Advertising Repetition and Variation Strategies: Implications for ...

Advertising Repetition and Variation Strategies: Implications for Understanding Attitude Strength CURTIS P. HAUGTVEDT DAVID W. SCHUMANN WENDY L. SCHNEIER WENDY L. WARREN* We argue that researchers need to move beyond the simple measure of attitude extremity to more clearly assess the impact of various advertising repetition strategies on consumer attitude. In study 1, we show that different advertising variation strategies can lead to the development of equally positive attitudes, even though the basis of the attitudes is quite different. In study 2, we show that, despite the appearance of equal effectiveness on the dimensions of extremity, persistence, and confidence, type of advertising repetition strategy differentially influences the extent to which individuals resist change in the face of a counterpersuasive attack.

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ften the goal of advertising and other persuasive appeals is to change the attitudes of consumers in a direction more favorable to a particular product, service, person, or issue. Indeed, much research conducted in the past 30 years has focused on understanding the extent to which various aspects of a persuasive appeal influence the formation of positive attitudes. Consistent with comments and recent research by others (e.g., Berger 1992; Haugtvedt and Petty 1992; Raden 1985), we argue that the success of persuasive appeals should be measured on more than simply the extremity of attitudes. That is, instead of a focus on differential attitude extremity as a measure of persuasive success, we suggest that both basic and applied researchers will benefit from an understanding of factors that are associated with the development of relatively strong attitudes. We examine these issues in the context of advertising repetition research. In doing so, we are able to demonstrate that, even though attitude changes cre-

ated by different advertising repetition strategies may appear equally effective on some measures of persuasive success, the attitudes created by certain strategies are likely to be more resistant to counterpersuasive influences.

EQUAL ATTITUDE CHANGE VIA DIFFERENT PROCESSES In the last decade, research in the area of attitude change has been usefully guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM; Petty and Cacioppo 1981, 1986). An important contribution of the ELM is the proposition that evaluatively similar attitudes can be developed by very different kinds of processes. According to the ELM perspective, in some situations or for some kinds of individuals, attitudes may be changed in a positive direction by thoughtful examination of cogent message arguments. In this case, the preponderance of relevant thoughts serves as the basis of the positive attitude. On the other hand, in other situations, or for other kinds of individuals, attitude change may be the result of simple inferences or positive associations. In this case, the positive attitude is based more on the association of the cues with the attitudinal object or position. In the ELM framework, the former example is characterized as attitude change via the central route and the latter is characterized as attitude change via the peripheral route. Importantly, recent research has shown that these different processes are likely to be as-

*Curtis P. Haugtvedt is assistant professor of marketing, Ohio State University, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210. David W. Schumann is associate professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee. Wendy L. Schneier and Wendy L. Warren are doctoral students in the Department of Marketing at Ohio State. The authors thank Cheryl Flax, Jodi Fisher, Traci Hildreth, Matt Meyers, Rebecca Short, and Harper Roehm for assistance with the studies and pretests and Bob Burnkrant, Phil Lewis, Bob Owen, Rich Petty, Duane Wegener, and Rao Unnava, the reviewers, and the editor, Kent Monroe, for helpful comments on earlier versions of the article. Conduct of this research and preparation of this article was facilitated by an Ohio State University Research Professorship grant awarded to C.P.H.

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VARIATION AND ATTITUDE STRENGTH

sociated with different consequences related to attitude strength (Haugtvedt and Petty 1992). Most existing research from the ELM perspective has included situational manipulations designed to increase or decrease the likelihood of individuals garnering product-relevant information from a persuasive message (e.g., Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann 1983; Schumann, Petty, and Clemons 1990). Such research has shown that individuals, operating under different levels of motivation, tend to rely on different aspects of the advertisements to form judgments about a product. Individuals exposed to an ad under high-relevance conditions tend to base their product judgments on the cogency of message arguments about product attributes, whereas individuals under low-relevance conditions tend to base their product judgments on variables serving as peripheral cues (e.g., attractiveness, celebrity status of the product endorsers). It is important to note that external manipulation of participant motivation is not the only manner in which the relative influence of different advertising features may be studied. For example, the extent to which different features of advertisements are effective has also been shown to be moderated by individual differences (Haugtvedt, Petty, and Cacioppo 1992). Especially relevant for marketers is the idea that advertising strategies themselves could influence the amount of product-relevant information available and/or encourage focus on certain parts of an advertisement over repeated exposures. Recent advertising approaches directly related to this idea include the use of repetition-variation strategies.

ADVERTISING REPETITION AND VARIATION In attempts to encourage the development of maximally favorable attitudes, marketers frequently employ strategies designed to increase the number of times individuals are exposed to promotions for a particular attitude object. Research conducted to understand the influence of different levels of advertising repetition has generally shown that increased exposure can initially lead to more favorable attitudes toward a product (e.g., Appel 1971). Patterns of responses observed in early advertising repetition research, however, suggested that continued repeated exposure to an advertisement after a certain number of initial exposures might actually produce negative feelings toward the attitude object (Calder and Sternthal [1980]; see review by Pechmann and Stewart [1989]). In an attempt to understand factors that may slow the onset of such tedium effects, researchers began to explore the use of advertisement variation strategies-strategies in which different versions of advertisements for a single product are presented. Recently, Schumann et al. (1990) identified two very different kinds of advertising variation strategies. Cosmetic vari-

