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CONGRUITY THEORY: THE RELATION BETWEEN CONTEXT
TYPE AND ADVERTISING APPEAL

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Caitlin Michelle McLaughlin

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CONGRUITY THEORY: THE RELATION BETWEEN CONTEXT TYPE AND
ADVERTISING APPEAL

By

Caitlin Michelle McLaughlin

A THESIS

Submitted To
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing
2009

Abstract
By

Caitlin McLaughlin

Congruity theory has been studied many times in the advertising literature,
and overall can generally be defined as a theory related to how similarity between
stimulus objects affects individuals’ processing of the stimuli. The condition of
moderate congruity between stimulus objects has commonly been found to be
significant in affecting consumers’ attitudes (Dahlen, 2005; Mandler, 1982;
Meyers-Levy et al, 1994; Moore et al, 2005), a concept which this study
attempted to explore further. The study utilized three levels of congruity
(congruent, moderately incongruent, and incongruent) between the context type
and the appeal of the commercial used in order to determine if a case of
moderate congruity existed for this type of match-up, and if so, how did this
perception of moderate congruity affect consumers’ attitudes. The results
indicated that no condition for moderate congruity existed for the group studied,
suggesting that the manipulation of moderate congruity in this form may be too

subtle to affect consumers’ beliefs.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my wonderful thesis advisor, Dr. Keith Adler, who got me through
my first years at Michigan State University and supported me through it all. Thank
you to Dr. Mira Lee, who provided me with many of my human subjects, and
thank you to my committee members, Dr. Bruce Vanden Bergh and Dr. Charles

Atkin, for their support and dedication in helping me complete this project.

iii

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................... v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 3
Congruity Theory ....................................................................... 3
Context Congruity ...................................................................... 6
Product Congruity ...................................................................... 12
Advertiser Congruity ................................................................... 15
Commercial Component Congruity ................................................ 17
Conclusion ............................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH QUESTION ................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: HYPOTHESES ................................................................ 21
CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ............................................................. 22
Experimental Design .................................................................. 22
Variables ................................................................................. 23
Program Selection ..................................................................... 24
Experimental Procedures ............................................................ 25
Recruitment Technique ............................................................... 27
CHAPTER 5: RESULTS ....................................................................... 29
Description of the Sample ............................................................ 29
Manipulation Checks .................................................................. 30
Research Question Testing .......................................................... 33
Hypothesis Testing ................................ . .................................... 34
CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION .................................................................. 39
APPENDICES .................................................................................... 43
Appendix A: Survey Instrument ..................................................... 43
Appendix B: Pretest Questionnaire ................................................ 53
Appendix C: Commercial Storyboards ............................................ 55
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 60

iv

List of Tables

TABLE 1: EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ................................................... 22
TABLE 2: GENDER DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE .................................. 29
TABLE 3: AGE DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE ......................................... 30

TABLE 4: MEAN CONGRUITY PERCEPTION SCORES OF GROUPS ....... 33
TABLE 5: POST HOC ANALYSIS OF CONRUITY PERCEPTIONS ............ 33

TABLE 6: MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR ATTITUDE
TOWARD THE BRAND ............................................................... 34

TABLE 7: MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR ATTITUDE
TOWARD THE AD ...................................................................... 34

TABLE 8: MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR PURCHASE
INTENTIONS .............................................................................. 34

TABLE 9: MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR BRAND RECALL 34

TABLE 10: MANOVA: CONGRUENT VS. INCONGRUENT MANIPULATION
EFFECT ON DEPENDENT VARIABLES .......................................... 35

TABLE 11: CHI-SQUARE: CONGRUENT VS. INCONGRUENT
MANIPULATION EFFECT ON BRAND RECALL ................................ 36

TABLE 12: MANCOVA: MODERATE INCONGRUENT MANIPULATION
EFFECT ON AAD CONTROLLING FOR COMMERCCIAL TYPE ........... 36

TABLE 13: MANOVA: MODERATE INCONGRUENT MANIPULATION
EFFECT ON DEPENDENT VARIABLES .......................................... 37

TABLE 14: CHI-SQUARE: MODERATE INCONGRUENT MANIPULATION
EFFECT ON BRAND RECALL ........................................................ 38

Chapter 1: Introduction

For years advertisers have been conducting marketing research in order to
determine which combination of factors (eg. commercial theme, spokesperson,
music) creates the most desirable response in consumers. Appeal type has been
one of the most studied in academic advertising effectiveness research, with
multiple studies conducted concerning the effect each type of appeal has on
different brand images and product categories.

Congruity has been a popular topic in communication research for many
years now due to its connection to key measures of advertiser success, including
purchase intentions, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the product / brand,
and brand recall (Aylesworth & MacKenzie, 1998; Chandon et al, 2000; Dahlen,
2005; Heckler & Childers, 1992; Horn & McEwen, 1977; Kamins, 1990; Kamins &
Gupta, 1994; Kamins et al, 1991; Lee & Mason, 1999; Meyers-Levy & Stemthal,
1993; Meyers-Levy & Tybout, 1989; 1997; Meyers-Levy et al, 1994; Osgood &
Tannenbaum, 1955; Rifon et al, 2004; Russell, 2002; Sharma, 2000). Based on
analysis of the above-cited articles, congruity can be defined as “a situation in
which there is a match between two factors within an experience, reducing
cognitive dissonance when processing the experience or advertisement.” Many
different types of congruity have been explored over the years (self congruity,
product congruity, advertiser congruity) and each of these has yielded useful and
interesting results to guide advertisers when creating advertising campaigns. One
example of such useful results relates to the attractiveness of models in

advertisements: a congruity study found that spokesperson attractiveness was

only important to consumers when the product being sold was related to physical
beauty (Kamins, 1990).

Congruity is often first conceptualized as a dichotomous variable
(congruent vs. incongruent situations) to determine if consumer perceptions were
affected by a particular ‘type’ of congruity. Congruent situations have been
defined as those in which the content of the ad falls within the normative scope of
the consumer’s previous understanding and does not violate previous
perceptions (Mandler, 1982). Incongruent situations were defined as those in
which an incongruous piece of material within the ad or situation did not fit with
the consumer’s preconceptions and understanding, and therefore the consumer
was required to expend effort to adjust his or her perceptions to make sense of
the incongruous occurrence. Once this relationship has been determined,
oftentimes the concept of ‘moderate congruity’ has been introduced to determine
if this can maximize the positive effects of both congruity and incongruity (Dahlen,
2005; Mandler, 1982; Meyers-Levy et al, 1994; Moore et al, 2005). Based on
analysis of multiple articles on congruity theory (Dahlen, 2005; Heckler &
Childers, 1992; Meyers-Levy et al, 1994; Yih & Mason, 1999), moderate
incongruity in advertising can be defined as a situation in which cognitive
elaboration is required to make sense of the meaning of the communication.

The study described in this paper introduced the concept of moderate
incongruity into the domain of matches between commercial appeal type and the
theme of the context in which it was placed (e.g. humorous context) This study
attempted to re-examine some of the effects of moderate congruity on advertising

effectiveness.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Congruitv Theorv

Congruity was first formally articulated with the statement “changes in
evaluation are always in the direction of increased congruity with the existing
frame of reference” (Osgood & Tannenbaum, 1955). The theory stated that
congruity became relevant whenever a message related more than one object of
judgment. When both objects of judgment were neutral, the movement in attitude
was determined solely by the nature of the message / assertion. The total amount
of pressure to change an attitude was determined to be equal to the difference
between the attitude toward the objects of judgment and the attitude with the
maximum congruity between the assertion and the objects of judgment. This
pressure was distributed between the objects of judgment, with the least amount
of pressure on the most firmly held beliefs, and vice versa. If incredulity was
activated by a particular assertion, however (the assertion was unbelievable
because it was so incongruent with current beliefs) this would dampen the effects
of pressure to solve the incongruity. Following this theorization, an experiment
was conducted to determine the actual effects. The experiments found that in all
cases, the predicted direction of change in attitudes (positive, negative or no
change) was observed, providing support for this congruity theory.

One criticism of Osgood’s theory related to its theoretical base, and talked
of the assumption inherent in the schema theory that every linguistic unit was a
‘sign’ for some other implicit meaningful thing or state of affairs for the listener

(Edwards, 1972). This assumption has not been empirically tested, however.

