the brochures with non-emotional scripts. This interesting effect was not influenced by personal characteristics of the subjects (such as age, attitude toward direct mail, and vacation experience). In contrast, information about feelings of pleasure, relaxation, excitement and fun probably meets the consumers’ hedonistic leisure needs, so that this kind of emotional information is better integrated and retained in our memory.

How to Cite:

Goossens, C. & Poortema, K., (1994) “Toeristische reclame: herinneringseffecten van emotionele folderteksten”, Massacommunicatie : Wetenschappelijk Kwartaaltijdschrift voor Communicatie en Informatie 22(3), 168–185.