Literal versus extended symbolic messages and advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of need for cognition

Abstract

The authors classify an advertisement as an extended symbolic message (ESM) when the ad's subject and message are presented in a nonliteral format. The study compares the advertising effectiveness of the ESM with that of a literally equivalent message (LEM) when the ESM contains either a salient cue (Experiment 1) or subtle cue (Experiment 2) to a nonliteral interpretation. The results indicate that the audience's need for cognition moderates the effectiveness of the ESM. In comparison with an LEM, exposure to the ESM that contained a salient cue resulted in fewer counterarguments and a more favorable attitude toward the ad and brand among high-NFC subjects in experiment 1. These results were replicated in experiment 2 among high-NFC subjects who successfully comprehended the non-literal subject of the ESM that contained a subtle cue. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

The effectiveness of nonverbal symbolic signs and metaphors in advertisements: An experimental inquiry

“…It is well known that ad recipients exert cognitive effort only when they are motivated and able to do so. For example, Brennan and Bahn (2006) observed that when study participants viewed ads that required recipients to infer the subject of a verbal comparison and identify several points of comparison, participants who lacked motivation failed to "put forth the cognitive effort required to unravel the brand claims" (p. 277). Based on this and many other findings suggesting that motivation is a necessary antecedent of cognitive effort, it can be expected that consumers at the very lowest levels of motivation who view an advertisement will not devote sufficient cognitive effort to interpret the meaning of nonverbal symbolic signs and metaphors.…”

“…Researchers (e.g., Brennan & Bahn, 2006;Phillips, 1997) have also suggested that real-life advertisers might intentionally create metaphors that are difficult for ad recipients to interpret. Such metaphors are not the focus of the current research.…”

“…From the perspective of the persuasion knowledge model (Friestad & Wright, 1994; see also the resource-matching model as reviewed by Brennan & Bahn, 2006;Coulter, 2004;Keller & Block, 1997;Martin, Sherrard, & Wentzel, 2005), consumers who devote the greatest levels of cognitive effort while processing an ad are more likely to verify the validity of their inferences, as compared to consumers who devote little cognitive effort. In particular, the results of the abduction process described here are likely to be counterargued because abductive inferences are not necessarily correct.…”

Het ironisch spectrum - Een overzicht van onderzoek naar het begrip en de retorische effecten van verbale ironie

“…Zo laat experimenteel onderzoek naar tropen in het algemeen zien, dat tropen vooral effectief zijn bij lezers met een hoge neiging tot nadenken: deze lezers vinden het namelijk leuk om puzzels op te lossen. Bij lezers met een lage neiging tot nadenken zijn tropen veel minder effectief (Brennan & Bahn, 2006). Onderzoek naar de rol van NFC bij de effectiviteit van humor laat juist een tegengesteld patroon zien: Humor is effectiever bij lezers met een lage NFC dan bij lezers met een hoge NFC (Zhang, 1996).…”

The Effect of tourism web page design on browsers attitude and visit intention

“…Additional research found that individuals with a high need for cognition (cognitive processors), as opposed to a low need for cognition, preferred verbal information (Martin et al, 2005;Sojka and Giese, 2001;Venkatraman et al, 1990) and enjoyed the problem-solving challenge presented in verbal symbolism (Brennan and Bahn, 2006). NFC individuals' preference for verbal stimuli should reflect a higher level of attitude towards the web page than would be expressed by those low in cognition.…”