Guilt appeals are used to try to influence consumer behavior, with literature defining three kinds – existential, anticipatory, and reactive guilt. Anticipatory and reactive guilt appeals have never been individually studied. The purpose of this study is hence to explain the relationship between anticipatory guilt and reactive guilt, respectively, inferences of manipulative intent, and consumers’ attitude toward a brand. To test this, an online questionnaire was used, followed by linear regression and moderation analyses. The results show a positive relationship between both anticipatory guilt and attitude and between reactive guilt and attitude. Inferences of manipulative intent do not moderate either relationship. Keywords Guilt appeal, anticipatory guilt, reactive guilt, inferences of manipulative intent, consumer brand attitudes

Cause-related marketing (CRM), which combines business goals and corporate social responsibility, has recently become a trend in Taiwan as well as in the whole world. Although recent studies have begun to examine potential factors that might affect CRM effectiveness, influences of emotional appeals on CRM remain unexplored. Therefore, based on previous studies relevant to charitable donations, this study compares the effects of guilt appeal and warmth appeal in CRM ads. In addition, brand¡¦s gender traits are also considered to observe how they sway the effectiveness of the emotional appeals. The present study uses experimental design to investigate the effects of the types of emotional appeals (guilt appeal vs. warmth appeal) and brand¡¦s gender traits (feminine brand vs. masculine brand) on CRM effectiveness. And a 2X2 factorial design is conducted. Four different scenarios are established through fictitious CRM ads, and the ad effects are measured by purchase intention and attitude toward the brand to observe the response under different scenarios. The results indicate that there is an interaction effect between emotional appeals and brand¡¦s gender traits on CRM effectiveness. The feminine brand is more effective while using CRM. Furthermore, the feminine brand is more effective than the masculine brand while the warmth appeal is used to promote a CRM ad, but such superior effect disappears as it turns to guilt appeal. According to these findings, this study suggests that marketers should consider the ¡§gender¡¨ of their brands before choosing an appropriate emotional appeal in the CRM ad to reach their goals.

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