POINT-OF-VIEW - JONES,J.P. AND BLAIR,M.H. ON MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTS - ANOTHER POINT-OF-VIEW

In their recent Journal of Advertising Research article, John Philip J ones and Margaret Henderson Blair (1996) summarize their own and other empirical studies on the sales effects of TV advertising. In this art icle we document other points of view on parts of their analysis. Spec ifically: 1. We show that the John Philip Jones's STAS (Short Term Adv ertising Strength) measure is too simplistic and imprecise to rely on to generate ''new empirical knowledge.'' The STAS measures are shown t o have low levels of association with valid BehaviorScan(R) measures w hen applied to the same advertising campaigns that were tested. 2. We dispel the article's accusation that the IRI ''How T/Advertising Works '' (1995) study had ''poor data hygiene'' by reviewing the data-collec tion methodology and interpretation that was provided to the editors o f the Journal of Marketing Research. The JMR article, which we show ha d impeccable data hygiene, in fact does not lend support to Jones and Blair's assertion that ''it is possible to identify sales-effective ad vertising before airing if the proper measurement tools are used.''