TY - JOUR

T1 - Social context and advertising memory

AU - Puntoni, Stefano

AU - Tavassoli, Nader

PY - 2007/5

Y1 - 2007/5

N2 - This article examines the influence of the presence of others on advertising memory. The authors take an intrapsychic perspective on social desirability and propose that the presence of others—in the absence of direct interaction—leads to the automatic activation of a concern with the impression others are forming. They find that words applicable to social desirability are accessed faster when respondents are in the presence of another person than when they are alone. Across three experiments, semantic (but not perceptual) memory for words and advertisements applicable to social desirability is greater than that for neutral cues after respondents are exposed to these in the actual or imagined presence of others than when they are alone. Respondents' chronic impression management tendencies (self-monitoring) moderate the effects, suggesting that the effects are, at least in part, determined by motivational factors. This novel theoretical framework provides direct implications for advertisers and marketing researchers who rely on recall memory as one of the most common measures of advertising effectiveness.

AB - This article examines the influence of the presence of others on advertising memory. The authors take an intrapsychic perspective on social desirability and propose that the presence of others—in the absence of direct interaction—leads to the automatic activation of a concern with the impression others are forming. They find that words applicable to social desirability are accessed faster when respondents are in the presence of another person than when they are alone. Across three experiments, semantic (but not perceptual) memory for words and advertisements applicable to social desirability is greater than that for neutral cues after respondents are exposed to these in the actual or imagined presence of others than when they are alone. Respondents' chronic impression management tendencies (self-monitoring) moderate the effects, suggesting that the effects are, at least in part, determined by motivational factors. This novel theoretical framework provides direct implications for advertisers and marketing researchers who rely on recall memory as one of the most common measures of advertising effectiveness.

KW - advertising

KW - memory

KW - social desirability

KW - goal priming

KW - social context

U2 - 10.1509/jmkr.44.2.284

DO - 10.1509/jmkr.44.2.284

M3 - Journal article

VL - 44

SP - 284

EP - 296

JO - Journal of Marketing Research

JF - Journal of Marketing Research

SN - 0022-2437

IS - 2

ER -