A Preliminary Study Investigating the Mere Exposure Effect Using Divided and Full Attention Conditions

Abstract

There has been considerable concern exposed by marketers and advertisers about the effectiveness of different forms of message presentation. This, in turn has fuelled an on-going debate about the most efficient means of measuring advertising effectiveness. Two experiments were conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate students to investigate the application of mere exposure to marketing practice. Results indicate support for the use of mere exposure in developing consumers’ liking for a previously unfamiliar brand. Results also showed limited support for the mere exposure effect under the presentation of stimuli with divided attention. No support was found for the correction process proposed by Bornstein and D'Agostino (1992; 1994), with a greater mere exposure effect under full attention (supraliminal presentation of stimuli) than under divided attention (subliminal presentation of stimuli). The implications for applying mere exposure to the planning, placement, pricing and measurement of advertising, are discussed.