Advertising 1998 Abstracts
Advertising Division
Research
Effectiveness of Negative Political Advertising • Won Ho Chang, Jaejin Park and Sung Wook Shim, Missouri-Columbia • Throughout history politicians have used various methods, such as whistle-stop speeches, political advertising and political rallies, to achieve their primary goal, the winning of votes. However, over the years, politicians have found that it is most advantageous to use political advertising to persuade voters. And a significant trend in today’s political advertising is the increasing use of negative political advertising. Why do political practitioners increasingly use negative political advertising? Do they think negative ads are the most effective way to persuade voters in a short period of time in order to win an election?
Information Processing of Web Advertising: Modified Elaboration Likelihood Model • Chang-Hoan Cho, Texas-Austin • This paper develops Modified Elaboration Likelihood Model to understand how people process advertising on the Internet. An empirical study verifies this model by examining several variables influencing voluntary exposure to banner ads; e.g., level of product involvement, the size of a banner ad, relevancy between the content of a vehicle and the product category of a banner ad, attitude toward the vehicle, and overall attitude toward Web advertising. The findings document significant relationships between these variables and voluntary exposure to banner ads and support the hypothesized model.
Comparing Cinema Versus In-Home Viewing Contexts in Audience Experiences and Interpretations of Brands in Movies • Denise E. DeLorme, Georgia • This qualitative study sought further phenomenological understanding of how brand placement is interpreted within the everyday lived experience of the movie audience. Specifically, this paper compares cinema versus in-home viewing contexts in audience experiences and interpretations of brands in movies. Data collection involved eight focus groups and thirty in-depth interviews with older, younger, frequent, and infrequent non-college moviegoers. Constant comparative analysis uncovered six differences and two similarities regarding viewing contexts.
The Birth of Adwatches: Political Advertising Becomes Front-page News • Jennifer Greer, Nevada-Reno • Political advertising, once virtually ignored by the newspapers, became the subject of journalists’ attention following a perceived rash of “dirty” campaign commercials in the 1988 presidential race. A brigade of “ad cops” was deputized to police false and misleading statements contained in ads. The development of adwatches is reviewed in a historical context of political advertising and journalistic coverage. Emerging research on adwatches is detailed to shed light on this new form of political coverage.
A New Taxonomy with Cultural Reflection for Comparative Advertising Styles • Kazumi Hasegawa, North Dakota • This paper proposes a new taxonomy for comparative advertising styles. The significant attribute is that the model can provide a framework for both intercultural and international analyses/evaluations of various comparative advertising communication styles. It is unique because the new model: (1) recognized the categories that have not been conceptualized previously, and (2) not only provides a basic function of taxonomy which is useful for categorization but also adds an intercultural approach to the form.
A Longitudinal Study of Characteristics and Use of Advertorials in Magazines and Newspapers • Kuen Hee Ju-Pak and Wei-Min Lai, California State University-Fullerton • For the years 1992 to 1995, a total of 447 advertorials were identified from nine magazines and three national newspapers and then content analyzed. The study was intended to build on previous work on advertorial advertising by assessing current trends in advertorial usage and analyzing executional characteristics of advertorials. Findings suggest a notable drop in advertorial use among magazines, with newspapers differing from magazine in usage as well as executional characteristics.
Political Parties and Changes in Taiwanese Electronic Media in the 1990s • Wei-Kuo Lin, Wisconsin-Madison • The study is to present an overall picture of changes in relationships between Taiwanese media and political parties during a pursuit of democracy in the 1990s. Three research questions regarding the long-term effects of the media on an emerging democracy at a macroscopic level have been answered. It applies a methodological combination of historical analysis, theoretical criticism, and in-depth interviewing. This study not only provides exploratory findings on the role of mass media interacting with democratic development, but also, more importantly, bridges these findings to essential theories which enable future researchers to follow.
Differential Effects of Self-assessed Consumer Knowledge and Objective Consumer Knowledge on Responses to Print Ads for Technical Products • Robert Meeds, Kansas State University • The roles of two constructs of consumer knowledge, self-assessed product knowledge and objective product knowledge, are examined in an experiment in which consumers read ads for high-tech products containing varying levels of technical language. Self-assessed knowledge was a better predictor of participants’ cognitive responses and general attitudinal evaluations. Objective knowledge, on the other hand, was a better predictor of ratings of specific product attributes. These differential results are considered with respect to the role of product advertising in consumer information search strategies.
