A comparison of memory for and attitudes about alcohol, cigarette, and other product advertisements in college students

The purpose of this study was to compare the attitude ratings and recall sc ores of cigarette, alcohol, automobile, deodorant, jeans, soft drink, athle tic shoe, breakfast cereal, and fast food restaurant advertisements. Male a nd female college students rated the advertisements of these product groups on a number of traits-adventurous, eye-catching, appealing, informative, b elievable, good times, recreational, effectiveness, romantic, athletic, buy product, and honesty. Drawing on their everyday experience, the students a lso were asked to recall as much about the advertisements from these produc t groups as they could. The results revealed that the rating and recall sco res of the alcohol advertisements were significantly higher than those for the cigarette advertisements and among the highest of all of the advertisem ent groups. The female recall scores generally were significantly higher th an the male recall scores. In contrast to the cigarette advertisements, the high scores of the alcohol advertisements were interpreted to be due in pa rt to the wider distribution alcohol advertising has had. That alcohol adve rtising ranked among the highest of all of the advertising groups indicates that college students view alcohol advertising very favorably.