Decoding Emotional Signatures of Ethical Ads: An Analysis of Actor‐Viewer Synchrony

Abstract

We examine whether ethical advertisements differ from conventional ads in their on‐screen emotional signatures and whether those signatures transfer to actor‐viewer synchrony. Study 1 analyses 138 professionally produced YouTube ads using Automated Facial Expression Recognition (AFER) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to quantify actor‐displayed basic emotions and their links to exposure‐adjusted engagement (comments and likes per 1000 views per day since release). Study 2 then measures viewers' facial responses while watching the same ads, showing that actor emotion peaks precede viewer peaks by fractions of a second and add incremental prediction for comment versus like intention. Across the two studies, we observe that ethical ads exhibit heavier moral‐diagnostic emotions and lighter happiness/neutrality on screen; moral peaks align more closely with discussion (comments), and happiness aligns more closely with quick approval (likes). We additionally specify and operationalise moral‐affect congruence and test whether congruence explains engagement beyond emotion main effects. We temper the observed findings by discussing boundary conditions (e.g., shot scale, occlusion). Finally, both theoretical and practical implications for creative design are outlined. The findings advance consumer research by reframing emotion in ethical advertising as a temporal and relational mechanism of moral persuasion, where short, congruent emotional peaks shape how audiences publicly engage. Practically, the results demonstrate how emotional timing, congruence and facial legibility can be deliberately designed to shift audiences from passive approval toward reflective participation, offering actionable guidance for ethical creative strategy and evaluation.