Context Effects of Radio Programming on Cognitive Processing of Embedded Advertisements

This experiment tested the hypothesis that the involvement, entertainment and enjoyment properties of radio programmes would be related to memory for the accompanying advertisements and attitudes towards them. Ninety‐three subjects listened to one of three radio programmes (a phone‐in, a chart show, or a nostalgia programme) in which were embedded a set of four unfamiliar advertisements. Subjects' ratings of the programmes as involving, entertaining, and enjoyable were positively correlated with subsequent ratings of the advertised brands and purchasing intentions. Analyses of variance indicated significant differences in memory for the advertisements and programme ratings: the phone‐in programme context, which was rated significantly less interesting, enjoyable and entertaining, and more boring and humorous than the nostalgia radio programme context, produced significantly lower memory for the advertisements. These results provide substantial evidence for context effects operating in the radio medium.