Cross-advertisement affectivity: The influence of similarity between commercials and processing modes of consumers on advertising processing

Due to the increasing brand and product parity and the soaring volume of advertising, not only may products be increasingly similar, but commercials for products may become similar as well. Moreover, commercials frequently appear closely together in pods within and between programs, increasing the likelihood that they influence each other. The question thus becomes if and how the various commercials in pods and their affectivity “cross” influence each other, and what the influence of the similarity between commercials is on advertising processing and effectiveness. Extending assimilation–contrast theory, we find substantial context effects of the ad sequence in the affective reactions elicited by commercials presented in the same pod. The importance of the similarity between commercials as perceived by consumers, and of the interaction between this similarity and the consumers' processing modes during ad exposure are demonstrated. The findings contribute to a better understanding of context effects due to the sequence in which ads appear, and of the role of ad similarity.