This article shows how conceptual and definitional progress made in studying the effects of general TV commercials and their executional components can be used by researchers interested in understanding how direct response TV commercials motivate viewers to buy. Four frameworks that have been used to organize research on TV commercials are overviewed and the applicability of each to the study of direct response TV commercials is discussed. As this article shows, theoretical progress in understanding how direct response TV commercials influence or motivate viewers to take action will be maximized only if 1) a clearly defined organizational framework is applied when examining the effects of such commercials and their message structure; and 2) research on commercial structure variables, such as advertising strategy and executional techniques, is tied into a theory or theoretical framework.
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