thought processing of advertisements in low versus

THOUGHT PROCESSING OF ADVERTISEMENTS
IN LOW VERSUS HIGH NOISE CONDITIONS
Arch G. Woodade
L
Gail B. Glenesk
Arch G. Woodside is Professor of Marketing at the University
of South Carolina. He is the current President of Division 23,
Consumer Psychology, of the American Psychological Association and also the Editor of the Journal of Business Research.
Professor Woodside is the Coeditor, with Larry Percy of
Creamer Inc., of a book entitled Advertising and Consumer
Psychology, published by Lexington Books in 1983.
Gail B. Glenesk
South Carolina.
Toronto and an
member of the
Mu DelU.
is a doctoral student at the University of
She holds a B.Sc. from the University of
M.B.A. from Andrews University. She is a
American Marketing Association and Delta
ABSTRACT
What changes in message-related thoughts occur among
consumers in high versus low noise advertising environments?
A high noise environment is exposure operationally to more
than seven advertisements in a brief time period. Three groups
of subjects were assigned randomly to one of three treatments
(23, 25, and 26 subjects); two low noise conditions and one
high noise condition.
Decline in ad mentions occurred for all ads between the
low noise and high noise conditions. The number of thoughts
generated and the order of ad mentions varied substantially
between ads. The methodology may he useful in learning if the
ad for a specific hrand gains processing space in a consumer's
mind when the consumer is exposed to several competing ads
in brief periods of time.
Received November 8, 1984. Accepted for publication
March 2, 1984.
A study of 1,800 TV commercials showed that
only 32 percent of those exposed could even
describe, and only 16 percent could remember, the
brands that were advertised (5). Consumers have been
©JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1984
found to avoid processing advertising for unknown
and nonpreferred brands versus preferred brands (9).
Bogart (2) notes, "advertising research data accurately reflect the fact that many messages register
negative inapressions or no impressions at all on many
of the people who are exposed to the sight or sound
of them."
Consumer information processing is likely to be
limited to handling one to two bits of data per ad in
a limited number of ads received in a given setting.
One to two bits of information from four or five ads
is likely to represent the handbng capacity for most
consumers even when exposed to ten or more
commercials or print ads. Research findings by Simon
(8), Miller (6), Woodside and Sherrill (10), and Jarvis
and Wilcox (3) indicate support for the hypothesis
that processing capacity varies from four to five
chunks of information to as many as seven. An advertisement can be viewed as one chunk of information.
Given the limited information processing capacity
of consumers and the high noise environments that
occur when consumers are exposed to ads (i.e., more
than seven ads are seen in a brief time period), one
measure of the effectiveness of an ad is whether or
not the ad gains some share of the available processing capacity when consumers are being exposed to
several ads.
This article reports the findings on consumer information processing of print advertisements in low
versus high noise conditions; the low noise being
exposure to five ads and the high noise condition
being exposure to ten ads.
The study was designed to answer the following
questions:
1. Is the rate of brand name mention for one
brand substantially greater than for competing brands in low and high noise conditions?
2. Is the rate of first mention and order of
mention for one brand substantially greater
than for competing brands in low £ind high
noise conditions?
3. Does the rate of brand name mention
decline substantially from low to high noise
conditions? If so, are the rates of decline
different by brand?
4. Does the ad for one brand produce more or
less positive, negative, neutral, or total
thoughts compared to competing brands?
Low and high noise conditions were used in a
thought verbalization experiment to answer these
questions.
METHOD
Ten full-page magazine ads were used in the experiment: six travel and four product ads. Descriptions
of the ten ads appear in Exhibit 1.
The product ads were selected to represent noise
for the travel ads. Travel ads often appear near ads for
other services and products. Most of the travel ads
were chosen to be of relevant interest to the target
population sampled, i.e., describing the benefits of
visiting a desired vacation destination for young
adults.
