Effects of Product–Program Congruity and Viewer Involvement on Memory for Televised Advertisements1

This study examined the effects of program context on the memory of congruent or incongruent television (TV) advertisements on a youth sample (N= 123) aged 16 to 19 years. An experimental design was developed to test memory for a set of 6 car advertisements and 6 food advertisements within 2 program contexts: a car program and a food program. Memory for car advertisements was significantly better than memory for food advertisements in the free‐recall condition, but the opposite was true in the cued‐recall condition. Free recall of car advertisements in the food program was significantly better than of food advertisements in the food program. Levels of involvement were found to be unrelated to recall and recognition of advertisements.     

Effects of program‐advertisement congruity and advertisement emotional appeal on memory for health and safety advertisements

The aim of this study was to examine the memory for health and safety advertisements (HSAs) embedded within a congruent (documentary) or incongruent (sitcom) program. A total of 80 participants aged 16–25 years took part. Participants watched either a sitcom or a health‐related program with health and safety and “filler” advertisements. After they watched the 30 minute program, they were given free and cued recall measures as well as program evaluation. These showed that the free recall scores were generally better for HSAs than filler advertisements across both program types, while the cued recall and advertisement recognition scores were better for filler advertisements than HSAs. Memory scores revealed that the HSAs were better remembered than filler advertisements in an incongruent program environment. Health advertisements are better recalled in non‐health‐related programs. This supported the interference hypothesis.     

The impact of banners on digital television: the role of program interactivity and product involvement

In a sample of 281 respondents, the effect of a noninteractive and a medium-interactive television program on recall and brand attitudes for low- and high-involvement products advertised in banners during these programs was investigated. Medium-interactive programs resulted in less product and brand recall and recognition of brands in embedded banner advertisements, but generated more positive brand attitudes than noninteractive programs. These effects were more outspoken for a high-involvement product than for a low-involvement product. The impact of perceived program interactivity on brand attitude is fully mediated program valence and involvement for low-involvement products, but not for high-involvement products, for which perceived program interactivity had a direct impact on brand attitude.     

Sex Really Does Sell: The Recall of Sexual and Non‐sexual Television Advertisements in Sexual and Non‐sexual Programmes

The present study examined memory for advertisements as a function of both advertisement content and the contextual programme content. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: in one condition, they watched a sexual programme and in the other a non‐sexual programme. Embedded within each programme were the same highly sexual and non‐sexual advertisements that had been matched in pairs for five products. Memory for the advertisements and involvement in the programmes was measured. It was found that on three indices (free recall, brand recognition and prompted recall), memory for the sexual advertisements was superior to that for non‐sexual advertisements. There was no effect of the programme content on advertisement recall and no relationship between programme involvement and advertisement recall. The results are discussed with reference to extant literature on memory for advertisements. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non-sexual advertisements

This study looked at the recall of sexual and non‐sexual television advertisements embedded within programmes, with or without, sexual content. It was predicted that there would be a detrimental effect of sexual programme content, and a beneficial effect of sexual advertisement content on ability to recall advertisements. Further, when programme and advertisement content were congruous (i.e. both sexual), this also would hinder recall. Participants aged between 18 and 31 were placed in one of four conditions and were shown either ‘Sex and the City’ (sexual programme) or ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ (non‐sexual programme) with sexual or non‐sexual advertisements embedded in each. Participants were then asked to recall advertisement details from the advertisements. The results indicated that there was a main effect of programme type, demonstrating that sexual programme content hindered recall of advertisements. However, there was no main effect of the type of advertisements seen (sexual or non‐sexual) on recall, nor was there a negative effect on recall when programme and advertisement content were congruous. An interaction between advertisements and sex of participants showed that males recalled sexual advertisements better and females recalled non‐sexual advertisements better. Limitations of the study are considered. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does humor in radio advertising affect recognition of novel product brand names?

The authors proposed that item selection during shopping is based on brand name recognition rather than recall. College students rated advertisements and news stories of a simulated radio program for level of amusement (orienting activity) before participating in a surprise recognition test. Humor level of the advertisements was varied systematically, and content was controlled. According to signal detection analysis, humor did not affect the strength of recognition memory for brand names (nonsense units). However, brand names and product types were significantly more likely to be associated when appearing in humorous advertisements than in nonhumorous advertisements. The results are compared with prior findings concerning humor and recall.     

The Effect of Sexual Programme Content on the Recall of Foreign Sexual and Non‐sexual Advertisements

This study explored the effect of programme content (sexual and non‐sexual) on the recall of sexual and non‐sexual advertisements. Seventy‐eight participants were allocated randomly to four different groups and viewed either a sexual or non‐sexual programme with either sexual or non‐sexual advertisements placed within. Free recall and cued recall of the advertisements were assessed. The sexual content of programmes impaired advertisement recall, for both free recall and cued recall. Furthermore, advertisements that were of a sexual nature were remembered better than neutral advertisements. There was also an interaction between advertisement type and gender; women remembered more sexual than non‐sexual advertisements, but this was not the case for men. Finally, there was an interaction between programme type and gender, with a marked tendency for men to recall fewer advertisements embedded in the sexual programme than women. Limitations and implications of this research are discussed.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advertisement–programme congruence in memory of sexual fragrance advertisements

