The impression values of fixed advertising locations in the Saturday Evening Post

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to measure the relative impression values of different fixed advertising locations in the Saturday Evening Post . 100 advertisements (50 current and 50 future) arranged in random order were shown to at least 30 individuals who had "looked into" the magazine each week for eleven weeks (some weeks were consecutive, some not). Recognition of advertisements, corrected for confusion and guessing, indicate that: (1) advertisements in fixed locations have a small general advantage over the run-of-the-paper advertisements; (2) scores for run-of-the-paper advertisements were higher than expected; (3) scores for two-page advertisements indicate that the absence of editorial matter results in great sacrifice of impression as measured by the technique; (4) single column, two-column, and full-page advertisements have scores in almost direct proportion to their cost; (5) women and men respond in much the same way to black and white advertisements, but women show a markedly greater response to color; (6) right- and left-hand page locations are of about equal value for full pages, but right-hand position is advantageous for smaller areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)