ArticlePDF Available

A model of consumer response to advertising music

January 2012
Journal of Consumer Marketing 29(1):22-42

January 2012
29(1):22-42

DOI:10.1108/07363761211193028

Authors:

Geoffrey P Lantos

Stonehill College

Lincoln G. Craton

Stonehill College

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of consumer response to music in broadcast commercials outlining four variables (listening situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and advertising processing strategy) that affect a consumer's attitude toward the advertising music (A am ). Design/methodology/approach The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures from the psychology of music, marketing, and advertising. Findings A am can be positively but also negatively influenced by many factors. Only some of these variables are employed in any typical study on consumer response to music, which may account for some conflicting findings. Practical implications The paper discusses factors for effectively using commercial music to affect A am , with special focus on advertising processing strategy. Advertisers are urged to exercise extreme caution in using music and to always pretest its use considering factors identified in this paper. The paper suggests ways in which the model can guide future research. Originality/value The paper integrates diverse literatures and outlines the major variables comprising our model of consumer response to advertising music. Advertisers can use these variables as a checklist for factors to consider in selecting ad music.

The model of consumer response to advertising music

…

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A model of consumer response to advertising

music

Geoffrey P. Lantos

Business Administration Department, Stonehill College, North Easton, Massachusetts, USA, and

Lincoln G. Craton

Department of Psychology, Stonehill College, North Easton, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of consumer response to music in broadcast commercials outlining four variables (listening

situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and advertising processing strategy) that affect a consumer’s attitude toward the advertising music

Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures from the psychology of music,

marketing, and advertising.

Findings –A

can be positively but also negatively inﬂuenced by many factors. Only some of these variables are employed in any typical study on

consumer response to music, which may account for some conﬂicting ﬁndings.

Practical implications – The paper discusses factors for effectively using commercial music to affect A

, with special focus on advertising processing

strategy. Advertisers are urged to exercise extreme caution in using music and to always pretest its use considering factors identiﬁed in this paper. The

paper suggests ways in which the model can guide future research.

Originality/value – The paper integrates diverse literatures and outlines the major variables comprising our model of consumer response to

advertising music. Advertisers can use these variables as a checklist for factors to consider in selecting ad music.

Keywords Advertisements, Music, Attitude toward the ad, Music-message ﬁt, Advertisement processing,

Central versus peripheral route processing, Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Paper type Conceptual paper

An executive summary for managers and executive

readers can be found at the end of this article.

Introduction

Many broadcast ads incorporate music (Stewart et al., 1990),

and most discussions of music in advertising assume that

including music will add value to the commercial (Stout et al.,

1990). This paper challenges that assumption, proposing a

model of consumer response to music in broadcast

commercials that outlines key inﬂuential variables (listening

situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and

advertising processing strategy) that determine a consumer’s

cognitive and affective musical responses. These responses

embody a new variable that we introduced previously (Craton

and Lantos, 2011), attitude toward the advertising music

). After presenting the model, we offer recommendations

for advertisers concerning use of music and for researchers

seeking to learn more about consumer response to music in

advertising.

Our discussion of consumer response to advertising music

addresses four deﬁciencies in the literature. First is the

assumption that music will always add value to a commercial,

receiving a favorable audience response and helping to achieve

advertising objectives so long as it does not distract listeners

from the commercial’s message – what we call the “music as

garnish assumption.” A second inadequacy of the literature

follows from this: Research has not yet explored the factors

potentially causing music to be ineffective or even detrimental

to an ad’s success. Third, although music triggers both

cognitive and affective listener responses, reactions to music

are usually conceptualized as being solely affective (Meyer,

1956, as cited in Kellaris and Kent, 2001; Morris and Boone,

1998). Yet, music ideally cognitively communicates a brand

message or a brand image (Chebat et al., 2001; Hecker, 1984;

Morris and Boone, 1998).

We began addressing these three issues by introducing a

new consumer response variable, A

, which provides a

framework for conceptualizing both positive and negative

cognitive and affective responses to music (Craton and

Lantos, 2011). The present article builds on that framework

in order to address a fourth shortcoming of the literature:

Advertising music has almost always been treated as a one-

dimensional variable. For instance, studies have investigated

the effect of music’s presence versus absence (Macklin, 1988;

Middlestadt et al., 1994; Morris and Boone, 1998; Olsen,

1995; Park and Young, 1986; Wheatley and Brooker, 1994);

music as a classical conditioning variable (Gorn, 1982;

Kellaris and Cox, 1989; Pitt and Abratt, 1988); music as a

means of enhancing information processing (MacInnis and

Park, 1991; Mitchell and Olson, 1981); structural

characteristics such as tempo, pitch, and loudness (Alpert

and Alpert, 1990; Bruner, 1990; Kellaris and Rice, 1993);

and music-message ﬁt (e.g. Kellaris et al., 1993; Shen and

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0736-3761.htm

Journal of Consumer Marketing

29/1 (2012) 22– 42

qEmerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]

[DOI 10.1108/07363761211193028]

Chen, 2006). While progress has been made on these and

other issues, an integrated, comprehensive discussion of

consumer response to advertising music appears to be lacking.

This paper is a ﬁrst effort to build a model facilitating such a

discussion.

In light of the above insufﬁciencies, this article has three

purposes:

1 to outline the important factors comprising a broad

conceptual model of consumer response to music in

broadcast commercials;

2 to use this model to point out the many possible hazards

of using music in advertising for which advertisers should

pretest; and

3 to show how the model can help guide future research.

We proceed by presenting and discussing the various

components of our model of consumer response to

advertising (see Figure 1). Throughout, we point out

possible ways music can go awry for the advertiser. We

conclude with managerial and academic research suggestions.

The model

In order to understand the potential perils of using music in

commercials, we propose the model of consumer response to

music in advertising shown in Figure 1, which captures the

key variables that can work both in favor of and also against

music’s communication valueforabrand.Audience

responses to music in commercials stem from a complex

interplay of four variables:

1 the listening situation;

2 the musical stimulus;

3 listener characteristics; and

4 the listener’s advertising processing strategy.

Together these four variables inﬂuence Figure 1’s centerpiece,

, which we propose is a signiﬁcant constituent of attitude

toward the ad (A

) – whether or not a message recipient likes

a particular advertisement during a particular exposure

occasion. An abundance of research – much of which is

cited below – has shown that A

, in turn, affects the

consumer’s attitude toward the brand (A

), which

subsequently impacts purchase intention and brand choice.

This model does not attempt to depict the many possible

interactions between all these variables or their constituent

elements but instead focuses on providing a “checklist” of

factors that inﬂuence A

and its cognitive and affective

elements. We hope the model will be useful to practitioners

and will provide a framework for research, ultimately leading

to a more comprehensive, detailed, process-oriented model

accounting for such interactions. In a subsequent article, we

shall examine the literature on psychological mechanisms in

music processing with an eye toward developing such a

model.

Attitude toward the advertising music (A

)

In our previous article (Craton and Lantos, 2011), we

introduced and developed our new construct, attitude toward

the music (A

). There, we discussed the cognitive and

affective components of A

and how these inﬂuence speciﬁc

advertising objectives (see Table I). We now summarize the

components of A

and their related advertising objectives

(objectives are underlined in the following discussion).

Cognitive components

.Level and persistence of attention to music. This component

of A

refers to whether the ad music has contributed to

the long-standing advertising goal of gaining and holding

the consumer’s attention, in turn affecting whether and

how much the consumer attends to the ad as a whole.

.Depth of processing of music. This construct from cognitive

psychology (Craik and Lockhart, 1972; Craik and

Tulving, 1975) is related to the enhance memory of ad

content advertising objective. Deep- or semantic-level

processing focuses on the meaning of the music (its

aesthetic properties), while shallow-level processing

focuses on surface features of the music such as the

timbre of one of the instruments or the physical

appearance of a performer. Perhaps counter-intuitively,

some shallow processing of lyrics (phrasing, line length)

carrying the ad message is required in order for the sung

message to enhance recall relative to a spoken message

(Wallace, 1994).

.Perceived features of music available for association. Relevant

to the create new music-brand associations objective, this

captures elements of the ad music the consumer has

detected from among the wide range of features present

(structural features of the music such as rhythm or

melody, its expressed emotion, the musical style, etc.),

and especially whether these are perceived as positive,

negative, or neutral.

.Remembered features of music available for association. This

ties in with the tap prior associations with familiar music

advertising goal. Similar to the previous cognitive element,

this captures what these prior associations are (especially

how common to most people or idiosyncratic to a

particular consumer they might be) and whether the

consumer views these associations as positive, negative, or

neutral.

.Image suggested by music. This concerns the perceived

“personality” of the music (e.g. sophisticated, sexy, or

lighthearted), and it relates to the create a brand image

goal. A brand personality can be molded either as music

creates new associations or as it uses existing associations.

.Music perceived as distinctive or not. This concerns the

differentiate the brand objective. We propose that the

consumer makes a distinctiveness judgment, representing

how unique versus prototypical s/he considers the music

to be and the extent to which s/he views this level of

uniqueness as favorable or unfavorable. Distinctive music

that is viewed favorably (unfavorably) will help to

positively (negatively) differentiate the brand.

.Perceived music-message ﬁt. Linked with the reinforce ad

message with music-message ﬁt objective, this captures

the consumer’s judgment of how well the music suits the

message. High ﬁt leads to a more favorable attitude than

low ﬁt, which can create possible dissonance and/or

confusion (Kellaris et al., 1993; North, Hargreaves,

McKenzie and Law, 2004). For instance, an upbeat

tune could be used for a brand positioned as “fun.” Given

the importance of communicating about the brand as an

overarching advertising objective, we believe this

component is crucial.

Affective components

.Emotions (feelings) evoked by music. Related to the evoke

emotions (feelings) goal, this concerns whether feeling

states are actually evoked by the music, how intense they

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

Figure 1 The model of consumer response to advertising music

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

are, and how favorably or unfavorably the consumer views

those emotional experiences.

.Mood induced by music. Related to the ad objective to

create a mood, this captures whether the ad music leads to

mood induction, how favorable/unfavorable the mood is,

and whether the mood is perceived as consonant with the

brand’s message and image.

.Emotional memories activated by music. Related to the tap

into emotion-laden memories ad objective, this reﬂects

whether such memories occur and how favorably the

consumer views them.

.Emotional arousal response to music. One advertising goal is

to alter emotional arousal level. This element concerns

whether any changes in emotional arousal occur as a result

of exposure to the ad music and whether or not these

changes are viewed favorably by the consumer.

.Hedonic response to music. A ﬁnal ad objective is to provide a

positive hedonic experience. This variable captures how

pleasant/unpleasant the consumer ﬁnds the ad music to be.

Because each of the components of A

described above can

be either positive or negative – that is, they each can

contribute to a favorable or unfavorable A

– this new

variable allows practitioners and researchers to capture the

complex and sometimes even contradictory nature of

consumer response toward a given piece of ad music. In this

respect A

is quite different from related constructs in the

marketing and psychology literatures – such as “music

appeal,” “liking,” or “music preference” – which are typically

measured with a single Likert-scale item (Allan, 2007; Finna¨s,

1989; Hargreaves et al., 2006; Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003;

Ta n et al., 2006). We believe that the present multifaceted

formulation is a step forward that may help marketers and

researchers characterize, study, and weigh the trade-offs

involved in selecting particular candidates for advertising

music.

We distinguish several terms relating to musical response.

