Advertising 2016 Abstracts
Professional Freedom & Responsibility (PF&R) Papers
Advertising Alcohol in the Evidence-based Way: Constructing a Threatful and Harmful Drinking Advice Campaign for the General Population in Hong Kong • Annisa Lee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • With the rapid increase in alcohol consumption, developing an anti-alcohol campaign is needed to raise cultural relevant awareness of adverse health effects of alcohol for the Hong Kong public. We conducted a two-phased study for this purpose. The first phase is a formative reasearch, involving a literature review of 103 articles from MEDLINE and 36 papers from EMBASE databases, four focus groups and a general population survey of 506 respondents. Results generate ten major messages and show that various physiological and psychological harms are stopping factors, more effective than the facilitating factors like social pressure. The second phase develops the harm theme, with four focus groups, by pre-testing the campaign theme, empirically supported claims, appeals and media deliverables. Results show that the theme ‘Drinking Will Harm You’ is effective with the fear appeal, instead of the dark humorous appeal used in comparison. The fear level should be staged progressively, with the more effective physiological harms first, followed by non-physiological ones, including sexual violence. Ten ad claims are ranked according to the health belief model. Using the Department of Health logo increases credibility of the claims. Most participants preferred recovered alcoholics as spokespersons and scientific claims on media channels such as bottle packaging, TV/newspapers, MTR stations, and social media.
Organic Literacy, Involvement, Information Processing, and ‘Green’ Consumer Behavior: A Preliminary Investigation • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, The University of Alabama • This study extends previous work on ‘green’ marketing, advertising and consumer behavior. It explores concepts such as organic literacy, involvement (and information processing), chronic organic food consumption behaviors, and how they relate to consumer a
Research Papers
Effects of Disclosure of Native Advertising and Knowledge of Marketing Communication Tactics on Ad Evaluation • A-Reum Jung, Louisiana State University; Jun Heo, Louisiana State University • Although the belief that the effects of native advertising is from the unrecognizable format is widely accepted, it is hard to find empirical studies that examine the effect of native advertising. In particular, there is a harsh criticism that advertisers try to increase ad effectiveness by using unclear ad disclosure language which makes people not to recognize native advertising. However, there is no definite answer that the effects of disclosure language on ad effectiveness. On one hand, persuasion knowledge model posits that high knowledge people are more likely to resist advertising. However, previous studies tried to develop conceptual relationship between persuasion knowledge and negative ad effects, rather than empirical examination. Thus, one of the purposes of this current study is to examine the influence of disclosure on the evaluation of native advertising on social media platforms. Another purpose of this study is to explain how people’s knowledge regarding persuasion marketing tactics influences the response to the marketing messages. Studies found that different language of ad disclosure does not affect ad recognition, and ad effectiveness. However, once people recognize content as advertising, they negatively response to the content. Studies also found that high knowledge for advertising tactic generates positive responses to advertising even though people recognize advertisers’ persuasive intention. Based on the results, marketing implication and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
“I didn’t see that label!” Using eye-tracking to evaluate native advertising news stories • Bartosz Wojdynski, University of Georgia; Nathaniel Evans, University of Georgia • The past two years have seen a rapid growth in the publication of sponsored content online, as news organizations and advertisers alike have sought to improve return on investment in online advertising. However, the potential deceptiveness of paid advertisements that strongly resemble a publisher’s editorial content has raised the concern of critics and regulators regarding how consumers evaluate whether a given piece of content is or is not paid advertising. Recent research in this area has shown that design characteristics of disclosures — labels that identify sponsored content as distinct from other content on the site –may influence consumers’ ability to recognize sponsored content as advertising (Wojdynski & Evans, 2016). The present research seeks to add to knowledge of how consumers evaluate sponsored content by examining how participants (N=60) view and evaluate six diverse published sponsored online news stories. Eye-tracking measures were employed to capture participants’ overall attention to disclosures, and time required to notice the disclosures, and open-ended measures were used to capture participants’ perceptions of sponsorship transparency and suggestions for improving transparency. Findings showed that variations in disclosure design and layout lead to differences in attention to the disclosure, time to notice the disclosure, and perceived sponsorship transparency of the article. Implications of these findings for practitioners and regulators are discussed.
