Hoorcolleges Psychology of Advertising
Exam: 40 MC (80%), 2 Open questions (20%)
6.0 to pass
Week 1: Introduction; sending and receiving (CH1+2)
Goals today
● What the course is about
● What the function of advertising is
● What hierarchical models of advertising entail
● What the phases of processing are
● How each processing phase can be influenced by advertising
2. Advertising: Sending and Receiving
“Advertising is any form of paid communication by an identified sponsor aimed to inform
and/or persuade target audiences about an organization, product, service, or idea.”
We are used to advertising
Sao Paulo advertising ban around fifteen years
ago. After five years, they evaluated this
advertising ban and came to the conclusion that
people were very happy with the ban. They now
can actually see the city without getting
distracted. That makes you wonder: if there are
so many advertisements around you, do you
actually still see them?
Research has shown that you +/- 1000 ads per day and you don’t actually see them
● Tv
● Radio
● Gamma
● Julia Roberts for Lancôme
● Gamma magazine
Q: Is a board with a name of a company an actual advertisement?
A: This name will have a big influence on you. For example: if this name associates you with
a particular situation/colors etc. you will think a lot about this name during taking e.g. a
decision to go to the McDonald’s or not. In the upcoming lecture will this more elaborate be
discussed. But, what we can say now is that a name on a large billboard makes a lot of
difference and influence.
The history of advertising
● 18e eeuw
○ First American Newspaper Ad
1
, ○ First recruitment Ad
● 19e eeuw
○ First billboards appear
○ First Advertising Agency
○ Brand Identities Form (companies like Kodak)
● 20ste eeuw
○ Sponsored Publicity Events (companies like Ford)
○ “Soap Operas” air on the radio ($9.00)
○ First television commercial
○ Focus Groups & Research
○ Infomercials Take Hold
○ Budweiser Frogs TV spot
● 21ste eeuw
○ Britney Spears voor Pepsi o.a. (budget go a lot bigger: $7.5 Million)
Then and now
In the early days they give a lot of boring and large advertisements (band aid commercial or a
very large description about a watch) → Focus on information
Now, there the commercials are more associated by feelings, like happiness or gratitude
(watch of guess of the watch to the professor in the classroom) → Focus on affect
This is because people do not often read or process the information in the advertisement. And
that using the affective approach, while using your emotions, often works better.
Functions of advertising
People sometimes get annoyed or angry about commercial breaks. They tend to skip the
commercial breaks, for example going to the bathroom or getting a new drink. But they have
several functions.
● Existence of television programs, newspapers, magazines, public events because of
sponsoring
● Employment, not only for events or products, but also for people working in the
advertising
● Information function (e.g., new products, prices)
● Persuasion function: on this function we will be mostly focus in this course
Persuasion function
Forming, strengthening, or changing attitudes through advertising, which basically influences
consumer behavior in the end.
Effects of advertising
CAB/ABC responders of advertising
They try to influence people's thoughts, feelings and their actions.
● Cognitive
2
, ○ Recognition and memory of the ad, brand or product
○ Beliefs/thoughts about the ad, brand, or product
● Affective
○ Product liking
○ Emotional response to an ad (e.g. surprise, fear or interest)
● Behavioral (most often the ultimate goal of advertisers)
○ Purchase intention
○ Buying the product
You can imagine that you don’t always use advertisements to sell a product, but it is also to
change people’s behavior. To let people act more environmentally friendly.
Hierarchy of effects: DAGMAR
These kinds of models assume that
advertisements influence these cognitive,
affective and behavioral responses in a
very specific order: Cognitive → Affective
→ Behavior.
The DAGMAR model is one of these
models. This model suggests we
● First become aware of the
product/advertisement,
● After that we try to understand the product/ad,
● We try to relate it to our current knowledge and we try to store it in our memory.
● When we store it in our memory, it can influence our attitude
● Hopefully, it will also influence our behavior
Hierarchy of effects: FCB Grid
This grid says that we have these think-feel-do steps, but it really depends on the product in
what order you go to these steps. So it depends on if it is a think or feel product, and how
much you are involved with the product.
So, if you are highly involved in this product (for example because it is a really expensive
product) you really start to think and you go to the upper half of the model. If it is really a
think product (e.g. a washing machine) then you go to the same steps as the DAGMAR
model describes.
Sometimes products are more emotional, like parfum for example. Then you see that the
feelings may come first, because those sort of drag you to that product. And afterwards you
start to think about if you need it and if you want to buy it.
However, for some of these products, you don’t really think a lot when you buy them. When
3
, you buy toilet paper, you may not look at the different aspects of different kinds of toilet
papers on the packaging. It is just a habit.
And some of these products are more affective in nature, for example ice cream, beer or
chocolate. These purchases are more driven by satisfaction. Here often you do something,
and then you start to feel (e.g. ‘This is nice!’). And you start to wonder whether it is indeed
wise to eat chocolate or drink beer.
In this FCB grid, they focus mostly on consciously thinking about a product.