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ation was defined as changes in endorsers, ad layouts, print types, and so forth, with no real changes in message content across versions of an advertisement. Substantive variation was defined as changes in message content with no changes in cosmetic features across versions of an advertisement. Schumann et al. (1990) hypothesized and found that, whereas a cosmetic variation strategy was more effective across repeated exposures when subjects were exposed to the advertisements under conditions oflow rather than high personal relevance, a substantive variation strategy led to more positive product attitudes under conditions of high rather than low personal relevance. The Schumann et al. (1990) research is particularly noteworthy because prior studies on repetition-variation had not theoretically or empirically distinguished between the influence of distinct types of variation strategies. The results of the Schumann et al. studies suggest that the increased persuasiveness in some previous repetition studies could have emerged because of the greater processing of substantive aspects of the advertisements, whereas in other studies increased persuasiveness may have been due to increased exposure to positive cues (e.g., more attractive endorsers) across exposures to the advertisements. The focus of the present research is not on the reduction of tedium effects but rather on the consequences related to attitude strength of exposure to the different kinds of variation strategies. That is, the present research focuses on the idea that advertising repetition strategies can influence the amount and direction of processing that occurs. For instance, the cosmetic variation strategy outlined by Schumann et al. (1990) provides individuals with little information about the product and may encourage greater focus on peripheral features. Conversely, a substantive variation strategy provides a large amount of product-relevant information and may encourage greater focus on product attributes across exposures. Given the ELM idea that cues can sometimes be as effective as argument processing in inducing attitude change, it is possible that cosmetic and substantive variation strategies could lead to equally positive attitudes. However, the underlying nature of the attitudes should be quite different. If exposure to. varied arguments encourages greater elaboration, then individuals whose attitudes are formed in a substantive variation condition should know more about the product and should engage in more total thought about the product (consistent with central-route attitude change). On the other hand, individuals whose equally positive attitudes are formed as a consequence of cosmetic variation strategies should know less about the product but may have more cues available in memory from the advertisements (consistent with peripheral-route attitude change). Thus, even though Schumann et al. (1990) found that both kinds of variation strategies can be successful in

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creating positive attitudes toward a product, the processes underlying the formation of the attitudes, and thus the basis for the attitudes, are likely to be quite different. Importantly, theoretical perspectives suggest that the basis for the attitudes is likely to have important implications for the relative strength of the attitudes formed. That is, although the attitudes formed under the two variation strategies may be equally extreme in a positive direction, such attitudes may differ on dimensions that have been characterized as indicators of attitude strength in both the consumer behavior and social psychological literatures-subjective confidence, persistence over time, and resistance in the face of attack. Study 1 was conducted to verify the equivalence of attitudes developed via different strategies and to provide evidence of different processes underlying the equally positive attitudes. Study 2 tests the major hypothesis that, despite the apparent equivalence of the attitudes created by exposure to advertisements, advertising repetition and variation strategies can have important implications for the persistence of attitudes over time and/or their resistance to attack.

STUDY 1 The purpose of study 1 was to verify that the structures underlying attitudes that are similar in evaluative extremity, but formed via exposure to alternative repetition strategies, are indeed different, and to examine the nature of those differences. An important requirement for this kind of research is the ability to induce evaluatively similar (equally positive) attitudes via different processes. To this end, it was noted that product attitudes created in the moderate number of exposures conditions in the two studies reported by Schumann et al. (1990) were nearly identical for cosmetic and substantive variation strategies when averaged across conditions. Indeed, this observation is why the Schumann et al. (1990) materials were chosen as the basis for the advertisements in the studies presented here. Through pretesting, we were able to insure the similarity of attitudes formed under the conditions to be employed in this research. Study 1 was conducted to examine whether or not different structures existed to support the equally positive attitudes. The ability to induce evaluatively similar attitudes is also critical for study 2 in order to avoid confounds inherent in differential attitude extremity (see Cantril 1946) such as differential attitudinal confidence and accessibility (e.g., Fazio 1990). Prior research on advertising repetition reveals that attitudes and cognitive responses seem to peak at about three exposures (Calder and Sternthal 1980; Gorn and Goldberg 1980; Ronis 1980). In general, prior laboratory research has used massed forced exposure to material (each message presented in sequence in a short period of time) whereas field research has used distrib-

uted and voluntary exposures (Pechmann and Stewart 1989). The research presented here was specifically designed to fit between these two extremes. Because one purpose of the research was to explore how the nature of the advertisements alone might influence the amount of natural attention to and learning of product attributes across exposures, the critical advertisement was placed in the context of three other advertisements at different places throughout a storyboard-like mock-up of a proposed animated television series. In addition, consistent with the methods employed in the majority of studies on advertising repetition, the advertisements were presented under conditions of moderate personal relevance. I According to the ELM perspective, conditions of moderate personal relevance should allow the nature of the advertisements the greatest potential to influence the nature of information processing. The central hypothesis guiding this study was that, at three exposures, both substantive and cosmetic variation strategies would lead to the formation of equally positive attitudes but that the basis of the attitudes would be quite different. That is, although their attitudes toward the product would be similar, subjects in the different variation conditions were expected to develop different degrees and kinds of knowledge about the product as a consequence of the exposures. HI: Individuals whose attitudes are formed as a consequence of exposure to substantively varied ads will display more product-related thoughts and will exhibit greater attribute recall than those whose attitudes are formed via exposure to cosmetically varied ads. H2: Individuals whose attitudes are formed as a consequence of exposure to cosmetically varied ads will exhibit greater advertisement feature recall than those whose attitudes are formed via exposure to substantively varied ads. In addition to the two variation conditions, two control groups were also employed in the study. These control groups consisted of a single-ad-exposure condition (as a comparison for the effects of repetition) and a 1A pretest with participants from the same subject pool was conducted to insure that the "unmanipulated" level of motivation in our study fell between the levels of motivation in the Schumann et al. (1990) studies. In this pretest, 61 participants were randomly assigned to receive one of three experimental instructions, consistent with the high- or low-relevance instructions in the Schumann et al. (1990) studies, or the experimental instructions used in our studies. They were then given a list of products that would be advertised in the "show" and asked to rate their degree of interest in the products along with questions regarding the importance and relevance of the products. Examination ofthe mean scores from a combined measure (interest, relevance, and importance) revealed that ratings of the pen from our "unmanipulated" version of the experimental instructions fell between the ratings from participants in the high- and low-relevance instruction groups.


same-ad-repeated-three-times condition (as a comparison for the effects of variation). While the substantive and cosmetic variation strategies were calibrated to lead to equal extreme positive attitudes, it was predicted that variation conditions would lead to more favorable attitudes than either a single exposure or exposure to the same ad three times. This prediction is based on an analogy to explanations of findings in research on stereotypes (Linville 1982) and research on the effects of mere thought (Tesser 1978). Stereotyping research has . found that more information about a target person generally results in less extreme judgments. On the other hand, research on mere thought has generally shown that individuals develop more extreme attitudes when given more time to think about an object or person. One explanation for the seeming discrepancy between the stereotyping research and mere thought research focuses on the nature of the information considered. The stereotyping research suggests that more information about a target person leads to salience of both positive and negative factors (and thus a moderation of judgment) whereas the mere thought effects appear to be due to consideration of mainly consistent attributes by individuals (and thus greater extremity of judgment; see Fiske and Taylor 1991). Because variations in advertisements used in the present research contained uniformly positive cues and product information, we predicted that variation should be associated with more extreme positive attitudes. Such an effect has also been observed in previous repetition-variation research (Schumann et al. 1990).2 H3: Individuals whose attitudes are formed as a consequence of exposure to varied ads will possess more favorable attitudes toward the advertised product than those whose attitudes are formed via a single exposure or repetitions without variation.

