Advertising 2013 Abstracts
Research Papers
Alcohol, Sex, ‘n’ Text Messaging: Effects of Pro-Alcohol and Anti-Alcohol Display Ads on Evaluations of Texts From Last Night Facebook Updates and Drinking Intentions • Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University; Hyun Jung Oh, Michigan State University; Jing Yang, Michigan State University; Richard T. Cole, Michigan State University • An experiment (N = 413) investigated the effects of Facebook status updates paired with display ads on evaluations, viral behavioral intentions, and intentions to consume alcohol. Participants saw status updates, both alcohol- and sex-related, posted on the Facebook page of Texts From Last Night (TFLN) paired with display ads that either featured an alcohol brand, an anti-binge drinking PSA, or a local bank. Findings showed that participants rated status updates and display ads variably as a function of the display ad type. Additionally, intentions to consume alcohol were significantly predicted by viral behavioral intentions toward status updates and display ads, and varied as a function of the combination of status update type and display ad type. Findings are discussed in relation to the effect of alcohol marketing via social media.
Consumer Response to Ads in Social Network Sites: An Exploration into the Role of Ad Location and Path • Hyejin Bang; Wei-Na Lee, The University of Texas at Austin • Past research repeatedly suggests consumer’s defensive response to persuasive attempts is a key challenge for advertisers. Given the explosive growth of social media, this study aims to understand if consumer response to ads placed in a social network site could be influenced by ad location and the path through which the ad is delivered. Findings from an experiment suggest that consumers’ attention to ads in SNSs is remarkably low. Furthermore, the interaction between ad location and the path significantly influences consumers’ attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intention. Specifically, it appears that an ad placed inside users’ timeline and sent through via known others, the indirect path, yielded favorable consumer response. On the other hand, consumers responded more favorably to an ad sent by the advertiser, the direct path, than that sent by known others if the ad is placed outside users’ timeline. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.
The Impact of Athlete Transgressions and Image Repair Strategy on Endorsement Effectiveness • Kenon Brown, University of Alabama; Mia Anderson, The University of Tampa; Josh Dickhaus, Bradley University • This study seeks to build upon the body of knowledge surrounding athlete endorsement by examining the impact of Benoit’s image repair strategies on source credibility, attitudes toward a brand and purchase intention. An experiment was designed to test participants’ reactions to negative information about an athlete endorser and reactions to a statement made by the athlete to respond to negative information using one of five selected image repair strategies. Results showed that negative information did have an effect on an endorser’s trustworthiness, attitudes towards the endorsed product, and intention to buy the endorsed product. Results also showed that while mortification and defeasibility strategies were effective in improving trustworthiness, none of the strategies improved brand attitude or purchase intention.
Advergaming and Health Involvement: How healthy eating inclinations impact processing of advergame content. • Vincent Cicchirillo, University of Texas at Austin; Amanda Mabry, The University of Texas at Austin • Advergames combine advertising messages within and around video games. Many food and beverage brands use advergames to promote their products; however, little research has been conducted examining the impact personal traits such as health involvement and situational factors (brand integration) have on attitudes. Our findings indicate congruency between brand integration and health involvement impact positive affect toward the brand and advergame after game play. Additionally, arousal impacts the relationship between advergame and brand attitudes.
Product Placement Advertising & Consumer Socialization: How are Emerging Adults Influenced by Parents, Peers, and Media? • Clay Craig, Coastal Carolina University; Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech • The use of product placement as a form of advertising has become increasingly popular; yet there is little research examining the process. This study uses the theory of consumer socialization to evaluate the processes that influence product placement attitudes and behaviors. An online survey of emerging adults (18-25 years old) was used to examine the influence of socialization agents (peers, parents, and media). The findings indicate a complex relationship between socialization agents and product placement.
