Music's Impact on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College ______________________________________________ Dr. Carson B Wagner Assistant Professor, E. W. Scripps School of Journalism Thesis Advisor ______________________________________________ Dr. Raymond Frost Honors Tutorial College, Director of Studies Business Administration ______________________________________________ Jeremy Webster Dean, Honors Tutorial College Running Head: MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES Singing your way into the Consumer‟s Mind: Music‟s Impact on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with a degree of Bachelor of Business Administration by Caroline Johnson June 2011 1 MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES Abstract Music in advertising is a relatively new area of study with limited academic literature. The following studies examine music‟s effect on viewers‟ implicit, or subconscious, and explicit, or conscious, attitudes toward a brand. In her first study, the researcher showed participants three freecreditreport.com commercials with or without the jingle playing. She then administered the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure participants‟ attitudes towards freecreditreport.com below their level of consciousness. After completing the IAT, participants also took a self-report explicit measure. Results showed that while individuals self-reported disliking freecreditreport.com more when they heard the jingle playing, the implicit results demonstrated that subconsciously participants had higher brand attitudes when they heard the jingles. At the same time of the conclusion of the first study, freecreditreport.com changed its name, got a new band, and created a new jingle. This presented an excellent opportunity for a second study. The methodology in the follow-up study was the same as the original, but instead of showing the freecreditreport.com commercials, the new freecreditscore.com commercials were presented. Results were the exact opposite from the first study. While participants said they liked the brand much more when they watched the commercials with the new jingles, subconsciously participants held much lower attitudes when the jingle played. The studies and their implications are discussed in the following thesis. 2 MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4 Literature Review............................................................................................................ 8 Routes of Persuasion ................................................................................................. 12 Elaboration-Likelihood Model .............................................................................. 13 MODE Model ........................................................................................................ 14 Implicit Attitudes....................................................................................................... 15 Hypotheses .................................................................................................................... 19 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 20 Results ........................................................................................................................... 22 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 24 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 27 Future Research ............................................................................................................ 28 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 28 Follow-up Study: Introduction ...................................................................................... 29 Literature Review.......................................................................................................... 30 Wearin ....................................................................................................................... 32 Hypothesis..................................................................................................................... 33 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 34 Results ........................................................................................................................... 34 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 36 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 38 3 MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES Future Research ............................................................................................................ 39 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 39 References ..................................................................................................................... 42 Appendix A1: Description of chart on literature review .............................................. 48 Appendix A2: A Look into Literature on Music in Advertising .................................. 49 Appendix B: Pencil-and-Paper Implicit Association Test Description ........................ 50 Appendix C: Explicit Measure...................................................................................... 53 Appendix D: Results from Study 1 ............................................................................... 54 Appendix E: Results from Study 2 ............................................................................... 55 4 MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES Introduction Varieties of tactics are used in advertisements in an attempt to impact viewers‟ memory, attitudes, purchase intent, and other important variables in the persuasion process. Variables such as color, humor, and music can be seen in commercials featuring anything from stereos to soap. Advertisers are always looking to reach consumers through new strategies and to find ways speak to them that will resonate well, positively affecting the featured brand. Over the past few decades, music has become a commonly used tactic to reach the consumer. In fact, studies indicate that advertisements using music are now in excess of 90 percent (Oaks, 2007). And while music is appearing in commercials at an increasingly noteworthy rate, there is relatively little academic research on this topic. Instead of simply guessing that music has a positive effect on the consumer and therefore positively affects the brand, it is important to understand the specific role music plays in advertisements. With this said, there have been a number of studies examining music in advertising. However, the existing literature tends to contradict itself, and there are a variety of gaps that would benefit from future research (see appendix A1 and A2). Therefore, additional studies are needed to explore the variety of variables that make music in commercials most effective and how to best utilize music to match the brand while positively impacting the viewer. Music is a background feature in advertisements and acts as an unconditioned stimulus and a peripheral cue. Prior research has examined how effectively music grabs the audience‟s attention (Oakes, 2007; Macinnis & Park, 1991; Kellaris & Cox, 5 MUSIC‟S IMPACT ON IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT ATTITUDES 1989; Alpert & Alpert, 1990) and how music helps increase product and message retention (Brooker & Wheatley, 1994; Allan, 2006; Shen & Chen, 2006). Current research also includes studies on the impact music has on viewers‟ attitudes toward the brand (Oakes, 2007; Becker-Olsen, 2006; Shen & Chen, 2006; Zhu & Meyers-Levy, 2005) and their intentions to purchase the product (Gorn, 1982; Oakes, 2007; Kellaris & Cox, 1989). It is in music‟s nature to impact people‟s emotions and opinions. Therefore, music has the potential to have a considerable effect in advertisements. This impact can most specifically be seen on brand attitudes, both explicit and implicit – or those articulated and those held more deeply. Generally speaking, many individuals enjoy talking about music and often hold passionate opinions on their favorite musical genres and artists. In order to delve deeper into understanding music‟s role in advertising, the author thought it would be beneficial to begin with a series of focus group interviews to gain various opinions on the use of music in commercials. This allowed the researcher to gain an understanding of individuals‟ explicit, or conscious, attitudes toward music‟s role and its persuasiveness in advertisements. Participants were recruited from an Ohio University introductory to advertising course that is required for a variety of majors. There were a series of seven focus groups, each holding an average of ten students. The author, who had experience conducting focus groups from the