The Role of Regulatory Focus, Social Distance, and Involvement in Anti-High-Risk Drinking Advertising: A Construal-Level Theory Perspective

The present study examines the effects of regulatory focus, social distance, and involvement interplay on responses to anti-high-risk advertising messages. Results indicate that when asked to make judgments for distant entities, individuals are more persuaded by a promotion-focused frame in terms of ad attitudes, and responsible drinking attitudes and intentions, whereas there are no differential framing effects on judgments associated with proximal entities. The findings suggest the moderating effects of social distance on regulatory focus consistent with construal-level theory. In addition, in examining boundary conditions the results reveal that the construal-level effects are dependent on individuals’ involvement levels.