Attention and comprehension of road safety advertisements with different textual designs in Peruvian millennials and centennials

Abstract

Background. The massiveness of content forces social ads to explore different dimensions' potential to improve their designs, like textual designs. Nevertheless, to better understand the effectiveness of these designs in changing public decision-making, biometric strategies must be included to study their ability to catch attention and communicate a message. This paper examines the effect of an advertisement's textual design on message communication. 

Methods. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted to assess the visual attention of 90 young Peruvians on three road safety ads (n1, n2, n3) with different text designs in the main text (background and font colour): transparent background with black letters, white background with black letters, and yellow background with white letters. Visual attention metrics of the ad's image and text were compared. A survey provided information on perceived comprehension and recall of the ads' content. 

Results. Only the yellow background design showed significant differences from the transparent one, with improved visual attention to the main text. However, the main text's attention had an inverse correlation with recall and comprehension, unlike attention to the introductory text. 

Conclusions. A yellow background design can Improve the visual attention on an ad’s textual element. However, the correct textual element must be identified and enhanced to achieve efficient social ads.