Attitude Confidence A measure often included in questionnaires in both survey and laboratory research is one aimed at assessing the confidence individuals possess in their evaluations of attitude objects. The purpose of including such a measure is often to obtain some indication of the strength of the evaluation with the idea that individuals expressing higher levels of confidence in their evaluations would be less susceptible to attempts aimed at changing their evaluations (see Fazio, Powell, and Herr 1983; Fazio and Zanna 1981). Theorists have suggested that judgmental confidence may be based on the absolute amount of information available to subjects (Koriat, Lichtenstein, and Fischoff 1980; Peterson and Pitz 1988). Along these lines, prior 2An additional important assumption, of course, is that the arguments for the product are strong and that the cues are positive.

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research on advertising repetition has shown that message repetition may also lead to greater attitude confidence (Berger and Mitchell 1989). However, because prior repetition research has not distinguished between substantive and cosmetic variation strategies, such research has not been able to examine the influence of the kinds of information on attitudinal confidence (that is, cue-based or product-relevant information). The design of the studies presented here allows exploration of the effect of different kinds of advertising repetition on overall judgmental confidence. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Berger and Mitchell 1989), it was also predicted that individuals in the repetition conditions would exhibit more confidence in their attitudes than those in the single-exposure condition. In contrast to the above, however, neither prior repetition research nor prior theory provides guidance in making predictions in regard to the relative confidence among the three repetition conditions. In this regard, study 1 should be regarded as exploratory in nature.

Method Subjects and Design. A total of 73 undergraduate students participated in the study for extra credit in their introductory marketing course. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or control conditions. Participation took place around a large table in a conference meeting room in groups of 10-20 students per session. All conditions were represented in each session. Procedure. Participants were recruited by means of an extra credit "sign-up board." On the sign-up materials, the study was described as a "media evaluation" study that would take place in a 30-minute session. Upon arrival at the conference room, subjects were given a three-ring notebook containing the cover story and instructions. The first page of the notebook was titled "Television Pilot Study." The paragraphs that followed stated that the success of recent animated television shows like The Simpsons had spurred interest in the development of more animated shows targeted toward college-age individuals. Students were told that the marketing department had been asked by a television network to help evaluate some potential new shows as well as to provide some reactions to advertisements that might appear in such shows. Subjects were further told that, in order to save money and time, this initial phase of research employed only black-and-white line drawings of the animated show and print versions of proposed advertisements. The "television special" consisted of a series of panels (four panels to a page) taken from a Doonesbury comic book. Advertisements appeared in three groups (pods) separated by approximately 10 pages of the comic. Each advertising pod contained four advertisements for products including a refrigerator, microwave brownies, a pen, shampoo, a cellophane food wrap, cooking oil, and a watch.

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After reading the material in the notebook, subjects were instructed to open a separate manila folder containing a questionnaire designed to assess their reactions to the proposed show and advertisements. Independent Variables. To examine the influence of different advertising repetition variation strategies on processes underlying the formation of positive attitudes toward a product, different exposure levels and variation strategies were employed for a fictitious brand of pen. The critical print advertisements for the unknown brand of pen (Omega 3) used in this research were adapted from the ads used in the Schumann et al. (1990) studies. In these ads, substantive variation consisted of varying the arguments presented in support of an unknown brand of pen across ad exposures while holding other features of the ad (endorser, layout, font) constant. Cosmetic variation consisted of varying the endorsers, ad layout, and fonts, without changing the content of the arguments presented in support of the pen. The target ads were always the third ad (out of four) presented in the first pod, the second ad (out of four) in the second pod, and the third ad (out offour) in the third pod. To avoid undue attention to the critical advertisements, two other ads were also repeated. Two control conditions were included to assess the influence of repetition alone and to assess the influence of varying substantive or cosmetic factors above the pure effect of repetition. In one control condition, an advertisement for the pen appeared in the notebook only once (single-exposure control condition). In another control condition, the same advertisement for the pen appeared three times (once in each pod) throughout the notebook (same-ad-three-times condition). All versions of the ads used in the experimental groups were cycled through the same-ad-three-times condition. That is, each of the nine versions of the ad used in creating the various substantive and cosmetic variation conditions served as stimuli for one-ninth of the subjects in the same-ad-three-times condition. All of the advertisements were of similar production quality and all were for unknown or fictitious bra~ds. Each version of the critical pen advertisement contamed three arguments for the product. In the cosmetic variation condition, the same three arguments were presented to participants while other features of the advertisement were varied (i.e., endorsers, ad layout, fonts). In the substantive variation condition, each participant was exposed to a total of nine arguments for the pen (three per exposure) but to only one endorser and one ad layout scheme. Across subjects, all cosmetic variation ads were included in the substantive variation condition and all arguments used in the substantive variation condition were included in the cosmetic variation condition ads. Stimulus Materials. Previous research has shown that a critical factor in creating favorable attitudes under relatively high levels of elaboration is the quality of


