The Effects of Background Music in Advertising: A Reassessment

Gorn's (1982) pioneering article on the effects of background music in advertising has spurred a significant controversy and inspired vigorous interest in the topic. Following the recommendation of Allen and Madden (1985), we conducted three experiments that attempted to replicate Gorn's results. Contrary to Gorn's findings, there was no evidence that product preferences can be conditioned through a single exposure to appealing or unappealing music

Using Demonstration Experiments to Illustrate the Pitfalls of Unintentional Moral Relativism

Unintentional moral relativism (UMR) is a judgmental phenomenon involving inadvertent misapplication of an ethical standard believed to be objective or absolute. It occurs when a decision maker intends to apply an ethical standard, but circumstances change the application of the standard without the decision-maker’s awareness, such that the standard is inadvertently misapplied. Research evidence and classroom experience show that even individuals who ascribe strongly to moral absolutes are prone to the pitfalls of UMR. This article offers three examples of experiments that can be done as classroom demonstrations to illustrate proneness to circumstantial biases that can influence students’ ethical judgment

The Effect of Background Music on Ad Processing: A Contingency Explanation

Music is an increasingly prominent and expensive feature of broadcast ads, yet its effects on message reception are controversial. The authors propose and test a contingency that may help resolve this controversy. Experimental results suggest that message reception is influenced by the interplay of two musical properties: attention-gaining value and music-message congruency. Increasing audience attention to music enhances message reception when the music evokes message-congruent (versus incongruent) thoughts

The reference dependence roots of inaction inertia: A query theory account.

Inaction inertia is the tendency to forego an opportunity after missing a significantly better opportunity. We show that inaction inertia is rooted in reference dependence. This is consistent with prior work finding that smaller discounts are devalued and inertia is motivated by avoidance of loss. We further illuminate the process by showing that consumers treat the missed discount (rather than the regular price) as a reference point relative to which a smaller discount feels like a loss. Missing a significantly better deal causes people to focus first and foremost on thoughts critical of the current deal. Notably, consumers who miss a smaller discount also construe the second deal as a loss, even if they take it. This research integrates inaction inertia and reference dependence theory using query theory analysis to contextualize inaction inertia with biases such as loss aversion, anchoring, and the default effect

Inaction inertia scenarios.

Inaction inertia is the tendency to forego an opportunity after missing a significantly better opportunity. We show that inaction inertia is rooted in reference dependence. This is consistent with prior work finding that smaller discounts are devalued and inertia is motivated by avoidance of loss. We further illuminate the process by showing that consumers treat the missed discount (rather than the regular price) as a reference point relative to which a smaller discount feels like a loss. Missing a significantly better deal causes people to focus first and foremost on thoughts critical of the current deal. Notably, consumers who miss a smaller discount also construe the second deal as a loss, even if they take it. This research integrates inaction inertia and reference dependence theory using query theory analysis to contextualize inaction inertia with biases such as loss aversion, anchoring, and the default effect.</div