Sample Ch08

PART 2 INTERNAL INFLUENCES
Chapter 8 Perception Chapter 9 Learning and memory Chapter 10 Motivation, personality and emotion Chapter 11 Attitude and attitude change
ATTITUDES/NEEDS
The shaded area of the consumer-behaviour model shown opposite is the focal point for this section of the text. Our attention now shifts from the different steps involved in purchase decision making to the processes that occur primarily within the individual.
SITUATION Problem recognition
Information search
Evaluation and selection
The perception and processing of information for consumer decision making is the subject of Chapter 8. Then, the learning process necessary for consumer behaviour is discussed in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 examines motivation, personality and emotion. Consumer attitudes are the focus of Chapter 11, and these are considered as representing consumers basic orientations in terms of products and marketing activities. Attitudes are discussed at this stage in the text because they are the actual manifestations of our learning about products, and are the basic concepts that marketers can measure and use to predict purchase tendencies. They are a relatively stable composite of knowledge, feelings and behavioural orientations that people bring to specific purchase situations.
Store choice and purchase
Postpurchase Problem recognition processes
EXPERIENCES
224
Fig 8.0
225
CHAPTER 8
Strong visual components are often used in advertising to capture consumers attention
Perception
OBJECTIVES
When you have worked through this chapter, you should understand:

the nature of perception the different steps involved in information processing which stimulus factors influence this process which individual factors influence this process which situational factors influence this process the way children process information the implications of perception for retail, brand and communication strategies.
226
227
As the opening story illustrates, organisations that spend millions of dollars on advertising want people to see and understand it. A sound knowledge of perception is essential for understanding and, in most instances, avoiding problems when communicating with various target audiences. Perception is the critical activity that links the individual consumer to group, situation and marketer influences. This chapter discusses:

PERCEPTION
the nature of perception exposure attention interpretation the marketing applications of the perception process. Chapter 9 focuses on two of the outcomes of this process: learning and memory.
the critical activity that links individual consumers to group, situation and marketer influences
perception
t a time of increasing media fragmentation, many communication experts feel that outdoor advertising is replacing television as the mass medium. Consumers are spending less time in front of their television sets and more time out and about: dining out, travelling or even working longer hours. When they do consume media, the choice is wider than it used to be, with pay TV, the Internet, DVDs and text
THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION

involves a series of activities by which stimuli are transformed into information and stored. Figure 8.1 overleaf illustrates a useful information-processing model. This model views information processing as having four main steps or stages:2
Information processing
information processing
messaging all competing with free-to-air television. Out-of-home advertising is marketers response to these trends and, in 2001, represented about $271 million of the total $8 billion advertising market in Australia. Although growing faster than the overall advertising category (12.5 per cent per year as against just 7 per cent), this is still below overseas trends where outdoor advertising represents an average of 6.8 per cent of total advertising expenditure. The Rugby World Cup in October 2003 saw advertisers rushing to snap up sites near stadiums, hotels and nightspots in the hope of capturing audience attention as they commuted between games and related social activities, rather than watching the competition on television. One of the difficulties with using outdoor advertising stems from the fact that, unlike television advertising where some measures of reach and frequency exist, no agreed standard has been developed to evaluate its effectiveness. However, the industry has gone some way to establishing a universal system of measurement. ROAM (research on outdoor measurement) involves a consortium of 13 companies, which combine traffic surveys with demographic information to capture more than just how many cars pass a given site. Yet while it may suit the large-size billboard format, ROAM does little to help other players in the outdoor sector, such as Taxi Media, BusPak and other street furniture and transit companies. According to AdShel marketing manager Anthony Xydis: A number of complex variables are involved in the development of audience measurements and it is important to ensure the qualitative aspects of each medium are evaluated in addition to the analysis of quantitative data. In the case of street furniture, this would include variables such as the site location and the angle to the road, 24-hour visibility via illumination and the size of the advertising panel itself. He adds that the Australian market may benefit from knowledge developed in more mature markets, with many measurement systems in place in European countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.1
228 PART 2 Internal influences
1 2 3 4
exposure attention interpretation memory.
a series of activities by which stimuli are transformed into information and stored
The first three of these constitute the perception process. Exposure occurs when a stimulus such as a billboard comes within range of a persons sensory receptor nervesthe optic nerve in the case of vision, for example. Attention occurs when the receptor nerves pass the sensations on to the brain for processing. Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to the received sensations. Memory is the short-term use of this meaning for immediate decision making, or the longer term retention of the meaning. Figure 8.1 and the above discussion suggest a linear flow from exposure to memory. However, these processes occur virtually simultaneously and are clearly interactive.That is, memory influences the information consumers are exposed to and attend to, and the interpretations they assign. At the same time, memory itself is being shaped by the information it is receiving. Both perception and memory are extremely selective. Of the massive amounts of information available, an individual can be exposed to only a limited proportion. Of the information to which the individual is exposed, only a relatively small percentage is attended to and passed on to the central processing part of the brain for interpretation.The meaning assigned to a stimulus is as much or more a function of the individual as it is of the stimulus itself. Much of the interpreted information will not be available to active memory when the individual needs to make a purchase decision. This selectivity, sometimes referred to as perceptual defences, means that individuals are not passive recipients of marketing messages. Rather, consumers largely determine the messages they will encounter and notice as well as the meaning they will assign them. Clearly, the marketing manager faces a challenging task when communicating with consumers.
occurs when a stimulus comes within range of our sensory receptor nerves
exposure
occurs when the stimulus activates one or more sensory receptor nerves and the resulting sensations go to the brain for processing
attention
the assignment of meaning to sensations

interpretation
the total accumulation of prior learning experiences; consists of two interrelated components, short-term memory and long-term memory
memory
EXPOSURE
Exposure, as noted above, occurs when a stimulus comes within range of our sensory receptor nerves. For an individual to be exposed to a stimulus requires only that the stimulus be placed within the persons immediate environment.The individual need not perceive the stimulus in order for exposure to have occurred. In other words, you have been exposed to a television advertisement if it was broadcast while you were in the room, even if you were talking to a friend and did not notice it.
Perception CHAPTER 8
229
FIGURE 8.1
Information processing for consumer decision making

Exposure Random Deliberate
Perception
Attention Lowinvolvement Highinvolvement
Interpretation Lowinvolvement Highinvolvement
Overall exposure to different media is also changing. For example, in the year to June 2003 people aged 16 to 39 watched almost 9 per cent less television and average viewer watching of freeto-air TV from 6 p.m. to midnight fell by 2 per cent.5 At the same time, as access to the Internet grows a consistent decline has been observed in newspaper readership for most metropolitan newspapers.6 The only category growing in terms of daily press includes lift-outs and magazines as they become increasingly popular with readers. What influences the types of stimuli people seek out? Generally, consumers seek information that they think will help them to achieve certain goals. These goals may be immediate or long range. Immediate goals could involve seeking stimuli such as a television program for amusement, an advertisement to assist in a purchase decision or a compliment to enhance ones self-concept. Long-range goals could involve studying this text in the hope of passing the next examination, obtaining a degree, becoming a better marketing manager, or all three. An individuals goals, and the types of information needed to achieve those goals, are a function of the individuals existing and desired lifestyle, and such short-term motives as hunger or curiosity. Of course, as consumers we are also exposed to a large number of stimuli on a more or less random basis during our daily activities. While driving, we hear commercials on the car radio, see outdoor posters and display advertisements, and so on, that were not purposefully sought out. Likewise, even if television viewers now have a remote control, they do not always zap commercials.
ATTENTION
Attention occurs when the stimulus activates one or more sensory receptor nerves, and the resulting sensations go to the brain for processing. Consumers are constantly exposed to thousands of times more stimuli than can be processed.The average Australian or New Zealand supermarket is estimated to have about 16 000 individual items. It would take hours to attend to each of them. Therefore, grocery shoppers have to be selective in attending to marketing as well as other messages. This selectivity has major implications for marketing managers and others concerned with communicating with consumers. For example, research suggests that less than half of all received direct-mail advertisements are read.7 Figure 8.2 illustrates the results of a recent study examining the activities undertaken when television advertisements are shown.8 It is clear from such results that merely achieving exposure is unlikely to generate a response if less than one-third of the audience actually watches the commercial.
Attention paid to prime-time television commercials
Leave the room 21%
Short-term Active problem solving
Memory
Long-term
Stored experiences, values, decisions, rules, etc.
Purchase and consumption decisions
FIGURE 8.2
CB fig 8.1 An individual is generally exposed to no more than a small fraction of the available stimuli.We normally watch only one television station at a time, read one magazine, newspaper or book at a time, and so on. It is important for marketers to understand what determines which specific stimuli an individual will be exposed to and whether this is a random process or a purposeful one. For example, you are clearly reading this text for a particular reason. Likewise, most of the stimuli to which an individual is exposed are self-selected. In other words, people deliberately seek out exposure to certain stimuli and avoid others. Evidence of the active, self-selecting nature of exposure can be seen with zapping. Zapping occurs when television viewers switch channels or fast-forward (if watching a pre-recorded show) when commercials occur on television. The advent of remote-controlled television sets and videotape recorders has made this easy to do, and most consumers with this equipment actively avoid commercials.3 However, in countries where fewer channels exist, zapping may not be so prevalent. For example, a study of commercial viewing in New Zealand, with only three television channels, found very little drop-off during commercials and no consistent demographic characteristics associated with switching channels.4
Switch channels 26%
Fast-forward, if VCR 69%
Distracted by something else 28%
Watch advertisement 29%
Talk to someone 31%
Source: Media Involvement Study, NFO BJM group for Periodicals Publishers Association, April 2002, p. 25.
CB fig 8.2
231
EXHIBIT 8.1
Capturing attention with print-media advertising
Obviously, anyone wishing to communicate effectively with consumers must understand how to obtain attention after obtaining exposure. Some companies go to great lengths to try to secure their target consumers attention to their advertising message. They may recruit celebrities such as Pat Rafter or David Beckham to draw audience attention to the message. Or they may use clever and engaging commercials, such as the cog used by Honda to promote its new Accord, which showed an unlikely sequence of precise and exquisitely timed events, all leading to the presentation of the car. Exhibit 8.1 shows how advertisers can effectively capture attention with print media as well. What determines or influences attention? At this moment you are attending to these words. If you shift your concentration to your feet, you will most likely become aware of the pressure being exerted by your shoes. A second shift in concentration to sounds will probably produce awareness of a number of background noises.These stimuli are available all the time but are not processed until a deliberate effort is made to do so. However, no matter how hard you are concentrating on this text, a loud scream or a sudden hand on your shoulder would probably get your attention. Of course, attention always occurs within the context of a situation. The same individual may devote different levels of attention to the same stimulus in different situations. Attention, therefore, is determined by three factors: the stimulus, the individual and the situation.
The impact of advertisement size on advertising readership

