Advertising 2001 Abstracts
Advertising Division
RESEARCH
Click Here to Personalize a Friend of Barbie Doll: Metaphors and Promotional Appeals in Online Advertisements for Children • Debashis Aikat, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Based on theories related to metaphors in advertisements, cognitive comprehension by children, promotional appeals, and presentation techniques, the research for this study comprised a content analysis of 1,063 online banner advertisements with reference to use of metaphors, promotional appeals, promotional content and selling techniques. This paper argues that the impact and content of the Internet as a new advertising medium are distinctly different from traditional characteristics of television and print.
How Ads Work: Identifying Psychological Mechanisms that Make Emotional and Rational Appeals Successful • Cynthia M. Frisby, University of Missouri • An experiment was conducted to determine if two personality variables might be used to describe and explain individual differences in attraction to advertising appeals. Data collected in the study suggests that people concerned with creating and/or maintaining a particular image like advertising copy that focuses on image and physical appearance. Conversely, data revealed that people driven by inner values, attitudes, and feelings, prefer advertisements that provide information about a product’s quality.
Selling the Estate: An Analysis of Advertising Slogans for News Organizations • Salma I. Ghanem and Jacqueline S. Nirenberg, University of Texas-Pan American • This study explores the use of slogans in promoting news. It not only provides benchmark data from which to track changes in the use of slogans, but also a snapshot of the current state of slogans in the news business. News organizations scored low on brand identification, use of literary techniques, and hard-sell messages. While there was frequent use of precise messages, there was also a surprisingly high incidence of superlatives.
Effectiveness of Humorous versus Non-Humorous Commercials in Happy versus San Program Environments • Manish Gupta, Ginger Park, Christie Vanover and Lori Bergen, Kansas State University • A 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted to examine effects of mood congruency and mood intensity on effectiveness of humorous and non-humorous commercials in happy and sad program environments using dependent variables of recall, likeability and purchase intent. Humorous commercials performed better than non-humorous commercials in recall and attitude toward the ad. Non-humorous commercials performed better on attitude toward the brand and purchase intent.
The Impact of Cultural Distance and Linguistic Difference on Standardization of Global Corporate Communications through the World Wide Web: A Content Analysis of the US Global Brands’ International Web Pages • Kyoo-Hoon Han and Glen T. Cameron, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study attempts to examine how cultural distance and linguistic difference are associated with global brands’ corporate communications for foreign markets through their international Web pages. A total of 25 US global brands were sampled and their US and international Web pages for the selected four countries • the UK, France, Hong Kong, and South Korea • were analyzed. The results indicate that greater cultural distance between the countries leads to more differences in information cues and structural features between the US global brands’ US Web page and the respective international Web pages.
Wait! Why is it not Moving? Attractive and Distractive Ocular Responses to Web Ads • Nokon Heo, S. Shyam Sundar and Smita Chaturvedi, Penn State University • Participants (N = 46) in a 2x2x2 within-participants factorial experiment manipulating animation (animated, static), position (top, bottom), and product-involvement (high, low) of banner ads were exposed to eight online news pages. Their ocular responses (i.e., horizontal and vertical eye movements) were measures during their browsing. Results indicate that static ads and top ads tend to distract from news reading, and it takes a high-involvement product to attract visual attention toward animated and bottom ads.
Online Newspapers: A Content Analysis of Ad Formats and Rates • Joe Bob Hester, Texas Tech University • A content analysis of online rate information for the newspaper Web sites associated with the Top 50 largest U.S. Newspapers revealed that these sites offer few advertising options. On average, CPM impressions advertising rates for full banners range widely and are more expensive than on other sites; however, steep discounts are available. The findings suggest that as an industry, online newspapers have failed to agree on the value of their product.
Applying Expectancy-Value Theory to the Consumer’s Search for a Restaurant • E. Dennis Hinde, South Dakota State University • This paper compares the role of paid advertising for restaurants and that of informal, word-of-mouth communications on the same subject. It is a test of expectancy-value theory. Expectancy is defined as consumer beliefs about various media choices. Value is the worth a person attaches to the outcome of the search for a product. The instrument for this research was a telephone survey of 199 restaurant patrons.