message arguments (Petty et al. 1983). Theoretical perspectives and examination of previous empirical work show that it is also possible for cues (e.g., attractiveness of endorsers) to induce the same amount of attitude change as might occur via product-relevant elaboration (Haugtvedt and Petty 1992). Indeed, an important consideration before undertaking the present research was the need to establish the equivalence of these different aspects of the advertisements (substantive and cosmetic factors). In the present research this was accomplished by the use of materials from the Schumann et al. (1990) study and via the conduct of additional pretests in which participants evaluated the nature of product arguments and product endorsers/layout combinations separately. Arguments in favor of the product included the following: pressurized cartridge; instant writing; comfortable grip; smooth, no-skip writing; sloped design and optimal balancing; smear-proof quick-drying ink; writes on almost any surface; new ink polymer providing long-lasting use; long-lasting eraser. Endorsers chosen included photographs ofa professional writer, a scientist,and an architect. . Dependent Measures. Subjects read the notebooks at their own pace. After reading all of the material in the notebook, they were instructed to complete the questionnaire contained in a separate manila folder. The first page of questions assessed reactions to the proposed television show. The next set of questions focused on subjects' opinions of the products featured in the advertisements. Subjects evaluated each product on two nine-point semantic differential scales (i.e., bad-good; negative-positive). An average of these highly correlated scales (r = .89) served as our measure of attitude toward the product. In a section following the attitude questions, subjects were asked to evaluate how confident they were of their opinion for each of the products on a nine-point scale anchored by "not at all confident" and "extremely confident." In the next section, subjects were asked to express their opinions of the advertisements on a nine-point scale anchored by "very negative" and "very positive." After completing the rating scale portion of the questionnaire, subjects completed cognitive response, product attribute recall, and advertisement recall protocols. Instructions on the top of the first sheet instructed subjects to write down all of the thoughts they could recall going through their minds when they saw the advertisements for the Omega 3 pen. On the top of the next page subjects were instructed to write down all of the information they could recall about the Omega 3 pen from the advertisements. Finally, instructions on the middle of the same page asked subjects to write down all of the information that they could recall about the advertisements. Two judges blind to subjects' experimental condition coded the cognitive responses into positive product-related thoughts, negative product-related thoughts, and

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VARIATION AND ATTITUDE STRENGTH TABLE 1

STUDY 1 RESULTS Condition Substantive variation (n = 18) Cosmetic variation (n

=

18)

Same-ad-three-times (n = 17) Singlecexposure (n = 20)

Product attitude

Positive thoughts

Attribute recall

Ad feature recall

Attitude confidence

7.16 (1.03) 6.97 (.95) 6.73 (1.44) 6.03 (1.20)

2.44 (1.10) .33 (.69) .53 (.72) .45 (.60)

3.27 (1.48) 1.55 (.78) 1.70 (.69) 1.25 (.91)

1.44 (.70) 2.94 (1.35) 1.41 (.94) .55 (.76)

6.72 (1.56) 6.38 (1.71 ) 6.76 (1.92) 5.20 (1.88)

NOTE.-Numbers in parentheses under each mean are standard deviations.

irrelevant thoughts. They agreed on the coding in over 84 percent of the cases; disagreements were resolved by discussion. The same judges also counted the number of product attributes recalled and the number offeatures recalled about the advertisements. Agreement on the number of attributes recalled was 83 percent; discrepancies were resolved by discussion. Agreement on the advertisement recall information was 76 percent; disagreements were resolved by discussion.

Results and Discussion Attitude Measures. It was predicted that different repetition variation strategies could lead to the development of equally positive attitudes. Further, the repeated-advertisement condition attitudes were predicted to be more positive than the single-exposure condition. The same-ad-three-times condition was predicted to fall between the two extremes. A one-way ANOV A performed on the attitude scores from the four conditions revealed an overall significant effect (F(3,72) = 3.53, p < .02). Duncan tests revealed that attitudes of subjects in the substantive variation and cosmetic variation condition were not significantly different from one another. 3 Duncan tests also revealed that the substantive and cosmetic variation attitude means were each significantly different from the single-exposure condition attitude mean. Although the mean attitude score of subjects in the same-ad-three-times condition fell between the scores of the variation conditions and the single-exposure condition, Duncan tests revealed that it was not significantly different from the other conditions. Thus Hypothesis 3, the hypothesis that varied ads would result in more favorable attitudes than both a single ad exposure and exposure to the same ad three times received partial support. Thought Measures. Over three exposures, subjects in the substantive variation condition were presented 3All

nonsignificant Duncan test results reported in this article are

p> .20.

with more product arguments than subjects in the cosmetic variation condition. As stated in Hypothesis 1, it was hypothesized that one consequence of exposure to substantively varied ads would be more positive thoughts about the product. Analysis of positive product-related thoughts provide support for this idea. A one-way ANOV A performed on the mean number of positive product-related cognitive responses revealed an overall significant effect (F(3,72) = 29.00, p < .000l). Duncan tests revealed that the mean number of positive product thoughts in the substantive variation condition was significantly higher than in the other conditions. Very few negative product-related thoughts (i.e., means close to zero) were expressed by subjects in any of the conditions. Thus, despite the fact that substantive and cosmetic variation strategies led to equally extreme favorable attitudes, subjects in the substantive variation condition had significantly more positive thoughts about the product.

Recall Measures. A one-way ANOVA performed on the mean number of product attributes recalled revealed an overall significant effect (F(3,72) = 3.53, p < .02). Duncan tests reveal that the mean number of product attributes recalled in the substantive variation condition was significantly higher than the other conditions (see Table l). A one-way ANOV A performed on the mean number of advertisement features recalled revealed an overall significant effect (F(3,72) = 19.81, p < .0001). Duncan tests reveal that subjects in the cosmetic variation condition recalled more features than subjects in the other conditions. The substantive variation and same-adthree-times condition advertisement feature recall means were not significantly higher than the single-exposure condition mean (see Table 1). In conjunction with the thought measures, the recall measures provide nice support for Hypotheses 1 and 2. Attitude Confidence. Previous research and discussions suggested that attitudinal confidence may be associated with the amount of information individuals possess in a domain. Analysis of the self-reported atti-

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tude confidence question responses revealed an overall significant effect (F(3,72) = 3.25, p < .03). Duncan tests reveal that each of the repeated-condition attitude confidence scores was significantly higher than the attitude confidence score in the single-exposure condition. Mean confidence scores in all of the repeated-exposure conditions were not significantly different from one another.4

DISCUSSION Results of study 1 support the idea that different repetition strategies can lead to equally extreme positive attitudes. Attitudes formed as a result of cosmetic variation versus substantive variation condition repetitions were not significantly different from one another. However, differences did emerge in the amount of knowledge and number of positive thoughts subjects had about the product when exposed to a substantive variation strategy. It is interesting that, despite the differences in amount of knowledge and positive thoughts about the product, subjects in the three repeated-exposure conditions were equally confident in their attitudes. This finding suggests that attitudinal confidence can be enhanced simply by multiple exposures and that individuals with different kinds or amounts of knowledge about a product may be equally confident in their attitudes.