The current study explored the effect of sexual content in advertisements and the programme–advertisement congruence on the memory of sexual and nonsexual advertisements. Seventy participants (41 females and 29 males) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. They viewed either The Bachelorette (sexual programme) or I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (nonsexual programme) with sexual or nonsexual fragrance advertisements placed within the programme. The order of the advertisements was counterbalanced across participants to control for order effects. Free and cued recall of the advertisements were assessed. As predicted, there was a main effect of advertisement type, with the sexual advertisements better recalled than the nonsexual advertisements. Contrary to our prediction, the sexual content of the programme did not have an effect on advertisement recall. There was an interaction between the advertisement type and programme type; sexual advertisements were remembered better when embedded within a sexual programme. Limitations of this study are considered.     

Memory for Sexual and Nonsexual Television Commercials as a Function of Viewing Context and Viewer Gender

The present study investigated memory for sexual and nonsexual commercials as a function of programme‐commercial congruity and programme‐induced level of involvement. Participants were allocated to one of four conditions: sexual programme with sexual or nonsexual commercials and nonsexual programme with sexual or nonsexual commercials. Recall and involvement levels were tested with a series of memory tests and programme ratings. It was predicted that sexual advertisements would be recalled and recognised better overall, that the sexual programme context would impair memory for commercials, and that level of involvement with the programme would inversely correlate with recall and recognition of the commercials and their content. Recall of sexual advertisements was found to be better than for nonsexual advertisements, and subjective ratings of programme involvement were higher for the sexual programme. Neither the perceived involvement level nor programme type affected memory for the commercials overall, but men were shown to remember sexual advertisements better than nonsexual advertisements—particularly when the sexual advertisements were embedded in a sexual programme. Women were equally good at remembering sexual and nonsexual advertisements. Implications of the current results and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memory for television advertisements as a function of advertisement–programme congruity

An experiment tested memory for a beer advertisement (placed either at the beginning or the end of the centre advertisement break) within four programme contexts featuring beer drinking either before and after, before or after the centre break, or not at all. The relationship between subjective audience evaluation of the programme and memory for advertisements was also investigated. The sample consisted of students (N = 79) aged 17 to 26 years. Brand recognition of the beer advertisement was significantly related to programme content, showing memory for the advertisement being enhanced when relevant programme material followed the break. Congruent material shown before the centre break had the reverse effect of impairing memory for the advertisement. Increased levels of programme involvement were found to be associated with improved recall and recognition of embedded advertisements but higher rated ‘happiness’ of the programme was associated with poorer memory for advertisement content. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's memory for television advertising: effects of programme–advertisement congruency

The effects of the surrounding programme environment and level of involvement upon children's memory (year 6 primary school, mean age 11.1, SD = 0.4, 48 boys and 69 girls) for television advertisements was examined by manipulating the degree of congruency between the production genre of the programme and the advertisements embedded within it. In Experiment One (n = 56) the ad‐break comprised either all cartoons (n = 4) or all non‐cartoons (n = 4). In Experiment Two (n = 61) cartoon and non‐cartoon advertisements were equally represented in each ad‐break. After viewing, participants provided evaluative ratings of the programme and completed memory tests for advertisements, using prompted recall and brand‐recognition tasks. Memory performance overall was better for cartoon advertisements than for non‐cartoon advertisements, with the latter being poorly remembered when presented in the non‐cartoon programme. In Experiment Two, the programme had no effect on overall recall of advertising, but was related to brand recognition, which was better for advertisements placed in the cartoon programme. Free recall of non‐cartoon advertisements was best when placed in the cartoon programme, while free recall only of cartoon advertisements was best when placed in the non‐cartoon programme. The measures of audience involvement (programme ratings) did not show any significant correlation with memory for advertising. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of fear‐inducing content on memory for advertisements and on retroactive and proactive interference of programme information

The current study focused on whether fear‐inducing content in television advertisements leads to better memory for the advertisement but also impairs memory for programme information that either precedes the advertisements (retroactive interference) or that follows the advertisements (proactive interference). Fifty‐four participants (48 female) aged 18 to 55 watched a programme that had an advertisement break in the centre. This consisted of 6 advertisements with either fear‐inducing or nonfear‐inducing content. Participants were tested on their recall and recognition of the advertisement information as well as their recall of the first half and second half of the programme. The results indicated that fear‐inducing advertisements were better recalled than those that elicited no fear, and there was also evidence of proactive interference from fear‐inducing advertisements on programme recall. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Preliminary comparison of continuous versus noncontinuous programming and attitude toward and recall of advertisements

Need for continuity of a television program was assessed with attitude toward and recall of advertisements. The program continuity was manipulated experimentally by presenting one music video program as Top 10 (continuous) or as Regular (discontinuous) format. General attitude toward commercials and the belief in advertisement-product realism were investigated through the commercials with continuous and discontinuous formats of the same program. Data were gathered from undergraduates (23 men and 68 women) whose mean age was 20.2 yr. (SD=2.5). Analyses indicated continuity was not related to their attitude towards embedded commercials but was associated with their recall. Implications were discussed.     

