AFFECT, REASON, AND PERSUASION - ADVERTISING STRATEGIES THAT PREDICT AFFECTIVE AND ANALYTIC-COGNITIVE RESPONSES

Advertisements are messages designed with the goal of persuasion and c an therefore be considered as ecologically valid examples of persuasiv e messages. The study of responses to advertisements can provide insig hts into the interplay of affective and analytic-cognitive aspects of the persuasion process. This study develops and tests hypotheses conce rning the relationship of specific advertising strategies to affective (syncretic-cognitive) and analytic cognitive responses in the audienc e. Specifically, it is postulated that different advertising strategie s predict different patterns of affective and analytic cognition with product involvement and other relevant variables controlled. Two hundr ed forty advertisements are analyzed both in terms of their strategy a ttributes and the reactions they evoke. Advertising strategy variables are demonstrated to account substantially for the variance in affecti ve and analytic cognition.