Following Allan (2007), we deﬁne “music appeal” as the

extent of liking/disliking of a musical stimulus at a particular

point in time but – as we state above and illustrate in Figure 1

– we treat it as synonymous with A

and thus as multifaceted

rather than unidimensional. We deﬁne “music preference” as

relative music appeal – that is, liking for one piece of music as

compared to another at a given point in time (Hargreaves

et al., 2006). Finally, we deﬁne “musical taste” as an

individual’s pattern of musical preferences over time.

is a product of many inﬂuences, to which we turn next.

Variables inﬂuencing formation of A

As we review each of the four variables inﬂuencing formation

of A

, depicted in Figure 1, we will speculate on which

elements of A

are most likely to be impacted by each,

referring to prior research when available. Future empirical

research can test each of these presumptions.

(1) The listening situation

A commercial’s music plays in a context, not a vacuum. In

general, music that is inappropriate for the listening situation

could negatively inﬂuence A

. Research on the “uses and

gratiﬁcations” of music afﬁrms that music’s effects depend on

listeners’ circumstances (North, Hargreaves and Hargreaves,

2004; North and Hargreaves, 1996a). People most often hear

ad music while engaged in other activities, in a particular

social context, as a break from particular program content,

and either voluntarily or involuntarily. We now brieﬂy

examine each of these types of circumstances.

Ongoing activities

Listeners prefer music deemed appropriate in a particular

setting (North and Hargreaves, 1996a, b, c; North and

Hargreaves, 2000, Experiment 2). For instance, if the

commercial’s music results in an undesirable change in

arousal level (e.g. intense music in an already stressful work

environment), A

could be negatively inﬂuenced. Although

we have not found any directly relevant marketing research, it

seems reasonable to suppose that consumer responses to

identical ad music will vary depending on listeners’ activities

(driving, eating, etc.).

We speculate that the components of A

most likely to be

directly inﬂuenced by current activities may be the

consumer’s level and persistence of attention to the music,

depth of processing of the music, and emotional arousal

response to the music, since ongoing activities can enhance or

inhibit these.

Table I Components of attitude toward the advertising music (A

) and corresponding advertising objectives

Objectives

Cognitive component Desired cognitive response

Level and persistence of attention to music Attract attention

Depth of processing of music Enhance memory of ad content

Perceived features of music available for association Create new music-brand associations

Remembered features of music available for association Tap prior associations with familiar music

Image suggested by music Create a brand image

Music perceived as distinctive or not Differentiate the brand

Perceived music-message ﬁt Reinforce ad message with music-message ﬁt

Affective component Desired affective response

Emotions (feelings) evoked by music Evoke emotions (feelings)

Mood induced by music Create a mood

Emotional memories activated by music Tap into emotion-laden memories

Emotional arousal response to music Alter emotional arousal level

Hedonic response to music Provide a positive hedonic experience

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

Social context

Music often occurs in the context of and inﬂuences social

behavior (Konecni, 1982; Lull, 1985; Shepherd, 2003). To

predict people’s response to music, it is important to

understand the social context in which music is heard:

whether listeners are alone or with others, and if with others,

what the nature of the relationships is (e.g. lovers versus

coworkers) and whether they are working, socializing,

exercising, etc. (Sloboda et al., 2001). For instance, solemn

music in a radio commercial heard during a party might evoke

a negative listener response.

North, Hargreaves and Hargreaves (2004) suggest that

when people listen to music with others, they have less control

over music choice and so like less what they hear, and

listening alone likely leads to a higher degree of involvement

and hence liking. These ﬁndings could potentially hold for ad

music too, affecting the hedonic response element of A

–

music could be more positively impactful when audience

members are isolated and have selected by themselves the

programming in which the commercial occurs, although this

idea needs to be tested. On the other hand, a solitary

consumer who dislikes the ad music is freer to disengage

(e.g. mute the ad, grab a snack, etc.).

Program content

A consumer’s reaction to an ad’s music might depend in part

on the program content during which the commercial

appears. Goldberg and Gorn (1987) discovered that, relative

to a sad TV program, a cheery TV program induced a happier

mood in viewers, greater perceived commercial effectiveness,

more affectively positive cognitive responses, and, to some

degree, enhanced recall. It appears that program content

could affect almost any A

component. One interesting

question worth investigating is whether perceived music-

message ﬁt might extend to program-content ﬁt – for

instance, would consumers respond negatively to music with

sexual innuendo that is played in a commercial running

during a family TV program?

Voluntar y versus involuntary exposure

North, Hargreaves and Hargreaves (2004) concluded that

under forced exposure, music was generally not enjoyed, a

ﬁnding that should be of key concern for advertisers since

most research on ad music is conducted under forced

exposure conditions (Allan, 2007; Bruner, 1990) and since

listeners select neither commercials nor their music. Few

people in North, Hargreaves and Hargreaves’s (2004) study

reported that they were enjoying the music they were being

compelled to listen to, and even fewer agreed with the

statement “I wanted to hear the music for longer.” Forced

exposure would seem to be most likely to negatively affect

attention to, depth of processing of, and hedonic response to

music.

(2) The musical stimulus

The advertising stimulus consists of the advertising message

and interacting executional elements, which include many

factors as well as the ad’s music, such as the setting,

characters, voiceover, and storyline. Although they are

beyond the scope of this model, it should be noted that

these non-musical executional components become

meaningful by their relationships to one another (Scott,

1990). Therefore, such elements must be carefully chosen so

that they work with, not against, the music and brand

message. For instance, a particular celebrity might be

incongruent with the music (e.g. Britney Spears and

classical music):

Role of music: foreground versus background

Consumer response to commercial music is likely a function

of the role music plays within the ad (Stout and Leckenby,

1988), i.e. whether music serves a lyrical foreground or an

instrumental background (nonvocal) role. Foreground music

is an integral part of the commercial, playing a thematic,

message-enhancing role. Such music tends to be attention-

getting, distinctive, likely to be part of an affect-based

commercial, and probably relies on lyrics. Background music

is the opposite: Less dominant or noticeable – even incidental

– and less distinct, less likely to be affect-based and more

likely to be purely instrumental than foreground music

(Alpert and Alpert, 1991). Yalch (1991) observed that music

assists recall of advertising slogans when the slogans are

included in a commercial as foreground music in the form of a

jingle or song and music performs more effectively than the

same verbal material presented with background music.

Brooker and Wheatley (1994) found that placement of

background music at an ad’s beginning sans voiceover drew

attention (albeit marginally) to and acted as a lead-in for the

message, thereby enhancing it, while music serving as

background for a voiceover drew some attention away from

the message. More research directly comparing the effects of

different uses of foreground and background music on

elements of A

would be valuable to both practitioners and

academics.

Foreground music can either:

.carry the ad’s message and meaning through musical

lyrics, usually as a jingle, used to create a brand image,

mood, or feeling;

.incorporate lyrics not directly carrying the ad’s message

but used nonetheless as the primary means of

communication; or

.employ instrumental music sans lyrics in the foreground

with little voiceover or verbal message (Alpert and Alpert,

1991).

In this musical hierarchy, we propose that music’s impact will

be strongest in the ﬁrst bulleted point and least potent in the

third bulleted point , although this remains to be tested. In the

case of the ﬁrst bulleted point, in order for the sung message

to enhance recall relative to a spoken message some shallow

processing (that is, processing of “superﬁcial” aspects of the

music like the length of sung phrases) of the lyrics carrying the

ad message must occur (Authors, disguised, under review;

Wallace, 1994) – thus, the music should be either simple

enough to learn or familiar to the consumer. In all three cases

above, we suspect that foreground music will usually be a

signiﬁcant positive or negative inﬂuence on A

. Indeed,

because of its salience, the risks for negative A

are probably

greater for foreground than for background music. In some

cases, using foreground music at a low volume might prove to

be a useful compromise – appealing to those people who like

the selection while not turning off listeners who dislike it.

The potential risks in using background music, especially if

it is played at a low volume, are unclear. Although

background music is so ubiquitous that we often do not

notice its presence, some evidence suggests that it can

produce emotional and physical responses (Grayston, 1974).

Nonetheless, other research has found that background music

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

had no signiﬁcant effect on brand recall (Macklin, 1988;

Sewall and Sarel, 1986) nor on A

or A

(Macklin, 1988),

suggesting that its impact on consumer response is relatively

insigniﬁcant. By deﬁnition, background music may not draw

attention or be deeply processed. However, if it is familiar or

in a familiar genre that taps listeners’ associations, it may

suggest an image for the product, much as retail stores use

background music to provide ambience. Given our current

limited knowledge of its effects, background music too should

be selected carefully.

Musical source

Ad music has three possible origins:

1 An original composition written, scored, and recorded

speciﬁcally for the commercial. Although initially

unfamiliar to the audience and the most expensive

option, this provides marketers with the most control

over variables affecting A

. In particular, such music can

be best tailored to the message, thereby enhancing

cognitive elements of A

. Recognizable jingles create

brand equity and feel more simple and real (Hampp,

2010).

2 An existing tune can either be copyrighted and available

via direct licensing; “needledrop” music (Allan, 2006) in

the public domain, available without cost (Belch and

Belch, 2009), or stock music, prerecorded for purchase or

rental (Allan, 2006). Music that is very well learned draws

attention to linked surface properties of melody and lyrics

(shallow-level processing), which can enhance recall of an

ad message if it is contained in lyrics (Rubin, 1977;

Wallace, 1994). On the other hand, since existing tunes

will be familiar to some or most listeners, they might come

with undesirable remembered features of music available

for association and/or have induced “wearout”

(Hargreaves et al., 2006; Tan et al., 2006), thereby

negatively affecting the music perceived as distinctive or

not A

component.

3 Altered (adapted) music that modiﬁes existing music

somewhat in order to create some distinctiveness (music

perceived as distinctive or not) and be a better ﬁt with the

commercial (perceived music-message ﬁt), as well as to

avoid royalty payments if copyrighted (e.g. eBay modiﬁed

Frank Sinatra’s hit “My Way” to “eBay”) (Allan, 2006).

Until recently, the trend was away from original jingles in

favor of classic pop songs (e.g. Nike’s pioneering use of the

Beatles’ “Revolution” in 1987), current hit songs (e.g. “1 2 3

4” by Feist for iPod Nano in 2008), or potential hit songs, all

in either existing or adapted form (Belch and Belch, 2009;

Howard, 2008; Steinburg and Parekh, 2008). However, in the

late 2000’s the trend of licensing tunes from the ’60s, ’70s,

and ’80s is being replaced by the countertrend of creating or

reprising original branded melodies (e.g. State Farm’s “Like a

good neighbor State Farm is there” and McDonald’s “I’m

lovin’ It” (Hampp, 2010).

Research comparing the effectiveness of these three musical

sources is scarce and has yielded mixed results. Allan’s (2006)

research found that original vocals were more effective for

gaining attention and recall (depth of processing) when a

person found personal signiﬁcance (emotional meaning) in

popular music integrated with advertising, while altered

vocals were more effective when the opposite is true.

However, we have speculated that advertisers using original

music might be defeating their cognitive goals if consumers

use cognitive capacity to learn the new music instead of the ad

message (Craton and Lantos, 2011). Allan (2006) reported

that several studies have found original lyrics to be more

effective than altered lyrics for gaining attention and recall,

perhaps because the changed lyrics can irritate listeners. One

of Englis and Pennell’s (1994) studies (not cited by the

authors) found that a well-liked musical piece, when placed in

the context of a commercial communication, might negatively

affect brand perceptions because people dislike “their” music

being appropriated for commercial purposes, thereby

negatively affecting emotions evoked by the music.

However, the growing use of popular music in advertising

and increased willingness of musical artists to “sell out”

suggests that this is now less a problem as people become

more accepting of familiar artists allowing commercialization

of their music and as commercial artists are more willing to

“sell in” new tunes to get them the kind of exposure that radio

airplay no longer provides (Hampp, 2010).

