When East Meets West the Effect of Cultural Tone Congruity in Ad Music and Message on Consumer Ad Memory and Attitude

When East meets West: the effectof cultural tone congruity in ad

music and message on consumerad memory and attitude

Yung-Cheng ShenYuan-ze University

Ting-Chen ChenProcter & Gamble Co., Taiwan

Research on the effect of congruity between an ad’s message and its background musicon consumer memory indicates that ad music that is congruent with an ad’s message canenhance the consumer’s memory of the ad. Based on Heckler and Childers’ (1992) studyon the nature of incongruity, we suggest that cultural tone incongruity between an ad’smessage and its music can also lead to better ad memory. We demonstrate that East/Westcultural tone incongruity between an ad’s message and its music does increase the con-sumer’s memory for the target ad, but it can also have an adverse effect on consumers’attitudes towards the ad. This memory enhancement effect is stronger for high-attentionrespondents than for low-attention respondents. Moreover, the incongruity also leads toretroactive memory interference for the ad that immediately precedes the target ad.However, the predicted effect of proactive memory interference for the ad following thetarget ad was not found. Finally, the academic and managerial implications of the studyfor global product advertising are discussed.

Introduction

Global marketing activities frequently need to develop localised advertis-ing campaigns for different markets around the world. In developing theseadvertising campaigns, cross-cultural elements are often integrated intothese ads. For instance, global advertising usually employs local celebritiesto endorse products. Cross-cultural elements serve a strategic objective: tobetter acquaint local consumers with particular products because the

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International Journal of Advertising, 25(1), pp. 51–70© 2006 Advertising AssociationPublished by the World Advertising Research Center, www.warc.com

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING, 2006, 25(1)

familiarity local consumers have with these cultural elements can helpreduce the psychological distance between consumer and product.

Besides celebrities, other cross-cultural elements used in global productadvertising may exist. One such element is the background music used intelevision commercials (TVCs). Because music is considered a carrier ofculture (see, for example, Albers-Miller & Gelb 1996; Cheng &Schweitzer 1996), using music in global advertising may involve the issueof congruity in cultural meanings. In consumer research that examined theeffects of congruity in ad elements (e.g. Bruner 1990) it was generallyfound that congruity between ad elements could improve consumers’ admemory. For example, Kellaris et al. (1993) found that consumer memoryis better when an ad’s music and its message are congruent with eachother. Houston et al. (1987) also found that memory of an ad improveswhen the picture and the text copy of an ad deliver the same message.

On the other hand, Srull and Lichtenstein (1985) pointed out that anincongruity of information leads message receivers to process the messagewith more cognitive efforts, resulting in stronger associations between newand existing information; ad memory can be enhanced as a consequence.Heckler and Childers (1992) also indicated that unexpected incongruentinformation can enhance memory. The present study employs Hecklerand Childers’ framework on the nature of incongruity to explore how theincongruity in cultural tone between an ad’s message and its music canaffect ad memory and attitudes towards ads.

An experiment that explored these issues of incongruity was conductedin Taiwan. There are two major reasons why it is important to study theTaiwanese market. First, as one of the booming economies in Asia, Taiwanhas gone through many economic and socio-political transformations inrecent years. Historically speaking, the business practices and culture ofTaiwan were developed under the influence of both eastern and westerncivilisations. Thus the Taiwanese market provides a good basis for study-ing cultural congruity. Second, Taiwan is a good barometer for China,whose economic potential, now that its doors are opening to the world, hasbeen widely noticed by the world community. China is becoming a hugeworld market because of its booming economic development. Indeed, inmany respects, the economic developments in China parallel Taiwan’s ear-lier experiences. Because China and Taiwan share many cultural and socialsimilarities, such as language, religion and social customs, understanding

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CULTURAL TONE CONGRUITY IN AD MUSIC AND MESSAGES

Taiwan’s market helps to serve as a useful reference for understanding thefuture development of the Chinese market. The present study thusfocuses on the Taiwanese market, where diverse cultures meet with simi-lar economic development patterns to those in China. Diverse culturesthus provide a good platform for studying the issue of cultural congruity.

This paper is organised as follows. The next section presents a briefreview of research on the issue of congruity; this is followed by the ration-ale and specific experimental hypotheses of the present study. Thedetailed experimental data and discussions of the academic and manage-rial implications of the study are then reported.

