Toward a Reconciliation of Market Power and Information Theories of Advertising Effects on Price Elasticity

Abstract

Prior work on the economic effects of advertising has presented conflicting views. Some authors have suggested that advertising creates market power by artificially differentiating brands and thereby lowering price elasticity. Others have viewed advertising as an efficient source of information about the existence of substitutes, arguing that advertising increases price elasticity. The present research proposes a unifying theoretical model in which advertising affects price elasticity through its influence on two mediating constructs: the size of the consideration set and the relative strength of preference. Pretests 1 and 2 examine the effects of advertising on these two constructs. Results from the main experiment show that, in accordance with the theoretical framework, the same advertisements that increased price elasticity in some decision environments decreased it in others. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.