Dull and Deadly: The Influence of Black-and-White vs. Color End-Of-Life Ads on Death Anxiety

Abstract

End-of-life (EOL) preplanning is an important and inevitable aspect of consumption, yet many consumers are still resistant to the activity. This resistance tends to come from death anxiety, an aversive feeling that is associated with thinking about death and death-related products. Thus, this research seeks to document a novel mechanism whereby death anxiety can be reduced: color saturation. Even though many EOL ads are shown in black and white (BW), presumably as a means to signal sincerity and gravity, we argue from the perspective of color-in-context theory that BW actually has a negative connotation in the death domain due to its symbolic associations with the macabre. Across three experimental studies, we find that BW (vs. color) EOL ads increase death anxiety, which thereby reduces attitudes toward those ads. Meanwhile, color ads yield more positive attitudes due to lower death anxiety. These findings have implications for color-in-context theory and the EOL preplanning context as well as for marketers in the EOL industry.