100 90 Percentage of people noting ads 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Black and white 2-colour 4-colour Source: Magazine Dimensions 2002; and Media Dynamics Inc., based on Burke, Gallup and Robinson, Starch and other studies. CB fig 8.3 Third-of-a-page Half-page 56 47 56 47 60 74 78 72 100
FIGURE 8.3
Full page
EXHIBIT 8.2
Use of colour in an advertisement to attract attention
Stimulus factors
Stimulus factors
are physical characteristics of the stimulus itself. A number of stimulus characteristics tend to attract our attention independently of our individual characteristics.
the physical characteristics of a stimulus itself

stimulus factors
Size and intensity
the characteristic of a stimulus, such as loudness or brightness, which influences the probability of attention being paid to it
intensity
the given location of a stimulus in a medium or at the point of sale

position
The size of the stimulus influences the probability of attention being paid to it. Larger stimuli are more likely to be noticed than smaller ones.Therefore, a full-page advertisement is more likely to be noticed than a half-page advertisement. Figure 8.3 indicates the relative attention-attracting ability of various sizes of magazine advertisements.9 In addition, advertisements with longer copy have been found to be more effective in attracting the attention of industrial buyers than advertisements with shorter copy.10 Insertion frequency, the number of times the same advertisement appears in the same issue of a magazine, has an effect similar to advertisement size. Three insertions generate more than twice the impact of one insertion.11 The intensity (e.g. loudness, brightness) of a stimulus operates in much the same manner as size. Starcom Europe conducted research on the optimal repetition of outdoor advertising using infrared rays shone into 140 consumers eyes to determine when and how often they looked at the advertisements.The research revealed that 77 per cent of subjects look at a poster the first time and that, after the fourth pass, a cumulative reach of 100 per cent is possible. It also found that even in a cluttered environment, creative execution can result in highly effective reach.12 Hence using multiple locations in urban centres is likely to ensure a high degree of billboard awareness.
one colour to black-and-white in retail newspaper Figure 8.3 showed how colour systematically outperformed black and white, for any given size. The use of four colours also outperforms two colours in print advertisements. However, the impact of contrast can reverse this.That is, if all the advertisements in a magazine are in colour, a black-and-white advertisement may attract substantial attention. Moreover, since colour is usually more expensive, marketers should be aware that it could become less cost-effective than monochromatic advertisements.14 Exhibit 8.2 shows how colour can be used in an advertisement to attract attention.
advertising.13
Position
Position
Colour and movement
Both colour and movement serve to attract attention, with brightly coloured and moving items being more noticeable. A brightly coloured package is more apt to receive attention than a dull package. A study on the impact of colour in newspaper advertising concluded that median sales gains (on reduced-price items) of approximately 41 per cent may be generated by the addition of
refers to the placement of an object in a persons visual field. Objects placed near the centre of the visual field are more likely to be noticed than those near the edge. This is a primary reason why consumer-goods manufacturers compete fiercely for eye-level space in grocery stores. Research conducted by News Limited in Australia indicates that advertisements are less noted when located in the final quarter of the issue. This research also seems to contradict prior belief that the right-hand-side position would foster advertising effectiveness. Instead, it found that righthand-page advertisements were only very marginally better noticed than their left-hand-page counterparts (34 per cent versus 33 per cent).15 Likewise, the probability of a television commercial being viewed drops sharply as it moves from being the first to air in the commercial break to being the last.16
233
EXHIBIT 8.3
Effective use of isolation
EXHIBIT 8.4
A complex ad format
Contrast
Contrast refers to our tendency to attend more closely to stimuli that contrast with their background
than to stimuli that blend with it. Contrast has been found to be a primary component of awardwinning headlines.19 Advertisements that differ from the type of advertisements consumers expect for a product category often motivate more attention than advertisements that are more typical of the product category.20 Exhibit 8.5 shows an example of an advertisement capitalising on contrast to attract attention. Over time, we adjust to the level and type of stimuli to which we are accustomed. Thus, an advertisement that initially stands out will eventually lose its contrast effect. Adaptation level theory deals with that phenomenon. Adaptation level theory has been hypothesised as the core reason for the decline in the impact of television advertising. In the 1960s almost 20 per cent of viewers could recall the brand of the last advertising broadcast, but this figure fell to 7 per cent by the 1980s as viewers adapted to the presence of a television set and increasingly used it as a background to other things.21 In Australia, a telephone survey of 1024 homes conducted immediately after television commercial breaks showed that two-thirds of those with television sets had not watched the advertisements and that, of the 34 per cent who did, only 4 per cent could recall either the advertiser or the product advertised in the break!22 Adaptation level is also the reason the commercial break is accompanied by an increase in volume.Viewers are accustomed to a particular noise level and increasing this will force their attentionunless, of course, it causes them to hit the mute button!
refers to a tendency to attend more closely to stimuli that contrast with their background than to stimuli that blend with it
contrast adaptation level theory theory that
people adjust to the level and type of stimulus to which they are accustomed
Compressed messages
Earlier research indicated that speeding up a radio or television message could increase attention. Such messages are termed compressed messages. In one experiment, 30-second commercials were reduced to 24 seconds via a device that did not produce sound distortions. The compressed commercials were found to be more interesting and to generate at least the same level of product recall as standard commercials.23 Research also suggests that compressed commercials do not distract from attention and may even increase attention. Moreover, attention level will vary with the type of message, the product and the nature of the audience. For example, a television campaign for Sony generated quite a debate in advertising circles as a result of its frenetic pace and seemingly disjointed and confusing images. Yet the advertisements were developed for people under 30 and market research showed the advertisements to be effective with that particular target group.24
compressed messages
messages that are speeded up to increase attention
comax_ad 1
12/4/03, 10:57:32 AM
Information quantity
information overload
the separation of a stimulus object from other objects

isolation
Isolation
Isolation
means the separation of a stimulus object from other objects. The use of white space (placing a brief message in the centre of an otherwise blank or white advertisement) is based on this principle, as is surrounding a key part of a radio advertisement with silence.17 Exhibit 8.3 illustrates the effective use of this principle.
the manner in which the message is presented

format
Format
Format
refers to the manner in which the message is presented. In general, simple, straightforward presentations receive more attention than complex presentations, such as that shown in Exhibit 8.4. Elements in the message that increase the effort required to process the message tend to decrease attention. Advertisements that lack a clear visual point of reference or have inappropriate movement (too fast, slow or jumpy) increase the processing effort and decrease attention. Likewise, audio messages that are difficult to understand as a result of, for example, foreign accents, inadequate volume, deliberate distortions (computer voices) or loud background noises also reduce attention.18 However, format interacts strongly with individual characteristics. What some individuals find to be complex others will find interesting. Format, like the other stimulus elements, must be developed with a specific target market in mind.
A final stimulus factor, information quantity, relates more to the total stimulus field than to any particular item in that field. Although there is substantial variation among individuals, all consumers have only a limited capacity to process information. Information overload occurs when consumers are confronted with so much information that they cannot or will not attend to all of it.25 Instead, they become frustrated and either postpone or give up the Use of contrast in advertisements decision, make a random choice or utilise a suboptimal portion of the total information available. There are no general rules or guidelines concerning how much information consumers can or will use. Marketers, federal and state governments and various consumer groups all want product labels, packages and advertisements to provide sufficient information to allow for an informed decision. One approach is to provide all potentially relevant information. This approach is
occurs when consumers are confronted with so much information that they cannot or will not attend to all of it
EXHIBIT 8.5
235
Percentage of readers
frequently recommended by regulatory agencies and is required for some product categories, such as drugs. However, problems can arise with this approach. For example, a relatively simple one-page advertisement for an over-the-counter medicine would require a second full page of small type telling of dosage, precautions and warnings in order to comply with full-disclosure regulations. The assumption behind the full-disclosure approach is that each consumer will utilise those specific information items required for a particular decision. Unfortunately, consumers frequently do not react in this manner, particularly for low-involvement purchases. Instead, they may experience information overload and ignore all or most of the available data. For this reason, the regulations should be concerned with the likelihood that information will be attended to, rather than simply its availability. Marketers generally try to present the key pieces of information and use message structures that make complete processing easy.
individual factors
Involvement with a magazine and advertising effectiveness

60 52 50 40 34 30 20 21 14 10 31 30 32 45 43 38 51 59
FIGURE 8.4
Low-involvement Medium-involvement High-involvement
Individual factors
Individual factors
all personal characteristics likely to influence how incoming information is perceived and processed
Percentage of viewers
are characteristics of the individual. Interest and need seem to be the primary individual characteristics that influence attention. Interest is a reflection of overall lifestyle as well as a result of long-term goals and plans (e.g. becoming a sales manager) and short-term needs (e.g. hunger). Short-term goals and plans are, of course, heavily influenced by the situation. In addition, individuals differ in their ability to attend to information.26 Individuals seek out (have exposure to) and examine (attend to) information relevant to their current needs. For example, an individual contemplating a holiday is likely to attend to holiday-related advertisements. Individuals attending to a specialised medium, such as Boating Magazine or Business Review Weekly, are likely to be particularly receptive to advertisements for related products. Parents with young children are more likely to notice and read warning labels on products such as food supplements than are individuals without young children.27 Studies also show that a group of consumers, coined adversarial shoppers, is becoming increasingly suspicious of many marketing activities, including advertising claims of superiority, health benefits or environmental friendliness. Found in all age groups, these consumers do not believe that price is still a valid indicator of quality.28
Recalled reading ad
Rated ad as believable
Rated ad as effective
Bought advertised product
Source: Cahners Advertising Research Report 120.1 and 120.12, Boston.
Involvement in a television program and advertising effectiveness