Social Identity and Perceptions of Media Persuasion: Are We Always Less Influenced Than Others?1

People typically perceive negative media content (e.g., violence) to have more impact on others than on themselves (a third-person effect). To examine the perceived effects of positive content (e.g., public-service advertisements) and the moderating role of social identities, we examined students' perceptions of the impact of AIDS advertisements on self, students (in-group), nonstudents (out-group), and people in general. Perceived self-other differences varied with the salience of student identity. Low identifiers displayed the typical third-person effect, whereas high identifiers were more willing to acknowledge impact on themselves and the student in-group. Further, when influence was normatively acceptable within the in-group, high identifiers perceived self and students (us) as more influenced than nonstudents (them). The theoretical and practical implications of this reversal in third-person perceptions are discussed.     

The Effects of Programme Context on Memory for Humorous Television Commercials

This study investigated the effects of programme context on memory for humorous television advertisements in South Korean participants. Humorous and nonhumorous Korean advertisements were embedded within two programme contexts: humorous and nonhumorous. When the programme ratings of humour, enjoyment and involvement were higher, unaided recall was poorer. In addition, unaided recall of the advertisements was better when they were embedded within a nonhumorous programme. However, there was no significant programme‐advertisement interaction effect. Overall, both free and cued recall were higher for humorous advertisements than for the nonhumorous advertisements. The findings are discussed in terms of cultural differences and changes in television programmes and advertising over time.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of programme context on memory of humorous television commercials

This study examined the effects of programme context on the memory of humorous television advertisements among a youth sample aged 16 to 18 years. Additionally, the relationship between the enjoyment and involvement properties of the programme and memory for advertisements were investigated. An experimental design was developed to test the memory for a set of six humorous and a set of six non-humorous advertisements within two programme contexts—a news bulletin and a comedy show. Findings indicated that unaided recall for advertisements was affected by programme type with memory for advertising being better from news than from comedy. Further, memory for humorous advertisements was better than that for non-humorous advertisements. Audience involvement with, and enjoyment of, the surrounding programme were found to be associated with poorer memory for advertisement content. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children and television advertising: when do they understand persuasive intent?

Children's response to television advertising is investigated in this paper. Children aged between six and ten years were tested for their recall, recognition and understanding of novel television advertisements. Children were able to recognise scenes from the advertisements after one exposure but recall of the brand names was poor for the younger children, even after three exposures. Recall for the advertising content increased by age and number of exposures. None of the six‐year‐olds and only a quarter of the eight‐year‐olds and a third of the ten‐year‐olds discussed advertising in terms of persuasion. Therefore, although children remember television advertisements, their purpose is not fully understood, even by many ten‐year‐olds. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Selling Sex to Radio Program Directors: A Content Analysis of Radio & Records Magazine

This study was designed to examine whether radio format and musical artists' gender predict sexual content in trade advertisements geared toward radio program directors. Advertisements were coded from one of the leading music trade magazines, Radio & Records magazine, between 2002 and 2003. Results indicated that overall women artists used sexual content in trade advertisements more often and to a greater degree than did men. In some cases, advertisements in radio formats with younger demographic markets, such as pop or hip-hop, also used higher levels of sexual content. It is concluded that the organizational context of the commercial music industry helps to perpetuate status differences between women and men artists, which may then bring about a cognitive bias in the field that promotes women artists' over reliance on using sexual content in trade advertisements.     

The Perceived Influence of AIDS Advertising: Third-Person Effects in the Context of Positive Media Content

Although there is consistent evidence indicating that people perceive themselves to be less influenced than others by negative media content and persuasive communications with negative intent (viz., a third-person effect), much less is known about the perceived impact of positive media content and public service advertisements. This study investigated the perceived impact of 11 AIDS advertisements promoting a common message for safe sex, in an attempt to clarify the conditions in which people might judge themselves as more, rather than less, influenced than others. Results indicated that student respondents perceived themselves as less vulnerable than others to low-quality AIDS advertisements, but as more influenced than others by high-quality AIDS advertisements. Respondents who believed strongly that it is good to be influenced by AIDS campaigns saw themselves as relatively vulnerable to such messages, whereas other respondents did not distinguish between the level of impact on self and other. Results are consistent with motivational accounts that emphasize the ego-enhancing function of social comparisons.     

Recall of Television Commercials as a Function of Viewing Context: The Impact of Program-Commercial Congruity on Commercial Messages

The effect of the congruity between the involvement types of advertising commercial and a television program on the effectiveness of the commercial was studied. Participants (N = 103) viewed either a cognitive or an affective commercial for a product, which was embedded in either a cognitive or an affective television program. The results showed that the effects of the congruence influence the impact on memory. Free recall and cued recall were significantly influenced by the program-commercial congruity. Free recall and cued recall were significantly higher for the cognitively involving commercial in the cognitively involving program context than in the affectively involving program context. Similarly, free recall and cued recall were significantly higher for the affectively involving commercial in the affectively involving program context than in the cognitively involving program context.