Age differences in recall and liking of arousing television commercials

Abstract

This article examines whether there are differences between older and younger adults in recall and liking of arousing television commercials. As hypothesized, the experiment demonstrated that older adults remembered brands and products in calm commercials better than in arousing commercials, and they also liked calm commercials more. In contrast, younger adults remembered brands and products in arousing commercials better and they liked these commercials more. In addition, (curvi)linear relationships showed that for older adults arousal deteriorates their recall and liking, whereas for younger adults arousal – up to a certain point – is beneficial. These findings strongly suggest that advertising effects found in younger samples are unlikely to be the same for older target groups. An important practical implication is that it currently seems wise to make commercials targeted towards older adults calm instead of arousing when the aim is to generate brand recall and liking.

Emotional arousal may increase susceptibility to fraud in older and younger adults.

“…A neuroimaging study by Dolcos, Katsumi, and Dixon (2014) showed increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and decreased activity in the amygdala in older versus younger adults in response to low-, but not high-, arousal negative images, suggesting that older adults selectively dampen responses to low-arousal negative stimuli. Last, in a marketing study, van der Groot, van Reijmersdal, and Kleemans (2015) demonstrated that older adults preferred calm television advertisements with few camera changes, slower speech, and relaxing or no music over arousing advertisements, and also had better memory for the products featured in the calm advertisements. Thus, making informed decisions while bombarded with high-arousal appeals from fraudsters, regardless of their valence, may be particularly unsettling for older adults.…”

Age-related reductions in arousal-enhanced memory are moderated by trait emotion regulation

“…The strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) model 22 posits that this diminished physiological flexibility hinders the effective regulation of high arousal in older adults, leading to more aversive response to high-arousal stimuli as they age. Thus, attentional and memory processing can be particularly compromised for high-arousal stimuli in older age 23 – 26 . For instance, Goot et al found that high level of arousal in advertisement stimuli associated with worse memory retention for older adults, but not for younger adults 26 .…”

“…Thus, attentional and memory processing can be particularly compromised for high-arousal stimuli in older age 23 – 26 . For instance, Goot et al found that high level of arousal in advertisement stimuli associated with worse memory retention for older adults, but not for younger adults 26 .…”

The Effects of Emotional Television Advertising on Older and Younger Adults

“…Potentially, older adults remember less from television commercials than younger adults because of the audiovisual production features of commercials regardless of the type of content, thus 'overriding' the positive effect of emotional content. Future research is called for to test this explanation, and to delve into the question of how such production features differentially affect older and younger adults' processing of advertising (Van der Goot et al, 2015).…”