Subjects
Seventy-four subjects were used. The subjects
were senior university students. Each subject was
qualified for participation by affirming prior vacation
travel experience. Each subject was approached with
the request to participate in "a communication
study," as the subject was leaving a classroom. No
payment was made for participation.
Procedure
Each subject was read verbalization instructions
before being shown five or ten ads, i.e., a low noise
or a high noise treatment. A risk in persuasion
research is that subjects may edit some thoughts
from their report that intuition tells them do not
interest the researchers. When thoughts of this type
are of interest, "priming" instructions are sometimes
used in which a number of thought categories that
should be reported are identified. The intent is to
reassure subjects that such thoughts are worth reporting without drawing great attention to them (11:156).
The following priming instructions were given to
each subject:
"Thank you for agreeing to participate in this
study of communications. The purpose of the
study is to learn a person's thoughts and feelings
when remembering reading printed material.
After reviewing some printed material, you will
be asked to tell someone about the material —
what it was about, your thoughts, and your
feelings about what you have read. Please tell
the person about any thoughts that come to
your mind while reading the material. If you had
any thoughts of how the material relates to your
own life, please tell the person. Please tell the
person if any suggestions in the material looked
interesting or boring, good or bad, to you. Please
tell about any questions that you may have
asked yourself while reading, such as 'I wonder
what this means?' 'Is this true?'
Please say any opinions that you might have had
while reading, such as 'I have always wanted to
do this.' Or, 'Who cares about this.'
Do you have any questions?"
These instructions were understood readily by all
subjects.
The priming instructions suggested both decoding
("Is this true?") and encoding ("I have always wanted
to do this.") examples of thought categories. Encoding priming was done to learn if subjects provided
"connections" (4) to experiences in their own lives
with specific ads. Krugman has suggested that an
effective ad message stimulates the consumer to have
"bridging" or "connecting" thoughts relating the
message or brand to the consumer's personal life.
Krugman's premise is that such thinking heightens
subsequent message processing activity and the
chance that the subject will initiate immediate attitude or preference deliberations.
Note that the instructions called for the subject to
verbalize thoughts "after reviewing some printed
material." An initial test requesting some subjects to
verbalize thoughts whUe reading produced so many
thoughts and judgments about the quality of the
structure of the ads that the procedure was untenable.
Requests for thought verbalizations while viewing ads
are likely to produce substantial experimenter effects,
with subjects no longer decoding or encoding the ads
for personal meanings.
The five or ten ads were removed from sight after
the subject completed reviewing the material. No
time limit was placed on the subjects to read the
material. This procedure was used since arbitrarily
assigned brief limits may exclude valid thoughts that
take longer to produce. Also, an important advantage
of print versus broadcast advertising is that print
viewing is subject controlled while broadcast viewing
is not. The "holding power" or impact of an ad can
be determined more easily if the subject is permitted
to control the pace of processing the ads.
After the subject indicated completion of reading
the ads, the ads were removed from sight, and
another person was requested to enter the room to
listen to the verbalized thoughts. Tape recordings
were made of the verbalizations. At the same time,
the experimenter made written notes of the topics
and thoughts made by each subject. Following the
verbalization of thoughts on the ads, the subject was
taken to another room. Both the subject and the
listener were asked what brands and products were
described in the material and the purpose of the
study. Subjects were informed that the study was on
the impact of advertising in the debriefing.
EXHIBIT 1
TEN ADVERTISEMENTS USED IN STUDY
Product
Headline
Illustration
Signature
Special Feature
The photograph is in
black and white.
There is an inset
showing a picture of
several key peaks
and there is a coupon
to send away for ski
vacation brochures.
Maxell tape
AFTER 500 PLA YS OUR
HIGH FIDELITY TAPE
STILL DELIVERS HIGH
FIDELITY.
A young man is sitting in a
chair listening to a tape. The
wind is blowing his hair and
tie back and a glass ofr a box
near the chair.
maxell
ITS WORTH IT
Travel to
Colorado on
Western Airlines
SKI COLORADO
SKI THE SUMMIT
A lady in a yellow ski suit is
making a jump.
