The article tests hypotheses from gender schema theory (Bem, 1981) in the context of political television commercials for men and women gubernatorial candidates. Subjects viewed authentic commercials for three pairs of candidates, each pair comprising a man and a woman candidate competing for office. The experimental design varied the tone of the commercials (positive, negative, neutral) in addition to candidate gender. Findings included enhanced recall of ad information from content domains of family and appearance in the case of women as opposed to men candidates, and enhanced recall from the domain of campaign activities in the case of men as opposed to women candidates. Men's attack ads on women elicited greater emotional reaction than women's attacks on men.

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This paper examines the effects of viewer excitement as elicited by television programs on the effectiveness of commercials embedded in such programs. A review of the literature suggests that the physiological arousal which results from suspenseful or emotional programs can be usefully characterized as an intensifier of important viewer responses. A brief overview of the literature on program context effects to date is given and a model is developed which positions arousal in relation to other mediating variables affecting commercial impact. The paper concludes with a summary of the more pressing issues arising from the study of excitement as an aspect of media environment.

This experimental study tested Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) ads in the context of Benoit's Image Restoration Theory. The effects of three kinds of ads on the image of a brand and a nonprofit organization (NPO) after the release of an unfavorable news story were compared: brand ads, PSAs, and CRM ads. CRM ads produced more favorable responses than brand ads prior to scandal, but lost their advantage in the light of negative news.

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