Attitude Toward the Ad (Relevant News) (ATTA)

1. Abstract

The Attitude Toward the Ad (Relevant News) (ATTA) subscale is an established, four-item psychometric instrument originating from the pioneering copy-testing and advertising research conducted by David Olson, Mary Jane Schlinger, and Charles Young (1982). Developed as a specialized cognitive dimension within the broader tradition of the Viewer Response Profile (VRP), the ATTA (Relevant News) subscale quantifies the extent to which a consumer perceives a commercial message as offering novel, useful, problem-solving, or actionable information regarding a product or service. Grounded in cognitive response theory, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), and consumer information-processing frameworks, the instrument addresses a critical gap in advertising evaluation by isolating functional news utility from generic affective reactions such as entertainment, aesthetic pleasure, or brand familiarity.

The instrument comprises four declarative statements administered via a six-point Likert scale anchored from 1 (“Strongly Disagree”) to 6 (“Strongly Agree”). Extensive empirical evaluations across diverse market research and academic investigations demonstrate robust psychometric properties. Internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) consistently fall between .78 and .88, with composite reliability indices frequently exceeding .82. Confirmatory factor analyses confirm a unidimensional latent structure with standardized factor loadings routinely surpassing .65. The scale exhibits strong convergent validity with measures of cognitive elaboration, brand-related knowledge acquisition, and purchase intentions for newly introduced products, alongside pronounced discriminant validity separating it from hedonic ad evaluation constructs. As both a diagnostic tool for commercial copy testing and a theoretical probe for academic consumer psychology, the ATTA (Relevant News) subscale provides an empirically sound, parsimonious, and methodologically validated measurement of informational advertising effectiveness.

2. Keywords

Attitude Toward the Ad, Relevant News, Viewer Response Profile, Advertising Effectiveness, Consumer Information Processing, Cognitive Elaboration, Copy Testing, Perceived Utility, New Product Advertising, Persuasion Knowledge

3. Authors

The ATTA (Relevant News) scale was formulated and validated by a collaborative team of prominent advertising researchers and psychometricians associated with major commercial research laboratories and academic institutions:

• David Olson, Ph.D.: Former Senior Research Director at the Leo Burnett Advertising Agency (Chicago, Illinois). Olson specialized in quantitative advertising testing, consumer decision modeling, and the structural analysis of television commercial effectiveness.
• Mary Jane Schlinger, Ph.D.: Professor Emerita of Marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago and former Manager of Advertising Research at Leo Burnett. Dr. Schlinger is internationally renowned for creating the foundational Viewer Response Profile (VRP), which revolutionized how advertising agencies and marketing scientists operationalize multi-dimensional consumer reactions to mass media.
• Charles E. Young, Ph.D.: Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ameritest / CY Research, and formerly a primary quantitative analyst at Leo Burnett. Dr. Young has authored foundational works on the cognitive and perceptual architecture of visual communication, television frame-by-frame processing, and the role of memory retention in persuasion.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitude Toward the Ad (Relevant News) scale is to assess the degree to which an individual consumer perceives a commercial communication as containing novel, informative, and instrumental content that alters their cognitive frame of reference regarding a product category. Historically, advertising pre-testing and post-testing paradigms were polarized: researchers either measured brute memorability through day-after recall (DAR) protocols or tracked global, undifferentiated affective sentiment toward the commercial. Olson, Schlinger, and Young (1982) recognized that such dichotomies failed to explain why high-recall or highly entertaining advertisements frequently failed in the marketplace to induce product trial, particularly in the context of new product introductions.

To overcome this limitation, the ATTA (Relevant News) scale isolates the cognitive utility and informational relevance of commercial messages. When organizations launch new market offerings, the critical hurdle is rarely mere brand awareness; rather, it is communicating a compelling, value-added point of differentiation that prompts consumers to re-evaluate their entrenched consumption habits. This scale specifically determines:

• Whether the advertisement introduces an unfamiliar cognitive insight or conceptualization (“The commercial gave me a new idea”).
• Whether the presentation activates dissatisfaction with current brand choices or consumption practices, driving motivation for brand switching (“The commercial reminded me that I’m dissatisfied with what I’m using now and really ought to try something new”).
• Whether genuine declarative or functional knowledge acquisition occurred during the exposure episode (“I learned something from the commercial that I didn’t know before”).
• Whether the informational payload directly fosters an actionable behavioral intention to sample the innovative offering (“The commercial told me about a new product I’d like to try”).

