MUSIC AND INFORMATION IN COMMERCIALS: THEIR EFFECTS

GERALD J. GORN
MARVIN E. GOLDBERG
AMITAVA CHATTOPADHYAY
AND
DAVID LITVACK
MUSIC AND INFORMATION
IN COMMERCIALS:
THEIR EFFECTS WITH
AN ELDERLY SAMPLE
A
1. GERALD J. GORN is Advisory Council Professor
of Consumer Behavior at the University of British Columbia. Vancouver, B C . Canada, 2. MARVIN E.
GOLDBERG is Bard Professor of Business Administration at The Pennsylvania State University.
3. AMITAVA CHATTOPADHYAY is associate professor of marketing at McGili University. Montreai,
Quebec. Canada, 4. DAVID LITVACK is associate
professor of marketing at the University of Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada,
number of recent empirical investigations (Cole
and Gaeth, 1990; Cole
and Houston, 1987; Davis and
French, 1989; Gaeth and Heath,
1987; Milliman and Erffmeyer,
1990) as well as an insightful literature review (Roedder-John
and Cole, 1986) provide evidence of a growing interest in
the consumer behavior of the
elderly. This interest appears
well-warranted, given that the
elderly are heavy users of mass
media; that they rely on sources
such as television and newspapers for information to aid in
purchase decisions; and that
there are significant differences
between young adults and the
elderly in their ability to process
information (Phillips and Sternthal, 1977). From a practical perspective as well, the growing
elderly segment is worth considering. With over 25 million people in the United States, the
over-65 group constitutes more
than 11 percent of the population and is growing at a more
rapid rate than the general population. The elderly segment accounts for over $60 billion in annual consumer spending in the
United States (Lumpkin and
Hite, 1988).
As Zaltman, Perloff, and Valle
(1980) note, traditional consumer
communication efforts may not
be effective for the elderly. In
this study we use an experimental paradigm to compare the potential effectiveness of three
types of advertising strategies on
older viewers: (1) an informa-
tion-oriented appeal that presented explicit product benefits;
(2) a music-oriented appeal that
presented little in the way of
explicit product benefits; and (3)
an appeal that stressed both explicit product benefits and music. We investigate their effects
on various levels of the communication hierarchy including
choice behavior, a dependent
variable often ignored in laboratory studies of advertising effects.
Conceptual Background
Informational Appeals. Consumer and psychological models
of attitude formation and change
have emphasized the importance
of information processing in attitude formation and change (e.g.,
Fishbein, 1967; Greenwald, 1968;
Howard and Sheth, 1969;
McGuire, 1968). Fishbein and
Ajzen (1975), in fact, go as far as
to say that all theories of attitudes imply providing a communication containing necessary
information to develop or
change beliefs regarding the attributes of an object and/or the
evaluation of those attributes.
This research was supported by a grant
from the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council. The help of the following individuals and institutions is
gratefully acknowledged: Charles B.
Weinberg of the University of British
Columbia, The Golden Age Association
of Montreal, and the West Island Senior
Citizens Group of Pointe Claire, Quebec.
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
23
E F F E C T S
O F M U S I C
Others have suggested that
not all attitude formation and
change occurs in the manner
described above. Petty and Cacioppo (1981, 1985), for example,
posit a second route to attitude
formation that may be based on
cues and associations that are
not directly relevant to the decision. According to this perspective, attractive visuals, music,
etc., in an advertisement,
though not directly related to
specific attributes of the product,
may, nonetheless, influence
brand attitude. This latter route
to persuasion has been labeled
the peripheral route (e.g.. Petty
and Cacioppo, 1981, 1985; Petty,
Cacioppo, and Schumann, 1983).
Consistent with this direction of
thought, a body of marketing
Research on attention . . .
suggests that the elderly
experience difficulty with
selective attention.
literature has recently emerged
that examines the role of affective reactions to the advertisement on brand attitude. The
construct, attitude toward the
advertisement, has been posited
as a mediator of the impact of an
ad on brand attitude (e.g., Lutz,
1985; Mitchell and Olson, 1981;
Shimp, 1981).
