Hypotheses on Attitude Formation
We will first start to discuss the fourth hypothesis of the attitude-toward-the-ad-model, the independent influence hypothesis.
We choose one of the “Got Milk” commercials with the famous actress Salma Hayek to confirm or contest the theory, in order to create a deeper understanding of the attitude formation model.
The “Got Milk?” campaign had a great success in telling moms that milk is nutritious and healthy for their children. Milk should be an essential part of their children’s diet, because it contains a wide range of nutritive substances.
In the commercial, Salma Hayek arrived home from a fancy night and realized she has no milk for the morning. So, she leaves the house on a wild chase to find some milk. All the stores she visited were either out of milk or closed. Eventually, after unavailingly trying to milk a cow herself, she finally stopped a milk truck and got her precious gallon of milk. At the end, the commercial convinced with a sense of humor as Salma slopped her glass of milk in the morning, she was fighting for the whole night.
The objective of this commercial is simply to increase the sale of milk. The commercial explains that an empty refrigerator at night should be a challenge for the customer as milk is an irreplaceable beverage for breakfast. The commercial puts a finer point on what “Got milk?” means overall.
Due to the chosen setting and music the commercial tends to be farcical and reminds the viewer on a cartoon somehow. It creates a funny and laughable atmosphere and evokes sympathy toward the main actress, Salma Hayek. As advertising is about getting attention, the best way to achieve attention is to use strong visuals, and humor is one of those strong visuals. The “Got Milk” commercial had the right purpose, they tried to put potential customers into a good mood and therefore created a strong positive image for their product. Another important point to consider is the choice of the main actress in the commercial. Salma Hayek is a famous and well known actress and works well as a role model for moms. As she is a Latin American, Selma Hayek furthermore helped the campaign to cover its demographic bases.
The independent influence hypothesis claims that there is no causal relationship between the attitude toward the ad (Aad) and the attitude toward the brand (Ab). Each of these components influences the purchase intuition independently. This Hypothesis follows the argument of two attitudinal constructs, the evaluative element of the brand and the impersonal attitude. The evaluative element represents the subjective meaning which the consumer creates toward a brand. It is quite stable and contains perceptions about the brand’s attributes. Impersonal attitude on the other side is less stable and depends more on specific situations as it represents factors of the purchase intuition which are not directly connected with the brand.
However, this impersonal attitude is found in the “Got Milk?” commercial. The consumer is not exposed to a cognitive stimulation in terms of a direct confrontation with hard fact and information about the product. The consumer’s reaction depends on her specific situation and is not connected with a previous attitude toward the brand, since there is actually no real brand represented in the commercial. An average viewer of the commercial would be attracted to buy milk because of the funny story or the fact that Salma Hayek is playing in the commercial. But the created attitude toward the commercial has no influence to the brand attitude or brand cognition. The intention of the consumer to buy milk is only triggered by the attitude toward the commercial solely. As milk is a low involvement product the commercial uses transformational motivation. They focus more on a funny or fascinating portrayal than providing detailed information about the product.
In the model of Rossiter & Percy Grid the product milk attracts the “Reactors” with the corresponding Path “Do-Feel-Learn”.
To summarize, the purpose of the “Got Milk?” commercial is simply to increase the sale of milk and not to change a brand attitude or provide a deeper knowledge about milk.
However, this commercial definitely attracts consumers by stimulating directly and solely their purchase intuition, as it is stated in the independent influence hypothesis.

The second hypothesis of the attitude-toward-the-ad model we want to discuss is the affect transfer hypothesis. To describe this model in more detail we choose a Nike commercial called “I would run to you”.
The commercial started with a quick introduction of a male and a female character in different places who seemed to be a romantic couple. As the music begun the viewer realized that they were running to one another from two different locations. The female was wearing Nike shoes, the male did not. As the commercial progressed the male character started to struggle, got hurt and was brought to the hospital, while the female character was advancing in her physical pursuit. In addition to that, the female character wearing Nike shoes was running in an environment that remind of a dystopia. She seemed to feel free, happy and sporty. At the end of the commercial the female character ran to the hospital and met her boyfriend there, which completed the whole story with a happy end.
The objective of this commercial is to motivate the viewers for running activities and showing them that Nike shoes will help them due to a better performance. The commercial uses love as a key factor for motivation. Watching the commercial closely, the consumer’s first intention is watching a romantic comedy. The commercial is full with the ideas and clichés of boundless and endless love, represented by singing long distance lovers. The overarching topic of the commercial is to motivate people with famous strong feeling that everyone knows, love. The female character is driven by her desire to see her loved one and the Nike helped her to realize her wish. Nike shoes are the key to success even in terms of love and strong feeling they will not fail, this is the message of the commercial.
Furthermore, the commercial uses well-chosen contrasts, as the female character is running during day and the male character during night. This emphasizes the important role of the Nike shoes and provides consistency in brand representation.
The advert successfully explores human-will power, love and relationships. Nike tried to create a connection between love and sports. They focused on linking strong feeling and emotions to their product, using a well-known example everyone is familiar with, missing a loved person.
The affect transfer hypothesis postulates a direct, one-way causal influence of the attitude toward the ad (Aad) and the attitude toward the brand (Ab).
Aad’s direct effect on Ab occurs in terms of affective responses created by the commercial itself. This generated affects will be transferred to the brand attitude Ab. Therefore, the commercial and the elements used in advertisement act as a stimulus and convert the affective response to a changed attitude toward the brand.
This described process can be found in the Nike commercial “I would run to you”. The feeling of love and the created image that Nike shoes are the key to success in terms of helping people to find each other, directly influences the attitude toward the brand. The consumer changes her internally generate image of Nike shoes as being sportive and trendy and develops a new attitude towards the brand.
The consumer connects the shown feelings in the commercial with the Nike shoes subconsciously. They add the aspect of love and strong feeling in their attitude towards the brand Nike, which they consider as a new experience.
However, the direct influence of the Aad toward the Ab, causes an indirect Intuition to buy the product, as the new created Ab is directly related to the purchase intention.
That means, an average viewer of the commercial will first develop an attitude toward the ad, which should be based on emotional and affective attributes. This attitude will directly influence the attitude towards the brand. Finally, the attitude towards the brand will trigger the purchase intention.
In the Model of Rossiter & Percy Grid Nike shoes would be find the “Feelers” category with the corresponding path “Feel-Do-Learn”.
To summarize, the purpose of the commercial is to create a new attitude towards the brand as Nike wanted the consumer to associate Nike shoes with love and happiness.
However, this advertisement is directly related to the consumer’s attitude toward the brand and therefore only implicitly related to the purchase intuition. And this process is stated in the affect transfer hypothesis.