The effect of product-language congruence on recall and recognition of foreign language advertisements.
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2016-03-31
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en
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This study investigated to what extent product-language congruence influences consumers’ recall and recognition of advertisements in three different languages: German, French and Spanish. Earlier studies provided support both in favor and against a positive effect of congruent advertisements. Previous research suggested that advertisements using a language that is congruent with the origin of the advertised product are evaluated more positively, potentially leading to enhanced recall and recognition of the advertisement. Alternatively, lack of proficiency and low comprehension of the foreign language could lead to superficial processing, resulting in weaker memories. In order to test the influence, respondents were subjected to either a congruent or incongruent advertisement followed by a questionnaire that tested recall and recognition. In addition, it was investigated to what extent language! proficie ncy, language familiarity and product involvement played a role. It was found that product-language congruence did not influence respondents’ memory of the advertisements, possibly caused by the extensiveness and difficulty of foreign language. In line with this result, language proficiency was found to significantly influence recall of Spanish and French advertisements, and recognition of German, French and Spanish advertisements. The fact that proficiency was not found to predict recall of German advertisements, was likely caused by the similarities with the native language of the respondents (Dutch), allowing respondents to engage in language transfer and reducing the need for German proficiency. Furthermore, it was found that language familiarity and product involvement played a significant role in memory performance. Respondents who reported to be able to discern one language from another and to be personally involved with the product, scored significantly higher on ! recall an d recognition that those who were not. Future research should address the validity of this study. For instance, the advertisements were not as realistic and plausible as desired. Furthermore, attitude should be added to provide a more complete picture of the influence of product-language congruence on consumer memory. In practice, the results of the current study suggested that product-language congruence may be more suitable as a tool to influence consumers’ perception of a product rather than to enhance recall and recognition of advertisements.
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