Another major problem with Osgood’s theory was the assumption that each
linguistic unit had only one meaning when utilized in a certain way, which was
almost certainly not the case. Another criticism was that it was unclear how
scientists should be able to measure the implicit responses, which introduced the
problem of measurement in this theory.

In a later work, Osgood et al (1957) identified some of the limitations in
measuring congruity. One of these limitations had to do with the use of
contradictory language within an assertion (eg. the lazy athlete) and unknown
effects this would have on the valence of thoughts toward the object. Some other
limitations included the unknown qualities related to the intensity of assertions,
the believability of assertions, and the relevance an assertion had to an
individual’s own life experiences.

In order to explain the relationship between congruity and the change in
consumers’ perceptions of the ad / brand, the psychological construct of a
schema was extended to become a part of the congruity literature. Schemas
were defined as previously held representations that aid in determining
perceptions, actions, and thought (Mandler, 1982; 1993). A precursor to schema
theory, however, should be acknowledged when dealing with schemas. Piaget’s
work on perception stipulated that learning was an essential part of perception,
and hence the acknowledgement that ‘the grass is green’ was a result of learning
to perceive both the color green and the object grass (Edwards, 1972). By
acknowledging the importance of learning in perceptual processes, Piaget

created the foundation for schema theory.

Mandler asserted that individuals in our culture sought to understand their
environment, and as such if two objects belonged to different, unlinked schemas,
individuals would always seek to find a connection between the two objects
(1982). Mandler argued that congruent ads were more easily comprehensible by
the consumer because they required less elaboration to relate to the existing
schema; incongruent ads required more elaboration in order to reconcile the ad
message with the pre-existing attitudes about the product/brand (Mandler, 1982).
Therefore it has been argued that congruent information would result in
moderately positive attitudes about the ad because it would require very little
elaboration and would do very little to change the current schema; incongruent
information would lead to stronger evaluations (negative or positive) about the
object of consideration because the object required more cognitive elaboration.
The direction of the attitude change with incongruent information was likely to
depend upon the amount of cognitive resources required to process the new
information, as compared to the cognitive resources available. If there was a
moderate level of incongruity, then the individual evaluating the object would be
able to determine a solution which connected the two concepts, and in the
process of solving this incongruity would undertake an extensive elaboration
process concerning the concepts in the ad, thereby improving the memory of the
ad. This would also lead to improved attitudes toward the ad, product and
advertiser because the respondent would have a positive reaction to being able
to solve the discrepancy. Mandler hypothesized that in the case of high
incongruity individuals became frustrated because of their inability to solve the

mystery of how to connect the two concepts, and would have a general feeling of

frustration toward the ad which could transfer to evaluations of the product and
advertiser.

lncongruity was more appreciated in some instances than other instances:
with high-risk situations, congruent information was likely to produce more
positive results, whereas lower-risk situations were more acceptable for
incongruent information (Campbell & Goodstein, 2001). Authors argued that this
trend could be due to individuals’ needs to feel comforted and able to process all
information for situations in which there is a higher personal or financial risk
involved, whereas consumers could be entertained and intrigued by incongruity in
a situation in which the risk was minimal.
Context CW

The effectiveness of advertising has been demonstrated to be affected by
several factors, but three main categories (Pelsmacker et al, 2002) of factors are:
characteristics of the stimulus itself (Cho, 1995; De Pelsmacker & Geuens, 1996;
De Pelsmacker & Van den Bergh, 1998; LaTour & Henthome, 1994; Leather et
al, 1994; Stewart & Koslow, 1989; Weinberger & Gulas, 1992), characteristics of
the individual (Chaudhuri & Buck, 1995; & Buck, 1995; De Pelsmacker & Van den
Bergh, 1996; Geuens & De Pelsmacker, 1997, 1999; Moore & Harris, 1996;
Moore et al, 1994; Smith et al, 1995; Vakratsas & Ambler, 1996) and situational
factors. One of these situational factors that has remained a mystery for
researchers is the media context and its congruity or contrast with the style and
content of the ad (Pelsmacker et al, 2002).

One study attempted to determine the interaction of context-theme

congruence and context—involvement in order to determine how these factors

combined to affect audience members’ attitude toward the ad (Pelsmacker et al,
2002). This study determined that the interaction of the independent variables did
have a significant impact on evaluations of the ad. Low-involvement individuals
(those who were primed to have a low level of involvement in the program) found
congruent commercials to be significantly more Iikeable than incongruent
commercials, and high-involvement individuals (those who were primed to have a
high level of involvement in the program) found incongruent commercials to be
significantly more Iikeable than congruent commercials. Similarly, low-
involvement individuals perceived congruent messages to be clearer than
incongruent commercials, and high-involvement individuals perceived
incongruent commercials to be clearer than congruent commercials. The authors
argued that the high involvement individuals were stimulated by the incongruity of
the message, whereas the low involvement individuals found the congruent
advertisement easier to process. Another interesting finding within this study was
that positively appreciated contexts (articles or television shows rated positively
on a three-item scale including: interesting, boring, would see it again) resulted in
the commercials being rated as more Iikeable, more informative, and clearer than
commercials placed within a more negatively rated context. Positively
appreciated contexts also led to higher recall with age as a moderator: people in
older age groups demonstrated this effect, whereas people in younger age
groups did not show a context appreciation effect when recalling the ad. This
study was impressive in the variety of factors considered, but due to the huge

scope of the project it was difficult for the researchers to focus on any one aspect

enough to deeply understand it. As such, this study does not include a discussion
of the moderate congruity condition on any of these dependent variables.

Another approach to congruity theory deals with the mood induced by the
context and the mood of an advertisement placed within that context (Kamins et
al, 1991). This study found that individuals exposed to a happy ad (an ad in which
all actors were smiling and talking about positive changes in the healthcare
system) within a happy context had higher commercial effectiveness ratings,
more positive attitudes toward the ads, and higher likeability ratings for the ad
than individuals exposed to the happy ad in the sad context. Conversely,
individuals who viewed a sad ad (an ad in which actors are crying and discussing
issues of despair) within a sad context had higher commercial effectiveness
ratings, more positive attitudes toward the ads, higher likeability ratings for the
ad, and a significantly higher intention to use the service than individuals who
viewed the sad ad within the happy context.

In another study of commercial-context congruity, involvement type was
studied to determine if affective and cognitive involvement had different effects on
recall of the advertisement (Sharma, 2000). This study utilized moderate levels of
involvement for all of its experimental evaluations, manipulated by instructing
participants to attempt to come to a ‘basic' understanding of the program.
Individuals that were manipulated to be cognitively involved in the program (these
participants were asked to focus on the issue inherent in the program) recalled
commercials with a cognitive appeal better than commercials with an affective
appeal. Similarly, individuals who were in the affective involvement manipulation

(these participants were asked to role play and identify with the characters)

recalled commercials with an affective appeal better than commercials with a
cognitive appeal. This study utilized only a moderate level of involvement when
discussing the effects of involvement type I appeal type on recall. It also ignored
several other key advertising effectiveness dependent variables, including
purchase intentions, attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand.

Further research has studied the effects of congruity on creative media
choices, such as advertising on eggs or using stickers on elevators (Dahlen,
2005). Creative media choice, when congruent, implicitly communicated the
message being portrayed about the product, reducing the need to explicitly
advertise the product. An example given of a creative media choice was
advertising a Curious George movie on a banana: this, upon further elaboration,
would make sense to the consumer, but it is a medium in which individuals would
not expect to see an advertisement. This study compared traditional media
advertising (ads within a newspaper) with congruent vs. incongruent creative
media choices (as determined by a pretest in which individuals rated the ‘fit’ of
objects to be used as possible creative media choices with product categories).
This study found that brand associations, ad credibility, and brand attitude were
higher within the congruent creative media choice than in an incongruent creative
media choice or within a traditional media choice. There was no difference in
effectiveness between an incongruent creative media choice and a traditional
media choice. Although this study was extremely interesting in its implications, it
utilized photographs of the creative media choice rather than actual examples of

the creative media choice for consumers to see firsthand. Also, the creative

media choice for one of the product categories was a sticker placed on an
elevator, which may have reduced the comparability between the two situations.

