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An investigation into the impact of human age on persuasion and advertising
Abstract
The elderly segment of this country's population is growing rapidly. By the beginning of the next century, adults age 65 and over will fully comprise one-quarter of the population. It cannot be assumed that communication principles that apply to young adults are directly applicable to elderly adults. Age-related changes in learning, memory and information processing can have a dramatic effect on communicating with an aging population. The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Petty and Cacioppo provided the underlying persuasion theory for this study. Previous advertising and gerontological research provided additional theoretical basis for the research hypotheses. This study examined the impact of personal relevance and type of ad copy on the persuasion process for elderly as compared to young adults. More specifically, the research objectives were: (1) To examine information processing differences for persuasive communications between elderly and young adults under conditions of high and low personal relevance. (2) To study the persuasiveness and memorability of abstract and concrete ad copy for elderly and young adults. (3) To identify reasons for age-related deficits in memory. To accomplish these objectives, chronological age, personal relevance and type of ad copy factors were manipulated in a 2 x 2 x 2 between subjects design. There were two levels each of age (young/old adults), personal relevance (high/low), and type of ad copy (abstract/concrete). Two hundred, thirty-eight young and elderly subjects were studied. All subjects participated in an experimental session in which they examined a sample magazine containing stimulus advertisements and then completed a questionnaire. Results of the study showed that young adults appear to have better aided recall and recognition memory for advertisements than older adults. There were differential effects for abstract and concrete ad copy. For both age groups, concrete was remembered better than abstract ad copy. Yet, elderly adults exposed to concrete ad copy appeared to have higher levels of purchase intent in the high personal relevance condition than in the low personal relevance condition. Overall, elderly adults had higher levels of purchase intent than young adults, but poorer memory performance. Finally, memory deficits among elderly adults appeared to stem from problems recalling information from memory, not due to encoding information into memory. The implications of the study findings for advertising are many. These relate to the type of copy used in print advertisements, media selection for reaching the elderly adult, and advertisement effectiveness measurement, to name a few. It is clear that advertisers need to approach elderly adults differently than they do young adults. Future research directions are presented.
Subject Area
Marketing|Mass communications|Gerontology
Recommended Citation
Spotts, Harlan Earl, "An investigation into the impact of human age on persuasion and advertising" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9022747.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9022747