Brand as a cognitive mediator: investigating the effect of media brands as a structural feature of textual news messages
| Date | 11 February 2019 |
| Pages | 1-14 |
| Published date | 11 February 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2017-1394 |
| Author | Salla-Maaria Laaksonen,Alessio Falco,Mikko Salminen,Pekka Aula,Niklas Ravaja |
Brand as a cognitive mediator: investigating
the effect of media brands as a structural
feature of textual news messages
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen
Department of Social Research, Media and Communication Studies, Helsingin Yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland and
Consumer Society Research Centre, Helsingin Yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland
Alessio Falco
Department of Social Psychology, Helsingin Yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland
Mikko Salminen
Department of Information and Service Management School of Business, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland and
Gamification Group, Laboratory of Pervasive Computing, Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering,
Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
Pekka Aula
Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland and Department of Social Research,
Helsingin Yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland, and
Niklas Ravaja
Faculty of Medicine, Helsingin Yliopisto, Helsinki, Finland and Department of Information and
Service Management, School of Business, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –This study investigates how media brand knowledge, defined as a structural feature of the message, influences emotional and
attentional responses to, and memory of, news messages.
Design/methodology/approach –Self-reports, facial electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography were used as indices of emotional
valence, arousal and attention in response to 42 news messages, which varied along the valence and involvement dimensions and were framed with
different media brands varying along the familiarity and credibility dimensions.
Findings –Compared to the no-brand condition, news framed with brands elicited more attention. The memory tests indicated that strong media
brands override the effect of involvement in information encoding, whereas details of news presented withFacebook were not well encoded.
However, the headlines of news framed with Facebook were well retrieved. In addition, negative and high-involvement news elicited high er arousal
ratings and corrugator EMG activity. News framed with familiar and high-credibility brands elicited higher arousal ratings.
Research limitations/implications –Relevant for both brand managers and audiences, the findings show that building credibility and familiarity
both work as brand attributes to differentiate media brands and influence information processing.
Originality/value –The results highlight the importance of media brands in news reading: as a structural feature, the brand is used as a proxy to
process the message content. The study contributes by investigating how the type of source influences the reception and encoding of themediated
information; by investigating the emotional effects of brands; and by confirming previous findings in media psychology literature.
Keywords Media, Emotions, Brand, LC4MP, Psychophysiology
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The digital era has introduced profound changes in the ways
people consume news. First, the news is increasingly consumed
using electronic devices and thus in a different habitual and
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
28/1 (2019) 1–14
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-01-2017-1394]
This research was conducted with support from the Helsingin Sanomat
Foundation, in connection with the research project Media
2
.Theauthors
wish to thank the three anonymous reviewers for all the insightful comments.
Received 17 January 2017
Revised 15 July 2017
7 December 2017
23 April 2018
20 June 2018
9 July 2018
Accepted 10 July 2018
1
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