Purpose The purpose of this research is to show how the dual mediation model has been used to explain consumer responses toward an ad and a brand. This study attempts to incorporate ad affect and competition into the framework and examine the effects of advertising on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions in multiple‐ad and multiple‐brand environments. Design/methodology/approach A total of 165 usable data (54 percent female, mean age=36.2) were collected from an experiment conducted in North America. Findings The findings revealed that the higher level of affective responses to a focal ad significantly leads to a higher evaluation of that ad. Our findings also indicated that information about a competing ad and brand is processed comparatively and that evaluations of the competing ad and brand negatively influence evaluations of a focal ad and brand. Originality/value Important theoretical contributions of this study are that ad affect is an important determinant in the formation of ad attitude and it can be incorporated into the dual mediation model to explain the effects of advertising on consumer behavior. Our research also challenges the dual mediation model by incorporating competition into the model. Managerial implications of these results were discussed.
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