An Experimental Examination of Mood Effects on Retrieval and Evaluation of Advertisement and Brand Information

Abstract

To ascertain the effect of mood on information retrieval and evaluation of advertisements and brands, subjects were induced into one of three moods (positive, neutral, or negative) via a modified Velten procedure 72 hours after they were exposed to five fictitious advertisements. While delayed positive and negative mood states had opposite effects on memory-based recall of information, with subjects in the positive mood condition recalling significantly more information than those in the negative one, they had no significant effect on ad or brand evaluation. Recall data are consistent with previous reports in the literature and evaluation data can be explained according to the information processing goals of subjects as described by Keller (1991) or Srull (1990). Thus, it appears that inducing people into positive moods as much as 72 hours after they have seen an ad for a product can have a significant impact on their memory for ad copy.