Ocko,Judy Young,and Rosenblum,M. L. The Specialty Store and its Advertising. New York: National Retail Merchants Association, 1976

Abstract

The authors report the findings of an experiment that investigated the influence of television programs on viewers' perceptions of television commercials. Specifically, program arousal and program pleasantness were examined as potentially important determinants of viewers' emotional responses to advertising. The experiment used a two (levels of program arousal) by two (levels of program pleasantness) design to assess the effects of the independent variables on viewers'perceptions of commercial pleasantness for a pod of four commercials. As hypothesized, an assimilation effect occurred in the high arousal condition and a contrast effect occurred in the low arousal condition. Implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Advertising, 2nd Edition. Runyon,Kenneth E. Columbus,OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1984. 702 pp

Abstract

Despite cultural similarities between the United States and the United Kingdom, there are substantial differences between American and British television advertising. British commercials tend to contain less information, employ a soft sell rather than a hard sell approach, and attempt to entertain the viewer. British viewers' opinions of advertising are also more favorable than those of American viewers. It is important that scholars and practitioners concerned with these two markets and with international advertising generally be aware of these differences and understand why they have evolved. Possible explanations are evaluated and implications of these findings discussed, including areas for future research.     

Likeability as a measure of advertising effectiveness: the case of financial services

Television advertising for financial services accounts for over one-third of total financial services advertising expenditure, yet there is evidence to suggest it is not very well done. Given the difficulties advertisers have to overcome in terms of promoting an intangible product in accordance with tight restrictions on advertising content and format to a largely uninvolved audience, it becomes all the more imperative to study how viewers judge financial services commercials. This paper presents the findings of a study which seeks to establish which elements, if any, of a financial services commercial first make it likeable to its target audience, second motivate the viewer to seek more information about the service being advertised and, third, have an effect on the image the viewer has of the advertiser. Some interesting findings from the research point to the similarities between the emerging factors for viewers' affective reactions to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and financial services commercials and the extent to which likeability mediates the influence which advertisement execution features have on subsequent behavioural intentions.     

Consumer attitudes and interactive digital advertising

This research examines consumer attitudes towards four sub-types of interactive digital advertising: internet-based e- and email advertising, and mobile-phone-based SMS- and MMS-type advertising. The differences in attitudes among these four sub-types of interactive digital advertising are also compared. Data are collected from three universities in Taiwan. Data analysis extracts three attitudinal forms (common factors) towards interactive digital advertising, namely, ‘informative’, ‘entertaining’ and ‘irritating’. Consumer attitudinal forms towards e-advertising and MMS-type m-advertising are both similar and positive (i.e. informative and less irritating and entertaining). Their attitudinal forms towards email advertising and SMS-type m-advertising are less positive (more irritating and less informative and entertaining). Furthermore, the three attitudinal forms towards the four sub-types of interactive digital advertising are compared. Consumer ‘informative’ and ‘entertaining’ attitudinal forms towards e-advertising and MMS-type m-advertisingare similar, while their attitudinal forms towards email advertising and SMS-type m-advertising are equal and lower than towards the previous two sub-types of interactive digital advertising. As for the ‘irritating’ attitudinal form, consumers feel more ‘irritated’ towards email advertising and SMS-type m-advertising, while their attitudinal forms towards e-advertising and MMS-type m-advertising are equal and less irritated.     

Alcohol Advertising: Orientations and Influence

The paper presents an analysis of the effects of televised alcohol beverage advertising on the consumption of alcohol among a sample of US teenagers. While no effects of exposure on total consumption are demonstrated for the total sample, consistent with other research on alcohol advertising effects, the present analysis reveals the importance of ‘orientations towards advertising’ as linkages between exposure and consumption behaviour. Specifically, a social utility orientation, involving learning of normative expectations about drinking, and a vicarious utility orientation, involving identification with models in alcohol beverage commercials, are shown to be mediating factors which condition the effects of advertising exposure.

‘Alcohol Advertising: Content and Controversy’, by the same author, appeared in the last issue of this journal.     

Effects of sex and attitudes toward women on the processing of television commercials

This study examined the effects of sex and attitudes toward women on different cognitive measures that were obtained after ‘liberal’ and ‘nonliberal’ male and female subjects viewed 12 television commercials: 6 commercials depicted ‘traditional’ female roles and 6 were ‘neutral.’ The dependent variables included (1) ratings of the commercials, (2) objections to the commercials, (3) perceived content or interpretation of the commercials, and (4) willingness to buy. The results suggested that liberals had more objections to the stereotypic commercials and that they rated and interpreted some of them more negatively when compared with nonliberals. Liberals were also less willing to buy some of the products after viewing traditional commercials. The findings were discussed with reference to Bem's (1981) gender schema theory.     