Structural characteristics

Music theorists, psychologists, and marketers interested in

music differ on taxonomies for music’s structural elements.

Bruner (1990) and others (cited in Kellaris and Kent, 2001)

suggest the following parsimonious scheme:

.Time. Tempo (speed), rhythm (the pattern of accents

given to beats or notes), meter (the division of a

composition into units of equal time value called

measures), and duration.

.Pitch. Tonality (roughly, the “key” a piece is in), major/

minor modality (Apel, 1973, cited in Kellaris and Kent,

1991; Stout and Leckenby, 1988), melody, and harmony

(chords or the blending of notes played simultaneously).

.Texture. Timbre or tone color (the distinctiveness in tone

making instruments sound different from one another),

orchestration (the art of weaving together the unique sonic

properties of multiple instruments to produce the complex

textural fabric of a musical piece), and volume.

.Complexity. Objectively, complexity is the way in which the

music is organized along the preceding three

characteristics. Complex music has more elements and

more variation of them (Finna¨s, 1989).

While research results are sometimes contradictory

concerning listener responses to structural characteristics

(Stout et al., 1990), some general patterns have emerged.

Marketing research and work in experimental aesthetics

(Hargreaves et al., 2006) both suggest that musical structure

plays a central role in musical preference and musical taste.

Higher preference is associated with fast tempo, distinct

rhythm, coherent melodies, absence of pronounced

dissonances in harmonies, a moderate amount of

complexity (Finna¨s, 1989), and major keys, which lead to

positive thoughts and feelings, while minor keys are

associated with negative cognition and affect (Hevner,

1935, cited in Stout and Leckenby, 1988; Kellaris and

Kent, 1991). However, preferences vary between

sociodemographic groups (Finna¨s, 1989; Hargreaves et al.,

2006). Elements including tempo, texture, modality, and

tonality have also been demonstrated to potentially boost

arousal and hedonic response, resulting in greater purchase

intention (Allan, 2007). Stout et al. (1990) and Stout and

Leckenby (1988) found modality was the most inﬂuential

structural characteristic of those tested on eliciting consumer

reactions in TV commercials. Major and mixed modes

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

resulted in consumers learning more from, having greater

behavioral intent toward, and making more personal

connections with the ads than did minor modes.

Commercials featuring minor mode music were rated as

more irritating and were generally scored less favorably.

The above general patterns are somewhat misleading,

however, since the literature is quite mixed. Consider the

range of ﬁndings on the effect of tempo. Bruner (1990)

reported that Anand and Holbrook (1985) found that a

moderate tempo is preferred. Stout and Leckenby (1988)

reported faster tempo generally elicited positive comments,

whereas commercials featuring moderate or slow tempi

receive less favorable comments. Purchase intent has been

impacted by upbeat music both positively (Kellaris and Kent,

1991) and not at all (Brooker and Wheatley, 1994; Morris

and Boone, 1998). Based on their review, Brooker and

Wheatley (1994) concluded that faster music should increase

attention to the ad and have a positive impact on recall,

emotion, attitudes, and purchase intent, while slower music

should have the opposite effects. However, while uptempo

music was perceived as more cheerful than slower music,

tempo had no signiﬁcant effects on any of the other

dependent measures. The authors concluded that the

ﬁndings contradicted those of Kellaris and Kent (1991)

because the latter’s behavioral intentions concerned listening

to or buying the music, rather than intentions regarding the

advertised product.

Together these ﬁndings suggest that negative cognition and

affect arising from any of the A

components can result

from an unfavorable combination of a commercial’s musical

structural characteristics. Importantly, Bruner (1990) and

Kellaris and Kent (1991) found that structural elements can

produce main effects but also statistically signiﬁcant

interactions in generating cognitive, affective, and

behavioral consumer responses. They argue that it is

crucial to consider these interactive effects, something that

single-variable studies obviously fail to do.

Genre and style

North and Hargreaves (1997a) found that musical style is

more important than musical piece in determining listeners’

responses: Liking ratings for the same musical piece vary

greatly depending on the style in which it is performed. Thus,

consumer response to musical stimuli, such as whether they

continue to listen to a commercial, will often be determined

by style identiﬁcation processes, which are very fast

(Gjerdingen and Perrott, 2008; Plazak and Huron, 2010;

Schellenberg et al., 1999); after one second of exposure, style

identiﬁcation is nearly perfect. This implies that marketers

have a very short window of opportunity before consumers

might decide to change the channel – ﬁrst impressions as

conveyed by genre/style are, indeed, critical to gaining

attention to both the commercial and its music.

Musical style preferences are ﬁrmly rooted in personality

traits (Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003), are used by individuals

to communicate information about their personalities and to

form impressions of others (Rentfrow and Gosling, 2006),

and musical preferences are correlated with numerous lifestyle

variables (North and Hargreaves, 2007a, b, c). Consequently,

different genres (e.g. pop, classical, and jazz) and styles within

each genre (e.g. rap, baroque, and bebop, respectively) are

potentially powerful tools for establishing an image for the

brand and for creating the right mood in commercials (e.g. a

teen-oriented retailer’s ads should feature pop while a high-

end fashion retailer’s commercials should include classical

music).

However, note that negative attitudes toward disliked

musical styles are as intense as positive attitudes toward

favorite musical styles (Craton et al., 2008). Clearly, musical

“pet peeves” are an important advertising consideration since

they can lead to negative hedonic response.

Musical artist/performance

Research on the impact of a musical singer or band is

surprisingly lacking. Hecker (1984) suggested that using a

well-known musical group or singer can add spice, authority,

stature, and/or charm to the commercial. The ﬁndings on use

of celebrity endorsers are probably relevant here, especially

that celebrities, and hence musical artists, should “ﬁt” the

brand (“celebrity-brand congruency,” similar to music-

message ﬁt), be attractive, and be credible (Atkin and

Block, 1983; Erdogan et al., 2001; Till, 1998).

Another understudied factor is the expressive actions of the

performer (Thompson et al., 1989). Expressive variations in

timing (Ashley, 2002), loudness (Thompson and Cuddy,

1997), and facial and gestural expressions of emotion

(Thompson et al., 2005, 2008) strongly inﬂuence listeners’

emotional reactions and even their perception of musical

structure (perceived features), though we are not aware of any

research exploring these aspects of performance in

advertisements.

(3) Listener characteristics

Many studies demonstrate that consumer taste for art and

entertainment varies predictably with general customer

characteristics, i.e. demographics and socioeconomic status,

psychographics, and personality. The literature on people’s

reactions to music in general (Finna¨s, 1989; Shepherd, 2003)

and to music in advertising (references are cited below)

suggests that certain sociodemographic variables – age, sex,

culture, subculture, social class, and social group – plus

personality and mood state will inﬂuence a listener’s response

to music in a commercial. Musical training, knowledge, and

experience also inﬂuence musical responses (Hargreaves et al.,

2006; Holbrook, 1995; Konecni, 1982), but these listener

characteristics are beyond the scope of this paper.

Musical taste

Marketers seek to know their target audience’s long-term

musical tastes, which intuitively have a direct and powerful

effect on their reaction to ad music and probably inﬂuences

every element of A

. Below, we describe a number of

listener characteristics that appear to affect consumer

musical taste and thus, indirectly, A

. We focus on

sociodemographic and psychological variables that have

been found to impact musical tastes and, consequently,

music appeal and/or preference for a piece of music at a

particular point in time.

Age

Two age-related phenomena inﬂuence music preferences:

1 Life cycle effects are differences due to age-related (1)

physical distinctions, such as older people having difﬁculty

hearing, and (b) psychological differences, like younger

people craving edgy fun and excitement (and music

reﬂecting that) (Hamermesh, 1984). Together, these two

life cycle effects would seem to especially impact

emotional arousal response to music.

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

Some work has found that hedonic responses may

change over the life cycle. Young adults report

signiﬁcantly stronger overall preference ratings for music

than older adults (LeBlanc et al., 1996, cited in Rentfrow

and Gosling, 2006). Consistent with this, Pincus (2004,

cited in North and Hargreaves, 2008) described research

demonstrating that 64 per cent of 14-to-25-year-olds

mentioned music as their greatest inﬂuence when

choosing among brands. Intuitively, older adults may be

less inﬂuenced by ad music, although we do not know of

any research documenting this. Because exposure to

various styles of music accumulates over the lifespan,

listeners come to understand these styles better with age.

The same music that is regarded as complex and

distasteful in youth may be enjoyed more as one ages,

although to our knowledge this notion remains untested

(Hargreaves et al., 2006).

2 Cohort effects are preferences for elements of popular

culture, such as music, movies, books, fashion, and sports,

due to one’s birth year and consequently the pop culture

in which s/he grew up. Accordingly, in the 1960s, Benny

Goodman music was nostalgic for middle-aged adults,

whereas in the ’80s and ’90s, Beatles and Rolling Stones

tunes became sentimental for this same age group, and in

the current decade artists such as Blondie, Olivia Newton-

John, and Prince are nostalgic for mid-lifers.

Such preferences may arise during the late

adolescence/early adulthood (late teens/early 20s)

“critical period” of development (Hargreaves et al.,

2006; North and Hargreaves, 1995, 2002), being

formed by the time of young adulthood and persisting

into old age (Craton et al., 2008, Study 2; Holbrook and

Schindler, 1989; for a review, see Hargreaves et al., 2006).

Hence, TV commercials aimed at Baby Boomers are

replete with oldies and classic rock, while ads targeted

toward Generations X and Y contain alternative rock and

rap. Cohort effects seem to most inﬂuence affective

components of A

such as emotional memories and

hedonic response.

Sex

Studies on the relationship between sex and musical

preference are conﬂicting (Wheeler, 1985). Nonetheless,

research reviewed by North and Hargreaves (2008) conﬁrms

the everyday observation that women prefer “softer” musical

styles such as mainstream pop, while males favor “harder,”

more aggressive styles like hard rock. Consistent with

women’s greater emotional expressiveness in non-musical

domains, females rated musical excerpts as more emotionally

expressive and more likeable than did males (Kamenetsky

et al., 1997, citing several studies). Finna¨s (1989) reports that,

although in some studies no clear relation between sex and

music preference was found, others have discovered females

preferring serious, traditional, or more “peaceful” music,

whereas males favor “tougher” music like hard rock as well as

sometimes jazz. Kellaris and Rice (1993) also found that

females respond more positively to music at lower volumes. In

short, sex seems to primarily impact the affective elements of

Culture

One perspective on perception of music holds that it is

primarily a cultural and social phenomenon reﬂecting the

values and attitudes of a particular culture, subculture, and

social class (Alpert and Alpert, 1991; Holbrook and

Schindler, 1989; Pitt and Abratt, 1988; Scott, 1990).

Abundant research suggests that responses to music are

directly related to their cultural meaningfulness (North,

Hargreaves, McKenzie and Law, 2004). For instance,

national anthems help people assert their national identity.

Hence, patriotic music could help create an image as an “all-

American brand.” Consequently, the effects of culture seem

to work more on cognitive elements of A

such as

remembered features of music available for association and

image suggested, although culturally-based emotional feelings

and memories can also be evoked by music.

Subculture

Each ethnic, religious, geographic, and age cohort subculture

has particular music tastes that can be included in

commercials, such as salsa, polka, gospel, country, and

bluegrass. The prevalence of musical genre radio stations

appealing to the Hispanic subculture – regional Mexican,

tropical Latin, Latin urban, and Spanish contemporary – is

evidence of such ethnic subcultural inﬂuence (http://america

smusiccharts.com).

Consumption subcultures based on music are pervasive.