60 50 40
34
FIGURE 8.5
CB fig 8.4
48
54
41 37
those elements in the situation that are likely to influence consumer behaviour
situational factors
Situational factors
Situational factors
include stimuli in the environment other than the focal stimulus (i.e. the advertisement or package) and/or temporary characteristics of the individual that are induced by the environment, such as time pressure or a very crowded store. Obviously, individuals in a hurry are less likely to attend to the available stimuli than are those with extra time (e.g. if you have been on a long flight without a book, you may recall reading even the advertisements in the airline magazine). Individuals in an unpleasant environment, such as an overcrowded store (see Chapter 2) or a store that is too noisy, too warm or too cold, will not attend to many of the available stimuli as they attempt to minimise their time in such an environment.
30 20
18 21 22 24 16 13 18
Low-involvement Medium-involvement High-involvement
10 0
Unaided recall
Aided recall
Program involvement
Copy credibility
Purchase interest
Print, radio and television advertisements occur in the context of a program, magazine or newspaper. In general, the audience is attending to the medium because of the program or editorial content, not the advertisement. Indeed, as pointed out before, many consumers actively avoid commercials by zapping or flicking through them. The nature of the program or editorial content in which the advertisement appears has the potential to influence its impact.29 For example, advertisements for Twisties were located in boring programs in order to capitalise on the fact that bored people are more prone to snacking. Figure 8.4 demonstrates the positive impact of involvement with a magazine on attention to print advertisements. Figure 8.5 shows how involvement in a television program increases the proportion of viewers able to recall the advertisements, finding them credible and forming positive purchase intentions.30 It should be noted that most of the gain in attention occurs when program involvement moves from low to moderate levels. There is some evidence that high levels of program involvement may detract from the attention paid to some types of commercials.31 For example, in the case of
Source: K.J. Clancy (1992), CPMs Must Bow to Involvement Measurement, Advertising Age, 20 January, p. 7.
sponsorship, audience involvement in a soccer game was found to be negatively correlated with their ability to recall sponsors.32 Program involvement not only influences the attention paid to the advertisement, it also affects the viewers attitude towards the advertisement and the product advertised.33 There are many CB fig 8.5 reasons or motives underlying program involvement34 and it is highly desirable for marketers to be able to anticipate the degree of involvement that his or her target market will feel for a particular program in which marketing messages must be embedded.
Non-focused attention
So far, this chapter has discussed a fairly high-involvement attention process in which the consumer focuses attention on some aspect of the environment due to stimulus, individual or situational factors. However, stimuli may be attended to without deliberate or conscious focusing of attentionthat is, non-focused attention.
non-focused attention superficial
and distracted allocation of processing ability to a stimulus

237
hemispheric lateralisation
the concept that each of the two sides of the brain (right and left) controls different types of activities
subliminal message
a message that is not consciously attended to by the audience exposed to it
Hemispheric lateralisation is a term applied to activities that take place on each side of the brain. The left side of the brain is primarily responsible for verbal information, symbolic representation, sequential analysis and the ability to be conscious and report what is happening. It controls those activities typically called rational thought. The right side of the brain deals with pictorial, geometric and non-verbal information and information that is not chronological, without the individual being able to report it verbally. This side of the brain works with images and impressions. The left side of the brain needs fairly frequent rest. However, the right side of the brain can easily scan large amounts of information over an extended period. This has led to the suggestion that it is the right brains picture-taking ability that permits the rapid screening of the environmentto select what it is the left brain should focus on.35 While this is a difficult area to research, the evidence indicates that there is some validity to the theory, and that advertising, particularly advertising repeated over time, will have substantial effects that traditional measures of advertising effectiveness cannot detect. The nature of these effects is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9. However, applied research on this topic is just beginning and much remains to be learned.36 There is evidence to indicate that some stimuli or messages, called subliminal messages, are attended to without awareness, even if the individual tries to focus attention on them. A message is subliminal if it is presented so fast or so softly, or is so masked by other messages, that the individual is not aware of seeing or hearing it. Public interest in masked subliminal stimuli has been enhanced by two books in which the author reports on numerous advertisements that have supposedly contained the word sex in ice cubes or nude bodies in the shadows.37 Most, if not all, of these symbols are the chance result of preparing thousands of print advertisements each year (a diligent search could no doubt produce large numbers of religious symbols, animals or whateverif you look at enough advertisements, you will find a random shape that could be evocative of a skull, a breast and so on, even though the creator of the advertisement has not intended this). Such masked symbols (deliberate or accidental) do not appear to affect standard measures of advertising effectiveness or influence consumption behaviour.38 Research on messages presented too rapidly to elicit awareness indicates that such messages have little or no effect. Hence, although the general public is concerned about subliminal messages,39 such messages do not appear to present a threat to the general public, nor do they offer a potentially effective communication device.40 In addition, there is no evidence that marketers are using subliminal messages.41 The Ethical Edge boxed example opposite looks at supposed examples of subliminal messages on computer microchips.
Cyber subliminal: a new way to persuade?44
ETHICAL EDGE
ubliminal advertising is one of consumers most entrenched myths. Periodically, consumer groups denounce and fight what they perceive to be brain invasion by invisible signs embedded in otherwise innocuous programs. For example, Disney was accused of having embedded the letters S-E-X in the dust in the movie The Lion King (no-one ever explained why Disney might have done this). Furthermore, advertisers have, from time to time, played on this fear, introducing mock subliminal ads, making fun of, but using the same approach as, subliminal ads, by associating violent or sexually evocative images with their brands. Alcohol and tobacco advertisements, of course, are the worst offenders, with products such as Bacardi Black and Newport. Perhaps even more baffling is the new place where subliminal messages (also known as embeds) are being found: the computer microchip. Log onto www.microscopy.fsu.edu and you will find a collection of images, all of them too small to be seen by the naked
eye, which have been discovered when photographing microchips with a powerful microscope. Images of Pepsi or the Saab 900 cabriolet, no bigger than a human hair, are apparently buried inside computers. Is this subliminal seduction? Despite the fear and paranoia that consumers feel about such practices, it is more likely than not that these are just the creative expressions of people involved in the design of the chips, an inside joke to be shared with friends or simply enjoyed privately. For example, many embeds have no brands an unbranded sneaker without a swoosh, Daffy Duck and many other things that are deprived of any selling intent. So Pepsi or Saab are more likely to be the jokers favourite thing rather than the object of a sinister new brain manipulation assault by marketers. Despite any proof that it works, or even that it exists, consumers continue to fear and search for evidence of subliminal messages. What started out as a hoax, it seems, is now one of the most persistent myths of consumer behaviour!
one of
consumers most
advertising is
Subliminal
myths
FIGURE 8.6
entrenched
Determinants of interpretation
Individual characteristics
INTERPRETATION
Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to sensations. It is a function of the Gestalt, or pattern, formed by the characteristics of the stimulus, the individual and the situation, as illustrated in Figure 8.6. That interpretation involves both a cognitive, or factual, component and an affective, or emotional, response. The entire message, including the context in which it occurs, influences our interpretation, as does the situation in which we find ourselves. We assign meaning to the tone and feel of the message as well as to the actual words used. For example, Thanks a lot may be an expression of gratitude or just the opposite depending on how you say it and in what circumstances. Members of the same culture usually accurately assign the correct meaning based on voice tone and context.42 Cognitive interpretation is a process whereby stimuli are placed in existing categories of meaning.43 This is an interactive process. The addition of new information to existing categories also alters those categories and their relationships with other categories. When the CD player was first introduced to consumers, they most probably grouped it in the general category of record players in order to be able to evaluate it.With further experience and information, many consumers have gained detailed knowledge about the product, and have formed several subcategories for classifying the various brands and types.
Stimulus characteristics Interpretation Gestalt Cognitive Affective
Situational characteristics
cognitive interpretation
a process whereby stimuli are placed in existing categories of meaning
The advertisement in Exhibit 8.6 overleaf attempts to facilitate and/or encourage cognitive interpretation. CB fig 8.6 It is the individuals interpretation, not objective reality, which will influence behaviour. For example, a firm may introduce a high-quality new brand at a lower price than existing brands because the firm has a more efficient production or marketing process. If consumers interpret this lower price to mean lower quality, the new brand will not be successful, regardless of the objective reality.
239
affective interpretation
the emotional or feeling response triggered by a stimulus
The above example indicates the critical importance of distinguishing between lexical or semantic meaningthe conventional meaning, found in the dictionary, assigned to a wordand psychological meaningthe specific meaning assigned to a word by a given individual or group of individuals based on their experiences and the context or situation in which the term is used.45 For example, the semantic meaning of the expression on sale is a price reduction from the normal level. However, when applied to fashion clothes, the psychological meaning that some consumers would derive is, These clothes are, or soon will be, out of style. Affective interpretation is the emotional or feeling response triggered by a stimulus such as an advertisement.46 Like cognitive interpretation, there are normal (within-culture) emotional responses to an advertisement (e.g. most Australians and New Zealanders experience a feeling of warmth when seeing pictures of young children, such as that shown in Exhibit 8.7). Likewise, there are also individual variations to this response (e.g. a person allergic to cats might have a very negative emotional response to a picture of an extremely cute kitten).
Learning
The meanings attached to such natural things as time, space, friendship and colours are learned and vary widely across cultures. Even within the same culture, different subcultures assign different meanings to similar stimuli. For example, dinner refers to the noon meal for some social classes in some geographic regions, and to the evening meal for other social classes and geographic regions. Tea can mean dinner, or simply a cuppa in other places. In Scotland, high tea is supper! Marketers must be certain that the target audience has learned the same meanings that they wish to portray.
Expectations
Individual characteristics
A number of individual characteristics influence interpretation. For example, gender and social class affect the meaning assigned to owning various products. Likewise, gender affects the nature of the emotional response to nudity in advertisements.47 Two particularly important personal variables affecting interpretation are learning and expectations.
EXHIBIT 8.6
Encouraging cognitive interpretation
EXHIBIT 8.7
Evoking a feeling of warmth
Individuals tend to interpret stimuli consistently with their expectations. For example, it seems natural to expect dark-brown pudding to taste like chocolate, not vanilla, because dark pudding is generally chocolate-flavoured, and vanilla pudding is generally cream-coloured. In a taste test, 100 per cent of a sample of university students accepted dark brown vanilla pudding as chocolate pudding. Further, in comparing three versions of the vanilla pudding that differed only in degree of darkness, the students rated the darkest as having the best chocolate flavour.48 In other words, their expectations, cued by colour, led to an interpretation that was inconsistent with objective reality. A similar phenomenon may explain the failure of Tab Clear in Australasia: while the product had all the attributes people wanted in a cola drink, its colour (or lack thereof ) prevented consumers from perceiving it as a satisfactory cola drink. Consumers also frequently attribute advertisements for new or unknown brands to wellknown brands. Even an objective product feature, such as price, is sometimes interpreted to be closer to an expected price.49 Likewise, brands with promotional signs on them in retail stores are interpreted as having reduced prices, even when the signs do not indicate that the prices have been reduced and prices have not, in fact, been reduced.50
Situational characteristics
A variety of situational characteristics influence interpretation. Temporary characteristics of the individual, such as hunger or loneliness, influence the interpretation of a given stimulus, as do moods.51 The amount of time available also affects the meaning assigned to marketing messages. Likewise, physical characteristics of the situation, such as temperature, the number and characteristics of other individuals present,52 the nature of the material surrounding the message in question,53 external distractions54 and the reason the message is being processed55 affect how the message is interpreted. Proximity refers to the tendency to perceive objects or events that are close to one another as related. Some manufacturers refuse to advertise some products during news broadcasts because they believe that bad news could affect the interpretation of their products.56 Conversely, feel-good programs are much sought after by advertisers who want to capitalise on the likely good mood in which the audience will be during the commercial breaks. In the print media, a premium price often applies in order to select the more favourable context for an advertisement, and a food manufacturer would gladly pay a 20 per cent premium to be in the recipe section of most womens magazines. With the emerging role of Internet advertising, marketers have had to consider such issues as where and how to position pop-ups. The increasing number of pop-ups, and the resulting frustration of consumers, has made the positioning of pop-ups more difficult, with professionals now advocating that they be used more sparingly on entry to a site, rather than as an annoying and repetitive intrusion later on (see the Cyber Consumer boxed example overleaf ).
Stimulus characteristics
The stimulus sets the basic structure to which an individual responds. The structure and nature of the product, package, advertisement or sales presentation have a major impact on the nature of the mental processes that are activated and on the final meaning assigned to the message. In recognition of the critical importance of the meaning associated with stimuli, marketers are beginning to use semiotics, which is the science of how meaning is created, maintained and
the science of how meaning is created, maintained and altered; focuses on signs, which are anything that conveys meaning, including words, pictures, music, colours, forms, smells, gestures, products and prices
semiotics
241
CYBER CONSUMER
Pop-ups flop up57
the average
infuriate
pop-ups can
surfer
he Web started out with no advertising at all and a limited number of sites. Then came banner ads, a boom in the number of sites and lots more banner ads. However, banner ads became less and less effective: because they were poorly targeted and appeared in the same place on a page, people just stopped looking and did not see them any more. Click-through rates for banner ads plummeted, reaching 0.3 per cent by 2001. Eagerness to grab the attention of potential buyers and keep advertising revenues flowing to sites motivated the development of pop-ups. Pop-up ads come in two broad flavours: pop-ups, which pop up in front of the site you are viewing; and pop-unders, which open a window underneath the current window you are looking at. Some are static, while others blink or flash as a means of grabbing attention. Harder to ignore than banner ads, pop-ups are seen as more disruptive, interrupting the users Web surfing. At times, they can even crash the users computer by exceeding the memory limit. In other words, while making advertisers happy, pop-ups can infuriate the average surfer. Pop-ups are now experiencing a backlash.
Surfers are using stand-alone programs as well as browser enhancements to foil pop-up advertisements. For example, pop-up stopper NoAds (www.southbaypc.com/NoAds) has been available since 1999. The company initially developed the software for internal use but has since found a ready market. This is not the only option: a whole category is listed at software site Tucows (www.tucows.com/ adkiller95), and over 60 are listed at www. popup-killer-review.com, while Google lists such software under browser enhancements (http://directory.google.com/top/Computers/ Software/Shareware/Windows/Internet/Browser per cent5fEnhancements/). Responding to user outrage at the intrusive nature of pop-ups, major sites are starting to abandon pop-ups entirely. For example, AltaVista was one of the first major sites to go pop-up free (Google never had any pop-ups). User feedback was very positive. InfoSpace, which runs WebCrawler, has removed pop-up advertising from its site. And Ask Jeeves, which has also removed pop-ups, recently announced that it would go even further and remove all banner ads in response to visitor feedback.
Misinterpretation of marketing messages
EXHIBIT 8.8
Promoting country of origin as an indicator of quality
altered. It focuses on signs, which are anything that conveys meaning, including words, pictures, music, colours, forms, smells, gestures, products, prices, and so forth.58 The general principles of how meanings are learned are discussed more fully in Chapter 9. Colours can be used to illustrate the importance of semiotics, as in the case where colour was shown to have influenced the taste perceptions of puddings. The source of the message also affects the interpretations of the message, as does the medium in which the message appears. Likewise, the nature of the product influences the manner in which promotional claims are interpreted. Previous experiences with the same or competing products or firms, and the nature of other firms advertising campaigns, also influence interpretation. Consumers use brand names, price, physical product appearance and retailer reputation as signals of product quality.59 In addition, factors directly related to the product, such as its country of origin, can have a major influence on the meaning assigned to the product (see Exhibit 8.8). This poses significant challenges for marketers competing with brands made in countries benefiting from a better reputation.60 All aspects of the message itself also influence its interpretation. This can include consumers reaction to the overall style, visual and auditory background, and other non-verbal and verbal aspects of the message, as well as its explicit content, and even its lack of content. For example, the type of background music played during an advertisement has been found to influence the interpretation of, and response to, the advertisement.61
Both marketing managers and government policy makers want consumers to interpret messages accuratelythat is, in a manner consistent with what others or experts would consider to be the true or objective meaning of the messages. Yet it is clear that widespread agreement on, or accurate interpretation of, mass-media messages is often difficult to obtain. Past research has confirmed this. For example, a study of television communications concluded that a large proportion of the audience miscomprehended the communication from both program content and advertisements, and that an average of 30 per cent of the total information was miscomprehended.62 Moreover, some demographic variables appeared to be slightly associated with miscomprehension. While the methodology of this study has been criticised, there is no doubt that substantial miscomprehension of television messages, including commercials, does occur. This is not limited to broadcast messages: another study, focusing on editorial and advertis-ing content in general-circulation magazines, reached essentially the same conclusions.63 There is also evidence that package information is subject to miscomprehension. In addition, sponsors of sports and cultural events are finding that such miscomprehension occurs, particularly with regard to the sponsors. Several studies have revealed the incidence of mistaken identification of sponsors by their targeted audiences.64 Marketers are just beginning to learn about methods to minimise miscomprehension, and this is a complex task. For example, repetition does not appear to reduce miscomprehension. Moreover, while very simple television messages are less subject to miscomprehension, the same is not true for print messages. Unfortunately, no workable set of guidelines for eliminating this problem has yet been developed. Therefore, marketers, government officials and others wishing to communicate with the public should carefully pre-test their messages to ensure that they are being interpreted correctly.
Childrens information processing
So far, information processing has been discussed from an adult perspective. However, there is evidence that younger children have only a limited ability to process certain types of information.65 Table 8.1 overleaf shows a widely accepted set of stages of information processing or cognitive developmentdescribed by the psychologist Jean Piaget.66 Piagets approach is basically developmental. It suggests naturally occurring stages that change, primarily, with physiological maturation. Other researchers have suggested different stages, with learning rather than maturation as the underlying cause of observed differences.67 However, the general pattern of younger childrens lesser ability to deal with abstract, generalised, unfamiliar and/or large amounts of information is common to all approaches.68
243
TABLE 8.1
Piagets stages of cognitive development