BEYOND IMMEDIATE MEASURES: ASSESSING ATTITUDE STRENGTH Marketers use advertising and repetition of advertising to create and maintain positive attitudes toward products and services (Ostheimer 1970; Ray, Sawyer, and Strong 1971). Like many other areas of research, studies on the influence of advertising repetition strategies have typically only obtained measures of attitude immediately after exposure to the campaign. Yet marketers would ideally like to know the relative influence of advertising strategies on the durability of the attitudes created or changed. Indeed, some researchers have suggested that one of the most important tests of advertising effectiveness might be to observe what happens to attitude and recall scores at different points in time after a campaign ceases (Ostheimer 1970; Ray et al. 1971). Others have argued that, in addition to studying the extent of attitude persistence (extent of decay), marketers might also benefit from understanding the extent 4The other difference to emerge between conditions in this study related to opinions of the advertisements (F(3,72) = 5.01, p < .003). Duncan tests revealed that subjects in the single-exposure condition were less positive (single-exposure, X = 5.50) in their evaluations of the advertisement than subjects in the other conditions (substantive variation, X = 7.44. cosmetic variation, X = 6.94, same-ad-threetimes, X = 6.82).

to which different kinds of attitude change strategies influence the ability of attitudes to resist change in the face of attack (Haugtvedt 1989; Haugtvedt, Leavitt, and Schneier 1993). In our earlier discussion, theoretical guidance was drawn from the ELM to hypothesize that different repetition strategies could result in equally positive attitudes. The ELM also offers hypotheses about the relative persistence and resistance of attitudes formed via different processes. That is, the ELM suggests that, although two groups of individuals may be persuaded to the same degree as a result of exposure to advertising stimuli, the kinds of processes underlying the changes influence the durability of the newly formed or changed attitudes. The ELM hypotheses regarding attitude decay is based, in part, on associative network perspectives of memory (e.g., Anderson and Bower 1973). From this perspective, attitudes based on more elaborate or stronger associations are less likely to be lost over time than attitudes based on less elaborate or weaker associations. It is interesting that such a perspective does not imply that attitudes formed via the central route will always be more persistent than attitudes formed via the peripheral route. Indeed, any advertising strategy that strengthens or provides more associations in memory also has the potential to confer attitude persistence. Existing research examining the ELM's predictions regarding the persistence of attitudes formed via the central versus peripheral routes has used a large number of arguments but only a single cue. Such research, therefore, has provided central-route conditions with memorial and structural advantages over the peripheral-route conditions. As discussed above, the idea that attitude persistence would be enhanced by either repeatedly pairing a single cue with a message or by providing individuals with a larger number of cues is consistent with the ELM. Thus, any strategy that increases the number or strength of associations underlying a positive attitude should result in increased persistence. The context of advertising repetition-variation research offers an interesting paradigm to examine the persistence of attitudes formed by different processes. Just as larger amounts of product-relevant information and higher numbers of positive thoughts are hypothesized to protect the attitudes of substantive variation condition participants from decay, the larger number and increased salience of positive cue associations might also protect the attitudes of cosmetic variation condition participants from decay. Research along such lines may have important practical and theoretical implications. If repeated-exposure conditions lead to equal attitude persistence (at least within a given time frame), marketers might be tempted to conclude that both cosmetic and substantive variation strategies are equally effective. That is, it might be tempting to conclude that, because


the attitudes did not differ in their amount of decay, they are equally strong. 5 A number of theoretically guided considerations, however, suggest that attitude persistence may not always be a good indication of attitude strength. While it is important to know the extent to which an advertising strategy is capable of creating initial and persistent positive reactions to a product, it is also important to know how well an attitude resists change in the face of attack. Knowledge about attitude resistance is important for both practical and theoretical reasons. At a practical level, consumers will encounter promotions for competing brands or conflicting information about a particular brand from a variety of different sources (e.g., product evaluation studies, newspaper articles, friends). At a theoretical level, understanding the kinds of factors underlying positive attitudes that make them more or less susceptible to attack may lead to greater understanding of when attitude persistence is likely to bea good surrogate measure for attitude strength and when it should be' called into question. Such research also has the potential to encourage theorists to consider factors necessary for the development of strong attitudes. In short, in some cases attitudes may be persistent because of more product-relevant information in memory and/or more positive thoughts, and in other cases attitudes may be persistent because of more or very strong cue associations. While the two forms of variation strategies are hypothesized to sometimes lead to attitudes that appear equivalent in immediate and delayed settings, the ELM predicts that attitudes formed by way of a substantive variation strategy should be more resistant to change in the face of attack. Specifically, attitude formation by substantive variation should provide individuals with a basis for their attitudes that allows them to defend their attitudes in the face of attack to a greater degree than attitude formation by a cosmetic variation strategy. As shown in study 1, individuals in the substantive variation condition should have more total positive thoughts about the product as well as a larger knowledge base. Thus, even though attacks on the attitude might undermine some of the basis for the attitude, a larger number of relevant elements would remain to support the attitude than would be the case if the positive attitude were the result of exposure to cosmetically varied ads or ads repeated without variation.

STUDY 2 The results of study 1 revealed that the substantive variation strategy seems to result in attitude changes characteristic of central-route processes (i.e., more 5An additional factor that may lead marketers to come to the wrong conclusions is our finding in study 1 that the attitudes developed by way of different repetition strategies appear to be held with equal confidence.