An experiment that was conducted utilizing product placement discovered
that congruence required a trade-off between recall and attitude toward the ad /
placement (Russell, 2002). This study defined congruent product placements as
those that matched modality (visual vs. auditory product placement) and the
degree of plot connection. For a product to justify an auditory product placement,
researchers determined that it needed to have a higher plot connection to reduce
suspicion and increase persuasion. Incongruent product placements had higher
recall scores, but persuasiveness was lower. Specifically, it was determined that
products whose names were actually heard by consumers had high recall scores,
no matter how integrated the product was in the plot. For products that were
merely seen by consumers, recall was higher for products that were better
integrated into the plot than for products that had no real connection to the plot
development. The trade-off discussed in this paper was found in the
persuasiveness of the different product placement types: for auditory product
placements a higher plot connection was more persuasive for consumers, and for
visual product placements a lower plot connection was more persuasive for
consumers. As such, the more ‘congruent’ product placements (those product
placements in which the level of plot connection ‘fit’ with the type of placement it
was given) performed better and were more persuasive for consumers. Moderate
incongruity was not assessed in this experiment.

Another product placement study was conducted utilizing videogames as

the context (Lee & Faber, 2007). This study measured many other factors, but

10

determined that brands that were incongruent with the theme of the game were
recalled better than congruent brands. The qualification that inexperienced
players experienced this same effect but to a lesser extent indicated that
individuals utilized much of their cognitive resources while playing the
videogame, and thus only surprising contextual factors were likely to be noticed
and l or remembered by players.

A novel context congruity study was done in which respondents were
given information concerning the type of business that previously occupied the
building in which a new company was supposed to be opening (Meyers-Levy &
Stemthal, 1993). The information given to respondents on the former tenant
concerned how elegant / casual the company had been, as well as product
category (restaurant vs. clothing store). The experiment studied the effect this
information had on evaluations of the new tenant for individuals with high and low
need for cognition. Individuals with a high need for cognition demonstrated an
assimilation effect for situations with a product category overlap (if the previous
tenant had been elegant, the new tenant was perceived to be more elegant than
if the previous tenant had been a casual establishment) and a contrast effect for
situations with low product category overlap (if the previous tenant had been
perceived to be elegant, the new tenant was perceived to be more casual than if
the previous tenant had been perceived to be casual) as these individuals
attempted to compensate for the bias introduced by the previous tenant’s image.
For individuals with a low need for cognition, the assimilation effect was observed

with or without product category overlap.

11

Prodgct Conmlitv

Product congruity has been related to another area of congruity research
in which the product is evaluated in terms of the appropriateness for certain
product category claims, appeal types, etc. This further has provided evidence for
the effects of congruity on the key indicators of advertising success.

Another research project dealt with congruity as it related to sales
promotion type and type of brand equity (Chandon et al, 2000). This research
project determined that nonmonetary sales promotions were more effective than
monetary sales promotions for hedonic products while monetary sales
promotions were more effective than nonmonetary sales promotions for utilitarian
products. This indicated that there was a ‘benefit congruency’ effect in which
individuals responded better to sales promotions that reflected the benefits
derived from using the product. This study indicated that, for products with a
hedonic value, consumers thought of it as ‘cheap’ to use only monetary
incentives, thus reducing the hedonic value that consumers achieved when
purchasing the product. As such, the incentives given for these products should
have been aimed at increasing hedonic value. For utilitarian products, since
money was an extremely utilitarian possession, individuals saw a monetary
incentive as increasing the utilitarian value of any product being purchased.

In a famous congruity study, expectancy and relevancy was studied to
determine how these factors affected memory for verbal and visual information
(Heckler & Childers, 1992). These authors argued that incongruent information
would result in greater elaboration and thus would be better recalled. This

experiment manipulated the content of advertisements to have expected and

12

unexpected visual or auditory content as well as relevant versus irrelevant visual
or auditory content (auditory content being ad copy rather than voice). This
experiment determined that recall of visual content was greater for unexpected
(incongruent) content than for expected (congruent) content but ad recognition
was unaffected. Relevant information was better recalled than irrelevant
information.

An extension of the expectancy and relevancy literature integrated humor
to determine if humor had a significant impact on the relationship between
expectancy, relevancy and attitude toward the ad / brand (Yih & Mason, 1999).
This study found that unexpected (incongruent) information that was relevant
resulted in more positive attitude toward the ad than did expected (congruent)
relevant information but no difference was present for attitude toward the brand.
Unexpected-irrelevant advertisements resulted in less favorable attitudes toward
the ad and attitudes toward the brand than did ads with expected irrelevant
information, but attitudes were improved if humor was used in the ads. Although
attitudes were different between conditions, ads with unexpected relevant
information had the same number of favorable ad and brand cognitions as the
expected relevant condition. In general, it was determined that incongruent
(unexpected) components resulted in more positive ad attitudes, but only when
the incongruent components were also relevant. This seemed to fit with the
moderate congruity literature which indicated that moderate congruity was the
most effective at improving consumer perceptions. Irrelevant and unexpected
information was extremely incongruent and had negative responses, while

relevant and unexpected information was the most positively evaluated and could

13

be operationalized as a moderately congruent manipulation. Furthermore, the
expected and relevant information was positively viewed, but still did not perform
as well as the ‘moderate’ condition of relevant-unexpected information.

In a similar vein of congruity research, an experiment was done to
determine the effects when respondents were given a description of a product
which identified it as being a member of a certain product category, and then
exposed the individual to an incongruent or congruent product description of a
product meant to be within that product category (Meyers-Levy & Tybout, 1989).
This was operationalized by utilizing the ‘beverage’ (superordinate product
category) and the ‘soft drink’ (basic product category) and giving respondents a
list of product attributes that created a congruent or incongruent fit with the soft
drink product category. Individuals who were told that the product was a soft drink
were likely to find the situation more or less congruent depending upon the list of
product attributes given. This experiment’s results indicated a higher level of
recall for incongruent product categories, but did not result in a significant change
in attitudes.

A similar study was conducted later in which need for cognition was
introduced as an additional variable (Meyers-Levy 8. Tybout, 1997). Before
respondents were exposed to a product description and taste test, all subjects
were asked to read a set of thoughts (either negative or positive) and respond to
them as a primer. This was intended to induce a mood prior to the individuals
responding to the actual stimulus. Following this primer individuals were exposed
to a manipulation similar to that identified in the previous study. It was found that

respondents that were low in need for cognition (as measured by a need-for-

14

cognition scale) exhibited moderately positive responses regardless of the
experimental treatment (information congruent or incongruent with schema
activated). For respondents with a high need for cognition, assimilation and
contrast effects were observed. For these high cognition individuals, situations in
which the product description was congruent with the product category identified
exhibited a contrast effect (they attempted to negate the impact of the mood
induced by the primer and thus overcompensated in the other direction) due to
their ability and need to cognitively process further their motivations for
responding to stimuli in a particular way and the excess of cognitive resources
available for the task. For situations in which the product description was
incongruent with the category, an assimilation effect was observed for individuals
with a high need for cognition (cognitive resources were fully utilized determining
why the description was incongruent with the expected product description and
thus no resources were available to compensate for the mood induced by the
primer).
Advertiser Congruitv

Companies have often been concerned with their brand image and how
consumers perceived their company. As such, companies have often attempted
to use imagery and messages that fit with the image that the company was
attempting to project, in order to strengthen the associations between the brand
and certain other nodes in consumers’ memory. This is how advertiser congruity
has often been described.

Congruity has also been found to be important when a company was

considering sponsoring a specific event (Rifon et al, 2004). In a study of

15

sponsorships, congruity was defined as a situation in which a sponsor that was
related somehow to the medium (e.g. health-related sponsors for breast cancer
research) sponsored a website. Attribution theory was utilized in this study to
determine the effects of different sponsorships by determining why respondents
believed the sponsor had placed an advertisement on the site. In the congruent
condition, significantly more people inferred an altruistic motive than in the
incongruent situation. The congruent situation also resulted in more positive
sponsor attitudes and stronger credibility perceptions. Further analysis (using a
step-down of F-values, an ANCOVA of the effects of congruence on credibility
perceptions with altruism motives as a covariate, and finally another ANCOVA of
congruence effects on sponsor attitudes with altruism attributions and sponsor
credibility as covariates) revealed that altruistic attributions mediated the
relationship between congruency and the change in attitudes and credibility
perceptions.

Another study of advertiser congruity studied the congruity between a
brand extension and the parent brand product category (Meyers-Levy et al,
1994). This was manipulated by pairing a book topic with different well-known
brands in order to create situations with high congruity, moderate congruity, and
high incongruity. These levels of congruity were established in a pretest in which
respondents were asked how likely each company was to create a brand in a
particular product category. The moderate congruity condition was found to be
preferred over both the congruent and highly incongruent conditions.

