Ask Formally: The Role of Formality on Charitable Giving

Advertising uses language in its messaging, which includes both content and style (Norton, 1978; Schindler & Bickart, 2012). In charitable advertising, the content of such messages remains relatively constant, generally consisting of information about the charity and a request of readers to dona...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sundar, Aparna, Cao, Edita, Pfeiffer, Bruce E
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Consumer behavior
Donations
Philanthropy
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Advertising uses language in its messaging, which includes both content and style (Norton, 1978; Schindler & Bickart, 2012). In charitable advertising, the content of such messages remains relatively constant, generally consisting of information about the charity and a request of readers to donate. What can change about the message is the style. Style in language is that aspect of communication that is intended to state information with varied expression (Labov, 1972). Formal style includes word choice and structure that adheres carefully to standard grammatical form. Informal (or colloquial) style, on the other hand, includes characteristics that follow everyday conversational norms which differ based on social context (Grice, 1975; Heylighen & Dawaele, 1999). Given that people use different styles to communicate dependent on context (Joos, 1961), we expect that formality would not be received in the same way in every context. One aspect of social context which makes language style so critical is the social distance between individuals. This is because the information inherent in the style adopted by the communicator helps the audience infer meaning (Halliday, 1985; Poynton, 1985).
ISSN:0098-9258