The Impact of Videogame-Induced Affect and Ad Type on Memory of In-Game Advertisements • Frank Dardis, Penn State University; Mike Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University; Brett Sherrick, Pennsylvania State University; Britani Luckman • In-game advertising continues to increase in importance for both industry and academia. Accordingly, current studies in the field are increasingly examining specific game-related factors that might impact the effectiveness of in-game advertisements. However, game difficulty – an important, real-world factor – has received little attention. The current experiment investigates the impact of game difficulty on players’ affective response and subsequent memory of in-game ads. More difficult game play led to more negative affective response. A significant interaction revealed that brand recognition increased as players in a more positive mood were exposed to a gain-framed message. Results are explained to occur via the additive affective and cognitive effects generated by game difficulty. Practical implications are discussed.
Entertaining with Food: The Interplay of Source Effect and Flow in Response to Advergames • Chang Dae Ham; Gunwoo Yoon; Michelle Nelson • Based on the concept of marketplace metacognition (Wright 2002) and the feelings of flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1990), this study examines how consumers respond to an advergame for food brands that vary according to the perceived effects of the source (prosocial vs. commercial; beneficial vs. harmful) and state of flow (high vs. low). Results show that attitudes toward the brand were higher for prosocial than commercial sources and also for beneficial effects (healthy food) overharmful effects (junk food). The results were explained by consumers’ persuasion knowledge and self-enhancement perception. The differences between the advergame’s source conditions, however, disappeared when participants were immersed in an optimal flow state while playing the advergames.
Consumer-Generated Ads on YouTube: Impacts of Source Credibility and Need for Cognition on Attitudes, Interactive Behaviors, and eWOM • Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Jin Kyun Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • This study examines consumer-generated advertising (CGA) impacts on consumer attitudes and behaviors for interacting with YouTube features and passing along CGA video as electronic word-of-mouth. An online experiment with 175 subjects was conducted with a 2x2x2 factorial design, manipulating ad source credibility and product involvement levels. Analysis revealed consumers as source significantly enhanced ad attitudes and interactivity behaviors. Higher need for cognition levels significantly increased interactivity and CGA pass-along. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested.
Red and Blue, not Black and White: Political Cue and Character Race Dynamics in Advertising • Gregory Hoplamazian, Loyola University Maryland; Jacquelyn D’Avella, Loyola University Maryland • A growing body of research indicates white viewers are much more responsive to similarity cues in advertising other than character race. This paper reports findings from a quasi-experiment investigating the effects of political context cues in advertising. The influence of political cues was found to be more impactful than model race on character perceptions and advertising outcomes, suggesting advertisers should be highly mindful of background cues which might signify the political ideology of the character.
Novelty Effects in Augmented Reality Advertising Environments • Tobias Hopp, University of Oregon; Harsha Gangadharbatla • This study examined the relationship between novelty effects, gender, and augmented reality advertising (ARA). We predicted that exposure time to ARA and attitudinal outcomes would be negatively related and that this relationship would be especially pronounced for women. The results only tentatively supported the hypotheses. In comparatively brief exposure to the ARA, women were more likely to have favorable opinions of the brand and higher purchase intentions. In longer exposure periods, men’s attitudes actually increased.
Attractive Model, Persuasion, and Social Comparison: An Inclusion/Exclusion Perspective • Fan Hu, BNU-HKBU United International College • Previous studies have shown that advertisements featuring attractive female models may effectively enhance persuasion. Yet, advertisers have been increasingly criticized for using such models, because research has indicated that the idealized images may make female consumers feel negatively about the self. Extant research has not offered clear theorizing of the coexistence of the two types of effects associated with attractive models in advertising. Thus, this research proposes a theoretical model to examine the underlying mechanism that accounts for both the intended (i.e., persuasion) and the unintended (i.e., social comparison) effects. Specifically, when an attractive model is included (excluded) in the representations of the product and the self, persuasion and self-evaluation will be more (less) consistent with the attractive model. An important condition for inclusion versus exclusion processing is individuals’ attention focused on internal or covert aspects of the self, known as “self-focused attention”. In the current experiment, 114 female students were exposed to advertisements for beauty-related products, featuring attractive female models or products only. Participants were either induced to a high level of self-focused attention or not. Results showed that when exposed to attractive-model advertisements, females under low self-focused attention evaluated the ad and the brand more positively, rated the self in terms of attractiveness more positively, and generated less negative thoughts than those females who were highly self-focused. When exposed to product-only advertisements, females under high versus low self-focused attention did not differ in terms of ad/brand evaluations, self-evaluation, and negative thoughts. Implications for advertising are discussed.
