Effects of film criticism on audience interest, attendance, and evaluation

The influence of arts critics has been debated for centuries, but there is little scientific evidence on the subject. This research brings a variety of data to the issue via a laboratory experiment with both attitudinal and behavioral measures. In April 1985, 318 Middle Tennessee State University students were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions, in which they read either a positive, mixed, or negative review, or a non-evaluative description (non-review) of the motion picture Butley. Before exposure to treatments, subjects reported interest in seeing the movie; after exposure, they rated the reviews for appeal, credibility, and informativeness and again reported interest in seeing the movie. These self-report measures were supplemented with behavioral measures. Subjects were provided with opportunities to take a free pass for a subsequent screening of Butley. to attend the screening, and to bring a guest. Subjects and guests who attended screenings also evaluated the film. The results showed review condition significantly affects audience interest, with interest increasing most in the positive condition, least in the negative condition, and in between in mixed and non-review conditions. Factor analysis of subjects\u27 evaluations of reviews revealed two underlying dimensions: appeal and credibility-informativeness. Review condition was significantly related to appeal, with positive and non-reviews more appealing than mixed and negative reviews. However, condition was not related to credibility-informativeness. Review condition did not significantly affect the taking of a free pass; however, trends were in the expected direction, with subjects exposed to the positive review most likely to take a pass, and those exposed to the negative review least likely. Because only 12 subjects attended screenings, inferential statistics were not applied to attendance or post-viewing film evaluation. However, 6 of the 12 who attended were from the positive review condition and only 1 from the negative