Copywriters' Implicit Theories of Communication: An Exploration

Advertising copywriters, in common with other craftspeople, seemingly work without theories, even though their work exhibits insights about consumer motivation and behavior. This research explored the existence of implicit theories of communication among a sample of copywriters. The findings indicated that copywriters do articulate a common set of informal theories that are based on perceptions of the writing of advertising as an internal dialogue. Aspects of these implicit theories differ from many assumptions and findings of current formal theories of advertising. These differences exist in the areas of the nature of affect toward advertising, the nature of the connection between advertising and the brand advertised, and involvement with the advertising message. These implicit theories form the basis for suggesting changes in understanding copywriters' work and for academic and applied research on advertising and marketing. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.