The Impact of Comparative Advertising on Levels of Message Involvement

This study examines the notion that comparative ads containing direct references to a well-known competitor are inherently more "involving" than noncomparative ads. Utilizing an information-processing perspective, findings indicate that the comparative format elicits higher levels of message involvement/processing activity than the noncomparative format. In addition to perceiving the comparative message as being more relevant, subjects viewing that format paid more attention to, elaborated on, and were able to recall more message points than did subjects exposed to a similar, though noncomparative, ad.