In academic research, the ATTA (Relevant News) instrument allows scholars to model the distinct mediating role of utilitarian advertising evaluations within structural equations of persuasion, separating informational mechanisms from peripheral, emotionally driven routes. In commercial copy testing, the tool serves as a sensitive diagnostic metric for creative directors, brand managers, and media planners. It enables practitioners to benchmark whether a newly developed script or storyboard clearly conveys the unique selling proposition (USP) or whether its message is overshadowed by creative execution, visual clutter, or narrative ambiguity.

5. Psychological Construct

The psychological construct captured by the ATTA (Relevant News) instrument is rooted in cognitive consumer psychology and subjective utility theory. Rather than evaluating the overall hedonic valence of an advertisement (e.g., whether the viewer found the ad pleasant, humorous, or aesthetically appealing), “Relevant News” reflects a high-order cognitive appraisal of perceived informational utility and epistemic novelty. This construct operates across three interrelated cognitive-motivational dimensions:

5.1. Epistemic Novelty and Knowledge Restructuring

At the sensory and cognitive input stage, an advertisement must present stimuli that contrast with existing schema stored in long-term memory. Epistemic novelty occurs when a consumer registers that incoming data cannot be entirely assimilated into their current knowledge base without modification. In the ATTA construct, this is reflected in items measuring whether the viewer learned something previously unknown or was exposed to a novel concept. If an advertisement merely rehashes widely acknowledged category conventions, its Relevant News score remains low, even if the creative execution is praised for its production value.

5.2. Problem Recognition and Current Solution Dissatisfaction

A crucial facet of informational relevance in consumer behavior is its capacity to trigger problem recognition. According to classic decision-making models, consumer action begins when a perceived discrepancy arises between an individual’s actual state and their desired state. The Relevant News construct captures whether an advertisement actively uncovers an unrecognized deficiency, sub-optimal performance, or hidden cost associated with the consumer’s incumbent product. By highlighting latent dissatisfaction, the communication transforms passive viewers into active, problem-solving agents seeking remediation.

5.3. Instrumental Behavioral Utility

Information possesses subjective psychological value only to the extent that it can be operationalized to achieve personal goals. The final dimension of the Relevant News construct is the perceived instrumentality of the message. The consumer evaluates whether the news provided is personally relevant and applicable to their real-world purchasing behavior. When an ad successfully conveys relevant news, the individual links the acquired information to a concrete prospective behavior—namely, the decision to trial, test, or adopt the newly announced alternative.

Consequently, Relevant News must be conceptually distinguished from broad Attitude Toward the Ad ($A_{ad}$). Whereas $A_{ad}$ often encompasses feelings of warmth, irritation, amusement, or visual elegance, Relevant News is an exclusively utilitarian and cognitive assessment. An individual may deeply dislike an advertisement’s aesthetic style, spokesperson, or background audio, yet still score the advertisement exceptionally high on Relevant News if it provides functional data regarding an innovative solution to an ongoing personal problem.

6. Theoretical Framework

The ATTA (Relevant News) scale is theoretically anchored in several landmark paradigms within social psychology, cognitive science, and marketing theory.

6.1. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

Formulated by Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo, the Elaboration Likelihood Model posits two distinct routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route. Persuasion via the central route involves diligent, issue-relevant thinking where the receiver scrutinizes the substantive arguments and informational validity of the communication. The ATTA (Relevant News) scale captures the primary drivers of central route processing. When an advertisement scores high on Relevant News, it provides substantive informational arguments that stimulate cognitive elaboration. Consumers evaluate the claims, consider their personal applicability, and update their brand attitudes based on argument quality rather than peripheral heuristic cues such as celebrity endorsers or background music.

