Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion

ABSTRACT

This article demonstrates how presentation order, gender, and value relevance can influence advertising processing under different viewing situations. One study found that message order and gender influenced message persuasion: under situational low involvement, females (males) exhibited primacy (recency) effects when viewing two advertisements differing in values (help-self versus help-others) for a charity. In a second study, with higher situational involvement, all respondents appeared to process advertising messages systematically and considered the value content within the message in their evaluations. Thought-listing data revealed that females continued to exhibit primacy effects regardless of message appeal, but the recency effects with males disappeared when the advertisement (help-self) matched their values. Relevance for advertising effectiveness and media planning is discussed.