Television advertising and childrens' attitudes toward proprietary medicine

The effect of exposure to television drug advertising on children's attitudes toward proprietary medicines and medicine use was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment presented the commercials in a realistic program context fashion. The second experiment presented the commercials in a more direct and controlled manner. Using drug questionnaires, the subjects were assessed for their attitudes regarding the use of proprietary drugs. The results of both studies indicated that exposure to drug advertising had little influence on children's attitudes. Furthermore, children preferred not to watch drug commercials in comparison to a TV program or other types of commercials.     

Hong Kong children's understanding of television advertising

This study examines Chinese children's understanding and comprehension of television advertising. A quota sample of 448 children made up of 32 girls and 32 boys from kindergartens and grades 1-6, were personally interviewed in May 1998. The results indicated that children in grade 2 (aged 7-8 years) were beginning to understand what advertising was and were aware of the persuasive intention of television advertising. Over one-third of older children from grade 4 understood that television stations carried advertising for money. Like children in the West, the main reason for liking and disliking commercials depended on their entertainment element. An understanding of television advertising, recall of brands from slogans and comprehension of advertising content were consistently related to the cognitive development of children. Brand recognition from liked and disliked commercials was strong. Comprehension of the key messages of advertising content varied greatly by children's cognitive development and the style of presentation. Ethical issues and public opinions of Hong Kong consumers regarding advertising to children were discussed.     

Self-concept and advertising effectiveness: The influence of congruency,conspicuousness, and response mode

It was hypothesized in this study that advertising appeals congruent with viewers' self-concept would be superior to incongruent appeals in terms of enhancing advertising effectiveness. Advertising effectiveness was operationalized as: brand memory, brand attitude, and purchase intentions. The sample consisted of 165 subjects who were exposed to four test stimuli (ads), two for automobiles and two for shampoos. One ad within a product class used an introvert appeal, and the other used an extrovert appeal. Congruence between self-concept and the brand image was determined by subjects' evaluations of themselves and the advertised brand. Ad-related tasks included remembering brand names and indicating preference and buying intention for each brand. The study results indicate that brand memory is not mediated by the extent to which advertising expressions are congruent with viewers' self-concept. However, brand preference and purchase intention were shown to be influenced by the self-congruency of an ad. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

How advertising literacy training affect children's responses to television commercials versus advergames

This study examined children's advertising literacy level for traditional versus embedded advertising formats by comparing their cognitive and affective advertising literacy level for television commercials vs. advergames. The study also explored how cognitive and affective advertising literacy further attenuate advertising effects by investigating the mediation impact of cognitive and affective advertising literacy on the relation between the ad's format and the purchase request. Third, the study investigated how an advertising literacy training session moderates these effects.

The results of this experimental study showed that advergames lead to a higher purchase request rate among children than television commercials. However, only affective but not cognitive advertising literacy mediated the effect of the advertising format on purchase request. In addition, a training session was shown to accelerate children's cognitive (but not their affective) advertising literacy for advergames, but not for television commercials.     

Recall of Information from Political Advertising

Abstract

Televised political commercials have frequently been criticized for stressing idealized image characteristics of the candidates rather than issues. Content analyses of political advertising, however, have shown that these commercials generally contain both image and issue material. Given both types of content are present in political ads, this study was designed to determine what people recall from these ads in a natural environment. A telephone study during the last week of a gubernatorial election revealed that the amount of free recall exhibited was greater for information from a preferred candidate's commercials than from his opponent's. However, one-third of the respondents were unable to recall anything from either candidates' political commercials. Recall was more highly related to attitude variables than most demographic variables or total television exposure.     

"What about the Intended Consequences?"

Research that examines race-stereotyped advertising emphasizes the social impact of these representations and overlooks the potential positive effect on advertising effectiveness. The present research examines the effects of race-stereotyped portrayals on advertising effectiveness among both members and nonmembers of a group that is stereotyped in an advertisement. We integrate research on consumer identity, social categorization, and advertising persuasion to hypothesize the process underlying viewers' attitude formation when exposed to advertising featuring a race-stereotyped portrayal. Results of an experiment conducted in South Africa demonstrate that members of the group that is the subject of the stereotyped portrayal (stereotyped viewers) feel offended. At the same time, results suggest that nonstereotyped viewers experience ambivalence when exposed to stereotyped portrayals. Findings highlight the role of viewers' strength of identification and provide guidance to advertisers with regard to the use of stereotyped portrayals in advertising.     

