AAA Annual Conference 2020

Using hierarchy of effects (Lavidge and Steiner 1961) and limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP; Lang, 2005) frameworks, the present study addresses how publicity about athlete endorsers and brand novelty interact to influence cognition, affect, and conation in response to ads. Participants were exposed to an ad for a fictitious or established soft drink brand that featured an athlete endorser while psychophysiological measures of cognition and affect were recorded. Each ad was paired with a blog post that contained either positive or negative information about the athlete's off-field behavior. Self-reported responses of cognition, affect, and conation were also collected. Results indicate that cognition was increased to ads following blog posts about negative behavior and affect and conation were increased to ads following blog posts about positive behavior. Results are discussed in regards to theoretical and practical implications.

Author(s): Glenna L. Read, University of Georgia; Yen-I Lee, Washington State University; Jihoon Kim, University of Georgia; Youngji Seo, University of Georgia; Shuoya Sun, University of Georgia; Xuerong Lu, University of Georgia; Sierra Brown, University of Georgia; Taeyeon Kim, University of Georgia; Wency Cai, University of Georgia; Kevin Jones, University of Georgia; Hyoyeun Jun, University of Georgia; DongJae (Jay) Lim, University of Georgia