An Exploratory Study on the Use of Message Frames in Canadian Mortgage Loan Advertisements

Abstract

Buying a home is a major financial decision. Financial institutions attempt to persuade home buyers to get the mortgage they are offering through mortgage loan advertisements. These advertisements try to help in simplifying the decision process. Therefore, how a mortgage advertisement affects a consumer’s decision-making is an important question to ask. To date, it is unclear which combinations of message frames financial institutions use to persuade and help consumers in their decision-making. This study therefore aims to identify the types of message frames used in newspaper mortgage advertisements, and in what combinations. Based on framing theory, it is expected that mortgage loan advertisements will include the following eight framing dimensions: valence, temporal, message specificity, message appeals, source credibility, value orientation, point of reference, and visual imagery. Research questions were explored through qualitative content analysis of mortgage ads. Sixty-four mortgage ads appeared in a single newspaper over a two-year period. The results of the content analysis suggested that a positive emotional message with an image of people, with a fixed-term and a specific interest rate are the commonly used message frames. The next step of the study is to test the effects of message framing in mortgage advertisements on attitudes and behavioral intentions.