Advertising wouldn’t be the same without music. After several studies researching the effects of music in advertising on consumer recall and emotion, it has been estimated that worldwide annual spending on music for advertisements could be in the billions of dollars (Oakes, 2007). The 2007 article Evaluating Empirical Research into Music in Advertising: A Congruity Perspective provides one example of such extreme expenditures. Back when Windows 95 was being advertised on television commercials in the 1990s, Microsoft had paid around $3 million for The Rolling Stones’ song “Start Me Up” to play in the Windows ad (Oakes, 2007). The author also states that around 90 percent of advertisements on television use music in some way. The study of how music affects consumers’ purchasing decisions allows us to learn the secrets behind this multi-billion dollar industry. Using the fame and likeness of celebrities to advertise costs businesses thousands to millions of dollars, so most of the time they use original tunes and jingles to save money (Oakes, 2007). Whenever a pop culture icon is used to reach out to consumers, advertisers make sure that they fit the genre that the icon represents to the proper demographic of their audiences. Age, gender, race, level of education, geographic location, and other sociological pieces of data are important factors that advertisers use to decide when and where they spread brand messages. For this reason, our group will be gathering data on the genres that consumers prefer. In the article mentioned above, a table depicts the general findings about music and marketing. In the studies that researchers conducted, student participants were put into an artificial environment and instructed to focus their attention on the music found in the advertisements (Oakes, 2007). These studies, conducted by various researchers listed in the Oakes article, have discovered several key elements of music in ads that target and improve the recall of the ads, as well as the attitudes of consumers toward certain brands. First, music in ads that are composed specifically for the ad, and music that matches the mood associated with the advertised product or service, showed increased intent of purchase in viewers. Second, when a jingle is considered pleasurable to sing and is repeated with the ad message, the brand attitude of the participants tended to be positive. Third, when music that was specifically composed for an ad was used, participants tended to recall that ad much more clearly. And finally, consumers exposed to radio advertising content had better recall for ads with high tempo congruity and timbre congruity (Oakes, 2007). The development of social media and its prevalence in the marketing industry have completely altered the way companies advertise. The emphasis lies on interactivity and consumer engagement. Music in particular has become the focus of many advertisers with the popularity of streaming services and satellite rad.

1. Advertising wouldn’t be the same without music. After
several studies researching the effects of music in advertising
on consumer recall and emotion, it has been estimated that
worldwide annual spending on music for advertisements could
be in the billions of dollars (Oakes, 2007). The 2007 article
Evaluating Empirical Research into Music in Advertising: A
Congruity Perspective provides one example of such extreme
expenditures. Back when Windows 95 was being advertised on
television commercials in the 1990s, Microsoft had paid around
$3 million for The Rolling Stones’ song “Start Me Up” to play
in the Windows ad (Oakes, 2007). The author also states that
around 90 percent of advertisements on television use music in
some way. The study of how music affects consumers’
purchasing decisions allows us to learn the secrets behind this
multi-billion dollar industry.
Using the fame and likeness of celebrities to advertise
costs businesses thousands to millions of dollars, so most of the
time they use original tunes and jingles to save money (Oakes,
2007). Whenever a pop culture icon is used to reach out to
consumers, advertisers make sure that they fit the genre that the
icon represents to the proper demographic of their audiences.
Age, gender, race, level of education, geographic location, and
other sociological pieces of data are important factors that
advertisers use to decide when and where they spread brand
messages. For this reason, our group will be gathering data on
the genres that consumers prefer.
In the article mentioned above, a table depicts the general
findings about music and marketing. In the studies that
researchers conducted, student participants were put into an
artificial environment and instructed to focus their attention on
the music found in the advertisements (Oakes, 2007). These