Scarcity Effects on Luxury, Limited Edition Products • wonseok jang, University of Florida; Yong Jae Ko, University of Florida; Jon D. Morris, University of Florida; Yonghwan Chang, University of Florida • Recently, many brands had begun to launch limited edition products. Typically, advertisers are implementing two types of scarcity messages for Limited Edition (LE) products: (a) limited-time scarcity vs. limited quantity scarcity messages (Cialdini 2008). Several studies found that these scarcity messages lead consumer to perceive LE products as more attractive and valuable (Aggarwal, Jun, and Huh 2011). The current study examined the effects of scarcity messages on different types of LE products.
Picture-perfect personality: Examining the influence of advertising images on brand personality • Adriane Jewett, University of Florida; John Sutherland, University of Florida • Surrounded by advertisements, today’s consumers are bombarded with covert cultural meanings wrapped in catchy slogans. According to meaning transfer theory, advertising is a dominant vehicle for the provision and movement of cultural meanings (McCracken, 1986; 1990). Combined, advertising’s profusion and ability to propagate meaning leaves advertisers with considerable power in shaping modern culture. Within advertisements, visuals are largely responsible for connecting products with particular cultural meanings. According to McCracken, these visuals are imbued with cultural meanings, such as gender, status, age, lifestyle, time and place. Specifically, this study extends McCracken’s meaning transfer theory to examine visuals’ ability to transfer brand personality from an advertisement to a brand. A survey (n=304) was conducted using a scale based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Respondents were asked to evaluate the brand personality of Fresh Cola, a fictitious soft drink, based on researcher-created advertisements. Each of the four ads used an image aligned with one of the four tested personality traits – Extroversion (E), Introversion (I), Thinking (T) or Feeling (F). According to this study’s results, images have the ability to manipulate personality, molding a consumer’s perception of and relationship with a brand, perhaps giving advertisers more control over brand personality than some scholars previously assumed. This finding places additional importance on advertising images, necessitating careful, calculated choices to create or manipulate the desired brand personality. Additionally, this study’s findings made cautious connections between brand attitude, Extroversion and Feeling, and support a re-examination of brand personality measures and their influences on purchase intent.
Food Advergames Targeting Children: Brand Exposure Context, Nutritional Content, and Ad Breaks • Hannah Kang, University of Florida; Soontae An, Ewha Womans University,Seoul, Korea • This study investigated the content of food advergames presented on food company websites targeting children, in terms of brand exposure context, nutritional content of the food products, and ad breaks. Among 53 websites that have advergames, a total of 387 food advergames were examined. Results of this study found that about 90 percent of foods advertised in advergames were low-nutrition and/or high-calorie foods. In particular, when product package was shown in the game or branded food contents or product packages were related to the game scoring, those foods were more likely to be foods high in sugar. Moreover, foods advertised in advergames that did not have ad breaks were foods that were higher calorie, higher in fat and higher in sugar, except for sodium. This study highlights the fact that more scholarly attention is needed for the content of advergames.
Attitudes about Advertising and Patterns of News Use and Evaluation • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri; Eunjin Kim • The study examined whether positive and negative attitudes toward advertising were related to attitudes toward news sources including both television and print, local and national, and whether exposure to these sources was related to advertising attitudes. There were strong positive relationships between news source attitudes and positive attitudes toward advertising, and weaker negative relationships with negative attitudes toward advertising. Neither was related to news source consumption. The study is considered in terms of theory about how the ubiquitous association of news and advertising may be processed by consumers.
Brand Placements and Media Characters – The Influence of Parasocial Interactions on Brand Placements Effects • Johannes Knoll, Würzburg University; Christiana Schallhorn, Würzburg University; Sabrina Wynistorf; Holger Schramm • Although brand placements are frequently associated with media characters, previous research has scarcely dealt with their influence on brand placements. Addressing this, the present study investigates the influence of parasocial interactions with media characters on attitudes towards brands related to characters. A 1 x 2 between-subject design is applied, assuming that positively represented characters elicit greater parasocial interaction and, subsequently, more favorable brand attitudes compared with negatively represented characters. The results confirm the indirect effect.
