Ads promoting OTC medications: The effect of ad format and credibility on beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions

This investigation explores the effects of ad credibility and ad format (direct comparative vs. noncomparative) on consumers' beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions for over-the-counter (OTC) medications. It is hypothesized that ad credibility moderates the effects of ad format. To test the hypotheses three different experiments were conducted, with each one using a different method to manipulate ad credibility (multiple explanations for claimed superiority, claim substantiation, and approval of ad information from the Federal Trade Commission). The results of the three studies provide consistent support for the main effects of ad credibility and ad format. Increased persuasion was evidenced with higher credibility ads and with direct comparative ads. However, the hypothesized interaction consistently was not supported. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Moderating Role of Gender Identity in Responses to Comedic Violence Advertising

Comedic violence advertising has been increasing in the United States, but many studies thus far have been content analytic in nature. To gain a better understanding of who will find comedic violence ads humorous and thus have favorable brand perceptions, two experimental studies were conducted with gender identity as an influential factor. In Study 1, masculine individuals responded more favorably to highly violent and humorous ads than feminine individuals did. Study 2 varied the violence level in the comedic violence ads and found that when violence was low both masculine and feminine individuals responded similarly to the comedic violence ad, but when violence was high masculine individuals responded more favorably than did feminine individuals. Perceived humor was found to be an important mediator of comedic violence ad processing. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are provided.     

Benevolent Dictators. Cummings,Bart A. Chicago: Crain Books, 1984. 344 Pp. $24.95

Abstract

A mall-intercept study recruited 601 subjects in three cities who viewed simulated Yellow Pages ads for florists or caterers. Ad information was either generally stated or specific to the product involved. Ads either did or did not contain color. Color was used to attract attention to the ad or else to enhance product appearance. Subjects selected an initial consideration set and a final set of ads to call. Ads with product-specific information were more likely to be considered and called. Findings showed that ads with color were more likely to be considered, but only using product-enhancing color increased chances that an ad would be called. Ads that used enhancing color in a manner that substantiated verbal claims were most likely to be called first.     

Luxury brand advertising in Argentina: Changes following import restrictions

This study explores how the change of an economic policy affects advertising practices in Argentina. A content analysis of luxury brand ads placed in fashion magazines in Argentina was conducted to investigate changes in the ads in the wake of the import restrictions. The data supports the notion that some ads reflect societal changes. After the restrictions, ads were more likely to be factual, less likely to convey emotional messages, and ad appeals tended to be simple. Additionally, findings indicate that ads used different visual cues to evoke stronger exclusivity, luxuriousness, and global feelings. Ad components that are deeply rooted in local cultures, however, were not influenced by the restrictions.     

The Effects of Animation and Format on the Perception and Memory of Online Advertising

Based on a general framework of consumer perception and processing of advertising, this study examines the impact of animation and ad format on the attention and memorization of online ads. Consumer attention to a variety of real-world ads was measured with eye tracking and ad memory was assessed with recognition and recall tests. The results suggest that on average, animation had little or no effect on attention. We did nevertheless observe a strong interaction effect between animation and ad format, which suggests that the effect of animation is conditioned by ad format. Animation has a positive effect on attention to skyscrapers, but a negative one on attention to banners. As to memorization, animation improved recognition effects, but mainly for banners. Surprisingly, consumers could recognize ads without having looked at them, which suggests that online consumers are especially parsimonious in allocating their focal attention and memory resources to irrelevant ads when they are involved in other tasks.     

Newsfeed native advertising on Facebook: young millennials’ knowledge,pet peeves,reactance and ad avoidance

Abstract

This study explores how young millennials understand and respond to newsfeed native advertising on Facebook, rooting our focus on its covert nature of the ad format. Drawing insight from two persuasion-related theories, we conducted focus group interviews and in-depth interviews with Facebook users aged 19–29. The study revealed three major themes regarding their interactions with newsfeed ads: persuasion knowledge, positive and negative experiences and avoidant coping responses. Participants showed a high level of persuasion knowledge of how Facebook newsfeed ads work and ambivalent attitudes toward newsfeed native ads. Despite some benefits, newsfeed native ads presented strong negative responses, which were often accompanied by reactance and ad avoidance. Multiple themes regarding negative experiences emerged: ad intrusiveness, ad clutter, a lack of relevance, too personal, privacy concern, goal impediment and covertness. Participants also voiced less autonomy in controlling their exposure to newsfeed ads. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and a model for future research is provided.     

