The Effect of Narrative Transportation on the Narrative-Relevant Ad Evaluation

Abstract

According to Transportation-Imagery Model of Narrative Persuasion, the transportation (absorption into text) into the story affects audiences' attitude towards the content of the story. However, it is doubtful that all the narrative persuasion is effective in every aspect of the narrative. It was predicted that those who transported into the story would prefer only items which had strong relationship with the character's goal pursuit, because narrative transportation would enhance audiences' positive affect caused by the character's goal achievement. As a result of experimental investigation, those who imagined the events during reading showed higher transportation, and preferred the ad with the central item compared with those who looked for the erratum in the text. The attitude towards the peripheral item ad was not affected by transportation. Additional analysis showed that the effect of transportation on the evaluation of the central item ad was mediated by the positive affect.