Theory of memorable messages

Abstract This essay forward the theory of memorable messages (ToMM), a framework useful for examining the messages that individuals remember for long periods of time (i.e., memorable messages) and their influence on identities, beliefs, and behaviors. The ToMM empowers researchers to ask how messages deemed unhelpful, harmful, or incomplete (e.g., absent) can be disrupted, or meaningfully transformed, to make room for new messages and meanings. To this aim, we first overview 40 years of atheoretical memorable messages scholarship, before detailing recent advancements in the ToMM. Next, we offer warrants for five propositions of the ToMM, aligning with metatheoretical assumptions for an interpretive approach to memorable messages scholarship. Lastly, we discuss future directions for ToMM scholarship, including opportunities to advance qualitative approaches to communication research and approach the ToMM from alternative metatheoretical perspectives.