Neuromarketing and Health Marketing Synergies: A Protection Motivation Theory Approach to Breast Cancer Screening Advertising

Skandali, D, Yfantidou, I ORCID: 0000-0003-3200-2185 and Tsourvakas, G (2025) Neuromarketing and Health Marketing Synergies: A Protection Motivation Theory Approach to Breast Cancer Screening Advertising. Information, 16 (9). ISSN 2078-2489

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Abstract

This study investigates the psychological and emotional mechanisms underlying women’s reactions to breast cancer awareness advertisements through the dual lens of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and neuromarketing methods, addressing a gap in empirical research on the integration of biometric and cognitive approaches in health marketing. Utilizing a lab-based experiment with 78 women aged 40 and older, we integrated Facial Expression Analysis using Noldus FaceReader 9.0 with semi-structured post-exposure interviews. Six manipulated health messages were embedded within a 15 min audiovisual sequence, with each message displayed for 5 s. Quantitative analysis revealed that Ads 2 and 5 elicited the highest mean fear scores (0.45 and 0.42) and surprise scores (0.35 and 0.33), while Ad 4 generated the highest happiness score (0.31) linked to coping appraisal. Emotional expressions—including fear, sadness, surprise, and neutrality—were recorded in real time and analyzed quantitatively. The facial analysis data were triangulated with thematic insights from interviews, targeting perceptions of threat severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy. The findings confirm that fear-based appeals are only effective when paired with actionable coping strategies, providing empirical support for PMT’s dual-process model. By applying mixed-methods analysis to the evaluation of health messages, this study makes three contributions: (1) it extends PMT by validating the emotional–cognitive integration framework through biometric–qualitative convergence; (2) it offers practical sequencing principles for combining threat and coping cues; and (3) it proposes cross-modal methodology guidelines for future health campaigns.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	neuromarketing; Protection Motivation Theory; Facial Expression Analysis; health harketing; advertising; 46 Information and Computing Sciences; Women's Health; Behavioral and Social Science; Prevention; Cancer; Aging; Mental Health; Clinical Research; Breast Cancer; 08 Information and Computing Sciences; 46 Information and computing sciences
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business > HF5410 Marketing. Distribution of Products
Divisions:	Liverpool Business School
Publisher:	MDPI
Date of acceptance:	18 August 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	11 August 2026
Date Deposited:	11 Aug 2026 13:21
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2026 13:21
DOI or ID number:	10.3390/info16090715
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29141

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