Western Airlines
The Whoosh 'n
Schuss Airline
SKI THE SUMMIT
Blue Stratos
UNLEASH THE SPIRIT!
The picture shows a bottle of Blue The feeling begins
Stratos against the greenery on a with Blue Stratos.
rather rocky coastline and a man
hang gliding above the cliffs. The
motif of a white seagull appears on
the bottle and on the hang glider.
WHEN YOU NEED IT
People are walking down a busy
city street in miserable weather.
FLORIDA
There is an inset of a
0rl and guy walking
along a beach and a
coupon to order a Vacation Guide forSl.OO.
A couple with bright sunny
smiles on their faces are sitting
at an outdoor cafe.
It's warmer in
Quebec.
Tourisme Quebec
A toll free number is
given for those desiring
a brochure on Quebec.
Florida
BAD. WE'VE GOT IT
GOOD.
Quebec
IT'S WARMER UP
NORTH
BVD underwear
A man is standing shaving in
BVD. THE GREAT
AMERICAN FIT FOR THE blue underwear and a white
CREA T AMERICAN MA LE. cowboy hat in his washroom.
Camel cigarettes
CAMEL. WHERE A MAN
BELONGS.
A rugged looking man is sitting
by a fire on a mountainside in
the winter. A white wolf is
looking on as he lights up a
cigarette.
Bermuda
BERMUDA. GET AWAY
TO IT ALL!
The major picture shows two
girls sailing on the coast of
Bermuda with many buildings in
the background. Two sub-pictures
show the two girls in tennis clothes
and in sightseeing outfits against
lush foliage.
Bahamas
IT'S BETTER IN THE
BAHAMAS.
A girl and guy are lying against
a sand dune by the edge of the
ocean. All that can be seen in
the distance is the beach.
The endless islands A small inset shows the
same couple at an
with endless
elegant restaurant
possibilities.
dinner. A toll free number is given for the
benefit of those desiring
to make reservations or
want more information.
Palm Springs
SAY FAREWELL TO
THE COLD, CRUEL
WORLD.
A businessman all bundled up
is facing blinding snow as he
walks along. The wind is too
strong to use the umbrella he is
carrying.
Palm Springs,
Califomia.
America Discovers
Living Colors, by
BVD. BVD The
Great American
Underwear Company
Camel Lights.
Low tar. Camel
taste.
An inset of a package
of Camel Lights is
shown.
Quotes from various
tourists telling what
they thought of Bermuda are printed.
There is a coupon offering a free kit and an
inset showing a man
and woman in a pool in
the bright sunshine.
Treatments
The first low noise treatment consisted of ads for
the Bahamas, Bermuda, Blue Stratos cologne,
Colorado, and Maxell recording tapes. Subjects in the
second short treatment were shown ads for Blue
Stratos cologne, Florida, Maxell tapes. Palm Springs,
and Quebec. The ads in the high noise condition
included the eight different ads in the two low noise
conditions plus two additional ads, one for BVD
underwear and one for Camel cigarettes. Ads in each
condition were rotated after being viewed by a subject to eliminate order of presentation bias. Twentythree, twenty-five, and twenty-six subjects were
exposed to the first low noise, second low noise, and
the high noise treatments respectively.
ANALYSIS
Two judges listened to the tape recordings of ad
verbalizations independently of one another and
recorded the number of positive, neutral, and negative thoughts mentioned by each subject. Positive
thoughts were defined as those in which the subject
expressed agreement or was favorably disposed to the
ad or its contents. In addition, subject references to
positive connections with their past experiences were
recorded as positive thoughts. Neutral thoughts were
simply restatements of the ad contents. Negative
thoughts were the opposite of positive thoughts.
The total number of thoughts was obtained by
summing the number of positive, neutral, and negative thoughts per ad. Order of mention of the ads by
each subject was also recorded. The analysis of the
ads by the two judges was generally in agreement
(87%). A third person was utilized in settling
disputes, with the majority opinion winning.
