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How the Eyes Connect to the Heart:
The Influence of Eye Gaze Direction on
Advertising Effectiveness
RITA NGOC TO
VANESSA M. PATRICK
A model’s eyes are a powerful and ubiquitous visual feature in virtually any adver-
tisement depicting a person. But does where the ad model’s eyes look matter?
Integrating insights from social psychology and performance and visual art theory,
we demonstrate that when the ad model’s gaze is averted (looking away from the
viewer), the viewer is more readily transported into the ad narrative and responds
more favorably to the ad than when the ad model’s gaze is direct (looking directly
at the viewer). Five multi-method experiments (field and lab studies) illustrate that
averted gaze (direct gaze) enhances narrative transportation (spokesperson cred-
ibility) to boost the effectiveness of emotional (informative) ads. Study 1 is a
Facebook field study that demonstrates the effect of averted (vs. direct) gaze di-
rection on advertising effectiveness using a real brand. Studies 2a and 2b impli-
cate enhanced narrative transportation as the underlying process mechanism by
measuring (study 2a) and manipulating (study 2b) narrative transportation.
Studies 3a and 3b examine ad contexts in which direct gaze can enhance ad ef-
fectiveness: when the ad has informational (vs. emotional) appeal (study 3a), and
when the viewer prefers not to identify with the negative emotional content of the
ad (study 3b).
Keywords: eye gaze, advertising effectiveness, emotional (informative) ad
appeals, narrative transportation
“By not looking us in the eye, the model allows us to enter
the photo and imagine ourselves in her place: transformed
into stars, living a life of excitement and acclaim....”
—Virginia Postrell,
in The Power of Glamour (5)
In every advertisement featuring a model, the ad model
is portrayed with eyes looking either directly at you or
away from you—the viewer. Consider the actress Charlize
Theron, the model featured in Dior’s J’adore perfume
advertisements: Does where Charlize Theron’s eyes look
matter? Is her gaze direction an arbitrary choice made by
an art director simply for esthetic purposes, or can her gaze
direction be used strategically to transport the viewer into
the ad and influence how the viewer feels toward the Dior
brand?
Gaze direction has been categorized in the literature as
either direct gaze (when the eyes look directly at the
Rita Ngoc To (nmto@bauer.uh.edu) is a doctoral student in the mar-
keting department at the Bauer College of Business, 334 Melcher Hall,
University of Houston, TX, USA. Vanessa M. Patrick
(vpatrick@bauer.uh.edu) is a Bauer Professor of Marketing at the Bauer
College of Business, 334 Melcher Hall, University of Houston, TX, USA.
Both authors contributed equally to this work. The authors would like to
thank Maria Ng, Debbie MacInnis, Laura Peracchio, and Melanie Rudd
for their valuable suggestions on an earlier draft of this article. The authors
sincerely thank seminar participants at Duke University, University of
Kentucky, Grenoble Ecole de Management, and the University of
Houston, as well as the review team at JCR, for their valuable feedback
and suggestions. Please address correspondence to Rita Ngoc To and
Vanessa M. Patrick. Supplementary materials are included in the web ap-
pendix accompanying the online version of this article.
Editor Margaret C. Campbell
Associate Editor JoAndrea Hoegg
Advance Access publication February 22, 2021
V
CThe Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Consumer Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Vol. 48 2021
DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucaa063
123
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viewer) or averted gaze ( when the eyes look away from
the viewer; Hutton and Nolte 2011;Kleinke 1986). A dom-
inant finding in social psychology research is that direct
gaze is preferred to averted gaze in social interactions be-
cause direct gaze signals positive traits like trust, compe-
tence, and openness (Argyle and Cook 1976;Macrae et al.
2002;Mason, Tatkow, and Macrae 2005). However, an
analysis of two advertising databases (details reported later
in the article) finds that the majority of print ads featured
ad models with averted gaze more frequently than those
with direct gaze. In one dataset that had 783 ads featuring
model(s), 48% of the ads depicted models with averted
gaze, 32.6% depicted models with direct gaze and 19.4%
depicted both or non-visible gaze.
The goal of the current research is to understand when
and why averted (vs. direct) gaze is effective in advertising
by addressing the following research questions: (1) Can
averted (vs. direct) gaze enhance ad effectiveness? (2) If
so, why? and (3) For what types of ads should averted (vs.
direct) gaze be used to boost ad effectiveness?
Advertisements often depict people engaging in ordinary
everyday activities that the target audience can identify
with and visualize themselves doing (Deighton, Romer,
and McQueen 1989;McFerran et al. 2010). This type of
imagery-based processing (MacInnis and Price 1987), re-
ferred to as narrative transportation, helps consumers relate
to the ad storyline and transports them into a fictitious
world created by the ad narrative (Escalas 2007;Green and
Brock 2000). Prior research has demonstrated that narra-
tive transportation is facilitated by cognitive factors (e.g.,
strong message arguments; Escalas 2007) and consumer
motivations (e.g., feeling lucky; McFerran et al. 2010)to
enhance ad evaluations.
A great deal of research has examined how specific vi-
sual elements (e.g., product orientation and placements, vi-
sual metaphors) influence ad effectiveness (Chae, Li, and
Zhu 2013;McQuarrie and Mick 1999;Peracchio and
Meyers-Levy 2005; see web appendix A). However, con-
siderably less attention has been paid to particular visual
aspects of an ad model featured in the ad. What we do
know from prior research about the influence of advertis-
ing models is that the physical characteristics of ad models
matter (e.g., physical attractiveness and facial features;
Baker and Churchill 1977), as do the social signals they
convey (e.g., celebrity status and credibility Kahle and
Homer 1985;Kirmani and Shiv 1998). What we do not yet
know, and thus seek to investigate in this research, lies at
the intersection of the visual elements and the narrative
transportation literatures: What role does eye gaze direc-
tion play in facilitating narrative transportation to enhance
advertising effectiveness?
Drawing on insights from visual and performing arts the-
ory, we introduce the divergent contexts surrounding gaze
direction and present our conceptual framework for the
role of gaze in non-personal communications (e.g.,
advertisements). Relying on the theatrical concept of the
fourth wall—the conceptual boundary between actors and
audience—we hypothesize that the averted gaze (vs. direct
gaze) of a featured ad model can facilitate greater narrative
transportation and thus enhance advertising effectiveness.
We demonstrate a moderating role of ad appeal on the rela-
tionship between gaze direction and ad effectiveness. For
ads in which the viewer relating to the person depicted is
important (e.g., for emotional ads that highlight the he-
donic nature of the advertised product), the narrative trans-
portation afforded by averted gaze increases ad
effectiveness. In contrast, for ads in which the “otherness”
of the person depicted is important to convey objectivity
and spokesperson credibility (e.g., for informative ads that
highlight utilitarian product features, ads with harsh or neg-
ative content), direct gaze is more likely to be effective.
The remainder of the article is structured as follows. We
first introduce the conceptual definitions of eye gaze and
gaze direction, provide a brief review of key findings re-
garding gaze direction from the social psychology litera-
tures, and then present our conceptual model and
hypotheses. We present seven studies to test these hypothe-
ses—five in the main article and two supplementary stud-
ies in the web appendix. We conclude with a discussion of
the rich theoretical and practical implications of our find-
ings and directions for future research.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Gaze Direction: A Social or Visual Cue?
The influence of gaze has been examined primarily in
the contexts of interpersonal relationships and social per-
ceptions. In these contexts, eye gaze is defined as “the di-
rection of one’s gaze at another’s eyes” (Kleinke 1986, 78)
and is categorized as direct gaze (i.e., gaze that is directed
at another’s eyes) or averted gaze (i.e., gaze that is shifted
away from another’s eyes). Eye gaze has been shown to
serve different social functions, from seeking non-verbal
information from others to conveying one’s own attitudes
to others (Argyle et al. 1973). Specifically, people (includ-
ing infants) are more likely to gaze at people and objects
that they like and find attractive (i.e., signaling interper-
sonal attitudes; Langton, Watt, and Bruce 2000), to pay at-
tention to eye-movement during conversations to gauge the
listener’s reactions (i.e., information seeking), and to shift
their gaze to coordinate with the timing of conversational
speech (i.e., synchronizing of speech).
In general, direct gaze functions as an affiliative social
signal (Argyle and Cook 1976) and usually conveys posi-
tive personal traits, such as greater perceptions of honesty
and credibility (Hemsley and Doob 1978), as well as higher
levels of academic and career competence (Brooks,
Church, and Fraser 1986;Forbes and Jackson 1980).
Neuroimaging studies find that direct gaze enhances the
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perception of facial attractiveness by activating the central
rewards systems (Kampe et al. 2001), as well as heightens
the activation of the social brain’s processing components
(e.g., face detection and gender categorization; Senju,
Csibra, and Johnson 2008). A key conclusion that emerges
from this work is that direct gaze enhances the quality of
social interactions and improves interpersonal
communication.
Averted gaze has largely been examined in contrast to
direct gaze and is associated with more negative outcomes
in social interactions. Since averted gaze is conceptualized
as a reduction/decrease of direct gaze in interpersonal com-
munication (Kleinke 1986), averted gaze has been shown
to be a signal of disinterest or avoidance (Adams and
Kleck 2003), an indicator of unfavorable traits such as
untrustworthiness and low self-esteem (Larsen and
Shackelford 1996), and an expression of lower interper-
sonal power (Lochman and Allen 1981). Compared with
direct gaze, averted gaze has an adverse, even deleterious,
effect in interpersonal contexts.
