How effective is the use of religious appeals in advertising? A meta-analytic investigation

Abstract

Advertising scholars have studied the persuasiveness of religious symbols in ads for more than two decades. However, the extent to which religious appeals influence attitudes and behavioral intentions remains a contentious issue. This study aims to provide conclusive insights by analyzing inconsistent findings across studies on the persuasiveness of religious appeals. We reviewed and analyzed 35 empirical studies (N = 7,983) using a meta-analytic approach. Our results reveal that whereas religious appeals positively influence attitudes and the overall persuasion, they do not significantly impact behavioral intentions. We also tested several moderating factors, including type of religious symbol, brand context, advertising domain, product type, gender, cultural context, and religious affiliation. Notably, type of religious symbol and gender significantly moderated the effect of religious appeals on the overall persuasiveness. As a result, this meta-analysis seeks to make a definitive contribution to the debate on the effectiveness of religious appeals in advertising by conducting a statistical synthesis. It addresses a critical gap in the literature by examining how and to what extent advertising messages combined with religious appeals influence the overall persuasion, offering valuable insights for both scholars and advertising professionals.