Abstract

This research examines to what extent the presence of meal context as a visual component embedded in food advertisements influences consumers’ responses. It empirically tested whether meal context (vs. no meal context) impacts consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement, the advertised brand, brand purchase intentions, product evaluation and appetitive motivation. An experiment involving a range of existing food products and brands was conducted with a sample of adult Canadian consumers. Contrary to predictions, meal context did not significantly impact consumer responses. Brand familiarity and product preference emerged as the most important
predictors of consumer responses. This research has a number of implications for future research on meal context effects.