In this research, we shift the context in which eye gaze
direction has been investigated away from face-to-face in-
terpersonal interaction to ask the question: What is the role
of gaze direction in non-personal communications—the
domain of advertising and marketing? In other words,
when an individual’s role switches from being an actor (in
an interpersonal context) to being an observer (in a non-
personal communication context), does the influence of
gaze direction also switch? Although gaze direction has
not been extensively studied in consumer research, some
recent eye-tracking studies revealed that if an ad model is
depicted looking at the advertised product instead of at the
viewer of the ad, the viewer pays greater attention to the
advertised product (Hutton and Nolte 2011) and remem-
bers the ad better (Adil, LaCoste-Badie, and Droulers
2018). While psychologists have established that averted
gaze (vs. direct gaze) can lead to undesirable consequences
in social settings, we propose that averted gaze can pro-
duce more favorable responses in visual contexts. Drawing
on the practice of visual and performing arts that adopts an
observer/spectator perspective, we posit that in visual
advertisements, averted gaze can augment the consumer’s
viewing experience (i.e., consumers feel more transported
into the ad narrative) and enhance consumer ad response.
Gaze and Narrative Transportation
Narrative transportation is defined as the extent to which
an individual is immersed into a visual narrative (adapted
from Green and Brock 2000). Recent consumer research
has demonstrated the favorable influences of narrative
transportation, such as enhancing positive affect (Escalas
2004) and increasing more favorable product attitudes
(Wang and Calder 2006). Further, recent consumer re-
search has also investigated several antecedents that could
lead to narrative transportation, such as mental simulation
(Escalas 2004), type of self-referencing (Escalas 2007),
and consumer motivations (McFerran et al. 2010). We con-
tribute to this line of research by identifying a visual cue—
the ad model’s gaze direction—as a means by which to fa-
cilitate narrative transportation. Specifically, we hypothe-
size that the averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) of an ad model
enhances consumer narrative transportation, which in turn
leads to greater advertising effectiveness (Chang 2009;
Escalas 2004). In what follows, we consider how gaze
might function in non-personal domains such as viewing
an artwork, a theatrical performance, or the focus of this ar-
ticle, an advertisement.
When people watch a movie or a theatrical performance,
they are the audience who “observe” a fictional work being
narrated and performed by the performers (Fischer-Lichte
and Riley 1997). Similarly, when people encounter a work
of art, they become spectators who view and appreciate the
beauty of the adrt with a disinterested lens (Kern 1996;
Ray 2006). In theater parlance, this is the notion of the
“fourth wall”—the conceptual boundary or imaginary wall
that exists between actors on stage and the audience. The
illusion that actors cannot see or hear the audience is inte-
gral to the theater experience because it keeps the audience
engaged and helps them feel part of the narrative (Bentley
1991;Wallis and Shepherd 1998). In the following exposi-
tion, we will use the term “audience” to refer to the view-
ers/spectators of an artwork or theatrical performance.
Gaze has long manifested in the domain of fine art, par-
ticularly in how portrait paintings that feature human par-
ticipants engage with the audience (Kern 1996). When
analyzing historical portrait paintings, art historians have
documented the gaze of the art subject and how such gaze
influences the way the audience engages with the painting
(Simons 1988). Some portraits depict a gaze that directly
meets the viewers’ eyes, while others portray a gaze that is
averted away from the viewers. Compared with direct
gaze, averted gaze is often considered an esthetic feature
that absorbs the viewers in “the act of looking” (Morgan
2005, 4). For instance, Warner Sallman’s portrait of Jesus,
“Head of Christ” (see figure A of appendix A), depicted
the main subject averting his gaze away from the viewers.
Art scholars have suggested that the averted gaze of
Sallman’s Jesus portrait plays an integral role because the
subject’s unreturnable gaze invites the viewers to behold
and contemplate the depicted subject, as well as facilitates
their absorption in the image (Morgan 2005). A similar
analysis of gaze in Renaissance portraiture also reveals
how averted gaze can foster the viewer’s immersion to-
ward the painting (Simons 1988). For example, in Filipino
Lippi’s “Double Portrait of a Man and Woman” (see figure
Bofappendix A), the painting depicts the woman averting
her eyes away from the viewers and gazing elsewhere. Her
averted gaze appears to signal that she is removed from
“worldly distractions” and thus draws in the viewers to
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contemplate her other world that she is set in (Simons
1988). While art scholars have suggested that averted gaze
enhances the engagement between the viewers and the art-
work, direct gaze of an art subject is considered to be a sig-
nal from within the image that the audience is on the
outside of the visual narrative (Aikin 2015;Alpers 1983).
For instance, the direct gaze of little princess in
Velazquez’s Las Meninas painting (see figure C of appen-
dix A) implies to the viewers that they are not part of the
depicted story (Alpers 1983), and thus the viewers may be
more likely to focus on the depicted subject as an artwork
rather than being immersed in a narrative.
Likewise, in theatre, the gaze of a performer plays an
important role in enhancing the realism of fiction to an au-
dience (Bell 2008). When performing a narrative on stage,
performers often avert their gaze away from the audience
in order to create an authentic dramatic world and allow
the audience to be absorbed into the fiction (Gray 1964).
By averting their gaze from the audience, the performers
create the illusion of the aforementioned “fourth wall” as
an effective theatrical device to separate themselves from
the audience (Wallis and Shepherd 1998). This imaginary
wall works to heighten the naturalism of the fiction being
presented on stage by letting the audience engage with the
fictional world as if they were observing real events (Bell
2008) and allowing them to project their own perspective
on the enacted narrative (Fischer-Lichte and Riley 1997).
On the other hand, when performers direct their gaze to-
ward the audience, they speak directly to the audience. As
such, the imaginary fourth wall is momentarily suspended,
and the audience is made aware of their role as spectators
observing the performers’ enactment of fictional events
(Wallis and Shepherd 1998). Thus, it is believed that in a
theatrical performance, the averted gaze (vs. direct gaze)
of performers might influence the degree to which the au-
dience is immersed and engaged in the work presented.
Notably, the above discussion regarding how gaze might
influence a viewer’s immersion in a work of art or in theat-
rical performance via narrative transportation has not been
rigorously tested or empirically validated and thus forms a
key contribution of the current article using advertising as
the context. We draw on this conceptual analysis, to pro-
pose that the averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) of an ad model
leads consumers to feel more immersed and transported
into an advertisement. More formally:
H1: The averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) of an ad model
enhances narrative transportation.
Narrative Transportation and Advertising
Effectiveness
Prior research has established that narrative transporta-
tion positively influences how consumers respond to adver-
tising. Narrative transportation has been shown to produce
greater enjoyment of communication media (e.g., adver-
tisements; Green, Brock, and Kaufman 2004), enhances
brand evaluations (Escalas 2004), and results in more posi-
tive product attitudes (Hamby, Brinberg, and Daniloski
2017). When consumers feel transported into an advertise-
ment, they often attempt to map the incoming ad informa-
tion onto their own experiences (Baumeister and Newman
1994), thus allowing consumers to relate to the ad informa-
tion and mentally simulate how they may use an advertised
product (Escalas 2004;Nielsen, Escalas, and Hoeffler
2018). Given that averted gaze appears to play an impor-
tant role in heightening people’s engagement and immer-
sion with performances and artworks, we hypothesize that
an ad model’s averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) will enhance
narrative transportation, which in turn will enhance adver-
tising effectiveness (Escalas 2004). Formally:
H2a: The averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) of an ad model
enhances advertising effectiveness, and
H2b: Narrative transportation mediates the influence of ad
model’s gaze direction on advertising effectiveness.
In what follows, we present a brief survey of ad profes-
sionals’ intuitions and a content analysis of two ad data-
bases that situates our research in advertising reality. We
then present seven studies (five in the main article and two
supplementary studies) that use different measures of ad-
vertising effectiveness, both self-reported measures (ad
attitudes, purchase intentions) and behavioral actions
(Facebook clicks, actual purchases, and petition
signatures).
SITUATING OUR RESEARCH IN
ADVERTISING REALITY
We ask two questions to situate our study of gaze direc-
tion in existing advertising reality: (1) What intuitions do
ad professionals have regarding gaze direction? and (2)
Are advertisements more likely to depict models with
averted gaze or direct gaze? We answer the first question
using a survey of advertising professionals and the second
question by conducting a content analysis of print advertis-
ing from two advertising databases.
What Are the Intuitions That Ad Professionals
Have regarding Gaze Direction?
In order to examine advertising professionals’ under-
standing about gaze direction (direct vs. averted) of ad
models, we used a Centiment panel to survey 118 advertis-
ing professionals (M
age
¼34.16 years, 52.5% female). We
aimed to obtain professional opinions on (1) the impor-
tance of gaze direction on consumer evaluations of ads,
and (2) intuitions about the use and effectiveness of gaze
direction in ads. The majority (75.4%) of the advertising
professionals surveyed indicated that gaze direction would
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have an important influence on consumer evaluations, but
the majority (66.9%) predicted that direct gaze would be
more effective than averted gaze. Further, when informed
about the thesis of the current work, i.e., averted gaze can
enhance ad effectiveness, the majority (66.1%) found the
finding surprising and unexpected, possibly indicating the
value of the insight. The complete results as well as an
analysis of the open-ended responses can be found in the
web appendix B.
Are Advertisements More Likely to Depict
Models with Averted Gaze or Direct Gaze?
