Attention to advertising and memory for brands under alcohol intoxication

Area of Science:

• Consumer Psychology
• Advertising Research
• Psychopharmacology

Background:

• Marketers are exploring ambient advertising in venues like bars and pubs.
• Advertising in these locations must consider consumer alcohol intoxication.
• Alcohol's impact on attention and memory for advertisements is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effects of alcohol intoxication on attention to advertisements.
• To investigate how alcohol influences memory for advertisements.
• To understand the implications for ambient advertising strategies.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted to assess alcohol's impact.
• Study 1 used forced exposure to measure attention to logos.
• Study 2 employed voluntary exposure within a magazine to assess ad attention and memory.

Main Results:

• Alcohol intoxication increased attention to salient logo features under forced exposure.
• Voluntary attention to advertisements decreased with alcohol intoxication.
• Brand recall significantly reduced, dropping from 40% to 17% with increasing intoxication.

Conclusions:

• Alcohol intoxication has a dual effect on advertising perception: enhancing focus on salient features but diminishing overall attention and recall.
• Ambient advertising in alcohol-serving venues may be less effective due to reduced consumer attention and memory.
• Findings suggest marketers should reconsider strategies for advertising to intoxicated consumers.