Warning of persuading attempts and ambiguity within advertising contexts in Mexico

Main Article Content

Carlos Gabriel Colín Flores

Abstract

A common reaction people have when they are trying to be convinced of something is resistance, because they do not want to feel manipulated. This reaction is defined in the Persuasion Knowledge Model. On the other hand, people also show resistance to ambiguous messages because they look for clear messages that are easy to interpret.
This research analyzed the resulting attitude of 145 participants regarding a message about an unknown product, in four trial conditions, in which variables of persuasion were manipulated (within an advertising context with commercial purposes and another context that was not advertising nor narrative) and the ambiguity degree of the message, either in logical or in random order (not ordered).
The message for a product was broadcasted within different contexts: advertising-ordered, advertising-not-ordered, narrative-ordered, and narrative-not ordered.
The findings indicate for a sample of population in Mexico facing an advertising context, as well as ambiguous, in an independent way, there is a less favorable attitude from the participants toward the product. However, when the advertising and ambiguous context interact, the message was found to be more persuasive than in the narrative-alone context, and this constitutes an opportunity to delve into the understanding of the behavior of message receivers facing an advertising and ambiguous context.

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How to Cite
Colín Flores, C. G. (2021). Warning of persuading attempts and ambiguity within advertising contexts in Mexico. The Anáhuac Journal, 21(2), 78–103. https://doi.org/10.36105/theanahuacjour.2021.v21n2.03
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Artículos
Author Biography

Carlos Gabriel Colín Flores, Universidad Anáhuac Mexico

Carlos Gabriel Colín Flores studied Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and has a master’s degree in Administration by the Instituto Tecnológico Autonómo de México (ITAM). He also has various diplomas by the Universidad Iberoamericana, EGADE Business School of Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, and the Kennan-Flagler School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, he has taken specialization courses in Strategy and Business Analytics at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as in Pricing at the Graduate School of Business in Columbia University, among others. He has a PhD in Administration (organizations) by UNAM. He has worked as an executive in companies such as Coca-Cola Femsa, Grupo Peñafiel, Grupo Cuervo, Grupo Resistol, among others. He holds a professorship at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad Anáhuac, and teaches at EGADE Business School. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican company ZD Logística y Negocios.

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