Detecting and explaining vividness effects in attitudinal judgments

A common belief among marketing practitioners is that increasing the vividness of a message enhances its persuasiveness. This belief has received support in experimental investigations, but vividness also has been found to undermine persuasion or to have no effect. The authors extend a current view of memory operation to predict when and how vividness will affect persuasion. According to this view, the favorableness of available information determines the persuasive effect of vividness. This assertion is tested and supported in a series of experiments. The findings are discussed in terms of strategies for controlling vividness effects.