The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive

Be, Loan Pham Thi; Dinh, Dinh Tran; Khanh, Ha Le Thi; Phuong, Thao Dinh Thi; Phuong, Thao Le Nguyen Article The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Be, Loan Pham Thi; Dinh, Dinh Tran; Khanh, Ha Le Thi; Phuong, Thao Dinh Thi; Phuong, Thao Le Nguyen (2024) : The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2329382 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326161 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive Loan Pham Thi Be, Dinh Tran Dinh, Ha Le Thi Khanh, Thao Dinh Thi Phuong & Thao Le Nguyen Phuong To cite this article: Loan Pham Thi Be, Dinh Tran Dinh, Ha Le Thi Khanh, Thao Dinh Thi Phuong & Thao Le Nguyen Phuong (2024) The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2329382, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2329382 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2329382 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 22 Mar 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 2384 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Marketing | research article Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2329382 The pathway from advertising appeals to behavioral intention: rainbow LGBTQ + ads and self-expressive loan Pham thi Be , Dinh tran Dinh, ha le thi khanh, thao Dinh thi Phuong and thao le nguyen Phuong university of economics—the university of Danang, Da nang, Vietnam ABSTRACT the explosion of information technology has created new marketing trends and advertising appeals from brands. these brands have also become diverse often defending the equality of the lgBtQ + group as a societal issue which garners attention in the modern era. Many firms frequently depict members of the lgBtQ + community in their advertising to demonstrate their position on this issue. We create a model in the context of the fashion industry, drawing on the stimulus Organism response theory (sOr), to investigate how the rainbow element affected the correlation between advertising appeals, (inner and social) self-expression, and behavioral intention when comparing Vietnamese and U.s. Data from the experimental survey were collected from 472 respondents, including Vietnamese and U.s. the finding indicates that rainbow lgBtQ + ads only moderate the relationship between advertising appeals and self-expressive in the U.s. case, while the Vietnamese case does not. self-expressive partially mediates the link between advertising appeals and behavioral intention. By comprehending the behavioral traits of both domestic and U.s. consumers, this study seeks to broaden existing research models and provide suitable recommendations to improve the commercial operations of firms. 1. Introduction Marketing strategies for businesses have always included an important element called advertising appeal. recently, there has been a rise in the scientific research of advertising appeal, including attempts to synthesize data through meta-analyses. although single-appeal effects have been the focus of earlier academic studies, moderating factors like the lgBtQ + factor have frequently been disregarded (Yousef et al., 2021). globalization, social media, and information technology have contributed to recent societal shifts. gender equality and acceptance of sexual orientation variations are on the rise. the number of individuals identifying as lgBtQ + has increased significantly since the 1980s and is currently at its highest (ciszek & Pounders, 2020). in 27 different nations, 19,069 people identify as anything but heterosexual, and 11% of them, according to ipsos (2021), identify as neither male nor female. around the world, 80% of individuals identify as heterosexual, 3% as gay, lesbian,…and 11% do not know or will not acknowledge their sexual orientation. after that, concerns over issues affecting the lgBtQ + community grew. the acronym lgBtQ+, which includes transsexuals (t) with the plus (+) displaying a variety of alternative sexual orientations and gender identities, has replaced the earlier word lgB in the community during the past ten years. lgBtQ + issues are one of the most significant social issues for the general population, according to cone communications (2017). Marketers’ interest in this sector has been sparked by the greater lgBtQ + community and this group’s considerable spending power. since marketing and advertising have made corporate social responsibility (csr) a core tenet that directs an organization’s © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT Loan Pham thi Be [email protected] university of economics—the university of Danang, Da nang, Vietnam. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2329382 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY received 8 august 2023 revised 9 February 2024 accepted 2 March 2024 REVIEWING EDITOR len tiu Wright, De Montfort University Faculty of Business and law, United kingdom KEYWORDS advertising appeal; rainbow lgBtQ + ads; behavioral intention; inner self-expressive; social self-expressive SUBJECTS advertising; consumer Behaviour; international Marketing 2 l. PhaM thi Be etal. values and identity (scheinbaum et al., 2017), an increasing number of businesses are getting active in csr and lgBtQ + societal issues. gender equality and, in particular, the rights of the lgBtQ + community, are major concerns for many people. to increase brand recognition and overall sales for the company, businesses use advertising to raise awareness of the ways they contribute to society and social issues (castaldo etal., 2009). according to champlin and li (2020), many businesses make a big effort to market their rainbow-patterned Pride-themed items throughout June in order to show their support for the lgBtQ + community. Most recently, three businesses formally supported the lgBtQ + equality act in 2015, which attempted to criminalize discrimination in the Us based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. More than 260 corporations have now backed it (human rights campaign, 2022). From the remarks above, it is obvious that businesses are benefiting more and more from using ‘rainbow’ in marketing and advertising. additionally, more studies on consumer behavior and lgBtQ-supportive policies are recommended (Parshakov et al., 2022). the lgBtQ + community is the main subject of this study’s analysis of company marketing initiatives. how will the lgBtQ + aspect (‘rainbow’) affect the relationship between advertising and self-expressive (inner-social), beginning with the advertising appeal, notably in the fashion industry? Find out how their propensities for conduct change after that. shepherd et al. (2021) claim that whether lgBtQ representation is regarded as ‘wholesome’ or ‘family-friendly,’ as well as how consumers react to such representation, is influenced by political ideology. consumer’s political ideology underpins their emotional reactions to such advertisements and that the resulting product-related attitudes. (northey et al., 2020). Vietnam scored a 30 on hofstede’s scale, making it a communist country with a higher degree of collectivism than individualism. individual self-expression is often discouraged in countries where collectivism is the prevalent value (lawrence, 2010) and they would be less likely to express their desires or support to the lgBtQ + community openly. the United states, on the other hand, has a score of 60 according to hofstede, making it a democratic country where individualism is valued highly. individual self-expression in the United states is encouraged or accepted (lawrence, 2010), and americans would most likely be more inclined to publicly declare or carry out their wish to support the lgBtQ + community. another motivation is based on a common pattern in the Us: it is among the most accepting of all time periods (Ucla 2020) and its trajectory continues to go up. Meanwhile, asian countries (typically Vietnam) are making relatively slow progress in accepting the rights of the lgBtQ + community. this difference is one of the motivations to conduct this research focusing on consumers from these regions. this comparison provides insights into varying levels of lgBtQ + acceptance and cultural sensitivities, which are crucial for tailoring marketing strategies. it helps in understanding the diverse consumer markets, adapting marketing strategies to different cultural contexts, and balancing global branding with local nuances as well as optimizing cost structure in business operation, especially for marketing aspect. the findings aim to guide fashion brands in creating effective, culturally sensitive and socially responsible advertising campaigns across different global markets. therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the influence of lgBtQ + factors on advertising appeal and to investigate whether this relationship affects customers’ behavioral intentions. the study also explores the differences between Vietnamese and U.s. consumers’ behavior intentions in these relationships. Furthermore, the research investigates the moderating effect of rainbow lgBtQ + ads on the relationship between advertising appeal and consumer self-expressive. the findings of this study are expected to contribute to the advancement of knowledge on advertising and consumer behavior and provide valuable insights for firm managers on how to interact with a diverse clientele effectively. 2.Theoretical framework and hypothesis development 2.1. Theoretical framework: the stimulus organism response theory (S-O-R Theory) the s-O-r theory, as expanded by Mehrabian and russell (1974), is used as the theoretical framework in this study. according to the s-O-r theory, various environmental elements operate as stimuli to alter people’s or creatures’ mental (psychological) health and produce behavioral reactions (sohaib et al., 2022). cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 3 Moreover, the s-O-r theory has been frequently applied in consumer behavior research (h.