Part-list Cuing Effects In Advertising: When Exposure To Some Advertisements Impairs Recall Of Same-valenced Ads

Abstract

This study represents the first empirical examination of the inhibitory effect of part-list cuing in emotional print advertisements. It was hypothesized that exposure to a subset of print advertisements as cues impairs recall of the uncued ads. Additionally, exposure to positive cues would only inhibit memory for positive uncued ads, and exposure to negative ads as cues would only impair memory for negative uncued ads. Exposure to neutral ads was expected to inhibit memory for positive, negative, and neutral uncued ads. The effects of emotional versus neutral ads were also tested in both an uncued recall task and a cued recall task. An experimental design involving two independent variables (affective valence of the advertisements, and type of cues) was used. These two independent variables were manipulated in a 3 (affective valence: positive, negative, neutral) x 4 (cue type: positive cues, negative cues, neutral cues, or no cues) mixed factorial design. The within-subject factor is affective valence, and the between-subject factor is cue type. Under these experimental conditions, subjects were exposed to a presentation of 26 print advertisements (eight advertisements per each affective valence plus two buffer ads) and were asked to recall the brands and executions of the advertisements they had seen. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: 1) Exposure to a subset of print advertisements as cues impaired recall of the remaining uncued ads irrespective of affective valence types. 2) Positive ad cues only impaired subjects' memory for positive ads but not negative or neutral ads; negative ad cues only impaired subjects' memory for negative ads but not positive or neutral ads; and neutral ad cues inhibited subjects' memory for positive, negative, and neutral ads. 3) In an uncued recall task, negative ads were more memorable than neutral ads, but positive ads did not have an advantage over neutral ads. 4) In a cued recall task, cues impaired memory for ads sharing the same affective valence as the cues, but helped memory for ads using the other affective valence. In the neutral cue condition, neutral cues impaired memory for ads irrespective of their affective valence.