How Advertising Works

This note explores how advertising works from a consumer behavior perspective. Following an overview of some of the traditional hierarchical approaches to studying advertising and limitations associated with these models, the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM) is introduced as a means of addressing some of these deficiencies. The ELM is then examined within an advertising context. Subsequently, subliminal advertising is briefly considered. Lastly, issues related to measurement of advertising effectiveness are discussed.