Conceptual background and research hypotheses

Much research addressing the issue of congruity in advertising has beenconcerned with the effects of schema congruity between ad elements onad effectiveness. The general finding was that congruity between ad ele-ments has positive influences on ad memory. Childers and Houston (1984)found that consumer memory for a brand name is better when the picto-rial element is integrated with words in advertisements. Likewise,Houston et al. (1987) found that when pictures and words in ads conveythe same messages, consumer memory is also better. Studies addressingthe effects of congruity in an ad’s music also revealed similar conclusions.MacInnis and Park (1991) found that when the message and music arecongruent, consumers pay more attention to the ads. Kellaris et al. (1993)also found that consumers’ ad memory is improved when ad music withhigh attention-attracting value is congruent with the ad’s message.

Past research has been varied in the definition of the concept of ‘con-gruity’. Heckler and Childers (1992) proposed a general framework forcongruity that posits two dimensions underlying it: relevance andexpectance. Relevance represents how related two stimuli are.Expectance refers to the degree to which a stimulus fits one’s expectation.Heckler and Childers found that both expected-relevant stimuli, as wellas unexpected-irrelevant and unexpected-relevant stimuli can lead to bet-ter memory performance, while expected-irrelevant stimuli result in worserecall performance. Using the relevance-expectedness distinction as theframework for congruity, research on an ad’s message and its congruitywith music, as MacInnis and Park (1991) and Kellaris et al. (1993) discov-

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ered, can be classified under the ‘expected-relevant’ quadrant. As Hecklerand Childers (1992) indicated, not only can expected-relevant stimulienhance memory, but also unexpected stimuli (both relevant and irrele-vant) can lead to better memory of the ad. Therefore, although Kellariset al. (1993) have found better memory with relevant and expected admusic, it is possible that unexpected ad elements associated with an incon-gruent schema can also lead to better memory of the ads (Heckler &Childers 1992).

One such schema of incongruity is the incongruity of an ad’s ‘culturaltone’. Advertising has long been recognised as a carrier of culture thatreflects cultural values and norms. Indeed, advertising and cultures havelong been found to influence each other (Albers-Miller & Gelb 1996).Research has pointed out that cultural differences lead to differences inadvertising. Reciprocally, advertising is also found to cause changes in cul-tural values (Tansey et al. 1990; Culter & Javalgi 1992; Ramaprasad &Hasegawa 1992; Cheng & Schweitzer 1996).

Given the close, dynamic relationships between advertising and cul-ture, it is of interest to ask what would happen when the elements of anad carry incongruent cultural meanings. Cultural tone incongruity impliesexpressions of cultural meaning that carry incompatible schemas. Intoday’s global business environment, it is important to understand whatwould happen when ads contain incongruent cultural elements. For exam-ple, a western and modern TVC visual coupled with traditional ancientChinese music would ostensibly create cultural tone incongruity due tothe strong contrast between modern western culture and traditionalancient Chinese culture. The present study suggests that when an ad’smusic and message imply incongruent cultural tones, consumers experi-ence surprise as a result of the incongruity. This surprise would then leadthem to expend more cognitive resources to process the ads (Mandler1982; Srull & Lichtenstein 1985; Meyers-Levy & Tybout 1989). Theseincreased cognitive resources can enhance memory as a result(Manchanda et al. 2002). Research has indicated that inconsistency in thestimulus-schema is an important factor determining whether consumersperceive humour and surprise (Kellaris & Mantel 1996). In a similar vein,the present study suggests that the unexpected incongruity between anad’s message and its music attracts consumers’ attention and leads them toprocess the ad more intensively. Therefore, there is more elaboration of

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the ad message at a deeper cognitive level due to the incongruity (Heckler& Childers 1992). Ad memory is expected to be enhanced as a result. Thisrelationship may be formally stated as follows:

H1-1: When an ad consists of a message and music that are incongruentin cultural tone, consumer memory of the ad is better than whenmessage and music are congruent in cultural tone.

In addition to the main effect of incongruent ad music on ad memory,this study also suggests that the memory enhancement effect due to thepresence of incongruent ad music is stronger for consumers who pay moreattention when viewing the TV commercial than for those who pay lessattention. High-attention consumers who invest greater cognitive effort inprocessing ad information are more likely than low-attention consumers todetect the cultural tone incongruity between an ad’s message and itsmusic; thus their memory is strengthened by the incongruity. Thus, thisstudy also hypothesises an interaction effect between the musical incon-gruity and a consumer’s attention:

H1-2: The effect of memory enhancement from an ad due to culturaltone incongruity between an ad’s music and its message is strongerfor high-attention consumers than for low-attention consumers.