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knowledge about the product, more thoughts about the product). On the other hand, cosmetic variation seems to create attitudes having characteristics ofthose based on peripheral-route processes (less knowledge about the product, greater focus on peripheral features of the ad). Study 2 provides a first test of the influence of different repetition strategies on both the relative persistence of attitudes and on their resistance to change in the face of counterpersuasive information. Specifically, it was expected that any strategy that increases the number or strength of associations underlying a positive attitude should result in increased persistence. For instance, because of the greater amount of information conveyed in the substantive variation condition, it was predicted that attitudes formed in such a condition would be relatively more persistent than attitudes formed by exposure to a single ad. Likewise, because of multiple cues provided in the cosmetic variation condition, such attitudes were predicted to be relatively more persistent than attitudes formed by exposure to a single ad. Finally, because of the repeated pairing of a single cue provided in the same-ad-three-times condition, it was predicted that such attitudes would also be more persistent than attitudes formed by exposure to a single ad. H4: Attitudes formed as a consequence of exposure to three repetitions of the ad will display less decay after a one week period than attitudes formed via a single exposure. Even though the repetition conditions were hypothesized to lead to the development of relatively persistent attitudes, attitudes formed under substantive variation conditions were hypothesized to be more resistant to attack than the other repetition conditions. That is, it was expected that individuals whose attitudes were based on more product-relevant information would be more resistant to attack than individuals whose persistent attitudes were based mainly on cues because the former individuals would be better able to defend their attitudes. H5: Attitudes formed as a consequence of exposure to substantive repetition strategies will be more resistant in the face of attack when compared to attitudes formed via a single exposure or other repetition strategies. As in study 1, a measure of attitude confidence was included in the immediate attitude measurement situation. In addition, this measure was also included in the delayed session. As in study 1, it was predicted that attitudes based on more exposures to the advertisements were to be held with more confidence than attitudes based on a single exposure to the ad. No specific hypotheses were made regarding the persistence of the confidence scores or regarding differences between the repetition conditions.


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Method Subjects and Design. One-hundred-seventeen undergraduate marketing students participated in the study for extra credit. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups (substantive variation or cosmetic variation) or one of two control groups (single-ad-exposure or same-ad-three-times). The overall design of the first part of study 2 was identical to study 1. The materials and ads used in study 1 were used in study 2. The major difference between the studies is the fact that cognitive responses and recall were not assessed in the first session in study 2 because such procedures would artificially influence the amount of elaboration, and, unless such questions were asked about all products, subjects would become aware of the critical product prior to expressing their attitudes in the second session. Attitude Persistence. To obtain delayed measures of attitudes, subjects were led to believe as part of the cover story that they would be evaluating an additional show one week after the initial session. Upon returning for the second session, subjects were given a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward the products viewed in the earlier session. At the top of the first page, they were reminded that they had evaluated a proposed Doonesbury television special in the prior session and had also viewed advertisements for a number of products. They were then asked to express how they currently felt about those products by completing a questionnaire. Attitudes were assessed in two different parts of the questionnaire. In the first part, subjects were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with the statement "I feel that the (product) is very good" on a nine-point scale anchored by "strongly disagree" and "strongly agree." Following each attitude question was a question asking subjects to indicate how confident they were in the opinion just expressed. In the next section, subjects were asked to circle a number on a scale of one to nine to illustrate how they felt about each of the products on a negative to positive dimension. Finally, they completed ratings of each of the advertisements on a one (very negative) to nine (very positive) scale. An average of the two highly correlated attitude measures (r = .84) served as our delayed attitude measure. Attitude Resistance. After having completed the attitude assessment portion of the questionnaire, subjects were instructed to turn the page for further instructions. On the top ofthe next page was the following paragraph: The evaluations you provided last week were for the companies considering sponsoring the Doonesbury television special. Networks considering television shows also need to be very careful about the advertisements and products contained in their programming. The following are summaries of network research reports about each

of the products that would appear on the network for the first time in the television special. Because a large part of the target audience is composed of persons like yourself, your opinions about the product after reading the reports are being requested by the network.

Product "reports" for the brownies and the Omega 3 pen were included on the bottom of the page. The report on Sue Michel Brownies suggested that the product was very good. The report for the Omega 3 pen was as follows: Product. Omega 3 pens History. A new unit of a relatively unknown pen company. No link to the company is to be made in the advertisements or on the products. Financial status of the company is unknown. Product Tests. College students using the pens reported some problems. Packages in which the pens were shipped were difficult to open if instructions were not carefully followed. The students also indicated that the pen was not available at every store and that refills for the pen needed to be purchased at major department stores. Although the pen wrote well on most surfaces, students were unable to use the pen on non-porous surfaces such as glass and ceramic. Approximately 15 percent of the users indicated that they were not satisfied with the pen.

The message was designed to contain relatively negative cues about the company (e.g., new company, unknown financial status) and the product. In addition, the test information presented against the product was designed to be relatively weak (e.g., the package is difficult to open, not available at every store).6 After reading the product test information, subjects were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with the statement "Omega 3 pens are very good" on a ninepoint scale anchored by "strongly disagree" and "strongly agree."

Results Immediate Attitude Scores. Dunn's multiple comparison procedure (Kirk 1982) was employed to perform a series of a priori nonorthogonal contrasts relevant to our hypotheses. 7 As can be seen in Table 2, the pattern of data was comparable to that of study 1. The 6The focus of this research was on the relative rather than absolute resistance of attitudes to change. An attack message containing extremely strong arguments would not be very diagnostic because all subjects-even those possessing a great deal of strong product-relevant information-would likely succumb to the force of a very strong attack. 7An overall MANOV A was also performed with immediate, oneweek-delay, and postattack attitude scores serving as a within-subjects variable and repetition condition serving as a between-subjects variable. This analysis revealed a significant effect for condition (F(3, 113) = 13.97, p < .000 I), a significant effect for time of measurement (F(J,113) = 26.45, p < .0001), qualified by a significant interaction between condition and time of measurement (F(3,133) = 13.17, P < .0001).

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VARIATION AND ATTITUDE STRENGTH TABLE 2

STUDY 2 RESULTS

Condition Substantive variation (n Cosmetic variation (n

= 30)

Same-ad-three-times (n Single-exposure (n

= 32)

= 31)

= 24)

Immediate attitude

Delayed attitude

Postattack attitude

Immediate confidence

Delayed confidence

Delayed recall

7.09 (1.39) 7.16 (1.50) 6.50 (1.36) 5.96 (1.34)

6.88 (1.34) 7.00 (1.36) 6.47 (1.47) 4.16 (1.34)

4.97 (1.33) 3.60 (1.36) 3.74 (1.67) 3.25 (1.59)

6.88 (1.50) 6,80 (1.56) 6.71 (1.37) 5.71 (1.37)

6.96 (1.36) 7.03 (1.54) 6.58 (1.71 ) 4.71 (1.52)

2.09 (2.02) .80 (1.16) .39 (.76) .33 (.48)

NOTE.-Numbers in parentheses under mean scores are the standard deviations.

mean attitude scores of subjects in the substantive and cosmetic variation conditions were not significantly different from one another (tD(113) = .22, p > .6). The mean attitude score of subjects in the same-ad-threetimes condition was significantly lower than that of the two experimental groups (tD( 113) = 2.03, p < .06) but was not higher than that of the single-ad-exposure group (tD(113) = 1.42, p > .23). It appears that variation resulted in the development of more favorable attitudes than the presentation of the same ad three times but that pure repetition did not result in more positive attitudes than a single exposure.

