ABSTRACT
Convincing consumers of a product’s benefits is crucial to the success of an advertising campaign. To achieve this goal, a strategy commonly adopted by marketers is to repeat simple product claims—we have heard on numerous occasions that, “Campbells soup is good food.” Therefore, an enduring question in the study of advertising effectiveness concerns the effect of repetition on the consumer (for reviews, see Calder & Sternthal, 1980; Pechmann & Stewart, 1989). Repeating an ad has been found to enhance memory for the advertised brand (Belch, 1982; Cacioppo & Petty, 1979). Multiple exposures of the same ad have also been found to first increase and then decrease positive attitude toward the advertised products (Cacioppo & Petty, 1979; Sawyer & Ward, 1979). Although the effect of repetition on consumers is clearly an important concern for marketers, very little research has been done on the impact of repetition on consumer beliefs. The objectives of this research are to (a) confirm prior findings that repetition increases belief in marketing claims, and (b) further our understanding of the memory mechanisms underlying the effect of repetition on beliefs.