Stage 1 Sensorimotor intelligence (02 years) Description During this period, behaviour is primarily motor. The child does not yet think conceptually, although cognitive development is seen. This period is characterised by the development of language and rapid conceptual development. During these years the child develops the ability to apply logical thought to concrete problems. During this period the childs cognitive structures reach their greatest level of development and the child becomes able to apply logic to all classes of problems.
assigned to the store. Semiotics have been used to design a hypermarket that would meet consumer needs, merchandising requirements and marketing strategy.70
Brand name and logo development
2 3 4
Pre-operational thought (37 years) Concrete operations (811 years) Formal operations (1215 years)
Source: B. J. Wadworth (1971), Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, David McKay, New York.
PERCEPTION AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Information is the primary raw material with which the marketer works in an attempt to influence consumers. Therefore, a knowledge of the perception process is an essential guide to marketing strategy. The following sections discuss seven areas where a knowledge of the perception process is particularly useful:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Marketers believe that the name of a company or product does affect the way it is perceived.71 Indeed, brand names are important for both consumer and industrial products, and are increasingly being recognised as an important asset for any company. Creating a brand, however, is a long and expensive endeavour, which requires consistency and clear strategic thinking.The Commonwealth Bank reportedly spent more than $2 million to develop its Sao dipped in Vegemite logo. Lavazza coffee, an imported coffee, has achieved a high degree of recognition by coffee lovers for its black and red logo through the distribution of coasters, cups, saucers and serviettes bearing its colours to many cafs and restaurants.72 Athletics Australia launched its new logo during the Sydney 2000 Olympics in an attempt to rejuvenate the brand and raise the profile of athletics. Based on market research, the new logo was designed to be in line with a new vision for the organisation and to gain acceptance from the community at large.73 In general, concrete terms with relevant, established visual images, such as Apple or Cup-a-Soup, are easier to recognise and recall than are more abstract terms.74 However, the suggestive power of such names may not be easily transferable. Successive generations of fruity computer names, from Apricot to Watermelon, will never quite achieve the fame of their Apple predecessor! The impact of the image conveyed by a name was demonstrated in a study where three groups of consumers evaluated the same sporting goods product.75 The only difference among the three groups was the name associated with the product, and this induced perceptual differences.The data clearly point to an effect that marketers should take into account when selecting a brand name (see below).
PERCENTAGE ATTRIBUTING FEATURE TO PRODUCT Feature For all surfaces Easy to see For professionals Large Name A 11 8 42 38 Name B 26 34 53 53 Name C 17 19 30 19
retail strategy brand name and logo development media strategy advertising and package design development of warning labels and posters advertising evaluation regulation of advertising and packaging.
Retail strategy
Most retail environments contain a vast array of information. Given the fact that consumers cannot process all of this information, retailers need to be concerned about information overload.They do not want consumers to become frustrated, or to minimise their in-store information processing. Retailers often use exposure very effectively. Store interiors are designed with the frequently sought-after items (e.g. canned goods, fresh fruits/vegetables, meats) separated so that the average consumer will travel through more of the store. This increases total exposure. High-margin items are often placed in high-traffic areas to capitalise on increased exposure. Shelf position and the amount of shelf space influence which items and brands are allocated attention. Point-of-purchase displays also attract attention to sale and high-margin items. Stores are designed with highly visible shelves and overhead signs to make locating items (an informationprocessing task) as easy as possible. Stores also can provide reference prices to increase consumers ability to interpret price information accurately. To further facilitate price comparisons, unit-price information by brand could be displayed on a separate sign in ascending or descending order. Nutrition information, provided in a similar manner, enhances consumers ability to choose nutritious brands.69 The total mix of in-store information cues (brands, layout, point-of-purchase displays, etc.), external building characteristics and advertising combine to form the meaning or store image
How a product or services name is visually presentedits logois also important. Australasian companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of design to their image, and are seeking to ensure that their company logo looks good and projects an accurate image of their product or service to both consumers and other companies. For example, when Alcan Australia became independent from its parent company, it sought to create its own identity and came up with the name Capral. Legal advice was obtained to confirm that the name was acceptable in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, where the company operated, and multicultural research was undertaken to identify any potential problems with the new name and a new distinctive logo, designed to project the image of a clean, dynamic and international organisation. And small companies, too, can derive benefits from the consistency and rigour involved in developing and using a single corporate identity.76
how a product or service name is visually presented

logo
Media strategy
The fact that the exposure process is selective rather than random is the underlying basis for effective media strategies. If the process were random, a broad approach of trying to place messages randomly in the environment would make sense. Since exposure is not random, the proper approach is to determine to which media consumers in the target market are most frequently exposed, and then to place the advertising messages in those media.
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TABLE 8.2
Examples of reader profiles for two popular magazines

