Attention Grabbers: an Exploration of the Automatic Categorization of Advertisement Headlines

ABSTRACT - The research presented here draws on previous research in preattentive processing and automaticity and investigates new ways for marketers to elicit attention to their advertisements. The study finds support for the hypothesis that advertising headlines located in the periphery are semantically processed prior to conscious attention and that these headlines are able to initiate automatic categorization that leads to differential shifts in attention. Using Signal Detection Theory measures and a second study, we were able to eliminate alternative explanations such as differential memorability of individual words employed, differential decay in memory of the two types of stimuli, and response bias.



Citation:

Jesper Nielsen and Charlotte Mason (2001) ,"Attention Grabbers: an Exploration of the Automatic Categorization of Advertisement Headlines", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 28, eds. Mary C. Gilly and Joan Meyers-Levy, Valdosta, GA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 448.

Advances in Consumer Research Volume 28, 2001     Page 448

ATTENTION GRABBERS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE AUTOMATIC CATEGORIZATION OF ADVERTISEMENT HEADLINES

Jesper Nielsen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Charlotte Mason, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ABSTRACT -

The research presented here draws on previous research in preattentive processing and automaticity and investigates new ways for marketers to elicit attention to their advertisements. The study finds support for the hypothesis that advertising headlines located in the periphery are semantically processed prior to conscious attention and that these headlines are able to initiate automatic categorization that leads to differential shifts in attention. Using Signal Detection Theory measures and a second study, we were able to eliminate alternative explanations such as differential memorability of individual words employed, differential decay in memory of the two types of stimuli, and response bias.

----------------------------------------

Authors

Jesper Nielsen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Charlotte Mason, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



Volume

NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 28 | 2001



Share Proceeding

Featured papers

See More

Featured

The Asymmetry between Time and Money Compensation effect when feeling Scarcity: Time helps the Money Poor, but Money doesn’t help the Time Poor

Jane So, University of Washington, USA
Nidhi Agrawal, University of Washington, USA

Read More

Featured

Cheating Your Self: Diagnostic Self-Deceptive Cheating for Intrinsic Rewards

Sara Loughran Dommer, Georgia Tech, USA
Nicole Marie Coleman, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Read More

Featured

A8. Do You Accept The Terms And Conditions? The Role Of Trust And Hedonic Content On Self-Disclosure To Apps

Carla Freitas Silveira Netto, UFRGS
Simoni F Rohden, UFRGS
Marina de Wallau Lugoch, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Natalia Englert, UFRGS
Valentina Ortiz Ubal, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Read More

Engage with Us

Becoming an Association for Consumer Research member is simple. Membership in ACR is relatively inexpensive, but brings significant benefits to its members.