Placing Snacks in Children’s Movies: Cognitive, Evaluative, and Conative Effects of Product Placements With Character Product Interaction • Brigitte Naderer; Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna; Patrick Zeller • No studies have explored the role of character product interaction (CPI) for product placement effects on children. We exposed N = 363 children aged 6–15 years to a movie containing no placement, static placement, or CPI placement. The presence of placements affected cognitive and conative brand outcomes. However, children’s product memory and consumption were higher for CPI placements compared to static placements. Results were independent of the children’s ages and prior movie familiarity.
That Ad’s So Bad, It’s Criminal: Advertising Meets the Federal Fraud Statutes • Carmen Maye, University of South Carolina; Erik Collins, University of South Carolina • In the United States, legal repercussions for deceptive advertising traditionally have been meted out by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has at its disposal a variety of civil remedies. The FTC’s civil authority over deceptive commercial expression in the marketplace is generally acknowledged. Less well known within the advertising industry is the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) power to criminally punish those who disseminate what it may deem deceptive advertising. Advertisers, who clearly should expect FTC oversight and whose practices likely are geared toward satisfying the FTC’s stated expectations, also must be aware, if not beware, of the DOJ. Recent DOJ actions, triggered by car-dealer advertising, serve as useful reminders that the FTC is not the only governmental regulatory authority looming in the advertiser’s rear-view mirror. Prosecutorial discretion is essentially all that stands between a deceptive advertiser and a federal, criminal prosecution. The danger for advertisers lies in an environment where “I don’t like your ads” may inspire federal prosecutors to investigate an advertiser’s business practices in search of conduct to which fraud and related criminal statutes may be applied.
Effects of Perceived Social Distance on Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions among College Students • Carolyn Lin; Linda Dam • Little research addresses the ways in which perceived social distance – the level of acceptance individuals feel towards a different racial background – may impact consumer responses toward advertising spokespersons from different racial groups. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceived social distance between consumers and multiracial advertising spokespersons will influence purchase intentions and consumer attitudes. This research also explores whether the two related concepts – consumer social identity and perceived similarity with racially congruent advertising spokespersons – have an impact on consumer decision-making. The study design entails three experimental conditions, each featuring a Caucasian, Asian, or African American advertising spokesperson. Study participants (N = 363) were randomly assigned to one of three study conditions. Results demonstrated that lower levels of perceived social distance predicted more positive consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Partial support was also found for the effects of perceived social identity and perceived similarity toward the multiracial spokesperson on consumer attitudes and intentions to purchase the product. Discussion of multicultural advertising implications and future research addressing strategic communication are discussed.
Personalizing an ad for a consumer versus personalizing a consumer for an ad: A test of reversed personalization effects • Cong Li, University of Miami • Research on the effects of personalized communication has grown tremendously over the past decade. Prior studies have widely discussed how a message can be personalized for a person and why a personalized message is more effective than a non-personalized message, which is often labeled personalization effects. However, no known research has theorized on the possibility of personalizing a person for a message. The current study aims to make a unique contribution to the literature by illustrating how a person can be personalized for a message via priming tactics and why it can lead to reversed personalization effects. It is argued that an individual’s evaluation of a personalized or non-personalized message can be influenced by a prime. A non-personalized message may generate more favorable effects than a personalized message if a prime activates a certain mental representation associated with it, leading to reversed personalization effects. The effects of priming on personalization are moderated by perceived prime credibility and mediated by perceived message relevance.