Although incongruity between an ad’s message and its music may leadto a better memory of the ad, one might also predict that it will adverselyaffect a consumer’s attitude towards an ad. Past research has provided evi-dence that greater incongruity can result in negative evaluations. MacInnisand Park (1991) found that a low perceived fit could trigger negative emo-tions and lead to negative attitudes. Mandler (1982) also found thatextreme incongruity, which cannot be resolved through problem solving,gives rise to negative consumer attitudes. Finally, Meyers-Levy andTybout (1989) further suggested that high schema discrepancies can makeconsumers feel frustrated and helpless. Negative evaluations follow as aresult. Similarly, in the present study, which investigates incongruitybetween an ad’s message and its music, it is suggested that althoughincongruity in cultural tone can strengthen memory, it would also under-mine the consumer’s attitude towards the ad. Therefore:

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H2: Consumer attitudes towards an ad with an incongruent culturaltone between the ad’s message and its music would be worse thanis the case with an ad with a congruent cultural tone betweenmessage and its music.

To ensure proper attitude accessibility (Higgins 1998), respondents inour experiment were shown the target TVC a second time and then filledout the attitude questions in our experimental design. Watching the TVCprogramming twice would effectively eliminate the difference in attentionbetween high-attention and low-attention groups at the time of con-sumers’ attitude judgements. Thus testing the interaction effect of Musiccongruity × Attention on attitudes is no longer diagnostic of the inde-pendent variables’ effects in such cases. As a consequence, a hypothesis ofthe interaction effect of congruity and attention on attitudes is not pre-sented here.

In addition to predicting the effects of the cultural tone incongruity ofan ad’s message and its music on consumers’ memory of the ad and atti-tude towards the ad, it is also postulated that such incongruity could inter-fere with the consumer’s memory of the ads immediately preceding andfollowing the target ad. (The target ad is the ad with a cultural tone incon-gruity between the message and the music.) In studies of memory inter-ference in cognitive psychology, two kinds of interference are discussed:retroactive interference and proactive interference. Retroactive interfer-ence occurs when newly acquired information interferes with earlierlearned information. New information can interfere with the memory ofprior information by blocking the memory storage/consolidation process ofthe prior information (Burns & Gold 1999). Proactive interference occurswhen information learned earlier interferes with information input later.This occurs because prior information blocks new information encodingprocesses (Wickens 1972). In the present study, culturally incongruent admusic is expected to retroactively interfere with the memory of the adimmediately preceding the target ad. When the consumer views an adcontaining culturally incongruent tones, this schema incongruity occupiesmost of the consumer’s cognitive resources in processing the incongruentinformation such that the memory storage/consolidation process of thepreceding ad is retroactively interfered with:

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H3: Compared to the ad with culturally congruent music, an ad withculturally incongruent music would retroactively interfere withthe memory of the ad that immediately preceded the target ad.

The interaction effect of music congruity and consumer attention onretroactive interference is hard to judge. There are two forces working inopposite directions. First, high-attention consumers who process mediainformation more thoroughly than low-attention consumers should have abetter memory of the ad preceding the target ad. Thus they should be lesslikely to experience retroactive interference from a target ad with incon-gruent elements. However, since they also have a better memory for thetarget ad, it could produce a stronger interference effect. Thus the twoforces counteract each other and make the net effect difficult to predict.Although we do not have an explicit hypothesis concerning the interactioneffect of Ad-music incongruity × Attention on retroactive interference, wenonetheless analyse the interaction in the data to see the direction andmagnitude of the net effect.

A similar rationale also applies to the case of proactive interference.Over-drafting of cognitive resources due to processing the schema-incongruent information in the target ad could block encoding of the adthat immediately follows the target ad, leading to proactive interference.Note that although both retroactive and proactive interference are hypoth-esised, the working mechanisms are different. Retroactive interferenceoccurs because the target ad with schema-incongruent information inter-feres with the memory trace consolidation and storage processes of the adpreceding the target ad. Proactive interference, on the other hand, occursbecause the target ad interferes with the encoding process of the ad fol-lowing the target ad. The proactive interference hypothesis is formallydescribed as follows:

H4: Compared to the ad with culturally congruent music, the ad withculturally incongruent music would proactively interfere with thememory of the ad that immediately follows the target ad.

