Does Repeated AD Exposure Impair or Facilitate Recall of ADS with Similar Affective Valence? An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In this study we examine how repetition of print advertisements can inhibit (rather than facilitate) brand recall in print advertisements that share similar affective valences. We find that reexposure to positively valenced advertisements impairs recall of brands in other positively valenced ads, but not recall of brands in negatively valenced ads and vice versa. Neutral ads provide boundary conditions for this effect: reexposure to neutrally valenced advertisements does not differentially affect recall of brands in neutral ads, and recall of brands in neutral ads is not affected by reexposure to positively or negatively valenced ads. Our findings indicate that repetition of a target ad may be able to impair recall of competitors' brands in subsequent like-valenced ads in addition to having the well-understood benefit of enhancing recall of the advertised brand. We discuss implications of these findings for practitioners and academic researchers.