Another analysis of brand name congruity was conducted utilizing

websites as the context (Moore et al, 2005). This study utilized a pretest to

16

determine names that were either congruent, moderately congruent, or
incongruent with the product type (eg. Upper Newberry Pet Center was
incongruent with the apartment product category). Participants had higher recall
and recognition scores for incongruent brand names than for congruent brand
names. Conversely, attitude toward the ad was more favorable in the congruent
brand name condition than the incongruent brand name condition. In a further
investigation, the moderately congruent and the congruent condition were both
found to have more positive attitudes toward the ad than the incongruent
condition.
Commercial Commnent Congm

Congruity’s importance has been further demonstrated by within-
commercial factors. One study of model-spokesperson congruity determined the
relationship between types of product (attractiveness-related vs. non-
attractiveness related) and model attractiveness (Kamins, 1990). This study
found that attractiveness did not have any effect on brand attitudes, ad attitudes,
credibility or purchase intention when the product was unrelated to attractiveness
(eg. a personal computer). For products that were related to attractiveness,
however (eg. a sports car or beauty product), an attractive model was
significantly more effective than an unattractive model. Although attractive
models have generally been utilized in advertising and it has been said that these
models were always more effective, this research suggested that model
attractiveness was only important when consumers related it somehow to

enhancing their own physical beauty.

17

In another study of model congruity, celebrity spokespersons were
compared to expert spokespersons for different types of products (Kamins &
Gupta, 1994). This study compared advertisements in which the spokesperson
was deemed to be congruent (celebrity endorsing a product in which they were
viewed to have a certain amount of expertise) vs. incongruent (endorsing a
product unrelated to their area of expertise). Results showed that the higher the
degree of expertise (congruity), the greater the believability of the spokesperson
whether or not the spokesperson was a celebrity. Although this study showed
interesting results related to celebrity appropriateness, it could also be argued
that this was an issue of source credibility, and thus this study should be utilized
with caution in congruity research.

Further research discovered that models could also be congruent with the
cognitive age of the individuals viewing an ad (a version of self-congruity), which
can affect evaluations of the product and brand (Chang, 2008). Congruity was
defined as a similar ‘cognitive age’ as the perceived age of the model in the
advertisement. This type of congruity led to higher levels of ‘for me’ identification,
greater self-brand affinity, higher self-referencing, and more favorable brand
attitudes.

Another within-commercial component that has been evaluated for
congruity dealt with music-brand congruency (Lavack et al, 2001). Congruity was
determined by pretests in which respondents were asked to determine how
appropriate the brand was for different types of music (e.g. classic rock, blues).
Congruity was found to significantly improve attitude toward the ad and attitude

toward the brand when high-cognition ad copy was utilized, while congruent

18

music did not have any effect on these attitudes when low-cognition ad copy was
utilized.
Conclusion

Context-commercial congruity has been explored in many different ways:
context theme congruence and context involvement (Pelsmacker et al, 2002);
congruity between the mood of the context and the mood of the advertisement
(Kamins et al, 1991); affective vs. cognitive involvement congruity between
involvement in the context and involvement in the commercial (Sharma, 2000);
creative media medium choice and product category congruity (Dahlen, 2005);
product placement type (auditory vs. visual) and level of plot connection (Russell,
2002); congruent vs. incongruent product types within videogames (Lee & Faber,
2007); and the congruity between the images of two businesses that resided in
the same space at different time periods (Meyers-Levy & Stemthal, 1993). All of
these studies indicated that congruity between the context and the advertisement
had some impact on the effectiveness of the advertisements. These studies also
indicated that consumers prefer to understand why certain choices were made,
but do enjoy the process of determining what the relationship between the two
objects are, but only if the process ends with positive results (with an
understanding of why the choice was made). These studies indicated that
individuals did undertake this elaboration process, indicated by the increased
recall for incongruent or moderately congruent advertisements. However, the
attitude was consistently negative for incongruent advertisements because the
individuals did not like discrepancies between what was expected and what

occurred that were unsolvable. As such, uncertainties about the moderate

19

congruity operationalization have allowed study for all types of congruity, to
determine if moderate congruity is possible and, if so, what effect it has on
attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, product recall, and purchase

intentions within this particular domain of congruity research.

20

Chapter 3: Research Question

RQ1: Are there discemible differences in effort / perceived fit for the consumer
between high, moderate, and low congruity in advertising theme and context

theme congmity situations?

Chapter 3: Hypotheses

H 1 a: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive brand attitudes than an incongruent ad.

H 1 b: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive purchase intentions than an incongruent ad.

H10: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive attitude toward the ad than an incongruent ad.

H2: An incongruent ad (appeal does not match context) will be more efi'ective at
inducing brand recall than a congruent ad.

H33: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
attitude toward the ad than an incongruent or congruent ad.

H3b: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
brand attitudes than an incongruent or congruent ad.

H3c: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
purchase intentions than an incongruent or congruent ad.

H3d: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing brand recall

than an incongruent or congruent ad

21

Chapter 4: Methodology

aperimentilDesigg

Table 1: Experimental Design

 

 

 

 

 

Drama I Emotional Comedy Context
Context
Emotional Appeal Group 1 (Congruent) Group 2 (Incongruent)
Comedy Appeal Group 3 (Incongruent) Group 4 (Congruent)
Informative Appeal Group 5 (Moderate) Group 6 (Moderate)

 

 

 

This study was created to determine the effect of a match-up between the
theme of a commercial and the theme of the context within which it was placed.
This experimental design introduced the concept of moderate congruity, which
was new to commercial appeal-context theme congruity research.

A drama and a comedy context were chosen because following an
analysis of the Simmons 2004 data, these two types of programs were both
popular amongst the college-age demographic group. Following this decision,
commercials were chosen to fit with these two types of appeals. An informative
appeal was chosen to describe the commercial in the moderate congruity
condition, although the commercial was chosen based on neutral ratings for both
emotional warmth and humor. lnforrnative appeals were also deemed to be
generally appropriate within any context, but did not seem to be particularly

appropriate for either of these types of programs.

22

 

This experiment measured the effect of appeals placed in different types of
programming on college students and how congruence or ‘advertising fit’ affected
the audience’s reaction to the commercials. The same set of two ‘dummy’
commercials (one advertisement for a computer and one advertisement for pizza)
was placed within two different programs (That 70’s show and Grey’s Anatomy),
with one test commercial for a little-known but available coffee brand (Tim
Horton’s) with high, low, or moderate theme congruity with the context
programming placed within the commercial block. In order to control for the order
effect, the test commercials were all placed at the beginning of the three-
commercial block. Six different experimental conditions were used in this
experiment, with three different levels of congruity (three commercials) and two
different types of programming (humor and emotional / drama).

Online data collection was utilized in order to increase response rates. A
central website was used to redirect respondents to one of six online
questionnaires. Before the actual questionnaire could be accessed, respondents
watched a 13-minute segment of a television program with a commercial block
near the middle of the programming. The commercial block was placed near the
middle of the program to increase realism and to ensure that individuals were
fully engrossed in the program before and after viewing the commercial.
Variables

This experiment utilized the manipulation of the context-commercial theme
congruity as an independent variable, with six different manipulations which were
condensed into three different conditions (congruent, moderately congruent,

incongruent). The dependent variables utilized in this experiment included

23

purchase intentions, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and brand
recall. All scale items have been included in the questionnaire, located in
Appendix A.

Recall was measured by giving the respondents the product category
(coffee) and asking them to name the coffee brand. Coders then read each
individual response and determined whether or not the individuals had correctly
identified the brand.

Attitude toward the ad utilized a previously used scale created by Susan
Tai (1999) which was a 7—point semantic differential scale, and included items
such as clearI unclear, interesting I uninteresting, and appealing I unappealing.

Attitude toward the brand also used a scale created by previous
researchers (Spears & Singh, 2004). This was also a 7-point semantic differential
scale, which included items such as bad I good, favorable I unfavorable, and
appealing I unappealing.

Purchase intentions were measured using one 7-point semantic differential
scale item, with anchors of definitely won’t purchase I definitely will purchase
from Tim Horton’s.

EggLaJn Selection

Through an analysis of the Simmons 2003 television ratings as they
related to demographics, a humorous program was selected from the humor
context. The television show was selected because of high ratings within the 18-
24 demographic and a fairly even gender preference distribution. The drama was
selected based on analysis of the fan bases on applications within the social

networking site Facebook (Addicted To application and Become a Fan). Although

24

the gender distribution was biased toward the female demographic for the drama
program, the chosen episode appealed to both genders.

For the dramatic program, Grey’s Anatomy was chosen due to its
popularity on the Addicted To feature. The Addicted To Grey’s Anatomy feature
had 114,901 fans as of November 14, 2008. Because Facebook was most avidly
used by the chosen sample frame of undergraduate students at universities, this
was a positive indicator that individuals within this demographic enjoyed the
Grey’s Anatomy program. Although other demographic groups had begun
utilizing the social networking site Facebook, the individuals most likely to explore
its features were still within the target market of undergraduate students.

For the humorous program, That 70’s Show was chosen due to high
ratings among the market and a small gender skew (based on the Simmons 2003
ratings). In the sample males were 9% more likely to watch the show than
females. Young adults were more likely than any other demographic to watch the
show, with 6.89% of them watching the television show regularly.

Mmental Procedures

Since this experiment was testing for a context effect on commercial
effectiveness, a pretest was required. This pre-test asked students to evaluate
the commercials on the two different types of appeal used (please see Appendix
B for further information) in order to ensure that commercial appeal type was
agreed upon by the audience, and to ensure comparability for each commercial
that was actually tested (commercials with similar scores on the appeal type that
they represent were selected to be the test commercials utilized). Based on these

pre-tests, three commercials for the same brand were selected in order to

25

represent a humorous appeal, an emotional appeal, and an informative appeal
(used to represent the moderate congruity condition).

The experiment took place online with a random assignment of six
different online questionnaires (please see Appendix A for further information).
This experimental design tested the effectiveness of congruity manipulations by
measuring consumers’ brand recall, attitude toward the brand, attitude toward the
ad, and purchase intentions for the three different conditions. More information
was collected in order to ensure that any other variables that could have possibly
affected these key variables were available for use as covariates. Respondents
were also asked about the perceived ‘fit’ between the commercial and the
program in order to ensure that the congruity manipulation was successful.
Individuals evaluated each commercial on humor, emotional warmth, and
inforrnativeness in order to ensure that this manipulation was also successful.

The commercials were all for the same brand (Tim Horton’s) which was
available in the geographic area of study but for which brand attitudes and
purchase intentions were still largely undefined. The brand was selected based
on availability of appropriate commercials as well as the relatively unknown
quality of the brand (individuals had very little experience with the brand prior to
participating in the experiment). Dummy commercials were utilized but were for
products that were typically appealing to members of the youth demographic and
for fairly familiar brands. See Appendix C for storyboards of the three
experimental commercials used in the study.

Two different types of programming were used to test the context effect on

appeal effectiveness: a comedy (That 70’s Show) and a drama (Grey’s Anatomy).

26

The programs that were used had to appeal to both male and female young
adults to eliminate gender bias when respondents reacted to the commercials.
Although these programs were of different lengths (one was a half hour show,
another was an hour-long show), the programs were edited to ensure that that
the manipulations were approximately the same length. Although in each group
some of the respondents were likely to have seen the program before, if they
were true fans of the program they would still have been engaged in the program
and if they were not fans they would have been unlikely to remember the
program even if they had seen it before.
Recruitment Technique

Subjects were solicited from large undergraduate advertising classes.
Some students received extra credit points for participation in the research.
Because the experiment needed to be representative of the general student
population, this experiment included only undergraduate students (the most
representative sample of the general public within a university environment).
Individuals participating in the experiment were told that the purpose of the
experiment was to test individuals” response to the program as well as the
advertising within the programming. This ensured that they did not skip the
commercials but did not focus solely on the commercials either.

Professors from the advertising department were asked to agree to award
a bonus point in return for a student taking part in the study. Professors that
agreed to this sent out an email invitation to participate in the study to their
students with a link to the informed consent page of the experiment. From that

link, respondents were randomly redirected to one of six experimental conditions.

27

Following completion of the survey students were redirected to a central
webpage not associated with the research data collection in which they were
asked to fill in their name, student number and class, in order to record extra
credit points. Respondent confidentiality was maintained by disassociating the
subjects’ names from the data collection questionnaires. A copy of the data

collection questionnaire can be found in Appendix A.

28

Chapter 5: Results

QescLiption of the Sampl_e

The sample of 202 students was comprised entirely of individuals between
the ages of 19 and 24. Only 1.5% of the sample was under the age of 20, and
93.5% of the sample was between the ages of 20 and 22. Male respondents
comprised 34.2% of the sample, which demonstrated a slight skew towards the
female gender in the sample. All respondents were members of at least one
advertising concentration course in a large Midwestern university of the United
States.

Gender distribution was not significantly different for the three different

congruity conditions tested (X2 (2) = 1.794, p > 0.05). This indicated that the

sample compositions for gender were the same.

Table 2: Gender Distribution of Samfi

 

Male Female
Congruent 38.10% 61.90%
Moderate 36.60% 63.40%
Incongruent 27.90% 72.10%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Age distribution was not significantly different for the three different

congruity conditions tested (X2 (10) = 7.524, p > 0.05). This indicated that the

sample compositions for age were the same.

29

_'l'_a_ble 3: Age Distribution of Sample

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 20 21 22 23 24
Comment 1.60% 46.00% 31 .70% 14.30% 4.80% 1.60%
Moderate 0.00% 33.80% 43.70% 18.30% 4.20% 0%
Incongruent 2.90% 42.60% 36.80% 13.20% 4.40% 0%

 

 

Manipulation Checks

This section of the results is concerned with determining which other
factors measured had an effect on the dependent variables of brand recall,
attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intentions. Those
findings that were significant were used as covariates when the hypotheses were
tested in order to control for any effects that these variables might have had on
the dependent variables.

A series of one-way ANOVAs and chi-square tests were conducted in
order to determine if the show type, commercial type or television show
involvement significantly affected the dependent variables of brand recall, attitude
toward the brand, attitude toward the ad, or purchase intention. Show type,
commercial type and TV involvement were analyzed in order to ensure that these
manipulations did not significantly affect the dependent variables, and that any
difference in perception was due to the experimental manipulation rather than
these differences.

The series of one-way ANOVAs and chi-square tests based on show type
indicated that show type did not have a significant effect on congruity perceptions
(F(1, 200) = 1.289, p > 0.05), did not have a significant impact on attitude toward

the brand (F(1, 193) = 1.359, p > 0.05), did not have a significant impact on

30

attitude toward the ad (F(1, 193) = 3.804, p > 0.05), and did not have a significant

impact on brand recall (x2 (1) = 2.305, p > 0.05). This series of tests indicated

that show type did not have an effect on our dependent variables, and thus did
not interfere with the congruity effect discussed in the hypotheses. Show type did
have a significant impact on purchase intention, however (F (1, 199) = 4.682, p <
0.05). The data indicated that individuals who viewed the drama (Grey’s
Anatomy) were slightly more likely than individuals who viewed the comedy (That
70’s Show) to recall the brand of interest. This finding indicated that should
significant results be found for attitude toward the ad, show type would need to
be controlled for to ensure that this was not the reason for the significant effects.
The series of one-way ANOVAs and chi-squares based on commercial
type indicated that commercial appeal did not have a significant impact on
congruity perceptions (F(2, 199) = 2.255, p > 0.05), did not have a significant
impact on attitude toward the brand (F(2, 192) = 0.486, p > 0.05), did not have a

significant impact on purchase intention (F(2, 198) = 1.338, p > 0.05), and did not

have a significant impact on brand recall (x2 (2) = 0.248, p > 0.05). Commercial

appeal type did, however, have a significant impact on attitude toward the ad (F
(2, 192) = 10.918, p < 0.001). Following a series of post-hoc tests it was
determined that a commercial with a dramatic appeal (M = 41.61) was preferred
to a commercial with a humorous appeal (M = 36.79) or the informative appeal (M
= 36.32). No significant difference existed between the humorous and informative
commercials’ attitude toward the ad. Similar to other results, should attitude

toward the ad be significantly affected by the congruity manipulation, commercial

31

type would need to be controlled for to ensure that this does not confound the
results.

