Interference Effects of Contextual Cues in Advertisements on Memory for Ad Content

The effectiveness of advertisements has been an issue of great concern to marketers, especially with the rapid increase in the number of marketing communications that the average consumer receives every day. Prior research has examined the impact of verbal interference on consumers’ memory for different elements of the advertisement—that is, interference caused by similar verbal elements in advertisements for brands in the same product category. This study examined the impact of similar contextual or background stimuli on consumers’ memory for different elements of the advertisement. Consumers were exposed to print advertisements for products in different product categories. The similarity of contextual cues—that is, background scenes—was manipulated (similar vs. dissimilar). Using a 2 (contextual cues interference: low and high) x 2 (processing goal: ad and brand) x 3 (cues: brand name, ad photo, product class) between‐subjects design, it was found that exposure to ads with similar contextual elements reduced individuals’ ability to recall not only contextual or background elements but also brand name from a target advertisement.