Television programming and its influence on viewers' perceptions of commercials: The role of program arousal and pleasantness

The authors report the findings of an experiment that investigated the influence of television programs on viewers' perceptions of television commercials. Specifically, program arousal and program pleasantness were examined as potentially important determinants of viewers' emotional responses to advertising. The experiment used a two (levels of program arousal) by two (levels of program pleasantness) design to assess the effects of the independent variables on viewers' perceptions of commercial pleasantness for a pod of four commercials. As hypothesized, an assimilation effect occurred in the high arousal condition and a contrast effect occurred in the low arousal condition. Implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed.