An Experimental Investigation of Comparative Advertising: Impact of Message Appeal, Information Load, and Utility of Product Class

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Abstract
A three (message appeal: supportive, brand X, and comparative) by two (product class utility: social and functional) by three (information load: low, medium, and high) factorial experimental design (with covariates) was used to explore communications effectiveness of the three modes of advertising appeals. ANOVA results show that the comparative mode appears to be superior only for the affective responses to the ad itself. The brand X mode of message appeal generally is superior to other modes for cognitive, affective, and conative responses toward the promoted brand. However, the differences are only partially significant at p < .05. In no case is the supportive mode superior. Some weak evidence of information overload is also uncovered. Several personality variables did not have significant effects on the relative effectiveness of the different appeals. Lack of substantial interaction effects among the three factors indicates that advertisers can determine message appeal, amount of information provided, and type of products to be promoted independently of each other.