Fennell, Geraldine, Saegert, Joel and Gilbride, Tim (2002), “Responding to Wants: Do Ad Effects Studies Measure the Right People?” In J. Edell and R.C. Goodstein (Eds), Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology. Washington, D.C.: Society for Consumer Psychology (Division 23), American Psychological Association, p. 142-154.”

A review of recently published academic studies of ad effects reveals that authors did not report qualifying subjects as prospects for the product category used in the research and did not include measures to permit examining findings by prospects and nonprospects. The marketing theoretic implications for advertising
research of the concept of prospect are discussed.