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DOCUMENT RESUMEk .

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AUTHOR. .OberOan, Heiko; Thersonr'tsther ,TITLE commercial Complexity and ,pocal and'Global

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.. Involvement in Programs: Zffecti on ViewerResponses. .. :

) , PUB DATE Aug 85NOTE 31p.; Paper presented at the/II/Annual Meeting of t!le

Association for Education in Journalism and Mats!J. Communication (`68th, MemRhis,,TN, August 3-6, J985).

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Small print may affect lfgibility. .

PUB TYPE Reports"- Research/Technical (143)Speeches/Oonference Papers (150) A

EDRS PRICE mir01 /pc02 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Advertising; Cognitive Processes; Higher Education;

*Mass Media Effects; *Prograting (Broadcast);*Retention (Psychology);i*Television Commercials;*Television Research; *Television Viewing

IDENTIFIERS *Audience Response; Brand Name Products

ABSTRACT \

A study investigated the effects of local '(momentary)and global (whole program) involvement i4 program context and the.effects of message complexity on the retention of televisioncommercials. Sixteen commercials, categorized as simple video/simpleaudio through complex video/complex audio were edited into twoglobally'high- and two globally, low-involving,programs. Localinvolvement was varied within each of the four programs. Sixty-ninemale and female undergraduate Students viewed the programs andcommercials and wire asked to. recall as many as possible of thecommercials they had just seen. The subjects were then given arecognition test on which they indleated the produc,tcategories forwhich they had mean commercials and listed the brand names. Attitudestoward' the commercials and televilion viewing behavior anddemographics were also ascertained. The results indicated that Tecalland recognition of the commercials wairlower for globallyhigh-involving programs. Ld'cal involvement resulted in mixed memoryeffects. Audio eomplexity aided recalls and the effect was enhancedby the presence of video, complexity. No attitude effects were found.(HTH)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the -best that can be madefrom the original dbcument. *

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DAPAATAIIIST OP EDUCATIONNAilONAL INSTITUTE Of tOIKATION

.ED 'ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC) II

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Co6lexity andLOcal and Global Involvement in Progralpi

Effects on Viewer Reiponsee

Hetko Obermanand

Hither Thorson._

School of Aurnallem and Hass ComuwjcationUniversity of litsconsin-fladison

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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATEFDAL HAS, BEEN GRANTED BY

PO THE Efil1CATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

I

Ahattect

Thin study examined the eltecta of viewea' global And omentaty (local)

Involvement In televlaion ploglamq, and the audio and video complexity of commel

chile occulting in the. plogramg, on memory and attIttuletr toward the commeti fame

and 1-Wye:tined ptodocta. 'iixtven eummercialm categotized as crimple video aimple

. audio, complex video nlmple aodlo, simple video complex audio, complex video

romplex-audlo wets edited Into two globally high and two globally low involv)tg

progtame. local Involvement wan vatted within each of the four pit/Kr/MN.

Recall and tecogoltion of the vmmelcialn was lower for globally high-involvins

programa. Local involvement had mixed memory effects. Audio complexiLy aided

recall and the effect waa.enluoned by the prenenee of video complexity. No atti

lode effect') wetv found. The termite AT@ dinctIRflPd in terms of how profrnm

involvement may tifc.cI viewer plc). enning of commercials.

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Commercial Complexity end Local and -Clobal

Involvement In Programs: Effects nn Viowe Reepanses

In maximizing the effectiveness )1i1televinion advertir8" expenditures, the'

effect that programming context may have on commercial performance In often

overlooked. Particularly In spot purchases, there is little consideratlirU for

,. 1111

the programming content Itself, eve; though this context Is likely' to ifkfluence

the comet lnIchtion effectiveness of commercials.

Although media buyers largely Ignore the effects of program environment on .

message procesaing, the ides that it makes a difference is not new. Over the

years, numerous studies have artalyed the Influence of program environment nn

embedded messages, and most of the findings, both from experimental and survey

studies, indicate that commercials are Indeed affected by their program environ-

ment (8ryant & Comiaky, 1978; Cannon, 1982; Horn & HcEwen, 1977; Keldy: 1971;

Krugmen, 1981; Leach, 1981; Pelletier:, 1981; Prlemer, 1983; Soldow & Principe,

1981; Vuspeh, 1971).

Much of the literature on the effects of programming Involvement has been

based on one or both of two assumptions about consumer processing. The first is

that when viewers are involved In program content, they will spend more pro-

cessing capacity organizing and rehearsing thoughts about the programming

during intervening *commercials. As a result, the commercial messages will he

lees thoroughly processed and more poorly recalled and recognized.

A second explanation (of programming effects was articulated by Axelrod

(196'4.. He argued the/when viewers are Involved with a program, they will

experience s feeling of irritation when the program is Interrupted, and it to

.the irritation Itself that Interferes with processing and heove remembering of

commercial messages.

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4

Before looking ln.detell at research that ties tested these ideas, the clOn

cept of involvement with television Programing must be examined.. Four main. .

operational lefinitionshave appeared in the literature.