Research focusing on the elderly supports the former perspective, that is, the importance
of information in advertising to
the elderly. Several studies suggest that informational advertisements may be most effective
with the elderly. Mason and
Bearden (1978), in a survey of
elderly consumers, report that
over two-thirds of their respondents indicated significant use of
retail advertisements as informa24
A N D
I N F O R M A T I O N
O
N T H F
tion to aid in retail shopping. In
addition, 84 percent of their respondents believed that they
attempted to be rational in their
decisions and undertook product
comparisons prior to purchases.
One survey investigating how
the elderly perceive television
commercials reports that twothirds of those surveyed found
television commercials to be a
useful source of information
(Schreiber and Boyd, 1980)- Recommendations based on a more
recent survey by Donnelley Marketing Inc. included the following: "Base the selling message
on facts, not emotions. Mature
consumers are scientists of
purchasing" (Graham, 1988).
More generally, a number of
surveys suggest that the elderly
exhibit a strong preference for
informational television programs. Older viewers consistently report news, documentaries, and public affairs broadcasts as their most preferred
program types (e.g., Davis, 1971;
Wenner, 1976). This may be because one function of television
is to enable the elderly to scan
their environment for information. As people age, there is a
decline in the sources of information available to them due to
a reduction in the number of
roles they play and the amount
of social interaction they have
(Rosow, 1967). As a result, compared to younger adults, the elderly rely more heavily on mass
media, especially television, for
information about their environment (e.g., Korzenny and Neuendorf, 1980; Wenner, 1976).
Taken together, these results
suggest that the elderly are more
likely to be persuaded by commercials containing explicit product information.
While the elderly appear to
prefer information-oriented commercials and programming, literature in marketing (e.g.. Cole
and Houston, 1987) and geron-
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
E L D E R L Y
tology (e.g., Perlmutter, 1978,
1979) suggests that the elderly
also experience difficulty in processing information. This is especially true when information is
rapidly paced, as in broadcast
advertisements (e.g., Stephens,
1982). Research on attention further suggests that the elderly
experience difficulty with selective attention. That is, they are
either unable to, or minimally,
have difficulty selectively attending to some elements of a stimulus to the exclusion of other elements (Rabbitt, 1965; see Layton,
1975, for an in-depth discussion). Recently, Farakas and
Hoyer (1980) have replicated the
findings of Rabbitt (1965). Finally, Hoyer, Rebok, and Sved
(1979) have shown that irrelevant contextual information disproportionately affects the speed
and accuracy with which older
adults can solve problems.
To the extent the elderly experience information-processing
difficulties, any distraction, such
as music, would make it especially hard for them to attend to
and process relevant information. These difficulties may, or
may not, be critical to the commercial's overall effectiveness.
The literature discussed above
emphasizes the importance of
the central route to persuasion,
i.e., the importance of information in a commercial directed at
the elderly. This does not mean,
however, that music cannot also
have some positive effect on the
elderly's beliefs, attitudes, and
behavior through the peripheral
route to persuasion. Therefore,
while music may inhibit learning, it is more difficult to predict
its effect on beliefs, attitudes,
and behavior. It is not clear
whether the increased level of
difficulty the elderly may have
in processing information in a
commercial with music added
will or will not be offset by the
positive, independent impact
E F F E C T S
O F M U S I C
that music may have as a peripheral cue.
Research Design
There were three experimental
conditions and one control condition in our study. In the experimental conditions, subjects
were exposed to one of three
professionally prepared commercials in the context of a 20minute segment of OverEasy, a
PBS TV program targeted at seniors. For the control condition,
subjects were exposed to the
same program without any
commercials.
Subjects. For purposes of external validity we chose to use a
group of noninstitutionalized
rather than institutionalized elderly. Though this presented
increased logistical problems, it
was felt that an institutionalized
sample might be too prone to
information-processing deficits.
Since the advertised brand was
sold only on the west coast, an
I N F O R M A T I O N
O N T H E
Table 1
Demographic Profile of Sampie
Hypotheses
HI: Given the literature reported above suggesting the relevance and salience of informational appeals for the elderly,
informational commercials emphasizing explicit product benefits are hypothesized to have a
greater influence on the elderly's
attitudes and choice behavior
than commercials without these
explicit product benefits.