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The study

A laboratory experiment was conducted in which respondents watchedTV in a controlled setting. The experimental stimuli were prepared on avideo cassette tape in advance. To simulate a natural viewing experience,respondents watched a segment from a TV programme, followed by anadvertising section and then another programme segment. After this theyanswered questions about their memory and attitude towards the ads. Thedetailed experimental design, material and procedure are described in thenext section.

Method

Materials

The manipulation of cultural tone congruity was achieved using a modern,western tone in contrast with a traditional eastern tone. After the pilotscreening test, a Vidal Sassoon shampoo TVC was selected from a set ofcandidate TV commercials that featured white female models styling theirblonde hair, with dynamic and vibrant expressions and movements typicalof western commercials. Traditional or classic Chinese music was used inthe ad in order to contrast with the modern, western cultural tone. An ini-tial pilot study selected ten music titles with varying cultural connotations(see Appendix 1 for descriptions of the music titles) out of a total pool ofcandidate music titles. Focus group discussions were then conducted tofurther select music of high attention-getting value (Kellaris et al. 1993),with a tone that would be culturally incongruent with the Vidal SassoonTVC. Three music titles (‘A Strong Man in China’, ‘Unusual Woman’ and‘Shanghai Beach’ – see Appendix 1), which had the highest cultural toneincongruity measures and high attention-getting values, were selected.Respondents considered the three titles to be highly incongruent with thetarget Vidal Sassoon TVC with respect to cultural tone. The main reasonfor the perceived incongruity was that all three incongruent music titlesstrongly imply images of ancient Asian/Chinese culture, while the targetad was highly western and modern. A further quantitative study showedthat the gap in cultural tone congruity was greatest between the originalmusic in the Vidal Sassoon ad (mean congruity = 6.08, SD = 1.51) and the

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song ‘Unusual Woman’ (mean congruity = 1.96, SD = 0.87; t(96) = 16.9, p <0.001). Thus ‘Unusual Woman’ was selected as the background music togo with the target TVC to create the condition of cultural tone incongruity.

To simulate real TV viewing experiences, the respondents were firstgiven a TV programme segment, followed by a series of TV commercialsand then another segment of the TV programme. In choosing the pro-gramme segments, programmes suitable for a general audience were con-sidered. Programmes targeted at niche audiences or that could elicitextreme emotions were avoided. The popular variety show Super Sundaywas chosen for the TV programme segments. Super Sunday is a very pop-ular show in the local market, which targets a family audience of all ages.The programme usually features singing, dancing, interviews and talkshow segments. Super Sunday was chosen for two reasons. First, becausethe programme is designed for a general audience, most respondentswould find it familiar and easy to view. Second, the TV commercials in theactual programming usually vary widely in nature. A wide range of prod-uct categories are advertised here mainly due to the general target audi-ence of the show. Thus it is easy to manipulate different TV commercialsusing the Super Sunday variety show.

As for the series of TV commercials, there were seven commercials inthe series altogether, including the target TV commercial with culturallycongruent/incongruent background music. The seven TV commercialswere designed to simulate real TV viewing situations by including com-mercials from varying product categories. The product categories in theseven TV commercials were chosen to be irrelevant with respect to eachother in order to avoid possible confounding. The running times of theseven TV commercials were similar in length (roughly 20–30 secondseach). To avoid possible memory confounding, all TV commercialsselected were more than six years old. Finally, to avoid possible con-founding of primacy and recency effects in the short-term memory, the tar-get Vidal Sassoon TVC was placed in the middle position of the TVCseries (i.e. the fourth position).

Design

A 2 × 2 (Message-music congruity: congruent vs incongruent × TV view-ing attention: high vs low) between-subject factorial design was employed

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for the study. For the congruent condition, the Vidal Sassoon TVC and itsoriginal background music were used. For the incongruent condition, themusic ‘Unusual Woman’ was used as the background music. Each respon-dent was assigned to either one of the two conditions, but not both. TVviewing attention was measured by asking how much attention respon-dents paid to the programming and TVC during the viewing period. High-attention vs low-attention groups were discerned using the conventionalmedian split of the distribution of the attention measurement.