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Deflnilx Involvement N

First 1s the degree to whict programming ris liked. teach ('1981)ifor

exr

`pie, had subjiftt rate program liking and correlated this measure with

retell. Ile found that higher retell 'cores were assollated with commercials

that had appedred int.

better liked programs..

Second is the degreo to which sub ctm are interested in story lines. Using

this definition, Krugman (1983) hypo heslzed that interest in a progei would

have s positive influenc on commer fel effectiveness because the "momentum of

aroused interest catr over (from the program to the commercial messagel." To

test the hypothesis,Krugman correlated'thedifferences in viewers' pre-and

post-viewing attitude scores toward thejenerel Electric Company and rated

interest in programs sponbored by GE isatitutignal advertising. He fOund more

positive change associated wi4more interesting programs.

Third is the degree to which programming is suspenseful. Kennedy (1971)

theorized thst viewers of suspenseful programs experience a greeter desire for

"Closure," that Is, having the vIewing experience be a whole pattern.

aA. Similarly, Soldow and Principe (1981) measured involvement as subjects' rsa-i4

aidering of crime nod sdvehrure programs in terms of suspense. Both studies\

found lower recall of commercials embedded in more suspenseful progtamming.

Fourth is over-time.measures of involvement, two of which were introduced

by Silent and Comisky (1978). They first measured involvement in terms of the

frequency of errors subjects made in detecting a tnne duri111viewing of programs

(more errors indexed higher involvement.) The second message was an IndicatorA

from 'subject* of how "absorbing" each minute of the prngrem was.o(Again the

3

reedit was lower recall. of cummec4isla embedded in the most involving program

segments.

As can be sewn, many stimulus dimensions seem relevant to the notion of

involvement with programming. To avoid taking too narrow an approach to opera-

tienaltzina Ake concept, Ahe present study departed ftom previous approaches and.

deteAsIned programming Involverient by asking exeuest subjects to' rate for each.

program segment how involved they were with the program. This measure, while a

simple one, was designed to allow subjecti to decide for themselves what the 46.11

Involvement concept meant and thereby to include a number of different dimen

lons such as "mespenseful,"WinterestIng," "liked," "challeging," and so on.

f Local and Global Involyement

;

It obvious that programming will not create a constant level of

involvement for the viewer. Indeed, commercial interruptions often nee!,

designed to occur in programs/st,peaks of aWen, suspenlie, or interest. Only

one study ex ined both global (eitele, program) and local (momentary)

Involvement eff Bryant and Comisky (1478) showed that memory for a commer-

cial was best fter the resolution a story, lens strong before either climax

or resoluti n and least filter climax and before resolution. They argued, then,

that both global and local initolvement levels affect memO110

Commercial Structure

While the idea that the structure of a comme/tal message will affect viewer

memory and liking for it is not new (Leavitt, 1968; Percy & goesiter, 1983;

Rossiter & Percy, 1980), this variable has not received attention In the liters-

tore on program Involvement. As en exploratory step, the present study there-

fore manipulated two structural vsrishdes that have been well-researched In the

television effects literature: video and audio complexity. Video complexity wait\

messur4 in terms of the occurrence ,pf cuts, dissolves, zoom-ins and-outs, pans,

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Pe'rmoo and obleCt Wevement And seene.cbanges (Thorson,' Reeves, i Schleuder," ir

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1985; Watt & Welch 1983). Audio complexity was measured in terms of grammatical

complexity Bud the number of ideas present per tont/ time (Britton, Westbook, &

Holdredge, 1978; KintiCh, 1974; Kintech & vOly Dijk, 1978).

Dependent ?Sensoren .An..

. , .There have been three categories of viewer response measured in the program

involvement literature. The first is memory. Kennedy (1971) showed poorer

recall of commerciality in suspenseful programming than In a comedy. Soldow and

Principe (1981) showed less recall of brand names add sales messages in

suspenseful show"(Baretta) than in a family situation comedy (Frady Bunch).

Finally,_Bryant and Comisky (1978) showed poorer commercial rectal during more

"involving" segments of an action adyienture program (Banacek).

A second measure has been attitudinal. Roth Soldow and Principe (1978) and

Kennedy (1971) failed to find programming context effects on liking for prfducts

.

or ads.

Finally, four studies have examined effect. on purchase intent (Tuspeh,

1977; Kennedy, 1971; Bryant & Cominky, 1978; SolAew & Princie, 1981). Only

Soldow and Principe (1981) found significant effects, and here again, higher

involvement In programming had negative effects on the dependent measure.

Desip Flews in the Literature

As can be seen, aignifIcant.questionn remain to be inked about program con-

text effects. In addition, however, to problems of defining program involve-

ment, distinguishing local and global involvement effects, and lack of attention

to the effects of commercial structure themselves, previous studies have suf-.

fered'from two major design [lawn. first, none of the studies have sampled

instances of high-and low-involving programs. Rather, they have used unique,

. elhgle inntencon of programs and attempted to generilizefrom them. ThIs leaves

s.

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observed effects open to the possibility of having been produced by the programa

themselves, rather than by involvement process

1983).

ter se (Jac kson 6 Jacoba,

)11

Second; none of the whittles have both sampled commercials and counter-

tslanced their order of preyntstion in the test progYamming. Without such a

manipulation, results cannot be attributed to processes independent of the poasi-

.bility that unique messag,es or unique message/order combinations are producing.

the effects.

The Present Study

The study reported here was designed to correct some of the deficiencies in

previous research and to explore some-'new questions. Based on the liferature

cited shove and on the two assumptions about how program context might affeZt

commercials, eight hypotheses were formulated.

Hypotheses

The first three hypotheses concern the effects of global and local program

involvemehi on memory for commercials.

Hypothesis 1

(Subjects will have lower memory scores *for isle occurring

in a globally high-involvement program than for commercials

in a globally low-involvement program.

Hypothesis 2

Subjects will have lower memory scores for commercials that

are placed in a locally high-in 1vement position in a program

than for commercials placed in a locally low-involvement position.

r.

pypothesis 3 r

Local program involvement effects will be of greater magnitude %

4 in globally high-Anvnlviog prliai4s thin 4n low-ifivt1i4ng ones.

The fourth' and' fiftti hypoihesetio9cer0h,s effects of sewage jomplextty on

memory scOres. Again, given r!revioas research on message complexity (Watlf.

Welch, 1981: Waff:& Krull1970) AntIlhe two assumptions about the effects of

program context it is hypethes4zed thatt

Hypoipesis 4

Audio.and video complex commercials will be less well

0reme98,bered than audio and video simple commercials.

Hypothesis S

The detrimental effects of audio and video complexity

will be enhanced when commercials occur during globally

high-Involvement programs.

4

Given the assumption that viewers who are involved in a program will

experience negative ((Alines when the program is interrupted for a commercial

fl 6message, the expeOfion here is that the following conditiods will lead to mope

negative feelings about watching the commercial and advertised prodUct. Duet.

Hypothesis 6

Subjects will have more negative attitudes towards commercials8

and products advertised that aft shown in a globally high; '0,

involvement program, than for commercials and prOucts adoteptiSe0

A ,

in a globally low-involvement program.

Hyyothesis 7t

. .

Subjects will have more negative attitudes towards commercials

and products advertised in at locally high-involvingponitionft

than when those are placed in a locally low-involvement posttion.

'5

)

4

.Hypiahtlis'4..11

- $ubjects will have movvnegative attitudes Aowscds 010mercils

and prodis4sPlaced:fn a loCAlly htth-involvemene pmettion_

. "of globally.high-involveMent program than towards coomercials

114

.pliesd ins locally lov-involvement-positlou.within A globally

*.ti'.

high involvement program.,

, . ,

The oight..hyportaes.were tested in An experiment.where subjects vielifd 16, -..

eommeroala vorying'7An Au4lo.and video. complexity, and eaMe4ded to four .proiraM!i

two globally high-iriviolviogind two globally low-involVIW: prograh

involvement was varied wtiliin eacktf. rhe- four. programs.

':. Method

Selection of programming A. w

.

-Five television programs..(Little House on the PCairle, A!Team, Insidt...

BuSine:ss! and Wild America) and one'movie segment (Dreamed to Kill) were. v ,

Edited down to 13-Minute "prograes." Thlyty-three piretest subjects vieuedlhne of

-.

.

two randomized ordeie of the programa and then answered-Jour questions ahouf

esciv0.egment on a five-point scale rauglOg from strongly agree cly Co strongly

disagree (5).1

1. This pregrae wits thought provoking,!it mAdeie thinkubist would. -happen next' 7 . fl,

2. While viewing th1. seieent, T.ielt some of tbe Ssme thinas:tbe. . .. ,

.characters were feelint, omits. I'.

3. I found this program lei4ent viellexcitiog,, ,.1.

4. I never got Involved fh this pfOrram as'(srio when I.fms.ratching

a similar show on telev4pion. Ocala reveretd) .

AOR thebssis of mean. :r eti* , on the four qurrucc h a , foni pfogramar: wir.., ,selected-: .."

tO'r the IxperiMenv high invutvingt Dreiiksd to K1,11,.(if "' it+t:)11_,.l4elle (X '`. '!

...., .

2.4) and -sow 1OVolviogi Wild &erica (r.*: 3.4); Inivide..NIslinaSt (r. 3.4).,

P'

d.

:eA sk,

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Selection of Copmercials. .A

11,

Sixteru:copmercials previously used in an experiment conducted by Thorson,

Ree4esiland-Sahlendec (1985) were incluOed" in the ptesent studio-. The comer.-

clals repreaeuern ractorial combination of simple and complex audio itifor-.

motion and twl revel of visual complexity (simple 41aual/simpl1 sudio, simple

visual/ciimplax audio, complex visual/simple audio, and compleZ visual/complex

audio). The aejection method for these 16 message units was a two-step process. .

Flist,.-436 commercialise were coded for video and audio structural complexity.

Then, the eight Commercials judged tip be the most representative of the'four

complexity categories werepcm4ented in.random order to 53 pretest subjects.

Eighteen of the subjects only watched the 32 commercials, 19 only listened, and

16 both watched and listened. Subjects.used magnitude scaling (Stevens, 1972)

to estimate complexity on a 100-point scale. Before rating the 40 nesse-

geo,.subjects 'altered or listened 'to 'anchdrs. A commercial depicting a man

spring in chair and discussing at a rapid pace frozen vegetables was th,t1;

video simple/audio/ complex anctlor. Subjects were told that the video portion of

this meaaage unit would be rated a 10 and the audio portionta 100. Three'other

anchors representing simple /simple, complex/simple, and comiliarcoliples ratings

were shown. On the basis of the subjects' ratinga, four ge units per

complexity level'were asleccd.

Local Positioninflrif the Comrerctuls :1;

Guided byBiyant and llomis y's program segments were

edited sto provide a high-involvement Position (pre-resolution) between the 10th

and 12th minute, and a low-involvement position between the 5th ani6th minute

(pre-climax).

Subjects

Forty-four teasel, and 25 male undergraduates at a large midwes rn,

university participated in the experiment. They were recruited from int due--

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tory mass communication couraes.and were given claws credit for their par-

% icipation. i

Appa tun

10.A JVC U-Mat c. videotape. player and A JVC 19" color televInion set wax, need

to show the experimental materials.

Materials

The sixteen test commercials were embedded in the four program segments. In

each segment, blocks of two commercials were embedded ih Iocally high-and low

involvement positions.' There were six counterbalanced orders 04-6; four

.piogrilms and the 16 commercials.

Design

A 2 (globel program involvement) x 2 tlocel program involvement) x-2 (video

complexity) x 2 (audio complexity) repeath 'ensures design.was used. Each sub-

ject Viewed the two high and the twb low inv'olvoent programs, se well as all 16

commercials.

Procedure

Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the p ram orders, awl tested lb

groups of one to seven.

Were the start of the experiment, the subjects 4101e told that they would .

participate in a television viewing study. To-nvoid sensitization, no mention

was made that commercials were embedded in the programming. Subjects were tole

thdt they were going to watch ur 15-minute television and movie segments.

. Subjects were instructed not to talk during the experiment and to $ey normal

attention to the segment'. The ex PP4 nter remained in the testing room during

viewing and testing.

After the 60-minute viewing session, the subjects were instructed to count

backwards by sevens. starting at 5000. This was done to clear the subjects'

short tare memory of traces of the lost block of commercials.

IPel

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After about thee, minutes, xublects were Asked to recall as many as possible

of the commerrisle they had just "seen. After the recall test each subject %ins

given a re16$nition tent onwhich they first tied to indicate for which of twenty

ltated Prodnet cAtegories (16 targeted and 4 foil commercials) they had seen' s -

colmetcial. They were Also Asked to list a brand name for each recognised prod

duct category. next, they were given an attitude queetionneles on which they

44 had to indicate on a 10 -point scale:

a. liking of advertised product;b. liking of commercial;c. attitude toward the Advertised brand;

d. intention to buy the advertised brand.

Finally, there were questions about generaUtelevision viewing behavior, as

well AR gender, age, And field of study. Subjects Were...ago asked to indiLte

whether they had previously *e'en any of the commercials or program segments andAO

SO manipulation check, to rate the global and local involvement levels of*thdr

propams,themselves. Upon completion of, the questiova a, the subjects IreTT

-

thanked for their participation And asked not to discuss the experiment with

other class members.

Resulti

7' Subject p/otocols were initially checked.to determine whether any of the

prbgra segments or commercials had been seen before. Since hevingtieen the

,commercials before would provide unfair memory advantage, any commercial

Atreported AV seen before, by a subject VAR eliminated ire'', 'his/hef rotocol. put

since previously seen program seiinents were not reported by sub s a as signifi-

cantly differently Involving than previouily unseen segments, all program

segments were maintained and "program seen before" waseradded as a variable in

the analyses of variance. .. ,

Rliainating commercials that had been seen bifore lowermd the number of sub-

jects in analyses where the 16 commercials were divided into rbur compleXity,

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f'

levels and the our complexity levels into iiigh and low loci} ilotolvement pox!-

tiona (hbnce d )pping the number of commercials in each category to 400. The

result was insufficient data to allow for simultaneous statistical examination

of local and global involvement and commercial complexity. Instead, two

separate analyses of variance (anowas) were performed. The first was a three-

way test: Seen Segment x Global Involikpent 4 Loca,1 Involv'ement (n - 61), sub-.

sequently referred to se the ositionin mnova. The second was a four-way test:

Seen Segment x Gljbbal Involvement x Video Complexity x Kudi6 Complexity.

-,.17). referred to as the complexityianova. 4

A seconTminipulation-cheCking procedure concerned whethey the subleas,.IP

would verify the categorisation of the program segments as'high and low i

involvingt and whether th4 would perceive the withib-program involvement difi

ferences tifat had been detived by Intuition. On a scale from I (low) to 10

(high), the two high involving programs were indeed rated higher than the low

involving programs. The mean scores were:

Dressed to Killlassie house on tote Prairie

ItusineasJ%

) T-Asts showed that both the high-involvement programs were rated significantly

I

higher (p COS) than both the low involvement programa.

8.327.464.874.03

The manipulation of local involvement, however, was only partially success-

ful. While locallx high and low positions within high involvemetnt programs were

rated as aignpicantly different, there Was no difference between the rating of

the high end low involvement scenes in the globally low-involving programs.

This result must he taken into consideration when interpreting the'effects of

local involvement.

Turning to the main analyses, recall and recognition ro4oct and recall

and recognition of both product and brand were analyreeleparately, each

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variable la butte the complexity and the positioning /moves; Figure 1 shows the

effects of global and local 'program Involvement on recall, of product and recall

of both product and brand name. Figure 2 shown their effect* on recognition

(positioning *novas), Figures 1 and 4 show the effect's of global Involvement

and video and audio complexity on product recall and both product and brand

recall (complexity anovanT. Figures 5 and 6 sham the Oects of global

Involvement and video and audio complexity on recognition of product category

and both product category and brand name recognition (complexity anovaa).

Oobql layolvement,

Hypothesis 1 nuggented that commercial, located in globally high-Involving

programs would be lens well recalled and recognized than those located in glo-

bally low-involving programa. Figure 1 abowd this hypothesis was supported in

the recall result.. Product recall was higher In low-involvement pr6grams

.481) then in high-involvement programa (T .361). Brand recall in low

Involvement programa was higher (I .427) than in high- involvement programs (T

.342).

Insert Figure 1 about here

Hypothesis 1 was also supported by the recognition results (Figure 2). High-

Involvement programs produced lower product .688) and brand (W.A. .477)

recognition than did low-involvement.progrnmn (product recognition I .772;

brand recogitition 7 - .559).

Insert Figure 2 about here

Turning to,the complexity analyses of variance, which had fewer degrees of

freedom, the globes Involvement effect remained significant for product recall,

- 134!,

(Figure 3) and became marginally significant for hrond retail (Figure 4).

Global involvement did not produce significant main effects for product recogni-

tion or brand recognition and is therefore not shown in Figure 5.

Insert Figures 3, 4, and 5 shout here

In general, then, there was Ample support for the notion that commercials

( occurring In globally high-involving programs were I. well rememhered than when

they occurred in globally lowAr-involving programa. .

Local Involvement

Hypothenis 2 suggested that,commercittle placed 1n locally high-involving

positions In programs would be fess well,remembered. than commercials placed in

locally low-involving positions. Hypothesis 3 suggested the local involvement

effect would show an enhanced effect in globally high-involving programe. It

should be kept in mind, of courso,Athat the local involifement manipulation in

globally low-involving programs remains questionnble.

Figure I shove that neither product nor brand recall showed significant.

mein effects of local program involvement. Figure 2 shows the name lack of

effect for recognition. Thus, Hypothesis 2 was not nupported.t

Hypothesis 3 was supported by both product and brand recall to the global

high-involvement condition. For the low-involvement condition, however, the

relation was reverdedt high local involvement produced higher recall than did, 4

low local involvement (the interaction between local and global involvement. was

significant for both recall ensures).

Although t interaction of global and local involvement ere counteriw.

tuitive, it was reflected *lomat ettActlp ithe r ognit1on meartures (Figure 2).

For product recognition, high local involvement p educed high securer), when glo*

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ball involvement wan low, and low accuracy,when global Involvement was high. The

same result held for brand recognition, with the addition that local involvement

had * marginally significant effect (e.10). The direction of that effect was

the opposite from that predicted by Hypothesis 3. Local high-involvement

programming produced better brand recognition (i .542) than did local low-

involvemeilt programming (W. .495).

The picture, then, for local involvement effects was inconsistent with that

hypothesised, but the results were consistent across the four memory measures.

Having seen the pr:ogram segments pebviously had only one effect on memory.

Figure 1 shows tkat for product r411, programs seen interacted significantly

with local involvement. For subjects who had seen the programming previously,

high local Involvement produced consistently better product recall than did low

local involvement.

Audio and Video Co2I1,lexiti

Hypotheala 4 suggested that both audio and video complexity in commercial,

would result In weaker remembs44ng. Hypothesis 5 suggested this result would be

1\fil

enhanced when the commercials occurred in globally gh- Lpvolving programs.

As can be seen In Figure' 3-6, audio complexity h 1101ignificant main

effect on product and brand recall and product recognition. It did not have a

significant effect on brand recognition. The directions of the effects were,

however, generally contrary to the prediction. Audio complex commercials were

.

better recalled than audlobsimple ones (Figure/5 3 and 4). But audio complex

commercials were lean /occur/ad!), recognised than simple ones (Figure 5).

iAlso as shown in Figures 3-6, video complexity did not have a significant

effect, except on product recognition (see Figure 5) where, as predicted, the

video complex commercials produced poorer memory (7 - .704) than the simple ones

(x .R20). Therm WAR, however, no other significant indication that video

complexity harmed memory.

1 17

Alt

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Insert Figure 6 about here

4.Also unpredicted was the lact that audio and video complexity produced

Interactive effects on memory for all meaures exceptchrand recognition. As can

be seen,In the analyses of variance reported In Figures.375, the Interactioni

were complex. In general, however, it appeared that when commercials were video-simple, audio complexity had little effect. But when commercials were video ,

'complex, those that were also audio complex generally showed higher memory

scores than those that were audio simple (see Figures 3, 4, and 6).

In isperal then, while commercial complexity had significant effects, they

were more complicsted than was hypothesized. Furthermore, complexity did not

/ Interact as hypothesized with global involvement. For product recall (Figure 3)

I a d produelOprecognition (Figure S), there were no interaction* of global involve-

li tit and complexity. For brand recall (Figure ), involvemikand audio:,,

coaplex4ty interacted marginality with having ee n the programa before. For sub-

jects who had seen the programs before, low involvement programe-showed marked

sudto complexity effects. For brand recognition, audio complexity and global

involvement Interacted (Figure 6). In low-Involvement programs, audio complexity

had little effect on memory, but for high-involvement programs, audio comphatz

commercials were better remembered then audloVimple commercial, . Thus, neither.

Hypothesis 4 nor Hypothesis 5 were supported.

Attitude Results

Subjects' attitudes about the commercials and the products th y advertised

were tested wrth two procedures. First, from recall protocols were content

analysed for positiVe and negative opinion statements about commercials or pro-

ducts. Two ob tent analyzed the protocols, producing an Intercede[

reliability score of .A0. Second, after memory testing, anbieets were asked to

Indicate on a 10-point scale their:

- liking of each advertised pro ct;- liking of each commercial;attitude toward each adverti ed product;

- idtkention togbuy each advertised product.

The free recall results are reported first.

Positive and Negative Opinion/. about Products and Commerdials. For each of the

egorlea of opinion statement {positive opinion about the product or comr-

mercia ; negative opinion about the product or commercial), two analyies of/

variance were performed. Similar to the analysis of the memory results, one

analysie.of variance was a three-way (ClObal Involvement x Local Involvement k

Seen Programa), and the othri was a four-way (Global Involvement x Video

Complexity x Audio Complexity x Seen Programs).

Only one category (positive opinions *bout the commercial) showed signifi-

cant anova effect/. at the .05 level. As shown in Figure 7, audio complexity and

video complexity interacted. it appeared that video complexity affected posi-

tive attitudes towards the commercial only when the commercials are also audio

Thlsimple. re was alma a rather complicated three-way interaction between glo-

bal involvement, video complexity, and having seen the program before. Video

simple commercials were better liked when embedded in a globally low involving

program. Finally, there was a main effect for audio complexity. Audio simple

commercials were better liked (; .169) than Audio complex messages (7 .093).

Insert Figure 7 about here

mince other categories did not reveal any significant findings, hypothe-

sis 6 was not supported.

19

10

r-17-

Because subjects frequently did not provide attitude ratings (Or some com-

mercials; the second measurement (including a behavioral intention measure) had

to be limited to a one-way analysis of variance, measuring the effect of g1441

involvement. Hone of the anslyses showed significant effects, and hence no

support was evidenced for Hypotheses 6, 7, or 8.

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of local and global

(-involvement, in program context and the effects of message complexity on the pro-

ceasing oedmmercials. Consistent with previous research, recall of commer-

cials was lower when they occurred in globally high-involving programming. The

effect. on recognition of products and brands advertised were mixed. It seems

likely that the recognition measures failed to show consistent effects of global

program involvement because of the natureiof the recognition task itself. The

additional cuss available in the task may have had such a strong effect on the

accessing of memory for commercials that the grogram effects were masked.

In addition 3b program involvement effects at a global level, the present

study showed that local high involvement also weakened memory for the commer-

claim. Unfortunately, thess results must be tempered by the fact tlfst

manipulation check did not discriminate between locally high-and low-involving

segments of low-Involving programs. On possible reason is that the local

involvement commercial placement based on 1n-tuition was not exsct enough. A

more precise measure, as for instance a inute-to-minute sent of local

involvevient is recommended for future research.

a

Under the initial assumption that viewers would spend the time during com-

mercials continuing to process high-invOlving programs, It was predicted that

audio and video complex commercials would be remembered significantly less well

than simple ones. Contrary to predictions, however, audio complex commercials

2 o

- 18 -

were recalled bets than Audio simple ones, and this effect stronger

't*for commercials that/ also video complex. Thus result argues against.the

notion that memory deli is ahown in high-involvement programming result from

viewers processing programming rather than commercials. If viewers recognize

and respond to the need for more cognitive processing of audio complex commer-

cials, they may lay down stronger memory trace that is less interfered with by

processing of subsequent programming. Such an interpretal4on lends credence to

retroactive inhibition°kIlryant i Comiskys 1978) notion of program context

effect.. Under this rode', processing high involvement materials subsequently

to processing commercials damages otherwise normal memory traces of the commer-

cials. Althopgh follow-up studlea art needed to verify the direction of commer-

cial complexity effects, the present results ca f significant do bt on the

"residual processing of Involving program*" idea.

In Addition to recall and recognition scores, the effect of progremming con-_

text was meaured by attitudinal and purchise intention scores. Neither measure

showed in effects for program involvement. Failing to find involvement effects

on Attitude scorea is consistent with most previous studies. This consistent

result Argues against the second aasumption made here, namely that viewers are

more irritated by commercial interruptions during high-involvement programs. It

is possible, instead, that a commercial break to a high-involving program provides

feeling of 'relief" allowing the viewer to relax and enjoy a break. Or

perhaps even more likely, given the leek of differences in Attitudes between

high-and low involving programming, American viewers are so accustomed to cow.

**refill interruptions that there are no attitudinal shifts at ill. a

In general, tilts atudy has provided some new insights In the effects of

local and global involvement in television programs, se well as in the effects

of message complexity on processing commercials. Furthermore, this experiment

- 19-

La valuable In that, unlike previous studies, the design involved sampling both

programs and commercials. It counterbalanced the occurrence of the commercials

in the programs, and finally, it verified subjects' involvement levels In the

programs, rather than relying on experimenter intuitions About them.

finally, it is important to consider wintt the implications of this study are

for the advertising practitioner. Although the results are rather complex, it

appears that if memory for message content iS a major goal of the advertlaer,

audience considerations **Ids, commercials placed in.a low-involving context

dvisable.

22

F-20-

References

Axelrod, J.N., "indOced moods and attitudes toward products," Journal ofAdvertising Research, 1963, 3, 19-24.

rv:tit, J. and P.W. Comisky, "The effect of position!'" a message withindirferfotiolly cognitively involving portions of a television segmenton recall of the message," Human Communication Research, 1978, 5, 63-75.

Cannon, R,M., "A new method for estimating the effect of media context,". Journal of Advertising Research, 1982, 22(5), 41-48.

Horn, M.1., and W.J. McEwen, "The effect of program context on commercialperformance," Journal of Advertising., 1977; 6, 23-27.

Jackson, S., and S.. Jacobs, "Generalizing about messages: suggestionsfor design and anslysIs of experiments," Human Communication Research,1983, 9, 169 -191..

Kennedy, J.R., "How program environment affects television commercials,". Journml of Advertising,Research, 1971, 11, 33-38.

Kintsch, W., The Representation of. Meaning in Memory.. Hillsdale, N.J.,erlbsum, 1411.

4

Kinn:eh, W., 14 van bilk, T.A., "Toward a model of text comprehension andproduction," Psychological Review, 1978, 85, 363-394.

Krugmen, E.G., -Television program interest and commercial interruption,"Journal of Advertising Research, 1983, 23, 21-24.

Leach, 0., "A recall debate," Advertising Am_ 1981, July 13, 47-48.

Leavitt, Clark. "Response structure: A determinant of recall," Journal ofAdvertising Research, 1968, 8, 3-6.

Poparian, E., "Media environment: Advertisers' quest for compatibility, ", Ad Forum,1983, 49-52.

. Percy, l.arry, and John R. Roasiter, "Mediating effects of visual and verbalelements in print advertising upon belief, attitude, and intention responses,"in (eds.), Larry Percy and Arch G. Woodside, Advertisin and ConsumerPsychology., Lexington, MA: Lexington Sdoks, 1983, pp. 171-196.

Priemer, A.R., "The use of qualitative evaluation: Problems, pitfalls, andpotentials," Paper presented st the A.M.A. Television Workshop,New York City, February 15, 1983.

Rossiter, J.R., i Percy L., "Attitude change through visual imagery inadvertising," Journal of Advertising, 1980, 9, 10-16.

Soldow, J.F., and V. Principe, "Response to commercials as e foliation ofprogram context," Journal of Advertising Research, 1981, 21', 59-65.

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\Thorson, E., 8, Reeves, find J. .Scipetder, "Effects of channel and messagecomplexity on covert attention to television." Pa er presented at the

' International ComonhicaPtion Association Annual M ing, Honolulu, Hawaii,May, 1985.

Watt, J.H. and R. Krull, "An inform ton theory me ure for televisionprogramming," Communication Re .arch, January, 1974, -68.

Wett, J.H. and A.J. Welch, "Effects of static and dynamic complexity onchildren's attention and recall of televiaed instruction. In (eds.) J. Bryantand O.R. Anderson, Children's Understandinit_of Television, New York:Academic Press, 1981

Welch, A. and J.E. Watt, "Vtaual complexity and young children's learningfrom television," Human Communication Research, 1983, 8, 13Z-145.

