AIDA Model

The AIDA sequence emerged from turn-of-the-century advertising theory. Lewis was an important contributor, but the conventional 1898 attribution rests heavily on a 1925 secondary account and has been challenged by later primary-source research. The diagnostic value is locating which stage is leaking.

In practice

• A recruitment campaign gets attention and interest, and loses candidates at the application form: nine pages, no save button.
• A charity's appeal moves people to want to give and never says how, so desire arrives and action does not.

Possible explanations

The sequence formalises the funnel a seller observes, with each stage naming a place where the prospect drops out. Another explanation for its survival is practical: it gives copywriters a checklist.

In its favour

The stages map onto what modern advertising actually measures, where attention, interest and action are counted separately, and a campaign strong at one stage and weak at another is a real and common failure.

Against it

Persuasion is not reliably sequential: people often act first and form attitudes afterwards, as self-perception research shows. The model has never been tested as a causal chain, and even its attribution is disputed.

Standing

The conventional 1898 attribution to Lewis is disputed; the sequence emerged from turn-of-the-century advertising theory.

Further reading

Wikipedia

Subject

Communication & Media

Essay

Theories of what stands between an event and its audience