ABSTRACT
This chapter examines consumption narratives in advertisements to ascertain the relationship between chronology and causality, the basic elements of narrative structure, and affective responses. Narrative advertisements are able to absorb consumers into an ad and generate favorable emotional responses to the ad and, in turn, to the brand. The chapter presents a general discussion of narrative structure, drawing from literary criticism, social psychology, and consumer behavior research. It examines sympathy and empathy as emotional responses that lead to other feeling responses such as upbeat and warm feelings. The chapter presents the findings from an experiment designed to shed light on the relationships between advertising narratives and emotional responses. Plot is the distinctive feature that sets narratives apart from stories, which are merely a set of events that occur in time without any explanation of their relationship. The chapter also identifies directions for future research.
