The message is often considered as the most vital part in the communication process. The “message is the thought, idea, image, or other information that the advertiser wishes to convey to the targeted audience“. How an advertising message is presented is critically important in determining its effectiveness. Brand or promotion managers must focus on what will be the message content, how this information will be structured for communication and what kind of message appeal would be appropriate.

Message structure refers to how the element of a message are organized .Extensive research has been conducted to understand how the message structure influences its effectiveness and includes “message sidedness, refutation, order of presentation, conclusion drawing and verbal versus visual message characteristics.

A message can be either one-sided or two sided. A one-sided message mentions only benefit or positive attributes of the product or service. For example advertisements of Maruti 800 only address its advantage and don’t mention any of its weakness. If the audience is preferably predisposed, or if it is not likely to hear an opposing argument, then a one sided message appears to be most effective. A two sided message highlights both the strengths and weaknesses.

If the audience is hostile, critical and well educated then it is likely to hear opposing claims about the product or service. A two sided message is hugely successful in a market of high competition where every player claims its superiority. In such cases an advertisement can be hugely effective and can claim credibility by disclaiming superiority of some features over other competitors, just as Khaitan fan claimed that they might be better than others in every way but they are more expensive than them. This strategy helps provide consumers with “counter argument “to dilute any attacks by competing brands.

Two sided are often seen in case of comparative advertising where the name of one or more competitors are openly mentioned for the purpose of claiming overall superiority or superiority on selective attribute basis. To enhance credibility, the advertiser usually mentions an independent research as the supplier of comparison data.

One-sided messages tend to confirm what the audience already believe about the brand and therefore consumers generate cognitive responses in the form of support arguments which reinforce their initial position. When the audiences are not preferably predisposed, a two sided message is more effective because it acknowledges their initial position and the consumers that view the advertiser as more honest and credible. That minimizes the audience’s use of counter-arguments as the advertiser is perceived as being trustworthy leading to better acceptability of the advertiser’s message.

Refutation appeals in an advertising message are considered as a special type of two sided message. The advertisers first presents both strong and weak points about the product or service and then the views concerning the weaknesses.

This approach is particularly useful when the advertiser wishes to inculcate favorable consumer attitudes toward the product or the firm. The ad is aimed to build resistance in the consumer mind against competitor attacks or criticism. According to many, reputational ads led consumers to generate more support arguments than ads with only supportive information.