Fast food television advertisement formats: communicating with the customer effectively

Fast food hamburger restaurants spend millions of dollars on television advertisements each year. Whether an advertisement's message is effectively communicated to a target market and whether or not the message is acted upon by the viewer are of interest. The purpose of this study is to examine customers' favorite formats in hamburger television advertisements in order to assist companies in effectively communicating whh theu- target audiences and in motivating those audiences to purchase products. The research was conducted with college students in a laboratory setting. The subjects viewed hamburger television advertisements and responded to a questionnaire. The major findings of the study are as follows: (1) the college students most preferred the special-effects format in advertisement for hamburgers; (2) the testimonial format in television advertisement for hamburgers appears to motivate the college students' hamburger purchase intentions; and (3) brand and advertising format both appear to influence the college students' hamburger purchase decision making.