Exploring the prevalence and execution of brand placements in Hong Kong prime time television programs • Fanny Fong Yee Chan, Hang Seng Management College; Ben Lowe, University of Kent • Product placement involves the planned integration of branded products into media content with the aim of influencing audiences. A majority of product placement research tend to be focused on understanding its impact on consumer behavior variables such as brand recall, attitudes, and purchase intentions (Chan 2012). Less research, however, examines the nature of placement execution, and those which do are outdated and are focused mainly on western contexts such as the US. This study utilizes and extends the framework developed by La Ferle and Edwards (2006) to document and explore the execution of product placement in Hong Kong. Specifically it examines 1) the prevalence of brand appearances; 2) the characteristics of programs with brand appearances; 3) features of placed brands/products; 4) modality of brand appearances; 5) extent of character interaction with placed products; and 6) general characteristics of placement context. An extensive content analysis of five weeks of prime-time programming on three free-on-air television channels in Hong Kong was conducted. A coding protocol was developed with items adapted from earlier studies (Ferraro and Avery 2000; La Ferle and Edwards 2006; Smit, van Reijmersdal and Neijens 2009) and a few items added specifically for the current study. In the 225 hours of prime time television programming, 1225 brand appearances were identified. It is equivalent to about one brand appearance in every 11 minutes of programming. The results provide valuable insights to communication scholars and brand practitioners with regards to brand placement strategies.
Image or Recruitment: The Relationships between Cue and Military Advertising Strategy on Military Attitudes and Intentions to Enlist • FuWei Sun, The University of Oklahoma; Glenn Leshner, The University of Oklahoma • This study tested the effects of two factors—cues (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the military advertising strategies (image and image + recruitment)—on participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. In a 2 × 2 mixed design experiment, participants saw three military advertisements in one of four conditions. The results of this study suggest that participants’ evaluations of the advertisements and the military are generally driven by intrinsic cues rather than extrinsic characteristics. However, cue effects do not influence receivers’ enlistment intentions. Further, there is no significant difference between the strategies, participants’ evaluations of the military, and their enlistment intentions. These results are discussed in the context of military advertising and its impact.
Beyond gains/losses to compliance/non-compliance: effects of framing, need-for-cognition and mood on organic food advertising effectiveness • George Anghelcev, Penn State University; Ruoxu Wang, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Sela Sar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Two message framing techniques have been investigated with predilection by advertising researchers: gain vs. loss and promotion vs. prevention. In this study, we bridge these separate approaches and consider four advertising frames informed by the theoretical frameworks of Regulatory Focus Theory and Prospect Theory. We investigate the joint impact of mood on these four message frames on advertising promoting organic foods. The findings support our predictions that it is neither a gain/loss approach nor a promotion/prevention approach that leads to effective messages for consumers who experience positive or negative moods. Rather, the winning strategy consists of framing the ads in terms of compliance (gain and non-loss) and noncompliance (loss and non-gain). As expected, NFC moderated the postulated effects.
Only Other People Post Food Photos on Facebook: How Social Media Fits into Our Lives and The Third Person Effect • Giang Pham; Matthew Shancer; Danyang Guo; Tao Jailin; Yi Peng; Yanyun Wang; Michelle Nelson, UIUC – Advertising Department • Understanding consumers’ perceptions about social media is important for advertisers. Interviews with Millennials and Baby-Boomers revealed differences in social media use and perceptions of use. Third-person perceptions (TPP) emerged among millennials: they believed the content they shared was very different from that of ‘others’. A survey of Millennials showed TPP effects scaled with the social distance corollary. Individuals perceived their behaviors were very different from those of ‘acquaintances’ and less so with close friends.
The Impact of Erotic Imagery on Visual Attention within Advertisements: An Eye-Tracking Study • Glenn Cummins; Tom Reichert, University of Georgia; Zijian Gong, University of Tampa • An eye-tracking experiment (N = 120) was conducted to gauge how the use of erotic models in advertisements impacted visual attention to the ad, model, and other ad execution elements, thus moving beyond indirect self-report measures of attention from previous research. Findings revealed a distraction effect for ads containing erotic models. Attention to ad copy suffered when erotic models were employed, and viewers were less likely to remember the brand name or ad content.