Many print media articles have discussed the variety of

clothing and other lifestyle choices (such as use of speciﬁc

illegal drugs and sexual permissiveness) afﬁliated with

particular musical subcultures (North and Hargreaves,

2007a). Youth tend to form musical subcultures focused on

pop music, such as the 1950s’ Teddy Boys, the 1960s’ ﬂower

children, 1970s’ punks, and the Goths, “metalheads,” and rap

fans of the last few decades (North and Hargreaves, 2008).

Thus, subculture seemingly taps into a wide variety of

cognitive and affective A

dimensions, with hedonic

response being particularly inﬂuenced.

Social class

While some studies have demonstrated a negligible

relationship between socioeconomic status and musical

preference, others have observed higher socioeconomic

groups favoring more serious music, such as classical, opera,

and ballet (Di Maggio and Useem, 1978; Finna¨s, 1989).

Research has been conducted on “taste cultures,” which

exist to “entertain, inform, and beautify life and to express

values and standards of taste and aesthetics” (Fox and Wince,

1975, p. 199). These studies categorize fans of particular

musical styles into broader social classes based on lifestyle

preferences. Such groups consist of people subscribing to a

particular taste culture, ranging along a social class

continuum: “high culture,” “upper-middle culture,” “lower-

middle culture,” “low culture,” and “quasi-folk low culture”

(Gans, 1974, cited in Fox and Wince, 1975 and in North and

Hargreaves, 2007b). Fox and Wince (1975) observed that ﬁve

musical taste cultures – “jazz-blues,” “popular hits,” “folk

music,” “rock-protest,” and “country and western” – were

strongly correlated with social class. Many studies have

depicted patterned differences in consumer tastes variously

termed as “highbrow” versus “lowbrow,” “high culture”

versus either “mass culture” or “popular culture,” or the

“cultural hierarchy” (Holbrook, 1995, p. 57). At one end of

this spectrum, high culture entails elite activities, such as

museum-caliber art, opera, and ballet. Popular culture is one

of mass appeal, such as movies, books, fashion, sports, and

music, all mass produced and standardized. North and

Hargreaves (2007c) observed that liking for “high-art” music

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

(e.g. opera, classical music, and jazz) correlated with living

the lifestyle of the upper-middle and middle classes, while

preference for “low-art” music (e.g. hip hop/rap, dance/

house, indie, and DJ-based music) was indicative of a lower-

middle and lower-class lifestyle. Hence, it appears that social

class primarily affects the affective aspects of A

Social groups/social identity

People gain an understanding of their “self” or social identity

– who they are as individuals – in part from the social groups

to which they belong (Tarrant et al., 2002). North and

Hargreaves (1999) maintain that people use music as a

“badge” to communicate their values, feelings, and self-views.

Socially consumed products such as music are often

purchased to achieve a sense of belonging or to make a

statement about who we are, not just as individuals, but also

as members of social groups (North and Hargreaves, 2007a;

Tarrant et al., 2002). Individuals respond more positively to

objects that are congruent with their self-image (Landon,

1974), and this includes music (North and Hargreaves,

2007a; Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003).

Recent work on the effect of social inﬂuence on musical

preference and taste has been guided by social identity theory

(SIT; Tajfel and Turner, 1979). This approach emphasizes that

individuals strive to evaluate their own social group, and thus

their social identity, positively. For instance, Tarrant et al.

(2002) suggested that a major appeal of music for adolescents

is its differentiation (“badge”) function that helps them form

positive social identities (see also North and Hargreaves, 1999;

North et al., 2000). Indeed, music is more important to young

people’s social identity than other behaviors such as media-

related activities or sports (Hargreaves et al., 2006). Musical

preferences in adolescence are guided by group norms and

tend to conform to the perceived preferences of peer group

leaders (Finna¨s, 1989). According to Hargreaves et al. (2006),

expressing liking for a style of music can facilitate group

distinctiveness but also increases intergroup discrimination.

Violation of the group norm for musical preference, on the

other hand, threatens the group’s distinctiveness and often

leads to derogation of the individual expressing the deviant

preference. This sensitivity to group norm violation appears to

develop in late childhood and may have a strong inﬂuence on

the development of musical preferences.

The above work from social psychology leads to the

prediction that social group and social identity are important

determinants of the music perceived as distinctive or not and

image elements of A

Personality/personal identity/lifestyle

As opposed to social identity, which is based on social

categorizations, personal identity focuses on personal,

idiosyncratic attributes such as personality or intelligence

(North and Hargreaves, 2008). Rentfrow and Gosling (2003)

note that as early as the 1950s, personality researcher Cattell

suggested that musical preferences reveal important

information about unconscious aspects of personality.

Today, a large number of personality researchers view music

preferences as reﬂecting more “explicit” personality traits

(North and Hargreaves, 2008; Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003,

2006; Wheeler, 1985).

For instance, easygoing people prefer soothing musical

styles since such music helps them stay calm (Sloboda and

O’Neill, 2001). Rentfrow and Gosling (2003) found that

people with a conservative self-view preferred conventional

music styles and those with an athletic self-view preferred

vigorous music. High sensation seeking appears to be

positively related to predilections for rock, heavy metal, and

punk music, and it is negatively associated with preferences

for sound tracks and religious music (Little and Zuckerman,

1986). Similarly, a penchant for highly arousing music (heavy

metal, rock, alternative, and rap) is positively correlated with

resting arousal, high sensation seeking, and an antisocial

personality (McNamera and Ballard, 1999, cited in Rentfrow

and Gosling, 2003). North and Hargreaves’ (2008) extensive

literature review reports that numerous studies demonstrate

that devotees of certain “problem music” styles, such as dance

music, rap, and heavy rock, are more involved than other fans

in lifestyles characterized by rebellious and anti-authoritarian

behavior.

Moreover, people use their music preferences to

communicate information regarding their personalities to

others (Rentfrow and Gosling, 2006). Intellectual individuals

favorcomplex,esotericmusic,thinkingitprojectsa

sophisticated image (Rentfrow and Gosling, 2006).

Research also suggests that preference for liberal versus

conservative musical styles (e.g. rap, dance music, and rock

versus classical music, musicals, and opera) is associated with

respectively liberal versus conser vative personalities and

lifestyles (North and Hargreaves, 2007a).

All of this suggests that music can have a strong impact on

the image dimension of A

for so-called “badge” products.

Prior mood state

Mood is a person’s subjectively perceived affective state that is

usually not intense; is not tied to a speciﬁable behavior, event,

or object (Bharucha et al., 2006; Gardner, 1985a), and can be

either positive or negative (Alpert and Alpert, 1991; Gardner,

1985a). Prior mood states perhaps have their greatest effect in

low involvement circumstances where brand differences are

minimal (Clark and Isen, 1982).

Generally, moods seem to bias evaluations and judgments

in mood-congruent directions (Gardner, 1985a; Srull, 1983)

by evoking mood-congruent thoughts (Clark and Isen, 1982;

Goldberg and Gorn, 1987; Isen et al., 1978), transferring to

product-related attitudes and behaviors (Goldberg and Gorn,

1987). However, there are exceptions; products that alleviate

a negative mood state might be evaluated favorably by

consumers when in such mood states (Gardner, 1985a). So, a

gloomy consumer watching a commercial for an anti-

depressant might react negatively to upbeat music in the ad.

Also noteworthy is that purchase intention can be affected

by interaction of music and mood (Alpert and Alpert, 1990;

Alpert et al., 2003; Brooker and Wheatley, 1994; Kellaris and

Kent, 1991; Morris and Boone, 1998; North, Hargreaves,

McKenzie and Law, 2004). Mood also directly inﬂuences A

(MacKenzie and Lutz, 1989). Clearly, the mood induced by

music A

component is inﬂuenced here.

(4) Advertisement processing strategy

We turn now to the consumer’s advertisement processing

strategy, which we deﬁne as how the consumer acquires

information or meaning from an advertisement. Ad processing

strategy is known to affect A

(Brown and Stayman, 1992;

Gardner, 1985b; Homer, 1990; Mitchell, 1986; Park and

Young, 1986). Here, we suggest that it also feeds into the

various elements of A

. This section on ad processing will

explain different theories of how music contributes cognitively

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

and affectively to formation of A

’s cognitive and affective

components, and hence development of A

Prior research cited below suggests that key elements of

advertisement processing strategy are level of advertising

processing involvement (high versus low) and the

corresponding processing route (central versus peripheral),

nature of product involvement (cognitive versus affective),

and type of advertising processing involvement (ad-message

involvement versus ad-execution involvement, including

involvement with the music). Table II summarizes these

factors, which we now brieﬂy discuss before we look at each of

the relevant persuasion theories through which advertising

music can affect A

in light of various combinations of these

factors.

Level of advertising processing involvement

Involvement is commonly conceptualized as the degree to

which a purchase decision has perceived personal importance,

relevance, and consequences for the buyer (Greenwald and

Leavitt, 1984; Park and Young, 1986; Petty et al., 1983). A

consumer highly involved with purchasing and/or using the

advertised product is motivated to extensively search for and

deeply process marketplace information (Krugman, 1965),

thereby exhibiting a high level of advertising processing

involvement – the consumer’s degree of interest in paying

attention to advertising (Batra and Ray, 1983; Laczniak et al.,

1989). A strong argument against using music in advertising

is that it can serve as a distraction – an attention-grabber that

is irrelevant to the message (Brooker and Wheatley, 1994;

Macklin, 1988). Based on the available research, we suggest

that high-involvement consumers are likely to perceive music-

message ﬁt and to respond positively (negatively) to good

(poor) ﬁt, creating a favorable (unfavorable) A

. Negative

response may occur even for music which in other contexts a

consumer would enjoy but which exhibits a poor music-

message ﬁt. For instance, Park and Young (1986) found that

for high-involvement consumers, preselected popular and

liked music was a distraction from the message, lowering

response variable scores because it was unrelated to brand-

attribute message contents. Low-involvement consumers are

unlikely to wish to attend to any aspects of an ad, including

the music, although it may be difﬁcult to ignore. Whether

they distinguish high and low music-message ﬁt is currently

unclear (MacInnis and Park, 1991; North, Hargreaves,

McKenzie and Law, 2004).

Nature of product involvement

Product involvement – the extent of a consumer’s enduring,

inherent interest in a particular product or brand – is of two

types, depending on the nature of the need the product

satisﬁes: cognitive involvement and affective involvement.

Cognitive involvement relates to thoughtful information

acquisition. Here, persuasion begins with a change in salient

beliefs about brand performance on brand-differentiating

attributes, resulting in attitude change (Fishbein, 1963;

Mitchell and Olson, 1981). Such belief-based processing can

result in attitude change under both high and low cognitive

involvement circumstances (Fishbein, 1963; Middlestadt

et al., 1994). However, high (low) cognitively involved

consumers decide based on a lot of (little to no) brand-

attribute information. All cognitive A

elements can

potentially be impacted by the consumer’s level of cognitive

involvement.

Affective involvement is founded on emotional, symbolic,

aesthetic, or social needs, relating to pleasure, enjoyment, and

experiences (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). Here,

persuasion is grounded in nonbelief-based processing and

entails molding attitudes emotionally or experientially, based

on hedonic needs. All affective A

elements are potentially

inﬂuenced by the consumer’s level of affective involvement.

Whether the consumer’s involvement is cognitive or

affective in nature will determine which type of advertising

processing involvement (ad-message or ad-execution) and

which persuasion theory (discussed below) will be operative.

This also determines which components of A

are affected –

i.e. cognitive (affective) involvement will more likely affect

cognitive (affective) components.

Type of advertising processing involvement

We distinguish two types of advertising processing

involvement: Advertising-message involvement entails the

degree of cognitive effort expended by the consumer toward

processing an ad’s message contents, being high (low) under

high (low)-cognitive involvement conditions (Park and Young,

1986). Under high advertising-message involvement, music

would primarily impact the cognitive A

dimensions.