RESULTS
The percentage of subjects mentioning a particular
brand being advertised was highest for the Bahamas
(91%) and Bermuda ads (91%) in the first low noise
treatment followed by Florida (88%) and Quebec
(88%) in the second low noise treatment as shown in
Table 1. In the high noise treatment only four ads
TABLE 1
PERCENT AD MENTION IN LOW VERSUS HIGH NOISE CONDITIONS
Advertisement
First Low Noise
Condition
Bahamas
Bermuda
Colorado
Change as a Percentage
of Possible Change
Low Noise
High Noise
Change
91
91
74
80
76
-11=
12
16
40
-34^
46
36
-25"^
-33*^
41
-38^
-22*'
51
38
-24^
45
27
- 9«
12
Both Conditions
Blue Stratos (1)
Maxell
(2)
(1)
(2)
61
69
74
58
36
48
Second Low
Noise Condition
Florida
88
48
Quebec
Palm Springs
88
73
64
64
not significant
V < .05
"p < .01
All tests were for significance of difference between two proportions.
were mentioned by over 50% of the subjects: the
Bahamas (80%), Bermuda (76%), and Quebec and
Palm Springs (both 64%). Mentions for the BVD ad
and the Camel ad, the two ads found only in the high
noise treatment, were 20% for the former and 44%
for the latter. The Maxell ad had greater mention
(74%) among the ads in the first low noise condition
than from those in the second low noise condition
(58%).
A decline in ad mention between the low and high
noise conditions occurred for all ads. The greatest
drops in ad mentions between the low noise and high
noise conditions were for the Florida (40%),
Colorado (34%), Maxell (30% on average) and Blue
Stratos ads (29% on average). Looking at the decline
in ad mentions as a percentage of possible change
between the low and high noise conditions the
Bahamas (12%), Palm Springs (12%), and Bermuda
(10%) ads fared best.
The mean numbers of positive, negative, neutral,
and total thoughts verbalized by the subjects in each
treatment for each ad were calculated. Table 2
contains the mean number of positive, negative,
neutral, and total thoughts generated per ad in the
high noise condition. The mean number of negative
thoughts generated per ad varied significantly across
ads at alpha = .005. The BVD undergarment ad
elicited the greatest number of negative thoughts
(X~= -68), followed by Camel cigarettes and Quebec
(x"= -32 for both). The Florida, Palm Springs, and
Bahamas ads received the fewest negative references.
The means for positive, neutral, and total thoughts
generated were not significantly different across ads.
In the first low noise condition the means for the
number of negative thoughts per advertisement were
significantly different at an alpha of .10. In this treatment the Blue Stratos cologne ad generated the
lEirgest number of negative thoughts and the Bahamas
TABLE 2
HIGH NOISE CONDITION: NUMBER OF THOUGHTS
PER ADVERTISEMENT
Negative
S.D.
X
Positive
S.D.
X
AD
Neutral
S.D.
X
BVD
Camel
.24
.00
0.83
0.00
.68
.32
0.90
0.63
1.48
1.40
2.16
1.98
Blue Stratos
Florida
.12
0.44
0.47
1.16
0.41
.16
.04
0.20
0.80
1.68
1.53
0.52
0.50
.08
.32
0.60
0.85
.24
.12
0.28
0.69
0.52
0.68
1.16
1.20
0.44
1.04
1.12
0.86
.08
.24
0.28
0.66
1.12
.20
.24
.20
.24
Palm Springs
Quebec
Maxell
.32
Colorado
Bahamas
.60
.36
Bermuda
1.12
1.18
1.40
1.89
1.40
1.51
1.59
X
ToUl
S.D.