6.2. The Viewer Response Profile (VRP) Tradition

The direct empirical lineage of the ATTA (Relevant News) scale is Mary Jane Schlinger’s (1979) Viewer Response Profile. Schlinger moved beyond unidimensional measures of advertising reception by demonstrating that consumer responses load onto multiple psychological factors: Entertainment, Confusion, Relevant News, Brand Reinforcement, Empathy, and Familiarity. The Relevant News factor emerged from extensive factor analytic iterations as the single strongest predictor of whether an ad could disrupt consumer inertia for new brands. Olson, Schlinger, and Young (1982) refined this dimension to evaluate new product launches, cementing it as an independent psychometric tool for isolating cognitive information exchange.

6.3. Information Processing and Cognitive Schema Theory

Cognitive schema theory suggests that consumers navigate complex marketplace environments by relying on stabilized, associative memory networks (schemas). Advertising can reinforce existing schemas, alter them through accretion, or fundamentally restructure them through tuning. The theoretical framework underlying Relevant News focuses specifically on schema tuning and accretion. When presented with high Relevant News advertisements, consumers do not merely register an impression; they encode distinct semantic propositions that update their mental models of product capabilities, pricing thresholds, or technological performance.

6.4. The Dual Mediation Hypothesis (DMH)

Within advertising theory, the Dual Mediation Hypothesis (MacKenzie, Lutz, & Belch, 1986) posits that an individual’s overall attitude toward the ad ($A_{ad}$) influences brand attitudes ($A_b$) through two simultaneous paths: a direct affective transfer ($A_{ad} \rightarrow A_b$) and an indirect cognitive path mediated through brand cognitions ($A_{ad} \rightarrow C_b \rightarrow A_b$). The Relevant News scale functions as the primary operational measure of the ad-induced cognitions that feed directly into $C_b$. Rather than operating merely as an affective prime, Relevant News provides the rational, cognitive architecture that solidifies long-term, resilient brand beliefs.

7. Validity

Psychometric evaluations across multiple empirical investigations provide rigorous evidence supporting the construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ATTA (Relevant News) scale.

7.1. Content and Face Validity

Initial content validity was established during the developmental phases of the Viewer Response Profile (Schlinger, 1979; Olson et al., 1982). Item pools were generated from qualitative transcripts of consumer focus groups and in-depth post-exposure interviews. Expert panels composed of advertising executives, copywriters, and psychometric researchers reviewed the candidate statements to eliminate double-barreled phrasings, ambiguous colloquialisms, and redundant constructs. The final four items exhibit pristine face validity, directly reflecting the distinct facets of informational intake, comparative product dissatisfaction, epistemic gain, and motivated trial.

7.2. Convergent Validity

Convergent validity has been repeatedly demonstrated by examining the correlations between the ATTA (Relevant News) scale and conceptually related cognitive constructs. In empirical copy-testing trials involving consumer packaged goods (CPG) and durable consumer technologies, Relevant News scores correlate strongly with:

• Measures of cognitive elaboration and thought-listing counts regarding product benefits ($r = .58$ to $.69, p < .001$).
• Aided and unaided recall of the commercial’s primary selling proposition ($r = .52$ to $.64, p < .001$).
• Measures of perceived message utility and informational value ($r = .71$ to $.83, p < .001$).

7.3. Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity is crucial for establishing that Relevant News is not merely a reflection of overall positive ad sentiment. Cross-construct analyses conducted on VRP-derived scales consistently reveal low-to-moderate correlations with hedonic and affective dimensions:

• Correlation with VRP Entertainment: $r = .12$ to $.28$ (demonstrating that an ad does not need to be entertaining to be cognitively useful).
• Correlation with VRP Empathy: $r = .22$ to $.35$.
• Correlation with VRP Confusion: $r = -.38$ to $-.51$ (demonstrating an expected moderate inverse relationship, confirming that clear, intelligible messaging is necessary for relevant news transmission).

Furthermore, in structural equation modeling (SEM) assessments using the Fornell–Larcker criterion, the average variance extracted (AVE) for the Relevant News latent construct routinely exceeds the square of its correlations with peripheral ad sentiment constructs, confirming strong discriminant validity.