Further analysis of the one-way ANOVAs and Chi-squares determined that
involvement in the television show had no significant effect on perceptions of
congruity (F(1, 198) = 1.807, p > 0.05), had no significant effect on attitude
toward the ad (F(1, 193) = 0.693, p > 0.05), had no significant effect on purchase

intention (F(1, 197) = 0.004, p > 0.05) and had no significant effect on brand

recall (x2 (29) = 24.213, p > 0.05). Television involvement did, however, have a

significant effect on attitude toward the brand (F (1, 191) = 6.405, p < 0.05).

Following the use of a regression analysis, however, the R2 = 0.032, however, so

this was determined to be too small of an effect to be deemed a confounding
variable.

A one-way ANOVA was run in order to determine if congruity perceptions
differed for the different congruity manipulations utilized. The results indicated
that congruity perceptions did differ for the three conditions (F (2, 199) = 19.473,
p < 0.001). A post-hoc analysis was utilized to determine which conditions were
significantly different, and it was determined that the congruent condition was
significantly different from the incongruent condition (p < 0.001) and the
moderately congruent condition (p < 0.001) but that the incongruent and

moderate condition were not significantly different (p > 0.05).

32

Table 4: Mean Congruity Perception Scores of Gr0t_1p_s_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean SD
Congruent 8.921 2.892
Moderately
Incongruent 6.761 2.405
Inconment 6.382 2.186

 

 

Table 5: Post Hoc Analysis of Congruitv Perceptions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congruent Moderate Incongruent

Congruent p-value - 0.000 0.000

Mean

Difference - 2.16 2.538
Moderate p-value 0.000 - 0.646

Mean

Difference 2.16 - 0.378
Incogqruent p-value 0.000 0.646 -

Mean

Difference 2.538 0.378 -

 

Research Q_ugstion Testing

Based on the above discussion of the respondents’ perceptions of the
congruity condition, the research question was tested. This research determined
that although congruity perceptions did exist for theme congruity, congruity in this
case was a bifurcation between ‘congruent’ and ‘not congruent’ commercials.

Moderately incongruent appeals were viewed to be equally incongruent as the

extremely incongruent appeals by respondents.

The above table (table 5) summarizes the post-hoc analysis conducted for

this research question. It includes p-values as well as the mean differences in

congruity perceptions for each set of congruity manipulations.

33

 

 

Hypothesis Testing
These tables summarize the means and standard deviations for the
different dependent variables under the three different congruity situations.

Iable 6: Mean and Standard Deviations for Attitude Toward the Brand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean SD
Congruent 23.873 6.150
Moderately
Incongruent 23.114 5.174
Incongruent 23.661 5.593

 

Table 7: Mean and Standard Deviations for Purchase Intentions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean SD
Congruent 0.670 0.475
Moderately
Incongruent 0.580 0.497
Incongruent 0.690 0.465

 

_T_able 8: Mean and Standard Deviations for Attitude Toward the Ad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean SD
Congruent 39.050 9.486
Moderately
Incongruent 36.328 5.445
Inconguent 39.471 7.064

 

Ia_ble 9: Mean and Standard Deviations for Brand Recall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean SD
Congruent 0.830 0.383
Moderately
Incongruent 0.770 0.421
Incongruent 0.780 0.418

 

This table summarizes the results of a MANOVA comparing congruent and

incongruent advertisement situations.

34

 

 

 

 

Fible 10: MANOVA: Cmgruent vs. Incongruent Manflation Effect on

Dependent Variables

 

 

 

 

Dependent Variable DF F Sil
Attitude Toward the Brand 1 0.074 0.786
Purchase Intentions 1 0.016 0.900
Attitude Toward the Ad 1 0.135 0.714

 

 

 

 

 

 

*See tables 6 through 8 for means and standard deviations
H1 a: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive brand attitudes than an incongruent ad.

This hypothesis was tested utilizing a multivariate analysis of variance.
The congruity manipulation did not have a significant impact on attitude toward
the brand (F (1) = 0.074, p > 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis 1a was not supported.
H 1 b: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive purchase intentions than an incongruent ad.

Following further use of the multivariate analysis of variance procedure,
the congruity manipulation was determined to have no significant impact on
purchase intentions (F(1) = 0.016, p > 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis 1b was not
supponed.

H 1 c: A congruent ad (appeal matches context) will be more effective at inducing
positive attitude toward the ad than an incongruent ad

A multivariate analysis of variance procedure was used to determine if the
congruity manipulation had a significant impact on attitude toward the ad, and
findings were not significant (F (1) = 0.135, p > 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis 10

was not supported.

35

 

 

H2: An incongruent ad (appeal does not match context) will be more effective at
inducing brand recall than a congruent ad.

The congruity manipulation was tested utilizing a chi-square test to

determine if it significantly impacted brand recall (X2 (1) = 0.435, p > 0.05). The

results were not significant, and thus hypothesis 2 was not supported.
Laple 11: Chi-square: Congruent vs. |ncong_rt_1ent Manipulation Effect on Brand

Recall

 

Dependent Variable DF X2 Sig

Brand Recall 1 0.435 0.510
*See table 9 for means and standard deviations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H3a: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
attitude toward the ad than an incongruent or congruent ad.

The moderate congruity manipulation was tested utilizing a multivariate
analysis of variance (F (2) = 3.404, p > 0.035). Since an emotionally warm appeal
was found to improve attitude toward the ad in pretesting sections, type of
commercial was used as a covariate in a MANCOVA. This removed all significant
effects of type of congruity on attitude toward the ad, and thus these results were
not significant. Therefore, hypothesis 3a was not supported.

@le 1; MANCOVA: Moderate lncomrpent Manipulation Effect on Agg

conLrollingfor commercial type

 

Dependent Variable DF F Sig
Attitude Toward the Ad 2 2.221 0.111
*See table 8 for means and standard deviations

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following table is a summary of the MANOVAs run to compare all

three congruity conditions.

36

fine 13: MANOVA: Moderate Incongruent Maniwlationjfiect on Dependent

 

 

 

Variables
Dependent Variable DF F Sig
Attitude toward the Brand 2 0.147 0.864
Purchase Intention 2 0.413 0.662

 

 

 

 

 

 

*See tables 6 through 7 for means and standard deviations
H3b: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
brand attitudes than an incongruent or congruent ad.

The moderate congruity manipulation was further tested through the use of
multivariate analysis to test this hypothesis (F (2) = 0.147, p > 0.05). These
results were not significant, and thus hypothesis 3b was unsupported.

H3c: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing positive
purchase intentions than an incongruent or congruent ad.

A multivariate analysis of variance procedure was utilized to test the
moderate congruity manipulation’s impact on purchase intentions, and findings
were not significant F (2) = 0.413, p > 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis 3c was not
supponed.

H3d: A moderately incongruent ad will be more effective at inducing brand recall
than an incongruent or congruent ad.

The moderate congruity manipulation was tested utilizing a chi-square test

to determine if this condition significantly impacted brand recall (X2 (2) = 0.622, p

> 0.05). The results were not significant, and thus hypothesis 3d was not

supponed.

37

Ia_ble 14: Chi-imam: Moderate Incongruent Magiwlation Effect on Brand Reg"

 

Dependent Variable DF X2 Sig

Brand Recall 2 0.622 0.733
*See table 9 for means and standard deviations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These findings support the earlier findings of Pelsmacker et al (2002) that
theme congruity had no significant effects on the key indicators of advertising

success.

38

Chapter 6: Discussion

This research addressed the effect of different congruity conditions
(congruent, moderately incongruent, and incongruent) on advertising
effectiveness measures, including brand recall, attitude toward the ad, attitude
toward the brand, and purchase intentions.

A previous study of advertiser appeal-context theme congruity was
conducted (Pelsmacker, 2002). These findings replicate this previous study, and
provide further support for the findings. Previous research focused only on the
congruent versus incongruent manipulation, but the first set of hypotheses (H1a,
H1b, H2) were tested in order to replicate these findings. Null findings are not
often found in congruity literature, and thus further evidence for these unexpected
results helps scientists to determine that this indeed is an area of congruity that
has little impact on consumers’ perceptions of the brand or advertiser.

The research question addressed in this study is the most interesting
result in this research. Moderate congruity has been a key variable for much of
the congruity literature, and has been previously shown to be an effective tool at
improving attitudes toward the brand and attitude toward the ad without
sacrificing brand recall.

