Rossiter and Percy (1991, p. 103) suggest that “all ads make
a ‘promise’ and thereby invoke hope—whether this hope be
for termination of a negative state (negative reinforcement)
or for onset of a positive state (positive reinforcement).” In
other words, because hope is evoked when a goal-congruent
outcome is uncertain but possible, varying the hope that
consumers feel should be influenced by marketing activities
that affect appraisals of possibility and/or the extent to
which they yearn for the goal-congruent outcome. Table 1
summarizes an illustrative though nonexhaustive set of tactics
that affect the appraisals and thus elicit hope. The first
set of principles identifies factors that induce hope by making
possible a goal-congruent outcome previously appraised
as impossible. The second set identifies factors that enhance
hope by affecting yearning.