-J. chang et al., 2011). the stimulus is related to an environmental element that activates an organism’s internal states (song etal., 2021). Percy and rossiter (1992) investigated the impact of advertising stimulation. earlier research has demonstrated that advertising appeals can operate as an external environmental influence that changes consumers’ views (Zhang etal., 2014). specifically, advertising appeal is involved with the management and presentation of advertising to prospective customers (schmidt & eisend, 2015). in our study’s context, advertising appeal under the moderating role of rainbow lgBtQ + ads is considered as a stimulus. Brands show their support for lgBtQ + rights by incorporating rainbow colors into their marketing campaigns, such as producing a line of t-shirts with rainbow designs or redesigning their logo to include rainbow colors during Pride Month. these campaigns will act as an effective booster influencing consumers’ perception and assessment of this brand. the organism serves as a platform for consumers’ affective and cognitive states to be reflected and particular behavioral responses to be generated (Manganari etal., 2009). self-expressive is defined as the degree to which consumers perceive a brand represents their inner self (‘the sort of person i genuinely am on the inside’) or boosts their social self (‘how society perceives me’) (carroll & ahuvia, 2006). Besides, loureiro et al. (2012) also indicated that self-expression refers to how well a brand reflects a consumer’s self-concept as well as how effectively it helps them to express their ‘public self’ to others. as a result, we infer that self-expressive can play a function as an organism. in particular, the message of the advertising is that dressing in this brand’s apparel is a way to show one’s individuality and ideals in addition to style. lgBtQ + ads is defined as the representation of the lgBtQ + community in advertising. leite (2022) indicated that lgBtQ + representation in advertising exists in a variety of forms of iconography such as lgBtQ + flag, rainbow, illustration of same-sex couples, etc. Wearing clothing from these lgBtQ + support collections might be interpreted by a customer who identifies as lgBtQ + or supports lgBtQ + rights. it is a means of expressing both consumers’ social and inner selves, showing their support for lgBtQ + inclusion and identification with the lgBtQ + community. the response is related to the outputs revealed by consumer actions and behaviors (roschk et al., 2017). a previous study suggested that customers’ responses might be conveyed in the form of behavioral intention (Zhu et al., 2019). the degree to which a person is prompted to carry out specific behaviors is known as behavioral intention (ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Davis, 1989). this study analyzed behavioral intention as consumers’ reactions in the context of companies adopting rainbow lgBtQ + advertising appeals. after interpreting rainbow lgBtQ + advertising appeals, behavioral intentions will start to appear in consumers. By resonating with their values and identity, consumers are prompted to have specific behavioral intentions, for example, purchase this brand’s clothing, either to express solidarity with the lgBtQ + community or to showcase their own identity as part of this community. in general, advertising appeal under the moderating role of rainbow lgBtQ + ads is a strong stimulus affecting consumers’ perception and evaluation of a specific brand. then, consumers absorb the stimulus from the information in the brand attributes. self-expressive acts as a mediator when consumers analyze the stimulus of advertising appeals to formulate their intention. Finally, our study considered behavioral intentions as consumer responses in the context of brands using advertising appeals under the moderating role of rainbow lgBtQ + ads. therefore, the s-O-r theory provides an appropriate framework for exploring how advertising appeals under the moderating role of rainbow lgBtQ + ads (external stimuli) affect inner & social self-expressive (as organisms) to predict consumers’ behavioral intention (response). 