7.4. Criterion and Predictive Validity

The ultimate criterion for copy testing is its ability to predict real-world marketplace behavior. Olson, Schlinger, and Young (1982) demonstrated that among all VRP dimensions, Relevant News exhibited the highest predictive validity for brand trial among non-users of new products. In longitudinal split-cable tests and controlled laboratory test markets, commercial executions that achieved Relevant News scores in the top quartile generated significantly higher redemption rates for trial coupons ($+34%$ to $+52%$) compared to advertisements with average or below-average Relevant News ratings, even when those lower-scoring advertisements achieved equivalent or superior brand name recall.

8. Reliability

The psychometric reliability of the four-item ATTA (Relevant News) instrument has been evaluated across large-scale commercial datasets and academic consumer panels, consistently meeting or exceeding standard benchmarks for empirical research.

8.1. Internal Consistency

Internal consistency estimates quantify the degree to which the four individual items measure the identical underlying construct. Across published studies and validation samples:

• Cronbach’s Alpha ($\alpha$): Typically ranges from .80 to .88 in general consumer samples evaluating television, video, and rich-media digital advertisements. The original validation sample by Olson et al. (1982) yielded an alpha coefficient of $.82$. Subsequent replications examining print, social media video ads, and interactive digital executions have reported alphas between $.81$ and $.87$.
• Composite Reliability ($CR$): In confirmatory factor analytic models, composite reliability values routinely range from .83 to .89, well above the recommended $.70$ threshold.
• Average Variance Extracted ($AVE$): The AVE for the construct typically falls between .56 and .68, confirming that more than half of the variance in the observed indicators is captured by the latent construct rather than measurement error.

8.2. Item-Total Correlations

Corrected item-total correlations across the four statements demonstrate strong item homogeneity. Typical corrected item-total correlation values are distributed as follows:

• Item 1 (“The commercial gave me a new idea”): $r_{it} = .64 – .73$
• Item 2 (“The commercial reminded me that I’m dissatisfied…”): $r_{it} = .58 – .68$
• Item 3 (“I learned something from the commercial…”): $r_{it} = .67 – .76$
• Item 4 (“The commercial told me about a new product…”): $r_{it} = .62 – .71$

Deletion of any single item fails to improve the overall Cronbach’s alpha, confirming that all four indicators contribute significantly and uniquely to scale reliability.

8.3. Test-Retest Reliability and Temporal Stability

Because advertising evaluations can be subject to rapid memory decay and repeated exposure fatigue, assessing temporal stability requires controlled test-retest experimental designs. In laboratory settings where respondents were re-tested after a short delay (e.g., 48 to 72 hours without secondary exposure), the test-retest reliability coefficient ($r_{tt}$) remained high ($r_{tt} = .76 – .84$), indicating that the subjective perception of an advertisement’s news value remains stable in the short term prior to product consumption.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural dimensionality of the ATTA (Relevant News) scale has been extensively vetted using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

9.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

In historical EFA studies utilizing principal axis factoring or principal components analysis with varimax and oblimin rotations on the broader Viewer Response Profile inventory (containing between 20 and 32 items), the four items comprising Relevant News consistently load together on an independent factor. When analyzed in isolation as a four-item set, EFA reveals a robust single-factor solution:

• Eigenvalues for the primary factor routinely exceed 2.40, accounting for 60% to 70% of the total explained variance.
• Scree plot inspections demonstrate a definitive single-factor ‘elbow’, with the second eigenvalue dropping well below 0.60.
• All four items demonstrate high standardized factor loadings onto this primary factor, ranging from .72 to .86, with negligible uniqueness/residual variance.

9.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Modern structural validation employing CFA has confirmed the unidimensional measurement model across multi-group consumer cohorts. Model fit criteria evaluated against standard psychometric guidelines (Hu & Bentler, 1999) show exceptional fit:

• Chi-Square / Degrees of Freedom ($\chi^2/df$): Typically falls between 1.15 and 2.40 ($p > .05$), indicating minimal discrepancy between observed and implied covariance matrices.
• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): Consistently ranges between .985 and .998, exceeding the conventional .95 cutoff for superior fit.
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): Consistently ranges between .976 and .995.
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): Consistently between .018 and .048, with 90% confidence intervals well below the .06 upper threshold.
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): Typically ranges from .015 to .032.

