It has been estimated that the average consumer is exposed to from 300 to 600 advertisements in a normal day (Assael 1981). These ads range from TV commercials, radio spots, magazine ads, newspaper ads, posters bulletins, brochures, flyers, t-shirts, online banner ads and much more. Advertisers search for more and more places to display their product or service ads where consumers may selectively perceive. However, this certainly does not mean that consumers will be able to selectively perceive and recall them.
Consumers perceive marketing stimuli selectively because each individual is unique in the combination of his or her needs, attitudes, experiences, and personal characteristics. Selective perception means that the identical advertisement, package, or product may be perceived very differently by the two consumers (Assael 1981). One consumer may believe that Lysol is better at cleaning and polishing furniture than other polishes; another may claim this as false and perceive that all furniture polishes are the same.
Selective perception ensures that consumers will receive information most relevant to their needs and to brand evaluation. This process is referred to as perceptual vigilance (Assael 1981). Several studies have demonstrated the operation of perceptual vigilance. In one classic study, poor children overestimated the size of coins more than wealthy children because they valued them more. Given their needs, the poor children were more aware of money as a stimulus (Bruner and Goodman 1947). In another study, 189 incomplete words such as S_ _ AK or _E_LY, were presented to twenty-six obese men who were to undergo a starvation diet. The researchers hypothesized that obese men would make more food-related responses than average people in completing the words after being deprived of food for a long time and the relative frequency of food related responses would increase as the length of deprivation increased (Bennett 1972).
In a recent experience of my own concerning selective perception and perceptual vigilance, I became extremely attracted to advertisements for computers because I was in the market for a new one. I would even find myself going through my junkmail at home and email, which I would normally pitch in a second, for any sort of as that might have something to do with computers. The most attractive and reassuring ad that I came across at that time, which met all my expectations, needs and brand evaluation, was from Best Buy because of their "12 month no interest" policy and "free online access for one year". Financing as well as quality were among my two main concerns at this stage in my life which in turn gained my interest over the competing ads.
As consumers are exposed to hundreds of ads in a single day, they must be selective in screening out information. Such a filtering process becomes particularly important in low involvement decision-making. In these circumstances, the time spent on information processing is very low. The consumer will pay attention only to exceptional information such as change in price or brand features or the introduction of a new brand. Information processing occurs, therefore, by exception. Little attention will be paid to frequently repeated and expected stimuli. Attention is only devoted to unexpected stimuli (Assael 1981).
Attracting attention in advertising is sometimes noted as the most important factor when creating awareness to consumers. Take these series of ads below that appeared in the New York Times which began with an initial advertisement consisting almost entirely of white space, with just the tip of a spire emerging for a short distance from the bottom of the page. In subsequent ads, the Chrysler Building appeared slowly until the full ad, prepared for the rental agency for the building, appeared. While the effectiveness of this novel approach in securing tenants for the Chrysler Building has not been revealed, it was clearly successful in gaining attention, since it became the subject of numerous discussions on television talk shows and elsewhere (Cohen 1981). This is a good example indicating the fact that all four stages of selective perception must be reached or at least attention and retention before the ad can have full effect on the consumer.
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The Simpsons is selectively perceived by hundreds of thousands of channel surfers every day, but there are others who selectively perceive the news as having more value in their lives than the Simpsons (how could they?). Perception occurs first by how accurately our senses react to the environment. The five determining factors of how one selectively perceives are; acuity of sensory equipment, physical point of view, psycho-physical condition, past experiences, and present needs and purposes. Then the actual process of selective perception occurs in four different stages- exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention.
When related to advertising, these four stages must occur before the ad reaches the consumer, or at least attention and retention. With the hundreds of ads seen daily by consumers, they will only respond to ads which refer to their needs, attitudes, experiences, and personal characteristics. So if I was really thirsty and saw a carton of milk with the Simpsons, chances are I may buy it!