2.2. Hypothesis development 2.2.1. Moderating effects of rainbow LGBTQ + ads according to leite (2022), lgBtQ + representation in advertising takes the shape of imagery such as the lgBtQ + flag, rainbow, illustrations of same-sex couples, and so on. as a result, to measure the direct impact of lgBtQ + ads on behavioral intention, a combination of many of those elements is needed. in this study, the rainbow factor is the main focus since it is the world’s most recognized lgBtQ + symbol. according to Wareham (2020), the rainbow’s distinct and brilliant colours of red, orange, yellow, green, 4 l. PhaM thi Be etal. blue, and violet combine to provide a strong emblem for the lgBt + community. li (2022) demonstrates that during Pride Month in June, companies are more welcoming to lgBtQ + individuals. During this period, businesses promote items and marketing with rainbows and equality-themed language (champlin & li, 2020). several global companies have incorporated rainbow colors in their advertising and donated a portion of the revenues from such campaigns to groups that protect the rights of the lgBtQ + community. rainbow lgBtQ + ads are supposed to be a form of self-expressive for lgBtQ + consumers. according to Oakenfull and greenlee (2005), advertisers efficiently target gay and lesbian consumers by allowing them to identify themselves via the product being promoted, which implies the brand is offering lgBtQ + consumers a chance to inner self-express. Bond and Farrell (2020) study also found that exposure to advertisements with sexual imagery in line with the audience’s sexuality leads to favorable consumer behavioral outcomes. so, we propose that rainbow lgBtQ + ads serve as a moderator in the link between advertising appeal and inner self-expressive: h1: rainbow lgBtQ + ads moderate the effect of advertising appeal to inner self-expressive. the outcomes obtained by businesses adopting lgBtQ + advertising appeal are still under discussion. Previous research has found that commercials featuring same-gender couples elicit more negative reactions and emotions than traditional imagery (angelini & Bradley, 2010). however, public acceptance of homosexuality has expanded dramatically in recent decades (ghaziani etal., 2016), which is expected to influence consumers’ perceptions of lgBtQ + ads. Many attempts have been made to achieve equality for the lgBtQ + population, resulting in companies staying connected with consumers by displaying their viewpoints on the subject (snyder, 2015). Firms applying lgBt-supportive policies grabbed lots of attention and received value in their business operations (chintrakarn et al., 2020; hossain et al., 2020). consumers may demonstrate their support for the lgBtQ + community through rainbow lgBtQ + ads, improving what others think of them or how society sees them. as a result, it is reasonable to speculate that rainbow lgBtQ + ads serve as a moderator in the link between advertising appeals and social self-expressive: h2: rainbow lgBtQ + ads moderate the effect of advertising appeal to social self-expressive. 2.2.2. Advertising appeal & behavioral intention advertising appeal includes both emotional and rational appeal, which is assessed on five dimensions: entertainment, informativeness, deceptiveness, irritation, and advertising value (De Battista etal., 2021). it is concluded that advertising appeal can lead to a favorable appraisal of specific items or services (nguyen, 2014). Previous research has identified advertising appeal as an external source of information that can influence the establishment of consumer beliefs and attitudes, ultimately leading to product purchase intention. the degree to which a person is compelled to perform certain actions is defined as behavioral intention (ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). according to raza et al. (2017), advertising appeal is deliberately connected to intention. Wardhani and alif (2019) discovered that advertising appeal, particularly emotional appeals, generated a favorable attitude among consumers toward the commercial and the brand, and so have a higher effect on driving customer purchase intentions. advertising appeal can lead to the adoption of an attitude or behavior (lee & hong, 2016). in accordance with previous observations, we propose the following hypothesis: h3: advertising appeal has a positive effect on behavioral intention. 2.2.3. Advertising appeal and self-expressive (inner & social) the degree to which customers feel a brand symbolizes their inner self (‘the type of person i actually am on the inside’) or promotes their social self (‘how society views me’) is characterized as self-expressive (carroll & ahuvia, 2006). Besides, Jan et al. (2015) noted that fashion may be used to express self-expressive, which can help individuals improve their social standing and become more accepted in a class of society (rahman et al., 2018). as a result, this study chose the fashion industry due to its relationship to self-expressive. cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 5 More study into two types of self-expressive brands is required, according to the emerging literature on the importance of brand self-concept. recent research on self-expressive brands of gaustad et al. (2019) also showed that the impacts of brands on the ability to express the inner or social self should be explored individually. consequently, we perform the research with a separation of inner and social self-expressive. self-expressive brands reflect the inner self, mirror consumers’ true selves, serve as an extension of their personality, and represent the type of person they are on