AUSTRALIAN PERSONAL COMPUTER 000 All people Men Women 2534 years 3549 years 50+ years AB quintile Full-time worker Business decision makers Income $40K+ Income $50K+ Income $60K+ Income $70K+ Income $80K+ 194 167 27 53 63 109 72 76* Magazine readers (%) 100 86 14 27 32.5 56 37 69* BUSINESS REVIEW WEEKLY 000 259 165 94 59 88 84 151 178 107 133 108 89 70 Magazine readers (%) 100 64 36 23 34 32 58 69 41 51 42 34 27 Population (%) 100 49 51 18 27 36 20 40 16 17 11 7 5
Let us assume that you are responsible for developing a campaign for your firms laundry detergent designed to increase the number of users. Research indicates that the group you wish to reach has very little interest in the product. What do you do? Two strategies seem reasonable. One is to utilise stimulus characteristics, such as full-page advertisements, bright colours, animated cartoons and surrealism, to attract attention to the advertisement. The second is to tie the message to a topic the target market is interested in. Celebrities are often used in advertisements partly for this reason, and sex appeal, in the form of attractive models, is frequently used. Humour can also be used to great effect. There is universal appreciation for humorous communication, making humour an ideal tool for international marketers, albeit with some national variations.77 Attention-attracting features of the advertisement can also focus attention on specific parts of the advertisement.78 Corporate advertising, or advertising that talks about a company rather than the companys products, tends to generate a relatively high level of attention. Yet a study of more than 2000 such American advertisements has shown that about half of all people exposed to the advertisements did not notice the single most important piece of information in the advertisementthe company name. The same study found that the simplest way to avoid this problem is to place the name in the most prominent part of the advertisementthe headline. The following results for a Motorola corporate advertisement are typical:79
No name in headline Magazine readership Involved with advertisement Involved and saw Motorola name 4 600 000 91% = 4 186 000 43% = 1 978 000 Name in headline 4 500 000 84% = 3 780 000 70% = 3 150 000
*For APC, income of $40K and above = 76 000 copies and 69 per cent of readers. Source: Roy Morgan Research, April 2002 and March 2003
For some products and target markets, consumers are highly involved with the product category itself, and will go to considerable trouble to secure product-relevant information. This occurs most frequently among heavy users of hobby and luxury items, such as skis and mountaineering equipment, or fashion items. For other products and target markets, consumers have only limited involvement with the product category. Products such as salt and detergents are examples. In a situation such as this, the marketer must find media that the target market is interested in, and place the advertising message in these media. As will be seen later, potential target markets, as defined by age, ethnic group, social class or stage in the family life cycle, have differing media preferences. Table 8.2 illustrates selective exposure to two magazines based on demographic characteristics.
Advertisement and package design
Advertisements and packages must perform two critical tasks: capture attention and convey meaning. Unfortunately, the techniques appropriate for accomplishing one task are often counterproductive for the other. What should a manager do to attract attention to a package or advertisement? As with most aspects of the marketing process, this depends on the target market, the product and the situation. If the target market is interested in the product category, or in the firm or brand, attention will not constitute much of a problem. Once consumers are exposed to the message, they will most likely attend to it. Unfortunately, most of the time, consumers are not actively interested in a particular product. Interest in a product tends to arise only when the need for the product arises. Since it is difficult to reach consumers at exactly this point, marketers have the difficult task of trying to communicate with them at times when their interest is either low or non-existent.
Successful advertisements can use consumer interests that are unrelated to the product. However, using either stimulus characteristics or consumer interest unrelated to the product category in order to attract attention presents two dangers. The first danger is that the strategy will be so successful in attracting attention to the stimulus object that it will reduce the attention devoted to the sales message. For example, the reader may observe an attractive person in an advertisement and not attend to the sales message or copy. The second danger is that the interpretation of the message will be negatively affected. For example, the use of humour to attract attention to a commercial for beer may result in the brand being viewed as appropriate for only very light-hearted, casual situations. Caution must therefore be used to ensure that attention-attracting devices do not have a negative impact on attention to, or interpretation of, the main message. For example, the Global Gaze boxed example overleaf examines Benettons shock value advertising techniques. The advertisements shown in Exhibit 8.9 on p. 249 make extensive use of stimulus factors to attract attention. They were printed in vivid colours and have bright designs and limited text material. All advertisements, such as the ones shown in Exhibit 8.9, may attract attention. But will they convey the appropriate meaning and/or emotional response? Moreover, advertisements using stimulus characteristics to attract attention run the risk of backfiring. Hence, pre-testing to ensure the advertisements acceptability is advised. In particular circumstances, some organisations need to influence consumers perception for purposes other than purchase-related decisions. Non-profit or government organisations, such as the Cancer Society, Federal Health and Family Services and the Transport Accident Commission, all need to achieve public attention and comprehension of their messages in the hope that improvements may be seen in relation to issues such as smoking, sun-related cancers and road safety. Fear appeals have been used with some success in such circumstances, as the advertisements have shown, sometimes graphically, the likely consequences of undesirable behaviours.80
247
GLOBAL GAZE
Benettons shock value81
EXHIBIT 8.9
Using stimulus factors to attract attention
advertisements used animals (a wolf and a lamb) to make similar points about harmony. The campaigns took a more socially engaging tone in the 1990s starting with the newborn baby to show the beauty of new life. This was followed by increasingly confronting images, such as an AIDS victim in 1992. Engaging in what the company calls reality advertising, Benetton advertisements have shown boat people from Albania, the aftermath of a Mafia bombing and floods in Calcutta. Others pictures have shown close-ups of various body parts tattooed with HIV positive, homosexual couples, and so forth. In 2000, a new campaign featured prisoners sentenced to death, resulting in widespread protests from consumers and government bodies. The families of the victims and the prisoners themselves also objected. The State of Missouri where the inmates in question were incarcerated even filed a lawsuit. This type of controversy is nothing new for Benetton: many of its advertisements have been banned and or withdrawn (always in a flurry of publicity!) and court cases by retailers have also taken place. While Toscani left Benetton in May 2002 following the death row controversy, the company maintains that it will continue to work on less controversial causes such as child labour, poverty and discrimination.
Benetton has
earned worldwide
recognition by
creating
advertisements
promoting diversity
and tolerance
orporate advertising has been redefined over the last few decades by the antics of an Italian firm of global stature: Benetton. Established in 1955 by the Benetton family, as of 2001 the company operated in about 120 countries with more than 7000 retail stores. Benetton is well known around the world for its unusual advertising techniques and themes, using shock value and the reality of photographs to grab the viewers attention and make the brand name memorable. Unlike most advertisements where products or images linked to the company are displayed, Benetton chooses to use its advertising campaigns to address social and political issues from AIDS to pollution. Benetton has earned worldwide recognition by creating advertisements promoting diversity and tolerance. In 1982, Oliviero Toscani, a prominent fashion and advertisement photographer, was appointed head of the advertising department of the company. Early Benetton advertisements under his direction featured teenagers and children from culturally diverse backgrounds all colourfully dressed and in a variety of playful acts. Campaigns in 1984 and 1985 used symbols of peace and harmony between nations. In 1988, the United Superstars of Benetton featured Adam and Eve, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar and Marilyn Monroe. Other
Warning labels and package designs
Warnings are incorporated in commercials, packages and point-ofpurchase displays and they are also often presented in freestanding posters and advertisements. They should be pre-tested as any other commercial or advertisement.
Ethical and legal considerations require marketers to place warning labels on a wide array of products, including cigarettes, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, power tools, and so on. These can range from general warnings, such as those found on cigarette packages, to more specific ones targeted to smaller groups (e.g. Do not use if you are diabetic). Governments, consumer groups and ethical marketers want the warnings to accomplish their primary taskthat is, to alert the user to the potential risk associated with the product. On the other hand, marketers worry that such warnings could unduly detract from the image of the product or undeservedly negatively affect its risk-to-benefit assessment by potential consumers. As a result, warnings and disclosures tend to be made less obvious than perhaps they should be. For example, in television advertisements, warnings tend to be presented either orally or visually but seldom via both modes, and visual disclosures tend to be of low contrast.82 Consequently, many warnings are simply not noticed or effectively processed. Despite the fact that many warnings are ignored, there is substantial evidence that well-designed warnings are attended to and influence knowledge, belief and, to a lesser extent, behaviours.83 The challenge, therefore, is to design warnings with the maximum likelihood of being successful.
Advertising evaluation
1 2 3 4
A successful advertisement (or any other marketing message) must accomplish four tasks: exposure: it must physically reach the consumer attention: it must be attended to by the consumer interpretation: it must be properly interpreted memory: it must be stored in memory in a manner that will allow retrieval under the proper circumstances.
Advertising research covers all these tasks. As the opening story showed, measurements are not readily available for all types of advertising, with outdoor advertising lacking the same sort of standard measurements available for television and radio advertising. However, most of the efforts of researchers have been focused on attention and, to a lesser extent, memory.
249
Measures of exposure
Exposure to print media is most frequently measured in terms of circulation. Data on circulation is provided by commercial businesses. Frequently, the major difficulty with this data is that it is not broken down in a manner consistent with the target market of the firm seeking information. A firm may be targeting the middle class but circulation data may be broken down by income rather than social class. Further, measures of circulation are generally based on households rather than individuals and do not provide data on which members of the household are exposed to the magazine or newspaper. However, trends in circulation can be useful in determining the most suitable vehicle for a particular advertisement. For example, The Australian Womens Weekly added an extra 148 000 readers in the 12 months to March 2003, confirming it as the most widely read title in the country with a total number of readers in excess of 2.5 million. Belle also posted a spectacular 61 per cent increase in readership, reaching 165 000 copies, and Burkes Backyard saw its readership grow by 4 per cent to 668 000 which, based with a circulation of 130 000+, means that one a copy is read by an average of 5.1 readers.84 The two methods used to determine the frequency of radio listening are diary reports, in which respondents record their daily listening patterns, and telephone interviews. Television viewing is measured primarily by diary reports but also (recently) by people meters, which are electronic devices that automatically determine whether a television is turned on and, if so, to which channel. They allow each household member to log on when viewing by punching in an identifying button. The demographics of each potential viewer are stored in the central computer so that viewer profiles can be developed.
Measures of attention
The attention-attracting powers of commercials or packages can be measured in a direct manner, using the techniques described in Exhibit 8.10.85 Of these techniques, eye tracking appears to offer the greatest potential.86 ETS technology, initially developed by NASA to measure astronauts physiological responses to stimuli, has found a niche on the Internet, helping marketers to
determine where to place banner ads as well as how to design their content and format.87 Further scientific developments may soon provide a more reliable indication of perception. Indirect tests of attention (i.e. those measures that also tap at least some aspects of memory) include theatre tests, day-after recall (DAR), recognition tests and Starch scores. Theatre tests involve showing commercials along with television programs in a theatre. Viewers complete questionnaires designed to measure which commercials (and what aspects of those commercials) attracted their attention. Day-after recall is the most popular method of measuring the attention-getting power of television commercials. Individuals are interviewed the day after a commercial has been aired on a program they have watched. Recall of the commercial and of specific aspects of the commercial are interpreted as a reflection of the amount of attention. Day-after recall measures of television commercials have been criticised as favouring rational, factual, hard-sell type advertisements and high-involvement products, while discriminating against feeling, emotional, soft-sell advertisements. However, for most combinations of products and services with particular target market segments, this approach may be superior. In response to the criticism, substantial work has been done to develop recognition measures for television commercials. Recognition tests are tests in which the commercial of interest, or key parts of it, are shown to target-market members along with other commercials. Recognition of the commercial, or key parts of the commercial, is the measure. This technique appears to work better than standard recall measures.88 Starch scores are the most popular technique for evaluating the attention-attracting power of print advertisements. The respondents are shown advertisements from magazine issues they have recently read. For each advertisement, they indicate which parts (headlines, illustrations, copy blocks) they recall reading. Three main scores are computed:
1 2 3
the most popular method of measuring the attentiongetting power of television commercials; individuals are interviewed the day after a commercial is aired on a program they watched
day-after recall
a market research technique aiming at estimating how many respondents, if shown an advertisement, can recognise it
recognition tests
noted: the percentage who recall seeing the advertisement in that issue seen-associated: the percentage who recall reading a part of the advertisement that clearly identifies the brand or advertiser read most: the percentage who recall reading 50 per cent or more of the copy.
a technique for evaluating the attention-attracting power of print advertisements whereby respondents are shown advertisements from magazine issues they have recently read and are asked to indicate which parts of the advertisements they recall reading
Starch scores
EXHIBIT 8.10
Direct measures of attention
Eye-pupil dilation. Changes in the size of the pupil of the eye appear to be related to the amount of attention that a person is giving a message. A pupilometer can measure these changes accurately. Eye tracking. An eye camera can track movements of the eyes relative to the advertisement being read or watched. The paths of the eyes can then be mapped to determine: (a) what parts of the message were attended to (b) what sequence was used in viewing the message (c) how much time was spent on each part.
Starch scores allow an indirect measure of attention to the overall advertisement and to key components of the advertisement. Unfortunately, the scores are generally based on the responses of a random sample of subscribers to the magazine, not a sample of target-market members. Because attention is focused on topics of interest, this can cause a serious misinterpretation of the effectiveness of an advertisement.
Measures of interpretation
an imperfect or faulty allocation of meaning to a stimulus

