THE EFFECTS OF IMAGERY-EVOKING RADIO ADVERTISING STRATEGIES ON AFFECTIVE RESPONSES

A debate in the marketing literature concerning the relative effective ness of various imagery-evoking strategies in influencing consumer res ponses to advertising has been unresolved. This study examined the eff ects of three imagery-evoking strategies commonly used in radio advert ising-sound effects, vivid verbal messages, and instructions to imagin e-in influencing mental imagery, ad-evoked feelings, and attitude towa rd the ad. The theoretical basis for the study is an imagery model bas ed on propositional representations theory. Consistent with the implic ations of the theory, of the three strategies, sound effects had the g reatest impact on imagery and affective responses. Compared with sound effects, a vivid verbal message had a slightly weaker influence. Inst ructions to imagine, however had a very weak impact on imagery and no significant influence on affect. Finally, the results indicated that t he three strategies interacted with one another. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.