Effect of Background Music on Ad Processing: A Contingency Explanation Music is an increasingly prominent and expensive feature of broadcast ads, yet its effects on message reception are controversial. The authors propose and test a contingency that may help resolve this controversy. Experimental results suggest that message reception is influenced by the interplay of two musical properties: attentiongaining value and music-message congruency. Increasing audience attention to music enhances message reception when the music evokes message-congruent (versus incongruent) thoughts. USIC has been a prominent feature in advertising since the first network radio broadcast aired in 1923 (Hettinger 1933). Early broadcasts used signature "theme music" to introduce commercial sponsors. By the late 1930s, the "singing commercial" had become standard practice. Pepsi's historic "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot" jingle became a jukebox hit in 1941 (Enrico and Kombluth 1986). Musical ads made a graceful transition to television in the 1950s, and they continue to play an important role in broadcast advertising today. Estimates of the proportion of TV commercials using music have ranged from about 75% (Michlin 1984) to over 90% (Garfield 1988). According to a recent Video Storyboard Tests report, music is used as "the main creative ingredient" in one-third of 500 new TV ads (Tharp 1989). Advertisers spend large sums of money on the production of musical ads. Creative fees for an original composition can cost over $10,000 (Karmen 1989). The rights to popular songs can cost much more (Alsop 1985); for example, Nike paid $500,000 for the use of The Beatles' song "Revolution" (Cocks 1987).
Industry is risking millions of dollars on the belief that music can help ads sell; yet there is no universally accepted explanation of how this works. Some investigators have suggested that music influences listeners mainly through their feelings. For example, Gorn (1982) viewed the effects of ad music from a classical conditioning perspective, suggesting that consumers' feelings toward a piece of music may transfer to a product when the two are paired in an ad. Another explanation is that the power of music operates by creating moods (Alpert and Alpert 1990; Bruner 1990; Gardner 1985) that enhance product evaluations and facilitate message acceptance.