H2: When music is added to
the explicit product benefits presented in an informational commercial, the elderly's recall and
recognition of these claims will
be less than when the commercials do not contain music.
Given the discussion above, no a
priori prediction is made regarding the effect on beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of adding
music to the explicit product
benefits.
A N D
%of
respondents
Demographics
Age
60-64
18.7
65-69
17.6
70-74
25.7
75-79
18.1
80 +
19.9
Sex
Male
42.9
Female
57.1
Work status
Working
3.2
Retired
84.1
Other
12.7
Size of household
Living alone
31.8
One other person
56.4
Two or more other persons
11.8
Education
Elementary school
20.5
Some high school
31.4
Completed high school
21.2
Some college
16.0
Completed college
6.4
Post graduate
6.5
eastern sample was used to ensure that the sample would be
unfamiliar with the advertised
brand.
Two groups of elderly
(n = 176), each consisting of
members of senior citizens' organizations catering to noninstitutionalized elderly, participated in
the study. The age of the elderly
subjects ranged from 60 to 84.
The study was conducted at the
general meetings of the two
groups, where subjects were
randomly allocated to experimental conditions (see Table 1).
Stimuli. Three different commercials for apple juice were de-
E L D E R L Y
veloped for this study. A senior
professional editor at a local TV
station was hired to ensure that
the commercials would be as
professional as those that appear
on air. One of the coauthors was
at the TV station at all times
during the editing to ensure that
the commercials were prepared
as intended.
Informational
Version (/). Vi-
sual segments from several apple juice commercials (some
taped off-air, others obtained
from the company which marketed the advertised brand) were
edited to create the visual part of
a 30-second commercial. The
segments selected contained
scenes of the apple juice being
poured at length into a glass,
waterfalls, apple orchards, etc. A
professional announcer, who
had done many commercials,
was used to do a voiceover in
which five product benefits were
mentioned. Four claims (developed in consultation with two
nutritionists) were shown visually via "superscripts," i.e., lines
superimposed at the bottom of
the screen. They were done by
an audiovisual firm that prepares superscripts for commercials. The four claims were: "relieves irregularity," "promotes
healthier gums," "fights
infections," and "recommended
by doctors." As each claim was
being verbalized, the relevant
phrase was superimposed in
large letters at the bottom of the
screen. The advertising copy
was written by a professional
copywriter of a major advertising agency in a large west coast
city. When editing the commercial, the editor was instructed to
keep each claim on the screen
for the same length of time.
Since the voiceover in the apple
juice commercial also mentioned
that the brand had a lot of vitamin C, we also considered that
as a fifth claim mentioned in the
commercial. However, in the
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
25
E F F E C T S
O
editor's opinion, we were unable
to add a fifth overlay of written
information on the screen in the
30-second commercial without
sacrificing the professional quality of the commercial. The name
of the advertised brand of apple
juice was stated at the end of
the commercial.
Musical Version {M). In the
musical version, the voiceover
and the benefit claim overlays
were eliminated. The audio portion of the commercial, the music, was selected by a professional studio from their music
library, in order to closely resemble the music in actual juice
commercials. We had taped juice
commercials with music so that
the studio could match the typically soft, relaxing music as
closely as possible. The music
was edited so that it fit the commercial, i.e., so it ended when
the commercial ended. At the
end of the commercial, the
brand name of the apple juice
was stated, just as in the informational version.
Information Plus Music Version (Ml). A third version was
also created which combined the
music and information versions.
The musical soundtrack was
added to the informational commercial (voiceover plus superscripts) to create the combined
version.
It should be noted that the
musical version contained the
same visuals as the informational or informational plus music commercials. Although the
music-only commercial was selected to communicate as little
product information as possible,
it inevitably contained some indirect product information; however, unlike the versions with
information, the musical version
did not explicitly link the brand
with particular benefits.
A pretest using nine elderly
subjects assessed the degree to
which each commercial con26
F M U S I C
A N D
!\i F O R M A T I O N
O
NT H E
veyed product-specific information. To familiarize the subjects
with the procedures, they were
first shown two irrelevant commercials, one highly informational in orientation, the other
highly musical in orientation.
