Facilitating & inhibiting effects of comparative & non-comparative advertising on recall of competing brands

Abstract

This research examines the role played by comparative and non comparative advertising formats on recall inhibition of competing brands in a product category. Category characteristics of open (awareness of multiple brands) and closed categories (dominated by an unchallenged leading brand and relatively low salience of competing brands) are taken into account. An experiment in which a total of 156 Norwegian business students participated was conducted. The results show that contrary to previous belief, comparative advertising, relative to non-comparative advertising, is not as potent in inducing recall inhibition of competing brands in a product category. Moreover, the results indicate that if a category possesses a brand which has reached maximum salience, regardless of which brand a subject is cued with, no significant recall inhibition takes place.