The Effects of Music on Emotional Response, Brand Attitude, and Purchase Intent in an Emotional Advertising Condition

Music is viewed as an important background feature in advertising because of its wide use and ability to enhance viewer arousal and affect. Previous research exploring the effects of music on emotional response and behavior has had mixed results. In this study, an experimental design was used to examine for difference in emotional response, brand attitude, and purchase intent between advertisements, with and without music. SAM, The SelfAssessment Manikin and AdSAM® were used to measure emotional response. There were no differences in brand attitude and purchase intent, however on emotional response six out of the 12 advertisements showed significant differences between the music and no-music groups. AdSAM® descriptively revealed the specific, emotional effects on viewers. Music is used often in advertising to enrich the key message and may be the single most stimulation component in a commercial (Hecker, 1984). It is perceived as a potential peripheral cue used to positively arouse the consumer's emotional state (Stout & Lockney, 1988; Gorn, 1982; Park & Young. 1986). The notion of central and peripheral processing suggests that peripheral cues such as music can lead to a positive attitude about the advertisement and then transfer that positive attitude to the brand (Stout & Lockney. 1988). Since commercials are generally viewed as having an audience of potentially uninvolved, non-decision making consumers the affective, stimulating aspects of music can be a persuasive tool and may help persuade viewers. A peripheral cue such as music exerts its greatest influence on brand attitude in a low-involvement advertising setting (Park & Young. 1986; Maclnnis & Park, 1991; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986; Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983; Park & Young, 1986). Some of this influence may come through music’s indirect influence on respondents’ feelings and other emotional responses (Clynes & Nettheim, 1982; Alpert & Alpert, 1990). Zimny and Weidenfeller (1961) found a relationship between music and emotional response. Exciting music was shown to increase emotional arousal in subjects via their skin response and heart rate, which are assumed to be the two physiological manifestations of emotional response. The “messages” of music are more affective than cognitive, for example calm or sedate music decreased subjects’ anxiety, and the structural elements of music such as major (happy) and minor (sad) modes influenced the listener’s feelings. (Farnsworth, 1969; Hevner, 1935; Rohner and Miller 1980; Galizio and Hendrick, 1972). Music has been shown to directly affect behavior at the point of purchase. Variations on in-store background music significantly influenced the pace of shopping behavior, the amount spent, and the amount of money spent beyond the consumers’ original expectations (Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Milliman, 1982; Smith & Curnow, 1966). However, there is little agreement about the effect of music in advertising. Some research has shown minimal influence of music on emotional response in advertisements, (Stout and Rust, 1986), while other studies, Alpert and Alpert (1990) found that sad music was more effective in their study in influencing purchase intent than either happy or no music. In some cases, music appears to increase emotional response, (Zimny & Weidenfeller, 1961; Farnsworth, 1969; Galizio & Hendrick, 1972 Alpert & Alpert, 1990) brand attitude, (Park & Young, 1986) and purchase intent (Alpert & Alpert 1990). And in studies where music had an inhibiting affect (Stout & Rust, 1986) or little or no effect on emotional response (Maclnnis &Park, 1991) it was probably due to a poor fit between the advertisement and the background music. Alpert and Alpert (1990) and MacInnis and Park (1991) stressed that a good fit between the music and the advertisement had a strong impact on positive emotional response and attitude to the advertisement. Thus, the strength between the fit and 1 This article originally appeared in Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 25, © 1998. Joseph W. Alba and J. Wesley Hutchinson, Editors emotional response should be investigated. In one study, music interfered with brand attitude formation and purchase intent at the cognitive level, but facilitated brand attitude and purchase intent in the low-involvement state (Park and Young 1986). In another study, music significantly enhanced message processing for low-involvement consumers, but distracted message processing for high-involvement consumers. And, music created more negative emotions for low-involvement than for high involvement consumers (Maclnnis & Park, 1991). But an emotional stimulus such as music is inserted into an advertisement to stimulate a purchase motivation. This emotional component most likely affects purchase intent through brand attitude. It is thought that music stimulates emotions, which may affect the brand attitude and lead to brand purchase and usage (Rossiter & Percy 1991). Researchers are now learning that emotions guide and influence consumer behavior far more than seen in traditional, cognitive research. (Rossiter & Percy, 1991; (Batra & Ray’s 1983; Holbrook & Batra, 1988). Traditional research methods such as measures of recall, recognition and brand attitude measure consumers' thoughts, but not their feelings or their total range of emotion. Humans think and feel, and both processes influence their behavior (Zajonc, 1980; Zajonc & Markus, 1982). Hypothesis: Subjects who view advertisements containing music will have significantly increased emotional response, brand attitude, and purchase intent scores as compared to subjects who view the advertisement without music.