We conducted a content analysis of two databases of
print advertisements: 1461 print advertisements from
2014—April 2019 obtained from AdForum.com—a digital
archive where advertising agencies and production compa-
nies can submit and showcase their work, and 471 print
advertisements from 2009 to 2017 obtained from the data-
base of Clio Awards—a database that includes award-
winning print ads from across the world (analysis of Clio
database is reported in the web appendix F). The
AdForum.com data included print ads from the US only,
ads in both commercial and personal product/service cate-
gories, as well as ads by non-profit, for-profit, and public
service companies. Descriptive statistics of the AdForum
data is included in web appendix C.
Data Analysis of the AdForum Database
Two independent coders coded each ad for the follow-
ing: (1) Does the ad feature a person?—(Yes/No), (2) How
many person(s) were featured in each ad? and (3) What is
the gaze direction of the featured person(s)?—(Not visible/
direct/averted/both direct and averted). “Not visible” refers
to instances wherein the person’s head/eyes were cropped
or deleted from the ad. “Direct and averted” refers to
instances wherein there are more than one featured person
and their gazes differ in directions. Examples of coded
AdForum ads are included in web appendix D. Each coder
coded the ads independently and high interrater reliability
was observed (a>.99). Any disagreements were identified
and resolved by subsequent discussion between the coders.
The results revealed that of the total of 1461 print ads,
783 ads (53.6%) featured at least one or more persons, and
678 ads (46.4%) did not feature people. Of the 783 ads that
featured a person or persons, a significantly higher number
of the ads depicted the model(s) with averted gaze (48.0%;
376 ads) compared with direct gaze (32.6%; 255 ads), both
direct and averted gaze (7%; 55 ads), and non-visible gaze
(12.4%; 97 ads; v
2
(3) ¼1119.80, p<.001; see figure 1).
The ads were also coded for three types of product cate-
gories (1) hedonic (e.g., luxury cars, designer fashion, va-
cation resorts, etc.), (2) utilitarian (e.g., toilet paper,
laptops, electronics, financial services, etc.; Dhar and
Wertenbroch 2000), and (3) other categories that are not
categorized as hedonic or utilitarian (e.g., charitable organ-
izations, education services, and healthcare). Results
showed that of all the coded ads, 37.7% were hedonic,
27.7% were utilitarian, and 34.6% were in other categories.
Of the 783 ads that featured people, 40.2% were hedonic,
23.6% were utilitarian, and 36.1% were in other categories.
Importantly, results also revealed that averted gaze was
dominantly used in hedonic ads (51.1%), utilitarian ads
(49.2%), and ads of other product categories (43.8%; see
figure 2). Detailed statistics for other product categories
and gaze directions of the AdForum database are reported
in web appendix E. We observed the same patterns of
results in our analysis of the aforementioned Clio Database
(reported in web appendix F).
Both ad databases revealed that averted gaze was used
significantly more frequently in ads than other gaze
FIGURE 1
PROPORTIONS OF GAZE IN ADS THAT FEATURED PERSON(S)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
elbisiV-noNdetrevA dna tceriDdetrevAtceriD
Number of Ads
Gaze Direction
Proportions of Gaze in Ads that Featured Person(s)
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directions. Seven studies contrast direct gaze with averted
gaze to empirically demonstrate that averted gaze can en-
hance advertising effectiveness (study 1) and show the me-
diating role of narrative transportation (studies 2a and 2b,
Supplemental Study 1) and the moderating role of ad ap-
peal (studies 3a and 3b, Supplemental Study 2).
STUDY 1: EFFECT OF GAZE DIRECTION
IN FACEBOOK ADS
This study was designed to demonstrate the effect of
averted (vs. direct) gaze on advertising effectiveness for a
real brand in a real-world context. The study was con-
ducted in collaboration with an online fashion retailer.
Two versions of a Facebook ad were created using two
similar images of a model wearing the same product (sun
hat), but either depicted looking at the viewer (direct gaze)
or away (averted gaze). The images were produced and
provided by the online retailer and the ad ran over the
course of eight days (Sunday—Sunday) using Facebook’s
split test function, which allowed us to test the two ver-
sions of the ads (see appendix B for ads, pretest below)
with random non-overlapping groups of audience. Given
the specific nature of the product (sun hat), the ads were
targeted at women aged 18–34 years who are interested in
shopping and fashion. When a Facebook user clicked on
the ad, she was redirected to a Facebook post that contains
the same image of the model wearing the same sun hat. A
user interested in purchasing the featured product could
contact the retailer via the messaging function and place an
order. We obtained two key measures of ad effectiveness
in this study: (1) number of ad clicks generated by each
version of the ad versions over the eight days and (2) the
number of purchase orders placed. The ads were set for
desktop views only and their relevance score was identical
(score ¼9).
Pretest. A pretest with one hundred female participants
(M
age
¼30.37) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk
confirmed that the two ads did not differ on any relevant
dimensions, other than gaze direction. Participants were
told that they would be evaluating an ad image on several
dimensions. Each participant was randomly assigned to
one of the two gaze conditions (direct vs. averted).
Participants were asked to evaluate how realistic the ad
was, the naturalness of the model’s eye gaze, and were
then asked to complete a battery of person impression vari-
ables that could be associated with gaze, including trust-
worthiness, credibility, likeability, openness and
competence (see web appendix G for details). Participants
were then asked to complete a two-item gaze manipulation
check: “Is the model featured looking at you or away from
you?”; “To what extent did you notice the direction of the
model’s gaze?” Crosstabs analysis revealed that all partici-
pants correctly identified the ad model’s gaze direction
according to their assigned condition, and there were no
significant differences in the extent to which the partici-
pants noticed the model’s gaze (M
direct
¼5.73 vs. M
averted
¼5.88, p¼.60). Further, there were no significant differ-
ences between the two gaze conditions for ad realism, gaze
naturalness, and other person impression variables (de-
tailed results are reported in web appendix G). We also in-
cluded these measures of alternative constructs in the rest
of the studies and replicated the same results, which are
reported web appendix G.
FIGURE 2
PROPORTIONS OF GAZE IN PRODUCT CATEGORIES (ADFORUM DATABASE)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Hedonic Utilitarian Other Categories
Number of Ads
Gaze Direction
Proportions of Gaze in Product Categories
Not Visible Direct Averted Direct & Averted
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Facebook Study Results
Number of Ad Clicks. Figure 3 shows the daily distri-
bution of ad clicks over the eight-day period. An overview
of the descriptive statistics of the data is shown in web ap-
pendix G. Given that the number of ad clicks was a count
variable, a Poisson regression analysis ( following protocol
from Crolic and Janiszewski 2016;Kayrouz et al. 2016;
Nenkov, Inman, and Hulland 2008) was conducted to pre-
dict the number of ad clicks over the course of the ad cam-
paign based on the ad version (direct gaze vs. averted
gaze). Results of the analysis revealed that a consumer
who viewed the averted gaze ad was 1.04 times more likely
to click on the ad than a consumer who viewed the direct
gaze ad (Exp (b)¼1.04, b¼.035, v
2
(1) ¼4.085, 95% CI
¼[1.001, 1.071], p¼.043). Results also showed that the
averted gaze ad generated more clicks than the direct gaze
ad (M
averted
¼866.75 vs. M
direct
¼837.25, v
2
¼4.085, p¼
.043).
Number of Purchases. A similar Poisson regression
analysis was conducted to analyze the number of product
purchases over the course of the ad campaign stemming
from each ad version (direct gaze vs. averted gaze).
Results revealed that when a consumer was exposed to the
ad featuring a model with the averted gaze, she was 1.30
times more likely to make a purchase compared with a
consumer exposed to the ad featuring a model with direct
gaze (Exp (b)¼1.30, b¼.262, v
2
(1) ¼3.89, 95% CI ¼
[1.002, 1.687], p¼.049). Results also showed that the
averted gaze ad generated a greater number of purchases
than the direct gaze ad (M
averted
¼16.25 vs. M
direct
¼
12.50, v
2
¼3.89, p¼.049).
Study 1 provides support for our hypothesis that averted
gaze enhances ad effectiveness in a real-world marketing
context. We demonstrated that a Facebook ad featuring a
model with averted gaze (vs. direct gaze) can lead to sig-
nificantly more ad clicks and purchases. The real-world na-
ture of the study necessitated some trade-offs in the
execution of the ad: the model images contained some
slight visual differences (e.g., head position, degree of face
visibility) that could affect product visibility and hence ad
effectiveness. In the experimental studies that follow we
aim to (1) replicate our hypothesized effect with identical
visual stimuli in which only gaze direction is manipulated,
(2) implicate narrative transportation as the underlying
mechanism and explain why averted gaze enhances ad ef-
fectiveness, and (3) rule out attentional differences (time
taken to view the ad) that might potentially explain our
findings.
STUDY 2A: MEDIATING ROLE OF
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
The goal of this study was to demonstrate the effect of
gaze direction on narrative transportation and advertising
effectiveness. We included three versions of the ad: direct
gaze, averted gaze, and a control “no eyes” condition in
which the viewer saw only the bottom part of the model’s
face with the eyes cropped out. The control condition helps
demonstrate that the effect of gaze on narrative transporta-
tion is not simply related to the visibility of the model’s
eyes/pupils, but rather hinges upon whether the gaze direc-
tion is directed at the viewer (direct gaze) or averted away
from the viewer (averted gaze). The rationale for this con-
trol condition was two-fold: (1) it provides a conceptually
grounded baseline for our hypothesized effect, and (2) we
observed this type of “no eyes” format or “non-visible
gaze” in our content analysis.