the inside (carroll & ahuvia, 2006). consumers nowadays regularly use brands as a way of self-expressive, therefore it stands to reason that they would choose items that match their self-concept (cătălin & andreea, 2014). Previous research has also shown that congruent advertising appeals to viewers’ self-concepts are better than incongruent appeals when it comes to optimizing advertising effectiveness (c. chang, 2014). therefore, the following hypothesis is logically proposed by this study: h4: advertising appeal has a positive effect on inner self-expressive. self-expressive brands having the ability to represent the social self are ones that the consumer believes will enhance their image, reflect their social role, and have a substantial impact on how they are seen by others or society (carroll & ahuvia, 2006). advertising as a socialisation tool was explored by choi and Burnham (2020), notably in respect to gender representation. advertisers use social messaging on lgBtQ + equality, ecological consumption, ethics, and racism to differentiate themselves (chauhan & shukla, 2016). the purpose of these social advertising appeals is to make people aware of their societal responsibilities, as a result, to develop a positive image as responsible and genuine enterprises for a long-term connection with consumers. in conclusion, advertising appeal is seen to have a favorable influence on social self-expressive as it helps consumers picture themselves in a social position and improves how others judge their attention to social concerns. as a result, we come to the following hypothesis: h5: advertising appeal has a positive effect on social self-expressive. 2.2.4. Self-expressive (inner & social) and behavioral intention customers use brands to represent themselves, according to consumer behavior research (Belk, 1988), which piqued marketers’ interest in examining the impact of self-expressive on behavioral intention. significant research demonstrates that consumers form strong self-brand links in which brands become key aspects of their self-expressive (sprott et al., 2009), and that such perceptions can have a significant influence on actions (ruane & Wallace, 2015). consumers who perceive a brand to be self-expressive are more likely to advocate that brand favorably (ruane & Wallace, 2015). in accordance with the findings, inner self-expressive can have a favorable effect on behavioral intention. Moreover, inner self-expressive can act as a mediator between advertising appeal and behavioral intention. h6: inner self-expressive has a positive effect on behavioral intention. social self-expressive is considered to be significant in determining consumer behavioral intentions. individuals, according to hardy and Van Vugt (2006), have a larger motivation to consume in a way that helps society. this is also a reason for firms pursuing corporate social responsibility (csr) in their operations. Preceding studies indicated that csr has a positive impact on customers’ behavioral intention including purchase intention, recommend intention, loyalty product evaluation, word of mouth and so on (Deng & Xu, 2017; Palihawadana etal., 2016; Walsh & Bartikowski, 2013). Furthermore, consumers who contact with socially self-expressive brands are more likely to tolerate a brand’s wrongdoing (Wallace et al., 2014). similar to inner self-expressive, we believe the hypothesis of social self-expressive has a favorable influence on behavioral intention. additionally, social self-expressive can mediate the link between advertising appeals and behavioral intention. h7: social self-expressive has a positive effect on behavioral intention. in general, our proposed research model was developed from the s-O-r theory. advertising appeal is predicted to have a positive influence on consumers’ inner and social self-expressive, which leads to consumers’ behavioral intention with the moderating effect of rainbow lgBtQ + ads (Figure 1). 6 l. PhaM thi Be etal. 3. Methodology according to Miller (2005), the experimental approach has been extensively used in consumer behavior research as a powerful way to examine cause-and-effect relationships with a purposely narrow focus and more conclusive findings than other research methods such as observations or surveys. in addition to developing new theories or testing the validity of current ones, experimental consumer research studies can also be used to investigate the fundamental causes of phenomena and establish their boundary conditions (Morales et al., 2017). the best way to examine causal hypotheses is through experimental research since it can confidently establish the first three causality criteria, including association, time order, and non-spuriousness (chambliss & schutt, 2018). 