ETHICAL JUDGMENTS OF POLITICAL TELEVISION COMMERCIALS AS PREDICTORS OF ATTITUDE TOWARD THE AD

This study examines the impact of ethical judgments about televised po litical commercials on global attitude toward the ad. Findings from th e quasi-experiment indicate that the ''ethical'' attribute belongs to a set of salient, ''utilitarian'' cognitions that influence how politi cal commercials are evaluated. These findings suggest that ethical per ceptions really matter. However, certain emotional ''hedonic'' cogniti ve responses, which voters say are nonsalient in their overall evaluat ions of political ads, in fact may circumvent the powerful impact of e thical-and other salient-cognitive elements. Implications for politica l advertising strategy and public policy are discussed.