Characteristics of Shoppers: Television; Catalog/Direct Mail/Department Store; Internet Shoppers • Mira Lee, University of Minnesota • The ability of marketers and advertisers to develop successful marketing and advertising strategies depends on an understanding of shoppers’ characteristics. In this paper, we discussed differences of demographic, psychological, motivational, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics between shoppers and non-shoppers of three different types: television, catalog/direct mail/department store, and Internet shopper. The results indicated that each type of shopper has some unique characteristics, as well as similar characteristics across all three types of shoppers.
The Engine’s in the Front, But its Heart’s in the Same Place: A Study of the Use of Nostalgia in Advertising • Oren Meyers, University of Pennsylvania • Through the incorporation of critical studies of advertising and collective memory theory the paper suggests that advertising refers to the past through the construction of commodities as “memory sites.” The study then probes this assumption by focusing on three advertising campaigns that link consumers to their existing or invented shared pasts. Finally the study relates its findings to the current emphasis of American advertisers and marketers on targeting and segmenting strategies.
Influence of Film Critic Quotations in Motion Picture Advertising on Audience Attitudes • Michael A. Mitrook and Trenton C. Seltzer, University of Central Florida • In this study the value of film critic quotations is being questioned. Respondents were shown print advertisements for a hypothetical film in which two variables were manipulated: credibility of the critics (high, low, or mixed), and valence of the original raw quotations (positive or negative) from which the quotes were excised. Results show participants in the mixed critic credibility condition assessed attendance likelihood and purchase intention significantly higher than participants in the low critic credibility condition.
The Role Of Advertisements and Performance or Learning Goals In Product Selection Decisions • Catherine Ilse Pfeifer, University of Kansas and Jacqueline Hitchon, University of Wisconsin Madison • This is the first study to examine the effects of goal-oriented media messages on the selection of products by consumers and to apply psychological goal theory to mass communication. This experiment crossed learning or performance goals with the subjects’ perceived task abilities. They then viewed ads and selected a product (relationship seminar) with either a performance, learning, or humiliation-avoidance goal. Results mostly showed that subjects made their selections in alignment with the previously observed goal.
Seniors’ Perceptions Of Seniors In Magazine Advertisements: A Q Analysis • Tom Robinson, Southern Methodist University, Mark Popovich, Robert Gustafson, and Cliff Fraser, Ball State University • These days the “credo in advertising is that 1849 rules” (Taylor, 1995, p.40). This market segment is attractive to marketers because it represents a large number of individuals who are making changes, trying new products, and spending their money. Mike Neavill, director of corporate advertising for AT&T explains: Advertisers identity a target audience they believe serve as the best prospect for the products or services they have to sell.
Effects of Issue Ads on Candidate Evaluation and Voting Preference: Does Sponsorship Matter? • Fuyuan Shen, Pennsylvania State University and H. Denis Wu, Louisiana State University • This empirical study assessed the effects of attack and advocacy issue ads on candidate evaluations and voting preference in a hypothetical two-way, state senate race. It also examined the effects of sponsorship of ads on candidate evaluations and voting preferences. Subjects were exposed to either attack or advocacy print ads sponsored by either candidates or PACs/interest groups. Results indicated that while attack ads have significant effects on candidate evaluation and voting preference, advocacy political ads do not generate significant impact on subjects.
Advertising Gets Entertaining: A Case Study of Soap Advertisements in The 1930s • Juliann Sivulka, University of South Carolina • This case study analyzes soap advertisements during the 1930s. To create copy and illustrations that would appeal to American audience, admakers tried to more closely associate entertainment value with the product to gain attention. Admakers developed new ads forms that incorporated emotive appeals and such formulaic elements as dramatic photographs, motion picture themes, the comics, as well as daytime soap operas. The success of advertising lay in its ability to entertain, as well as inform and persuade.
Taking It Outside In Kansas: Effects Of An Integrated Communications Health Campaign And Its Echo • Esther Thorson and Doyle Yoon, University of Missouri • Take It Outside (TIO) is a multimedia integrated communications campaign designed and evaluated from the point of view of a specific theoretical stance. The topic of the campaign is second hand or environmental tobacco smoke. The goals of the campaign were to increase the number of people who report understanding the harmful effects of second hand smoke, and to reduce the number of smokers who smoke around others, particularly children.
