Measuring affective reactions to print apparel advertisements: a scale development

Purpose – To develop and validate a new scale for affective reactions to print apparel advertisements. Design/methodology/approach – Following the guidelines suggested by Churchill, the scale for measuring affective reactions to print advertisements was developed. A questionnaire was then administered to assess validity and reliability of measures. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted by using the LISREL. Findings – The confirmatory factor model supported that unipolar categories of warm, negative, upbeat, sensual, and bored feelings effectively represent affective reactions to apparel advertisements. Evidence was established for reliability and validity. Research limitations/implications – The major limitation of this study was the reliance on student subjects for scale development and testing. It limits the generalizability of the results to other populations. Further research is recommended to test the scale by using different samples and stimuli. Practical implications – The identification of the five categories of affective reactions to apparel advertisements allows marketers to target the specific types of affective reactions that lead to favorable attitudes toward advertisements, which, in turn, lead to favorable attitudes toward brands and purchase behaviors. Originality/value – This paper fulfils needs for the scales that measure emotional aspects of clothing behaviors. Scholars could use the scale developed in this study to investigate how the specific categories of affective reactions influence subsequent information processing and attitude formation for advertised products or brands.