FIGURE 3
DISTRIBUTION OF NUMBER OF AD CLICKS
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Number of Clicks
Distribution of Number of Facebook Ad Clicks
Direct Gaze Averted Gaze
TO AND PATRICK 129
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Method and Procedure
Two hundred and sixty-five participants from Amazon
Mechanical Turk (44.9% female, M
age
¼36.7) participated
in this experiment in exchange for monetary payment. In
order to exclude bots/non-human participants, participants
were asked to complete visual puzzle captcha prior to their
participation in the study. Five participants were excluded
from participating in the study after failing the captcha. All
265 participants included in this study have completed all
of the study measures and passed attention checks.
This study was conducted under the guise of a watch
company wanting to test different advertisements before
their forecasted release. Participants were told that a new
watch company, Orion, was considering entry into the US
market, and that they were asked to evaluate one of
Orion’s potential advertisements (see appendix C for stim-
uli). Each participant was then randomly assigned to each
of the three gaze conditions (control vs. direct vs. averted)
and viewed the Orion advertisement. There were male and
female versions of the two advertisements, which were
matched with participant’s gender. We matched the adver-
tisements based on participants’ gender instead of random
assignment because (1) the majority of advertisements in
the marketplace typically use models similar to the target
consumer (i.e., female models for female consumers and
male models for male consumers), and (2) to limit any con-
notation of romance or desire that might be associated with
direct gaze (Rubin 1970). We use this gender-matching
protocol in all the experiments reported in the article. To
isolate the effect of gaze, we used a predominantly visual
format for the advertisement (Hirschman 1986).
We assessed participants’ ad attitudes using five seven-
point items (“unfavorable/favorable,” “negative/positive,”
“bad/good,” “unpleasant/pleasant,” “dislike/like”; a¼.96;
adapted from Hagtvedt and Patrick 2008). We then
assessed participants’ narrative transportation when view-
ing the advertisement using eight items (1 ¼“not at all”; 7
¼“very well”; see web appendix H for full measure of nar-
rative transportation) adapted from Green and Brock
(2000). Sample items included: “While thinking about the
ad, I could easily imagine myself using the product”;
“When I was viewing the ad, the activity going on in the
room around me was on my mind”(r); “I could picture my-
self as part of the advertisement.” These items were com-
bined to create a narrative transportation index (a¼.73).
Manipulation Check: Gaze. Participants completed a
two-item manipulation check identical to the pretest in
study 1. Crosstabs analysis of the gaze manipulation check
revealed that 85 out of 86 participants in the averted gaze
condition correctly identified that the model was looking
away from them, and 85 out of 86 participants in the direct
gaze condition correctly identified that the model was
looking at them. All participants in the control condition
correctly identified that the model’s gaze was not featured/
shown. There were no significant differences in the extent
to which the participants noticed the model’s gaze (M
control
¼4.83 vs.M
direct
¼5.01 vs. M
averted
¼4.84, p¼.95, ns).
All participants were retained in the analysis.
We recorded the amount of time participants spent look-
ing at the advertisement in seconds to rule out attentional
differences. There were no significant differences in the
amount of time participants spent looking at the ads
(M
control
¼10.94 s, M
direct
¼9.13 s, M
averted
¼11.53 s; p¼
.94, ns). At the end of the study, participants then com-
pleted the demographic measures. There were no differen-
ces across the two gender conditions, so the combined data
on the focal dependent variables is presented.
Results
Narrative Transportation. A one-way ANOVA on the
narrative transportation index (a¼.73) revealed a signifi-
cant effect of gaze direction on narrative transportation
(F(2, 262) ¼10.96, p<.001, g
p
2
¼.077). Contrast analy-
sis showed that participants in the averted gaze condition
(M
averted
¼4.98, SD ¼.86) felt significantly more trans-
ported into the ad than those in the control condition
(M
control
¼4.57, SD ¼.90, p¼.004) and those in the di-
rect gaze condition (M
direct
¼4.31, SD ¼1.09, p<.001),
supporting H1. Additionally, participants in the control
condition also felt more transported into the ad than those
in the direct gaze condition, though this effect is margin-
ally significant (M
control
¼4.57, M
direct
¼4.31, p¼.074).
No gender effects were observed.
Ad Attitudes. A one-way ANOVA on ad attitudes (a¼
.96) also revealed a significant effect of gaze direction on
ad attitudes (F(2, 262) ¼8.13, p<.001, g
p
2
¼.058).
Contrast analysis showed that participants in the averted
gaze condition (M
averted
¼5.43, SD ¼1.34) evaluated that
ad more favorably than those in the control condition
(M
control
¼4.95, SD ¼1.44, p¼.023) and those in the di-
rect gaze condition (M
direct
¼4.57, SD ¼1.39, p¼.001),
supporting H2. Additionally, participants in the control
condition also evaluated the ad more favorably than those
in the direct gaze condition, though this effect is also mar-
ginally significant (M
control
¼4.95, M
direct
¼4.57, p¼
.072). No gender effects were observed.
Mediation Analysis. We tested the mediating role of
narrative transportation on ad attitudes using PROCESS
Model 4 with 5000 bootstrapped resamples (Hayes 2018).
Since gaze is a multi-categorical independent variable, we
used an indicator coding system (averted gaze ¼0, control
gaze ¼1, direct gaze ¼2) and set averted gaze as the ref-
erence group. Two dummy variables were coded for each
of the control gaze condition (X1) and the direct gaze con-
dition (X2). In the X1 analysis, the gaze condition (averted
gaze ¼0 and control ¼1) was the independent variable,
narrative transportation was the mediator, with ad attitudes
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as the dependent variable. The X2 analysis was identical
except the gaze condition (averted gaze ¼0 and direct
gaze ¼1) was the independent variable. Results of the X1
(averted gaze vs. control) analysis revealed a significant
mediating effect of narrative transportation (b¼.20, SE
¼.074, 95% CI ¼[.36, .07]). Results of the X2
(averted gaze vs. direct gaze) analysis also revealed a sig-
nificant mediating effect of narrative transportation (b¼
.32, SE ¼.095, 95% CI ¼[.53, .16]), indicating an
indirect effect of gaze direction on ad attitudes.
Discussion
Study 2a provides evidence for the influence of gaze di-
rection on consumer ad attitudes via narrative transporta-
tion. Specifically, we demonstrate that averted gaze not
only enhances ad attitudes but also increases narrative
transportation (i.e., how immersed consumers feel when
they view the ad), which mediates the effect of gaze on ad
attitudes. Further, this study also ruled out the possibility
that consumers evaluated the ad with averted gaze more fa-
vorably because they spent more time on the ad.
Interestingly, the “no eyes” (control) ad marginally en-
hanced narrative transportation and ad attitudes, compared
with direct gaze. The effect may be attributed to the nov-
elty of the condition since consumers are less frequently
exposed to cropped gaze in print advertisements. To repli-
cate our findings of averted gaze enhancing narrative trans-
portation, we conducted a supplementary study (web
appendix I) that showed similar effects of averted gaze on
narrative transportation and provided the added insight that
averted gaze pertains to looking away from the viewer—
not whether or not the ad model is looking at a specific ob-
ject. In the next study, we attempt to more conclusively im-
plicate narrative transportation as the underlying
mechanism by manipulating narrative transportation.
STUDY 2B: MANIPULATION OF
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
Study 2b was designed to replicate the mediating role of
narrative transportation by manipulating narrative transpor-
tation. In one condition we present no explicit instructions
to encourage narrative transportation (similar to study 2a),
while in the other condition, we facilitate narrative trans-
portation using ad instructions that encourage participants
to imagine themselves as part of the advertisement
(Escalas 2004;McFerran et al. 2010). We expected that
when participants are encouraged to “transport” themselves
into the ad, direct gaze would also enhance ad attitudes,
mimicking the effect of averted gaze on ad attitudes ob-
served in study 2a.
Method and Procedure
Three hundred and sixty-six undergraduate students
(63.1% female, M
age
¼21.74) participated in this experi-
ment in exchange for partial course credit. This experiment
employed a 2 (gaze direction: direct vs. averted) 2 (ad
instructions: standard vs. encourage-transportation) be-
tween-subjects design. All participants completed the study
measures and passed the attention checks.
Similar to prior studies, this study was conducted under
the guise of a company wanting to test different advertise-
ments before their forecasted release. Participants were
told that a new brand of grooming products, Evren, is con-
sidering entering the US market, and that they were asked
to evaluate one of Evren’s potential advertisements (see
appendix D). We created male (cologne) and female (fra-
grance) versions of the two advertisements, which were
matched with participant’s gender. However, prior to view-
ing the advertisement, participants were given one of the
two ad instructions ( standard vs. encourage-transportation;
adapted from Escalas 2004;McFerran et al. 2010; see ap-
pendix E ). Participants were then randomly assigned to
one of the two gaze conditions (direct vs. averted) and
viewed the Evren advertisement (see ad stimuli in appen-
dix E) and then completed the same measures of ad atti-
tudes and narrative transportation from prior studies, gaze
manipulation checks, and demographic questions.