A Content Analysis of Banner Advertisements: Potential Motivating Features • Blessie Miranda, California State University-Fullerton • This study examines, through content analysis, the common content, design, and context features of 200 Web banner advertisements among 50 top web sites ranked by ad revenues. The results indicated that most banner ad designs feature characteristics similar to ads designed for traditional media, as well as unique characteristics of advertising in the new Internet medium. The implications could help advertisers improve their banner design decisions. Knowing the common features could help facilitate future studies of what motivates user click-through behavior.
Adver-Thai-sing Standardization: Can a U.S. Study of Sex Role Portrayals Transcend Cultural Boundaries? • Chompunuch Punyapiroje, Mariea Grubbs Hoy, Margaret Morrison, Tennessee • We report the results of a study conducted among women in Thailand which investigated the influence of three female role portrayals (traditional, superwoman and egalitarian) and women’s gender ideology on advertising effectiveness. We examine two questions: (1) Are research methods and assumptions about consumer behavior that are widely accepted in the U.S. appropriate for other cultures?; (2) If a study yields certain findings in the U.S., are these findings transferable to a Pacific Rim nation?
Assessing Advertising Effectiveness: A Comparison of Two Real-time Measures of Ad Liking • Fuyuan Shen, South Dakota • This paper uses a quasi-experimental approach to examine two real-time measures of ad liking and their relationships with delayed consumer responses such as delayed ad liking, recall and recognition of brand names. The two real-time measures were mean liking and peak liking, which were collected on a moment-to-moment basis while subjects were viewing the television commercials. The delayed responses were collected more than 24 hours after respondents viewed the ads in natural environments.
Placing Alcohol Warnings Before, During, and After TV Beer Ads: Effects on Recall, Knowledge, and Responses to the Ads and the Warnings • Michael D. Slater, Donna Rouner, David Karan, Kevin Murphy and Frederick Beauvais, Colorado State University • This experiment compares the effects of warnings placed before, during or after television beer advertisement. Findings suggest that warnings can increase knowledge relative to the control condition, especially for viewers who consumer relatively more alcohol, and also decrease positive responses to beer advertisements. Warning placement also influences amount of responses to ads. Earlier findings regarding effects of warning topic and quantitative information in the warnings were replicated.
Hard Liquor Advertising on Television: What Do Americans Know About It and Do They Care? • Esther Thorson, Michael Antecol, Missouri and Charles Atkin, Michigan State University • In 1996, the distilled spirits industry discarded their long-held voluntary ban from television advertising. Although their commercials are not currently being accepted by the networks, they are advertising on local television and on cable. The primary purpose of the national telephone survey reported here was to determine whether Americans knew that liquor advertising was now appearing on television, and what, if anything, they thought the impact would be on themselves, on problem drinkers, and on teens and children.
A Cross-cultural Comparison of the Effects of Source Credibility on Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions • Kak Yoon, Washington State University; Choong Hyun Kim, Sogang University and Min-Sun Kim, Hawaii-Manoa • This paper investigated: 1) whether the dimensionality of source credibility is applicable to Koreans; 2) which dimension exerted more influence on dependent variables. Findings suggest that the dimensionality of source credibility was remarkably similar between the two samples. The influence of three source credibility dimensions varied by dependent variables. Attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness were equally important to purchase intentions. All three dimensions affected involvement with the ad message. Only trustworthiness had a significant impact on attitude toward the brand and brand beliefs.
Special Topics
The Impacts of Emotion Elicited by Political Advertising on Candidate Evaluation • Chingching Chang, National Chengchi University • Employing an experiment, this study showed that attacking or promoting itself did not contribute significantly to variation of candidate evaluation beyond what could be explained by ad-evoked emotional responses. This study also examines the role of ad attitude. Integrating all the findings, this study proposes a model that will help understand the process of how positive and negative political advertising may influence candidate evaluation. Emotion theory is applied to explain the process.
Perceptions of Japanese Advertising: A Q-Methodological Study of Advertising Practitioners in Japan • Fritz Cropp, Missouri • Q-methodology was used to isolate the perceptions of advertising professionals in Japan. Three distinct types of advertising professional emerged: The Establishment Types sees minor changes but not dramatic changes precipitated by difficult economic times. The Emigrant Type believes that cultural factors preclude major change in Japan’s advertising climate. The Change Agent Type foresees dramatic change in adverting in Japan, precipitated by difficult economic times and fierce competition. Conclusions and implications of these findings are discussed.
