An empirical test of the effects of commercial advertisements on consumer recall: A schema theory application

Abstract

This investigation sought to bridge the communication and marketing fields by applying schema theory (Bartlett, 1932) to advertisement information processing. A theoretical framework was developed which described how television commercials are remembered. Specifically, the theory hypothesized that: (a) recall of product brand will be significantly higher in the sample of participants who are exposed to the commercials emphasizing brand early on in their format, than the participants who view the commercials stating the product's brand name in the latter half of the commercials, and (b) individuals who see the brand name formatted commercials will have significantly higher levels of commercial information recognition than the individuals exposed to the commercials that do not state the brand name at the onset. The results of the study provided intial support for the proposed framework and suggested that brand name formatted commercials will generally enhance recall and significantly impact recognition.