Advertising Wearout: An Experimental Analysis

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of very high levels of print ad repetition on brand name recall. In experiment I, the wearout in recall observed in natural settings was replicated in the laboratory. Experiment II examined whether this wearout was attributable to subjects’ inattention to ads and reactance to substantial repetition levels. When these factors were controlled experimentally, no wearout was observed; the highest repetition level yielded greater or as much persistence in brand name recall as lower repetition levels. The implications of these data for marketing practice and theory are discussed.