The Role Of Aad As Mediator In The Effects Of Child And Adult Voiceovers In A Children’s Health Campaign • Esther Thorson and Doyle Yoon, University of Missouri • Attempts were made in this study to examine the effect of child voiceover on adults’ beliefs and behavioral changes, and mediating effects of Aad the dependent variables in a children’s health campaign. Results show that both child and adult voiceovers have an impact on Aad beliefs. In addition, child voiceovers have an impact on interpersonal communication, and adult voiceovers affect behaviors. However, Aad mediated those impacts. Implication of this result is discussed.
Do Free Offers Really Work: A College Student’s Experimental Survey Study • Alex Wang, University of Texas at Austin • This study examined the strength of the relationship between the willingness to accept the free offers online and the average involvement regarding three product categories: entertainment, clothing and healthcare. The findings suggested respondents would not accept free offers in the high-involvement product categories, while they would accept free offers in the low-involvement product categories. Implications for advertisers and the direction of future research were also presented.
An Exploratory Study: The Information Content of Deceptive Infomercials • Jan LeBlanc Wicks and Ron Warren, University of Arkansas • The information content of nine infomercials (or 16.98% of the 53 infomercials) that were identified as deceptive by the Federal Trade Commission is compared to non-deceptive infomercials studied in previous research using the Resnik and Stern (1977) approach. The deceptive infomercials averaged 7.66 information cues while the non-deceptive infomercials averaged 5.8 cues (Tom 1995/1996; Elliott & Lockard 1996). Deceptive infomercials appear more likely to present misleading product safety information and research results in order to make a sale.
Optimal Aad-Ab-PI Measures in the Journal of Advertising: 1991 through 2000 • ChongMoo Woo, University of Florida • The first objective of this study is to assess the items, scales, source, authors, reliability, and frequency of single-item scales and multi-item scales involving Aad-Ab-PI measures in the 1990s journal of advertising. The second objective is to use the aggregated Aad-Ab-PI measures to investigate the robustness of a mediation hypothesis and to assess the strength of specific paths in the model.
SPECIAL TOPICS
Advertising and the consumer movement of the 1960s and 70s • Sue Westcott Alessandri, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Mary Alice Shaver, Michigan State University • no abstract
Processing Ads in a Competitive Context • Chingching Chang, National Chengchi University • This study documents the interference from the ads of competing brands in the viewing context on evaluations of target ads/brands. It also shows that for the target brand promoting a relatively unique attribute is more effective than promoting a shared attribute. It further explains that consumers cope with persuasive messages by making attributions. These attributional thoughts not only affect their ad evaluations, but also impact brand evaluations via influence on ad liking and ad persuasiveness.
Actions Not Words: What The Handling Of Cross-Border Advertising Disputes Tells Us About The Interests Shaping Advertising In The European Union • Anne Cunningham, Louisiana State University • Working within the critical paradigm, this study seeks to identity the ideology supported by officials most involved in shaping European advertising self-regulation. As Europe moves toward unification, the advertising industry and its regulators have been charged with devising a system to handle international disputes. There can be little doubt that conflicts do and will continue to arise in the international transmission of advertising; but these are only surface-level conflicts.
Changing Direction: Assessing Student Thoughts and Feelings About a New Program in Strategic Communication • Cynthia M. Frisby, Bryan H. Reber, and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri School of Journalism • A number of recent studies have examined integration of advertising and public relations but none reports what students think. Over three semesters students in an Introduction to Strategic Communication course were asked to assess an integrated public relations and advertising curriculum. Students supported integration and viewed a focus on new technology, having a toolkit of integrated communication methods, and understanding the basics of relationship building as paramount.
Making the Invisible Visible Through Media Literacy: The Pinesol Lady and the Ghost of Aunt Jemima • Lorraine Fuller, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff • Although many of the negative and stereotypical portrayals of Blacks in advertising have faded into oblivion, some still find their way into television commercials. These portrayals are of concern because they can have an impact on others’ social construction of reality about blacks. For years, the “happy mammy” symbol was used to market Aunt Jemima pancakes. The image came to an end in 1989 when the Quaker Oats company gave Aunt Jemima a new more modern look.