Think Feel
Think-Feel-Do Feel-Think-Do
High involvement
Informative Affective
Low involvement
Habit Self-satisfaction
Part 2: Processing advertising
messages
1. Preattentive processing
2. Focal attention
3. Comprehension
4. Elaborative reasoning
4
Exam: 40 MC (80%), 2 Open questions (20%)
6.0 to pass
Week 1: Introduction; sending and receiving (CH1+2)
Goals today
● What the course is about
● What the function of advertising is
● What hierarchical models of advertising entail
● What the phases of processing are
● How each processing phase can be influenced by advertising
2. Advertising: Sending and Receiving
“Advertising is any form of paid communication by an identified sponsor aimed to inform
and/or persuade target audiences about an organization, product, service, or idea.”
We are used to advertising
Sao Paulo advertising ban around fifteen years
ago. After five years, they evaluated this
advertising ban and came to the conclusion that
people were very happy with the ban. They now
can actually see the city without getting
distracted. That makes you wonder: if there are
so many advertisements around you, do you
actually still see them?
Research has shown that you +/- 1000 ads per day and you don’t actually see them
● Tv
● Radio
● Gamma
● Julia Roberts for Lancôme
● Gamma magazine
Q: Is a board with a name of a company an actual advertisement?
A: This name will have a big influence on you. For example: if this name associates you with
a particular situation/colors etc. you will think a lot about this name during taking e.g. a
decision to go to the McDonald’s or not. In the upcoming lecture will this more elaborate be
discussed. But, what we can say now is that a name on a large billboard makes a lot of
difference and influence.
The history of advertising
● 18e eeuw
○ First American Newspaper Ad
1
, ○ First recruitment Ad
● 19e eeuw
○ First billboards appear
○ First Advertising Agency
○ Brand Identities Form (companies like Kodak)
● 20ste eeuw
○ Sponsored Publicity Events (companies like Ford)
○ “Soap Operas” air on the radio ($9.00)
○ First television commercial
○ Focus Groups & Research
○ Infomercials Take Hold
○ Budweiser Frogs TV spot
● 21ste eeuw
○ Britney Spears voor Pepsi o.a. (budget go a lot bigger: $7.5 Million)
Then and now
In the early days they give a lot of boring and large advertisements (band aid commercial or a
very large description about a watch) → Focus on information
Now, there the commercials are more associated by feelings, like happiness or gratitude
(watch of guess of the watch to the professor in the classroom) → Focus on affect
This is because people do not often read or process the information in the advertisement. And
that using the affective approach, while using your emotions, often works better.
Functions of advertising
People sometimes get annoyed or angry about commercial breaks. They tend to skip the
commercial breaks, for example going to the bathroom or getting a new drink. But they have
several functions.
● Existence of television programs, newspapers, magazines, public events because of
sponsoring
● Employment, not only for events or products, but also for people working in the
advertising
● Information function (e.g., new products, prices)
● Persuasion function: on this function we will be mostly focus in this course
Persuasion function
Forming, strengthening, or changing attitudes through advertising, which basically influences
consumer behavior in the end.
Effects of advertising
CAB/ABC responders of advertising
They try to influence people's thoughts, feelings and their actions.
● Cognitive
2
, ○ Recognition and memory of the ad, brand or product
○ Beliefs/thoughts about the ad, brand, or product
● Affective
○ Product liking
○ Emotional response to an ad (e.g. surprise, fear or interest)
● Behavioral (most often the ultimate goal of advertisers)
○ Purchase intention
○ Buying the product
You can imagine that you don’t always use advertisements to sell a product, but it is also to
change people’s behavior. To let people act more environmentally friendly.
Hierarchy of effects: DAGMAR
These kinds of models assume that
advertisements influence these cognitive,
affective and behavioral responses in a
very specific order: Cognitive → Affective
→ Behavior.
The DAGMAR model is one of these
models. This model suggests we
● First become aware of the
product/advertisement,
● After that we try to understand the product/ad,
● We try to relate it to our current knowledge and we try to store it in our memory.
● When we store it in our memory, it can influence our attitude
● Hopefully, it will also influence our behavior
Hierarchy of effects: FCB Grid
This grid says that we have these think-feel-do steps, but it really depends on the product in
what order you go to these steps. So it depends on if it is a think or feel product, and how
much you are involved with the product.
So, if you are highly involved in this product (for example because it is a really expensive
product) you really start to think and you go to the upper half of the model. If it is really a
think product (e.g. a washing machine) then you go to the same steps as the DAGMAR
model describes.
Sometimes products are more emotional, like parfum for example. Then you see that the
feelings may come first, because those sort of drag you to that product. And afterwards you
start to think about if you need it and if you want to buy it.
However, for some of these products, you don’t really think a lot when you buy them. When
3
, you buy toilet paper, you may not look at the different aspects of different kinds of toilet
papers on the packaging. It is just a habit.
And some of these products are more affective in nature, for example ice cream, beer or
chocolate. These purchases are more driven by satisfaction. Here often you do something,
and then you start to feel (e.g. ‘This is nice!’). And you start to wonder whether it is indeed
wise to eat chocolate or drink beer.
In this FCB grid, they focus mostly on consciously thinking about a product.
Think Feel
Think-Feel-Do Feel-Think-Do
High involvement
Informative Affective
Low involvement
Habit Self-satisfaction
Part 2: Processing advertising
messages
1. Preattentive processing
2. Focal attention
3. Comprehension
4. Elaborative reasoning
4