Decreasing advertising interference: The impact of comparable differences on consumer memory in competitive advertising environments

This study investigates the structural alignment processes in reducing memory interference in a competitive advertising context. In particular, an experimental study is carried out to understand how alignable (i.e., comparable) and nonalignable (i.e., noncomparable) attributes influence ad claim recall at differing levels of competitive ads. Findings indicate that recall of alignable attributes is higher than that of nonalignable attributes in the presence of ads for competing brands. Results from the study also suggest that nonalignable attribute recall decreases as the number of ads featuring competing brands increases from zero to two, whereas alignable attribute recall is not affected by increasing the level of competitive ads. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Psychophysiological and Memory Effects of Negative Political ADS: Aversive,Arousing, and Well Remembered

This study examines whether negative political advertisements elicit automatic activation in the aversive motivational system among viewers. A measure is introduced—the eyeblink startle reflex—that provides evidence that negative ads do activate the aversive motivational system. As these participants watched negative political ads, physiological responses indicated that their body was reflexively preparing to move away. Negative ads also elicited more physiological and self-reported arousal than moderate ads. Recognition data show that detailed information from negative ads is better recognized; however, participants were also more likely to incorrectly report that they recognized information from negative ads they did not see.     

Does competitive clutter in television advertising “interfere” with the recall and recognition of brand names and ad claims?

This paper contrasts the effects of competitive clutter on the recall and recognition of information from ads for familiar brands. An experiment was conducted utilizing ads for the type of relatively familiar brands typically advertised on network television; the dependent variables were recall and recognition of brand names and ad claims. Results showed that brand name recall scores were substantially reduced by competitive clutter. However, exposure to competitors' ads had little effect on ad claim recall. These data are consistent with the view that information about familiar brands will tend to be compartmentalized in memory, reducing interference effects in attribute recall. Exposure to competitive clutter had relatively little effect on recognition task performance. Suggestions for future advertising research considering competitive interference and brand familiarity issues are provided.The authors thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their guidance. Ray Burke. Frank Kardes, James Kellaris, Karen Machleit, Joe Mandese, and Don Schumsky provided helpful comments on various aspects of this research.     

Schema strength,processing opportunity,and the rewarding nature of incongruity resolution in advertising

Extant literature calls for more research to identify the boundary conditions as well as the process underlying the effects of ad messages that violate specific brand beliefs. This paper examines different levels of ad–brand incongruity, considering brand schema strength and processing opportunity as factors that influence the perception and the resolution of incongruity. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence for the process mediating attitudinal responses to ad–brand incongruity. Experiment 1 shows superiority for moderately incongruent ads over congruent and extremely incongruent ads which is eliminated when participants have a weak, as opposed to a strong, brand schema. Experiment 2 replicates the nonmonotonic pattern for strong, real brands but further shows that low processing opportunity favors congruent ads. Mediation analysis reveals that the psychological satisfaction experienced during the ad interpretation process has an asymmetric mediating effect, such that moderate levels of ad–brand incongruity generate highest levels of satisfaction which then leads to more positive responses.     

Thinking pink? Consumer reactions to pink ribbons and vague messages in advertising

Many brands partner with causes in their advertising campaigns. Consumers appreciate that the brands they purchase participate in activities that contribute to a society’s well-being. This study uses copy-testing techniques to evaluate the number and types of thoughts and brand attitudes in the presence and absence of cause-related messages. Individuals saw an ad for one of two products. None of the ads stated the brand’s financial support to the cause, which is representative of many messages today. People viewing the Dansko ads with the pink ribbon generated significantly fewer thoughts than those viewing the ad without the pink ribbon. For the Fitbit ads, more thoughts were generated for the ad with the pink ribbon than the ad without the pink ribbon. The Fitbit ad with the pink ribbon and support message generated fewer positive and negative thoughts but more neutral thoughts that questioned the brand/cause relationship. Attitudes toward the brand did not vary based on the presence or absence of the pink ribbon. People who saw ads with the pink ribbon displayed more positive attitudes toward the brands’ commitment to society and misestimated the brands’ contributions to the cause.     

The Effect of Social Identity Cues Under Incidental Ad Exposure Conditions

Abstract

This study integrates the theories of social identity and unconscious processing to investigate the potential influence of unattended ads. Recent advances in research on unconscious processing have found that unconscious processing can include a semantic analysis of ads that includes the development of deeper meanings and associations related to cues in the ad. This study capitalizes on such an analysis by investigating whether using social identity as an advertising cue has the potential to influence consumer responses to ads—even ads to which consumers claim they have never been exposed.     