Dependent measures included target ad memory and attitude, as wellas the memory for the two TV commercials preceding and following thetarget ad. Memory performance was measured using unaided free recall.Both the recall of brand names in the TVC and the recall of actual contentdetails in each TVC were measured. Attitude was measured by ten atti-tude questions adapted from Lutz et al. (1986) and Olney et al. (1991).Finally, a measurement of surprise was also included as a manipulationcheck to provide evidence that cultural tone incongruity between an ad’smessage and its music induced surprises that lead to an improved memoryof the target ad. The question asked whether the respondents felt themusic playing in the background of the TVC was surprising to them, on anine-point Likert scale.

Respondents and procedure

Respondents comprised 130 students recruited through flyers from thecampus of Yuan-ze University, a major university in Taiwan. There were62 males and 68 females in the respondent group. The average age of therespondents was 23 years (SD = 2.42). They came from various academicbackgrounds, such as engineering, management, liberal arts and social sciences. They were paid NT$100 (US$3) for their participation.Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental con-ditions (i.e. the music-congruent vs the music-incongruent condition).Each respondent received either the music-congruent treatment or music-incongruent treatment, but not both. On entering the laboratory, theywere seated in front of a television set. The experimenter first presentedthe experimental instructions, which stated the experiment was about‘consumers’ media usage behaviour’. The experimenter told respondentsthat they would watch some TV programming, and then would answer some

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questions pertaining to the programming as well as the advertisements inbetween. Respondents were instructed to pay attention to both the TVprogramme and the TV commercials in the same way they did at home.

Respondents first watched nine and a half minutes of TV programming.Programming started with three minutes of the popular variety show SuperSunday, followed by the seven TV commercials. After the commercials,another three-minute segment of the variety show programme was played.When the programme viewing was finished, respondents filled out thequestionnaire that measured dependent variables.

To better measure the consumer’s attitude towards the ad, respondentswere shown the target commercial, along with the two commercials imme-diately preceding and following the target commercial in the series as filleritems, again after they filled out the questionnaire for the first time. Thiswas to ensure attitude accessibility (Higgins 1998) and to make sure theyknew which ad was being tested for attitude. After they had watched thetarget ad a second time, they filled out the questionnaire designed tomeasure the consumer’s attitude towards the ad. When all measures werecompleted, respondents were debriefed, paid the due amount of moneyand thanked for their participation.

Results

Manipulation check

A comparison of the surprise level respondents experienced with the tar-get TVC reveals a significant difference between the congruent andincongruent music groups (mean surprise rating = 6.73, SD = 2.86 for theincongruent music group; mean surprise rating = 4.88, SD = 1.77 for thecongruent music group; t(70) = 3.2, p < 0.01). Thus, the manipulation ofcultural incongruity was successful in inducing surprise.

Target TV commercial recall and attitude

Respondents’ recall performances for the target TVC were analysed withrespect to the recall of the product categories and the brand names in theTVCs, in addition to the recall of the content details of the TVCs. Thebrand recall data are first classified into four categories:

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1. No mention of either product or brand at all2. Correct product category recall3. Correct brand but incorrect product category recall4. Correct brand and product recall.

χ2 tests comparing the recall frequencies reveal significant differences inthe target TV commercial between the experimental group (i.e. the incon-gruent music group; mean recall frequency = 46; mean no-recall frequency= 18) and the control group (i.e. the congruent music group; mean recallfrequency = 33; mean no-recall frequency = 33) for the target VidalSassoon TVC (χ2 = 6.52, p < 0.05). For the TVC preceding the target TVC,there is also a significant difference between the experimental group(mean recall frequency = 38; mean no-recall frequency = 26) and the con-trol group (mean recall frequency = 50; mean no-recall frequency = 16; χ2

= 3.99, p < 0.05). The χ2 test for the TVC following the target TVC showsno significant difference (χ2 = 0.32, ns). The patterns in the product/brandrecall frequency data support both experimental hypotheses H1-1, that acultural tone incongruity is effective in promoting recall of the target TVC,and hypothesis H3, that an incongruent cultural tone inhibits recall of theTVC preceding the target TVC (i.e. retroactive interference). However,the data do not support H4, that an incongruent cultural tone would sup-press the memory of the TVC following the target TVC (i.e. proactiveinterference).

The free recall content was coded by two people blind to the purposeof the study. The Cronbach’s α of the inter-rate reliability for the three rel-evant TVCs (i.e. the target TVC, and the TVCs immediately precedingand following the target TVC) are 0.95, 0.94 and 0.94, respectively.Therefore the coded data are reliable enough for further statistical analy-ses. The recall data are listed in Table 1.

