Marketing Communications

276 CHAPTER 8 MEDIA PLANNING

the medium in which an ad is inserted, as they are perceived by the individuals who are

exposed to the ad.^53 TV commercials appear before, after or between TV programmes or

other commercials, magazine or newspaper ads are inserted between articles, billboards are

placed on the wall of a building or in a bus shelter, transit advertising forms part of the bus,

tram, etc. Several studies indicate that the media context has an influence on how people

perceive, interpret and process an advertising message. Since the effectiveness of the same ad

may depend on the context surrounding the ad, it is useful for the advertiser to get a clearer

view of what these context effects might look like. The conclusions outlined in Table 8.7 are

made on the basis of an extensive literature review.^54

Context effects seem to be more prevalent in one medium than another. Although most

studies so far focus on TV, there seems to be some evidence that context variables matter

more in a TV than in a print environment.^55

Besides the medium, the content of the medium vehicle also plays a role. Concerning how

interesting and involving a programme is, a recent study found that violent and sexual pro-

grammes, as compared with neutral programmes, impair TV viewers’ memory for TV ads.^56

This was found to be the case for males and females, for all age groups and for people who

like and dislike programmes containing violence and sex. One possible explanation for this

finding is that sex and violence attract so much attention that there is not enough processing

capacity left to process the embedded ads. Another explanation is that sexual and violent

programmes evoke sexual and violent thoughts. By being occupied with thinking about sex

and violence, consumers’ memory for commercials could be seriously reduced. A similar

conclusion also seems to hold for humorous programmes, although in the past comedies

have been shown to lead to a higher ad recall than news or dramas.

As discussed earlier, advertising clutter has increased significantly in most media. A problem

is that, due to this enormous clutter, ads become less effective. The more the clutter, the lower

the motivation and opportunity to pay attention to an ad. Too many marketing messages

compete for the attention of the consumer. As a consequence, less attention will be devoted

to individual ads.^57

Concerning ad blocks, a distinction can be made between interrupting blocks (a commercial

block in the middle of the programme) or shoulder blocks (a commercial block between two

different programmes). Although some researchers hypothesise that commercials in inter-

rupting blocks are less effective because viewers do not want to be disturbed at that moment,

Table 8.7 Impact of media context variables

Media context variable Impact on ad effectiveness

Objective context variables

   Medium itself

   Vehicle content

   Media clutter in vehicle

   Type of ad block

   Sequence within ad block

   Congruence between context and ad

Context effects more pronounced for TV

Violence, humour and sex have a negative impact

The more the clutter, the less positive the ad results

Context effects more pronounced for interrupting than

shoulder blocks

Primacy and recency effects

Product involvement (PI) moderates impact: for low PI,

congruency is best; for high PI, contrast is best

Subjective context variables

   Intensity of response

   Valence of response

Mixed results, balance in direction of higher intensity,

better ad results

Positive valenced context improves ad effectiveness

Source: Based on Moorman, M. (2003), ‘Context Considered: The Relationship Between Media Environments and Advertising

Effects’, Doctoral Dissertation. University of Amsterdam.

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