Advertising-execution involvement concerns the extent of

cognitive effort exerted by the buyer toward processing an

ad’s executional elements, such as music (MacKenzie and

Lutz, 1989), and it is elevated (depressed) under high (low)-

affective involvement circumstances. It would seem that both

cognitive and affective A

components could be affected

here since cognitive effort is expended and yet affect is

experienced.

We suggest that music involvement is a type of advertising

processing involvement, that it can occur as either high or low

levels of either cognitive involvement or affective involvement,

irrespective of the product’s inherent involvement level

(MacInnis and Park, 1991), and thus is an aspect of

Table II Components of advertising processing strategy

Level of advertising processing

involvement (including music

involvement)/processing route Nature of product involvement

Type of Advertising processing

involvement and music

involvement Persuasion theory

High/central 1. Cognitive Ad-message Cognitive response model: Lyrics and musical ﬁt

2. Affective Ad-execution Emotional appeals

Low/peripheral 3. Cognitive Ad-message or ad-execution Cognitive response model: Ad-execution

thoughts and simple inferences

4. Affective Ad-execution Mere exposure Classical conditioning: Mood

inducement and cue association

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

advertising – message involvement or of advertising-execution

involvement. Indeed, Sullivan (1990) found that high

musical-involvement consumers showed better recall for

radio commercials (we would suggest due to high attention

to and depth of processing of music), A

, and A

for low

involvement products than did low music-involvement

consumers.

Processing route

Petty and Cacioppo’s (1986) and Petty et al.’s (1983)

elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of ad processing and

persuasion considers the degree of effort consumers exert in

learning about a brand’s attributes and forming an A

, i.e. how

deeply they process (elaborate on) information on the brand

(Alpert and Alpert, 1989). This model proposes two distinctly

different “routes” to persuasion, depending on consumers’

motivation (i.e. level of advertising processing involvement),

opportunity, and ability (MOA) to process information and

make decisions. Under central-route processing, MOA is

high, and hence active effort is put into information

processing. This can result in either high cognitive, ad-

message involvement, i.e. high engagement with advertising,

focusing on product-relevant information, or high affective,

ad-execution involvement, as evoked by executional elements

such as a picture of a starving child or very solemn music

(Sherman et al., 1999).

Under peripheral-route processing, MOA is low –

consumers devote little energy to ad processing (Petty et al.,

1983) and to making choices, passively encountering

unsought information (Batra and Ray, 1983), such as

commercial jingles or music that evokes a mood. This can

result in either low cognitive, ad-message or ad-execution

involvement, or low affective, ad-execution involvement

(Bordens and Horowitz, 2001).

Under the peripheral route consumers use peripheral cues

– less relevant, easily processed simple positive and negative

executional advertising stimuli (North and Hargreaves,

1997b; Petty et al., 1983). Background (nonvocal) music in

commercials is an important peripheral cue because it can

signiﬁcantly impact both physiological and psychological

reactions (Grayston, 1974; Jacob, 1968; Ross, 1966;

Uhrbrock, 1961; Zimny and Weidenfeller, 1963). Indeed,

some researchers have discovered that background music

(MacInnis and Park, 1991) as well as foreground music (Park

and Young, 1986) can positively affect message processing

under low involvement conditions.

Persuasion through music based on four consumer advertising

processing situations

We now brieﬂy examine how elements of A

are inﬂuenced

by each of four advertising processing scenarios, based on

whether high/central route or low/peripheral route processing

occurs (column 1 in Table II) and product involvement is

cognitive or affective (column 2 in Table II). Italicized terms in

the next four sections are cognitive and affective dimensions

of A

found in Figure 1. Bold italicized terms are music

persuasion processes as outlined in column 4 of Table II.

Music’s inﬂuence for high cognitive (ad-message) involvement,

central route consumers

High cognitive involvement consumers (ﬁrst row under

column headings in Table II) do not focus on executional

cues, but ad music might nevertheless inﬂuence A

through

brand cognitions, enhancing or distracting from message

processing (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986; Swasy and Munch,

1985). If thoughts regarding the brand due to the commercial

(including its music) are favorable (unfavorable), the

consumer’s A

might also become favorable (unfavorable)

(Shimp, 1981).

Music can alter brand beliefs about brand-attribute

performance through lyrics, usually in a jingle. Catchy

lyrics can grab attention and if simple enough can encourage

an optimal depth of processing of music that enhances recall of

the ad message. They also create new or tap into existing

associations and aid brand distinctiveness. Effective lyrics help

consumers perceive music-message ﬁt by creating an image,

feeling, or mood congruent with the message (Alpert and

Alpert, 1991).

MacInnis and Park (1991) argued that music may positively

inﬂuence high-involvement consumers if there is high musical

ﬁt since it primes relevant product beliefs (e.g. sophisticated

classical music featured in a perfume advertisement). Stout

and Leckenby (1990, cited in North and Hargreaves, 1997b

and in North, Hargreaves, McKenzie and Law, 2004)

discovered that commercials were perceived more favorably

and as more informative when containing music easily

associated with the advertised brand, i.e. when there was

musical ﬁt.

Music’s inﬂuence for high affective (ad-execution) involvement,

central route consumers

In the cases of affective involvement (second and fourth rows

in Table II), the underlying assumption is that pleasant, well-

liked ads yield a more favorable A

and A

than unpleasant

or irritating ads (Mitchell, 1986; Moore and Hutchinson,

1985; Shimp, 1981). Under the central route, sometimes

audience members experience high affective involvement –

strong emotional responses to a commercial, leading to

attitudes founded on feelings as an information source (Pham,

1998). Here, emotional appeals through music can yield

emotional responses changing the consumer’s A

, leading to

an alteration of A

(Holbrook and Batra, 1987).

Music is a powerful way to garner emotional responses by

creating a general feeling of global affect or liking for a

particular musical piece or emotional suggestiveness of that

music (Alpert and Alpert, 1990; Galizio and Hendrick, 1972;

Stout and Leckenby, 1988; Zimny and Weidenfeller, 1963).

MacInnis and Park (1991) found that music aroused

emotion-laden memories consistent with the ad’s primary

message and thereby generated positive feelings and A

those studies where music evoked little or no emotional

response (MacInnis and Park, 1991; Stout and Rust, 1986), it

was likely due to a poor ﬁt between the commercial and its

background music (Alpert and Alpert, 1990; MacInnis and

Park, 1991; Morris and Boone, 1998), suggesting that central

route processing is operative and highlighting once again the

centrality of music-message ﬁt. We suggest that all of the

affective A

components can potentially be affected by music

for high affective involvement consumers.

Music’s inﬂuence for low cognitive (ad-message or ad-execution)

involvement, peripheral route consumers

Peripheral route cognitive responses to ad music occur under

low cognitive, low ad-message involvement (third row in

Table II). These include ad execution-related thoughts,

which can arise among low MOA consumers attending to ad

presentation elements such as music (Belch and Belch, 2009),

thereby enhancing A

and/or A

.Ajingle, although an

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

executional element, can contribute only a small amount of

message information even for low involvement consumers.

Another type of low cognitive involvement ad execution-

related thought is simple inferences – beliefs based on

simple associations of the brand with peripheral cues,

including music (Hoyer and McGinnis, 2007). For example,

jazz music might suggest a “cool,” relaxed brand image.

Again, music-message ﬁt might be relevant, although probably

not to the degree it is under central route processing. We

believe that all other cognitive A

components might also be

potentially affected by the music for low cognitive

nvolvement, peripheral route consumers, albeit with weaker

effects than with high cognitive involvement consumers.

Music’s inﬂuence for low affective (ad-execution) involvement,

peripheral route consumers

One way music can elicit consumer response for low affective

involvement consumers is through mere exposure –

repeated exposure to a stimulus that creates liking for it

(Zajonc, 1968), as demonstrated by substantial evidence

(Mitchell and Olson, 1981). Consequently, frequently

encountered music might become liked, as consequently do

the ad and brand. This would primarily seem to impact the

emotions affective A

element. However, overplayed jingles

can become annoying due to wearout, and mere exposure

would probably not work for disliked music, even having the

opposite effect, although this merits research.

Low affectively involved consumers might also be

inﬂuenced by music via classical conditioning, a passive,

low involvement process of learning stimulus-response

associations. Under this ﬁrst and most widely discussed

mechanism explaining the inﬂuence of A

on A

(Allen and

Janiszewski, 1989; Edell and Burke, 1984), A

is formed via

frequently associating a positively or negatively unconditioned

(natural) stimulus (UCS) such as music with a conditioned

(initially neutral) stimulus (CS) such as a brand. Through

pairings of the UCS and CS, learners attribute to the CS

(brand) whatever thoughts or feelings they have about the

afﬁliated UCS (e.g. liked or disliked commercial music)

(Gardner, 1985a; Mitchell and Olson, 1981).

One way classical conditioning works is through mood

inducement (Alpert and Alpert, 1991; Galizio and

Hendrick, 1972). Here, music creates an appropriate mood

for the brand, such as upbeat, happy music for an amusement

park, biasing A

in a mood-congruent direction (Gardner,

1985a; Hoyer and McGinnis, 2007). This later inﬂuences

brand choice, such as by the presence of point-of-purchase

cues that reinitiate the original mood (Shimp, 1981). Moods

have been found to affect A

, purchase intentions (Edell

and Burke, 1984; Holbrook and Batra, 1987; Stayman and

Aaker, 1988), and behavior (Clark and Isen, cited in Gardner,

1985a).

Classical conditioning can also operate via cue

association, which employs unique marketing stimuli such

as music to identify and differentiate brands. For instance,

very different associations will be developed by upbeat and

zippy versus somber and melancholy songs. This suggests that

classically conditioned cognitions (as well as feelings) can also

be created for low affective involvement consumers.

Classical conditioning has been supported by many studies

(Bierley et al., 1985; Gibson, 2008; Shimp et al. 1991; Stuart

et al., 1987; Tom, 1995). It provides a plausible mechanism

explaining the peripheral route to persuasion through which

music can effectively operate (Edell and Burke, 1984, Lutz,

1985; Shimp, 1981; Petty et al., 1983). However, research

ﬁndings on classical conditioning via advertising are

equivocal. While some researchers report that consumers

can be classically conditioned to prefer a product by pairing it

with well-liked music (e.g. Gorn, 1982), others have failed to

obtain this effect; (Allen and Madden, 1985; Alpert and

Alpert, 1989; Alpert and Alpert, 1990; Gresham and Shimp,

1985; Kellaris and Cox, 1989; Kleine et al., 1986; Macklin,

1986; Pitt and Abratt, 1988). Some research ﬁnds that

classical conditioning is successful for novel brands but not

for familiar brands (Shimp et al., 1991) and for unfamiliar

conditioned stimuli having few preexisting associations

(Cacioppo et al., 1992).

Itappearsthatatbestclassicalconditioningoccurs

unreliably (Kellaris and Cox, 1989) and only for low

involvement/passive consumers. Tom’s (1995) research also

suggests that classical conditioning is more likely to arise

where there is musical ﬁt, once again highlighting the

criticality of music-message congruence.

Attitude toward the ad (A

)

The previous discussion suggests that A

can be a signiﬁcant

component of A

– a “predisposition to respond in a

favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular advertising

stimulus during a particular exposure occasion” (Lutz, 1985),

or “an individual’s evaluation of and/or affective feelings

about an advertisement” (Park and Young, 1986). This is

regardless of level of advertising involvement (high/central

versus low/peripheral) and nature of product involvement

(cognitive vs. affective) and advertising processing

involvement (ad-message vs. ad-execution).

