What type of advertisement leaves

a more memorable impression;

ones that promote unhealthy or
healthy products?
After running an experiment that tested the effectiveness of different
types of magazine advertisements on high school females at Austin
School, a statistically significant conclusion was made. This report
discusses the research, procedures and statistical analysis behind
testing ad effectiveness.

ELENA HUBNER
AP STATISTICS
PERIOD 7
MAY 27, 2015
[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a

Table of Contents
Component

Page Number

Final Report

1-4

Conclusion

4-5

Work Cited

Appendices

7-13 + Magazines in pocket

Website Link

14

Revised Inquiry Pitch

15-18

Original Inquiry Pitch

19-22

Report Rough Draft

23-26

Peer Review Form

28

Americans are exposed to hundreds of advertisements each and every day;

advertisements on television and billboards, in magazines and newspapers. The purpose
of these advertisements is to grab the attention of people and to influence them to want to
purchase the promoted product. In 2014, an estimated 180.12 billion dollars was spent on
advertising in The United States (Gurin). However, with so many different types of ads
fighting for the attention of consumers, it poses a question: What type of ad is most
effective in grabbing attention?
Researchers from Ohio State University tested ad effectiveness by calculating the
amount of time a select group of people spent looking at images featuring fit and
attractive models in a magazine filled with health and fitness ads versus the amount of
time another group spent looking at the same models when the magazine featured
advertisements unrelated to health or fitness. Results showed that those who looked at the
magazine featuring the health and fitness ads spent, on average, spent more time looking
at the same models than those who looked at the other magazine.
Taking a different approach in testing the effectiveness of advertisements in
magazines, the experiment detailed in this report tests the number of advertisements
recalled by individuals who were asked to flip through a magazine featuring ads that
either promoted healthy products or ads that promoted unhealthy products, plus a control
group.
In recent years, obesity and declining health and physical fitness among teenagers
has been a trending social issue in America. Part of this decline in health and fitness may
have to do with the prevalence of advertisements promoting unhealthy food products, as

well as fast food restaurants that appeal to teens. This social phenomenon is part of what
inspired this experiment. It follows the four conceptual themes of statistics in order to
determine whether or not to reject the alternative hypothesis, that of all three groups;
unhealthy ads, healthy ads, and the control group, at least one group, in particular the
unhealthy ad group, will have a mean that is different from the others.
Sampling and experimentation were used in this experimentation process to plan
an appropriate population and to conduct a successful experiment. Since this experiment
tests the effectiveness of magazine ads, the selected population was high-school females
because they are likely to be more affected by this type of advertising. To represent this
population, a sample of 30 females students at Austin High, including at least five from
each grade level, was generated. Although this was a well-rounded sample, it may not
have been representative of all high school girls because it was taken from just one
school in one geographic region of Austin.
The sampling procedure required the sample of 30 students to be divided into
three groups that received three separate treatments. One group looked at healthy
advertisements, one looked at unhealthy advertisements, and the control group looked at
the original magazine, which featured a variation of many types of advertisements. In
order to reduce confounding variables, each group looked at a version of the same
magazine, the only difference was that for the first two groups, the original 18
advertisements were replaced with 18 new ones that were either healthy or unhealthy,
while the control magazine remained unchanged. To reduce bias, no mention was made
of paying attention to the advertisements prior to the experiment. Subjects were simply
asked them to flip through the magazine, and to look on every page. For each trial, a

timer was set for two minutes. Once time expired, subjects were asked to describe as
many products as they saw being advertised; either the brand of the product, or just the
item itself, like Snickers or running shoes. Once they finished describing the
products they could remember, the number of ads they recalled was recorded.
Once all the data was collected, the next conceptual theme of statistics, exploring
data, was applied. To understand the behavior of the data, the average number of
advertisements that each group memorized was calculated. The control group memorized
an average of 2.4 ads, the healthy group memorized an average of 1.6 ads, and the
unhealthy group memorized an average of 4.7.
After obtaining the means for each group, statistical inference was used to test the
null hypothesis. Since the goal of this experiment was to compare the means from three
samples, a one-way ANOVA test was implemented. An ANOVA test uses the values of
the sum of squares, the degrees of freedom, the mean of squares and both the f-statistic
and critical value in order to calculate a p-value. Using this method instead of running
multiple t-tests is more reliable since running multiple t-tests can often increase the
probability of a type I error. The first step in running an ANOVA is to state the null and
alternative hypothesis. For this experiment, the null hypothesis was that the mean number
of advertisements recalled is the same across all three groups. The alternative is that at
least one group has a mean number of ads recalled that is different from the others. Next,
the assumptions that all observations are independent of one another and randomly
selected from the population they represent, and that the population at each factor level is
approximately normal, and that the variances for each factor level are approximately
equal to one another were checked and verified. After the assumptions were verified, an

ANOVA test was run. For this experiment, the calculated p-value turned out to be .
0000343, the f-value statistic was 14.91, and the f-critical value was 2.51. Since the
calculated f-statistic was greater than the f-critical value, the null hypothesis was rejected,
suggesting evidence that at least one of the groups has a mean number of ads recalled that
is different from the others. In order to determine where this difference lies, a post-hoc
was run.
A Bonferroni post-hoc analysis uses t-tests to compare each possible pair of
groups in a data set. The p-value of each pair of groups is compared to the calculated
significance level of .01667, which determines whether or not there is a significant
difference between the two groups. After the post-hoc test was run for this experiment,
there were two significant p-values. The p-value for the control and unhealthy group
comparison was .00211, and the p-value for the unhealthy and healthy group comparison
was .0000964.
In conclusion, this post-hoc comparison shows that the mean number of
advertisements remembered by the group that looked at unhealthy advertisements was
significantly higher than the mean of both of the other two groups, especially the
unhealthy group.
After completing my experiment and analysis, I am satisfied with how I executed
each step during the entire process. It was interesting to watch people spend time flipping
through a magazine, look on every page and then only be able to recall one or two ads
after two minutes. Although I ended up rejecting the null hypothesis with statistically
significant evidence, I think it would be interesting to try this experiment again, after

making some adjustments and see if I get a similar outcome. If I were to repeat this
experiment again, I would definitely increase my sample size in order to run more trials,
as well as ensure that every subject is allowed to do the experiment in a calm
environment to make sure they dont get distracted.
In my inquiry pitch, I discussed how advertising could be a factor in the rise of
teen obesity and declining health. I believe that the statistical analysis behind my
experiment backs up this theory. Although it is not the main cause of health problems, it
could definitely be a factor. Teens are surrounded by these types of ads everyday, and
according to the results to my experiment, they are remembering these ads above other
types of ads. This abundance of advertising for unhealthy products could be the reason
for why many teens might be more tempted to buy a Snickers bar and than a bag of
almonds, or a piece of fruit.

Work Cited
Nauert, Rick. "Why People Respond to Fitness, Fashion Magazines." Ohio State
University.15 Mar. 2011. PsychCentral. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Gurin, Crystal. "Total US Ad Spending to See Largest Increase Since 2004." eMarketer.
2 Jul. 2014. Listrak. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.