Manipulation Check: Gaze. Crosstabs analysis of the
gaze manipulation check revealed that 180 out of 181 par-
ticipants in the averted gaze condition correctly identified
that the model was looking away from them, and 184 out
of 185 participants in the direct gaze condition correctly
identified that the model was looking at them. Twelve par-
ticipants indicated that they did not remember the ad mod-
el’s gaze direction. There were no significant differences
in the extent to which the participants noticed the model’s
gaze (M
averted
¼5.59 vs. M
direct
¼5.61, p¼.91). All partic-
ipants were retained in the analysis. We also recorded the
amount of time participants spent looking at the advertise-
ment in seconds to rule out attentional differences. We ob-
served no significant differences in participants’ time spent
looking at the ads (M
averted
¼18.36 s vs. M
direct
¼19.44 s,
p¼.65). No gender differences emerged so the results are
presented together.
Results
Narrative Transportation Manipulation Check. A2
(gaze direction: direct vs. averted) 2 (ad instruction:
standard vs. encourage transportation) ANOVA on narra-
tive transportation index (a¼.89) revealed a significant
interaction effect (F(1, 362) ¼4.13, p¼.043, g
p
2
¼.011).
Pairwise comparisons revealed that in the standard condi-
tion, averted gaze significantly increases narrative trans-
portation compared with direct gaze (M
averted
¼4.74, SD ¼
TO AND PATRICK 131
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1.37 vs. M
direct
¼4.08, SD ¼1.16, F(1, 362) ¼9.82, p¼
.002, g
p
2
¼.026). However, in the encourage-
transportation condition, there were no significant differen-
ces in narrative transportation between the two gaze condi-
tions (M
direct
¼4.70 vs. M
averted
¼4.76, p¼.79). Thus,
narrative transportation was successfully manipulated.
Ad Attitudes. A 2 (gaze direction: direct vs. averted)
2 (ad instruction: standard vs. encourage transportation)
ANOVA on ad attitudes (a¼.95) revealed a marginally
significant interaction (F(1, 362) ¼3.19, p¼.075, g
p
2
¼
.009). Pairwise comparisons revealed that in the standard
condition, averted gaze led to significantly more favorable
ad attitudes compared with direct gaze (M
averted
¼5.07, SD
¼1.42 vs. M
direct
¼4.49, SD ¼1.74, F(1, 362) ¼7.03, p
¼.008, g
p
2
¼.019). However, in the encourage-
transportation condition, there were no significant differen-
ces in ad attitudes across the gaze conditions (M
direct
¼
5.18 vs. M
averted
¼5.15, p¼.89).
Discussion
By manipulating narrative transportation, this study cor-
roborates our previous results to implicate narrative trans-
portation as the process mechanism underlying our
hypothesized effect. Prior research has found that enhanced
narrative transportation may be linked to increased viewer
involvement with an ad (Green et al. 2004) and heightened
consumer engagement (Kim, Lloyd, and Cervellon 2016).
Therefore, we expect that narrative transportation facili-
tated by averted gaze might boost increased ad evaluations.
MODERATING ROLE OF AD APPEAL
We have demonstrated that the averted gaze of a model
depicted in an ad is more likely to enhance advertising ef-
fectiveness because the viewer feels more transported into
the narrative of the ad. If averted gaze allows the viewer to
be immersed in the ad and metaphorically walk in the ad
model’s shoes and experience what they are feeling, direct
gaze puts a distance between the viewer and the model and
makes the “otherness” of the ad model salient. Based on
the premise that the effectiveness of all ads does not rely
on narrative transportation, we identify the advertising con-
texts in which the “otherness” conveyed by direct gaze
could enhance ad effectiveness. We examine two condi-
tions in which the objectivity and spokesperson credibility
conveyed by the “otherness” of direct gaze is preferred:
when the ad has an informational (vs. emotional) appeal
(study 3a), and when the viewer prefers to not identify with
the negative emotional content of the ad (study 3b).
Prior work has suggested that advertisements incorpo-
rate different ad appeals to promote a product, such that
emotional ads emphasize a product’s affective and hedonic
attributes while informative ads convey utilitarian and
functional attributes (Mano and Oliver 1993). Emotional
ads speak to the heart and focus on the affective states or
feelings that consumers expect to experience when the
product is used, while informative ads speak to the head
and convey the product’s practical features or ability to
perform a relevant useful function (Adaval 2001;Pham
1998). For example, the same pair of sneakers can be ad-
vertised using an emotional ad format, “These sneakers
will make you feel good when running,” or an informative
ad appeal, “These sneakers are made of high-quality mate-
rials to protect your feet” (Adaval 2001). Since these ad-
vertising messages are typically conveyed using verbal
arguments (written or spoken words), we expect that the
verbal ad attributes (emotional vs. informative) will inter-
act with visual depiction (ad model with averted vs. direct
gaze) to influence consumer responses toward an ad.
As previously discussed, it is well established that direct
gaze is associated with positive traits and favorable impres-
sions in an interpersonal contexts. Prior research has dem-
onstrated that direct gaze in social interactions is often a
signal of trustworthiness and credibility (Cobin and
McIntyre 1961). Directly in line with these findings,
Exline and Eldridge (1967) found that in an interpersonal
context, a person is seen as more truthful and believable
when he/she engaged in more direct gaze, whereas people
perceived averted gaze as an indication of being evasive
and untruthful (Kleck and Nuessle 1968). Extending these
findings into a non-personal communication context (e.g.,
print advertisements), we propose that direct gaze will en-
hance the effectiveness of informative ads by simulating an
interpersonal one-on-one conversation in which the objec-
tivity and credibility conveyed by the “otherness” of the
person depicted is preferred. Thus, direct gaze can help
convey the credibility of advertised claims regarding a
product’s functional attributes (Grewal, Gotlieb, and
Marmorstein 1994) and persuade consumers that these ad-
vertised claims are credible (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and
Mahajan 2008). Given that direct gaze fosters social per-
ceptions of credibility in interpersonal contexts (Kleinke
1986), we postulate that direct gaze of ad models is more
likely than averted gaze to enhance the effectiveness of in-
formative ads by enhancing perceptions of spokesperson
credibility.
Since emotional ads are associated with the feelings and
hedonic experiences that can arise from consuming or us-
ing a product, we predict that averted gaze (vs. direct gaze)
will better enhance narrative transportation and advertising
effectiveness. Emotional ads focus on hedonic aspects of a
product (e.g., taste and enjoyment of an ice cream; Adaval
2001) and generally aim to generate positive affective
responses (Okada 2005). Consumers are also more likely
to consider their affective reactions when evaluating he-
donic products or responding to an emotional ad appeal
(Botti and McGill 2011). These findings are in line with
our prior discussion pertaining to how averted gaze leads
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people to be transported into and feel immersed in artworks
and theatre performances, coupled with the results of stud-
ies 2a and 2b. Thus, we predict that averted gaze in adver-
tisements will allow consumers to experience how they
would feel when a product’s hedonic features are empha-
sized and enhance the effectiveness of hedonic ads. Given
that heightened narrative transportation is more likely to
manifest in affective advertising stimuli (e.g., pictorial or
hedonic ads; Hirschman 1986;Roggeveen et al. 2015 ), we
predict that narrative transportation will mediate the effect
of averted gaze on advertising response for emotional ads.
However, we posit that narrative transportation will not
mediate the effect of direct gaze on advertising response
for informative ads. Instead, we expect that direct gaze will
enhance advertising effectiveness for informative ads by
simulating an interpersonal one-on-one conversation to
convey spokesperson credibility (see figure 4). To
summarize:
H3a: Ad model’s gaze direction (direct vs. averted) interacts
with ad appeal (informative vs. emotional) to influence ad-
vertising effectiveness. An informative (vs. emotional) ad is
more effective when combined with a model depicted with
direct (vs. averted) gaze.
H3b: Narrative transportation mediates the effect of averted
gaze on advertising response for emotional ads, but spokes-
person credibility mediates the effect of direct gaze on ad-
vertising response for informative ads.
STUDY 3A: MODERATING ROLE OF AD
APPEAL
Study 3a was designed to (a) demonstrate the moderat-
ing role of ad appeal on the influence of gaze on advertis-
ing effectiveness, and (b) test in parallel the mediating role
of narrative transportation for averted gaze in emotional
ads and the mediating role of spokesperson credibility for
direct gaze in informative ads.
Method and Procedure
Three hundred and six participants recruited from
Amazon Mechanical Turk (48% female, M
age
¼36.83)
participated in this 2 (gaze direction: direct vs. averted)
2 (ad appeal: informational vs. emotional) between-
subjects experiment in exchange for monetary payment.
The same visual puzzle captcha used in study 2a led us to
exclude nine participants prior to participating in the study.
All 306 participants included in this study have completed
all of the study measures and passed attention checks.
Participants were asked to imagine themselves in a sce-
nario, in which they were planning a visit to New York
City and were browsing an online magazine for restau-
rants/caf
es near their hotel. They were shown an advertise-
ment for a caf
e called “Alchemy Caf
e” and were randomly
assigned to one of the four ad conditions (see ad stimuli in
appendix F). Each ad featured a spokesperson with either
direct or averted gaze, who described in a quote either their
affective and hedonic experience at the caf
e (i.e., emo-
tional appeal) or the quality and functional aspects of the
caf
e (i.e., informational appeal; adapted from Williams and
Drolet 2005). There were male and female versions of the
four advertisements, which were matched with partici-
pant’s gender. We then assessed participants’ ad attitudes
and narrative transportation on scales identical to previous
studies, and in addition, measured spokesperson credibility
(adapted from Smith and Hunt 1978; items presented in
web appendix J). Measures of spokesperson credibility and
narrative transportation were counterbalanced.
