Research on musical congruity can be particularly interesting in light of developments in the psychology of arts during the 80s and 90s. Various studies carried out since the 1980s have revealed that individuals prefer artistic objects that are prototypical of the class in question (e.g., Whitfield and Slatter, 1979; Whitfield, 1983; Martindale and Moore, 1988; Hekkert and Van Wieringen, 1990). This suggests that typical exemplars of a certain category may be preferred to less typical exemplars. For instance, Georgian chair designs are perceived as more typical of the category “furniture”, and hence, preferred to more modern designs (Whitfield and Slatter, 1979). However, although the purpose of the preference-for-prototypes model is to explain preferences between aesthetic objects, it may be highly relevant to consumer research as it puts forward the role of knowledge activation in consumers’ response to music. This model contends that the human mind is composed of densely interconnected cognitive units in a way that a specific piece of music is capable of activating related knowledge structures. This theoretical framework may be parallel to Areni and Kim’s (1993) arguments around musical fit (genre congruity) and product choice which was discussed earlier in this chapter. Therefore, for example, music that is stereotypically Italian should activate related knowledge structures concerning Italy, which may in turn result in more positive cognitive and behavioural responses in consumers (e.g., enhanced recall and product choice). On the other hand, music that is stereotypically Chinese should activate related knowledge structures concerning China, which may prime the selection of Chinese products.
Music is viewed as a carrier of culture (see Albers-Miller and Gelb, 1996; Cheng and Schweitzer, 1996), and hence, the utilisation of music in advertising may involve the issue of congruity in cultural meanings. Certain styles of music can be associated with specific nations, so that music can be identified as “Chinese”, “Italian”, “French”, etc. even by listeners with otherwise limited knowledge of the corresponding culture (Folkestad, 2002; Boer et al., 2013). In the postmodern era where different styles proliferate and meanings change at an ever faster pace, advertisers and consumers
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alike become active agents who substitute different meanings on to a consumption symbol (Hirschman et al., 1998). For example, particular types of music that were once a powerful expression of the culture of African-Americans (e.g., rap music) have become dominant in the mainstream popular culture, selling sneakers and soft drinks to young consumers around the world (Blair and Hatala, 1992). Furthermore, national music styles may evoke concepts and images congruent with cultural stereotypes of that country. For example, while German music might make consumers think of beer and bratwurst, French music might evoke images of wine and the Eiffel Tower (North et al., 1997; Tekman and Hortascu, 2002). Research on atmospheric cues in retail stores investigated the effects of the congruity of the country of origin of music and the product upon consumers’ product choice. North et al. (1999) played French and German music on alternate days alongside French and German wines in the alcoholic beverages section of a supermarket. They examined the effects of stereotypically French and German background music on supermarket customers’ selection of French and German wine and revealed that French music resulted in higher sales of French wine and German music resulted in selling more German wine. This study indicated how music can subconsciously prime relevant knowledge and the choice of certain products if they match that knowledge. It demonstrates that music has the capability to activate knowledge structures associated to a specific country which may in turn result in the selection of products that are congruent with those knowledge structures.
In a more recent study, North et al. (2016) investigate how the country of origin of music may affect consumers’ product choice and recall in the context of a restaurant. Each group of participants were given a menu showing 30 main course food items (10 Chinese, 10 American, 10 Indian) when they enter a room. Each of the four rooms featured one of the three types of music playing on a continuous loop (Chinese, Indian, American), as well as a no-music condition. Participants were then asked to recall as many items as they could and choose one dish to order. Their findings indicated that individuals were more likely to select menu items associated with a given country when the music playing was from the same country compared to when it was from a different country. Also, the
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number of recalled dishes from each country was higher when the music playing was associated with the same country compared to when it was from a different country.
Previous research has provided evidence that music primes semantically related concepts in an advertising setting (Oakes, 2007). However, very few studies have investigated the effects of the country of origin musical congruity in the context of advertising. Hung (2000) carried out research examining the influence of the congruity of country of music with visual stimuli upon consumers’ evaluations of the advertisements. Hung (2000) reveals how a high level of congruity between music and advertising subject matter produced desired decoding of brand attitude. In her study, Hung (2000) used two existing commercials for coffee, Brazil and Been to Cafe, which were aired in Australia during the year 1991. These advertisements were both accompanied by instrumental pieces of music but involved no textual or verbal information. The Brazil advertisement was accompanied by a simple repetitive tune, resembling film music featuring faraway places, while Been to Cafe advertisement consisted of raspy avant-garde music. This study showed how the selection of Brazilian music to be incorporated in a Brazilian coffee advertisement reinforced perceptions of the natural authenticity of a Brazilian coffee brand and enhanced likelihood of purchase. It revealed that consumers may associate/generate meanings to or from different musical styles from various locations used in advertisements. When the natural video (Brazil advertisement containing rainforest scenes and Latin Americans working and drinking coffee in a wilderness setting) was accompanied by the supposedly Brazilian music containing reedy, primitive sounds, the outcome was the impression of authentic, natural Brazilian coffee, whereas, in the case of using avant-garde music, the coffee was perceived to be trendy. However, a potential flaw was that the Been to Cafe advertising version - featuring young men and women who appeared artistic and who socialised and drank coffee together in a sparsely decorated space - was in black-and-white, while the Brazil version was a colour advertisement. Furthermore, the lack of any sort of textual or verbal information may have affected the results, as it is common practice for advertisements to include information regarding the brand being advertised, whether it be a utilitarian product or a social identity/hedonic brand. Also, Hung’s concern was to examine the effects of congruity between visual elements and music, rather than brand and music.
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Nevertheless, in an advertising setting, music is clearly a component of the advertising stimulus that consumers pay attention to rather than an irrelevant background feature of the information processing environment. Furthermore, in the experiments conducted by North et al. (1999) and North et al. (2016) in service settings, as well as the study carried out by Hung (2000), the effects may be due to the variations between the stereotypical associations of different musical genres used in the experiments rather than the differences between the country of origin of music, because it is not clear whether the musical stimuli used in these studies were consistent in various conditions. Various genres of music differ based on their degree of complexity. For example, jazz and classical music are technically more complex than pop music (Gridley, 1984). In addition, different countries (e.g., China, India, Italy, France, Germany etc.) have their own classical, pop etc. music and thus it is important to explore the effects of musical congruity on consumers’ purchase intent, recall, and attitude towards the advertisement and the brand, when the selected advertising genre remains constant for different treatments and the only manipulation is to select the music from different country of origins. It would indeed be interesting to examine the effects of congruity of country of origin of music with the brand and the advertising message on consumers’ cognitive and behavioural responses in the context of radio advertising to see the impact of this type of congruity in the conditions where there is a lack of visual imagery.