Gaining consumers' attention and generating favorable attitudes are two key advertising objectives. Using two experiments in an on-line environment, we consider the effects of the congruity between the product foci of the advertiser and the Web site, as well as banner color and banner color-text color contrast on measures of attention (i.e., recall and recognition) and attitudes toward the ad and the Web site. Experiment 1 results indicate that incongruity has a more favorable effect on recall and recognition, whereas congruity has more favorable effects on attitudes. Experiment 2 results suggest that when ads generate sufficient attention to gain recall or recognition, moderate congruity offers the most favorable attitudes toward the ad. Managerial implications for the use of these ad execution cues are discussed and future research avenues are proposed.
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