Advertising guilt-laden vacations: The cross-cultural efficacy of a guilt decreasing appeal

The objective of this study is to assess, across two cultures with different values, the effectiveness of guilt-decreasing appeals in reducing anticipated guilt toward a luxury vacation without compromising levels of happiness. An experimental design with two experiments was used to test the hypothesized relationships. In study one, we demonstrate that a guilt decreasing appeal is effective at reducing anticipated guilt and preserving the anticipated happiness levels, when the advertisement is perceived as credible by consumers. In study two, we demonstrate that a guilt decreasing appeal is effective for two cultures (French and Chinese) that are characterized by different values. The results contribute to the limited literature on the effectiveness of guilt decreasing marketing appeals in a cross-cultural context and have practical implications for designing global tourism advertising strategies and execution using this emotional appeal.