misinterpretation
Tachistoscopic tests. A tachistoscope is a slide projector with adjustable projector speeds and levels of illumination. Advertisements can therefore be shown very rapidly and/or dimly. Advertisements are tested to determine at what speeds elements such as the product, brand and headline are recognised. Speed of recognition of various elements in the advertisements and readership (attention) are highly correlated. Theatre tests. Theatre tests involve showing commercials along with television shows in a theatre. Some, such as the one maintained by ASI Market Research, have dials at each seat which viewers use to indicate their interest (attention) in the show or commercial. Brain-wave analysis. There is some evidence that electroencephalographs can indicate the amount and type of attention given to an advertisement or package.
Marketers investigate interpretation primarily through the use of focus groups, theatre tests and dayafter recall. Focus groups, also called group discussions, involve a group of eight to 12 members of the target audience having a relatively free-form discussion of the meaning conveyed by the advertisement. Theatre and day-after recall tests measure interpretation, as well as the content of the advertisement. One of the problems with these techniques, particularly the last two, is their tendency to produce a restatement of the verbal content of the advertisement rather than an understanding of the subtle meanings conveyed by the total advertisement. However, it is clear that consumers utilise all of the advertisement, including non-verbal visual and auditory imagery, in forming an impression of the product. Marketers are just beginning to measure the emotional (feeling) meanings that consumers assign to advertisements. While standard methods do not yet exist, this is clearly an important area for development. The use of emotion in advertising is described more fully in Chapter 10.
PERCEPTION OF MARKETING MESSAGES AND ETHICS

Source: J. T. Cacioppo and R. E. Petty (1985), Physiological Responses and Advertising Effects, Psychology and Marketing, Summer, pp. 11526.
Many ethical concerns arise when marketers apply their understanding of perceptions. For example, endorsements by independent bodies often convey particular meanings and affect
251
consumers perceptions. Anyone seeing the Heart Foundation Tick on a product will probably assume that this low-fat product is the most nutritionally sound one available for people who want a healthy heart.This, however, is not entirely accurate.There are many products that are better than some of the products displaying the endorsement but their manufacturers have simply refused to pay the yearly royalties on sales0.05 per cent of the projected wholesale sales over a period of 12 monthsthat the Heart Foundation requires in return for displaying its approval. As a result, many low-fat products do not carry the Tick. However, the Tick has been found to be effective in both Australia and New Zealand, where it is believed it has been instrumental in motivating companies to exclude 33 tonnes of salt through the reformulation of 23 breads, breakfast cereals and margarines. Overall, 60 per cent of Australian consumers and 59 per cent of New Zealand consumers say they rely on the Tick to assist them in making healthier food choices.89 Various regulatory agencies are deeply concerned with the interpretation of marketing messages. However, determining the exact meaning of a marketing message is not a simple process.90 Obtaining accurate assignments of meaning is made even more difficult by the variation in information-processing skills among differing population groups.91 For example, warnings in the form of symbols might be appropriate when dealing with a multinational or multicultural audience.92 Marketers often have to go to great lengths to provide messages that the relevant audience will interpret correctly.
MAX YOUR MARKS!

Thirty interactive questions on this chapter are available now at the Online Learning Centre that accompanies this textwww.mhhe/com/au/neal4e. (For access to MaxMark, please refer to the front of the text.)
SUMMARY
1
What is the nature of perception? Perception consists of those activities by which an individual acquires and assigns meaning to stimuli. It is also referred to as information processing. What are the different steps involved in information processing? Perception begins with exposure. This occurs when a stimulus comes within range of one of the individuals primary sensory receptors. Consumers are exposed to only a small fraction of the available stimuli and this is usually the result of self-selection. Attention occurs when the stimulus activates one or more of the sensory receptors, and the resulting sensations go into the brain for processing. Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to stimuli that have been attended to. Which stimulus factors influence this process? Stimulus factors are physical characteristics of the stimulus itself, such as contrast, size, intensity, colour and movement, position, isolation, format and information quantity. Which individual factors influence this process? Individual factors are characteristics of the individual, such as interests and needs. Which situational factors influence this process? Individual and stimulus factors are both influenced by, and influence, the situation in which they occur. For example, temporary characteristics of consumers such as moods can influence the process. The amount of time available and the physical characteristics of the situation can also play a role in determining whether a given stimulus is processed.
Advertising aimed at children
Many parents organisations and government agencies focus on the impact the content of advertisements has on children, as well as on the ability of children to process these advertising messages. However, childrens ability to comprehend advertising messages is also important, not just the message content itself.93 Most research indicates that younger children (those under seven) have at least some difficulty in distinguishing commercials from programs (they either do not notice the change or they think of the commercials following a program as another program). As a result, a number of regulations have been put in place by the Australian Broadcasting Authority. These regulations are aimed at controlling the way advertising is included in childrens programs. It also appears that younger children are less able to determine the selling intent of commercials. However, there is some evidence that young children are aware of the selling intent, but cannot verbalise it.94 This problem is growing in intensity, as childrens products are increasingly becoming the stars of animated childrens television programs. Walt Disney characters are all available as toys. The same phenomenon was also particularly evident with the introduction of the infamous Pokmon film and cartoon characters, on which dozens of toys, cards and other products were based. Many claim that films and cartoons are now merely extended commercials that advertise the products based upon the characters. A second aspect of comprehension involves specific words or types of commercials that children might misunderstand. In the case of misunderstood words, research indicates that disclaimers such as Part of a nutritious breakfast, Each sold separately, and Batteries not included are ineffective with preschool children.95 Where cartoons are concerned, a child may view a commercial in cartoon form without being able to identify it as a commercial. Such issues are very emotionally charged, with consumer and parent groups often reacting very strongly without validated scientific evidence (e.g. studies or surveys). Clearly, much research is required to assess rigorously the extent of childrens perceptive ability.
How do children process information? In general, children under the age of 12 or so have less developed information-processing abilities than older individuals. Children develop their ability to process information in a series of stages and are only capable of formal integration around the age of 12 to 15. What are the implications of perception for retail, brand and communication strategies? Marketing managers use their knowledge of information processing in a variety of ways. The fact that media exposure is selective is the basis for media strategy. Retailers can enhance their operations by viewing their outlets as information environments. Both stimulus and personal-interest factors are used to attract attention to advertisements and packages. Characteristics of the target market and the message are studied to ensure that accurate interpretation occurs. The meaning that consumers assign to words and parts of words is the basis for the selection of a brand name. Informationprocessing theory guides a wide range of advertising evaluation techniques.
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KEY TERMS
adaptation level theory 235 affective interpretation 240 attention 229 cognitive interpretation 238 compressed messages 235 contrast 235 day-after recall 251 exposure 229 format 234 hemispheric lateralisation 238 individual factors 236 information overload 235 information processing 229 intensity 232 interpretation 229 isolation 234 logo 245 memory 229 misinterpretation 251 non-focused attention 237 perception 229 position 232 recognition tests 251 semiotics 241 situational factors 236 Starch scores 251 stimulus factors 232 subliminal message 238
Evaluate the full-page advertisements in this chapter. Analyse the attention-attracting characteristics and the meaning they convey. Are they good advertisements? What risks are associated with each? To what extent (if any), and how, should the government regulate advertising seen by children? How should a television commercial designed to achieve
the following objectives differ for different age groups? Why? (a) provide anti-drug use information and feelings (b) sell a new chewing gum
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What problems do you see with people meters? Discuss a campaign that has recently attracted a lot of attention. Was it ethical?
APPLICATION ACTIVITIES
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Find three brand names that you feel are particularly appropriate and three that you feel are not. Explain your reasoning for each brand name. Find three logos that you feel are particularly appropriate and three that you feel are not. Explain your reasoning for each logo. Interview 10 students about their behaviour during television commercials. What do you conclude? Find two advertisements that you think make unethical use of the perception process. Justify your selection. Examine several magazines. Photocopy two advertisements that do a good job of encouraging readers to visit their web site. Justify your selection using the principles of perception covered in this chapter.
Visit one of the following web sites. Evaluate the site based on the principles of perception covered in this chapter. (a) (b) (c) (d) www.absolutvodka.com www.elle.com www.purina.com www.nj.com/yucky
REVIEW QUESTIONS
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What is information processing? How does it differ from perception? What does attention involve? What determines which stimuli an individual will attend to? How do marketers utilise this? What stimulus factors can be used to attract attention? What problems can arise when stimulus factors are used to attract attention? What determines how an individual will interpret a given stimulus? What is the difference between cognitive and affective interpretation? What is the difference between lexical and psychological meaning?
7 In what ways, if any, do children process information

