Jose Gonzalez

Mktg. section 8

April 2000

THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC IN ADVERTISING ON CHOICE BEHAVIOR:

Introduction

Commercials typically contain both product spedific information and background features such as pleasant music, attractive colors, and humor.

Of the two experiments that Gerald J. Gorn conducted we will analyze the one experiment, which determined whether background features of a commercial, in this specific case music, affected product preferences in consumers.

It is said that the impact of product information in a commercial on beliefs and attitudes would typically be interpreted within an information-processing framework. It is suggested according to Gorn that a classical conditioning framework could account for the potential impact of background features on product attitudes. This approach believes that the subject must be consciously aware of the presence of the unconditioned stimulus when the conditioned stimulus is present in order for the conditioning to take place.

One difficulty with the classical Conditioning approach is the lack of awareness. According to Gorn, the consumermay not always be aware that the unconditioned stimuli in a commercial may affect his/her product attitudes, moe general, the consumer may not be aware of the real forces impacting on both attitudes in this case the impact of music.

In a typical communication situation, people may not realize or accept the impact of unconditioned stimulus on their responses to the ad. So, possible classical conditioning effects might therefore, be underestimated and underrreported in self-reports. Cognitive bias can result from an atempt to think well of oneself, states Gorn. So it means that a rational analysis in communication behavior might be bias in favor of information.

For classical conditioning, product information in the commercial must be kept minimal, otherwiese the unconditioned stimulus in the commercial might vaguely be arousing interest in product information.

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