Advertising Empirical Generalizations: Implications for Research and Action

ABSTRACT

A special conference on empirical generalizations (EGs) in advertising led to this special issue of the Journal of Advertising Research. It also generated a representative selection of 23 EGs that give a sense of how strong our scientific knowledge is about advertising, and where the gaps lie. While real advances in knowledge have been achieved, the list highlights significant knowledge gaps, particularly concerning advertising in the new fragmented interactive-media world. We surveyed advertising thought leaders on which of these empirical laws they felt were most important and most certain. Many of our empirical laws suffer from inadequate knowledge concerning the conditions over which they do and do not generalize.