This study investigated the effects of moods induced by sports programming on commercial evaluation. Participants were exposed to one of two commercials (either emotional or informational) within one of two basketball games (win or loss) and asked to evaluate the commercials. The results revealed an interaction effect (but did not meet the conventional level: alpha = .05, p = .083) between moods and commercial appeals on commercial evaluation. Participants who watched the losing game had a more favorable attitude toward an emotional commercial than those who watched the winning game; whereas there was no difference in attitude toward informational commercials between fans who watched the wining game and fans who watched the losing game. This consequence provides partial support for a mood regulation model that suggests that people with such moods tend to make a favorable evaluation of the target because of the need to relieve negative moods. Significantly, this study suggests that because an emotional appeal better serves as a source for alleviating negative moods than an informational appeal, the mood regulation effect is likely to occur when the target commercial is emotionally appealing.