The tales of ad-context congruency, ad format, and the preference for multitasking: The case of YouTube • Anastasia Kononova • The study explored the effects of YouTube ad-video thematic congruency and ad format on memory, attitudes, and online behavioral intentions. Polychronicity, or the preference for doing multiple things at a time, was predicted to moderate these effects. The study showed that ad-video congruency positively predicted memory for ads, while negatively predicted attitudes toward brands. Participants also remembered more information from in-stream ads than from display ads, while they were more in favor of display ads. The main effects of ad-video thematic congruency and ad format were moderated by polychronicity. The results are discussed with the use of information processing theories.
The Moderating Role of Cultural Orientation in Explaining Temporal Orientation of Self-Referencing • Seungae Lee, University of Texas at Austin; Jun Heo, University of Southern Mississippi • A psychological process called self-referencing justifies the use of “you” statements in advertisements; the more an individual relates an ad to him/herself, the greater the likelihood of recall and favorable evaluation. Self-referencing is distinctive based on the temporal dimension of the self being activated while processing advertisements. The current study examined the moderating role of consumers’ cultural background (i.e., long-term orientation dimension) on the process of temporal orientation of self-referencing to better understand advertising persuasion.
Can’t Live Without it: A Qualitative Investigation into the Uses & Gratifications that Drive U.S. College Student Smartphone Use • Kelty Logan, University of Colorado at Boulder • This study seeks to contribute to the uses and gratifications literature by focusing on US college students and their use of smartphones in the belief that a thorough understanding of the gratifications sought will provide guidance to advertisers regarding the relative levels of involvement associated with each function. Specifically, the study employs qualitative research to investigate how and why college student use their smartphone functions and provides a preliminary typology of those uses and gratifications for further, empirical validation. The study indicated that the most commonly used smartphone functions are text messaging, voice calling, email, clock, calendar, and apps for social media and other entertainment, information, and helpful uses. Use of the smartphone functions is driven by five areas of gratifications sought: Connectedness, Relationship Strengthening, Self-Esteem, Escape/Boredom Relief, and Mood Elevation.
Taking a Closer Look at Green Ads. Consumers’ Green Involvement and the Persuasive Effects of Emotional Versus Functional Advertising Appeals • Jorg Matthes, U of Vienna; Anke Wonneberger; Desirée Schmuck • A sample of U.S. consumers was exposed to one of four green ads, a functional ad, an emotional ad, a mixed type ad, and a control ad. Green involvement was gauged by measures of environmental concern, green purchase behavior, and green product attitudes. Both the emotional and the mixed-type ads significantly affected brand attitude. These effects were independent from green involvement. Functional ads, in contrast, only impacted brand attitudes when green involvement was high.
Who should do the talking? Marketplace advocacy messages by corporations or industry trade groups • Barbara Miller, Elon University; Julie Lellis • Marketplace advocacy campaigns often arise in response to burgeoning societal concerns, such as those faced by many industries. Using focus groups, this paper explores how lay audiences with little knowledge of the topic being advocated respond to marketplace advocacy messages when presented by a corporation versus those by industry trade groups, research which has potentially significant implications for how corporations allocate advertising resources as well as for environmental groups attempting to combat certain industry initiatives.
I’ll buy that: Electronic word of mouth and the persuasion knowledge model • Barbara Miller, Elon University; Qian Xu, Elon University; Brooke Barnett, Elon University • This study applied the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) to assess the role of persuasion knowledge in consumer response to online product reviews, a form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Using an experimental research design, this paper examined a) what product review attributes are most likely to be seen by consumers as a persuasive attempt, and b) how being seen as a persuasive attempt impacts persuasive outcomes toward the product, namely product attitudes and purchase intention.
Are They Celebrity Followers? Examining Third-Person Perception in the Context of Celebrity Endorsed Advertising • Po-Lin Pan, Arkansas State University; Juan Meng, University of Georgia • This study used source credibility and advertising skepticism as major predictors to third-person perception and examined whether celebrity endorsed advertising yielded third-person perception and other perceived variables led consumers’ purchase intention. Both source credibility (e.g., expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness) and advertising skepticism had negative relationships with third-person perception. Celebrity trustworthiness was most influential to third-person perception, while advertising skepticism was the weakest predictor. Yet, neither third-person perception nor trustworthiness was significant to direct purchase intention.
