Advertising Recall in Relation to Type of Recall

• Published in: Public opinion quarterly 1958-01, Vol.22 (4), p.529-536
• Main Authors: FERBER, ROBERT, WALES, HUGH G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertising; Advertising campaigns; Advertising research; Brochures; Diaries; Direct mail advertising; Marketing; Mass Media Effects; Memory; Pharmaceutical preparations; Physicians; Public opinion; Readership; Recognition (Psychology)
• ISSN: 0033-362X; 1537-5331
• DOI: 10.1086/266826

The effect of aided & unaided recall conditions on the nature & concentration of MD's responses to pharmaceutical advertising was studied for a random sample of 328 MDs in Chicago in 1956. In unaided recall an ad was classified as recalled 'if the physician could make clear that he had a particular ad in mind. ' In aided recall a brochure was used containing 20 ads which had appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Modern Medicine, in mailed circulars, or were made esp for study purposes. Source of publication was removed, & to eliminate position effect, position of ads in a set was rotated systematically in the 8 sets of brochures. Findings are: (1) with the aid of a brochure average unaided ad recall was lower (1.7) than aided ad recall (7. 2). More journal (4. 2) than mailed (2.9) ads were recalled, but without aid there was no diff in recall for types of ads. (2) Recall of ads is approximately twice as highly concentrated in a minority of MDs under unaided than aided conditions. Recall is more highly concentrated for mailed than journal ads. C. M. Coughenour.