System I Processing

Every day as we go about our purchase activities and simply carry on with our lives, we are exposed to hundreds of advertisements and promotions. Hence, we absorb and store a huge amount of data and images in a way that is beyond our conscious awareness or control. While this information is not highly processed, it is argued that with repeated exposure, certain connections and associations will be made. Consistent with System I processing, consumers who are exposed to advertising under low involvement conditions (i.e., one in which the consumer has little or no motivation to process or learn the material) are typically persuaded to purchase through a “peripheral” route to attitude change, which occurs NOT because the individual has carefully considered the pros and cons of an issue or a product purchase, but rather because the object is associated with positive or negative cues (e.g., they liked the music contained in the advertisement, possibly they liked the celebrity associated with the brand, or even the images shown in the advertisement).