differently from adults?
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8 Describe Piagets stages of cognitive development. 9 How does a knowledge of information processing assist
the marketing manager in: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) formulating media strategy? formulating retail strategy? designing advertisements and packages? developing brand names? evaluating advertising? regulating advertising?
Visit the Australian Broadcasting Authoritys web site (www.aba.gov.au) and report the key points of the regulations concerning advertising to children.
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10 What is the underlying basis of media strategy?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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How could a marketing manager for (a) the Cancer Society, (b) a restaurant chain, (c) a superannuation fund, (d) childrens vitamins or (e) a tax service use the material in this chapter to guide the development of a national advertising campaign? And to assist local retailers in developing their promotional activities? Would the usefulness of this material be limited to advertising decisions? Explain your answer. In recent years, manufacturers of meat products have introduced a product labelled Turkey ham. The product looks like ham and tastes like ham but it contains no pork; it is all turkey. A nationwide survey of consumers showed that most believed that the meat product contained both turkey and ham. The label was approved based on a dictionary definition for the technical term ham: the thigh cut of meat from the hind leg of any animal. Discuss how consumers processed information concerning this product and used this information in purchasing this product. (One court ruled the label to be misleading but was overruled by a higher court.)
Develop a brand name for: (a) a non-alcoholic beer (b) a magazine for high-school students (c) a mountain bike (d) a CD player
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Case study
International articles related to this topic are available at the Online Learning Centre at www.mhhe/com/au/neal4e.
REFERENCES
1 B. Messer (2003), Outside Chances, AdNews, 28 February, pp. 256; D.Veldre (2003), Writings on the Wall for Outdoor, B&T Weekly, 31 January, p. 12. 2 For a more comprehensive model, see D. J. MacInnis and B. J. Jaworski (1989), Information Processing from Advertisements, Journal of Marketing, October, pp. 123. 3 See B. M. Kaplan (1985), Zapping, Journal of Advertising Research, April/May, pp. 912; C. Heeter and B. S. Greenberg (1985), Profiling the Zappers, Journal of Advertising Research, April/May, pp. 1519; D. A.Yorke and P. J. Kitchen (1985), Channel Flickers and Video Speeders, Journal of Advertising Research, April/May, pp. 215; and P. A. Stout and B. L. Burda (1989), Zapped Commercials, Journal of Advertising, no. 4, pp. 2332. 4 P. J. Danaher (1995), What Happens to Television Ratings During Commercial Breaks?, Journal of Advertising Research, January, pp. 3747. 5 P. Luker (2003), Media Eye: Inserts Strong, B&T Weekly, 10 July. 6 P. Bombara (2002), Reader Decline No Problem Say Papers, B&T Weekly, 7 February. 7 J. L. Rogers (1990), Consumer Response to Advertising Mail, Journal of Advertising Research, January, p. 22. 8 Media Involvement Study, NFO BJM group for Periodicals Publishers Association, April 2002, p. 25. 9 News Limited (1995), Readership of Newspaper Advertisements, Newspaper Advertising Bureau of Australia, September, p. 5. 10 L. C. Soley (1986), Copy Length and Industrial Advertising Readership, Industrial Marketing Management, pp. 24551. 11 P. H. Chook (1985), A Continuing Study of Magazine Environment, Frequency, and Advertising Performance, Journal of Advertising Research, August/September, pp. 2333. 12 E. Mistilis (1999), Laser Reveals Eyes Attraction to Outdoor, AdNews, 5 November, p. 13. 13 N. Sparkman Jr and L. M. Austin (1980), The Effect on Sales of Color in Newspaper Advertisements, Journal of Advertising, Fourth Quarter, p. 42. 14 J. W. Rosenberg (1956), How Does Color, Size, Affect Ad Readership?, Industrial Marketing, 41, May, pp. 547. 15 News Limited (1995), op. cit. 16 J. C. Cronin (1995), In-Home Observations of Commercial Zapping Behaviour, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Fall, pp. 6975. 17 See G. D. Olsen (1995), Creating the Contrast, Journal of Advertising, Winter, pp. 2944. 18 D. Walker and M. F. von Gonten (1989), Explaining Related Recall Outcomes, Journal of Advertising Research, July, pp. 1121. In relation to audio and visual communication, see also M. Sutherland (1996), Prospecting the Academic Wilderness, Australia Professional Marketing, December, pp. 1720; and K. Brown (1997), Ad Effectiveness, Hearing is Believing, B&T Weekly, 20 June, p. 18. See P. S. Schindler (1986), Color and Contrast in Magazine Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, Summer, pp. 6978; R. F. Beltramini and V. J. 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Penrod (1987), The Cognitive Effects of Time-Compressed Advertising, Journal of Advertising, no. 2, pp. 1019. N. Shoebridge (1996), Column, Business Review Weekly, November, p. 77. See J. Jacoby (1984), Perspectives on Information Overload, Journal of Consumer Research, March, pp. 4325; N. K. Malhotra (1984), Reflections on the Information Overload Paradigm in Consumer Decision Making, Journal of Consumer Research, March, pp. 43640; and N. K. Malhotra (1984), Information and Sensory Overload, Psychology and Marketing, Fall/Winter, pp. 921. D. Maheswaran and B. Sternthal (1990), The Effects of Knowledge, Motivation, and Type of Message on Advertisement Processing and Product Judgments, Journal of Consumer Research, June, pp. 6673; D. J. MacInnis, C. Moorman and B. J. Jaworsky (1991), Enhancing and Measuring Consumer Motivation, Opportunity and Ability to Process Information from Ads, Journal of Marketing, October, pp. 3253. G. R. Funkhouser (1984), Consumers Sensitivity to the Wording of Affirmative Disclosure Messages, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, vol. 3, pp. 2637. N. Shoebridge (1996), Adversorial Shoppers, a Rod for Marketers Back, Business Review Weekly, 5 August, pp. 578. See G. L. Sullivan (1990), Music Format Effects in Radio Advertisements, Psychology and Marketing, Summer,
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Quit or else: fear and anti-smoking advertising96
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he results of a study by the National Tobacco Campaign, based on the theme Every cigarette is doing you damage, were released in December 1998 and suggested that anti-smoking advertisements should be broadcast year-round. According to Judith Watt, executive director of the Quit Campaign, the success of the advertisements showed that they need to be on air 50 weeks of the year. The campaign, which has been broadcast since 1997, urges smokers to call a national Quitline for more information. Dr Melanie Wakefield from the Royal Adelaide Hospitals Cancer Centre was in charge of the study evaluating the campaign and found it to be both popular and effective with 1 in 25 Australian smokers calling the Quitline. Moreover, when contacted 12 months later, 29 per cent of callers had stopped smoking, an extremely good quit rate according to Dr Wakefield. Furthermore, when there were no advertisements on air, the number of callers to the Quitline fell, demonstrating the need for continuous media scheduling. Quitting smoking in not an event but a process and one which smokers go through many times, says Judith Watt, adding We cant at a population level, expect a one-off, once-a-year Quit Week to have any lasting impact. While smoking take-up rates among young people, especially females, are a concern, helping adults to quit is important because children cannot realistically be asked not to start smoking when 1 in 4 adults still smoke. Progress, however slow, is being felt at last. Australias smoking rate, which stalled in the
1990s, has recommenced to a slide, with 22 per cent of adults now smoking, the lowest figure ever recorded. Much of this is attributed to the Every cigarette is doing you damage campaign, which first ran from June to November 1997 at a cost of $7 million. Given its positive results, both in terms of calls and the subsequent quit rate, the campaign has since been run in other countries such as the United States (Massachusetts), Singapore, New Zealand and Canada (British Columbia), and it has been repeated in Australia as well. The effectiveness of the campaign has been attributed to the fear it evokes in many viewers. For example, the advertisement found to be the most motivating for smokers was the one showing a surgeons gloved hand squeezing a yellow atheroma out of an aorta during a necropsy. Described by smokers as something you see once and never forget, the advertisement renewed the debate that scare tactics dont work in health promotion. Other advertisements have shown children inhaling their parents cigarette smoke and thus suffering health damage. Other uses of fear appeals in Australia include a road-safety campaign that has similarly seen the road death toll reach its lowest point. Relying on realistic crash scenes and depicting in a very vivid manner the agony of road victims and their relatives, these campaigns have been criticised for their implicitly violent nature and their ability to unsettle children or sensitive viewers. One of the most infamous fear campaigns used in Australia, however, remains the grim reaper advertisements showing families decimated by AIDS.
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QUESTIONS 1 What is the main challenge, in terms of perception, faced by marketers trying to discourage socially undesirable behaviour? 2 Why do you think the Quit Smoking campaign worked? Would it work for any other social cause? 3 Comment on the ethics of using fear in advertising.
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49 J. G. Helgeson and S. E. Beatty (1987), Price Expectation and Price Recall Error, Journal of Consumer Research, December, p. 379. 50 J. J. Inman, L. McAlister and W. D. Hoyer (1990), Promotion Signal, Journal of Consumer Research, June, pp. 7481. 51 See D. M. Sanbonmatsu and F. R. Kardes (1988), The Effects of Physiological Arousal on Information Processing and Persuasion, Journal of Consumer Research, December, pp. 37985. 52 R. P. Hill (1987), The Impact of Interpersonal Anxiety on Consumer Information Processing, Psychology and Marketing, Summer, pp. 93105. 53 S. N. Singh and G. A. Churchill Jr (1987), Arousal and Advertising Effectiveness, Journal of Advertising, no. 1, pp. 410. 54 J. E. Nelson, C. P. Duncan and P. L. Kiecker (1993), Toward an Understanding of the Distraction Construct in Marketing, Journal of Business Research, March, pp. 20121. 55 M. Brucks, A. A. Mitchell and R. Staelin (1984), The Effects of Nutritional Informational Disclosure in Advertising, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, vol. 3, pp. 125. 56 GF, Coke Tell Why They Shun TV News (1980), Advertising Age, 28 January, p. 39. 57 T. Calishain (2003), Pop-Ups Flop Up, Searcher, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 2932; M. Gibbs (2002), Casting a Web of Trust Over Spam and NetBuzz Orbitz Does Not Really Care That You Hate Their Pop-Ups, Networld, vol. 19, no. 40, pp. 745. 58 D. G. Mick (1986), Consumer Research and Semiotics, Journal of Consumer Research, September, pp. 196213; R. D. Zakia and M. Nadin (1987), Semiotics, Advertising and Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Spring, pp. 512; and International Journal of Research in Marketing (1988), vol. 4, no. 3 and no. 4, which are devoted to this topic. Marketing Signs is a newsletter on this issue published by the Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies at Indiana University. See also P. Chao (1989), The Impact of Country Affiliation on the Credibility of Product Attribute Claims, Journal of Advertising Research, May, pp. 3541; and L. M. Scott (1990), Understanding Jingles and Needledrop, Journal of Consumer Research, September, pp. 22336. 59 N. Dawar and P. Parker (1994), Marketing Universals, Journal of Marketing, April, pp. 8195; see also P. S. Richardson, A. S. Dick and A. K. Jain (1994), Extrinsic and Intrinsic Cue Effects on Perceptions of Store Brand Quality, Journal of Marketing, October, pp. 2836; and T. Z. Chang and A. R. Wilddt (1996), Impact of Product Information on the Use of Price as a Quality Cue, Psychology and Marketing, January, pp. 5574. 60 The literature on country of origin is plethoric. See, for
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example, T. A. Shimp, S. Samie and T. J. Madden (1993), Countries and their Products, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Fall, pp. 32330; C. M. Kochunny, E. Babakus, R. Berl and W. Marks (1993), Schematic Representation of Country Image, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 524;V. Cordell (1993), Interaction Effects of Country of Origin with Branding, Price and Perceived Performance Risk, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 520; R. Parameswaran and R. M. Pisharodi (1994), Facets of Country of Origin Image, Journal of Advertising, March, pp. 4356; S. S. Andaleeb (1995), Country of Origin Effects, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 2952; and P. G. Quester, N. E. Marr and P. S.Yeoh (1996), The Effects of Country of Origin: An Experiment in Shelf Labelling, International Journal of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Marketing, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 11535. J. J. Kellaris, A. D. Cox and D. Cox (1993), The Effects of Background Music on Ad Processing, Journal of Marketing, October, pp. 10014; and G. Brooker and J. J. Wheatley (1995), Music and Radio Advertising, in eds C. T. Allen and D. R. John, Advances in Consumer Research XXI, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 28691. J. Jacoby and W. D. Hoyer (1982), Viewer Miscomprehension of Televised Communications, Journal of Marketing, Fall, pp. 1231. R. F. Beltramini and S. P. Brown (1995), Miscomprehension and Believability of Information Presented in Print Advertising, in eds C. T. Allen and D. R. John, Advances in Consumer Research XXI, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 21823. Also J. Jacoby and W. D Hoyer (1987), The Comprehension and Miscomprehension of Print Communications, The Advertising Educational Foundation, Inc., New York. P. Quester (1996), Sponsorship Return, the Case of Mistaken Identity, Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 2, pp. 1318. Also N. Shoebridge (1997), Viewpoint, Business Review Weekly, May, p. 91; and M. Lee (1997), Awareness Not the Key to Games Marketing, B&T Weekly, 15 March, p. 32. See K. D. Bahn (1986), How and When Do Brand Perceptions First Form?, Journal of Consumer Research, December, pp. 38293; J. Bryant and D. R. Anderson (1986), Childrens Understanding of Television, Academic Press, New York; and D. R. John and M. Sujan (1990), Age Differences in Product Categorization, Journal of Consumer Research, March, pp. 45260. B. J. Wadworth (1971), Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, David McKay, New York. D. R. John and J. C. Whitney Jr (1986), The Development of Consumer Knowledge in Children,
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Journal of Consumer Research, March, pp. 40617. 68 M. C. Macklin (1983), Do Children Understand TV Advertisements?, Journal of Advertising Research, March, pp. 6370; G. F. Soldow (1983), The Processing of Information in the Young Consumer, Journal of Advertising, Third Quarter, pp. 414; M. A. Fischer (1985), A Developmental Study of Preference for Advertised Toys, Psychology and Marketing, Spring, pp. 312, and G. F. Soldow (1985), The Ability of Children to Understand the Product Package, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, vol. 4, pp. 5568. 69 T. E. Muller (1985), Structural Information Factors Which Stimulate the Use of Nutrition Information, Journal of Marketing Research, May, pp. 14357. 70 J.-M. Floch (1988), The Contribution of Structural Semiotics to the Design of a Hypermarket, International Journal of Research in Marketing, no. 4, pp. 23352. 71 See G. M. Zinkhan and C. R. Martin Jr (1987), New Brand Names and Inferential Beliefs, Journal of Business Research, no. 15, pp. 15772; B.V. Bergh, K. Adler and L. Oliver (1987), Linguistic Distinction Among Top Brand Names, Journal of Advertising Research, September, pp. 3944; and K. Robertson (1989), Strategically Desirable Brand Name Characteristics, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Fall, pp. 6171. 72 N. Shoebridge (1996), Every Day is Branding Time, Everywhere, Business Review Weekly, 4 November, pp. 789. 73 M. Ligerakis (2000), Athletics Body Reworks its Image, B&T Weekly, 8 September, p. 6. 74 K. R. Robertson (1987), Recall and Recognition Effects of Brand Name Imagery, Psychology and Marketing, Spring, pp. 315. 75 J. N. Axelrod and H. Wybenga (1985), Perceptions That Motivate Purchase, Journal of Advertising Research, June/ July, pp. 1921. 76 A. Casey (1996), Logomotion, Australian Professional Magazine, April, pp. 1620. 77 T. J. Maden and M. G. Weinberger (1982), The Effects of Humor on Attention in Magazine Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Third Quarter, pp. 814. Also C. Costley (1995), Multi-Country Responses to Humour in Advertising, Proceedings of the Ninth New Zealand Marketing Educators Conference, November, pp. 210. 78 S. B. MacKenzie (1986), The Role of Attention in Mediating the Effect of Advertising on Attribute Importance, Journal of Consumer Research, September, pp. 17495. 79 J. Treistman (1984), Will Your Audience See Your Name?, Business Marketing, August, pp. 8894. 80 S. Morton (1997), Anti-Smoking Ads Shock, B&T Weekly, 6 May, p. 16; and L. Porter (1995), A Crash Course in Road Safety, View, 20 August, pp. 68. 81 S. Ganesan (2002), Benetton Group: Unconventional
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PART 2 INTERNAL INFLUENCES

