Garron K. Belnap and Dr. Dan Stout, Communications

In order to learn more about the differences between the perceived effects and the actual effectiveness of advertising, which is rampant in the media today, a survey of 77 human subjects was conducted. The only qualification of subjects was the number of hours of television he or she watches in a week. I ignored all other demographics such as age, gender, and race.

In the survey each subject was first asked how many hours of television he or she watches in a week. If the subject answered four hours or more then the survey was continued. Next, the subject was asked whether or not he or she felt that advertising influenced them. Finally, the subject was asked to roll a dice to determine which slogan from television the he or she would be asked to complete. Using a random digits table a group of slogans was narrowed down to the 12 that were used in the survey. Once again, using a random digits table, the 12 slogans were arranged in two groups of six. If the subject rolled an odd number he or she was to hear a slogan from the first group of six slogans. If the subject rolled an even number he or she was to hear a slogan from the second group of six slogans. The subject was then asked to roll the dice a second time to see which one of the six slogans in the respective group he or she would be asked to complete. Once the dice had been rolled and the slogan selected, I read part of a slogan that is on television regularly and asked the subject to recite the rest of the slogan from memory. Although I had originally planned to conduct all of the surveys face-to-face not all of them were conducted in such a manner. Some of the surveys were conducted over the Internet in which case I rolled the dice to randomly select which slogan the subject would try to complete.

Of the 77 subjects surveyed 53.2 percent were able to correctly finish the slogan that was selected. This percentage falls within the range of 50 to 60 percent as I hypothesized. Interestingly, 27 percent of the subjects surveyed said that advertising does not influence them. However, 52.3 percent of the subjects who said that advertising did not influence them were able to complete the slogan correctly. Although being able to remember a slogan from television does not necessarily mean that the subject has been influenced by the advertisement, it is safe to say that because they do remember the slogan they are more likely to be influenced by the advertisement than if they did not remember the slogan.

The fact that 52.3 percent of the subjects who said that advertising does not influence them were able to complete the respective slogans correctly is important to note. This information suggest that the subjects, which are representative of consumers, may not be fully aware of the influence that advertising has on them. It is the goal of advertisers to confront consumers with catchy ways to have their products remembered because they know that if they can influence consumers to remember the name of their product, then they are more likely to purchase it at some time.

Just as some subjects who said they were not influenced by advertising were able to complete the slogan correctly, 46.4 percent of the subjects who said they were influenced by advertising were not able to complete the slogan correctly. This adds further evidence to the idea that many consumers are not aware of just how much of an affect advertising has on them.