FIGURE 4
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: THE INFLUENCE OF GAZE DIRECTION ON NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION AND ADVERTISING
EFFECTIVENESS
Gaze Direction:
Direct vs. Averted
Advertising
Effectiveness
Ad Appeal:
Informative vs.
Emotional
Narrative
Transportation vs.
Spokesperson
Credibility
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Two manipulations checks were then conducted. The
first manipulation check was the identical gaze manipula-
tion check used in previous studies. The second captured
the manipulation of ad appeal in two ways. First, partici-
pants indicated the degree to which they viewed the ad ap-
peal as emotional versus informational: “This
advertisement made me focus on my feelings about the
brand,” “This advertisement is directed at making me feel
something about the brand,” “This advertisement made me
focus on my thoughts about the brand,” “This advertise-
ment is directed at making me think something about the
brand,” (1 ¼“strongly disagree;” 7 ¼“strongly agree”,
adapted from Willams and Drolet 2005). The first two
items captured emotional appeal, while the latter two items
captured informational appeal. In addition, participants
evaluated the overall tone of the ad appeal by responding
to three items that captured whether the ad appealed to: 1
¼“my head/the rational side of me/my thoughts”; 7 ¼
“my heart/the emotional side of me/my emotions” (adapted
from Shiv and Fedorikhin 1999). Higher scores indicated
that the ad was perceived to be more emotional, while
lower scores indicated that the ad was perceived to be
more informational.
Measures of Alternative Constructs. Participants also
completed measures of ad realism and gaze naturalness. In
addition, we also assessed participants’ processing fluency
(Lee and Aaker 2004) and perceived communication effec-
tiveness to ensure that our manipulation of gaze and ad ap-
peal did not differ in terms of ease of processing and
communication effectiveness, respectively. There were no
significant differences across these measures (web appen-
dix J).
Results
Manipulation Check: Gaze. Crosstabs analysis of the
gaze manipulation check revealed that all participants cor-
rectly identified the gaze direction of the spokesperson
according to their assigned condition. There were no sig-
nificant differences in the extent to which the participants
noticed the model’s gaze (M
averted
¼5.05 vs. M
direct
¼
5.38, p¼.10). All participants were retained in the analy-
sis. As observed in previous studies, there were also no sig-
nificant differences in participants’ time spent looking at
the ads (M
averted
¼7.76 s vs. M
direct
¼7.38 s, p¼.92).
Manipulation Check: Ad Appeal. To create a single
measure of emotional versus informational appeal, the
items measuring emotional appeal were subtracted from
those measuring informational appeal; negative values in-
dicate the appeal was viewed as relatively more emotional,
while positive values indicate it was viewed as relatively
more informational. A 2 (gaze: direct vs. averted) 2 (ad
appeal: informational vs. emotional) ANOVA on the ad ap-
peal index (a¼.90) revealed only a significant main effect
of ad appeal (F(1, 302) ¼102.07, p<.001, g
p
2
¼.77).
Participants perceived the emotional appeal as less infor-
mational and more emotional (M
emotional
¼-2.86, SD ¼
1.75) compared with the informational appeals
(M
informational
¼3.18, SD ¼1.55). No other effects were
significant. A similar ANOVA on the overall tone of the ad
appeal (a¼.97) revealed only a significant main effect of
ad appeal (F(1, 302) ¼160.53, p<.001, g
p
2
¼.347).
Participants evaluated the emotional ad to be significantly
more emotional than the informational ad (M
emotional
¼
5.47, SD ¼1.42; M
informational
¼3.06, SD ¼1.87).
Narrative Transportation and Spokesperson
Credibility. We first conducted a 2 (gaze direction: direct
vs. averted) 2 (ad appeal: informational vs. emotional)
ANOVA on spokesperson credibility. Results revealed a
significant gaze ad appeal interaction effect (F(1, 302)
¼7.41, p¼.007, g
p
2
¼.024). For the informational ad,
spokesperson credibility was significantly higher when the
spokesperson’s gaze was direct rather than averted (M
direct
¼5.11, SD ¼1.29; M
averted
¼4.56, SD ¼1.69, F(1, 302)
¼4.80, p¼.029, g
p
2
¼.016). For the emotional ad, there
were no significant differences in spokesperson credibility
between the gaze conditions (M
averted
¼5.00 vs. M
direct
¼
4.57, p¼.098, ns).
We then conducted a similar ANOVA on narrative trans-
portation and results revealed a significant gaze ad ap-
peal interaction effect (F(1, 302) ¼8.27, p¼.004, g
p
2
¼
.027). For emotional ad appeal, participants experienced
greater narrative transportation to the averted gaze than di-
rect gaze (M
averted
¼5.00, SD ¼1.35; M
direct
¼4.53, SD
¼1.32, F(1, 302) ¼5.25, p¼.023, g
p
2
¼.017). For the
informational ad, we observed marginally significant dif-
ferences in narrative transportation (M
direct
¼4.72 vs.
M
averted
¼4.36, p¼.079).
Ad Attitudes. A 2 (gaze direction: direct vs. averted)
2 (ad appeal: informational vs. emotional) ANOVA on ad
attitudes (a¼.98) also revealed a significant interaction
effect (F(1, 302) ¼9.75, p¼.002, g
p
2
¼.031). When the
ad featured an emotional appeal, participants evaluated the
ad more favorably toward the averted gaze than the direct
gaze (M
averted
¼5.72, SD ¼1.24; M
direct
¼5.10, SD ¼
1.87, F(1, 302) ¼5.87, p¼.016, g
p
2
¼.019). When the
ad was informational, participants evaluated the direct
gaze ad more favorably than the averted gaze ad (M
direct
¼
5.67, SD ¼1.19; M
averted
¼5.17, SD ¼1.88, F(1, 302) ¼
3.97, p¼.047, g
p
2
¼.013).
Mediation Analysis. We tested the mediating role of
narrative transportation and spokesperson credibility on ad
attitudes moderated by ad appeal using PROCESS Model
8 with 5000 bootstrapped resamples (Hayes 2018). In the
analysis, gaze (direct vs. averted) was the independent var-
iable, ad appeal (informational vs. emotional) was the
moderator, ad attitudes was the dependent variable, and
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narrative transportation and spokesperson credibility were
treated as parallel mediators.
Results revealed that a significant mediation effect of
narrative transportation for emotional ad appeal (b¼.25,
SE ¼.119, 95% CI ¼[.02, .49]), but not for informational
ad (95% CI ¼[.38, .01]). On the other hand, results indi-
cated a significant mediation effect of spokesperson credi-
bility for informational ad (b¼.20, SE ¼.092, 95% CI
¼[.39, .03]), but not for the emotional ad (95% CI ¼
[.03, .35]).
Discussion
The results of Study 3a demonstrate the moderating role
of ad appeal (emotional vs. informational) on the effect of
gaze direction on advertising effectiveness. Our findings
support H3a that direct gaze enhances the effectiveness of
informative ads, while averted gaze enhances the effective-
ness of emotional ads. We also provide support for H3b by
demonstrating that hedonic products benefit from the nar-
rative transportation facilitated by averted gaze, while utili-
tarian products benefit from the spokesperson credibility
facilitated by direct gaze. In web appendix K, we report a
supplementary study that similarly implicates narrative
transportation in the effect of averted gaze on ad evaluation
for emotional ads, but not for informational ads.
STUDY 3B: GAZE DIRECTION IN
NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL ADS
Thus far, we have examined the effects of gaze direction
in neutral contexts of advertising in which the ad content
chiefly focused on promoting a product (e.g., watches and
fragrance) or service (caf
e) to enhance consumer ad evalu-
ations. However, certain types of advertisements, such as
public service announcements (PSAs), frequently incorpo-
rate negative emotional content to motivate people to ac-
tion (e.g., victims of drunk driving, anti-smoking ads,
domestic violence prevention; Bagozzi and Moore 1994;
Hastings, Stead, and Webb 2004). Although negative emo-
tional content is frequently used in advertisements as a
way to grab consumers’ attention, prior research in the
broad domain of protection motivation theory has shown
that negative or threatening ad messages are often proc-
essed defensively by consumers (Klein and Harris 2009)
leading consumers to discount ad message credibility
(Liberman and Chaiken 1992) or find ad messages less per-
suasive (Agrawal and Duhachek 2010). Furthermore, when
negative ad content is relevant to the identity of a specific
set of consumers, this negative ad content is also more
likely to be avoided or discounted by that group of con-
sumers. Research in the domain of health promotion adver-
tising has documented consumer defensive response
toward identity-salience ad message. For instance, long-
term smokers are more likely to respond negatively toward
anti-smoking ads (Freeman, Hennessy, and Marzullo
2001), and people with higher vulnerability to alcohol-
related problems are more likely to avoid viewing anti-
drinking ads with distressing emotive images (Brown and
Locker 2009). Similarly, heavy drinkers who are female
are more likely to avoid threatening ad messages that
linked alcohol consumption with greater risk of breast can-
cer (Klein and Harris 2009). In line with these research
findings, research in preventative care behaviors has also
found that women who viewed breast-cancer awareness
ads that contained gender-salient visual cues (e.g., the use
of the color pink and female faces) reported lower per-
ceived risk of breast cancer and lower preventative care
intentions (Devlin and Dillard 2016). Likewise, when gen-
der identity was made salient, women were also less likely
to donate to ovarian cancer research, as ovarian cancer is
an emotionally threatening issue due to the central role of
the reproductive system in women’s gender identity
(Puntoni, Sweldens, and Tavassoli 2011). Taken together,
this literature suggests that consumers shy away from mes-
saging that makes them feel vulnerable and threatens their
identity or some aspect of it. In what follows, we will argue
that the “otherness” that direct gaze affords can help de-
crease this identity threat to make viewers more receptive
to the ad message.