Advertising Skepticism Effects on Chinese Consumer Attitudes toward Green Ads: A Mediating Role of Consumer Attribution of Green Advertising Motivation • Jason Yu • This study examined how advertising skepticism in general as a consumer characteristic affects consumer attitudes toward green ads (AGreen-ad) in three dimensions: hedonism, interestingness and utilitarianism. The results suggested a significant effect of advertising skepticism on consumer utilitarian AGreen-ad, which was mediated by consumer attribution of the motive behind the green ad. The insignificant correlation of advertising skepticism and hedonism implies that a consumer’s advertising skepticism might be irrelevant to his hedonic AGreen-ad if his disbelief of the environmental claims in the ad is not substantial enough to arouse negative feelings such as a feeling of being deceived or cheated.
Political advertising saturation: A natural experiment • Jay Newell, Iowa State University • This research explores the results of political advertising spending under conditions of advertising saturation, in which candidates and their supporters chose to advertise in selected markets with nearly complete reach and very high frequencies, versus the same candidates and supporters advertising in different markets using more moderate levels of reach and frequency. Combining a two-phase telephone survey of more than 700 registered voters with a tally of more than 3000 broadcast advertising contracts, the research explores the connection between political advertising spending, political participation, and election outcomes.
When It Just Feels Right: The Impact of Regulatory-Fit on Consumer Responses to Fundraising Campaigns • Ji Mi Hong, University of Texas at Austin; Wei-Na Lee • This research investigates whether the fit between an individual’s chronic regulatory focus and the type of regulatory focus used in fundraising messages enhances persuasion effects. A content assessment of current fundraising ads suggests that regulatory focus was indeed employed as a persuasion strategy. An experimental study was then carried out to test the main and interaction effects of two independent variables (chronic regulatory foci x regulatory-focused message frames) on three dependent variables (attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the non-profit organization, and willingness to donate). Findings suggest that individuals with a chronic promotion-focused orientation responded more favorably toward the promotion-framed message emphasizing the potential environmental benefits of making a donation, whereas individuals having a chronic prevention-focused orientation were more positive toward the prevention-framed message highlighting the potential environmental dangers of not making a donation. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are provided.
Telling Compelling Stories for Worthy Causes? A Content Analysis of Philanthropy Ads • Ji Mi Hong, University of Texas at Austin; Wei-Na Lee; Hwanjong Cho, University of Texas at Austin; Chohee Sung, University of Texas at Austin • “As a first step toward understanding non-profit organizations’ communication, this research examined their philanthropy ad messages in terms of four key elements: what the philanthropy goal is (regulatory focus), who the beneficiary is (self-construal), when the fundraising impact is expected (temporal orientation) and how the suggested donations are appraised (efficacy-appraisal). A content analysis was carried out to systematically study philanthropy ads from non-profit organizations on the Philanthropy 400 list. Specifically, the frequency of appearance of each type of message elements and the relationships among them were analyzed. The findings of this research show that most non-profit organizations actively utilized four types of message elements in their philanthropy ads, while mainly focusing on desired, positive donation outcomes (promotion focus), dominantly indicating others as beneficiaries of the support (interdependent self-construal), mostly emphasizing the easy of actions (self-efficacy) and highlighting immediate fundraising effects (present orientation). However, with respect to the combination patterns among message elements, the findings indicated that the current practice did not follow the guidelines suggested by previous literature. In this respect, more research is needed to understand the discrepancy and provide better guidelines for future communication strategies.”
