Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention
In today’s market, consumers appear to be less interested in promotional strategies, particularly those that rely on text-based advertisements. Graphic storytelling can be seen as providing a more engaging visual approach to attract audiences and is increasingly being used by marketers and food pack...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Foods |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2572 |
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| author | Lingnuo Wang Xin Fang Ying Xiao Yangyue Li Yulin Sun Lei Zheng Charles Spence |
| author_facet | Lingnuo Wang Xin Fang Ying Xiao Yangyue Li Yulin Sun Lei Zheng Charles Spence |
| author_sort | Lingnuo Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In today’s market, consumers appear to be less interested in promotional strategies, particularly those that rely on text-based advertisements. Graphic storytelling can be seen as providing a more engaging visual approach to attract audiences and is increasingly being used by marketers and food packaging designers. However, the questions of whether and how graphic storytelling influences consumers’ purchase intentions remain underexplored. Based on the Transportation–Imagery Model, two experimental studies were conducted to examine the effect of graphic storytelling on narrative transportation and food purchase intention, and to explore its underlying mechanism from the perspective of cognitive fluency. The results demonstrated the positive effect of graphic storytelling on narrative transportation (Studies 1 and 2), as well as a significant impact on food purchase intention (Study 2). Furthermore, cognitive fluency was identified as a critical factor impacting narrative transportation, facilitated by graphic storytelling (Studies 1 and 2). This study extends the Transportation–Imagery Model by positioning cognitive fluency as an important antecedent of narrative transportation. Practically, the suggestion would be for restaurants and food firms to optimize their advertising by displaying cooking processes, particularly for part-prepared foods. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7843cd2ae9ac4eda91d15a5b643d3b78 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-7843cd2ae9ac4eda91d15a5b643d3b782025-08-20T03:36:03ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-07-011415257210.3390/foods14152572Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase IntentionLingnuo Wang0Xin Fang1Ying Xiao2Yangyue Li3Yulin Sun4Lei Zheng5Charles Spence6School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauSchool of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauSchool of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauSchool of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauSchool of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, MacauCrossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UKIn today’s market, consumers appear to be less interested in promotional strategies, particularly those that rely on text-based advertisements. Graphic storytelling can be seen as providing a more engaging visual approach to attract audiences and is increasingly being used by marketers and food packaging designers. However, the questions of whether and how graphic storytelling influences consumers’ purchase intentions remain underexplored. Based on the Transportation–Imagery Model, two experimental studies were conducted to examine the effect of graphic storytelling on narrative transportation and food purchase intention, and to explore its underlying mechanism from the perspective of cognitive fluency. The results demonstrated the positive effect of graphic storytelling on narrative transportation (Studies 1 and 2), as well as a significant impact on food purchase intention (Study 2). Furthermore, cognitive fluency was identified as a critical factor impacting narrative transportation, facilitated by graphic storytelling (Studies 1 and 2). This study extends the Transportation–Imagery Model by positioning cognitive fluency as an important antecedent of narrative transportation. Practically, the suggestion would be for restaurants and food firms to optimize their advertising by displaying cooking processes, particularly for part-prepared foods.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2572graphic storytellingfood consumptionnarrative transportationcognitive fluency |
| spellingShingle | Lingnuo Wang Xin Fang Ying Xiao Yangyue Li Yulin Sun Lei Zheng Charles Spence Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention Foods graphic storytelling food consumption narrative transportation cognitive fluency |
| title | Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention |
| title_full | Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention |
| title_fullStr | Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention |
| title_short | Applying Visual Storytelling in Food Marketing: The Effect of Graphic Storytelling on Narrative Transportation and Purchase Intention |
| title_sort | applying visual storytelling in food marketing the effect of graphic storytelling on narrative transportation and purchase intention |
| topic | graphic storytelling food consumption narrative transportation cognitive fluency |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/15/2572 |
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