Congruity theory: The relation between context type and advertising appeal

Congruity theory has been studied many times in the advertising literature, and overall can generally be defined as a theory related to how similarity between stimulus objects affects individuals' processing of the stimuli. The condition of moderate congruity between stimulus objects has commonly been found to be significant in affecting consumers' attitudes (Dahlen, 2005; Mandler, 1982; Meyers-Levy et al, 1994; Moore et al, 2005), a concept which this study attempted to explore further. The study utilized three levels of congruity (congruent, moderately incongruent, and incongruent) between the context type and the appeal of the commercial used in order to determine if a case of moderate congruity existed for this type of match-up, and if so, how did this perception of moderate congruity affect consumers' attitudes. The results indicated that no condition for moderate congruity existed for the group studied, suggesting that the manipulation of moderate congruity in this form may be too subtle to affect consumers' beliefs.