Repetition-based impairment effects : when advertising repetition reduces recognition memory for competitor brands

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Jin, Hyun Seung and Weeks, Clinton and Whang, Yun-Oh and Kim, Hyoje and Martin, Brett and Pontes, Nicolas (2025) Repetition-based impairment effects : when advertising repetition reduces recognition memory for competitor brands. European Journal of Marketing, 59 (13). pp. 120-145. ISSN 0309-0566 (https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-02-2024-0164)

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Abstract

Purpose Consumers are often exposed to advertising contexts where they encounter multiple brands (e.g. print media, television and online), including where some brands might be seen multiple times and others just once. This study aims to investigate how repeated exposure to brand advertising impacts consumers’ recognition memory, and subsequently their choice, for other non-repeated competitor brands present in the advertising context. It examines how brand repetition impairs recognition for non-repeated same-category competitor brands but not for different-category brands. The authors term this the repetition-based impairment effect. Design/methodology/approach Experiment 1 uses brand names to test repetition-based impairment effects and examines differential impacts on same-category competitor brands versus different-category brands. Experiment 2 uses real advertisements and a broader set of competing brands. Experiment 3 rules out an alternative explanation for the impairment effects. Finally, Experiment 4 explores how these effects influence subsequent brand choice. Findings While repeated advertisements enhance recognition memory for repeated brands, the results show they impair recognition for non-repeated competitor brands within the same product category. This impairment does not occur for brands from different product categories. In addition, repeated advertisements decrease the likelihood of consumers choosing non-repeated same-category brands compared to conditions without repetition. Research limitations/implications This research shows that repeated brand advertising can impair recognition memory of other non-repeated competitor brands in the advertising context within the same product category. It builds on research on repetition-based and competitive interference memory effects to show that in advertising, brand repetition enhances recognition of repeated brands (facilitation effect) while impairing recognition of non-repeated same-category competitors (impairment effect). Practical implications This research highlights that advertisers of a target brand should strategically avoid advertising vehicles in which other brands within the same category engage heavily in repeated advertising if the target brand is not repeated. Advertising in such contexts can lead to poorer recognition of the non-repeated target brand. Originality/value By integrating repetition-based and competitive interference effects, this research offers a boundary condition for the repetition-based impairment effect.

ORCID iDs

Jin, Hyun Seung, Weeks, Clinton, Whang, Yun-Oh, Kim, Hyoje ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8802-8109, Martin, Brett and Pontes, Nicolas;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)