2. studies, conducted by various researchers listed in the Oakes
article, have discovered several key elements of music in ads
that target and improve the recall of the ads, as well as the
attitudes of consumers toward certain brands.
First, music in ads that are composed specifically for the ad,
and music that matches the mood associated with the advertised
product or service, showed increased intent of purchase in
viewers. Second, when a jingle is considered pleasurable to sing
and is repeated with the ad message, the brand attitude of the
participants tended to be positive. Third, when music that was
specifically composed for an ad was used, participants tended to
recall that ad much more clearly. And finally, consumers
exposed to radio advertising content had better recall for ads
with high tempo congruity and timbre congruity (Oakes, 2007).
The development of social media and its prevalence in the
marketing industry have completely altered the way companies
advertise. The emphasis lies on interactivity and consumer
engagement. Music in particular has become the focus of many
advertisers with the popularity of streaming services and
satellite radio.
In the article Music Selection in Everyday Listening, data
indicated that selection method was related to liking for and
emotional response to the music, attention paid to the music,
and perceived consequences of hearing the music (Krause,
North, Hewitt, 2014). In addition, the study found that
possessing control led to positive consequences such as
enjoyment and motivation (Krause, et al., 2014). These findings
show the positive response to control over music selection. By
applying these findings to a marketing campaign, one could
craft jingles and advertisements that featured music similar to
the playlists or music stations the consumers were listening to.
This would result in a more positive response and reaction to
advertisements and the use of music in said advertisements.
When the subjects of the study lacked control over the music
experience, they rated the music as distracting, hindering
concentration, not enjoyable, and to be avoided. These findings

3. demonstrate that lower levels of control would be associated
with negative consequences (Krause, et al., 2014). While a
streaming service commercial could inherently be perceived as a
lack of control since the user did not choose to listen to a
commercial, the negative consequences could be minimalized
with the use of music in the advertisement. By researching the
effect of music in commercials in a university setting, one could
parallel the findings to create highly effective advertisements
for music for an audience that responds positively to control, or
perceived control, of the music they consume.
Consumers also respond to advertisements that feature cause
tie-ins. In the article Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes toward
Cause-Related Marketing studies showed that consumers
respond positively organizations that utilize cause-related
marketing, such as charitable contributions, civic engagement,
and a sense of personal and social responsibility (Youn, Kim,
2008). Youn and Kim (2008) found that corporations gained the
trust and brand loyalty of consumers by support of social causes
and good corporate citizenship.
Applying this notion to the study of the relationship between
music, marketing, and consumer behavior would reveal biases in
consumer reaction to certain jingles and commercials based on
their prior knowledge of the organization’s charitable
campaigns.
This supports the need for a more focused study in the reactions
and consequences of certain jingles and commercials and the
effect it has on consumers. Preconceived notions of a brand
could exhibit the effectiveness of a jingle or song when the
consumer can recall it despite distaste for the company using it.
The background music we hear in stores, in television ads,
and even the music we might hear while looking at a print ad
may have a bigger effect on the way we process information, as
well as the messages that advertisers are trying to send to
consumers. Background music and branding have been around
for some time and advertisers are devoted to making sure the
message recall is high to help with promotions. To motivate

4. potential consumers to focus on an ad, to support a favorable
brand image, or to teach a brand slogan, advertisers add
background music (Bruner, 1990). Along with other studies
there have been a few trying to determine the rate in the change
of background music and how it may influence frequent
distractions reducing message recall.
In the 2013 article, Music to Your Brain: Background Music
Changes Are Processed First, Reducing Ad Message Recall, it
has been found that unexpected sound changes are processed
first which means that the audience has a lesser chance at
receiving the message (Fraser & Bradford, 2013). Not only was
it regular background music but it was found that backgrounds
with more frequent harmonic changes and textural changes
creates more frequent distractions which helps with reducing
message recall. Music has become very general in most parts of
marketing and even though we know there is a big difference
between sound and visual information, the brain’s working
memory is limited.
Auditory Scene Analysis offers a theoretical explanation linking
cognitive processing to changes in three structural music
characteristics categories, harmonic elements, textural elements,
and tempo (Bregman, 1984). Once advertisers become aware of
the specifics of what may be causing potential distractions they
will be better able to choose background music that will have
better benefits and less distractions. In the article mentioned
above researchers conducted two experiments. Backgrounds that
evoke desired emotional responses, or which trigger desirable
images, can be adjusted by re-orchestrating for fewer
instruments or slightly adjusting tempo to help focus attention
and learning on the brand and message (Fraser & Bradford,
2013).
Other than affecting the emotions and recall abilities of
consumers, advertisements and the media in general also have a
significant impact on the behaviors seen in society’s youth.
Some styles of music involve strong explicit or suggestive
lyrics that glorify risky behaviors, such as binge drinking and