Positive News Are Better Than Negative News in Improving Brand Attitude and Recall for Pre-Roll Ads • Jiachen Yao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Zongyuan Wang; Mike Yao, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign • Current study explored how the valence of news headlines (positive vs. negative) and news type (hard vs. soft) influenced participants’ mood, their memory and brand attitude towards the pre-roll video ads. We found that negative news headlines led to lower mood, lower brand attitude and worse brand recall than the positive condition. There was also an interacting effect found of news valence*news type on mood. Implications were given for advertising industry.
Understanding Age Segmentation in Persuasion: The Effects of Experiential and Material Messages • Jing (Taylor) Wen, University of Florida; Naa Amponsah Dodoo, University of Florida; Linwan Wu, University of Florida; Il Young Ju, University of Florida; Sriram Kalyanaraman, University of Florida • Despite the growing significance of message segmentation strategies based on consumers’ age, the psychological effects of age on decision making remain somewhat unexplored. Building on prior studies, this research examined the influence of age on consumers’ responses to different advertising messages. In particular, this study examined whether framing a specific product (automobile) as either material or experiential would influence consumer responses to the product. Experimental results revealed a main effect of message type and interaction between message type and age on attitude toward the ad. Specifically, individuals reported more favorable attitudes toward a material rather than an experiential message type. An interaction effect showed that younger people had more positive attitudes toward the material message while no difference was found for older people. Additionally, younger people had more favorable brand attitudes when exposed to a material rather than an experiential message, while, older people did not exhibit this pattern. The results also revealed the mediating role of ad credibility such that perceived ad credibility mediated the relationship between message type and ad attitude. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Consumer Attention to and Recall of Information in Prescription Drug Advergames: An Eye-Tracking Study • Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota; Jennifer Lueck, University of Minnesota • This study investigated cognitive effects of advergames on consumers’ attention to and memory of information in a prescription drug advergame. Applying limited cognitive capacity theory as a theoretical framework, consumers’ attention was examined using both self-reported and eye-tracking measures, and the relationships between the two types of attention measures and information memory were tested. The eye-tracking attention measures revealed somewhat different findings than self-reported attention, and the results provide interesting insights regarding advergames’ cognitive effects.
Nudity of Male and Female Characters in Television Advertising Across the Globe: A Comparative Analysis • Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna; Michael Prieler, Hallym University • There is a lack of comparative studies on nudity in television advertising. We sampled N = 1,755 ads from 13 countries. The main characters’ nudity was higher for females compared to males, more likely with decreasing age, and occurred more often for congruent than incongruent products. Multilevel analyses showed that nudity was independent of a country’s gender-indices and preclearance policy. The role of culture for predicting nudity in advertising is thus smaller than commonly thought.
Framing Financial Retirement Advertising: The Effectiveness of Intertemporal Choice • Ken Kim, oklahoma state; Lori McKinnon • The current study was designed to show the effectiveness of retirement financial services advertising (RFSA) in consumer intertemporal choice. The obtained data indicated that people in the loss framing (vs. gain framing) condition had a stronger tendency to choose the earlier investment option over the delay option when an advertisement emphasized how much they need to invest (that is, process framing). In contrast, the advantage of gain framing (vs. loss framing) was found when an advertisement focused on how much they need to retire (that is, outcome framing).
In-Feed Native Advertising on News Websites: Effects of Advertisement on Internet Users’ Reactions • Lijie Zhou, The University of Southern Mississippi; Fei Xue • This study examined viewers’ reactions to in-feed native advertising on news sites. Results showed in-feed native advertising generated stronger brand interest and purchase intention than banner ads. Product involvement moderated effects of advertising format and website reputation on attitude-toward-the-ad, brand interest, and purchase intention. Its moderating power is stronger for low-involvement product, where advertising format and website reputation have served as peripheral cues. Positive correlations between website credibility and ad credibility were also identified. Advertising Division Research Papers Psychological Mechanisms in Narrative Advergaming Lu Zheng; Danny Pimentel Nine side-scrolling advergames were created to examine the potential impact of types of advergames and music tempo on one’s affective (game attitude and brand attitude) and conative responses (product trial and purchase intent) in the context of narrative advergaming. Moreover, three psychological states (flow, transportation and presence) that game players are likely to experience were also investigated. The study demonstrated that neither type of advergames nor music tempo employed in the advergames was significant in influencing one’s affective and conative responses. What remains invariably significant across nine experimental conditions is the positive relationship between the three psychological mechanisms and one’s game attitude, brand attitude, and behavioral intentions. Implications and limitations are also discussed.