Subjects responded to one commercial at a time using two
6-point semantic differential
scales. The first was anchored by
the terms: "Provides a lot of information . . . Provides little
information." The second was
anchored by the terms "Provides
a lot of details . . . Doesn't provide a lot of details." Each of the
three test commercials for apple
juice were then shown to the
subjects. They used the same
two scales to respond to the informational commercial, then the
music-only commercial, and finally the informational plus music commercial.
The mean scores for each of
the commercials on each of the
two scales suggest that the subjects perceived a considerable
difference (almost maximally so)
on these measures, between the
music-only commercial and the
two containing product-specific
information. Where "Provides a
lot of information . . . " was
scored as 6 and "Provides a little
information . . ." was scored as
1, the mean scores were as follows: music-only version: 1.7;
informational version: 5.7; informational plus music version: 5.7.
Means for the second scale,
where "Provides a lot of details . . ." was scored as 6 and
"Doesn't provide a lot of
details" was scored as 1, were as
follows; music-only version: 1.8;
informational version: 5.2; informational plus music version: 5.4.
Procedure. For each of the
two elderly groups, the experiment was conducted at their
normal meeting place, following
a business meeting. Special programs tended to follow their
business meetings, and they had
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
E L D E R L Y
been told that there would be a
special program following this
meeting but not the nature of
the program. As planned, once
the business portion of the meeting was over, one of the authors
was introduced and indicated
that members of the audience
were going to evaluate a TV program aired only in some areas
but not in others. It was suggested that their opinions would
be used to help in the decision
on whether the program would
receive a wider airing. They
were told that it would obviously be impossible for everyone
in the large audience to see the
TV screen. They would therefore
go to smaller rooms where they
would be able to get closer to
the TV screen and be more comfortable. They were then randomly assigned to each of four
separate rooms/conditions.
Subjects were randomly assigned to the four experimental
conditions in the following way:
Each person was handed a piece
of paper randomly containing
the names of one of the four female experimenters who ran the
study. The experimenters had
been trained beforehand and
had gone through several "dress
rehearsals." They were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions and, while
aware that the major purpose of
the study was to assess the impact of commercials on the elderly, they were not aware of
the hypotheses associated with
the specific experimental conditions. Moreover, as noted earlier, there were no directional
hypotheses. Each experimenter
was then introduced to the audience and held up a large sign
with their name on it. Subjects
were told to follow the person
whose name they had on their
piece of paper.
Once in the room which contained two TV monitors, they
were told that they would be
E F F E C T S
O F M U S I C
seeing an uncut segment of the
program just the way it was
aired and would be asked for
their opinions. Then, depending
on the experimental condition to
which they had been randomly
assigned, subjects saw either the
Informational (I), Musical (M), or
Information plus Music (MI)
commercial twice. The commercials were inserted toward the
beginning and end of the program by a professional editor.
The control group did not see
any commercials.
After the program, subjects
were first asked four questions
related to the program. This was
followed by questions regarding
the major dependent measures
related to the commercials. An
assistant was available in each
room to help the experimenter
with the administration of the
questionnaire. Pilot testing had
suggested that it was useful to
have the experimenter read each
question aloud, with the subjects
following along and then responding. In no case was any
discussion between any of the
subjects noted.
Dependent Variables. There
were four broad categories of
dependent variables: learning,
beliefs, attitudes, and choice.
Learning. There were two
measures of learning: free recall
and recognition. To measure free
recall, subjects were first asked
to write down what they remembered about the commercial. Several blank lines were
placed below the recall question
for their responses.
The recognition measure came
on the next page. The measure
consisted of eight benefit claims.
Five of these claims had actually
been made in the commercials
(italicized claims): helps you
sleep, relieves irregularity, promotes healthier gums, keeps skin
healthy, recommended by doctors,
helps control body weight, fights
infections, and good source of vita-
A N D
I N F O R M A T I O N
O
NT H E
min C. Subjects were asked to
indicate which claims had been
made in the commercial. Since
the claims were only made in
the I and MI commercials, the M
group did not respond to the
recognition measure.
