This study tests the effects of predominantly verbal and predominantly visual advertisements on consumers' knowledge, attribute beliefs, attitude toward the ad and toward the brand, and behavioral intentions about Hangzhou, a Chinese city being promoted as a tourist destination. An online experiment was conducted using a sample of 217 non-Chinese students who were randomly assigned to one of the two groups.

The results suggest that verbal elements showed a greater influence on the acquisition of knowledge. The visual stimulus, however, was more effective in producing more positive attribute beliefs and attitudes toward the ad and the city. It also generated higher intentions to search for more information and to visit the city.

The findings provide support to the dual component model, which posits that verbal and visual components generate attitudes toward the ad and attribute beliefs about a product that have a substantial bearing on attitude toward the brand. Attitude toward the verbal ad and attribute beliefs resulting from exposure to the visual ad significantly affected attitude toward Hangzhou as a potential city to visit. Attitude toward the visual ad and attribute beliefs developed after seeing it also were significant predictors of attitude toward Hangzhou as a destination city. Exposure to the verbal ad produced significant changes in intention to look for more information and to visit the city some day. The visual ad influenced intention to visit Hangzhou, but not the desire to search for more information about the city.