PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Robert G. Heath
AU  - Horst Stipp
TI  - The Secret of Television's Success: emotional Content or Rational Information?
AID  - 10.2501/JAR-51-1-112-123
DP  - 2011 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Advertising Research
PG  - 112--123
VI  - 51
IP  - 1 50th Anniversary Supplement
4099  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/51/1_50th_Anniversary_Supplement/112.short
4100  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/51/1_50th_Anniversary_Supplement/112.full
SO  - J Advert Res2011 Mar 01; 51
AB  - The Journal of Advertising Research has been instrumental in supporting new ideas about how advertising works, no matter how unpopular their implications. In 1971, Herb Krugman presented evidence that television watching was low involvement compared to print. Three years later, Andrew Ehrenberg postulated that repetition—not persuasion—was how advertising influenced most people. Received wisdom, however, still holds that television advertising works persuasively and works best at high attention levels. This article critically examines this assumption, concluding that the continued success of television advertising in building strong brands most likely will depend not on its ability to persuade but on how well it is able to influence emotions at low levels of attention.