The Role of Risk Perceptions and Involvement in Regulatory Focus: Its Application to Anti-High-Risk Drinking Advertising • Park Sun-Young, Drury University • Based upon regulatory fit theory the present study examines the moderating effects of risk perceptions and involvement on responses to regulatory focus frames in the context of anti-high-risk advertising messages. The result showed when individuals’ risk perceptions or involvement were high they were more likely to be persuaded by a promotion-focused frame in terms of ad attitudes, and behavioral attitudes and intentions, whereas there were no differential effects when risk perceptions or involvement were low.
Teaching Papers
Team teaching creative applications for advertising and public relations • Pamela Morris • Advertising and public relations are complex and creative industries and it is ever more challenging for educators to find instructors who can fulfill expertise across disciplines, particularly in creative applications where technology is involved. Team teaching is one approach to provide multiple experts in the classroom. This paper describes how two experimental undergraduate team taught courses, Design for Advertising and Public Relations and Multimedia Commercial Production for Advertising and Public Relations, were developed and delivered within the context of student-centered learning. Student surveys focusing on team teaching efforts are the method for evaluating the approach. Literature review of team teaching and hands-on instruction of creative production provides a framework for course designs. The study is important as advertising, public relations and communication disciplines are converging and specialties from multiple practices have become increasingly necessary for teaching and preparing students for jobs in these industries. It adds to the literature about team teaching and provides recommendations for creating an effective team teaching course.
Professional Freedom & Responsibility
Distorted Ethnic Targeting in Food Advertising: A Content Analysis of Ebony, Essence, and People • Jung-Sook Lee • A content analysis was conducted with 680 food advertisements from 2008 and 2011 issues of Ebony, Essence, and People. The results indicate overrepresentation of unhealthy foods and underrepresentation of less unhealthy or healthy foods in Ebony and Essence when compared with their counterparts in People. The difference is manifested not only in the food categories advertised but also in the product types (e.g., low-calorie, baked) and the brand varieties (number of brands) advertised within each food category. Results confirm the concern that African Americans will be increasingly targeted for the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages as the general population becomes more health conscious and demands less of unhealthy food and beverages. Results also bear a remarkable resemblance to the history of distorted ethnic targeting in cigarette and alcohol advertising where healthier options were less likely to be offered to African American consumers than were they to the general population.
LinkedIn: An impediment to workplace diversity? • Troy Elias, University of Florida; Megan VanRysdam; Jung Won Chun • Hiring practices in the U.S. in general and within the advertising industry, specifically, have ostensibly evolved with the emergence of social networking sites (SNS). This study examines the overall prominence of SNS usage in hiring decisions across a variety of industries. Secondly, the study explores the use of SNS by ad agencies, focusing primarily on the hiring of account executives. Account executives tend to embody the face of agency life as they liaise directly with clients. Finally, the study seeks to expose potential opportunities for bias, or racially disparate treatment toward minority populations who can no longer easily avoid displaying their race, age, gender, or disabilities to potential employers via SNS. A mixed methods approach was adopted for this study, such that 300 hiring professionals were surveyed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 advertising agencies located across the U.S.
How Gender Situates Learning in Advertising Creative Departments • Kasey Windels, LSU; Karen Mallia, University of South Carolina • Situated learning theory sees learning as produced through interaction with and increasing participation in a community of practice. Based on interviews with 23 female creatives, this study examines how women learn and form identities in a creative department that is dominated by masculine values. Findings reveal that women lack legitimacy and experience difficulties developing an identity as a master practitioner in the creative department. They instead emphasize parts of their identity unrelated to the profession.
