The effect of slogan length and cognate presence on perceived slogan comprehension, actual slogan comprehension and product purchase intention of Dutch advertisements with a Spanish-language slogan.

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of linguistic complexity of foreign language (FL) slogans on advertisement effectiveness was investigated. Specifically, Dutch consumers rated Dutch advertisements containing Spanish-language slogans on perceived slogan comprehension (PSC) and purchase intention (PI), and translated the Spanish slogan to Dutch as a measure of actual slogan comprehension (ASC). To manipulate linguistic complexity, the slogan length in terms of the number of words and the presence of a Spanish-Dutch cognate was varied. A possible relationship between PSC, ASC, and PI was also investigated. A 2x2 between-subjects design experiment with a total of 180 participants was carried out with the factors length (4 or 8 words) and cognate presence (Yes or No). The results of this study indicate that slogan length improved the extent to which someone thought (s)he understands the slogan.