Automatic and Strategic Processes in Advertising Effects

The author distinguishes two kinds of cognitive processes: automatic processes, which are mostly subconscious, are learned and changed slowly and are not subject to the capacity limitations of working memory, and strategic processes, which are conscious, are subject to capacity limitations, and can easily be adapted to situational circumstances. The perception of advertising and the way it influences brand evaluation involves both processes. Automatic processes govern the recognition of advertising stimuli, the relevance decision that determines further higher-level processing, the retrieval of information, and the provision of a heuristic for brand evaluation. Strategic processes govern learning and inference formation. The relative importance of both types of processes depends on product involvement. The distinction of these two types of processes leads to some conclusions that are at variance with current notions about advertising effects. For example, the attention span problem is relevant only for strategic processes. A certain amount of learning can occur with little conscious effort, and advertising's effect on brand evaluation may be more stable for low- than for high-involvement products.