A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: Using Depicted Movement in Picture-Based Ads to Increase Narrative Transportation

Storytelling is a common tactic used by marketers to connect with consumers and persuade through narrative transportation. While researchers have explored how narrative transportation can be generated through many different mediums, little research has investigated how narrative transportation can be achieved through a single image, such as those used for print ads and billboards. This research examines how single-image, picture-based ads with high levels of depicted movement can prompt consumers to empathize with characters in the ad, activate their imagination, and experience narrative transportation leading to more positive attitudes toward that ad. In addition, when ads incorporate a design tactic that requires inductive inference, such as showing products as humanized, narrative transportation can be generated even in the absence of depicted movement. This research adds to the narrative transportation literature by providing depicted movement and humanization as specific tactics advertisers can use in a single image to persuade through narrative transportation.