Social Psychological (Mis)Representations in Television Advertising

As a result of the FTC's more aggressive approach to regulating advertising, there has been a noticeable reduction in the amount of blatant lies in advertisements. More subtle forms of deceit are still a problem, however. This paper examines a special form of subtly deceptive advertising termed the social-psychological representation. A case is developed from available conceptual and empirical evidence to show how this apparently innocuous advertising method can deceive advertising receivers. Results are presented from a content analysis of television commercials which reveal that social-psychological representations are used extensively in national advertising.     

Evaluating the Message Strategy of U.S. Army Advertising: With Focus on Information Needs and Motivational Cues

A content analysis of 125 U.S. Army television commercials revealed that information about recruiting process and military lifestyle, the top two information needs of potential recruits, were not addressed as prominently in the commercials. The study also showed that Army commercials presented occupational motivations, which are more appropriate for potential reservists than active soldiers, more frequently than institutional motivations. The usage of information needs and motivational cues rested on a range of situational factors such as the number of wars in which the United States was engaged and the campaign's target audience. Implications for improving Army advertising were discussed.     

Advertising's impact on children as a function of viewing purpose

Children's purpose for watching specific commercials affects the impact of the advertising. Viewing commercials for information, either factual or affective, and perceived relevance, as well as attention, are important conditions for behavioral effect. These factors interact with developmental, gender, racial, and cultural variables, to contribute to a differential impact of advertising on these subgroups. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Eye-tracking evidence that happy faces impair verbal message comprehension: the case of health warnings in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical television commercials

Risk warning or disclosure information in advertising is only effective in correcting consumers’ judgments if enough cognitive capacity is available to process that information. Hence, comprehension of verbal warnings in TV commercials may suffer if accompanied by positive visual elements. This research addresses this concern about cross-modality interference in the context of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical commercials in the United States by experimentally testing whether positive facial expressions reduce consumers’ understanding of the mandated health warning. A content analysis of a sample of DTC commercials reveals that positive facial expressions are more prevalent during the verbal warning act of the commercials than during the other acts. An eye-tracking experiment conducted with specially produced DTC commercials, which vary the valence of characters’ facial expressions during the health warning, provides evidence that happy faces reduce objective comprehension of the warning.     

Food advertising targeting children in India: Analysis and implications

In spite of advertising being severely critiqued for planting erroneous behavioral patterns in young children, there is limited research on advertising aimed at children in the Indian context. This study explores issues like gender representations, stereotypical portrayals, deployment of various appeals, persuasion tactics, and Indian advertising policies in the food commercials targeting Indian children. Hypotheses were developed based on socio-economic and cultural aspects specific to Indian ethos. Content analysis was carried out on commercials appearing on five major children's television channels in India. Results indicate that ads depict boys significantly more than girls, and demonstrate mother as the primary approver for choice of food. Additionally, results reveal that ads use familial settings more than other contexts. Emotional appeal is found to be more prevalent. However, unlike hypothesized, ads were not found to use scholastic or fantasy cues more than athletic or non-fantasy cues. The findings are examined through an ethical lens, and implications for various stakeholders are presented. The study provides advertising policy makers and executioners insights into ethically congruent communication strategies to be used for advertising to children.     

Music-brand congruency in highand low-cognition radio advertising

Many radio commercials use background music to accompany a message. This research examines how brand-congruent music (i.e. music that ‘fits’ the brand) will affect ‘Attitude towards the Ad’ (AAd) and ‘Attitude towards the Brand’ (ABrand), specifically when used with different types of ad copy that are more or less demanding of cognitive resources (high-cognition vs low-cognition advertising copy). In high-cognition ads, congruent music results in a more positive AAd and ABrand compared to incongruent music or no music. However, this effect is not found with low-cognition ads, where AAd (and ABrand) are similar for all three conditions of congruent music, incongruent music and no music.     

Packages with Cartoon Trade Characters Versus Advertising: An Empirical Examination of Preschoolers' Food Preferences

The present study examines mainly the comparison between child-appeal packages and TV advertising and suggests that packages with cartoon trade characters play a more effective role compared to TV advertising in preschoolers' food preferences.

Preschoolers who watched a cartoon film CD embedded with commercials (the treatment group) and who watched the same CD without commercials (the control group) selected the chocolate wafer with a cartoon trade character (73.6% vs. 26.3%) rather than the advertised one.