As this research indicated, consumers tend to perceive advertisements to
be either congruent or incongruent in advertiser appeal-context theme situations.
Advertising researchers, in the past, have been able to capitalize on moderate
congruity in order to reduce the typical trade-off between attitudes (which tended

to be positive for congruent situations) and brand recall (which tended to be the

39

 

best for incongruent situations). Findings tended to indicate that brand recall and
attitudes were both improved in moderate congruity situations. These findings,
however, would suggest that advertising researchers cannot rely on this in all
types of congruity research.

This lack of moderate congruity perceptions from the consumer may be
due to the nature of this type of congruity. There are certain situations in which
the perception of moderately congruent information is possible, but there are
likely many other situations in which the differences between moderately
incongruent information and incongruent information are too subtle and irrelevant
to the consumer’s evaluation for the consumer to perceive the difference. As
such, moderate congruity may only exist in situations in which it would be
relevant to the consumer and consumers have the resources to perceive the
difference.

The lack of moderate congruity perceptions may also be due to other
factors which affected the consumers’ evaluations. Some consumers may not
have been coffee drinkers or may have been loyal to a particular coffee brand,
and thus this may have affected the manipulation. Other factors that may have
impacted the manipulation adversely include program selection, commercial
selection, or the attention that respondents paid to the commercial in the artificial
setting of the online experiment.

There are limitations to this study’s generalizability as well due to the
homogeneity of the sample (college students) and the product category utilized.
As such, these and other factors may have masked the effects that moderate

congruity could have had on the consumers’ perceptions. In future studies,

40

 

researchers should seek to understand whether or not there is a perception of
moderate congruity in a more general population. Even if consumers are unable
to consciously perceive differences between moderate incongruity and
incongruity in this type of congruity research, it is possible that a moderately
incongruent manipulation may still have an effect on the measures of advertising
effectiveness. This is another area for further research.

The moderate congruity manipulation in this research may have been
confused by operational difficulties. When consumers were asked about
congruity perceptions, at times other types of congruity may have interfered (such
as product congruity, self congruity, advertiser congruity, etc) with their
evaluations. Despite explicit instructions to evaluate the theme congruity, it is
possible that this confounded the experimental results. By utilizing a rational
appeal for the moderate congruity condition, a different cognitive set of
considerations and evaluations may have been created. Both of the other
commercials were based on affective responses, so by introducing a commercial
which focuses on cognitive responses, the results may have been adversely
affected.

This research only studied one brand which did already do some small
amount of advertising in the geographic area. An existing brand was used to
increase realism and external validity, but further research could explore fictional
or unknown brands, or sets of known brands in order define the parameters of
the congruity variable. This research focused on television commercials to
manipulate congruity perceptions, but future research may be needed to

determine if the results for moderate congruity can be replicated in some form of

41

advertising aside from television commercials (e.g., print advertising or new
media)

The null findings in this research indicate that advertiser appeal-context
theme congruity has no significant impact on measures of advertising
effectiveness. Because incongruity was found to have no significant negative
impact on advertising effectiveness measures, advertisers should be able to use
the same appeal type regardless of the context without negative repercussions.
This would allow advertisers to use appeals appropriate to the product category
without concerning themselves with the impact the context will have on how the
advertisement will be received by consumers. By recognizing this, advertisers will
be able to use the same commercials in multiple contexts, thereby reducing the
costs of creating advertisements. Advertisers will also be able to ensure that the
most appropriate appeal is used for the target audience and product category

without needing to consider what type of program it will be placed in.

42

Appendix A: Survey Instrument

Commercial I Context Evaluations

Informed Consent Form

You are being asked to participate in an experiment to examine the relationship
between attributes of television programs and television commercials. You will be
asked to evaluate certain characteristics of both the programs and commercials.

Your participation is voluntary. You may refuse to participate or may refuse to
answer some of the questions asked. You may discontinue participation at any
time.

You will be asked to watch a television program with commercials on from your
home computer for about 15 minutes and then answer questions about the
experience. Your responses will be confidential, and your privacy will be
protected to the maximum extent of the law.

Since you will be participating for credit or as part of a classroom research
experience, you will be asked for your name and PID following completion of the
questionnaire on a separate survey. Your questionnaire will be separate and
have no personal identification on it. Identification numbers that cannot be
connected to your personal information will be assigned to the collected
questionnaires after completion. The only foreseeable risk is that your credit may
be incorrectly assigned. If your credit is not recorded correctly, please contact the
researcher listed below.

If you have questions about this study, contact: Keith Adler, Ph.D., Department of
Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing, Michigan State University, 366
Communication Arts Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, (517) 353-3266,
adler@msu.edu.

If you have any questions about your role and rights as a research participant, or
would like to register a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously
if you wish, the Director of MSU's Human Research Protection Programs, Dr.
Peter Vasilenko, at 517-355-2180, FAX 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu, or
regular mail at: 202 Olds Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.

By clicking on the ’next page' button below, you are indicating your voluntary
agreement to participate in this study.

 

Please watch the following video before proceeding to the rest of the survey. You
will be asked questions on the program and the commercials you viewed, with

43

emphasis on one commercial in particular. Thank you for your cooperation.

Video

 

Using an emotional warmth scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very
emotionally warm and O is not emotionally warm, how emotionally warm
was the program you just watched?

Using a humor scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very humorous and 0 is
not humorous, how humorous was the program you just watched?

i—

 

How appealing do you find this television program?
(1) Unappealing (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Appealing

F (“ t" (7 f" I” ("

What is your opinion of this television program?

(1) Bad (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Good

(7 (" (‘ (" (" (7 I"

How pleasant do you find this television program?

(1)Unpleasant (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Pleasant

(‘ (7 f” f“ (7 (" (7

How favorable do you find this television program?

(1)Unfavorable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Favorable

(‘ t” t" (‘ F I" (7

44

How likable do you find this television program?

(1)Unlikable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Likable

I" I" (" I" t" (‘ t"

 

The first ad you viewed was a coffee ad. What brand of coffee was it
selling?

I

 

 

The brand was Tim Horton's coffee.

Had you heard of the Tim Horton's brand before watching this commercial?

F
Yes
F

No

Have you ever made a purchase from Tim Horton's?

is
Yes
c

No

 

Using an emotional warmth scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very
emotionally warm and 0 is not emotionally warm, how emotionally warm
was the coffee ad you just watched?

[._

Using a humor scale from O to 100, where 100 is very humorous and 0 is
not humorous, how humorous was the coffee ad you just watched?

I'—

Using an informativeness scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very informative
and 0 is not informative, how informative was the coffee ad you just
watched?

l__

45

 

How well would you say the coffee ad 'fits' with the program you were
watching?
c r“ r‘ r“ r

(1) Fits very well r (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Does not fit

How similar would you say the mood of the coffee commercial is to the
program you watched?

" (1)Not similar 8 (2) r (3) r (4) F (5) F (6) F (7) Very similar

 

How interesting did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?
(1) Interesting (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Uninteresting

(‘ I" t" F f‘ F (7

How appealing did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Unappealing (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Appealing

(7 f“ (" (7 t" F (7

How believable did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Unbelievable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Believable

(" (7 (" F t“ 4" (7

How attractive did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Attractive (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Unattractive

t" t" (7 (‘ I" (7 I"

How impressive did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)1mpressive (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Unimpressive

t" t" (‘ t" (" t7 (7

46

I-Iow informative did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Uninformative (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)lnformative

(7 f“ F t" I" (7 (~

How eye-catching did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Eye-catching (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Not eye-catching

t" I" (" t" t" (7 (7

How clear did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Unclear (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Clear

t" F F F f“ F ("‘

How acceptable did you find the coffee commercial you viewed?

(1)Acceptable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Unacceptable

1" (7 t" t" I" F (7

 

How appealing do you find this coffee brand?
(1) Unappealing (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Appealing
r r r r‘ c r“ r“

What is your opinion of this coffee brand?

(1)1361d (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Good

F F f” (" (7 F ("

47

How pleasant do you find this coffee brand?

(1)Unpleasant (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Pleasant

r‘ I" (" F (" (7 I"

How favorable do you find this coffee brand?

(1)Unfavorable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Favorable

(7 I" (7 t“ I" ('~ I"

How likable do you find this coffee brand?

(1)Unlikable (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Likable

(7 I" F (‘ f“ (‘ I"

 

How likely are you to purchase products from this coffee brand in the
future?

r (1) Definitely won't purchase from Tim Horton's

(2) Probably won't purchase from Tim Horton's

(3) May not purchase from Tim Horton's

(4) Don’t know if I will or won't purchase from Tim Horton's
(5) May purchase from Tim Horton’s

(6) Probably will purchase from Tim Horton's

333333

(7) Definitely will purchase from Tim Horton's

How interesting do you find the specialty coffee shop product category?

