They shouldn't let them out for us to see': Empathy and affect intensity as determinants of responses to representations of the facially disfigured in charity advertising

Test subjects were exposed to made‐up advertisements for a hypothetical facial disfigurement charity. Certain groups saw an advertisement featuring a disfigured young person on his own; others a similar representation but with the addition of either a physically attractive or unattractive female announcer. Responses to a written appeal accompanying the visual imagery were measured and analysed according to test subjects' levels of emotionality and predisposition to experience empathy. The experiment was repeated using control groups who were given comparable advertisements that did not include any sight of a disfigured person — only an attractive or unattractive female announcer. It emerged that advertisements containing both a disfigured individual and a physically attractive announcer evoked the most favourable responses.