A 2 × 2 (Ad-music congruity × Viewing attention) between-subjectANOVA is performed on the target TVC recall data. Data indicate thatmusic has a main effect on recall (F(1, 126) = 6.25, p < 0.05). The respondentswho received culturally incongruent ad music demonstrate a better mem-ory for the target TVC (mean recall = 1.86, SD = 1.82) than respondentswho viewed the ads with congruent music (mean recall = 1.18, SD = 1.67).This result supports H1-1. The Attention variable also had a main effect(F(1, 126) = 9.55, p < 0.01). High-attention individuals have a better memory

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for the target ad (mean recall = 2.05, SD = 1.99) than low-attention indi-viduals (mean recall = 1.12, SD = 1.5). More importantly, there is an inter-action effect between Music × Attention on the target ad memory (F(1, 126)= 4.07, p < 0.05). There is a significant increase in a high-attention respon-dent’s memory of the target ad when given incongruent music than whengiven congruent music (mean recall in the incongruent music condition =2.71, SD = 2.11; mean recall in the congruent music condition = 1.37, SD= 1.62; F(1,53) = 7, p < 0.05); but the difference between congruent andincongruent music conditions in the low-attention respondents is not sig-nificant (mean recall in the congruent music condition = 1.05, SD = 1.72;mean recall in the incongruent music condition = 1.19, SD = 1.24; F(1,73) =0.17, ns). An incongruent cultural tone better promotes the memory of thetarget TVC when respondents pay more attention to the programming.These results support H1-2.

The Cronbach’s α of the reliability among the attitude measurementitems was also computed. The Cronbach’s α values for both the cognitivedimension of the attitude (Cronbach’s α = 0.73) and the affect dimensionof the attitude (Cronbach’s α = 0.87) were higher than the conventionalcriterion of 0.7. Thus the multi-item attitude measure has a high reliabil-ity for further analyses. The 2 × 2 (Music congruity × Attention) ANOVAreveals a significant main effect of music congruity (F(1, 128) = 35.19, p <0.01) on attitude towards the ad. The attitude towards the ad in the incon-gruent music condition (mean attitude = 4.18, SD = 1.37) is significantlylower than the attitude in the congruent music condition (mean attitude =5.54, SD = 1.24). An incongruent cultural tone leads to more negative atti-tudes towards the ad. This result supports H2.

Table 1: Mean free recall performance

Preceding TVC Target TVC Following TVC

High Low High Low High Low

attention attention attention attention attention attention

Incongruent music 2.25 (1.67)* 0.78 (1.02) 2.71 (2.1) 1.19 (1.24) 1.64 (2.15) 1.39 (1.4)

Congruent music 2.59 (1.99) 1.69 (1.89) 1.37 (1.62) 1.05 (1.72) 2.07 (2.05) 1.03 (1.46)

Note: Numbers in parentheses are standard deviations.

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Retroactive and proactive memory interference

Retroactive memory interference was investigated by comparing thememory performance of the experimental group (i.e. the incongruentmusic group) and the control group (i.e. the congruent music group) on thead immediately preceding the target TVC (a juice drink TVC). A 2 × 2between-subject ANOVA reveals a main effect of music congruity (F(1, 126)= 4.51, p < 0.05). Lower recall is found in the incongruent music group(mean recall = 1.42, SD = 1.52) than in the group that received congruentad music (mean recall = 2.06, SD = 1.97). Therefore, the hypothesis H3 onretroactive memory interference is supported.

Nonetheless, the interaction effect on retroactive interference is not sig-nificant (F(1, 126) = 0.93, ns). The sample mean difference in memory per-formance of high-attention respondents (mean = 2.25, SD = 1.67 for theincongruent music condition; mean = 2.59, SD = 1.99 for the congruentmusic condition; mean difference = 0.34) is less than that of low-attentionrespondents (mean = 0.78, SD = 1.02 for the incongruent music condition;mean = 1.69, SD = 1.89 for the congruent music condition; mean differ-ence = 0.91), but the effect is not strong enough to be statistically signifi-cant. As reasoned in the previous section, two opposing forces work todetermine the joint effect of the retroactive interference. High-attentionconsumers have better memory for the TVC preceding the target TVC,but they also experience more interference from the incongruent targetTVC music. The net effect seems to indicate that the memory for theTVC preceding the target TVC is stronger than the interference effectfrom the target TVC in high-attention consumers. Thus high-attentionconsumers experience less retroactive interference from the incongruentmusic than low-attention consumers. However, given the non-significantresult of the statistical analysis, the validity of this conclusion is weak.

