چاپ تبلیغاتی : اثرات اندازه نوع

Previous research identifies two types of advertising comprehension—objective comprehension and subjective comprehension—with the former message-based and the latter receiver-based. This study examines the effects of body-copy type size on readers' subjective and objective comprehension of the message in a typical print ad. The study finds that type size has a significant positive effect on subjective comprehension of the ad, but not on objective comprehension. Subjective comprehension mediates the positive effect of type size on attitude toward the advertised product. The main implication of the study is that advertisers should use as large a type size as possible for the copy in all ads that contain text.

Message comprehension is an antecedent of persuasion (Mick, 1992, Ratneshwar and Chaiken, 1991 and Stewart, 1986). Greenwald and Leavitt (1984) identify comprehension as the third of four stages of message processing, which they called preattention, focal attention, comprehension, and elaboration. The stages through to comprehension are probably sufficient for low-risk or low involvement persuasion (Rossiter and Percy, 1997) but elaboration, in the form of cognitive responses, may be necessary for high-risk or high involvement persuasion (Greenwald and Leavitt, 1984 and Rossiter and Percy, 1997). The present study concerns high-involvement persuasion.

This experiment examines the effects of body-copy type size and gender on objective and subjective comprehension of a long-copy print advertisement and the resulting attitude toward the advertised product. Objective comprehension measures how much consumers actually learned from the ad, whereas subjective comprehension measures how much consumers believe they learned. Although a plus-or-minus 25% deviation in “normal” 12-font type size of the ad copy (i.e., 9-, 12-, and 15-font sizes) does not produce a significant increase in objective comprehension, it does significantly increase subjective comprehension (61%, 66%, and 69%, for the respective type sizes). Increased subjective comprehension from larger type size, in turn, is found to result in a significantly more favorable attitude toward the advertised product. The practical implication of the subjective comprehension path is that advertisers should use somewhat larger than normal type size – 15 font – for the body-copy text in print ads. Age is not broadly sampled (the experimental participants are university students). The effect of larger type size may be even stronger with older consumers with poorer eyesight. Is gender influential? The present study shows the genders have equal objective comprehension of the ad and women report experiencing significantly more subjective comprehension than men. Not a lot can be concluded from the latter finding apart from the expectation that larger type size will be slightly more effective among women readers.