Evaluation and selection

Store choice and purchase

Postpurchase Problem recognition processes

THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION

exposure attention interpretation memory.

the assignment of meaning to sensations

Information processing for consumer decision making

Attention Lowinvolvement Highinvolvement

Interpretation Lowinvolvement Highinvolvement

Short-term Active problem solving

Stored experiences, values, decisions, rules, etc.

Purchase and consumption decisions

Switch channels 26%

Fast-forward, if VCR 69%

Distracted by something else 28%

Watch advertisement 29%

Talk to someone 31%

230 PART 2 Internal influences

The impact of advertisement size on advertising readership

the physical characteristics of a stimulus itself

Size and intensity

the given location of a stimulus in a medium or at the point of sale

Colour and movement

messages that are speeded up to increase attention

the separation of a stimulus object from other objects

the manner in which the message is presented

234 PART 2 Internal influences

Involvement with a magazine and advertising effectiveness

Low-involvement Medium-involvement High-involvement

Bought advertised product

Source: Cahners Advertising Research Report 120.1 and 120.12, Boston.

Involvement in a television program and advertising effectiveness

Low-involvement Medium-involvement High-involvement

non-focused attention superficial

and distracted allocation of processing ability to a stimulus

a message that is not consciously attended to by the audience exposed to it

Cyber subliminal: a new way to persuade?44

a process whereby stimuli are placed in existing categories of meaning

238 PART 2 Internal influences

the emotional or feeling response triggered by a stimulus

Evoking a feeling of warmth

240 PART 2 Internal influences

Pop-ups flop up57

Misinterpretation of marketing messages

Childrens information processing

242 PART 2 Internal influences

Piagets stages of cognitive development

Brand name and logo development

PERCEPTION AND MARKETING STRATEGY

how a product or service name is visually presented

Examples of reader profiles for two popular magazines

Advertisement and package design

Benettons shock value81

Warning labels and package designs

Direct measures of attention

an imperfect or faulty allocation of meaning to a stimulus

PERCEPTION OF MARKETING MESSAGES AND ETHICS

250 PART 2 Internal influences

MAX YOUR MARKS!

Advertising aimed at children

252 PART 2 Internal influences

7 In what ways, if any, do children process information

10 What is the underlying basis of media strategy?