emotional response, brand recall and response latency to visual register for food and beverage print ads

Understanding the nature of advertising principles or any other means of marketing communication that affects consume behavior has long been the subject of marketing research. The research of emotional response in relation to ad efficiency in this paper is an extension of the research previously conducted (Nedeljkovic et al., 2011). The aim of this research is to show how the ad content i.e. visual message in printed advertisements affects emotional response. Two hypotheses were postulated. First, we expected more positive response for ads with predominating iconic content. The second hypothesis sought to determine if greater response latency can be expected for ads with dominant tropological content. The method of research was SAM visual method of self-assessment. Emotional response and response latency of the participants were measured for advertisements for food and beverage products and services in order to determine how visual ad content influences emotional response of the participants, as well as the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. In an experiment the participants could rate their emotional response using the Self-assessment Manikin (SAM) scale toward both types of advertisements. At the same time the response latency was measured. The results show that the main hypothesis was neither confirmed nor rejected, whereas the second hypothesis was confirmed. We conclude that the attitude towards the ad, as mediating variable, is a good indicator of advertising effectiveness.