Generational emotive discrepancies in reaction to television advertising

Generational differences in emotive reaction to television advertisements and the applicability of verbal and non-verbal measures in establishing emotive profiles are explored. Multi-dimensional scaling established generational emotive profiles in accordance with AdSAM®, PrEmo© and Link™ LoE models across South African generations. The accruement of positive information seems to be accentuated with age and generational emotive differences appear more apparent with negative emotions using a verbal measure in response to a television advertisement aimed at the adult consumer market. Contrary to customary belief, liking ratings alone do not necessarily translate into a higher propensity for television viewers to act, but feelings of engagement are also required. This research firstly argues the importance of having to understand different generation consumers and presents findings that different age cohorts react differently to the same advertising. Secondly, given the ardent television watching behaviour of older generations, this older consumer market’s insights should be given thoughtful consideration during consumer research endeavours. Thirdly, it is argued that the type of measurement instrument used to establish emotive reaction could influence the manner in which consumers indicate their true reaction to advertisements, emotive or cognitive, and determine the way in which consumer decisions are made about the product being advertised.