2.40
1.72
1.44
1.04
1.00
1.68
1.68
3.23
2.15
2.04
1.74
1.44
1.48
2.01
2.58
1.83
1.80
2.53
1.72
2.07
Negative Thoughts
Source of Variation
Subjects
Treatments
Error
Total
critical F
DF
SS
24
9
14.50
7.92
216
249
57.58
80.00
(9,120)-2.81
MS
F Ratio
.88
.27
3.30
ad had the least. A comparison of the mean number
of neutxal thoughts generated per ad in the second
low noise condition was significant at an alpha of .05.
The means of total thoughts generated per ad in the
same treatment were significantly different at alpha
= .10. The Blue Stratos ad elicited the greatest number of both neutral and total thoughts, while the
Palm Springs ad elicited the least number of neutral
and total thoughts. All other differences among
means were not significant because of the low value
of the means and the h^h standard deviation associated with the means.
Order of mention of the ads in each of the respective treatments was recorded. The Fisher and Yates
transformation (1) was used to normalize the distribution of ranked data. For example, in the low noise
conditions, the rank orderings of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
were recorded as 1.16, .50, 0, —.50, and —1.16
respectively. Low transformations were ass^ned
randomly to ads not mentioned by each subject. The
average number of ads mentioned {out of 5) by
subjects in the first and second low noise treatments
was 3.9 and 2.8 respectively. In the high noise condition an average of 5.1 ads was mentioned per subject.
Table 3 contains the means and test for equality of
means for the second low noise treatment.
The Florida ad had the h^hest normalized mean
(.53) followed by Quebec with a mean of .16. The ad
mentioned last most often was Blue Stratos (—.40).
TABLE 3
SECOND LOW NOISE CONDITION:
SIGNIFICANCE TEST — ORDER OF MENTION
Normalized Ranks
Standard Deviation
.76
.68
.71
.70
.87
Mean
Ad
Florida
.53
.15
-.40
-.07
-.21
Quebec
Blue Stratos
Palm Springs
Maxell
Analysis of Variance of Order of Mention on Ads
Source of Variation
DF
SS
MS
F Ratio
4
13.38
3.34
4.81
Experimental Error
100
69.59
.70
Total
104
72.97
Between Ads
critical
(4,100)* 3.51
The normalized means for order of mention were not
significantly different from one another in the first
low noise treatment, but they were significantly
different at an alpha of .01 in the high noise condition. The normalized means for the first three ads in
order of mention were .58 for the Bahamas ad, .52
for Bermuda, and .34 for Palm Springs. Ads mentioned towards the end of the verbalizations were
MaxeU (-.40), Blue Stratos (-.45), and BVD (-.61).
The results are in Table 4.
TABLE 4
HIGH NOISE CONDITION: SIGNIFICANCE
TEST - ORDER OF MENTION
Normalized Ranks
Standard Deviation
Mean
Ad
BVD
-.61
.69
Camel
Blue Stratos
-.11
-.45
.17
.69
.74
1.10
.34
.85
Florida
Palm Springs
Quebec
Maxell
.09
.69
-.40
.78
Colorado
-.14
.93
Bahamas
Bermuda
.58
.52
.76
.86
Analysis of Variance of Order of Mention on Ads
Source of Variation
DF
Between Ads
Experimental Error
Total
9
216
225
critical
SS
MS
F Ratio
38.03
160.27
198.30
4.22
.74
5.69
(9,216) = 2.50
Why does an ad stand out or not stand out in a
consumer's mind? Some answers to this question can
be learned by studying the verbal comments to ads
mentioned frequently versus infrequently. Exhibits 2,
3, and 4 contain sample verbalizations for the three
winning ads in terms of order of mention in the high
noise condition.
The Bahamas cognitive episodes, as represented in
Exhibit 2, were brief. In spite of this, subjects
recalled having viewed the ad, and tended to mention
it first when recounting the ads they had seen.