Finally, although the data patterns are consistent with the predictedproactive interference effect, ANOVA reveals neither main nor interactioneffects for the hypothesis H4 concerning the effect of cultural tone incon-gruity on proactive memory interference. The main effect of music con-gruity is not significant (F(1, 126) = 0.012, ns). The memory performance ofthe incongruent music group (mean = 1.5, SD= 1.76) is not different fromthat of the congruent music group (mean = 1.45, SD = 1.79). The interac-tion effect also fails to reach significance (F(1, 126) = 1.64, ns). The mean

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difference in memory performance of high-attention respondents (mean =1.64, SD = 2.15 for the incongruent music condition; mean = 2.07, SD =2.05 for the congruent music condition; mean difference = 0.43) due to theincongruent target TVC music is not different from that of low-attentionconsumers (mean = 1.39, SD = 1.4 for the incongruent music condition;mean = 1.03, SD = 1.46 for the congruent music condition; mean differ-ence = –0.36). Thus H4 is not supported. A possible explanation of whythe retroactive but not proactive interference was observed in the experi-mental data will be discussed below.

Discussion and general conclusions

Summary of results

The present study investigates how cultural tone incongruity in an ad’smessage and its music affects consumer ad memory and attitudes towardsthe ad. The key findings are summarised below. First, it is found that anad with culturally incongruent background music strengthens consumermemory of the ad when compared with the same ad containing culturallycongruent music. This result is consistent with the prediction derivedfrom the Heckler and Childers (1992) study that unexpected incongruitycan lead to better memory.

Second, this incongruity effect on memory is more pronounced in high-attention consumers than in low-attention consumers. High-attention con-sumers who devote more cognitive resources to processing the TVCinformation can better detect the incongruity. Hence their memory ismore influenced by the incongruent information than that of low-attentionconsumers. Third, the memory enhancement effect is accompanied by agreater likelihood of an adverse effect on attitude towards the ad.MacInnis and Park (1991) and Meyers-Levy and Tybout (1989) have pro-vided evidence that schema incongruity can lead to negative emotionssuch as frustration and helplessness. Negative attitudinal judgments fol-low as a result. This prediction is also supported by the experimental data.Fourth, the target ad with incongruent music causes retroactive interfer-ence in which the memory for the ad immediately preceding the target adis negatively influenced. This effect was hypothesised to come from thesurprise generated by the incongruent music, which disrupted the storage/

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consolidation memory process of the ad preceding the target ad. Further-more, although the Music congruity × Attention interaction data implythat high-attention consumers are more resistant to the interference effectthan are low-attention consumers, this effect is not strong enough to reachstatistical significance. The memory of high-attention consumers for thead preceding the target TVC is somewhat stronger than the interferenceeffect due to the incongruent target TVC in the sample data.

Finally, neither the main effect nor the interaction effect is observed forthe proactive interference. A possible explanation is that in retroactiveinterference the target TVC presents incongruent visual and auditoryinformation that overshadows the information storage process of the pre-vious TVC of which the visual and auditory stimuli are absent when thetarget TVC is being shown. That is, the memory consolidation process ofthe preceding TVC is blocked by the target TVC. In contrast, in proactiveinterference the visual and auditory information of the TVC following thetarget TVC is present at the time when interference occurs. The strongvisual and auditory cues of the TVC following the target TVC may inhibitthe proactive interference effect from the target TVC. The dominance ofvisual information from the TVC following the target TVC may thus drawrespondents’ attention away from processing the incongruent informationin the target TVC. Thus the predicted proactive interference is not sup-ported by the experimental data.

Academic implications

Kellaris et al. (1993) indicated that high ad message/music congruityincreases ad memory for music with high attention-getting value. Thepresent study employed the incongruity framework of Heckler andChilders (1992) and found that incongruent message/music can alsoincrease ad memory. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism of thismemory enhancement effect is different from that of Kellaris et al. (1993).In the Kellaris et al. (1993) study, improved ad memory is achievedthrough music with high attention-getting value. In the present study,which also used selected ad music with high attention-getting value,memory enhancement is achieved through schema conflict of culturaltones (especially in high-attention consumers). Thus, although the pres-ent study is different from that of Kellaris et al. (1993), the two do not

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conflict with each other. Not only can congruent music lead to bettermemory but also music incongruent in cultural tone can result in better admemory performance.