Does it Pay to Have a Web Site? Assessing the Value of URLs in Print Advertising for Non-Technology Products • Deborah A. Procopio, North Carolina • Many businesses today feel pressure to be online but see no real value in maintaining a web site. However, the presence of a URL in a traditional print advertisement may add value. This study found no evidence to support the hypothesis that a web site in a print advertisement for a non-technology product will directly increase brand value. However, large companies (regardless of technological level of product) without a web presence in future may be risking customer relationships. Those companies may also be perceived as being less current.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Advertising: It’s Time for a New Look • Don Umphrey, Southern Methodist University • New insights are still being gained from cognitive dissonance theory, introduced 41 years ago. In advertising, however, usage of the theory has been practically non-existent for the past two decades. This is despite research in the mod-1980s linking the theory with the concept of selective exposure. This paper reviews cognitive dissonance theory from pertinent fields and shows how it might be applied by advertising research in the future.
PF&R
Preparing Students for Real-world Ethical Dilemmas: A Stakeholder Approach • Anne Cunningham and Eric Haley, Tennessee • Advertising educators often ignore complaints that the advertising industry is devoid of all morals. Harrison (1990), for example, found that only 25% of colleges or universities offer a course devoted to communications ethics; those schools that offer a course generally teach it from a journalism perspective. Based on a review of the literature and additional preliminary research, this paper argues for a more business-oriented approach to teaching advertising ethics.
Codes of Conduct: Public Images and Silent Voices • Jean Grow vonDorn, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper looks at the evolution of codes of conducts as they relate to manufacturing policies, brand imaging and youthful consumer responses to these issues. I argue that young consumers are generally ignored by activists who tend to focus on regulation. Yet, these consumers could provide an additional avenue of activism. By consciously engaging young consumers, a vast potential for successful activism abides within the grasp of activists.
The American Way to Menstruate: Feminine Hygiene Advertising and Adolescent Girls • Debra Merskin, Oregon • In American life, menstruation has been socially constructed as a problem•something shameful and dirty. This study explores the content of feminine hygiene advertising that targets pre-adolescent girls in Seventeen and Teen magazines. The findings suggest that not only do the ads carry messages from the past about cleanliness based on societal taboos, but also contribute to girls’ feelings about their bodies in preparation for participation in American consumer culture.
Teaching
Advertising Educators’ Textbook Adoption Practices • Louisa Ha, The Gallup Organization • This article reports a national survey of advertising educators that examined their advertising textbook adoption practices as well as the importance of ancillary materials as desirable attributes of textbooks. Textbooks were used by most of the respondents. Although content is a very important adoption criterion in all courses, in courses that provided ancillary materials such as Introduction to Advertising, the availability of multimedia teaching aids becomes an important criterion and possibly the major source of high satisfaction among the adopters.
Integrating Hypermedia Instruction into an Advertising Communications Graphics Classroom • Stacy James and Sydney Brown, Nebraska-Lincoln • Students and faculty of advertising and mass communications programs are wanting to learn more about the mechanics, and teaching and learning opportunities offered by the World Wide Web. This paper explores some of the pedagogical and theoretical issues with the content and delivery of hypermedia instruction in an advertising communications graphics elective laboratory course, and examines some of the benefits of and problems with integrating hypermedia instruction into the class, from the perspectives of the students and the instructor.
Identifying Critical Teamwork Tools: One Way to Strike a Balance Between Team Training and Course Content • Brett Robbs and Larry Weisberg, Colorado-Boulder • Teamwork is playing an increasingly important role in business and the classroom. Educators need to find ways to include team training in courses without sacrificing other content. This paper addresses that issue. The literature on collaborative learning is reviewed to provide a pedagogical framework. The paper then describes teamwork tools presented to graduate students at a required weekend seminar. The journals kept during a subsequent team project were analyzed to identify the tools students found most essential.
Advertising Ethics and Pedagogy: Findings from the 1995 Advertising Division Membership Survey • Elizabeth M. Tucker, Texas-Austin and Daniel A. Stout, Brigham Young University • The moral development of advertising educators is an important component in understanding the nature of advertising ethics as the topic is conveyed in the classroom. This article describes the results of a survey that explored how advertising educators define and think about ethics. It examines the theoretical foundations of moral development in relation to teaching advertising ethics and provides a summary describing advertising educators’ ideas about the nature of ethics.
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