Selling or selling out?: An analysis of children’s snack packages and implications for advertising practitioners and educators • John Wirtz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Regina Ahn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Gina Song, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Zongyuan Wang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The paper presents a review of literature related to food advertising that targets children and how food packaging is used to influence children and primary food purchasers (e.g., parents). We then present the results of a content analysis of a large sample (N = 114) of portable children’s snack packages. Our analysis demonstrated that sugar was one of the top three ingredients for 88.6% in portable children’s snacks and that verbal claims such as “artificial and natural flavoring” and “real fruit juice” were used frequently. Further, more than 25% of the sample featured licensed characters (e.g., Scooby Doo) on the front of the package. We conclude the paper by discussing ethical implications of food advertising and marketing for practitioners and advertising educators.
Special Topics
Branding Footwear in the Late Nineteenth Century • Stephen Banning • Sorosis Shoes was the first nationally marketed brand of shoes designed specifically for working women in 1897, and its meteoric rise made it an early international advertising success story. This study examines Sorosis Shoe’s capitalization on the women’s clothing reform movement and deliberate use of the name of the largest women’s club in America, Sorosis, to promote its product, against their wishes.
Mobile Applications and Advertising: Scan vs. Shazam • Brittney Block, University of Memphis • Building from the Technology Acceptance Model, this exploratory study sought to determine smartphone users’ acceptance of advertising intermediaries Scan and Shazam. Three focus groups, consisting of 18 to 24 year-old daily smartphone application users, were conducted to assess the acceptance of Scan and Shazam based on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Results indicated that Scan and Shazam were easy to use, but each application’s usefulness in regards to advertising was not as clear.
Advertising America: International Reactions to U.S. Tourism Advertising • Jami Fullerton; Alice Kendrick • A pre/post quasi-experimental copy test of a newly produced US tourism commercial found that the ad was effective in increasing interest in travel to the United States among a nationally representative sample of Australian adults. Gender, age, income and previous US travel appeared to moderate the effect. The ad had a stronger effect on those who reported prior to viewing the commercial not to like America versus those who were self-reported “Americaphiles.” Qualitative reactions to the commercial were predominantly positive, although some viewers said that the spot was not an accurate depiction of the US. Findings are discussed in the context of place branding and best practice message strategy for destination marketing.
An Exploratory Study on Multinational Brand Twitter Strategies Between the U.S. and South Korea • Young Sun Lee, Florida State University; Jaejin Lee, Florida State University • The current study aims to explore how the social network sites (SNS) is used as a marketing communication tool for the multinational brands. In order to examine the cultural differences, this study employs a cross-cultural comparisons of SNS use in the U.S. and South Korea. The findings from content analysis suggest that brands in the U.S. showed more transformational messages, while the brands in South Korea were more prevalent in informational messages than the U.S. Additionally, there are cultural differences on many other message types in brand messages. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research are suggested.
Lost in Space: Advertising agency employees’ perceptions of work space • Karen Mallia, University of South Carolina; Kasey Windels, LSU; Jenny Mumah, University of North Texas; Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas • Advertising is a creative industry, and the creativity of advertising professionals has been attributed to the space in which they work. This quasi-ethnography based on data from six advertising agencies explores the physical environment from the perspective of those who work in these agencies. Discussion includes the relation between openness in reference to space and creativity, the balance of openness and privacy as well as the workplace identity for advertising agency personnel.
A Different Approach to an Old Problem: A Qualitative Study on the Role of Analytical and Experiential Processing on Consumers’ Interpretation of Organic • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, University of Oregon • Studies on information processing have traditionally relied on laboratory experiments. Although of predictive value, experiments do not reveal the nuances of information processing. This exploratory study investigates how the analytical (systematic, rational, linear) information and experiential (intuitive, heuristic, holistic) processing in concert manifest in the meanings interviewees make of products labeled organic. Despite that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits the use of the word in a misleading manner, it does not bar organizations from using the term “organic” in their company names and logos, yet more and more people relying in organic labels to make their purchasing decisions. So, how do patrons of organic products process the organic label? Results suggest that contrary to the dichotomization of analytical and experiential information processing modes, participants demonstrate ample knowledge of the meaning of organic, but the meaning they ascribe to the labels were also derived from past experiences, upbringing, family values, environmental values, among others. They rely on the label even when they think the label has become a buzzword, and may not actually be a good estimate of how healthy food is. Implications of the results for theory, advertising, targeted marketing, as well as public policy deliberations are discussed.
