ABSTRACT
In 1961, the Advertising Research Foundation published its six-stage model for evaluating media. Beginning with vehicle distribution, it posited that the evaluation must then consider vehicle exposure, advertising exposure, advertising perception, advertising communication, and finally sales response (“The ARF Model,” 1989). If all six stages could be measured, one would gain a fairly good idea of how advertising works. However, since that time, although considerable research effort has been given to improving our knowledge of the first three stages, and experimental studies have been done on the last stage, more still remains to be learned on how best to evaluate the media messages themselves. Indeed, the focus tends to remain on media vehicle, as opposed to advertising exposure, and controversy persists on linking advertising exposures to sales effectiveness.
