Enigmatic commercials: Schema distortion in television advertisements

In an effort to increase attention and recall, advertisers have begun to use commercials that employ schema distortion that make the commercial seem enigmatic to the viewer. Recently, research in communication, specifically the news media, has focused on the processes of learning and recall using schema theory; The method used 12 commercials, 6 identified as enigmatic and 6 identified as non-enigmatic. The non-enigmatic commercials were similar in style to the enigmatic. A questionnaire and an edited videotape were developed to examine three areas of schema theory as it related to television commercials: recall, emotional reaction and the ability of viewers to make inferences. A total of 43 subjects participated in the study; No significant differences were found in the recall of the product/service or brand name between non-enigmatic and enigmatic commercials. The results indicated that enigmatic commercials do generate greater emotional reaction with significant differences in attention, curiosity and surprise. When the endings of the enigmatic commercials were removed, the vast majority of viewers were unable to predict the product/service or brand name.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1991

Author dc:creator

• Schneweis, Micheal Shane

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/217

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1216