Using Facial Electromyography to Test the Peak–End Rule in Tourism Advertising

Abstract

This article examines how real-time emotions elicited by advertisements affect post-viewing judgments, with the goal of determining whether the key moments of real-time emotions lead to enhanced global retrospective judgments. Facial electromyography (EMG) was used to measure objective and unbiased moment-to-moment emotions. One hundred and one participants watched three destination advertisements while their real-time facial EMG data and self-report ratings were collected. The results demonstrate that tourism consumers’ average, peak, and end emotional experiences are correlated with their post-viewing attitude toward the advertisement. However, this study does not provide additional support for superiority of the peak and end moments in driving global retrospective evaluations in tourism advertising. The study advances our understanding of how consumers evaluate tourism advertisements based on more objective physiological data and extends the literature on key moments and retrospective evaluations. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.