Intended and Unintended Effects of Corrective Advertising on Beliefs and Evaluations: An Exploratory Analysis

This research examined the effects of corrective advertising (advertising that corrects for previously made ad claims found to be deceptive) on brand and advertiser evaluations. Experiment 1 showed that brand evaluations were less favorable after (vs. before) company-sponsored corrective advertising when prior evaluations of the advertiser were negative, but not when they were positive. On the other hand, advertiser evaluations were less favorable after corrective advertising when prior evaluations of the advertiser were positive, but not when they were negative. Experiment 2 was designed to examine the mechanisms underlying these effects. Brand beliefs and cognitive responses to the corrective ad were found to mediate the effects of prior advertiser evaluations on brand evaluations. Advertiser evaluations were affected by cognitive and affective responses made to the corrective ad. Implications of these findings are discussed.