3.1. Data collection and sample to construct an online experiment approach with Vietnamese consumers and U.s. consumers, this study employs data obtained through a self-administered online questionnaire in the form of a Microsoft Form. We conducted an online survey and divided the respondents into two groups at random: those who notice rainbow lgBtQ + ads and those who do not. in this way, we assess the variations in how advertising appeal affects customers’ behavioral intentions. to prevent the respondents from having preconceived notions about real fashion brands, we first created a fictional fashion brand named Mig clothing. the design of the products and logos (non-lgBtQ+ & lgBtQ+) is then depicted using graphics (Figures 2–4). We used the same survey settings for an 8-week global survey. the questionnaire was distributed through Facebook online survey filling groups for Vietnamese participants. additionally, the survey was distributed using the Messenger app, with contacts urged to complete the questionnaire and share it with other parties. For U.s. participants, the study team traveled to an thuong streets, My an beach, and hoi an ancient town, where the majority of foreigners visit and live, to disseminate the survey through a Qr code. Furthermore, the team distributed the survey by links and Qr codes to foreign exchange survey and foreign expat groups on Facebook. For the sole purpose of this study, all participant data will be maintained in confidence and will not be identified. We employed a check attention question which asked, ‘Please select the response ‘Paper’’ for this question: how do you feel?’ to assess the participants’ attention. also, the concentration test questions ‘Please choose ‘agree’ option’ and ‘Please choose ‘Disagree’ option’ (1 = totally disagree to 5 = totally agree) are utilized in the questionnaire. those who made a choice other than the mandatory response were not included in the sample. after eliminating outliers and incomplete surveys, 472 of the 526 administered questionnaires were determined to be suitable for Figure 1. Proposed research model. Figure 2. Rainbow color palette. cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 7 data analysis. respondents who were not from the United states were excluded from the sample. in addition, some demographic questions such as gender, age, education level, nationality, and occupation were included at the beginning of the questionnaire. Based on the research overview, a questionnaire was created and then customized for the Vietnamese and global research contexts. the questions were initially written in english before being translated into Vietnamese. the Vietnamese version of the survey is then back-translated by 5 lecturers from the Faculty of english, University of Foreign language studies, University of Danang, Vietnam to ensure translation accuracy. to improve the content validity of the measurement, a pre-test was carried out with a sample of 15 Vietnamese and 15 U.s. users. they were requested to complete the survey and review the questionnaire for readability, relevance, and meaning. 3.2. Variables measurement the constructs’ measurement items were adopted from previous studies and modified to correspond with the present research setting to ensure content validity. the questionnaire for this study has 26 measurement items modified from earlier research (see appendix B). advertising appeal was specifically assessed using 15 items derived from a previous study by lou and Yuan (2019). Wallace et al. (2014) research was used to assess inner self-expressive (04 items) and social self-expressive (04 items). Finally, 03 items derived from Bian and Forsythe (2012) comprised behavioral intention. the measures of each concept were rated using a 5-point likert scale. ‘totally Disagree’ was placed at ‘1’ on the scale, and ‘totally agree’ was moored at ‘5’. the questionnaire was divided into three sections: an introduction, demographic data of the respondents, and a 26-item evaluation of those respondents (see appendix c). 4. Results and discussion 4.1. Descriptive statistic referring to the research sample description, female constitutes over half of the respondents (equivalent to 53.2%), while males and other genders comprise 36.4% and 10.4%, respectively. regarding the age criterion, there are 41.1% of respondents in the age range of 18 to 25, while the figure for participants above 45 years old is the lowest (about 12.7%). the proportion of respondents having bachelor’s degrees is the highest, at 40.3%, followed by the data of participants whose highest education level is high Figure 3. 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Respondent Vietnamese u.s total sample size 236 236 472  50.0% 50.0% 100.0% gender 50.0% 50.0% 100.0% Male 16.3% 20.1% 36.4% Female 30.9% 22.2% 53.2% others 2.8% 7.6% 10.4% age 50.0% 50.0% 100.0% From 18 to 26 23.5% 17.6% 41.1% From 27 to 35 8.7% 14.0% 22.7% From 36 to 45 12.7% 10.8% 23.5% above 45 5.1% 7.6% 12.7% education 50.0% 50.0% 100.0% Lower than high school 5.3% 1.5% 6.8% High school 13.1% 7.8% 21.0% College 6.6% 9.5% 16.1% Bachelor 19.1% 21.2% 40.3% Master 5.3% 8.5% 13.8% PhD 0.6% 1.5% 2.1% Job 50.0% 50.0% 100.0% student 18.2% 14.4% 32.6% teacher, Lecturer 6.6% 4.2% 10.8% Clerk, officer 9.1% 8.9% 18.0% Civil servant 2.3% 0.0% 2.3% start-up 3.4% 4.4% 7.8% Business Household, Business owner 2.8% 5.9% 8.7% Housewife, Retirement 0.8% 1.9% 2.8% general Labor 4.2% 4.9% 9.1% Others 2.5% 5.3% 7.8% 16 l. PhaM thi Be etal. Appendix B. Measurement scales Constructs Research items sources advertising appeal advertising value [aP1] advertising is valuable. [aP2] advertising is useful. [aP3] advertising is important. informativeness [aP4] advertisements supply relevant information on products. [aP5] advertising provides timely information on products. [aP6] advertisements tell people about products when they need the information. Deceptiveness [aP7] advertisements are deceptive. [aP8] advertisements lie. [aP9] important facts about products are left out of advertisements. entertainment [aP10] advertisements are entertaining. [aP11] advertising is enjoyable. [aP12] advertisements are pleasing. irritation [aP13] advertising is irritating. [aP14] advertisements insult people’s intelligence. [aP15] there is too much advertising. (Lou & Yuan, 2019) self-expressive inner self-expressive [si1] this brand symbolizes the kind of person i really am inside. [si2] this brand reflects my personality. [si3] this brand is an extension of my inner self. [si4] this brand mirrors the real me. social self-expressive [ss1] this brand contributes to my image. [ss2] this brand adds to the social ‘role’ i play. [ss3] this brand has a positive impact on what others think of me. [ss4] this brand improves the way society views me. (Wallace et al., 2014) Behavioral intention [Bi1] i intend to purchase from this brand next time. [Bi2] i will recommend this brand to my family or friends. [Bi3] the probability i would consider buying this brand is high. (Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Kuo & Wu, 2012; MacDonald & smith, 2004) Appendix C Questionnaire PART 1: surveyor’s information 1. Your gender: ◦Male ◦Female ◦Others 2. Your education: ◦lower than high school ◦high school ◦college ◦Bachelor ◦Master ◦PhD 3. Which age group are you in? ◦From 18 to 26 ◦From 27 to 35 ◦From 36 to 45 ◦above 45 4. What is your nationality? ◦american ◦Vietnamese ◦Others cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 17 5. What is your current career? ◦student ◦lecturer ◦civil servants ◦clerk, Officer ◦start-up ◦Business household, Business Owner ◦homemaker/retirees ◦employee ◦Others PART 2: evaluate to confirm that you have read the instructions carefully and focused on our survey, please skip the next question about how you feel, and you only choose the ‘Paper’ option to answer this question. thank you for your concentration! Please choose 1 word that describes your current feeling or state. ◦angry ◦anxious ◦excited ◦happy ◦Paper ◦Proud ◦ashamed ————————— random assign: Case 1: next, you will be asked to look carefully at some promotional images of a brand during Pride Month, then answer a few questions related to this image. *note: Pride Month is a month-long observance in celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people-and the history, culture, and contributions of these people and their communities. Case 2: next, you will be asked to look closely at some promotional images of an international brand and answer a few questions related to this image. 18 l. PhaM thi Be etal. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements after viewing the ad above. 1 2 3 4 5 totally disagree Disagree neutral agree totally agree 10. Advertising appeal 1 2 3 4 5 advertising is valuable advertising is useful advertising is important advertisements supply relevant information on products advertising provides timely information on products advertisements tell people about products when they need the information advertisements are deceptive advertisements lie Please choose ‘4’ option important facts about products are left out of advertisements advertisements are entertaining advertising is enjoyable/ Quảng cáo thật thú vị advertisements are pleasing advertising is irritating advertisements insult people’s intelligence there is too much advertising 11. Self-expressive social perspective 1 2 3 4 5 this brand symbolizes the kind of person i really am inside this brand reflects my personality this brand is an extension of my inner self this brand mirrors the real me Inner perspective this brand contributes to my image this brand adds to the social ‘role’ i play this brand has a positive impact on what others think of me this brand improves the way society views me 12. Behavioral intention 1 2 3 4 5 i intend to purchase from this brand next time i will recommend this brand to my family or friends Please choose ‘1’ option the probability i would consider buying this brand is high THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESTIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS!