Memory and Evaluation Effects in Competitive Advertising Environments

A laboratory experiment replicates and extends prior research on how competitive advertising and retrieval cues affect consumer memory and evaluations of brands. The number and valence of competing ads, presence of ad retrieval cues, and valence of target ads were manipulated. A high level of competitive advertising varying in valence produced interference effects for recall and evaluations. Ad retrieval cues offset these effects and enhanced recall and evaluations even when there were no competing ads. Interference effects were more pronounced for recall of brand claims; cue effects were more pronounced for recall of cognitive responses and evaluations of the advertised brand. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.