Literal versus extended symbolic messages and advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of need for cognition

The authors classify an advertisement as an extended symbolic message (ESM) when the ad's subject and message are presented in a nonliteral format. The study compares the advertising effectiveness of the ESM with that of a literally equivalent message (LEM) when the ESM contains either a salient cue (Experiment 1) or subtle cue (Experiment 2) to a nonliteral interpretation. The results indicate that the audience's need for cognition moderates the effectiveness of the ESM. In comparison with an LEM, exposure to the ESM that contained a salient cue resulted in fewer counterarguments and a more favorable attitude toward the ad and brand among high-NFC subjects in experiment 1. These results were replicated in experiment 2 among high-NFC subjects who successfully comprehended the non-literal subject of the ESM that contained a subtle cue. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[1]  Franziska Marquart,et al.  Communication and persuasion : central and peripheral routes to attitude change , 1988 .

[2]  Tom Reichert,et al.  The Message is in the Metaphor: Assessing the Comprehension of Metaphors in Advertisements , 1999 .

[3]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  The need for cognition. , 1982 .

[4]  J. C. Andrews,et al.  Suggestions For Manipulating and Measuring Involvement in Advertising Message Content , 1991 .

[5]  Peter H. Bloch,et al.  After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement , 1986 .

[6]  Paul W. Miniard,et al.  On the Formation and Relationship of Ad and Brand Attitudes: An Experimental and Causal Analysis , 1990 .

[7]  Michael J. Sherrard,et al.  The role of sensation seeking and need for cognition on web-site evaluations : a resource-matching perspective , 2005 .

[8]  Rajiv Vaidyanathan,et al.  Type IV error in marketing research: The investigation of ANOVA interactions , 1996 .

[9]  Alice M. Tybout,et al.  Schema Congruity as a Basis for Product Evaluation , 1989 .

[10]  F. Kardes,et al.  Spontaneous Inference Processes in Advertising: The Effects of Conclusion Omission and Involvement on Persuasion , 1988 .

[11]  F. Schoorman,et al.  The Role of Theory in Testing Hypothesized Interactions: An Example from the Research on Escalation of Commitment1 , 1991 .

[12]  R. Lutz.  Affective and cognitive antecedents of attitude toward the ad : A conceptual framework , 1985 .

[13]  Hairong Li,et al.  What Makes a Slogan Memorable and Who Remembers It , 1994 .

[14]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Enhancing and Measuring Consumers’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information from Ads , 1991 .

[15]  D. Berlyne,et al.  Aesthetics and Psychobiology , 1975 .

[16]  J. W. Hutchinson,et al.  Dimensions of Consumer Expertise , 1987 .

[17]  Beauty and Joy in Metaphorical Advertising: the Poetic Dimension , 1990 .

[18]  Laura A. Peracchio,et al.  Understanding the Effects of Color: How the Correspondence between Available and Required Resources Affects Attitudes , 1995 .

[19]  Joan Meyers-Levy,et al.  Evaluating persuasion-enhancing techniques from a resource-matching perspective , 1997 .

[20]  Steven P. Brown,et al.  Antecedents and Consequences of Attitude toward the Ad: A Meta-analysis , 1992 .

[21]  L. Jones,et al.  Metaphor and Related Subjects , 1970 .

[22]  Edward F. McQuarrie,et al.  Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language , 1996 .

[23]  Barbara J. Phillips.  Thinking into it: Consumer Interpretation of Complex Advertising Images , 1997 .

[24]  J. Leigh,et al.  The Use of Figures of Speech in Print Ad Headlines , 1994 .

[25]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Effects of need for cognition on message evaluation, recall, and persuasion. , 1983 .

[26]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Information Processing from Advertisements: Toward an Integrative Framework , 1989 .

[27]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  An Empirical Examination of the Structural Antecedents of Attitude toward the Ad in an Advertising Pretesting Context , 1989 .

[28]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  The Role of Attitude toward the Ad as a Mediator of Advertising Effectiveness: A Test of Competing Explanations: , 1986 .

[29]  Laura A. Peracchio,et al.  How Ambiguous Cropped Objects in Ad Photos Can Affect Product Evaluations , 1994 .

[30]  Edward F. McQuarrie,et al.  On Resonance: A Critical Pluralistic Inquiry into Advertising Rhetoric , 1992 .

[31]  H. H. Clark,et al.  Understanding what is meant from what is said: A study in conversationally conveyed requests , 1975 .

[32]  Jeffrey J. Stoltman,et al.  The moderating effects of ad message involvement: A reassessment , 1991 .

[33]  Michael A. Belch,et al.  The Effects of Sexual and Non-Sexual Advertising Appeals and Information Level on Cognitive Processing and Communication Effectiveness , 1990 .

[34]  William T. Ross,et al.  Interpreting Interactions: Raw Means or Residual Means? , 1993 .

[35]  Donna R. Pawlowski,et al.  Effects of Metaphors on Children's Comprehension and Perception of Print Advertisements , 1998 .

[36]  Yong Zhang,et al.  Responses to Humorous Advertising: The Moderating Effect of Need for Cognition , 1996 .

[37]  Alan G. Sawyer,et al.  Effects of Omitting Conclusions in Advertisements to Involved and Uninvolved Audiences , 1991 .

[38]  Keith S. Coulter.  An examination of qualitative vs. quantitative elaboration likelihood effects , 2005 .

[39]  Barbara Stern.  Medieval Allegory: Roots of Advertising Strategy for the Mass Market , 1988 .

[40]  Frank R. Kardes,et al.  Spontaneous Inference Processes in Advertising: Effects of Need for Cognition and Self-Monitoring on Inference Generation and Utilization , 1992 .

[41]  James M. Munch,et al.  Consumer Responses to Tropes in Print Advertising , 2001 .

[42]  X. J. Kennedy.  An introduction to poetry , 1966 .

[43]  C. F. Kao,et al.  The efficient assessment of need for cognition. , 1984, Journal of personality assessment.

[44]  Barbara B. Stern,et al.  Other-Speak: Classical Allegory and Contemporary Advertising , 1990 .

[45]  Minhi Hahn,et al.  Effects of tempo and familiarity of background music on message processing in TV advertising: A resource-matching perspective , 1999 .