AI Advertising Affects Consumers’ Emotions and Impulsive Buying Behavior

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an important tool in digital advertising, helping brands reach consumers more effectively through data-driven personalization and interactive design. However, the way AI advertising affects consumers’ emotions and impulsive buying behavior has not been well understood, especially in the context of Vietnam. This study aims to explore how four main features of AI advertising personalization, interactivity, visual vividness, and recommendation accuracy impact consumers’ emotional arousal and their tendency to buy impulsively in Ho Chi Minh City. Based on the Stimulus Organism Response (S–O–R) model, the research applies both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first phase uses the Delphi method to collect expert opinions, while the second phase conducts a survey of 300 consumers analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that AI advertising strongly influences emotional arousal, which then increases consumers’ impulsive buying behavior. Emotional arousal also plays a mediating role between AI advertising and impulsive buying. The study contributes to understanding how emotional reactions explain the link between AI marketing tools and spontaneous purchase decisions, while offering practical suggestions for marketers to design more engaging and ethical AI-based advertisements.