’s inﬂuence on A

is well documented (Burke and Edell,

1989; Brown and Stayman, 1992; Gardner, 1985b; Gorn,

1982; Homer, 1990; MacKenzie et al., 1986; Mitchell, 1986;

Muehling and Laczniak, 1988; Stayman and Aaker, 1988). A

is affected by both brand beliefs formed via A

(including

cognitive elements of A

) as well as by a direct link from A

to A

(Mitchell and Olson, 1981; Park and Young, 1986)

(allowing both cognitive and affective A

dimensions to be

inﬂuential).

, in turn, provokes brand purchase intentions, all else

equal (e.g. brand availability), leading to a brand choice, as

shown in the right-hand portion of Figure 1. Research has

demonstrated A

’s inﬂuence on purchase intention, both

indirectly via A

’s impact on A

(Homer, 1990; MacKenzie

and Lutz, 1989; MacKenzie et al., 1986; Mitchell, 1986;

Mitchell and Olson, 1981; Shimp, 1981) and directly

(Gresham and Shimp, 1985; MacKenzie et al., 1986). A

also affects brand choice directly as well as indirectly through

(Biehal et al., 1992).

Lutz (1985) posited that A

has antecedents that are

cognitive, central processing (e.g. ad credibility, ad

perceptions) and affective, peripheral processing (e.g. mood,

attitude toward advertising in general). The cognitive

elements consist of people’s judgments regarding the ad’s

characteristics (e.g. humorous, informative, contains classy

music, i.e. ad-execution thoughts and simple inferences),

while the affective components are founded on feelings people

experience during ad exposure (e.g. amused, moved,

i.e. emotional reactions to emotional appeals) (Burke and

Edell, 1989). Thus, while someone might, for example,

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

believe that an ad is characterized by humor (cognitive), the

person might not ﬁnd the ad funny (affective).

Similarly, Park and Young’s (1986) research suggests that

can contribute to A

formation in two ways:

1 through the cognitive route by facilitating communication

of the ad message, such as via simple information and

peripheral cues that relate to the ad’s theme (rows 1 and 3

in Table II), or

2 through the affective route via its effect on positive feeling

states without a relevant connection to the ad’s theme

(rows 2 and 4).

According to the dual-mediation hypothesis, consumers can

have a positive A

either because:

.they have a favorable cognitive response, i.e. the ad

provides them with useful information (rows 1 and 3 in

Table II); or

.they have a positive affective response, i.e. they gain good

feelings from or are interested in the ad (Brown and

Stayman, 1992; Homer, 1990; MacKenzie et al., 1986)

(rows 2 and 4).

In either case, A

is enhanced, leading either to make

consumers more accepting of brand beliefs or claims,

resulting in a more favorable A

(rows 1 and 3), or to

create affect transfer – positive feelings that directly transfer

from the ad (A

) to the brand (A

) (Gresham and Shimp,

1985; MacKenzie et al., 1986; Mitchell and Olson, 1981)

(rows 2 and 4).

Implications and directions for managers and for

future research

Managerial implications

Managers can use Figure 1 as a checklist of considerations to

evaluate how target audience members might respond to music

in their TV and/or radio commercial. They can review Table II

to determine the likely nature of advertisement processing their

target audience uses and to determine which persuasion

theories are likely to be operative so that they can tailor their

use of music accordingly (e.g. use lyrics to teach consumers

about brand beneﬁts in the high ad involvement, central route

scenario). Through all this we suggest they think long and hard

about possible ways proposed music can negatively impact a

signiﬁcant number of target market members.

For instance, suppose an advertiser of baby furniture (cribs,

changing tables, rockers, strollers, etc.) is trying to decide

between using Brahms’ Lullaby (BL) (“Lullaby, and good

night ...”) or a children’s nursery rhyme (NR) (Baa, Baa,

Black Sheep, Hickory Dickory Dock, etc.) to be aired during

particular TV and radio programming. The message is that

the product line is safe, comfortable, comforting, and

protective. The following could be considered as key factors:

.Listening situation. Many parents (mostly mothers) might

be harried and hassled with attending to the baby’s needs

and somewhat cranky while at home with their spouse

during late evening programming following a hard day’s

work either in the ofﬁce or home, suggesting the more

relaxing BR. Cognitively this could communicate an

image of comfortable and comforting, and affectively it

could induce emotional memories of the safe, protective

home environment in which most of them grew up.

.Musical stimulus. If a rocker is featured as a product in the

commercial, BL would achieve excellent music-message ﬁt

(whereas NR lyrics might distract, although “Good Night,

Sleep Tight” could be a good choice) and would have more

impact as foreground music whose lyrics are attended to.

The tune’sremembered features for association would

likely be positive (whereas some NRs like “Little Miss

Muffet” would tap negative associations). Structural

characteristics of BL would likely create positive thoughts

and feelings, whereas some NRs might be found annoying.

Pop singer-songwriter Jewel, being a mother with an album

Lullaby!, could be the musical artist for NR (Braham’s

Lullaby appears on her album). A relaxed mood could be

induced here, reinforcing the comforting message

.Listener characteristics. Demographics would not be a

major consideration as either selection is universally

familiar and liked), although they would be relevant if a

particular performer (Jewel) or an idiosyncratic version of

the song was used. Either NR or BL would appeal to

parents who are “into” the parenting lifestyle and view

their parenting role as a primary element of their social

identity and lifestyle – the music’s image would be on

target.

.Advertisement processing strategy. The products lend

themselves to high cognitive involvement with central

route processing, so no matter the music selection, lyrics

would be important. Since these are products for the

parents’ baby, affective involvement would be high too.

BL would be appropriate since its soft tune brings a

familiar feeling of being protected and warm (emotions

evoked by music).

Research implications

Although our primary concern in this paper has been to assist

managers in the selection of ad music, we hope that the

checklist provided by our model will be useful to researchers

as well. We conclude by pointing out several ways the model

can help guide future research and noting limitations in our

model that might be addressed in future work.

First, the model draws attention to variables that have

generated tantalizing or contradictory ﬁndings that beg for

follow-up. For instance, we would like to see further empirical

work comparing the effects of foreground versus background

music and the use versus nonuse of lyrics in foreground

music.

Second, by integrating established variables in a broad

framework, the model underscores the need for research on

the links between them. For instance, little is known about

what factors – musical style/genre, structural characteristics,

etc. – lead to high perceived music-message ﬁt both in general

as well as for various product categories. Because the model

offers a comprehensive list of variables, it can also help

investigators identify factors that need to be strictly controlled

in experiments, which may reduce the mix of ﬁndings in

certain portions of the literature. For example, we believe it is

crucial that future research on music-message ﬁt judiciously

avoid confounding ﬁt with other factors such as structural

characteristics of musical stimuli (to take a hypothetical

example, if fast music that experimenters select as having

“good ﬁt” with a product enhances response to the ad, was it

ﬁt or tempo that caused the effect?).

Third, the model may be useful because it includes

variables that have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In

particular, these include elements of A

, namely level and

persistence of attention to music, depth of processing of

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

music, perceived features of music available for association,

remembered features of music available for association, image

suggested by music, music perceived as distinctive or not,

mood induced by music, and emotional memories activated

by music. Consequently, we hope that researchers will use

Figure 1 as a guide in ﬁnding new research topics. We believe

that work on consumer response to ad music will advance as

researchers systematically test the inﬂuence of particular

elements subsumed under our four variables (listening

situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and

advertising processing strategy) on these unexplored aspects

of musical response. While we have pointed to some of the

opportunities for new research throughout this paper, the

model is rich enough to generate many more than we have

space to discuss.

Fourth, we hope that the model will provide an impetus for

future theoretical and empirical work that elucidates how the

many elements of the listening situation, musical stimulus,

listener characteristics, and advertising processing strategy

variables interact with each other. Similarly, the components

of A

probably inﬂuence each other. Does low perceived

music-message ﬁt reduce attention to ad music? Does it

produce negative feelings or negative hedonic response

toward the music? Many similar questions can be addressed

in future work.

Fifth, we believe that a strength of the present model is the

multifaceted nature of A

, which leads to a richer conception

of “music appeal” than is typical in the literature. This

richness provides opportunities for researchers to rigorously

test the intuition that reactions to music are complex and

sometimes contradictory – as when a song performed in a

disliked genre is nevertheless regarded as infectiously upbeat

or catchy, or when listeners enjoy listening to music that

expresses a negatively valenced emotion such as sadness

(Schellenberg et al., 2008). In fact, recent work suggests that

even some individual elements of A

can be contradictory.

For instance, Hunter et al. (2008) found that music made

listeners feel simultaneously happy and sad when musical

structural characteristics for both emotions (slow tempo

depicting sadness, major mode signaling happiness) were

present. Results like these support anecdotal accounts of the

richness of musical experience, and our model provides a tool

for exploring this systematically.

Sixth, while the current model should be viewed as an

outline of the structural relations of the various factors, we

hope that it will provide a steppingstone for researchers who

aspire to develop a detailed model of the underlying

psychological mechanisms that can help explain the

relationships between the variables in our framework. In

doing so, it will be fruitful to pay attention to emerging work

in psychology. For instance, the richness and sometimes

contradictory nature of musical response alluded to above

may sometimes occur when different affective mechanisms

operate simultaneously and generate contrasting emotions

(Juslin and Va¨stfja¨ll, 2008). Process-oriented models have

been proposed to account for response to visual art (e.g. Leder

et al., 2004), and comparable work on modeling aesthetic

response to music is progressing rapidly (Bharucha et al.,

2006; Brattico and Jacobsen, 2009). Among other things, a

process-oriented model of consumer response to advertising

music should explicitly capture:

.which processes are automatically triggered by a musical

event and which involve conscious or controlled

processing;

.which reactions are universal or similar among all

individuals and which are subjective, relative, and inter-

individually variable; and

.which processes are innate and which are learned through

experience and thus possibly dependent on the

individual’s “listening biography” or particular history of

exposure to music (Huron, 2006).

Future researchers should be aware of several limitations of the

current model. For instance, we have not endeavored to offer

measures or strict operational deﬁnitions for the various

variables and their elements. This is an important area for

future work. One challenge that arises here is whether to

construe certain variables as objective or subjective. We strongly

caution against the common practice of using experimenter

intuition in selecting “pleasurable” versus “unpleasurable”

musical stimuli, given the strong evidence for variation and

subjectivity in musical preferences and taste. Even pretested

stimuli are unlikely to generate the same response in all

individuals, so it is important at the very least to employ

rigorous manipulation checks in one’s experimental procedures.

Similar concerns apply to constructs such as complexity and

even music-message ﬁt. It would be erroneous to assume that

variables such as these are either objectively present in the

stimulus or uniform across individuals. Consequently, achieving

universal response to any musical selection in a commercial is

most challenging (Craton and Lantos, 2011)!

Several additional limitations concern the scope and

generality of the model. Regarding scope, although we

consider A

to be a signiﬁcant and highly inﬂuential

component of A

, we believe that empirical research is

necessary before it will be possible to model the relationship

between these variables. Variables analogous to A

that also

are constituents of A

, such as attitude toward the celebrity

and attitude toward the storyline, could also be proposed and

their interactions with music studied. Also, we did not include

the ad message and non-musical executional elements of

commercials as components in the model. This will be

important to do, since these vary in their relationship to the

ad music (Scott, 1990) in ways that probably inﬂuence

audience response. Finally, we did not consider ad processing

scenarios that combine different levels of cognitive and

affective involvement (e.g, high cognitive but also high

affective involvement, suggesting emotional but meaningful

lyrics).