Belief. For the belief measures, all subjects rated the eight
claims presented in the recognition test along a 5-point Likerttype rating scale. The scale was
anchored at the two ends by the
statements "agree completely
(5)" and "disagree
completely (1)."
Attitude. Apple juice is
viewed by many largely as a
commodity. In fact, the commercial stressed the value of apple
juice rather than the brand per
se (e.g., "Apple juice helps fight
infections, is high in vitamin C,"
etc.). As a result, the main attitudinal measure developed was
attitude toward the product. It
was measured by obtaining a
response to the statement "I like
apple juice" along a 5-point
Likert-type scale anchored at the
ends by the statements "agree
completely (5)" and "disagree
completely (1)."
Attitude toward the commercial was also measured on a
5-point scale. Subjects in the
three groups who viewed a commercial were asked to indicate
how much they liked the advertisement they had seen, along a
scale anchored by the statements
"much more than other commercials (5)" and "much less than
other commercials (1)."
In the next part of the questionnaire subjects were told that
they would be answering questions related to a "Government
Recreation Study." This break in
the main section of the questionnaire dealing with the advertised
product was intended to minimize any carryover effects from
responses to the attitude questions to the behavioral measure
that followed the break. There
E L D E R L Y
were nine questions in this "recreation study," relating to issues
such as amount of TV watched
and the subject's health.
Coupon Choice. Subjects
were informed that as a token of
appreciation they would receive
a $1.00 coupon toward the purchase of either Seven-Up, Libby's Tomato Juice, Salada Tea
Bags, or the advertised apple
juice. Respondents indicated
their choice by checking one of
the four response categories.
Subjects then responded to a
projective question attempting to
assess the potential for experimental demand. They were told
that this project was being conducted across the country in order to see whether or not to air
the program nationally. They
were then asked whether they
thought: (a) people would give
us their honest opinions about
the apple juice commercial or (b)
whether people would try to be
nice and say they liked the commercial simply to convince advertisers to sponsor the program. The more typical openended question asking subjects
for their perception of the
study's intent might have been
preferable, but a pilot study indicated that most elderly subjects were not capable of responding to this type of
question.
Finally, subjects answered a
few demographic questions related to their sex, age, and level
of education.
Results
The results for learning are
presented first. This is followed
by the belief/attitudinal and behavioral measures.
Measures of Learning. There
were two key measures of learning: recall and claim recognition.
Recall. The free-recall data
were coded in two categories:
recall of visual elements and re-
Journal ol ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
27
O F
call of the verbal elements. The
coding schemes for both were
developed by two of the authors
examining a subset of the responses from the questionnaire.
The actual coding was done by
one of the authors and a graduate student. They agreed in over
90 percent of their judgments,
with the small number of inconsistencies resolved by a second
author.
After a preliminary screening
of 20 percent of the responses,
visual recall was categorized as
recall of the waterfall, recall of
the pouring/drinking of the
juice, recall of the apple trees,
and a miscellaneous "other" category; no subject recorded more
than one "miscellaneous" remark. Subjects received a score
of 1 for each category they recalled. The total visual recall
score was obtained by summing
across all four categories and
ranged between 0 and 4.
Recall of the verbal elements
was classified into eight categories after a preliminary screening
of 20 percent of the responses:
the four claims made both visually and on the audio track,
(e.g., recommended by doctors);
the vitamin C claim made in the
audio portion; two other elements featured in the copy read
by the announcer (i.e., "apple a
day" and "healthy"); plus a final
miscellaneous category for any
other verbal element of the commercial they recalled; no subject
recorded more than one
"miscellaneous" remark. Subjects received a score of 1 for
each item recalled. The total verbal recall score ranged from 0
to 8.
Visual Recall. A one-way
analysis of variance was performed with the visual recall
score as the dependent variable
and the three types of ads as a
three-level independent factor.
The results showed a significant
effect of commercial type
28
M U S I C
A N D
I N F O R M A T I O N
O N T H F E L D E R L Y
. . . respondents in the M
condition recalled more of
the visual elements than
those in the I and Ml
conditions.