Following these studies, we expect that viewers who are
more likely to relate to or identify with the negative ad
content in the ad (for the ad in the study that follows,
females viewing an ad about domestic violence against
women) would prefer that the ad model has the “otherness”
quality that direct gaze affords, instead of being narratively
transported to experience the negative emotions depicted
in the ad. Thus, consistent with protection motivation the-
ory research, we hypothesize that for ads with negative in-
formational and visual content, direct gaze is more likely
to enhance ad effectiveness since it makes the “otherness”
of the ad model more salient and lends credibility to the in-
formation presented in the ad. In contrast, viewers whose
identity is threatened may be more likely to want to shield
themselves from experiencing the negative emotional con-
tent and resist the narrative transportation afforded by
averted gaze.
The study that follows was designed to empirically test
this insight by creating a PSA on the issue of domestic vio-
lence against women. We expected that since the ad por-
trays a female victim and provides a statistic related to
domestic violence against women, female participants
would be more affected by the gaze direction (direct vs.
averted) than men would and this would influence both
their evaluation of the ad and their behavioral response
(willingness to sign a petition). We also hypothesized that
for female participants, direct gaze would enhance ad (or
spokesperson) credibility, but averted gaze would not en-
hance narrative transportation, because female participants
would not want to identify with the negative emotional
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experience of a victim of domestic violence. For male par-
ticipants, we expect no significant differences in ad effec-
tiveness or behavioral response in either gaze conditions.
Method and Procedure
Five hundred and twelve undergraduate students (50.6%
female, M
age
¼21.4) participated in this experiment in ex-
change for partial course credit. All participants complete
the full study measures and passed attention checks.
This study was conducted under the guise of a non-profit
organization wanting to test different advertisements be-
fore their forecasted release. Participants were told that a
non-profit organization, Domestic Violence Action Center
(DVAC), was conducting a domestic violence awareness
campaign, and that they were asked to respond to one of
DVAC’s potential PSAs. Participants were randomly
assigned to one of the two gaze conditions (direct vs.
averted) and viewed DVAC’s public service ad (see appen-
dix G for stimuli).
To assess whether the ad moved respondents to act in
support of DVAC, participants were invited to sign an on-
line petition to raise awareness about domestic violence
and to provide support for shelters that provide housing for
victims of domestic violence. Participants could also pro-
ceed without signing the petition. We then assessed narra-
tive transportation and ad credibility (ad credibility
measure is presented in web appendix L).
Results
Manipulation Check: Gaze. Participants completed a
two-item manipulation check identical to the pretest in
Study 1. Crosstab analysis of the gaze manipulation check
revealed that 253 out of 258 participants in the averted
gaze condition correctly identified that the featured person
was looking away from them, and 252 out of 254 partici-
pants in the direct gaze condition correctly identified that
the featured person was looking at them. Seven participants
indicated that they did not remember the gaze direction of
the featured person. There were no significant differences
in the extent to which the participants noticed the person’s
gaze (M
direct
¼5.11 vs. M
averted
¼5.31, p¼.168, ns). As
observed in previous studies, there were also no significant
differences in participants’ time spent looking at the ads
(M
averted
¼5.97 s vs. M
direct
¼7.10 s, p¼.171, ns). All
participants were retained in the analysis.
Number of Petition Signups. Crosstab analysis on the
number of petition signups revealed that in the direct gaze
condition (N¼254), more participants (N¼166, 65.4%)
chose to sign the petition. In contrast, in the averted gaze
condition (N¼258), fewer participants (N¼141, 54.7%)
chose to sign the petition (v
2
(1) ¼6.44, p¼.012). When
gender is included in the analysis, results revealed the hy-
pothesized effect: in the direct gaze condition (N¼254),
75.2% (N¼97) of the female participants (N¼129) chose
to sign the petition, while only 52% (N¼65) of the male
participants (N¼125) chose to sign the petition (v
2
(1)
¼14.78, p<.001). In the averted gaze condition
(N¼258), there were no significant differences in number
of petition signups between male (51.6%, N¼128) and fe-
male participants (53.8%, N¼130, p¼.404).
Ad Credibility. A one-way ANOVA on the ad credibil-
ity index (a¼.73) revealed a significant main effect of
gaze direction on ad credibility (F(1, 510) ¼17.39, p<
.001, g
p
2
¼.033). Specifically, ad credibility was signifi-
cantly higher when the featured person’s gaze was direct
rather than averted (M
averted
¼4.75, SD ¼1.36 vs. M
direct
¼5.23, SD ¼1.28). A gaze gender ANOVA on the ad
credibility index revealed the expected interaction (F(1,
510) ¼3.91, p¼.049, g
p
2
¼.008). For female partici-
pants, those in the direct gaze condition perceived the ad to
be significantly more credible than those in the averted
gaze condition (M
direct
¼5.41, SD ¼1.16 vs. M
averted
¼
4.70, SD ¼1.47; F(1, 510) ¼19.03, p<.001, g
p
2
¼
.036). For male participants, there were no significant dif-
ferences in ad credibility across the gaze conditions (M
direct
¼5.04 vs. M
averted
¼4.78, p¼.126, ns)
Narrative Transportation. A one-way ANOVA on the
narrative transportation index (a¼.70) revealed no signifi-
cant differences in narrative transportation between the
gaze conditions (M
averted
¼3.73 vs. M
direct
¼3.61, p¼
.11). A gaze gender ANOVA also did not reveal a signif-
icant interaction effect on narrative transportation (p¼
.401, ns). These results are consistent with our theorizing
that consumers are unlikely to want to “transport” or im-
merse themselves into negative emotional experiences.
Mediation Analysis. We first tested the mediating role
of ad credibility on petition signups using PROCESS
Model 4 with 5000 bootstrapped resamples (Hayes 2018).
In the analysis, gaze (direct vs. averted) was the indepen-
dent variable, number of petition signups was the depen-
dent variable, and ad credibility was the mediator. Results
revealed a significant mediating effect of ad credibility on
the number of petition signups (b¼.01, SE ¼.008, 95%
CI ¼[.001, .03]). Next, we examined the moderating
role of gender using PROCESS Model 8 with 5000 boot-
strapped resamples (Hayes 2018). In this analysis, gaze (di-
rect vs. averted) was the independent variable, number of
petition signups was the dependent variable, ad credibility
was the mediator, and gender was the moderator. Results
revealed that a significant mediation effect of ad credibility
for female participants (b¼.14, SE ¼.065, 95% CI ¼
[.04, .29]), but not for male participants (95% CI ¼[.01,
.14]).
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Discussion
Studies 3a and 3b illustrate the practical use of gaze di-
rection for different types of ads. Study 3a demonstrates
that gaze direction interacts with different types of ad ap-
peal to enhance ad effectiveness, such that averted gaze
(direct gaze) enhances the effectiveness of emotional (in-
formative) ads. Study 3b illustrates how gaze direction
functions in the context of negative emotional ads that are
often used in PSAs to motivate consumers to action. This
study shows that direct gaze can serve as a means by which
a vulnerable viewer is protected from experiencing the
negative affect depicted in an ad that contains negative
emotional content. On the other hand, averted gaze might
cause consumers to experience the depicted negative af-
fect, resulting in consumers shying away from the ad con-
tent. With these studies, we provide insights about how
gaze direction can be used as a strategic cue to enhance ad
effectiveness depending on whether the advertiser benefits
from the viewer feeling immersed in the ad. We find that
the narrative transportation afforded by averted gaze is
beneficial for emotional ads that highlight the hedonic na-
ture of the advertised product. On the other hand, the
“otherness” afforded by direct gaze is more suited to con-
veying spokesperson credibility in informative ads and re-
ducing consumer avoidance of negative emotional ad
content.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
The British novelist Samuel Richardson (1689–1791)
observed, “Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk
a great deal.” This sentiment was echoed by Victor Hugo
(1802–1885), who urges, “When a woman is talking to
you, listen to what she says with her eyes.” It is now a
well-accepted notion that the eyes are a central aspect of
non-verbal communication amongst humans, as is the role
that the eyes play in dance, art, and theater. For the second
half of the 19th century, many French and English artists
rendered the eyes of their participants in greater detail and
in more light—almost shimmering—because eye gaze can
capture the pivotal moments depicted in a painting and
contributes to the whole composition of the artwork (Kern
1996). In the traditional Indian dance of Kathakali, origi-
nating from the Indian state of Kerala, dancers don elabo-
rates costumes to enact stories from the Hindu epics. The
eye movement of the dancer is an essential component of
the performance, so much so that the silent communication
of the eye in Kathakali is known as Nritta Drishti, which
translates to “dancing of the eyes” (Devi 1990, 106).
In the current research, we focus on the persuasive po-
tential of eye gaze as a visual element in advertising. We
situate our work in an advertising context, with a content
analysis of two databases that shows the ubiquity of
averted gaze in advertisements, whilst also demonstrating
the novelty of the insight for advertising practitioners. We
begin with the observation that prior research in social psy-
chology suggests that direct gaze is favored in social inter-
actions, and ask: then why do advertisers use averted gaze?