The Moderating Role of Age on Behavioral Effects of Product Placements in a Real-World Setting • Maren Birgit Marina Beaufort • This paper provides findings on how product placements influence young children’s selection behavior in real-life viewing and shopping scenarios, showing why realistic settings are superior to laboratory studies in this context. For the first time, kindergarten-aged children were included. Results show a major susceptibility to product placements via implicit persuasion. In contrast to previous laboratory findings, a highly significant age effect is present that is conceivably traceable to the competitive influences in the real-life scenario.
Cultural Adaptation in U.S. and Mexican Beer Ads: The Moderating Effect of Automatic Bias Against Hispanics on Eye-Tracking Measures • Yadira Nieves-Pizarro, Michigan State University; Juan Mundel, Michigan State University; Tao Deng, Michigan State University; Guanxiong Huang, Michigan State University; Duygu Kanver, Michigan State University; Elishia Johnson, Michigan State University; Michael Nelson, Michigan State University; Rashad Timmons; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • With continued growth in advertising and marketing to specific ethnic groups, like Hispanics in the United States, it becomes important to understand the intricacies of cultural adaptation in advertising. The current study investigates the effects of cultural adaptation in branded advertising for domestic (US) and foreign (Mexican) products on visual attention to advertising elements. Using a 2 (country of origin: USA vs. Mexico) x 2 (cultural symbol congruence: congruent vs. incongruent) x 3 (ad repetition) mixed factorial design, participants (White only: N = 83) viewed three ads for either an American or Mexican brand with either congruent or incongruent cultural symbol. Results showed that participants exposed to American brand ads fixated more often (total fixation count) and for a longer period of time (total fixation duration) on the cultural symbol when it was congruent than incongruent, while no differences were detected for Mexican brand ads. Additionally, this effect was moderated by automatic bias against Hispanics. Findings are discussed within the context of tailored approaches to advertising and advertising unintended effects.
Boundaries of Message Framing in Charity Advertising: Effects of Anchor Points and Need for Cognition • Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Anli Xiao, Penn State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • The study examined the persuasiveness of message framing and anchor points in the context of a charitable appeal on social media. A 2 (Framing: loss vs. gain) × 2 (anchor points: presence vs. absence) online between-subjects experiment was conducted (N = 211). Results showed that the influence of message framing was dependent on whether anchor points were provided in the message. When anchor points were present, the gain-framed message resulted in a greater level of cognitive elaboration and donation intention; when they were absent, the loss-framed message triggered more cognitive elaboration on the donation request. Moreover, need for cognition (NFC) moderated the persuasive effect of message framing. The effect was more salient among low NFC participants. The study also revealed a three-way interaction effect between message framing, anchor points, and need for cognition on cognitive elaboration. The theoretical and practical implications for charity advertising are discussed.
Inseparable Duos: The Effects of Message Framing and Presentation on College Students’ Responses to Flu Vaccine Public Service Advertisements • Yen-I Lee, University of Georgia; Yan Jin; Glen Nowak, University of Georgia • Previous research on how message framing affects influenza vaccination attitude and intentions has yielded mixed results. The current study examined the effects of message framing and presentation in flu vaccine public service advertisements (PSAs) using a 2 (gain vs. loss framing) x 2 (image-based vs. text-only presentation) between-subjects experiment with a sample of college students (N = 122) from a large public university in the U.S. The findings indicated that flu vaccine PSAs that utilized a gain-framed image-based message or a loss-framed text-only message elicited positive outcomes, including greater confidence in flu vaccine, positive affect toward the advertisement, and positive attitude toward flu vaccine. In contrast, a loss-framed image-based message and a gain-framed text-only message triggered negative attitudes toward flu vaccine. Implications for strategic health communication theory building and vaccine communication practice are discussed.
