IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v34y2015i1p134-143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Buffer Effect: The Role of Color When Advertising Exposures Are Brief and Blurred

Author

Listed:
  • Michel Wedel

    (Department of Marketing, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742)

  • Rik Pieters

    (Department of Marketing, Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

Abstract

What is the role that color plays in consumers’ perception of the gist of ads during the increasingly brief and blurred exposures in practice? Two studies address this question. The first study manipulates the level of blur of the exposure and the presence or absence of color in the ad image, during exposures that lasted 100 milliseconds (msec). It reveals a buffer effect of color: color contributes little to gist perception when sufficient visual detail is available and ads are typical, but color enables consumers to continue to perceive the gist of ads accurately when the exposure is blurred. The second study finds that color inversion of the entire ad deteriorates gist perception, but that color inversion of the background scene does not affect gist perception when the exposure is blurred. This provides evidence that the color composition of the central object in the ad scene plays a key role in protecting the gist perception of advertising under adverse exposure conditions. The underlying mechanism is likely to be cognitive rather than sensory. Implications for advertising theory and design are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Wedel & Rik Pieters, 2015. "The Buffer Effect: The Role of Color When Advertising Exposures Are Brief and Blurred," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 134-143, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:34:y:2015:i:1:p:134-143
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2014.0882
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2014.0882
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.2014.0882?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meyers-Levy, Joan & Peracchio, Laura A, 1995. "Understanding the Effects of Color: How the Correspondence between Available and Required Resources Affects Attitudes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(2), pages 121-138, September.
    2. Wedel, Michel & Pieters, Rik, 2008. "Eye Tracking for Visual Marketing," Foundations and Trends(R) in Marketing, now publishers, vol. 1(4), pages 231-320, August.
    3. Rik Pieters & Michel Wedel, 2012. "Ad Gist: Ad Communication in a Single Eye Fixation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 59-73, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Cachero-Martínez & Rodolfo Vázquez-Casielles, 2018. "Developing the Marketing Experience to Increase Shopping Time: The Moderating Effect of Visit Frequency," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Song, Danyang & Wang, Shichao & Ou, Carol & Chen, Xi & Liu, Ruitao & Tang, Haihong, 2021. "How do video features matter in visual advertising? An elaboration likelihood model perspective," Other publications TiSEM 37845995-5426-470a-8630-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xuhong Ye & Xixian Peng & Xinwei Wang & Hock-Hai Teo, 2020. "Developing and Testing a Theoretical Path Model of Web Page Impression Formation and Its Consequence," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 929-949, September.
    2. Michel Wedel & Rik Pieters & Ralf Lans, 2023. "Modeling Eye Movements During Decision Making: A Review," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 697-729, June.
    3. Sridhar, Shrihari & Naik, Prasad A. & Kelkar, Ajay, 2017. "Metrics unreliability and marketing overspending," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 761-779.
    4. repec:cmj:networ:y:2013:i:1:p:114-124 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Wenyan Zhou & Oliver Hinz & Alexander Benlian, 2018. "The impact of the package opening process on product returns," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(2), pages 279-308, September.
    6. Huddleston, Patricia T. & Behe, Bridget K. & Driesener, Carl & Minahan, S., 2018. "Inside-outside: Using eye-tracking to investigate search-choice processes in the retail environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 85-93.
    7. Serhat Peker & Gonca Gokce Menekse Dalveren & Yavuz İnal, 2021. "The Effects of the Content Elements of Online Banner Ads on Visual Attention: Evidence from An-Eye-Tracking Study," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Chebat, Jean-Charles & Morrin, Maureen, 2007. "Colors and cultures: Exploring the effects of mall decor on consumer perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 189-196, March.
    9. Li, Xi & Shi, Mengze & Wang, Xin (Shane), 2019. "Video mining: Measuring visual information using automatic methods," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 216-231.
    10. Saeideh Bakhshi & Eric Gilbert, 2015. "Red, Purple and Pink: The Colors of Diffusion on Pinterest," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    11. Ryan Rahinel & Noelle M. Nelson, 2016. "When Brand Logos Describe the Environment: Design Instability and the Utility of Safety-Oriented Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 43(3), pages 478-496.
    12. Marieke Huysentruyt & Eva Lefevere, 2010. "Child Benefit Support and Method of Payment: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Belgium," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 163-184, May.
    13. Savannah Wei Shi & Michel Wedel & F. G. M. (Rik) Pieters, 2013. "Information Acquisition During Online Decision Making: A Model-Based Exploration Using Eye-Tracking Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1009-1026, May.
    14. Schoormans, Jan P. L. & Robben, Henry S. J., 1997. "The effect of new package design on product attention, categorization and evaluation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 271-287, April.
    15. Adriana-Emilia ROBU, 2013. "An Assessment Of E-Commerce Websites Through A Mouse Tracking Investigation," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 12, pages 107-119, June.
    16. Yegoryan, Narine & Guhl, Daniel & Klapper, Daniel, 2018. "Inferring Attribute Non-Attendance Using Eye Tracking in Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 111, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    17. Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola E. & Teichmann, Karin, 2013. "Is luxury just a female thing? The role of gender in luxury brand consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 889-896.
    18. Varsha Jain & Subhadip Roy & Adwita Pant, 2013. "Effect of colour and relative product size (RPS) on consumer attitudes," Transnational Marketing Journal, Oxbridge Publishing House, UK, vol. 1(1), pages 41-58, October.
    19. Yasheng Chen & Johnny Jermias & Tota Panggabean, 2016. "The Role of Visual Attention in the Managerial Judgment of Balanced‐Scorecard Performance Evaluation: Insights from Using an Eye‐Tracking Device," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 113-146, March.
    20. Choi, Jungsil & Li, Yexin Jessica & Rangan, Priyamvadha & Yin, Bingqing & Singh, Surendra N., 2020. "Opposites attract: Impact of background color on effectiveness of emotional charity appeals," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 644-660.
    21. repec:cmj:networ:y:2013:i:1:p:131-142 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Jaikumar, Saravana & Sahay, Arvind, 2016. "Effect of Overlapping Price Ranges on Price Perception: Revisiting the Range Theory of Price Perception," IIMA Working Papers WP2016-02-02, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:34:y:2015:i:1:p:134-143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.