Goal-Driven Effects of Masked Priming in Advertising: How Word, Image, and Audio Priming Shape Consumer Brand Choices

This study investigates the effectiveness of masked priming in influencing brand preference under goal-relevant conditions. Two experiments with 370 undergraduate students in China tested word and image masked priming (Study 1) and auditory masked priming (Study 2), focusing on thirst motivation. In Study 1, both word and image primes (briefly presented at a nominal 23 ms) increased preference for the primed brand (C'estbon) only when participants were thirsty, with no significant difference between modalities. In Study 2, auditory primes (embedded "Yibao" in music) similarly boosted preference when goal-directed, but high-frequency (80 exposures) and low-frequency (40 exposures) conditions did not differ significantly. These findings corroborate the goal-dependency in masked priming effects across modalities, extend prior work to a logographic/tonal language context (Chinese), and highlight auditory priming in advertising as an under-explored domain. Effects are subtle and contingent on motivation alignment. Practical implications for marketers include strategic placement in high-motivation contexts.