“Others” in the Era of Multiculturalism: An Examination of Interweaving Portrayals of Gender, Race, and Age in TV Commercials • Jongbae Hong, University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale • This study interrogated the ways in which complex gender, race and age relations are depicted in TV commercials. By examining the systematic ways that advertising depicts complex and interdependent relations between gender, race and age, this study attempted to find the ways by which TV commercials marginalize cultural “others” such as women, minorities, and the aged. The findings of this study showed that the relations between gender and race are heavily influenced by age, and that Euro-centric perspective prevails in advertising industry.
Re-inventing ‘Tricky Dick’: The selling of Richard M. Nixon in 1968 • Melissa McElroy, University of Alabama • In his race for the American presidency in 1968, Richard Nixon became one of the first presidential candidates to put together a group of people solely charged with changing his public image through the medium of television. This paper analyzes four of Nixon’s television commercials from that race using concepts related to the “star system” and to the idea of repositioning the candidate in the minds of the American public.
Advertisers Got Game: Examining Effectiveness of Product Placements in New Media • Michelle R. Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • no abstract
A Semiotic Exegesis Of World Wide Web Advertising: The Search For A Contextual Understanding Of Digital Design • William Pritchard, Elizabethtown College • Via a semiotic reading of 100 Web advertisements, this study composes a culturally astute understanding of on-line advertising. Web advertisements are analyzed within, and against, the larger cultures of digital and traditional representation. Findings point to the inherent limitations of on-line design in comparison to traditional print design, and present the workings of a new culture of advertising defined by a universal equity among large and small advertisers and a palatable straying from traditional professional advertising codes.
Balance Theory and Advertising: A History, Review and Critical Perspective • Don Umphrey, University of Texas-Austin • Heider’s Balance Theory continues to have relevancy for advertising researchers today, even though has been more than 50 years since it was first introduced. This paper traces the roots of the theory and distinguishes it from other cognitive consistency theories. Further, the paper demonstrates correct and incorrect uses of the theory in advertising and in communication theory with advertising implications. Finally, recommendations are made as to how the theory might be used to probe advertising-related issues in the future.
TEACHING
Preparing the entry-level advertising portfolio: Pointing creative students in the right direction • Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas • A national survey of educators in advertising creative classes focused on what makes a good portfolio in terms of concept and presentation. The questions asked academics mirrored those asked of a national survey of creative directors in Slayden, Broyles, and Kendrick (1998). Results showed that academics and creative directors generally agreed on content and approaches, although academics were more likely to accept logos for copywriters and radio/TV for art directors than were professionals.
Rating Creativity: A Comparison of Judgments of Advertising Professionals and Educators • Alisa White Coleman, University of Texas -Arlington, Bruce L. Smith, Southwest Texas State University and Fuyuan Shen University of South Dakota • Advertising educators prepare students for jobs in the advertising industry. This paper examined one aspect of the industry-creativity-to determine the extent to which educators and agency professionals agree in judging creativity. Educators with a lot of industry experience gave much lower ratings than did professionals or less experienced educators. Educators and professionals tended to agree on the appropriateness of the ads and how well crafted they were.
Educators and Practitioners Look at the Advertising Curriculum • Alan D. Fletcher, Louisiana State University • In 1988 AEJMC established a Task Force on the Future of Journalism and Mass Communication Education. The Advertising Division’s contribution to the project was a survey of advertising educators and advertising practitioners, to measure the degree to which educators and practitioners agreed on the components of a strong advertising curriculum. The current study is a replication of the 1988 study. The study, which employed samples of Advertising Division members and corporate members of the American Advertising Federation, produced results that are very similar to the results of the earlier study.
An Analysis of Attitudes Toward Statistics: Gender Differences Among Advertising Majors • Jami A. Fullerton, Oklahoma State University and Don Umphrey, Southern Methodist University • This study measured advertising students’ attitudes toward statistics. 275 Undergraduate advertising students from two southwestern U.S universities completed a questionnaire used to gauge students’ attitudes toward statistics by measuring six underlying factors: (1) Students’ interest and future applicability; (2) relationship and impact of the instructor; (3) attitude toward statistical tools; (4) self-confidence; (5) parental influence; and (6) initiative and extra effort in learning statistics. Overall findings revealed that advertising students have a negative attitude toward statistics and the introductory statistics.