Reflections on the Bermuda ad (Exhibit 3) indicate
EXHIBIT 2
EXHIBIT 3
BAHAMAS: HIGH NOISE CONDITIONSUBJECT COGNITIVE EPISODES
BERMUDA: HIGH NOISE CONDITION SUBJECT COGNITIVE EPISODES
Subject A
Subject A
There was a lot of advertisements about vacation spots like
Bennuda. The one on Bahamas was all right. It had two girts
enjoying the Bahamas, saying how great it was. It had pictures
of tbem sailboating, and houses and blue skies and green grass.
There was one Tor Bahamas. It had a couple laying on a
beach and it said in the Bahamas you could be in a secluded
place or you could be in I guess a busy shopping night life
type place. But I think the best thing about it was they had
in fine print at the bottom, was that there's a toll free number
you could call if you had it you wanted more information
about going to the Bahamas or what's there.
Subject B
The one on Bermuda kind of caught my eye. For Baham..,
maybe this was Bermuda it was telling about how you know
all there was to do in Bermuda. And it told about two girls.
It's got these two great looking girls and it says this is what
they had to say about their trip to Bermuda. And its them
telling about you know the great time they had. And it shows
them out in sailboats and all this kind o[stuff.
Subject B
Tbe one about tbe Bahamas looked interesting.
Subject C
that there was some confusion between the Bahamas
and Bermuda ads. Even so, the content of the
Bermuda ad was recounted in greater detail than that
of the Bahamas ad.
The general message of the Palm Springs ad
(Exhibit 4) was remembered, but the emphasis in the
verbalizations was on the cold north. Both subjects
mentioned that there was just an inset picture of a
Palm Springs scene. Perhaps this is why the Palm
Springs ad did not fare as well as the Bahamas and
Bermuda ads.
Exhibit 5 contains the reflections of two subjects
on the Blue Stratos ad. One subject experienced
difficulty recalling the brand name, and the other
went so far as to say that he probably wouldn't buy
it because of the name. The first subject explicitly
expressed disbelief with the "implied" claims of the
ad and neither subject wanted to be associated with
the image portrayed by a user of Blue Stratos cologne.
This ad had low recall and was mentioned toward
the end of the subject's verbalization because the
brand name was hard to pronounce and was relatively
unknown.
Exhibit 6 contains sample verbalizations for the
BVD ad. The cognitions indicate that subject responses toward the ad varied greatly. The short statements
and rambling thoughts in the first episode suggest
delayed thought processing and possibly an uneasiness
with the ad. The person seemed taken aback that the
ad was for undergarments. The second subject
succinctly described the ad (without explicitly stating
that the man was in underwear), named the sponsor,
and expressed disgust with it. The low number of
mentions and low priority given in order of mention
for this ad was most likely intentional. It is probably
a result of the unusual nature of the ad content
There was one I think for Bermuda, and what it consisted
of was three or four photographs of a couple, or you know
just a few people playing tennis or laying on the beach or
sometbing like that. Then it bas little quotes about it. It
really. It wasn't an appealing ad. I really kind of think it
was. . .It said something. . .One of the ladies.. .One thing I
remember about it was one of the ladies said that she liked
the idea of Bennuda shorts but then in the graphics then the
picture showed the lady in Bermuda shorts I don't see how
she.. .
EXHIBIT 4
PALM SPRINGS: HIGH NOISE CONDITIONSUBJECT COGNITIVE EPISODES
Subject A
There was one on, I saw one that was on Palm Springs,
California. It was an ad that basically was a contrast ad. It
showed, you know, your typical northern city you know, it
was raining and wet and cold and then its got a picture in the
inset of Palm Springs, California, and it's you know the sort
of thing like, come in out of the cold to California, this kind
of thing. I think they could bave done a better job on that.
I tend to favor southern California myself. It's one of my
favorite spots and 1 think they could have done a better
advertisement on that, is my feelings towards that ad.
Subject B
The ad on Palm Springs. It was good in that U depicted a
city scene like New York, or what not, and you have a small
inset picture in tbere of a couple swimming in a pool and the
caption is something to the effect, 1 can't remember it, sometbing to the effect of being out of the cold.