5. drugs (Fischer, Greitemeyer, Kastenmüller, Vogrincic, & Sauer,
2011). Whether being used simply to promote a product, or to
tell a story about living the fast life, music plays a big role in
society by setting many of our common norms and values.
According to the article The Effects of Risk-Glorifying Media
Exposure on Risk-Positive Cognitions, Emotions, and
Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review, the impact that a medium
has on consumers to partake in extreme behaviors varies by the
level of involvement the consumer uses to interact with the
medium (Fischer, et al., 2011). The effects of the media to
influence consumers’ behavior tend to be more pronounced in
those using an active medium, such as video games. The
participants in the study who utilized passive forms of media,
like watching a movie or listening to music, did not tend to
show the same signs of subsequent risky behavior. Through the
evaluation of extreme risk-taking behaviors in people as a result
to media exposure, we see the extent to which the media may
influence the way people think and act.
The article Attributes of background music and consumers’
responses to TV commercials discusses how background music
in advertising affects consumers in different ways (Hee Park,
Kwan Park, & Ok Jeon, 2014). Products and services are first
divided into two general categories: hedonic goods and
utilitarian goods. Hedonic goods are considered products that
offer a short-lived, sensory experience and do not require
consumers to make thoughtful, goal-oriented decisions.
Utilitarian goods are instrumental to some goal, such as a car.
Ads for hedonic goods, like beer, tend to use peripheral cues to
attract consumers. Ads for utilitarian goods tend to offer more
product-related information. The background music used in each
type of commercial is successfully implemented when eliciting
the proper response from its audience.
For low-involvement, hedonic good ads, the audience is meant
to focus on the attractiveness of the features of the ad, while
also understanding the main brand message behind it (Hee Park,
et al., 2014). Studies discussed in the article resulted in the

6. finding that for low-involvement ads, people’s attitudes toward
the brands were more favorable when the music used offered
light, happy cues. On the other hand, ads for utilitarian goods
were more positively reviewed when involving overt emotive
cues, whether very positive or very negative. Overall, the study
suggested that advertisers need to consider the amount of
involvement required of the product and of the consumers when
deciding what kind of music to use. Hedonic product messages
require music that has the proper fit and familiarity for the
audience, while utilitarian product messages just need music
that fits the product in general (Hee Park, et al., 2014).

7. References
Bregman, A. S. (1984, July). Auditory scene analysis.
In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Pattern
Recognition (pp. 168-175).
Bruner, G. C. (1990). Music, mood, and marketing. The Journal
of marketing, 94-104.
Fischer, P., Greitemeyer, T., Kastenmüller, A., Vogrincic, C., &
Sauer, A. (2011). The effects of risk-glorifying media
exposure on risk-positive cognitions, emotions, and behaviors: a
meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin,137(3), 367.
Fraser, C., & Bradford, J. A. (2013). Music to your brain:
Background music changes are processed first, reducing ad
message recall. Psychology & Marketing, 30(1), 62-75.
Hee Park, H., Kwan Park, J., & Ok Jeon, J. (2014). Attributes of
background music and consumers’ responses to TV
commercials: The moderating effect of consumer
involvement. International Journal of Advertising, 33(4),
767-784.
Krause, A., North, A., Hewitt, L. (2014). Music Selection
Behaviors in Everyday Listening. Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media 58(2) 306-323.
Oakes, S. (2007). Evaluating empirical research into music in
advertising: A congruity perspective.
Youn, S., Kim, H. (2008) Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes
toward Cause-Related Marketing. Journal of Advertising
Research March 123-137.