Delayed Attitude Scores. When assessed one week after exposure to the advertisements, mean attitude scores of subjects in the substantive variation, cosmetic variation, and same-ad-three-times conditions decayed very little. Attitudes of the substantive variation group and cosmetic variation group were still equivalent (tD( 113) = .34, p > .6). One week after exposure to the ads, the mean attitude in the same-ad-three-times condition was not significantly lower than the mean attitudes in the two experimental groups (tD(113) = 1.58, p > .17) but was significantly higher (tD(113) = 6.12, p < .0001) than the mean attitude in the single-ad-exposure group. Paired t-tests revealed that only the singleexposure condition attitudes exhibited significant decay over one week (t(23) = 8.03, p < .0001). The pattern of data from the immediate assessment of attitudes reveals that substantive and cosmetic variation strategies resulted in slightly more positive attitudes than the same-ad-three-times or single-ad-exposure conditions. When assessed one week later, the pattern of data for the varied conditions is very similar to that for the initial attitude measure data. In addition, although attitudes in the single-exposure and same-adthree-times conditions were similar when measured immediately after exposure to the advertisements, repeated exposure to the advertisements led to the formation of more persistent attitudes than did single ad exposure. These results support Hypothesis 4.

Attitude Confidence. Subjects reported confidence in their attitudinal judgments in the immediate and delayed sessions (see Table 2). An overall MANOV A with time of measurement serving as a within-subjects factor and condition serving as a between-subjects factor revealed an effect for condition (F(3,113) = 10.79, p < .01), no effect for time of measurement (F(1, 113) = 1.80, p = .18), and an interaction between condition and time of measurement (F(3, 113) = 3.06, p < .03). Duncan tests revealed that attitude confidence was equally high among the repeated-exposure groups in both the immediate and delayed sessions, and that these confidence scores were significantly higher than the score in the single-exposure group (p's < .05).8 Postattack Attitudes. After completing the delayed attitude questionnaire, subjects were presented with the information unfavorable to the product and opinions of the product were assessed. A priori nonorthogonal contrasts revealed that the mean postattack attitude score for subjects in the substantive variation condition was significantly higher than the mean attitude score in the cosmetic variation condition (tD(113) = 3.60, p < .01) and higher than the same-ad-three-times condition (tD(l13) = 3.32, p < .01). These results support Hypothesis 5 (see Fig. 1).9 8Analysis of evaluations of the advertisement in the immediate and delayed conditions revealed a pattern of results similar to that of study I. In the immediate measurement, the single-exposure ad evaluation mean (single-exposure, X = 5.29) was significantly lower than the other three conditions (substantive variation, X = 7.00; cosmetic variation, X = 7.03; same-ad-three-times, X = 6.48). Examination of the delayed advertisement evaluations reveals a similar pattern (single-exposure, X = 4.04; substantive variation, X = 6.78; cosmetic variation, X = 6.73; same-ad-three-times, X = 6.22.). 9An overall MANOVA was also performed on the three repeatedexposure conditions with time of attitude expression (one-week-delay vs. postattack) serving as a within-subjects factor and condition serving as a between-subjects factor. Results revealed a significant effect of condition (F(2,90) = 4.92, P < .09), a significant effect of time of measurement (F(I,90) = 191.96,p < .0001), and a significant interaction between condition and time of measurement (F(2,90) = 5.01, p < .009).

186

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH FIGURE 1 REPETITION STRATEGIES: PERSISTENCE AND RESISTANCE OF ATTITUDES Attitude

(9=:Posltlve)

7.0

---

Substantive Var Cosmetic Var

---

SameAd3X Single Ad Exp

5.0

3.0~------~------~------~----------------~------~ Immediate

Post Attack

1 Week Delay

Time

Delayed Recall. After completing the postattack questionnaire, subjects were asked to recall all of the information about the pen they could remember from the advertisements viewed one week earlier. Two judges coded subjects' responses for matches with the materials presented earlier. Agreement between the judges was 83 percent; disagreements were resolved by discussion. Analysis of the amount of product information recalled from the advertisements in the delayed session (postattack) revealed an overall significant effect for condition (F(3,113) = 12.30, p < .0001). Duncan tests revealed that subjects in the substantive variation condition listed more product information (p < .05) than subjects in the other conditions. There were no significant differences among the other conditions.

DISCUSSION Results of study 1 provided support for the idea that individuals exposed to substantively varied ads possess more information about product attributes and experience more positive thoughts about the product than individuals in the cosmetic variation or same-ad-threetimes conditions. Despite these differences, attitudes were equally positive in each of the repeated-advertiseme nt-exposure conditions. In addition, inspection of attitude confidence scores suggests that individuals in all of the repeated-advertisement-exposure conditions held their product attitudes with the same high level of confidence. In study 2, attitudes of individuals exposed to different ad variation conditions were examined for their persistence over time and resistance to attack. Results revealed that, at least within a one-week time frame, advertising repetition strategies were able to induce greater attitudinal persistence than a single ad ex-

of

me.surement

posure. In addition, despite the equivalence of attitudes and confidence in attitudes, subjects exposed to substantively varied ads were more resistant to influences of the counterpersuasive information than subjects in the other conditions. Results of study 2 clearly show that different advertising repetition strategies may lead to the formation of equally positive attitudes, attitudes held with equally high confidence, and attitudes that persist to the same degree. However, despite similarities in extremity, confidence, and persistence, attitudes formed as a result of exposure to substantively varied ads were relatively more resistant to change in the face of attack. An Alternative Explanation. Our explanation for the greater resistance of attitudes formed via exposure to substantively varied ads rests on the idea that, even though attacks on these attitudes might undermine some of the basis for the attitude, a larger number of elements would remain to support the attitude as compared to attitudes formed via alternative repetition strategies. However, an alternative explanation to this quantity-of-thoughts argument, suggested by a reviewer, might also account for our findings. Specifically, it is possible that individuals exposed to substantively varied ads are more resistant to counterpersuasive attack because they possess particular information that could be used to refute the attack. For instance, one could assert that individuals in the substantive condition in our study were better able to resist attack because two of the claims in the attack, that the brand did not write on nonporous surfaces and that refills were only available in department stores, were refuted by the ad claims that the Omega 3 pen writes on almost every surface and that it has a long writing life. While all of the in-

