A systematic review of shock advertising

This working paper presents an ongoing systematic review of academic research into shock advertising, with the intention of helping academics, practitioners and policy makers to make sense of the nature, extent, and... [ view full abstract ]

This working paper presents an ongoing systematic review of academic research into shock advertising, with the intention of helping academics, practitioners and policy makers to make sense of the nature, extent, and effectiveness of, and audience response to, the use of shock in advertising. Existing research in this field has identified a plethora of concepts and tensions in the use of language, as well as certain inconsistencies and contradictions in both the methods used and results obtained. In response, this systematic review aims to compile an authoritative synthesis of what the current evidence says- a comprehensive, objective and reliable overview of all the disparate strands of the available literature on shock advertising. Systematic review methods have been applied to search for, identify and critically appraise all relevant evidence. Currently, the search results have been retrieved from the databases, de-duplicated and 6939 results are being assessed against the initial relevance criteria. This will be followed by an assessment of study quality and finally, a synthesis and analysis, which will help identify gaps for future research and allow for a deeper and more objective understanding of the nature, extent, and effectiveness of, and audience response to, the use of shock in advertising.