Regarding generality, the present model has focused on

television and radio commercials using music. It may be

possible to draw on this work and that of others such as those

noted below to shed light on other uses of music in marketing,

such as:

.Employing music microchips in print ads.

.Using in-store background music on the P.A. system

(e.g. in-store irritation caused by loud or disliked music)

to create store “atmospherics” and service establishment

“servicescapes” that enhance buyers’ moods and

contribute to a store image. In fact, Allan (2008)

suggested that in-store music might be the most

important retail atmospheric element. However, disliked

in-store music can adversely change the shopping

experience for patrons and the working experience for

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

employees, whose music preferences are also important,

given employees’ impact on customer service.

.Sponsoring music concerts. For instance, funding a rock

concert conveys that the brand is cool, while supporting a

symphony orchestra connotes traditionalism and

sophistication.

.Using music in online advertising such as pre-roll

advertising, webisodes (video webcasting and video ads.

.Using music in product placements, a marketing

communications strategy reported in many studies cited

in Gibson, 2008 (p. 186), based on associative learning

mechanisms since the brand is afﬁliated with celebrities in

well-liked entertainment media such as TV shows, movies,

and video games.

.Using sonic branding – the attempt to use very short

periods of music and other auditory cues to convey core

brand values and prime brand recognition whenever

consumers come into contact with a company (e.g. in

advertising, on their web site, in their premises, while

holding on the phone). (North and Hargreaves, 2008). In

effect, sonic branding is a form of music ﬁt wherein the

advertising tries to raise the salience of particular brand

attributes in listeners’ minds (North and Hargreaves,

2008).

Conclusion

We believe our model of consumer response to advertising

music, despite the limitations just noted, is sufﬁciently robust

to provide much food for practitioner thought and practice. It

also suggests for advertising researchers in both academia and

practice many opportunities to further empirically investigate

consumer response to advertising music.

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About the author

Geoffrey P. Lantos is Professor of Business Administration

and Marketing Major Program Director, Stonehill College,

Easton, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of Consumer

Behavior in Action: Real-life Applications for Marketing

Managers (2011, M.E. Sharpe). He has previously published

in such journals as Journal of Consumer Marketing,Strategic

Direction, Journal of Biblical Integration in Business,Marketing

Education Review,Journal of Product & Brand Management,

Journal of Public Policy and Marketing,Journal of the Academy

of Marketing Science, and Journal of the Market Research

Society. He serves as Book Reviews Editor for the Journal of

Consumer Marketing and Journal of Product & Brand

Management and is on several editorial review boards. His

research interests include ethics, corporate social

responsibility, and educational pedagogy. Geoffrey P. Lantos

is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:

glantos@stonehill.edu

Lincoln G. Craton is Associate Professor of Psychology,

Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts, USA. A

developmental psychologist, he has previously published in

andservedasreviewerforsuchjournalsasChild

Development,Developmental Psychology,Evolutionary

Psychology, and Perception and Psychophysics. His current

research interests include own-age bias in face recognition

and topics in music perception/cognition, particularly the

cognitive basis of musical preferences and explicit and

implicit knowledge of harmony in listeners without musical

training. He enjoys playing jazz guitar with his trio, Linc

Cray and the CrayTones.

Executive summary and implications for

managers and executives

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives

a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a

particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in

toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the

research undertaken and its results to get the full beneﬁts of the

material present.

Music is a core element of most broadcast commercials and

the general assumption is that including music enhances the

advertisement. Scholars typically argue that advertising

objectives will be achieved providing that listeners focus

more on the message than the music. According to Lantos

and Craton, this is a serious misconception which ignores the

fact that consumer response to music in advertising is

signiﬁcantly more intricate. The authors argue that certain

factors make music’s contribution to an ad “ineffective or

even detrimental”. Another concern is that responses to music

are mainly conceptualized as affective, despite the fact that

cognitive responses occur too.

Attitude to advertising music is seen as a key variable

incorporating both cognitive and affective dimensions which

impact on speciﬁc advertising aims. Cognitive components

include:

.Degree of attention to music.

.Surfacing and deeper level processing.

.Features of music available.

.Remembered features of music.

.Images suggested by the music.

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

.Musical distinctiveness.

.Perceived ﬁt between music and advertising message.

These components function to determine attention to and

recall of the commercial, create and remember associations

with the brand, reinforce the message and achieve brand

differentiation.

The affective dimension likewise refers to how music

stimulates and arouses feelings and emotions, mood and

emotional memories. Hedonic response to music and by

extension to the advertisement is another aspect. For many of

both component types, consumer response can be positive,

negative or neutral.

A core premise of the model proposed in the present study

is that attitude towards advertising music is determined by

complex interaction between four variables, each of which has

several strands. It is suggested by Lantos and Craton that each

strand potentially impacts on one or more of the attitude

components.

The listening situation is the ﬁrst variable and incorporates:

.Ongoing activities. A commercial’s music plays in a context

and must be appropriate to a particular setting in order to

positively impact on attitude. Response to the music is

determined by what the listener is doing.

.Social context. Whether listeners are alone or with others

and the nature of the relationships. Working, socializing,

exercising or other activities might also inﬂuence their

reaction.

.Program content. Fit between ad music and what the

program is about.

.Voluntar y or involuntary exposure. Response to advertising

music could be negative when people are forced to listen.

Included in musical stimulus, the second variable are:

.Whether music is foreground or background. Music can be

distinctive or incidental, in part helped by the inclusion or

omission of words. Slogans or jingles might help message

recall. In the authors’ opinion, selection of foreground

music carries the most risks. Although its impact on

attitude is often inconsequential, background music must

also be carefully chosen.

.Musical sources. Advertisers can use an original

composition, an existing tune or an adaptation of

existing music. Factors to consider are familiarity or

unfamiliarity to the audience and the music’s level of

distinctiveness. How the music ﬁts with the commercial

and appropriateness of remembered features are other

issues to inﬂuence the decision. Investigations into the

relative effectiveness of these musical sources have proved

inconclusive.

.Structural characteristics. Time, pitch, texture and

complexity are the components here. Listener responses

to these characteristics are often contradictory but certain

elements can positively affect arousal, hedonic response

and purchase intention. However, the wrong combination

of characteristics can negatively impact on cognitive and

affective components.

.Genre and style. Style signiﬁcantly inﬂuences response and

preference is possibly determined by listener personalities.

Mixing genre and style helps create brand image and

mood of the advertisement.

.Musical artist/performance. Using well-known performers

often boosts ad credibility and scholars claim that timing,

loudness and expressions and gestures can shape the

emotional reaction of listeners.

The third variable is listener characteristics, which impact on

the musical taste of consumers:

.Age. Life cycle and cohort effects are the two sub-

components. Hedonic responses might alter over time due

to both physical and psychological factors. Preference is

also inﬂuenced by the musical culture that people grow up

in.

.Sex. Some studies concluded that women favor softer

music types, whereas men prefer rock and other harder

forms.

.Subculture. Particular musical tastes can emerge based on

such as ethnicity, religion, geography or age. Musical

subcultures have been a deﬁning feature of various youth

movements.

.Social class. Limited evidence suggests possible links such

as higher socioeconomic groups favoring “serious” music

like classical or opera.

Other possible inﬂuences on musical taste are group or

individual identity, motivated by such as a need to belong or

personal intelligence. Prior mood is another factor and its

positive or negative nature can impact on response to

advertising music and to purchase intention, certain

academics claim.

What strategies a consumer uses to process advertisements

is the last variable and consists of:

.Level of ad processing involvement. Individuals highly

involved with the advertised product are likely to

consider music-message ﬁt to be important. When ﬁt is

poor, music becomes a distraction and consumer response

is negative.

.Nature of product involvement. Interest in a speciﬁc product

or brand can be cognitive or affective. The ﬁrst inspires

information acquisition; the latter reﬂects a desire to fulﬁll

needs of a more emotional, aesthetic or social nature.

.Type of advertising processing involvement. The two types

respectively relate to processing a commercial’s message

content or its ‘executional elements’ like music. Nature of

a consumer’s product involvement determines the type.

.Processing route. Consumers engaging in central-route

processing are more motivated and able to process

information. Either high cognitive, ad-message

involvement or high affective, ad-executional

involvement can result. Motivation is lower among those

using peripheral-route processing, where response is more

passive using less important cues that are easier to process.

Background music in a commercial can be a key

peripheral cue.

Lantos and Craton make additional suggestions about how

different advertising processing scenarios inﬂuence attitude to

advertising music. These include:

.Simple, catchy lyrics can inspire deeper processing of ad

music and improve recall of ad message.

.Emotional appeals made through music can trigger

emotional responses and inﬂuence the listener’s attitude.

.Repeated exposure to music can create a positive response

among low affective involvement consumers. Although

overkill can damage if a jingle becomes irritating.

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

.Consumers can be conditioned by music if it is able to

generate a mood which is deemed appropriate to the

brand.

The authors alert managers to various considerations that will

help gauge the likely response to their commercial. They also

emphasize the need to identify the type of advertising

processing in order to focus on aspects able to make the music

more effective.

Future research could further explore the impact of

foreground versus background music, other factors that

might affect music-message ﬁt and the relationships and

possible contradictory effects between different variables

included in the present study. An investigation of music

within other contexts like retail environments, online

advertising and sponsorship of music concerts is another

approach to consider.

(A pre

´cis of the article “A model of consumer response to

advertising music”. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for

Emerald.)

A model of consumer response to advertising music

Geoffrey P. Lantos and Lincoln G. Craton

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume 29 · Number 1 · 2012 · 22 – 42

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

Decoding the DNA of Viral Video Ads

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023

Hediye Aydoğan

The purpose of this study is to identify the key elements in viral video advertisements disseminated through the sharing of digital media users on their networks, and mostly not perceived as an advertising. Accordingly, sixty award-winning viral video ads from Crystal Apple Award were purposively selected, and were content-analyzed on MAXQDA 2020 through a code sheet developed from the previous related research. The results indicated that viral video ads mostly rewarded Silver Apple award mainly had a length of 30-60 and 91-120 seconds, functioned to build brands, included ‘pass-it-on’ message type, depended upon transformative message strategies, used positive emotional appeals, contained storytelling, excluded voice-over, included background and instrumental music, preferred popular and pop music, mentioned brand in the last third of the video, and avoided product pricing. It also investigated the associations between award type, advertising function and viral ad elements. Finally, drawing upon the findings obtained, this descriptive paper concludes with remarks and suggestions for practitioners and further research.

Comunidades de aprendizaje: Un proyecto que estimula la participación de las familias en los centros de educación primaria

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2014

YouTube Users' Behavioral Responses towards Musical Ads (A Comparative Study vs Voice Over ads)

Article

Jun 2023

Shimaa Salah Sadek

Musical Manipulation of Visual Scenes In Video, Film, and TV Advertisements: A Large-Scale Investigation into The Implicit Effects of Sonic Branding

Article

May 2024

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Identity-based consumer responses to music in marketing contexts

Article

May 2024

The use of music in marketing campaigns is ubiquitous. Frequently, brands choose music that they think will be personally meaningful to consumers so that positive associations about the music may spillover to the brand, itself. Yet some anecdotal evidence suggests that such a strategy can sometimes backfire. The proposed conceptual framework of consumer responses to music explains the process through which consumers interpret and respond to music which is related to their personal autobiographical experiences. We propose that the more music is associated with autobiographical experiences, the more a consumer will develop a sense of ownership of the music, and subsequently, the more likely that they will make a determination about whether they will psychologically “license” the use of the music to the brand. This effect is proposed to be conditional on the appropriateness of the music usage. The framework then traces such licensing to a series of consequences: identity outcomes, music outcomes, and identity-related brand outcomes. We conclude by outlining directions for future research.

