Memory for trade names presented in screen, radio, and television advertisements

Abstract

This study presents the results of a laboratory check on three modes of advertising: television, radio, and screen. 36 fictitious advertisements were presented, 18 descriptive of the item and 18 non-descriptive. 76 college students and 67 relief workers were used as subjects. Subjects were asked to indicate whether the advertisements were descriptive or non-descriptive, thus concealing the purpose of the experiment. Immediately after completion of the presentation, recall and recognition tests were given. Results show that: (1) television is always superior to the visual (screen) mode, and to radio, but by smaller margins; radio is superior to screen in all but one instance; (2) least guessing occurred with television, next with radio, most with screen; (3) the college group always excelled the other group in memory; (4) men of both groups excel women in total memory ability, and women do more guessing; (5) descriptive trade names were recalled 5.7 times as often as non-descriptive ones. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)