Television Commercial Evaluation in the Context of Program Induced Mood: Congruency versus Consistency Effects

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the mood induced by television program content on subjects' evaluations of commercials. Specifically, happy or sad commercials are viewed in the context of a television program designed to induce these respective moods. The competing predictions of Mood Congruence Theory versus the Consistency Effect are examined to interpret the results. For all dependent measures considered, findings were in accordance with a Consistency Effect interpretation of the results. For two such measures (i.e., liking for the commercial and purchase intention) the Consistency Effect was statistically supported. Hence for these measures, it was found that a happy commercial viewed in the context of a happy program was evaluated more favorably than the same commercial viewed after exposure to a sad program. For the sad commercial, the reverse effects for these measures were evident as this commercial performed more favorably in the context of a sad program relative to a happy one. The dominance of a Consistency Effect interpretation of the results over that of Mood Congruence are interpreted in the context of advertising strategy.

The Effects of a Health-Based Context on Memory for Advertisements

“…Our results found no significant Programme × Advert interaction, which rejects both the cognitive priming theory, as demonstrated by (Furnham et al, 2002a;Gunter et al, 2005;Kamins et al, 1991) the cognitive interference theory (Furnham et al, 1998;Furnham et al, 2002b;Gunter et al, 2002), and contrast effects (Goodstein, 1993;Hunt, 1995). Although results did not turn out significant, there was an advantage for memory of health advertisements when they were embedded within a health programme, in comparison to if they were embedded within a non-health programme.…”

“…Not only does context congruity have a positive effect on memory, but it has also been found to have a positive effect on affect and has led to greater understanding of the advertisements presented (De Pelsmacker et al, 2002). Furthermore, congruity also had a positive effect on advert evaluation, in which "happy adverts" and "sad adverts" were perceived more favourably when embedded within "happy programmes" and "sad programmes", respectively (Kamins, Marks, & Skinner, 1991). This is in line with the affect transfer hypothesis, which states that the positive or negative vibe transmitted from the programme is likely to over-run onto the consecutive adverts; hence a misattribution error will occur (De Pelsmacker et al, 2002).…”

An Empirical Investigation of the Association between Creative Advertising and Advertising Effectiveness in Pakistan

“…Advertising researchers have a common view that different types of television programs produces different effects on viewers' mood (e.g., happy / sad mood) which ultimately influence their assessment of the advertisements that they watch during the program (Kamins, Marks & Skinner, 1991;Berkowitz, 1987;Yinon & Landan, 1987;Goldberg & Gorn, 1987;Bower, 1981). Hence, to control the effects of the television program in which the experimental advertisements were to be embedded, three television programs; talk show, News in Urdu and English documentary were judgmentally selected.…”

Context Effects on Recall and Recognition of Magazine Advertisements

“…In the case of television advertising, a start has been made at investigating the effects of surrounding program material on the effectiveness of the embedded advertisements. Among the aspects of program context that have been found to influence advertisement effectiveness are the following: program genre (Schwerin 1958;Schwerin and Newell 1981), program-induced viewer mood (Axelrod 1963;Goldberg and Gorn 1987;Kamins, Marks and Skinner 1991), programadvertisement congruity (Bello, Pitts and Etzel 1983;Hansen, Barry, Reed and McGill 1976;Horn and McEwan 1977;Johnson 1981;Kamins, Marks and Skinner 1991;Lambert 1980;Murphy, Cunningham and Wilcox 1978), program-induced viewer excitement (Singh, Churchill and Hitchon 1987), and program-induced viewer involvement (Bryant and Comisky 1978;Clancy and Kweskin 1971;Kennedy 1971;Krugman 1983;Leach 1981;Menneer 1987;Siebert 1978;Soldow and Principe, 1981;Television Audience Assessment 1984;Thorson, Reeves and Schleuder 1985). The findings that have been reported to date tend to suggest that the most important context variable, as far as advertisement effectiveness is concerned, is programinduced viewer involvement.…”