The ‘presenter effect’

The way a reader interprets an advertisement can be influenced by the specific publication in which it appears.

This important point has been proven in several controlled experiments in which the same advertisement is shown in or attributed to different publications, and reactions in each context are compared. The differences in the reactions have been dubbed ‘the presenter effect’.

The early pioneer of this approach was Alan Smith, then of IPC Magazines, who in 1972 reported on studies covering a number of advertisements [58]. One was for a vinyl floor covering made by Armstrong-Cork. The same advertisement was presented as appearing either in Ideal Home or in the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, to see whether these two environments influenced the communication delivered by the advertising.

Under the pretext of discussing something else, informants were exposed to the advertisement in a way that did not draw special attention to it. Part of the sample saw the advertisement flagged ‘As advertised in the Sunday Times’ and the other part saw it flagged ‘As advertised in Ideal Home’. Shifts in attitudes before and after seeing the advertisement indicated that association with Ideal Home clearly gave the product an added quality image, whereas association with the Sunday Times Colour Magazine gave a stronger impression that it was a product that you could lay yourself.

The National Magazines/G+J survey “Women & Magazines: The Medium & The Message” [22] included a similar experiment. Advertisements for twelve varied products were shown to respondents. Each ad was seen by some people in a weekend colour supplement and by others in a women’s weekly or monthly magazine (according to which titles she normally read).

Some general conclusions were drawn from the results. Women’s magazines and colour supplements tended to confer differing attributes upon the message of the advertisements they contained. For example, women’s magazines were more likely to confer trustworthiness, quality, private information (rather than information for everyone), relevance (‘for me’), a connection with the editorial, and relevant authority through endorsement of the magazine’s personality - and the latter aids reader identification and involvement with the product.

The report stated “The key attribute and asset that advertising in women’s magazines can bring is a frame of relevance to the reader - a feeling of ‘my sort of brand’. In several cases here the advertised brand’s perceived relevance is significantly greater to the reader when seen in a magazine than a supplement. Conversely, if an advertisement is perceived as irrelevant to the publication, it is distanced from the personality and may lose authority.”

Another example of a presenter effect is given in the next section, showing differing price expectations according to the magazine in which a clothes outfit was seen.

There is no doubt that the media environment can affect the communication delivered by an advertisement. However the size of the effect will vary according to the circumstances - such as the strength of the advertised product’s personality, the strength of the magazine’s own branding, and the characteristics and experience of the reader.