Connecting Advertising Students with High School Students: A Case Study in Community-Based Learning • Dana Saewitz, Temple University • Advertising students at a large, urban, public, research university were given an opportunity to participate in a unique community-based learning course in which the university students travelled weekly to two local inner-city public high schools to teach advertising. For high school students, the goals of the program were to inspire them to graduate, apply to college, and to consider a career in advertising. For college students, the goals were to develop teaching skills and leadership skills, strengthen and develop advertising skills, and to learn about the challenges facing urban education. The program was funded by a grant from two professional associations: The local Ad Club and the State Association of Broadcasters. For these partners, the goal was to develop a pipeline of young, ethnically diverse local talent to help improve diversity in the advertising industry and to encourage bright young urban students to achieve their potential. Results of a study conducted at the conclusion of the semester-long program indicate that community-based learning is an extremely valuable and rewarding learning experience for both college students and high school students. If urban universities want to build positive connections with the neighborhoods that surround them, they must re-evaluate incentives and rewards to encourage more faculty to develop community-based learning courses.
Compare Global Brands’ Micro-Blogs between China and USA: Focusing on Communication Styles and Branding Strategies • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Florida; Weiting Tao, University of Florida; Sora Kim, University of Florida • This quantitative content analysis compares global brands’ use of communication styles and brand anthropomorphism between Twitter and Weibo. Task-oriented communication is found to be more dominant on both sites than socio-emotional communication. Specifically, global brands ask for opinions and give suggestions (tasked-oriented indicators) and use first and second personal pronouns (anthropomorphism indicators) more on Twitter. However, they give opinion (task-oriented indicator), reduce tension (socioemotional indicator), and use nonverbal cues and consumer nicknames more on Weibo.
Effectiveness of Digital Video Advertising in Experimental Setting • Xiyao Yang, University of Oklahoma; Doyle Yoon, University of Oklahoma • Digital video advertising is one of the fastest growing areas of interactive advertising in the industry; though there is limited understanding of this field due to little academic research. The present study is meant to explore the effectiveness of interactive advertising in order to predict the effectiveness of digital video advertising, while gaining an understanding of the influence of digital advertising formats, and user-mode’s impact on users’ brand awareness and attitudes toward to advertising.
Student
Who Is Wonder Woman? Gender Stereotypes and Heroism in TV Advertisements • Yunmi Choi, University of Florida; Walter Starr, University of Florida; Kayoung Kim, University of Florida; Nancy Parish, Univ of Florida • This study investigated the gender stereotypes of hero figures in Clio Award winning commercials between 1999 and 2010. By applying content analysis method, this study found support for the hypotheses that male characters in the ads are more likely to be depicted as warrior types. Also, male products are more likely to contain male characters that match with their product personality. However, there was no support for the hypotheses that female characters are likely to be caregiver types in the ads.
Cultural Differences in Cognitive Responding to Ads: A Comparison of Americans and Chinese • Yang Feng, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This study explored differences in cognitive responses to ads across two cultures. In an experiment, 120 college students from the U.S. and 120 college students from China were exposed to different types of ads, and subsequently participants were instructed to recall objects, and list product/brand thoughts. It was found that compared with Chinese participants, participants from the U.S. recalled more salient objects, and generated more product/brand thoughts elicited by salient objects from the ads. These findings suggest that American college students attended more to salient objects in the ads, and therefore are more analytic than Chinese students. Implications for international advertising were provided in the end.
The Effects of Types of Behavior, Positive Discrete Emotions, and Involvement on Loss-Framed Message Processing • Heewon Im • This study investigated the effects of types of behavior, involvement, and positive discrete emotions on loss-framed persuasive message processing. The role of involvement as an individual difference in the effects of the information processing motivation level on loss-framed persuasive messages was examined. In addition, the interaction effect of positive discrete emotions and involvement was hypothesized, because both factors influence individuals’ motivation levels. A three (Positive emotion: control, nurturance, amusement) by two (Involvement: high, low) factorial design experiment study was conducted. The results showed the main effects of involvement on loss-framed persuasive messages, but did not support the main effects of positive emotions or the interaction effects of positive emotions and involvement.