(1)lnteresting (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Uninteresting

(7 I" f‘ t" I" f“ I"

 

48

The second ad you viewed was a computer ad. What brand of computer
was it selling?

 

 

The brand was a Dell computer.

Had you heard of the Dell brand before watching this commercial?
6

(fl

Yes
No

Have you ever made a purchase from Dell?
r‘

Yes
F No

 

Using an emotional warmth scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very
emotionally warm and 0 is not emotionally warm, how emotionally warm
was the computer ad you just watched?

Using a humor scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very humorous and 0 is
not humorous, how humorous was the computer ad you just watched?

i—

Using an informativeness scale from O to 100, where 100 is very informative

and 0 is not informative, how informative was the computer ad you just
watched?

[_

 

How well would you say the computer ad 'fits' with the program you were
watching?

I“ I" F F t"

(3) <4) <5) (6) ‘i

(1) Fits very well

(2) (7) Does not fit

49

How similar would you say the mood of the computer commercial is to the
program you watched?

F (1)Notsimilar " (2) F (3) F (4) F (5) F (6) F (7)Verysimi|ar

 

How likely are you to purchase products from this computer brand in the
mmm?

r“ (1) Definitely won't purchase from Dell

(2) Probably won't purchase from Dell

(3) May not purchase from Dell

(4) Don't know if I will or won’t purchase from Dell
(5) May purchase from Dell

(6) Probably will purchase from Dell

333333

(7) Definitely will purchase from Dell

How interesting do you find the home computer product category?

(1)lnteresting (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Uninteresting

I" I" I" (" I" (" I"

 

The third ad you viewed was a pizza ad. What brand of pizza was it selling?

 

 

The brand was Little Caesar's pizza.

Had you heard of the Little Caesar's brand before watching this
commercial?

(I!
Yes

("No

50

Have you ever made a purchase from Little Caesar's?

(a
Yes

PNo

 

Using an emotional warmth scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very
emotionally warm and O is not emotionally warm, how emotionally warm
was the pizza ad you just watched?

Using a humor scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is ven/ humorous and O is
not humorous, how humorous was the pizza ad you just watched?

I—_

Using an informativeness scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very informative
and 0 is not informative, how informative was the pizza ad you just
watched?

I—_

 

 

How well would you say the pizza ad 'fits' with the program you were
watching?
r“ c r r“ r‘

(1)Fits very well 8 (2) (3) (4) (5) (e) (7) Does notfit

How similar would you say the mood of the pizza commercial is to the
program you watched?

(7 t" t“ I" t" r‘

(1)Not similar 5 (2) (3)‘ (4) (5) (6) (7) Very similar

 

51

How likely are you to purchase products from this pizza brand in the
future?

F (1) Definitely won't purchase from Little Caesar's

(2) Probably won't purchase from Little Caesar's

(3) May not purchase from Little Caesar's

(4) Don't know if I will or won't purchase from Little Caesar's
(5) May purchase from Little Caesar's

(6) Probably will purchase from Little Caesar's

333333

(7) Definitely will purchase from Little Caesar's

How interesting do you find the pizza product category?

(1)lnteresting (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)Uninteresting

I" f‘ (7 I“ f‘ (" f‘

 

Please fill out the following information about yourself:

Gender

5 Male

Female

Age

F—

 

52

Appendix B: Pretest Questionnaire

Programs and Commercials:
A Study of Congruity

Informed Consent Form

You are being asked to participate in a study to evaluate television commercials.
You will be asked to evaluate certain characteristics of each commercial after
watching it in class.

Your participation is voluntary. You may refuse to participate or may refuse to
answer some of the questions asked. You may discontinue participation at any
time. Your responses will be confidential, and your privacy will be protected to the
maximum extent of the law.

Since you will be participating for credit or as part of a classroom research
experience, you will be asked to provide your name. Your questionnaire
responses will be separated from your responses before any analysis begins.
Identification numbers that cannot be connected to your personal information will
be assigned to the collected questionnaires after you leave. The only foreseeable
risk is that your credit may be incorrectly assigned. If your credit is not recorded
correctly, please contact the researcher listed below.

If you have questions about this study, contact: Keith Adler, Ph.D., Department of
Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing, Michigan State University, 366
Communication Arts Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, (517) 353-3266,
adler@msu.edu.

If you have any questions about your role and rights as a research participant, or
would like to register a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously
if you wish, the Director of MSU’s Human Research Protection Programs, Dr.
Peter Vasilenko, at 517-355-2180, FAX 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu, or
regular mail at: 202 Olds Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.

 

 

Name Date

 

Signature

53

Commercial i:

How emotionally warm do you find this ad on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0
being not emotionally warm at all and 100 being very emotionally warm?

 

How humorous do you find this ad on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being not
humorous at all and 100 being very humorous?

 

How informative do you find this ad on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being not
informative at all and 100 being very informative?

 

54

Appendix C: Commercial Storyboards
Appendix C: Commercials
Commercial 1: Emotional Appeal

Music as man (grandfather) walks down
the street with Tim Horton’s coffee

Flashback: grandfather finds son playing
hockey in the street

Grandfather “You must study harder.
Not just hockey all the time" (as they
walk away together)

Present day: grandfather walks into rink
and sees caretaker

Caretaker: “Hi Charlie, what are you
doing here?"

Grandfather (Charlie) “My grandson"
Charlie hands coffee to caretaker “For
you”

Caretaker: “Gee thanks”

Charlie climbs bleachers to sit next to
his son.

Son “Attaboy.” (cheering on his own
son) “Dad. What are you doing here?”

Charlie: “See Tommy" Hands coffee to
his son “Double double”

Son: “Thanks"

 

55

 

Flashback: Charlie comes in while his
son is watching hockey and doing
homework at the same time “You study.
No hockey."

See team (with Tommy) playing hockey
Son: “He’s good.”

Charlie: “Better than you."

Son: sighs “How would you know?"
Charlie: “I come watch.”

Flashback: Charlie hiding around the
comer watching his son playing hockey.
Caretaker comes and brings him a
coffee while he watches.

Son: "Okay, what team did I play for?”
Charlie pulls a hockey card out of his
wallet with a picture of his son “You red
wing”

Son smiles

Tommy does something well on the ice

Charlie: Cheering “My grandson! My
grandson!"

Son: “Thanks for coming, Dad”
Charlie: “Give me my picture back”

Caption: Every cup tells a story.

56

Commercial 2: Humor Appeal

 

Woman working at desk

Man in break room: “I love fresh
strawberries” as he and female co-
worker eat strawberry tarts

Woman in break room: “Mmmm-hmm”

Woman working at desk stands up and
begins to walk toward the break room
and tarts when another man steps
between her and the break room

Man in office: “Hi Karen, 1 want to
discuss the schedule of receivables with
you, it won’t take too long.” (Karen is
watching more and more people take
away tarts from break room) “Okay
good. Now before we start I should
mention that one of our secondary
objectives for this year was to. . .”

Karen sees that there is only one tart left
and cuts him off as she picks him up and
heaves him over her shoulder as she
runs toward the break room and picks
up the last strawberry tart.

Commentator: “Nothing can get between
you and the plump and juicy fresh
strawberries in Tim Horton’s delicious
strawberry tarts. Just $1.49”

57

 

58

Commercial 3: Informative

Man 1 eating soup in break room

Man 2 walks in: “Mmmm, something
smells.”

Man 1: “Yeah, it's mushroom soup from
Tim Horton’s”

Man 2: “I'll have to get some"

Man 1 taps spoon on the side of the
bowl to wipe off excess before taking
next mouthful

Man 2: ‘Why are you eating your soup
like that?

Man 1: “Proper etiquette”
Man 2: “For eating soup"

Man 1: “Well when it’s made with three
kinds of mushrooms and it’s this good,
then yes. It’s a little thing called being
refined” (shakes out ‘napkin’ to wipe his
mouth)

Man 2: “Yeah, and that’s a little thing
called an oil rag.”

(ream I‘ '~I
Mushioffiuu Man 1 frowns as he looks at rag

a Commentator: “Made with chiitake
@ porcini and buck mushrooms it’s Tim
Horton’s creamy field mushroom soup”

 

Jingle: “Always fresh, always Tim
Horton’

59

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