The observed retroactive interference also has academic implications.Ads for similar brands or product categories juxtaposed together have beenshown to interfere with each other (Burke & Srull 1988). The presentstudy points out salient ads that draw consumers’ attention can also induceretroactive interference. Generally speaking, any factors that attract con-sumers’ attention to process information at a deep cognitive level couldpotentially cause memory interference.

Managerial implications

Many advertisements employ strategies of schema incongruity to impressconsumers. Inconsistency of stimulus-schema is an important factor indetermining whether consumers perceive humour or surprise (Kellaris &Mantel 1996). A possible downside of this strategy is that memory isimproved at the expense of a decrement in attitude towards the ad. Intoday’s global economic environment, developers of local advertisementsfor global products should be careful when selecting music for use in TVcommercials. The music selected should not carry a cultural tone incon-gruent with the visual messages. Although an incongruent cultural tonecan enhance a consumer’s memory for an ad, it can also have an adverseeffect on attitude towards the ad.

The other managerial issue concerns memory interference. A TVCplaced before an attractive ad is vulnerable to possible memory interfer-ence. TVCs placed after an attractive ad, in contrast, do not seem to suf-fer such a problem. Therefore, media planners should be cautious about adplacement. It seems that, besides managing the Gross Rating Point (GRP),the context in which an ad is placed also influences its effectiveness.

Limitations and future directions

The present study points out that a culturally incongruent tone in an ad’smusic can influence ad memory and attitudes. But cultural tone incon-gruity is just one type of incongruity in Heckler and Childers (1992) clas-sification scheme. There are other types of congruity relationship, such as

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visual – copy or ad message – endorser congruity that should be investi-gated in future research.

Another limitation concerns the effects of other individual differencevariables. The present study demonstrated the moderating role of view-ers’ attention to the programming in the effects of culturally incongruentad music. Other variables, such as a consumer’s involvement with theadvertised product, could also affect the relationship between music con-gruity and memory. The present study did not address these individualdifference variables. Future studies should also consider these factors.

Appendix 1: Candidate music descriptions

No. Title Description Cultural associations

1 ‘Shanghai Beach’ Old Cantonese song depicting The music is related to Shanghai in the 1920s. The music

Shanghai at the turn of early delivers a transitional theme between the old and new era

20th century in the biggest city of China.

2 ‘Chambre avec Vue’ European folk music Relaxing and demonstrating European elegance. It delivers

western conceptions of peacefulness and is light in tone.

3 Chrysler ad music American folk music American-style folk music depicting African–American

culture with a casual, happy, relaxing and lively tone.

4 ‘Unusual Woman’ Traditional Taiwanese music Traditional Taiwanese love song describing a woman’s love.

5 ‘A Strong Man Traditional Chinese song Traditional Chinese Kung-Fu music – strong,

in China’ traditional, energetic and inspiring.

6 Swear underwear American-style hip-hop music Hip-hop music – fashionable and modern. Music for the

ad music younger generation.

7 ‘City Night’ South-east Asian slow South-east Asian music with a passionate and oceanic

soul music tone; connotes soothing and relaxing holiday atmosphere.

8 Nan-Shan Instrumental music with It delivers a sense of peacefulness, happiness, and comfort.

life insurance strong drum rhythms

ad music

9 ‘Bolero’ 1928 piece by French Mysterious Middle Eastern tone presenting harvesting

composer Maurice Ravel ceremonies. It also demonstrates empiric atmosphere,

signifying victory of wars.

10 ‘Mongo Santa’ Rhythmic Latin samba music Latino festival; Brazilian kind of passion and happiness.

Leisurely and relaxing.

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About the authors

Yung-Cheng Shen is an assistant professor at Yuan-ze University inTaiwan. His current research interests focus on consumer brand attitudesand choices, brand management, advertising effects, and consumer behav-ior on the Internet.

Ting-Chen Chen was a graduate student at Yuan-ze University. Sheearned her MBA degree in July 2003. She is currently working as theAccount Manager at the Customer Business Development Division(CBD) of the Procter & Gamble Company.

Address correspondence to Yung-Cheng Shen, Assistant Professor,Department of Business Administration, Yuan-ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Rd, Neili, Taoyuan, 320, Taiwan.

Email: [email protected]

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Documents

When East Meets West the Effect of Cultural Tone Congruity in Ad Music and Message on Consumer Ad Memory and Attitude