MKT 450 EXPOSURE, ATTENTION, AND COMPREHENSION Lars Perner, Instructor 1 EXPOSURE, PERCEPTION, AND...

MKT 450 EXPOSURE, ATTENTION, AND COMPREHENSION Lars Perner, Instructor 2

Exposure

• Coming into contact with a stimulus

• Some factors influencing exposure– Ad placement– Shelf placement of items

• Selective exposure: Trying to limit exposure to sources that agree with one’s current beliefs

• Consumer attempts to limit exposure to stimuli not of interest—e.g.,– “Do not call” lists– Ad blocking software– Skipping through ads

• Zipping: Fast forward through pre-recorded ads

• Zapping: Channel surfing during ads


Responding to Consumer Ad Avoidance

• Control measures– On-line ad click-throughs

—must find “X” to close the ad

– Disabled fast forwarding feature on DVRs

– Short ad must be watched to see content

• Variation: “Can skip ad in __ seconds.”

• Alternatives– Op-in

– Advertising at places of boredom (e.g., on public transportation and airline baggage claim areas)

– Choice from among different product types advertised


Characteristics of Attention

• Limited—cannot give priority to all that is ongoing– Information overload

• Selective– Some stimuli are given

priority based on• Interest/relevance• Situation

• Can be divided– Some potential for

multi-tasking– Excessive distractions

can cause problems (e.g., cell phones and driving)


Focal vs. non-focal

• Focal– Stimuli chosen for

attention

• Non-focal– May involve

unconscious (preattentive) processing

– May have impact on brand choice and affect


Pre-attentive Processing

• Processing of massive amounts of environmental information done at the unconscious level

• More critical and relevant stimuli will be identified for conscious attention– Danger– Personal relevance--e.g., recognizing one’s name in a

conversation by others at a cocktail party and then being able to “go back” and register information coming immediately before


Enhancing Attention

• Personal relevance• Pleasantness of

stimuli– Attractive models– Music– Humor (subject to

certain caveats)• May get the consumer

to focus on the advertisement but not the product

• Novelty• Unexpectedness/

surprise• Puzzles• Prominent stimuli

(contrast)• Concrete stimuli• Minimum competing

stimuli


Habituation

• Details may be ignored as their presence is experienced more routinely

• May need to vary and/or change– Packaging– Advertising


Perception

• Process of determining qualities of a stimulus based on five senses:– Vision– Hearing– Taste– Smell– Touch


Perceiving Through Vision

• Size and shape• Lettering• Image location on

page• Color

– Judgment of stimulus– Mood– Liking


Perceiving Through Hearing and Taste

• Hearing– Sounds associated with

brands– Difficult to tune out

• Taste– Evolutionary preferences– Individual variations– Often driven in large part

by smell


Perceiving Through Smell

• Strong emotional link• High sensory priority

(highly diagnostic of danger)

• Impact on people– Aroma therapy– Attention– Association– Liking– Trial– Purchasing


Sensory Thresholds

• Absolute thresholds• Differential thresholds

– “Just noticeable difference” (JND)

• “Down-sizing” of products

• Subliminal messages– Generally cannot pick

up on more than one or two syllables (auditory)

– Logos may influence affect


The Mythical Theater Experiments

• An advertising executive claimed in 1957 to have “spliced” messages of “EAT POPCORN” or “DRINK COCA COLA” into film footage (24 frames per second in traditional movie films)

– A frame with the message inserted every, say, 20th frame

– Not consciously notable

• Claimed that popcorn sales increased 57% and Coca Cola sales by 18% on days the respective message was used

• Admitted to be a hoax• These messages are much longer than

the 1-2 syllables the brain can pick up• Tachistoscope research: People giggle at

“dirty” words exposed for a fraction of a second but not at neutral ones (those exposed to dirty words do not consciously know specifically what they saw)


“Priming” and unconscious influence

• Who is likely to be happier in life, all other things being equal?– Bernard Allen Daniels– James Obidiah Young

• Priming—planting concepts in consumer minds (e.g., brand anagrams containing either luxury or undistinguished car brands)

• Visual associations– Credit card logo impact on cash donations to charity

• Musical associations


Perception of Stimuli

• Perceptual organization (making sense of disparate stimuli as a whole)

• Figure and ground– Usually cannot see

both image possibilities at the same time

• Grouping


Comprehension

• Source identification– Determining what is

perceived– May involve

categorization

• Objective comprehension: Is meaning taken away consistent with actual statement?

• Subjective comprehension: Additional meaning and inferences

• Miscomprehension• Cultural impact: High

vs. low context cultures


Literal and Non-Literal Interpretations

• Figures of speech– Slang

• “Get out of here”

• “Graveyard shift”

– Metaphorical expressions• “In the ball park”

• “Eat my words”

– Sarcasm• “That’s just great!”

• Hyperbole or exaggeration– “I could eat a horse”

– “You’re the best mom in the World”

• Simplified statements


High Context Cultures

• Generally, in more homogenous cultures, there are more “unwritten” rules and expectations

• In more heterogeneous cultures, expectations are not as readily shared

• Interpretation of behavior

• Symbolic meaning of items


Consumer Inferences

• From brand names and symbols– Numbers in brand

names

• From product features and packaging

• From price• From retail setting


Consumer Social Inferences

• The “Carla Game”—telling people that Carla drives a minivan causes people to make likely inferences—certain cues are considered more “diagnostic”

• Based on experience and culture• An individual may incorrectly interpret based on his or

her own beliefs and preferences• Can involve very complex reasoning based on cues

(e.g., “My grandma is an Episcopalian.”)

MKT 450 EXPOSURE, ATTENTION, AND COMPREHENSION Lars Perner, Instructor 1 EXPOSURE, PERCEPTION, AND...

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