(f - 20.18, ;) < 0.001). An examination of the means showed
that on average 2.00 visual items
were recalled in the M condition, but only 0.42 and 0.65 visual items were recalled in the I
and MI conditions, respectively.
Post-hoc analyses using the
Newman-Keuls test revealed
that visual recall was higher in
the M commercial condition than
in the other two conditions. This
might be expected as the I and
MI conditions had in addition to
the visuals a substantial amount
of product-related information in
their commercials.
Recall of Explicit Product
Claims. To examine the pattern
of recall of verbal elements, the
mean number of verbal elements
recalled in the I and MI conditions were compared. The M
condition was excluded since it
contained no verbal claims. As
indicated above, we were interested in whether music, as a distractor, added to the explicit informational-claims-only version
of the commercial, would reduce
the number of explicit claims
recalled in this condition. The
ANOVA revealed a significant
difference in the amount of verbal recall between the I and MI
conditions (f = 3.96, p < 0.05).
In the I condition, 2.11 verbal
elements were recalled on average compared to only 1.51 verbal
elements in the MI condition.
In summary, respondents in
the M condition recalled more of
the visual elements than those in
the I and MI conditions. Those
in the I condition recalled significantly higher amounts of explicit
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
verbal information compared to
those in the MI condition. In
other words, music appeared to
interfere with the acquisition of
explicit product information
about the apple juice.
Recognition. Respondents'
ability to recognize the claims
made in the commercial was
measured using an eight-item
recognition test that contained
five true and three false claims.
Using a correction for guessing,
the recognition score was derived by subtracting the number
of claims incorrectly identified as
true from the number correctly
identified as true. (A claim-byclaim analysis revealed no significant differences in level of recognition for the various claims.)
An ANOVA was conducted to
compare respondents' performance on the recognition test in
the I and MI conditions. Results
showed the respondents in the I
condition (mean recognition
score = 2.77) correctly recognized significantly more claims
than those in the MI condition
(mean recognition score = 2.13;
f = 4.53, p < 0.05). Thus, the
results of the recognition test
parallel the results obtained for
the recall test, in that music
seemed to interfere with learning.
Beliefs and Attitude. Beliefs.
Following the recognition test,
respondents had been asked for
their agreement or disagreement
with each of the eight claims in
the recognition test. Two oneway analyses of variance were
conducted with the three ad
conditions and the control group
forming a four-level independent
variable in each case. The dependent variables were: (1) the
mean agreement score for the
five items presented in the commercials containing information
{I and MI); and (2) the mear\
agreement score for the three
items not presented in these
commercials.
E F F E C T S
O F
Results of the ANOVA for the
five items actually presented in
the advertisement show a significant effect of ad type (F = 7.86,
p < 0.001). Post-hoc comparisons using the Newman-Keuls
test showed that the mean belief
scores (see Table 2) in the two
ad conditions which contained
information {I and MI) were not
different from each other (3.63
and 3.59, respectively) but were
significantly different, at the 0.05
significance level, from the mean
belief scores in the M and control conditions (3.23 and 3.05,
respectively). The latter two
groups did not differ from each
other.
The results of the ANOVA on
the mean belief rating for the
three items not presented in the
ads failed to reach significance
(F < 1). Thus, subjects' beliefs
about the benefits derived from
apple juice were enhanced only
when explicit benefit claims
were made.
Taken together, the recall and
recognition results suggest that
when explicit informational
claims are made, the elderly are
able to process at least some of
the information. In addition, a
purely informative advertisement is better able to communicate the brand benefits than an
advertisement containing music
as well as benefit claims. Interestingly, however, the lower levels of recall and recognition for
the information-plus-music condition as opposed to the information-only condition do not
appear to affect brand beliefs.
Subjects agreed equally strongly
with these belief statements
whether they viewed the information-plus-music or information-only commercials.
Attitude toward the Product.