10
(which may have made some individuals uncomfortable), and the fact that the subjects were required to
relate the ad contents to individuals they were not
acquainted with.
EXHIBIT 6
BVD: HIGH NOISE CONDITION-SUBJECT
COGNITIVE EPISODES
Subject A
Another one that I thought was kind of cute was about
EXHIBIT 5
BVD men's underwear.
But the one about the man's underwear: it said America's
man is going to color. And so its got this guy standing there.
He's got on blue tight underwear and a t-shirt, and he's standing there shaving, and youil probahly like that. Get her to
show you that one. And, I don't know, it kind of struck me
kind of funny, because I don't know if people are into underwear that much or not. But I mean, 1 know that I meant
wouldn't look through a magazine trying to.. .1 thought that
was kind of neat. It did kind of catch my eye. At first 1 didn't
know, you know I didn't know it was talking about men's
underwear. But you know. . .1 mean it just.. .It showed a guy
standing there in his underwear, and he's shaving with a
straight razor, and I thou^t it was going to say something
else about an aftershave or something. Then it goes to tell how
men are favoring colored underwear and going for that psychodelic look I guess. It was pretty neat.
BLUE STRATOS: HIGH NOISE CONDITIONSUBJECT COGNITIVE EPISODES
Subject A
And another one was getting away like getting away from
vacation was about a man's cologne and aftershave. I guess
it's just coming out. I've never heard of it before but it's
Status or Stratos or something like that and you know it telh
about how it's brisk and free and all this kind of stuff and
you're just going good, you know, how could a cologne make
you feel like that. Well you know, you dash a little bit of this
on and you know take off flying or something like that. Also
it shows a guy in a hang glider you know going around and it
describes it perfect.
Subject B
Subject B
Another ad in there was one for a cologne for men. It was
called Blue Stratos. The background picture was a man in a
hang glider. I don*t think I'd ever use it, probably because of
the name Blue Stratos. it's just not a name I think I'd pick up.
Oh, there was one stupid ad that had a picture of a man for
BVD underwear, undergarments and t-shirts and underwear,
and it had a picture of a guy. It was sort of a macho-type
thing — a sort of a country westem-type bathroom and a
fellow shaving in his BVD's you know and he was wearing a
cowboy hat. And I thought that was particularly stupid
looking. . .
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Thought verbalizations are substantially less likely
to include mentions of specific brand names in noise
situations where consumers are exposed to many
versus a few ads, i.e., high versus low noise conditions.
The decline in brand name mentions is greater for
some ads versus others in high versus low noise conditions. For example, the decrease in mentioning
Palm Springs was nine percent versus 40 percent for
Florida in high versus low noise conditions.
Two implications can be drawn by these conclusions. First, exclusive or restrictive ad placements
should be sought by advertisers: clutter should be
avoided. Second, multiple ads for a given brand
should be tested in high versus low noise conditions.
Some ads placed in competition with others may be
able to produce high brand mentions in both high and
low noise conditions while others do not.
First brand mention in unaided recall tests (top-ofthe-mind-awareness) has been found to be related
positively to proportion of purchases for the brand
(7). Thought processing research in low and high
noise conditions enables the use of first brand
mention as a surrogate for the potential sales impact
of an ad. Does the ad for a given brand gain prime
processing space in the consumer's mind? The results
shown in Table 4 imply that the Bahamas and
Bermuda ads may work particularly well in influencing sales by affecting awareness.
Positive and Negative Thoughts
Different ads produce widely differing numbers of
positive and negative thoughts (see Table 2). Some
ads are substantially more likely to produce negative
versus positive thoughts and the reverse is likely to
hold. Thus, ad testing to leam consumer thoughts
before media placement should be considered by
advertisers. Actual consumer thought responses may
differ widely from the responses desired by advertisers. Thought processing pretests of ads before their
media placement may reduce the possibility of negative thoughts being associated with the advertised
brand and help the advertiser in selecting ads likely to
produce positive thoughts.
(continued on p. 33}
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