We draw on the study and practice of visual and perfor-
mance arts to gain insight about why averted gaze might
increase advertising effectiveness and implicate enhanced
narrative transportation as the underlying process mecha-
nism. With five multi-method studies (online field study
and lab studies), we demonstrate that an ad model’s
averted gaze better enhances consumer narrative transpor-
tation and advertising effectiveness. In addition, we iden-
tify two different ad contexts in which direct gaze—that
makes salient the “otherness” of the ad model depicted—is
more likely to enhance ad effectiveness: (1) when the ad
has informational (vs. emotional) appeal, and (2) when the
viewer prefers to not identify with the negative emotional
content of the ad.
Theoretical Contributions
The current research contributes to theory in a number
of ways. First, we contribute to prior research by reconcil-
ing the findings from social psychology with the practice
of performing and visual arts to demonstrate that averted
gaze facilitates narrative transportation boosting ad evalua-
tions. Second, we add to the study of the influence of subtle
visual cues (e.g., visual metaphors, image cropping and
camera angles; McQuarrie and Phillips 2005;Peracchio
and Meyers-Levy 1994,2005) on advertising effectiveness.
To our knowledge, no research has empirically investi-
gated the influence of ad model’s gaze on ad effectiveness.
In our work, we assessed advertising effectiveness through
both self-reported measures of ad evaluations as well as
several consequential behavioral measures, such as number
of Facebook clicks, online purchases and the likelihood of
signing an online petition. Furthermore, we find that gaze
direction (direct vs. averted) interacts with ad appeal to in-
fluence advertising effectiveness, specifically, direct gaze
is more effective for informative ads, while averted gaze is
more effective for emotional ads. We also provide evi-
dence that direct gaze might simulate an interpersonal in-
teraction (similar to an aside in theater, in which an actor
leaves the scene to speak directly to the audience), such
that the spokesperson credibility facilitated by direct gaze
enhances the effectiveness of informational ads. Another
boundary condition we identify is ads with negative emo-
tional content, in which the narrative transportation
afforded by averted gaze is not preferred, but the objectiv-
ity that direct gaze conveys is more effective in moving
consumers to action.
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Managerial Implications, Limitations, and Future
Research Directions
Marketers have often considered the physical attractive-
ness of ad models to be one of the most essential elements
that contribute to the success of an ad (Kahle and Homer
1985). While ad model’s attractiveness certainly plays an
important role, we propose that marketers should also con-
sider an ad model’s gaze direction as a strategic visual de-
vice that can enhance advertising effectiveness. As we
showed, the choice of gaze direction should be made based
on the overall tone of the ad (emotional vs. informational).
Although we have only examined gaze direction in regard
to whether the gaze is direct to or averted away from a
viewer, a natural extension of the current research would
be to investigate whether an ad model’s left versus right
gaze direction can affect consumer response to different
types of advertising appeals (e.g., classic vs. modern; Chae
and Hoegg 2013).
The current research is focused on the role of averted
gaze in the context of visual images used in print advertise-
ments or static online ads like those on Facebook.
However, there is a rich range of dynamic and interactive
media formats from television ads to vlogs (video blogs)
that could serve as interesting contexts to extend the cur-
rent findings. Given that the consumption of online video
content is increasing each year and the majority of consum-
ers want more video content from brands (Cox 2020), the
persuasiveness of gaze direction and other ad model fea-
tures might be useful to understand not only what makes
an ad effective, but also what promotes ad virality.
Although we found that averted gaze (vs. direct gaze)
better enhances narrative transportation and advertising ef-
fectiveness in the current research, recent research has
found that direct eye-contact of cartoon spoke-characters
on cereal packaging can lead consumers to feel more con-
nected toward brands (Musicus, Tal, and Wansink 2015).
We speculate that it is the cartoon-like nature of the
spokesperson that leads to this divergent finding. Future re-
search might consider whether advertising mediums (e.g.,
photograph vs. illustration) or degree of ad model identifi-
cation (as we saw in study 3a) play a role in the effects of
gaze on advertising effectiveness. Interestingly, a Google
Image search of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year cover
reveals that averted (direct) gaze appears to be featured
more frequently when the feature person is painted (photo-
graphed). Considering that print advertisements also come
in a variety of mediums, from graphic arts to hand-drawn
illustrations (Gross 2015), future research should examine
the interplay between advertising mediums and gaze
direction.
Eyes are often believed to be the windows to the soul.
As such, another avenue for future research may be to ex-
amine how gaze might influence consumer emotional proc-
essing and response to specific emotional appeals in
advertisements, such as guilt versus shame (Han,
Duhachek, and Agrawal 2014) or pride versus empathy
(Aaker and Williams 1998). Eye gaze has been shown to
play a major role in emotion recognition (Adams and
Kleck 2003), but no research has yet investigated the role
of gaze direction in enhancing the effectiveness of specific
emotions portrayed in an ad. Are consumers more respon-
sive to guilt/shame appeals if an ad featured direct/averted
gaze respectively? Are depictions of pride in ads more real-
istic if they featured direct gaze instead of averted gaze,
which may be more aligned to empathy? These are impor-
tant research questions that could reveal some helpful and
intriguing insights for marketers.
In some contexts, it is not only the gaze direction of the
eye, but also the pupil that might play a role in information
processing. Pupil dilation is often considered to be a cue of
sexual or social interest. Mathoˆ t and Van der Stigchel
(2015) demonstrate that the size of the pupils can convey a
lot about emotions and intentions of the individual
depicted. As such, given the number of vlogs and other on-
line product review videos evaluating the use and experi-
ence that individuals have with a wide-ranging array of
products, can the size of the pupil depicted within the eye
indicate true engagement and genuine interest in the prod-
uct? Might gaze direction and pupil size send non-verbal
signals that engender greater trust in the reviewer?
Gaze direction might also have processing effects. From
a processing standpoint, gaze might prompt the level at
which an ad is construed to systematically influence judg-
ment and persuasion. One might hypothesize that viewing
direct gaze, relative to averted gaze, might result in con-
sumers adopting lower levels of construal and relying more
on feasibility instead of desirability related attributes.
Identifying how subtle cues can confer value by influenc-
ing how a stimulus is processed is important for marketers
(Patrick, Atefi, and Hagtvedt 2017). Further, the gaze di-
rection depicted could affect what is processed in an ad or
on a website. It is likely that direct gaze causes the viewer
to zoom into the eye area, it might result in greater process-
ing of information around the area of eyes and face (central
visual field), while averted gaze might cause the viewer to
process more entirely the whole scene (both central and pe-
ripheral elements), gaining what Perdreau and Cavanagh
(2013) has dubbed “the artist’s advantage.”
DATA COLLECTION INFORMATION
Under the supervision of the second author, the first au-
thor supervised the collection of all the data for the
Advertising Managerial Survey (June 2020), Content
Analysis of the AdForum data (February 2019) and the
Clio Ads data (May 2018), Study 1 Field Study (April
2019), Study 2a (January 2019), Study 2b (March 2019),
Study 3a (June 2019), Study 3b (April 2020),
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supplementary study 1 in web appendix I (February 2019),
and supplementary study 2 (April 2019) in web appendix
K. The data for the content analysis was obtained from the
AdForum and Clio Ads database, data for Study 1 was col-
lected in collaboration with a fashion retailer, data for stud-
ies 2a and 3a were collected on Amazon Mechanical Turk,
and data for studies 2b and 3b were collected at the
University of Houston. The first author analyzed all of the
data under the supervision of the second author. Data were
also discussed and analyzed on multiple occasions by both
authors. The data are currently stored in Dropbox folder
under the management of both authors.
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
Study 1 Facebook Ads
Figure A. Warner Sallman's
Head of Christ
Figure B. Filippo Lippi's
Double Portrait of Man
and Woman
Figure C. Velazquez's Las Meninas
STUDY 1 FACEBOOK ADS
Direct Gaze Averted Gaze
Facebook Ads
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APPENDIX C
Study 2A Stimuli
STUDY 2A STIMULI
Control
Gaze
Direct
Gaze
Averted
Gaze
Note: The original ad image featured direct gaze and was manipulated into averted gaze.
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APPENDIX D
Study 2B Stimuli
APPENDIX E
Study 2B Instructions
In the standard condition, participants were given the following instructions:
Consider that Evren is a new fragrance (cologne) to be launched in the US market in 2020. On the next page we will show you a sam-
ple of an Evren advertisement. This advertisement is one of several potential advertisements that Evren may use as part of the brand’s
marketing campaign. After you look at the advertisement, you will be asked to evaluate the ad.
In the encourage-transportation condition, participants were given the following instructions:
Consider that Evren is a new fragrance (cologne) to be launched in the US market in 2020. On the next page we will show you a sam-
ple of an Evren advertisement. This advertisement is one of several potential advertisements that Evren may use as part of the brand’s
marketing campaign. When viewing this ad, please imagine yourself in the ad. Put yourself in the shoes of the model and let yourself
fully experience the thoughts and feelings you will have if you were using the Evren fragrance (cologne) in your daily life. After you
look at the advertisement, you will be asked to evaluate the ad.
STUDY 2B STIMULI
ezaGdetrevAezaGtceriD
Note: The original ad image featured direct gaze and was manipulated into averted gaze.
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APPENDIX F
Study 3A Stimuli
STUDY 3A STIMULI
nIezaGdetrevA/dAlanoitomE formative Ad/Averted Gaze
Emotional Ad/Direct Gaze Informative Ad/Averted Gaze
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APPENDIX G
Study 3B Stimuli
STUDY 3B STIMULI
Direct Gaze
Averted Gaze
Note: The original ad image featured direct gaze and was manipulated into averted gaze.
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