Ad typicality judgments in the processing of creative television ads

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to better understand the role judgments of ad typicality—the representativeness of an ad for a product category—play in the processing of television advertising. Such judgments would include the expected themes and feelings to be experienced from viewing ads of a product category. This is a vital undertaking because consumers’ judgments of typicality are used in judgments of originality (divergence)—a key dimension of creative ads. However, the nature of ad typicality judgments remains mostly unexplained. Specifically, researchers have not offered rich explanations regarding the antecedents of ad-typicality judgments, or the complex effects of ad-typicality judgments regarding attitude toward the ad. This study addresses these issues and offers new understanding for such phenomena related to ad typicality.

Keywords:

• ad typicality
• typicality
• incongruity
• creative ads
• ad expectations
• ad match
• television advertising

Disclosure statement

The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Data in this research can be accessed by contacting the lead author

Mark Peterson at [email protected].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson is Professor of Marketing and Sustainable Business Practices, College of Business, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 ([email protected]).

Naresh K. Malhotra

Naresh K. Malhotra is Regents’ Professor Emeritus, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0520 ([email protected]).