ADVERTISING AND PUBLICITY - AN INFORMATION-PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE

In an era of constant challenges to conventional wisdom about the rela tive effectiveness of various promotional tools, marketers are becomin g increasingly aware of the value of publicity. Yet scholarly attentio n to this element is limited primarily to cursory textbook treatment. This paper draws upon communication and information processing theory to establish a framework for the development of propositions about adv ertising and publicity, in terms of their relative impact upon consume rs' motivation, ability, and opportunity to process information. It al so identifies a need for and suggests an approach to the systematic em pirical comparison of these two promotional formats.