Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1992

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Michael J. Stankey

Committee Members

Michael W. Singletary, Roxanne Hovland, Mariea Hoy

Abstract

Advertisers often use music to enhance commercials. How people form preferences to popular music and the emotion people feel when music they like is used commercially are areas with direct application to advertising--yet they have received little or no research. The present study surveyed 101 people 20-50 years old who heard a tape of 76 music selections from the years 1954-1991. The respondents rated the music for liking, familiarity, and memories. This study hypothesized that music from the teenage years would be the best liked, the most familiar, and the most memorable. The global score (a composite of liking familiarity and memories) was also hypothesized to peak during the teenage years. The effect of age in relation to the release date of the music (song-specific age) upon the dependent variables (liking, familiarity, memories, and global) was analyzed through regression. The dependent variables each formed a curvilinear relationship with song-specific age so that as song-specific age increased, the scores for the dependent variables increased until reaching a peak. At that point the dependent variable scores began to decline. A model including both song-specific age and song-specific age squared was highly significant (p=0.0001) for each dependent variable. The analysis showed that liking reaches a peak at age 16, which means that the respondents currently like the music released when they were 16 years old better than music released earlier or later. Familiarity peaked at age 15, memories at age 13, and global at age 15. Analyzing the scores within different groups showed some variation between the older and younger respondents. While 48% of the respondents reacted favorably to the commercialization of music they like, 43% reacted negatively or had mixed feelings--something advertisers should consider when selecting music for ads. The liking of music is complex, and age is probably only one of many factors that influences liking. The use of liked music for commercial purposes is not always well received, particularly if a different version of the music is produced. Furthermore, pairing a product with liked music doesn't guarantee a favorable attitude toward the product. Advertisers may better utilize music in ads if they have a clearer concept of what music people like, and what factors offend listeners.

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