First-Person Experience in Virtual Reality Sport Advertisement: Transportation of Embodied Empathy

Virtual reality has emerged as a powerful marketing tool by eliciting novel and enjoyable consumer experiences. To help shape the future of sport advertisements and influence consumers' purchasing decisions, this study aims to investigate the effects of sport advertisements implemented with virtual reality. Drawing on embodiment theory and transportation theory, we (1) conceptualized embodied empathy according to virtual reality context and (2) examined a model involving psychological processes of embodied empathy, a sense of presence, and attitudes. The results showed that the effect of embodied empathy on consumers' attitude toward brand is mediated by a sense of presence and the attitude toward the advertisement, in a causal sequence. This study contributes in several ways to our understanding of virtual reality in sport advertisements and suggests important practical implications.