Guilt-Decreasing Marketing Appeals: The Efficacy of Vacation Advertising on Chinese Tourists

This study assesses the effectiveness of guilt-decreasing appeals in reducing anticipated guilt regarding a luxury vacation and the maintenance of the happiness associated with a guilty pleasure. An experiment involving two independent groups was conducted on a sample of Chinese tourists. The results show that guilt can be reduced without compromising the benefits of a guilty pleasure. The more successful an advertisement is in depressing anticipated guilt, the more successful it is in enhancing the attitude toward the advertisement and toward the promoted vacation. Implications for destination advertising are suggested.