Music in TV Commercials

Visual and audio advertisements are everywhere in our lives. We see them on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, and on television. We hear them on the radio. Numerous studies have proven that music, including music in ads, enhances a person's ability to recall information. Radio and television commercials manipulate popular culture and popular music to boost memory recall of a specific product.

For this article, I surveyed seventeen people in order to find out specifically how music in TV commercials engages the memories of viewing audiences. Does the music in a commercial deter or encourage a positive or negative perception of the product?

In my survey, I asked each respondent if he or she would not buy a product if the commercial used a song or style of music that he or she did not like. Forty-seven percent of subjects said they would not buy the product. Twenty-five percent of this forty-five said that if they were already buying the product regularly, they would not discontinue. The other 53% said that song or music style did not affect their purchase of the product being advertised. One subject, who wishes to remain anonymous, stated that "a bad song is [not] going to make a bad product." These responses indicate that if a company chooses music that certain viewers do not like, the advertisement may not be effective. However, one could argue that for every person who does not like a given style of music, there is another person who does.

I also asked the respondents if they got music from commercials "stuck in their heads." If they answered "yes," I queried whether that made them want to purchase the product. I expected most people to say they did get the songs stuck in their head, and 95% of the subjects confirmed this. I also expected that in that case, most people would want to buy the product. On the contrary. One hundred percent of the respondents who get commercial music "stuck in their heads" would not buy the product. One subject noted that getting a song "stuck in his head" will make him avoid the product unless he already buys it. Another said, "The more a song sticks in my mind, the farther I want to be from it." This raises the question of whether music that is "too catchy" in advertisements deters companies from getting their intended messages to the viewer.

Another section of my survey dealt with memory recall and if music in a commercial affects how well a person will remember the product, and the music itself. I asked if a song from a commercial was played on the radio, would the respondent think of the product from the commercial. Sixty-five percent of the subjects said yes, while 35% said no, they do not. I also asked if a subject sees a product in a store, is he or she reminded of the song from a commercial. Fifty-nine percent said yes, while 41% said no. Fifty-three percent of respondents answered yes to both types of memory recall, 29% answered no to both. Eighteen percent said they would recall a product from a commercial upon hearing the song, but not recall the song from a commercial upon seeing the product. This clearly shows that music is an effective advertising tool because the songs in the commercial become associated in the viewers mind with the product from the commercial. Even when the product is not being advertised, a person might recall the product due to the music.

It is becoming increasingly expensive to add music to TV commercials, but companies continue to pay for it for at least two reasons. One, every other company is doing it. Two, music can increase companies' popularity with consumers by allowing products to be embedded deeper into consumers' minds. As my study revealed, most people's purchases of products advertised on TV are affected by the music. Over half my respondents recall a product when they hear a song from a commercial, and recall the song if they see a product from a commercial. However, almost half would not buy a product if they didn't like an advertisement's music. One hundred percent said that they would "steer clear" of a product if they got a jingle "stuck in their heads." When companies use music in TV commercials to aid in memory recall, there are complex risks that engage musical aesthetics and composition.