Effects of comparative advertising format on consumer responses: The moderating effects of brand image and attribute relevance

In this research we distinguish between ads that compare two different brands (Across-Brand Comparison or ABC ads) and those that compare different versions of the same brand (Within-Brand Comparison or WBC ads). Results from an experiment indicate that when comparative ads use attributes that are relevant to product performance, ad type and brand image interact such that an ABC ad leads to less favorable consumer perceptions than a WBC ad when image of the sponsor brand is low but not when it is high. However, when the ads use attributes that are irrelevant to product performance an ABC ad leads to less favorable consumer outcomes than a WBC ad, regardless of the image of the sponsor brand. We further propose and show that ad believability mediates these effects. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided.     

Comedic violence in advertising: the role of normative beliefs and intensity of violence

Interest in the use of comedic violence in advertising has risen, but the research on this topic has been limited. Past studies have found positive effects of comedic violence in ads, with higher levels of violence increasing positive responses. However, given that the violence depicted in these ads is a violation of social norms, following the Social Norms Theory, it is proposed that individual norm beliefs about violence in advertising could be a significant factor in influencing ad outcome. Using an online panel of general consumers across two experiments, this study revealed that norm beliefs had a positive influence on comedic violence ad responses. In addition, when violence intensities of the ads were varied, individuals with lower norm beliefs responded more positively to low violence ads than high violence ads, whereas individuals with higher norm beliefs did not exhibit different responses to the two violence intensities. Mediation analyses were conducted to test for the underlying mechanisms. As comedic violence advertising may offend audiences, the findings provide targeting and design implications for advertisers interested in this strategy.     

In Advertising,a Double Negative Does Not Equal a Positive

This research investigates the effectiveness of double negative ads relative to positive, self-promoting ads as it relates to impression formation. The study was conducted using a 3 (ad valence/intensity: extreme double negative, moderate double negative, positive) x 2 (impression type: incidental, intentional) repeated measures design study using print ads designed for fictitious brands. Overall, brands in double negative ads received less positive impression ratings and the double negative ad format was less memorable. These effects were even more pronounced as the valence of the double negative ads became more extreme.     

Evaluating Adolescents’ Responses to Internet Ads: Role of Ad Skepticism,Internet Literacy,and Parental Mediation

In this article, we first compare adolescents’ responses to two formats (easily recognizable versus not easily recognizable) Internet ads. We find that Internet literacy and ad skepticism are necessary for adolescents to effectively apply persuasion knowledge to identify both ad formats. Second, we demonstrate that parental mediation and parents’ levels of Internet skills are critical for children’s development of Internet literacy. As a result, this article advances our understanding of adolescents’ responses to different Internet ad formats and the influential role of parental mediation in facilitating children’s development of such skills.     

Effectiveness of promotional premiums: The moderating role of affective state in different contexts

This research explores the influence of affective state on ad and product judgments for advertising that features promotional offers of high and low price value. Consistent with expectations, Study 1 found that for happy participants, high‐price value premiums generated higher ad believability ratings, which in turn enhanced ad and brand attitudes. For sad participants, however, the positive effects of high‐price value premiums were attenuated due to message believability discounting. It is proposed that the moderating influence of affective state on responses to ads featuring premiums should be more likely to emerge when attention to premiums is high, as in situations where ads feature less important product attributes or when consumers plan to purchase a product. Study 2 found that the interaction between affective state and premium value was significant when ads featured less important product attributes, but not when they featured important product attributes. Study 3 found that the interaction was significant for participants who intended to purchase the product in the near future, but not for those who did not have purchase intentions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Seeing the Big Picture: Multitasking and Perceptual Processing Influences on Ad Recognition

Media multitasking has been shown to have negative consequences for ad memory. However, there may be situations and individuals for which multitasking is not always detrimental to memory for ads. Two studies explored how analytic and holistic processing styles (trait or mood induced) affect perceptual processing. Similar to previous findings, people processing in an analytic style showed decreased ad recognition when performing multiple tasks; however, ad recognition did not decrease for people processing holistically. People who were processing holistically also demonstrated better recollection memory for the ads seen while multitasking than did analytic processors. Differences in advertising recognition measures (familiarity and recollection), load types, and implications for advertising are also discussed.     

Interaction Effect of Ad Puffery and Ad Skepticism on Consumer Persuasion

ABSTRACT

A 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to test the interaction effects of ad puffery and consumer ad skepticism on consumer persuasion using print ads for jeans. High ad skeptics (i.e., those more skeptical of ads) held a more positive attitude toward the ad than low ad skeptics (i.e., those less skeptical of ads) when a puffed (i.e., exaggerated) ad was viewed. Conversely, low ad skeptics had greater purchase intentions than high ad skeptics when a nonpuffed (i.e., nonexaggerated) ad was viewed.