Does Publicity Outperform Advertising? An Experimental Test of the Third-Party Endorsement

Abstract

The claim made in public relations that editorial content has greater value than an advertisement of the same size was tested. Results of an infomation-processing experiment indicate there may be some basis for claiming that a third- party endorsement by editorial staff adds credence to editorial copy. I found that moderate better recognition memory for editorial content than for one type of advertisement was not significantly eroded by a 2-week delay. However, when making claims that publicity outperforms advertising, public relations practitioners should bear in mind that advertisements used in this study were in advertorial format. Further study is needed to determine how the credibility of publicity performs against the broad array of persuasive appeals available in display advertisements (visual effects, humor, sex appeal, emotional impact, etc.).