187


dividuals in the substantive variation condition had access to this specific information, only a portion of the individuals in the cosmetic variation condition were exposed to these particular attack refutations. Thus, the individuals in the substantive variation condition were in a better position to resist the subsequent attack. Because subsets of subjects in the cosmetic variation condition received the claims about the durability and writing ability of the pen, it was possible to empirically compare the extent of resistance of these groups to those groups exposed to different versions of the ad. Results from this analysis show no differential resistance. The mean attitude score after attack of individuals possessing information about the "long writing life" and "writes on almost any surface" was 3.57. The mean scores of individuals exposed to the two other sets of arguments were 3.61 and 3.60. To further examine the idea of whether individuals in the substantive variation condition relied on the recall of particular attributes in memory to defend their positions, recall data were examined to see if subjects recalled the information relevant to the pen's durability and ability to write on almost any surface. If individuals used the information to defend their opinion, it should have been available for recall. In fact, very few participants in the substantive variation condition listed the relevant information-only three out ofthe 32 subjects did so. Examination of these three subjects' final attitude scores reveals that they were not different from those of individuals not recalling the attribute. 10 Taken together, these additional analyses are consistent with the notion that differential resistance is an outcome of the elaboration of arguments supporting the attitudes in the substantive conditions and suggest that exposure to specific attributes neither enhanced nor diminished the strength of the attitudes.

GENERAL DISCUSSION Marketers develop and present advertisements to consumers with the goal of changing attitudes in a direction more favorable to a particular product, service, issue, or person. The driving force behind such efforts is the hope that possession of relatively more favorable attitudes will guide the behavior of consumers in later situations. Surprisingly, however, marketers and consumer researchers have focused little effort on examining the kinds of attitude change strategies that will create attitudes that decay less over time and are more lOAn alternative to the idea that specific information relevant to an attack makes the attitude more resistant is the idea that such direct attacks may increase the likelihood of change because they cause individuals to doubt the validity of the information provided by the advertiser on the specific attribute as well as other attributes. While results of the current study (in which the attack occurs one week after exposure to the ad) suggest that exposure to specific information was neither an advantage nor disadvantage, future research should systematically explore these issues.

likely to resist competitive challenges. Drawing theoretical guidance from the ELM, results of the present research suggest that different advertising repetition strategies may be one way to increase the ability of consumers' positive attitudes to resist counterpersuasive influences. Interest in advertising variation strategies began in an attempt to understand factors that may forestall the onset of tedium effects. Results of the present research suggest that use of certain kinds of variation strategies also has the potential to increase the strength of consumer attitudes. Results of the present research, however, also suggest that measures of the extent of attitude decay (at least within certain time frames) or subjective attitudinal confidence are unlikely to provide complete diagnostic information regarding attitude strength. Advertising repetition research was chosen as a context in which to examine differences between factors that have been characterized as measures of attitude strength for a number of reasons. First, most typical consumer settings involve more than a single exposure to an advertisement. Yet virtually all studies in the consumer behavior and social psychological literatures have examined only the influence of single-message exposures. Second, one of the unique features of advertising repetition research is that multiple-message exposures give individuals more opportunity to think about product attributes than single exposures. However, multiple exposures also give individuals the opportunity to develop more or stronger cue associations. Results of our research suggest that multiple-message exposure can lead to equal attitude persistence. Third, research on the effects of advertising repetition, like many areas of consumer and social psychological research, typically only focused on strategies that were likely to induce extremely positive attitudes (at immediate measurement) rather than on strategies that were likely to lead to the development of attitudes that persisted over time or were more resistant in the face of attack.

Future Directions By manipulating the variation of substantive or cosmetic factors, it was possible to examine the relative impact of providing more product attribute information or presenting more cues on the persistence of attitudes and their resistance to 'counterpersuasive influences. Results of this research suggest that information on the persistence of attitudes or degree of subjective attitudinal confidence may be insufficient knowledge on which to infer the full strength of consumer attitudes. A unique aspect of this research was the creation of equally positive attitudes by different advertising strategies. Along these same lines, interesting future research might focus on advertising strategies that produce changes in attitude strength without changes in attitude extremity. The majority of experimental consumer behavior studies have used stimulus materials in which

188


consumers were likely to approach the advertisements with relatively neutral or no initial attitudes toward the products. Consumers, on the other hand, often encounter advertisements for products for which they already possess positive attitudes. Thus future research might use the paradigm developed in the present research to explore whether individuals whose initial attitudes were formed as a result of greater product-attribute focus (substantive variation) would be more likely to garner additional product-relevant information from future ad exposures than individuals whose initial product attitudes were formed as a result of multiple or strong cue associations. In other words, can initial product liking via the peripheral route hamper the development of a central-route basis of attitudes in future situations? Along the same lines, consumer researchers focusing on memory effects have been concerned with the extent to which brands are able to resist competitive interference with regard to brand name recall (Burke and Srull 1988). However, perhaps just as important as a consumer's ability to recall a brand name at the appropriate time is the ability of the positive product attitude to guide behavioral choice (Haugtvedt et al. 1993). Given the results of the present research, it would be interesting to examine when a persistent positive attitude formed via cosmetic variation strategies is adequate to guide behavioral choice versus when a persistent (and more resistant) attitude formed via substantive variation strategies is necessary to guide behavioral choice. It is hoped that the kind of research and theoretical perspectives discussed here will encourage consumer researchers and psychologists to consider the benefits of moving beyond the all-too-common paradigms of single message presentations and single occasion attitude measurement in future research. An important contribution of research conducted from the ELM perspective is explicit recognition of the fact that similar outcomes can be based on different processes. A fruitful direction for the next generation of research based on the ELM perspective, therefore, is an examination of the various consequences associated with the different processes-consequences that are directly relevant to the intended roles of marketing communications. [Received June 1992. Revised September 1993.]

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