Metaphor as Visual Thinking in Advertising and the Effects: Focused on Consumers’ Brand Familiarity and Involvement • Soojin Kim, University of Florida; Jihye Kim, University of Florida • Visual metaphors are among the favorite communication techniques used by advertisers; metaphor usage perennially increases in ad images. The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the impact of visual metaphors in advertising on consumers’ attitude changes though brand familiarity and their perceived involvement. One of the most interesting findings is the significant three-way interactions. The findings showed that brand familiarity will change the impact of a visual metaphor more under conditions of high involvement than low involvement. Therefore, practically, advertisers should consider the consumers’ perceived involvement and the level of the brand familiarity toward the target for the optimal effects of visual metaphors ad on consumers’ attitude changes. The theoretical implication of the current study is that visually metaphorical ads may be more effective than non-metaphor-based ads in changing consumers’ attitudes when the brand has low brand familiarity, regardless of perceived involvement. For a practical perspective, the current study has implications for the effective combination of visual metaphor and brand familiarity for consumers of different involvement levels. It may not be effective to use visual metaphors in ads for products with high brand familiarity and for targeted consumers with high involvement to affect consumers’ attitudes. Ads that use visual metaphor would be effective with unfamiliar brands, including new brands, because consumers may not have a good brand attitude toward the unknown brand in order to change their attitudes.
The Cognitive Effects of Online Advertisement on Online News Perception: Readers’ Causal Attribution of Responsibility for Sexual Assault • Jinyoung Kim, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • Despite a fast-growing number of online advertisements on every corner of news web pages, little research has been done to how cognitive interferences aroused by online advertisements may influence readers’ perception of news stories. This study explored the effects of sexually suggestive presentation in online advertisement on readers’ perception of sexual violence coverage. Results showed that participants who were exposed to sexual online advertisement attributed a higher degree of responsibility of rape to the victim than to the rapist and that participants who perceived the suggestive ad ‘highly sexual’ tended to assign disproportionate attribution assessment that is unfavorable to the victim. Findings from this study imply that typical suggestive online advertisements found easily on news web sites can influence news readers’ perceptions of the cause of important social issues and events.
A Consumer Dilemma: Consumer Privacy Concerns, Trust, and Personalized Advertising • Junga Kim • The availability of vast amounts of powerful customer data has opened up new opportunities for the online advertisers to shift their focus from mass-market strategies to customer-centric personalized advertising. However, it is not clear whether highly targeted advertising is perceived as beneficial among online users. This study explores how online consumers cope with personalized advertising. Drawing upon the cost-benefit framework and literature on privacy concern, this study proposes a structural model of consumer response toward personalized advertising. The model indicates that three factors such as perceived controllability, vulnerability, and information sensitivity significantly determined consumers’ privacy concern. The findings of this study suggest that privacy concern did not influence the likelihood of clicking on personalized advertising, while perceived benefits of personalized advertising affect click-through intentions.
Effects of Interpersonal Tie Strength and Subjective Norms on Consumers’ Brand-Related eWOM Referral Intentions • Yan Shan, The University of Georgia • Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is an important communication tool in the integrated marketing communication (IMC). This study was designed to examine the antecedents for a brand-related referral behavior through investigating the interplay between consumers’ brand evaluation and personal influence on consumers’ referral attitudes and behavior intentions. Specifically, the results suggested that consumer-brand relationship and interpersonal tie strength, and their interaction were positively related with referral attitude. Referral attitude was found to be positively associated with referral intention, and this relationship was moderated by consumers’ perceived subjective norms.
When Tea Leaf Meets Coffee Bean: Consumer Identity, Global Brand and the Circuit of Culture • Xiaochen Zhang, University of Florida • Under the circuit of culture framework, this qualitative study explored consumer culture and global brands through the case of Starbucks and Chinese consumers at the nexus of globalization. Results from four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews show that the cultural nuances involving how consumers perceive their own identity as a Starbucks consumer as opposed to their “Chineseness” as a tea drinker have a great impact on how they would consume global brands.
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