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INTRODUCTION
Many consumers are probably aware of a relatively common advertising practice whereby advertisers place fine-print messages near the bottom of the printed advertising page or television commercial screen. These messages (referred to as disclaimers, disclosures and so on) have received less research attention in the recent past than they deserve. Despite this academic neglect, advertising fine print can potentially influence how advertising is produced and presented, how consumers perceive and interpret an advertising message (Bakir, 2009) and even how brand attitudes are formed.
The objective of this study is to explore three related questions: relative to other claims made in an ad, to what extent do individuals pay attention to footnoted claims presented in fine print; does involvement with the ad affect an individual's attention to fine-print messages; and does the type of fine-print message (restrictive versus informative) serve to influence the means by which attitudes toward the advertised brand are formed? Drawing from the extant literature on advertising disclaimers and models of brand attitude formation, this study hopes to extend our understanding of fine-print disclaimers and the effects they may have on consumer information processing.
BACKGROUND
Research has demonstrated that various ad formats and production factors, such as level of complexity and placement of the ad, can impact attention to and understanding of advertised messages (for example, Wartella and Hunter, 1983). Much of the research that has been conducted on fine-print ad messages has utilized content analysis techniques. Stern and Harmon (1984) defined an advertising disclaimer as a 'statement or disclosure made with the purpose of clarifying or qualifying potentially misleading or deceptive statements made within an advertisement' (p. 13). Disclaimers are designed to supply consumers with important information for decision making (for example, Morgan and Stoltman, 2002). Most often, these disclaimers show up in a fine-print format. Kolbe and Muehling (1992) defined fine-print messages as any part of an advertisement that appears in type size noticeably smaller than the headline or dominant ad copy, designed to augment, discount, clarify or delineate the selling message, offer advice, identify the product manufacturer and/or provide supplemental information to the viewer. Examples include, 'supplies are limited', 'part of a nutritious breakfast', 'not sold in stores' and 'batteries not included'.
Although disclaimers are not central to advertising...