Yospeh, S., "On-air are we testing the message or the medium?" Paperpresented fit the meeting of the J. Walter Thompson Research Conference,New York City,, November, 1977. *

A

/

A, 4

1

k.

.1t

g.

FIGURE 1

Effects of Global and Local Involvement

on Recpjl Product Category and Brand Name

Panel A: Product Recall for.

Proprams not Seen

.7 1°

.6

,5

4.

t4

ro

.3,

.2

I

LowGlobal

v NighInvolvement

Panel R: Product Recall for

Programs Seen

.7

.6

15

....--

co

3

14 2 Ari.

Low HighGlobal Involvement

Panel C;. Both Product and Brand Name Recalled

.6

ro

.3as

ro

0.4

A) ProductGlobalLocalGlobal

1) Product and Brand RecallGlobal InvolvementGlobil x Local Involvement

Global Involvement

Local High'Involvement

Local LOw'Involvment

Positioning NOVA Results

RecallInvolvement P(1,36) 7.16, 1

FIGURE 2

Effects of Global and Local anvolvi;ment on Recognition

of Product Category and Bland Name

Panel At Product RecognitionPahel Bs eroduct and 4alte

RecognitiAn

8 1v

7o.4

54.1 v4

4,

.- U C 50 WM o

4 1 A 4u0 --

u

k.....

41Low High

Global Involvement .

411111r* Local High Involvement'Ie'----*AA * Local Low Involvement

7

,PosItioninit ANOVA (tesults

A) Product Recognised

low High

Global Invplvement

sv

a

Global Involvement. 11W,59) 16.81 2C.00141,59) * 5.60; e.02

* i.:'

Global Involvement A Local Involvement-

sy Product and Ilrandhame Recognised

Global Involvement rLocal Involves, ,tGlobal Involve. t x Local Involvement

0

26

.

F(1,511). - 5.81; e.021(1,5!) * 2.81; r

.

'4

r

ai

4)

4

t

.3

X

.6

Coudlpxftr

YT1CURE

[(forts of Global involvement and CommercialComplexity on Retell of Product Category

I Video,Simple

Global Low

to

Complex

Involvement

0.Audio Complex

.., Audio Simple

.Yroduct Recall

13

8

Comple Results

.

Global Righ Involvement1

Global Involve, ent T(1,27)

Audio Comple r(1.27)

Video Complexit xAudio T(1.27)

?7

Ito

7.70; e.01

7.16; 2

FIGURE 4

Streets of Global Involvement and Commercial

on Recall of Product and Brand Name

eo SOSimple Complex

Global Nigh Involvement

plexfty

a__________

eo i eoSimple Complex

Global Low Involvement

...Audio Simple, not Seen ?rosy** Audio SimpleSeen Segment

Audio Complex, Not Seen Program Audio Complex41-4

Complexity ANOVA Results

Product and Srendneme Recalled

Global Involvement4

Maio CbMplexityAl

Global Involvement x Audio Complexity,xSeen.Segment

Seen Segment

P(1,27), 5.514 25.07

(1,27) 3.50; 2

tt,

FIGURE 5

Kffecta of Commercial Complexity on Recognitionof Product Category

Panel A: ProRrdme Not Seen

A

4

.9 .9

Friel St Programs Seen

A _ is *8 ..,_r.6 6./ - .6

_......_...._

...... 11 '3.5\

Simple1 I

Simple Complex Complex

Video Complexity Video Complexity

A.. Audio Simple

Audio Complex

Complexft Vtk Results

Product Recognited

Audio Complex'', os) 12.101 Z

VICUKE 6

0

Mitt. of Global Involvement and Commercial Complexity

on Recognition of Pioduct and Brand Name

7

v. 'o

4

Low HighGlobal Involvement

Audio Complex

v. Audio Simple

Complexity ANOVA Relpitn A

I

Product and trandname Recognised

. Global Involvement x Audio Complexity (1,35) 4.20; 2

5FIGURE 7

1*Efteci of Global

Involvement and Commercial ComplexityPositive Opinion about the CommercialPanel Al Nigh

Global InvolvementPanel Pi Low

Global Involvement

.45....

4.. .35 ! .33i I .25 '% :S .25V i8° .15 6----7---c------6 ii. u .15. ,,,,

-. .05 .....-4r t .05N aa at

i i1

I i4e.

SimpleComplex

imp

d

Video Complexity414

Panel C: Collapsedover Involvement,

Sein Program

A A,. Audio Simple Program.25 I

Not Seen

up ex

Video Cocoexity

8 mple ComplexVideo Complexity

Complexity ANOVA Renult

Global Involvement a Video Complexityi Seen Prost*.

Audio Complexity a Video Complexity

Audio Complexity

7 Audio ComplexProgram

, Not Seen

Audio Simple PkogremSeen

41P.------4* Audio ProgymSeen

31

F(1OS) 9.93; e.01

(1,35) 8.271 25.01

(1,35) 3.81; e.05