What’s the Big Idea? Using Socratic Seminars in Advertising Courses • Sandy King and Fritz Cropp, University of Missouri • Advertising students often have difficulty learning to identity, understand and apply creative concepts, or the “big idea.” Analyzing and discussing ads can help, provided the discussion extends beyond reactions and opinions. The Socratic seminar format can be applied in advertising creative concepts to provide a framework for making discussions more productive. This format not only helps students build a more meaningful discussion, it also develops critical thinking and speaking skills particularly valuable to advertising students.
STUDENTS
Effects of Web Site and Advertiser Credibility on Consumer Evaluation of Banner Ad, Brand, and Purchase Intent • Sejung Marins Choi, Michigan State University • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of consumers’ credibility perceptions of a Web site and of an advertiser on their evaluations of the banner ad and the advertised brand and purchase intention. The impact of relevance or a match between the advertised product category and the content of the Web site was also examined. The results suggest a structural model with significant relationships among relevance, Web site credibility, advertiser credibility, and ad/brand-related concepts.
A Typology of Online Positioning Strategies Among Creative Programs • W. Glenn Griffin, University of Texas-Austin • Among the schools that train advertising creatives, competition for students is fierce. A handful of programs, both trade and academic, supply the industry with the top job candidates every year. Internet technology offers creative programs a new method for positioning themselves among competitors and for student recruitment. This paper proposes a typology of the strategies employed by creative programs taking advantage of the technology. Four distinct strategies are identified in the Online Positioning Strategy Model.
Emotional vs. Cognitive Purchase-Decision Involvement: Comparison of Brand Name and Product-Feature Decisions • Jooyoung Kim, University of Florida • Purchase-decision involvement has been thought to be an important concept in understanding consumers’ involvement in purchasing decisions. In addition, consumers have been viewed as having both cognitive and emotional involvements. To date however, there has been relatively little research that combines the purchase-decision and emotional/cognitive involvement. In this current research, a revised purchase-decision involvement scale was developed to measure both the cognitive and emotional involvement in selected situations involving product features and brand names.
Perceived Risk and Risk Relievers in Online Auctions • Hanjun Ko, University of Florida • This study examines the perceived risk of consumers about online auctions and to determine the preferences for different levels of risk reductions methods when purchasing a product at online auctions. Results show that the perceived risk is higher for those who have not used online auctions than online auction users because they perceived a higher level of risk in terms of financial, time, and psychological risks.
Consequences of Commercial Web Presence: An Exploratory Study of Korean Business Adopters of Web Sites • Jung-Gyo Lee and Jae-Jin Park, University of Missouri-Columbia • A key research issue to the present study is to explore how marketers who have already presented on the Web perceive the World Wide Web as a marketing communications tool. The research focus is on examining what organizational benefits are recognized and how such benefits are associated with organizational features, attitudes toward the Web presence and overall satisfaction with the Web presence.
Internet Communication Benefits and Marketing Competitiveness: An Exploratory Analysis of Senior U.S. Advertising Executives’ Perceptions • Padmini Patwardhan and Hemant Patwardhan, University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale • Using an email survey, this study empirically examined current perceptions of Internet capabilities for marketing and marketing communications among 145 senior advertising agency executives in the Unites States. Generally, opinions about the benefits of Internet use in marketing were highly positive. Factor analysis revealed six specific Internet benefit dimensions: Cost/Time Efficiency, Customer Orientation, Customer Interactivity, Promotional Use, Personal Contact Replacement, and a more general benefit • Overall Value of Internet in Marketing.
An Empirical Examination of the Factors Affecting Attitude Toward the Site • Chan Yun Yoo, University of Texas-Austin • The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the factors affecting attitude toward the site, and to explore the relative importance of those factors. The study employed a within-group experimental design using an online survey. Four different predictor variables (i.e., product involvement, Internet skill, users’ interactivity with the site, and attitude toward the front page) have been tested in relation to attitude toward the site.
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