Table 2 presents the mean attitude toward apple juice score by
experimental condition. The
ANOVA was significant
(f - 4.37, p < 0.01). Those in
M U S I C
A N D
I N F O R M A T I O N
O N
T H E
E L D E R L Y
Table 2
Mean Attitude and Belief Scores by Experimental Condition
Experimental
condition
Correct
beliefs
Incorrect
beliefs
Attitude toward
apple juice
Commercial
evaluation
Information
48
3.63
2.59
4.50
3.38
Music
41
3.23
2.77
3.97
3.48
Information/Music
39
3.59
2.68
4.70
3.51
Control
48
3.05
2,47
4,01
N/A
the explicit-informational-claimsplus-music condition (MI) (4.70)
and the explicit-informationalclaims-only condition (4.50) had
equally positive attitudes toward
apple juice; however, only the
former had significantly more
Taken together, the recall
and recognition results
suggest that when explicit
informational claims are
made, the elderly are able to
process at least some of
the information.
positive attitudes toward the
product than those in the musiconly (3.97) and no-commercial
conditions (4.01; Newman-Keuls,
p < .05). The latter two groups
did not differ from each other in
their attitude toward apple juice.
These results parallel those for
beliefs with the two explicit
claims conditions equal and
higher than the conditions without explicit claims.
Commercial Evaluation. A
one-way ANOVA was conducted with commercial evaluation as the dependent variable
and the three commercial conditions forming a three-level independent factor. The results
showed no differences in the
liking for the three commercials
(F < 1).
In sum, all three commercials
were equally well-liked, but the
two commercials with explicit
claims were able to create somewhat more positive beliefs and
attitudes toward the product,
compared to the control group
and the music commercial
group.
Choice. Coupon Choice. Subjects were offered a choice of a
coupon for the advertised brand
of apple juice or for three alternatives (Seven-Up, Libby's Tomato Juice, or Salada Tea). The
choice of a coupon for the advertised brand of apple juice was
scored as one, choice of any
other beverage was scored as
zero.
The chi-square test as a function of experimental condition was significant (chisquare = 14.94, p < .01). The
cell frequencies suggested that
those in the information-plusmusic condition (48.7 percent)
and information-only condition
(41.7 percent) were equally likely
to pick apple juice (chisquare ^ 0.43, p > .05). Those
in the two conditions without
information, that is, the musiconly condition (26.8 percent) and
the no-commercial condition
(14.6 percent), were significantly
less likely to pick apple juice (chisquare = 12.16, p < .01) than
those in the two informationclaims conditions. The two
groups without information did
not differ significantly from one
another (chi-square = 2.06,
Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
29
E F F E C T S
O F M U S I C
p > .05). Thus, for choice behavior as well as for product attitude and beliefs, those in the
commercial conditions with information were more positive
with regard to apple juice than
those in the commercial conditions without information—that
is, in the music-only commercial
and control conditions.
Demand Characteristics. The
differences between the three
commercial conditions would
seem to suggest that demand is
not a likely explanation of the
results. The product attitudes
and behavior of subjects in the
two explicit-claim-commercial
conditions were more influenced
by the commercials than the attitudes and behavior of subjects in
the music-only commercial condition, although any felt demand
to give more pro apple-juice responses should have been operating in all three commercial
conditions. Moreover, there
were differences within each experimental condition as a function of the various questions
asked. This suggests that subjects were paying attention to
the question asked and not simply giving a favorable response
to the commercial, irrespective
of the question asked. For example, using the control group as a
baseline, subjects in the information-only and music-plus-information conditions seemed to
change their beliefs only about
the specific benefit claims actually in the commercial and not
the "incorrect" beliefs which
were also listed. In effect, they
did not simply respond positively to each and every belief
statement, which might have
been expected if they thought
their task was to respond positively to everything about apple
juice.
Regarding the projective question related to demand, 97.5 percent responded that subjects
"would answer honestly." Only
30
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O
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2.5 percent suggested that subjects would try to "be nice" and
give us the answer we wanted
in their responses. Of course, a
closed-ended question of this
sort is, in itself, open to potential problems of demand-based
responses. For example, subjects
might wish to appear honest
and reply that everyone would
respond honestly. While this is a
possibility, it should be noted
that the projective nature of the
question was intended to minimize the influence of demand.