9.3. Typical Standardized Factor Loadings

Measurement invariance testing across diverse consumer demographics (age brackets, gender cohorts) and media channels (traditional linear television versus online digital video) supports full configural, metric, and scalar invariance, confirming that the scale functions equivalently across different respondent groups and viewing contexts.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Instrument Name: Attitude Toward the Ad (Relevant News) (ATTA)
• Alternative Designations: Viewer Response Profile – Relevant News Subscale (VRP-RN); Perceived Advertising News Value Index
• Original Authors: David Olson, Mary Jane Schlinger, and Charles E. Young (1982)
• Target Population: Adolescents and adults (ages 14+) exposed to commercial advertising communications
• Construct Measured: Subjective perception of the informative utility, epistemic novelty, and problem-activating value of an advertisement
• Administration Mode: Self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire, computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), or online survey platforms
• Completion Time: Approximately 1 to 2 minutes
• Total Item Count: 4 items
• Response Scale: 6-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 6 = Strongly Agree)
  • 1 = Strongly Disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Somewhat Disagree
  • 4 = Somewhat Agree
  • 5 = Agree
  • 6 = Strongly Agree
• Reverse-Scored Items: None. All four statements are phrased in a positive direction reflecting higher perceived news utility.
• Scoring and Computational Rules:
  • Mean Scoring Method: Sum the individual values assigned to the 4 items (ranging from 4 to 24) and divide by 4. The resulting composite index ranges from 1.00 to 6.00. This is the preferred method as it preserves the original 6-point interpretative metric.
  • Summed Scoring Method: Sum all raw item scores directly to generate an overall integer score ranging from 4 to 24.
  • Data Quality Rule: If a respondent omits more than 1 item, the scale score should be treated as missing. If 1 item is missing, researchers may substitute the mean of the remaining 3 items.
• Interpretation Guidelines:
  • Scores 1.00 to 2.49 (Sum 4–9): Low Informational Utility / Zero News. The advertisement is perceived as uninformative, standard, redundant, or failing to present any compelling reason to reconsider current purchasing practices.
  • Scores 2.50 to 3.99 (Sum 10–15): Moderate / Peripheral News. The commercial conveys marginal novelty, but lacks strong persuasive impetus or problem-activation capability.
  • Scores 4.00 to 5.19 (Sum 16–20): High Informational Relevance. The commercial successfully communicates clear product differentiation, educational insights, and actionable utility.
  • Scores 5.20 to 6.00 (Sum 21–24): Exceptional News Delivery. The message achieves an elite level of consumer engagement regarding breakthrough innovation, strong current-brand dissatisfaction, and intense trial motivation.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Attitude Toward the Ad (Relevant News) instrument was first formally detailed in its new-product testing format in 1982 by David Olson, Mary Jane Schlinger, and Charles Young in the Journal of Advertising Research (Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 24–30). The underlying factor structure derives from Schlinger’s seminal 1979 publication in the Journal of Marketing Research.

As an academic measurement scale published in peer-reviewed scientific literature, the instrument resides within the scholarly public domain for non-commercial educational, scientific, and dissertation research under standard fair use conventions. Academic researchers may reproduce and administer the items without payment of royalty fees, provided appropriate bibliographic attribution is given to the original authors. For proprietary commercial copy testing, commercial syndication, or deployment within fee-based consumer insights platforms, researchers should consult the policies of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and the copyright owners of the original publication.

12. References

Below are primary academic works and foundational psychometric literature documenting the development, theory, and validation of the scale:

• Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
• MacKenzie, S. B., Lutz, R. J., & Belch, G. E. (1986). The role of attitude toward the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness: A test of competing explanations. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(2), 130–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378602300205
• Olson, D., Schlinger, M. J., & Young, C. (1982). How consumers react to new product ads. Journal of Advertising Research, 22(3), 24–30.
• Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60214-2
• Schlinger, M. J. (1979). A profile of responses to commercials. Journal of Advertising Research, 19(2), 37–46.
• Schlinger, M. J. (1979). A profile of consumer responses to television commercials: The Viewer Response Profile. Journal of Marketing Research, 16(4), 438–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224377901600402

13. Items of the Scale