Which theories and findings of memory should be considered when making a successful advertisement?
Sternberg, (1999) defined memory as “The means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this information in the present’. Memory is an important cognitive process when advertising as the product being advertised and the advert itself should be remembered. Attention and perception are also cognitive processes which are considered when advertising. The success of advertising relies on the audience’s intake of the advertisements and how well the encode and retrieve the information being shown.
There are two types of memory, the first type is explicit memory (declarative memory) which is a memory that can be intentionally and consciously recalled. There are two main types of explicit memory, which are episodic (information personal to you) and semantic (general knowledge, not specific). When advertising, explicit memory would be used as the advert is being consciously recalled. The other type of memory is implicit (procedural memory) which is the unconscious use of memory in everyday tasks, it is automatic and becomes implicit via learning. Explicit memory is the type of memory used when remembering an advertisement
There are three processes which are involved in memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval. All three of these processes determine how well something is remembered.
Encoding is the perception, recognition, and processing of information. Different types of encoding include structural encoding (concentrates on what words look like), phonemic encoding (focuses on how words sound) and semantic encoding (concentrates on the meaning of words). The dual coding hypothesis (Paivio 1960's) suggests that there are two distinct subsystems contributing to cognition: one is particular for language and verbal information, and the other for images and non-verbal information. According to Paivio, “Human cognition is unique in that it has become specialized for dealing simultaneously with language and with nonverbal objects and events.” Marketers focus greatly on the use of images, as they are easier to perceive and recognise rather than interpret and break down information.
The memory storage concerns of where the information is stored, duration the memory lasts for, the capacity of memory and what kind of information is held. The short term memory can hold between five to nine items; however, the capacity of the short term memory can be increased when information is chunked. Peterson & Peterson (1959) investigated the duration of STM and they found that the duration of STM without rehearsal is therefore very short. Long term memory has an unlimited capacity. The primacy effect is when information is rehearsed and transferred to the long term memory and the recency effect is when information is still in short term memory. Appleton-Knapp (2005) found the spacing effect is where animals (including humans) remember or learn items more easily when they have been studied a few times spaced over a long time span ("spaced presentation") rather than studied over and over in a short span of time. This will allow the information to be remembered permanently in the long term memory. When advertising, it is important that the advert is remembered in the long term memory, so the product being advertised cannot be forgotten.
Retrieval is when we retrieve information from memory which is influenced by success of storage and whether there is information available. STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. For example, and LTM is stored and retrieved by association. An advertisement is said to be successful when repetition occurs as it is more likely to be encoded to the long term memory and therefore be permanent.
William James (1890) said that an individual’s primary memory is current and short-term but their secondary memory is permanent. When advertising, it is important for the advert to be remembered permanently in the secondary memory.
There are many different models of how memories are stored. Baddeley & Hitch (1974) came up with the Working Memory Model which suggests there are four separate components to our working memory to deal with the different types of information. The first component is the central executive which is involved in problem solving/decision-making. Another part of the working memory model is the phonological loop, and that contains two components which are the phonological store that allows acoustically coded items to be stored for a short period of time and the articulatory control process that allows sub-vocal repetition of the items stored in the phonological store. Another component of the working memory model is the episodic buffer which integrates and manipulates material. The last component of the working memory is the visuo-spatial scratch pad which stores visual and spatial information. Psychologists have conducted studies which have supported the working memory model, such as Della sala et al. (2000) who found that patients perform well on spatial memory test but not visual task and other patients have poor spatial memory but good object memory.
Atkinson, & Shiffrin (1968) came up with the multi store model which defines memory as information flowing through a system. It can also be described as an information processing model with an input, process and output.
Another model of memory is the level of processing model (Craik & Lockhart 1972) which suggests memory is just what happens as a result of processing information. Craik and Lockhart suggest that storage and recall of information depends upon the depth and level of processing. Therefore, this suggests that if an advertisement is long and it goes into depth about the product, then it is more likely to be remembered by the audience. For example, the John Lewis advert every Christmas has a story to it which engages the audience. It also has a popular song on in the background to the story, which always ends up in the charts after the advert is shown on TV. Therefore, when this song is heard it reminds the audience of the advert for John Lewis, possibly encouraging individuals to shop in there for their Christmas presents.
Some adverts are successful by taking a product and putting it next to lots of other things that we already feel positively about, encouraging the audience to draw attention to the product, remember it and spread the word. This transfer of our feelings from one set of items to another is called affective conditioning. Watson quoted in Ludy Benjamin and David Baker: Séance to Science: A History of the Profession of Psychology in America. “…ads sold toothpaste, not because of its dental hygiene benefits, but because whiter teeth would presumably increase an individual’s sex appeal”. As the quote suggests, the advert is more likely to be successful if it benefits the audience.
An advert may be unsuccessful due to other advertisements which are more effective to the reader. The interference theory of forgetting involves forgetting due to interference from competing information (another advert). Proactive interference is poor recall of new events due to interference from previously encountered events. Retroactive interference however is recall of events impaired due to information encountered after the ‘to-be-recalled’ event. The decay theory of forgetting is when memory is not replaced, but it disappears as the memory trace is not activated. Schacter (2001) thought that there were Seven sins of memory. The first being transience, meaning loss of memory over short period of time. The second sin being absent-mindedness which is failing to pay attention, the next sin is blocking which is having difficulty retrieving information from the long term memory. Misattribution is the incorrect source of memory and suggestibility means confusion in recall. The final sins Schacter came up with are bias (beliefs affect how we reconstruct an event) and persistence meaning memories that you want to forget keep intruding. If any of these sins arise, then the product being advertised could possibly be forgotten.
Considering the various psychological principles that contribute towards memory, it is not a simple process. However, cognitive processes are not the same for everyone’s as each individual has a different memory and some may remember certain things more than others, therefore it is difficult to conduct an advertisement which is suitable for everyone. It is important to ensure the product to relevant to the advertisement, so when the audience remembers the advert, they can relate it to the product. The advert will be remembered by different models of memory such as the level of processing model and the working memory model. Overall, there are many factors of advertisement that affect the way we would remember them.
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References
Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Working Memory. Science, 255, 5044, 556-559.
Bob M. Fennis, Wolfgang Stroebe. (2010). The Psychology of Advertising.
Ludy Benjamin and David Baker. Séance to Science: A History of the Profession of Psychology in America.
Clark, J. M. & Paivio, A. (1991). Dual coding theory and education. Educational Psychology Review, 3(3), 149-170.
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2 nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/memory/section1.rhtml
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201008/what-does-advertising-do