Do not sound like an announcer. The emphasis strategy in commercials
研究广告中不同强调策略（无强调、适度低、适度高、过度强调）对听众认知加工的影响，发现适度强调比无强调和过度强调更能提升广告效果。
Abstract Most consumers do not like the speech style that announcers use in marketing messages. The main reason is an exaggerated way of speaking with a strong emphasis. Indeed, announcers tend to stress too many words in commercials, producing an overly emphatic speech style, which sounds choppy and stuttering. This study analyzes how different strategies of emphasizing words in commercials affect the listeners' cognitive processing. Four different strategies (no emphasis, moderate‐low, moderate‐high, and over‐emphasis) were applied to 16 commercials. Participants ( N = 52) had their physiological response (heart rate and skin conductance) measured during ad presentation. Afterward they assessed the commercials' effectiveness and adequacy and performed an immediate recall and a recognition test. The results indicated that the commercials presenting a moderate emphasis (low and high) improved the listeners' cognitive processing compared to messages with no emphasis strategy and the standard industry practice of using over‐emphasis.