A Test of Two Consumer Response Scales in Advertising

In the past, advertising researchers have built up, in an exploratory fashion, multi-item profiles for measuring consumer response to advertising. Two of the most commonly used profiles, Wells’ reaction profile and Leavitt's commercial profile, were developed this way. However, very little is known about the reliability, validity, or predictive powers of the underlying structures postulated by these two profiles. The authors examine the hypothesized factor structure of the profiles, as well as their predictive validity with respect to attitude and purchase intention. The reaction profile is found to be consistent with its postulated structure whereas the commercial profile is not. The two profiles predict attitude toward the brand equally well, but the reaction profile is superior with respect to purchase intention.