Political Affiliation of Musical Artists Contributing to Sonic Elements of Advertising

Chapter

Apr 2024

Paul Barretta

In this chapter, a conceptual approach is proposed for how sonic elements of advertising can be utilized to create a connection with a particular target segment based on their homogeneous political viewpoints. After a literature review of pertinent topics, theoretical development of the proposed approach is presented, followed by sections related to how Integrated Marketing Communications strategy can employ sonic elements in a way that appeals to some target markets while minimizing potential backlash from others. Audience fragmentation, where technology is changing how consumers view entertainment, is identified as an opportunity for how advertising is morphing in contemporary society. A formative model is presented that can potentially be used as a starting point for further research, which is briefly discussed along with limitations.

Wahrnehmung und Wirkung akustischer Reize

Chapter

Dec 2023

Paul Steiner

Tüketicilerin Zihninde Yer Edinen Reklam Müzikleri: Vernel Reklamlarına Yönelik Örnek Olay İncelemesiAdvertising Music in the Minds of Consumers: A Case Study of Vernel Ads

Article

Sep 2023

Vildan GÜNEŞ

Reklamlarda müzik kullanımı, markanın tüketici üzerindeki etkisini arttırmaktadır. Doğru reklam müziği seçimi, markanın bilinirliği ve kalıcılığı açısından önemlidir. Reklamlarda, arka fon müziği, cıngıl, popüler müzik, sinyal müziği ve özel yapım müzik olmak üzere farklı türde müzikler kullanılır. Bu çalışmada, tüketicilerin zihninde yer edinen reklam müzikleri arasında Vernel’in televizyon reklamları incelenmiştir. Reklamların incelenmesi, görüntü, ses ve metin verileri üzerinden yapılmıştır. Örnek olay yöntemi ile bu markanın reklam müziklerinin tarihsel süreçteki değişimleri, reklamın diğer unsurları ile ortaya konulmaktadır. Vernel’in, 1983-2021 yılları aralığında televizyon kanallarında yayınlanan on beş televizyon reklamı araştırmaya dahil edilmiştir. Vernel’in seçilme nedeni, Türkiye’nin ilk çamaşır yumuşatıcısı markası olması ve akılda kalıcı, basit bir reklam müziği kullanmasıdır. Bu markanın ilk yıllarında, özel olarak kullanılan müziğinde, “ürünün, çamaşırları yumuşacık yaptığı ve mis gibi kokmasını sağladığına” yönelik sloganla birlikte zihinlerde kalıcı olması amaçlanmıştır. Ancak 2016 yılından itibaren Vernel’e ait özel müziğinin ve sözlerinin yerine popüler müzik ve farklı arka fon müzikleri kullanıldığı gözlemlenmektedir. Son yıllarda Vernel’in ürün ve reklam stratejileri konusunda tamamen farklılaştığı görülmektedir. Bu durum, Vernel'in son zamanlarda ürün ve reklam stratejilerinin tamamen değiştiğini ve önceki yaklaşımlarından farklı bir yöne evrildiğini göstermektedir.

Televizyon ve Sosyal Medya Reklamlarında Müzik Kullanımına İlişkin Bir DeğerlendirmeAn Evaluation on the Use of Music in Television and Social Media Advertisements

Article

Oct 2023

Günümüzde markalar arası rekabetin artması, markaları farklı stratejilere ve dikkat çekici kampanyalara yönlendirmiştir. Tüketicilerin dikkatini çekmek, ilgi uyandırmak ve onlarda etki yaratmak için reklam kampanyalarında kullanılan en önemli öge müziktir. Reklamlarda müzik kullanımı, tüketicileri belirli duygulara yönlendirir ve reklam ve markaya yönelik olumlu bir tutum geliştirmesine imkân sunabilmektedir. Dolayısıyla tüketici reklamı yapılan ürün/hizmete yönelik satın alma sürecine yönlenebilmektedir. Öte yandan reklamı yapılan ürün/hizmet doğru müzik ile eşleştirilmesi yıllar sonra dahi reklamın hatırlanabilir olmasına olanak sağlamaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışma televizyon reklamlarında yer alan müzik ögeleri ve sosyal medya reklamlarında yer alan müzik ögeleri belirli kategoriler bağlamında incelenerek karşılaştırılmış ve tasvir edilmiştir. Bunun yanı sıra çalışmada nicel içerik analizi yöntemi benimsenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda televizyon reklamlarında sosyal medya reklamlarına göre daha fazla reklamda müzik unsurlarının kullanıldığı belirlenmiştir. Öte yandan televizyon reklamlarında reklamda kullanılan müziğin türüne göre pop müzik ön plandayken, sosyal medya reklamlarında ön planda yer alan müzik türünün dans/disko müzik türü olduğu saptanmıştır.

Why measure attitudes toward specific types of advertising in international contexts?

Article

May 2023

Zdenek Linhart

Cet article vise à démontrer que l’attitude envers la publicité en général (AAG) peut être un mauvais indicateur pour évaluer l’efficacité de certaines publicités, car elle dépend des références que les consommateurs ont à l’esprit et que ces références sont façonnées par les pratiques publicitaires développées dans leur pays. Deux études ont été menées afin de comparer entre quatre pays les résultats obtenus en mesurant l’attitude envers la publicité en général et l’attitude envers un type spécifique de publicité (AST/AG). Les résultats montrent que l’AST/AG est une mesure plus stable et plus précise que l’AAG.

The Role of Attitude toward the Ad as a Mediator of Advertising Effectiveness: A Test of Competing Explanations

Article

Full-text available

May 1986

Attitude toward the ad (Aad) has been postulated to be a causal mediating variable in the process through which advertising influences brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Previous conceptual and empirical research on this topic has suggested four alternative models of the relationships between brand-related cognitive, affective, and conative responses and ad-related cognitive and affective responses. The authors describe a structural equations analysis of these four models, utilizing two data sets generated within a commercial pretest setting. The results suggest that a dual mediation hypothesis, which postulates that Aad influences brand attitude both directly and indirectly through its effect on brand cognitions, is superior to the other three models under the particular set of conditions in the pretest setting.

The Impact of Feelings on Ad-Based Affect and Cognition

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1989

The authors examine the relationships among feelings generated by new television ads for unfamiliar products, judgments of the ads’ characteristics, brand attribute evaluations, attitude toward the ad, and attitude toward the brand in a simultaneous equation model. Feelings affect attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand directly and indirectly. The particular effects of three different dimensions of feelings—upbeat, warm, and negative—are identified. The results are robust to multiple viewings of the ad, different measurement delay periods, and the particular ad seen.

Music and consumer behaviour

Chapter

Apr 1997

The social contexts in which people create, perform, perceive, understand and react to music have been neglected by psychologists. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the social contexts in which people create, perform, perceive, understand, and react to music. It represents the first attempt to define the field since Farnsworth's book of the same title published in 1969, including the newer areas of medicine, marketing, and education in which the social psychology of music has direct applications in the real world. After an opening review chapter, the remaining 14 chapters are divided into six sections: individual differences; social groups and situations; social and cultural influences; developmental issues; musicianship; real world applications. Several of these chapters are ground-breaking reviews published for the first time. Aside from psychologists and music educators, The Social Psychology of Music will appeal to musicians, communications researchers, broadcasters, and commercial companies.

Emotions In Everyday Listening To Music

Chapter

Aug 2001

The position of emotion in music has been a subject of considerable interest and debate. However emotional aspects of music have received surprising little attention in the 45 years since the publication of Leonard Meyer's classic work 'Emotion and meaning in music.' During that time, both 'music psychology' and 'emotion' have developed as lively areas of research, and the time is fitting therefore to try and bring together this multidisciplinary interest and take stock of what we now know about this important relationship. A new volume in the Series in Affective Science, Music and Emotion; Theory and Research brings together leading researchers interested in both these topics to present the first integrative review of this subject. The first section reflects the various interdisciplinary perspectives, taking on board views from philosophy, psychology, musicology, biology, anthropology, and sociology. The second section addresses the role of our emotions in the composition of music, the ways that emotions can be communicated via musical structures, the use of music to express emotions within the cinema. The third section looks at the emotions of the performer - how do they communicate emotion, how does their emotional state affect their own performance. The final section looks at the ways in which our emotions are guided and influenced while listening to music, whether actively or passively. Music and Emotion is a timely book, one that will interest psychologists, musicologists, music educators, and philosophers.

An exploratory investigation of responses elicited by music varying in tempo, tonality, and texture

Article

Jan 1993
J CONSUM PSYCHOL

This study explores listeners' responses to music as a function of objective properties of musical sound. Original classical and pop‐style compositions were produced with digital sound technology to provide orthogonal manipulations of musical tempo, tonality, and texture. Three dimensions (pleasure, arousal, surprise) emerged from the responses measured. Variance analyses found main effects of tempo on both pleasure and arousal, and main effects of tonality on pleasure and surprise. Texture moderated the influence of tempo such that a positive contribution to pleasure was observed for classical music, and a positive contribution to arousal was observed for pop‐style music. Texture also moderated the influence of tonality on pleasure, with more pronounced reactions to tonal variations observed among listeners exposed to classical music. Implications for the use of music in consumer research and the interpretation of past music‐related findings are discussed.

The Effect of Music on Brand Attitudes: Affect- or Belief-Based Change?

Chapter

Oct 2019

The Mediating Role of Attitude toward the Ad: Some Additional Evidence

Article

Feb 1990

Pamela Miles Homer

MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch have enhanced our understanding of the mediating role of attitude toward the ad (A Ad ). The current study replicates and extends the structural equation tests of the four competing models they presented. Two independent datasets are used to examine the role of processing involvement. Consistent with the earlier findings, the dual mediation hypothesis model provides the “best” fit of the data in both experiments. However, the hypothesized causal path between brand cognitions and brand attitudes that emerges for each of the datasets conflicts with the earlier findings. Contrary to expectations, processing involvement does not produce substantial differences in the specification or strength of the causal paths.

Consumer Response to Television Commercials: The Impact of Involvement and Background Music on Brand Attitude Formation

Article

Feb 1986

Past research has examined the effect of level of involvement (high vs. low) on subjects’ reactions to persuasive communications. The authors suggest that high involvement can be differentiated into two types (cognitive vs. affective). By manipulating involvement level and type (low involvement, cognitive involvement, affective involvement), they show that the three different forms of involvement have different effects on how brand attitudes are formed. They also examine how music, as a peripheral persuasion cue, affects the process of brand attitude formation. The results indicate that the effect of music on brand attitude depends on the type and level of involvement. Music had a facilitative effect on brand attitude for subjects in the low involvement condition and a distracting effect for those in the cognitive involvement condition; its effect for those in the affective involvement condition was not clear. Alternative explanations of these results are offered and implications for advertising research are discussed.

Does Attitude toward the Ad Affect Brand Attitude under a Brand Evaluation Set?

Article

May 1985

Meryl P. Gardner

The results of an experiment examining the use of attitude toward the ad and brand-related beliefs in brand attitude formation under two different processing “sets”—brand evaluation and nonbrand evaluation—are reported. Findings suggest that attitude toward the advertisement affects attitude toward the advertised brand as much under a brand evaluation set as under a nonbrand evaluation set.

The Effect of Background Music on Ad Processing: A Contingency Explanation

Article

Oct 1993
J MARKETING

Music is an increasingly prominent and expensive feature of broadcast ads, yet its effects on message reception are controversial. The authors propose and test a contingency that may help resolve this controversy. Experimental results suggest that message reception is influenced by the interplay of two musical properties: attention-gaining value and music-message congruency. Increasing audience attention to music enhances message reception when the music evokes message-congruent (versus incongruent) thoughts.

A model of consumer response to advertising music

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