Discussion
Taken together, the results of
this study have several implica-
. . . the results suggest that
when communication of
brand benefits is the prime
advertising objective, a
purely informational appeal
is likely to be most effective
with elderly consumers.
tions. First, the results suggest
that when communication of
brand benefits is the prime advertising objective, a purely informational appeal is likely to be
most effective with elderly consumers. This is consistent with
past research in both consumer
behavior (Cole and Houston,
1987) and psychological literatures, suggesting that the elderly
have difficulty processing target
information, especially when it
is presented in the context of
other irrelevant information
(e.g., Farakas and Hoyer, 1980;
Rabbitt, 1965).
Notwithstanding the deficits
across experimental conditions
observed for recall and recognition in this study, the elderly
Journal ot ADVERTISING RESEARCH—OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1991
E L D E R L Y
appeared to process the claims
sufficiently in that the commercials with explicit product claims
influenced their product beliefs,
attitudes, and behavior. As hypothesized, the two commercials
containing explicit claims were
the most effective. This was the
case whether or not these explicit-claim commercials contained music.
The absence of a significant
difference between the information-only and music-plus-information groups suggests that music did not represent a serious
disadvantage in persuading the
elderly. In fact, if anything, directional evidence suggests that
the commercial with music plus
information seemed the most
effective in changing product
attitudes and choice behavior.
For example, those exposed to
the music-plus-information commercial were most likely (49 percent) to pick a coupon for the
advertised brand of apple juice.
Therefore, an additional implication of the present study is that,
when the objective of advertising is to generate consumer
choice rather than the communication of brand benefits, an appeal that contains both information and music may be most effective. This is consistent with
the results obtained by Olson
(1985). In that study, Olson analyzed the characteristics of commercials for successful and unsuccessful new products and
identified relevance and stimulation as the two key factors that
discriminate between commercials that were successful and
unsuccessful in generating newproduct trial. He concluded
". . . the best new-product commercials seem to be those which
communicate relevant information . . . and, in addition, are
seen as stimulating and
enjoyable." This suggests that
our findings regarding the effects of alternative ad executions
E F F E C T S
O F M U S I C
on choice may be generalizable
to nonelderly consumers.
The commercial developed in
this study made heavy use of
superscripts that may have facilitated the information-processing
task for the elderly. It would be
useful, in future research, to directly test the degree to which
superscripts are of value in communicating information via TV
commercials to elderly viewers.
Superscripts reinforce auditory
information, although their potential impact may be lessened
by such factors as the declining
vision that accompanies the aging process.
Of necessity, this study focused on a single product, apple
juice, and tested just a single
commercial. Caution needs to be
exercised in generalizing to other
products and commercials, especially those that are highly different in nature. For example,
for products that are highly complex (e.g., VCRs), information
provided via TV commercials
might sufficiently tax the elderly's information-processing capacities, so that (unlike the findings of this study) their attitudes
and choice processes might be
adversely affected. This hypothesis awaits further testing.
While the sample size in this
study did not permit it, in future
research it might be useful to
consider subsegments of the elderly. A number of gerontologists have begun to distinguish
between the "young-old," those
65 to 74, and the "old-old,"
those 75 or over (e,g., Neugarten, 1975). Research has shown
that a diminution of physical
and mental abilities becomes
particularly evident in those 75
and over. In marketing, Lazer
(1986) has developed a four-level
age breakdown of the elderly. It
may also be fruitful to use other
differences such as psychographics (Davis and French, 1989;
French and Fox, 1985; Day et al..
A N D
I N F O R M A T I O N
O N T H E
1987) to help assess the impact
of TV commercials on the elderly. One lifestyle factor to be considered, for example, is the degree of isolation experienced by
the elderly (e.g., those who live
by themselves versus those who
live with others). One might hypothesize that those who live
alone would react differently to
TV commercials compared to
those who live with others. As
people age, there is generally a
reduction in the number of roles
they play and the amount of social interaction they have. As
their interpersonal sources of
information decline, TV may become a more important source of
information for the elderly. One
could therefore speculate that
commercials on TV, especially
those containing product information, would have a greater
impact on the isolated elderly,
since they may have few other
sources of information. •
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