A study on the influence of the facial expressions of models on consumer purchase intention in advertisements for poverty alleviation products

Products (such as agricultural products and handicrafts) that are assisted by enterprises in their production or sales and whose sales revenues are dedicated to anti-poverty campaigns in a particular area are regarded as poverty alleviation products (PAPs). This study focuses on PAP advertisements and analyses the interaction between the expression of different emotions (positive expression/negative expression) by models in PAP advertisements and the types of products (general products/PAPs). This study also examines the expression framework of these advertisements (gain-framed/loss-framed) and consumer purchase intentions. The results of Study 1 indicate that consumers demonstrate a preference for PAPs and that negative expressions significantly improve consumers' purchase preference for PAPs. Study 2 demonstrates that this effect results from the completely mediating effect of consumer guilt. However, in Study 3, when an advertisement employs a combination of a “loss-framed message and negative facial expression”, it fails to further improve consumer purchase intention compared to other groups. The conclusions of this examination not only support the enterprises that positively participate in industrial poverty alleviation but also provide theoretical guidance to enterprises in the design of PAP advertisements. •Consumers have a preference for poverty alleviation products (PAPs).•Negative facial expressions can significantly increase purchase intention of PAPs.•The effect results from the completely mediating effect of consumer guilt.•Negative expressions have an opposite effect when combined with loss-framed messages.•It is necessary to strategically combine facial expressions and message framing.