Consumer Socialization through Social Media: Antecedents of Acceptance of Native Advertising on Social Networking Sites • Yoo Jin Chung, University of Florida; Eunice Kim, University of Florida • Despite the growing popularity of native advertising in the industry, few studies have examined the factors that influence consumer acceptance of native advertising on SNSs. The present study examined the influences of consumer socialization agents on acceptance of native advertising on SNSs. Findings showed that positive peer communication, social media dependency, and attitude toward social media advertising significantly predicted consumer acceptance. The results further revealed the moderating effects of perceived appropriateness of native advertising.
Interaction Effects of System Generated Information and Consumer Skepticism: An Evaluation of Issue Support Behavior in CSR Twitter Campaigns • Yoon-Joo Lee, Washington State University; Nicole O’Donnell, Washington State University; Stacey Hust • Success of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives often relies on issue support from consumers. The current study analyzes issues support for an alcohol company’s drunk driving prevention campaign on Twitter. A 2×2 experiment (n = 212) tested how consumers’ skepticism interacts with system generated information (low v. high number of followers). Skepticism on issue support changed significantly depending on the number of Twitter followers. Implications are discussed for attribution theory and CSR skepticism research.
Advertising’s Male Body: A Content Analysis of Male Models in Esquire Magazine Ads from 1955-2005 • Zienab Shoieb; Eric Haley, University of Tennessee • This paper reports a content analysis of portrayals of the male body in ESQUIRE Magazine from 1955 to 2005. Specifically, the study examined male model muscularity and fat in relation to time and product categories. The study is positioned within the literature on media images and body disturbance issues.
Processing Capacity in Visual Search: The Impact of Visual Salience and Involvement on Attention • Zijian Gong, University of Tampa; Glenn Cummins • Despite the long tradition of examining individual factors and aspects of print ad design and execution, the attention allocation process to different ad execution elements has not been specified. This study reconceptualized and examined potential moderators – namely visual salience and involvement– in terms of cognitive load to predict their real-time combined impact on attention and subsequent processing of magazine advertisements. Eye-tracking data indicated automatic bottom-up attention precedes controlled top-down processing when attending to magazine advertisements. Additionally, results revealed that involvement moderated the impact of visual salience on selective attention to ad execution elements, such that insufficient resource allocation to advertisements for low involvement products inhibited consumers’ attention to visually non-salient ad elements compared to advertisements for high involvement products, as indexed by gaze duration. The findings suggested selective attention is not unitarily driven by message properties or individual factors, and both message and individual level factors should be considered to creative effective print advertisements.
Redefining Rational and Emotional Advertising Appeals as Available Processing Resources: Toward an Information Processing Perspective • Zijian Gong, University of Tampa; Glenn Cummins • This paper redefined emotional and rational advertising appeals in terms of changes in cognitive load they place on viewers’ limited capacity processing system, which helped predict how thoroughly advertising messages are processed under high and low personal relevance condition. Results indicated emotional advertisements elicited better message recall than rational advertisements, but the available resources in the emotional and rational condition remained at the same level. The interaction effect between personal relevance and advertising appeal type on available resources was also observed, such that personal relevance exerted a more significant influence on available resources when viewing rational advertisements than emotional advertisements. The findings suggested that when an advertisement has low personal relevance, rational appeals should be used with caution as viewers may withdrawal their attention and stop processing the message. In contrast, the use of emotional appeals may be a way to sustain attention for low relevance products.
Special Topics Papers
Comparing social media advertising attitudes between advertising and non-adverting majors: A situated learning perspective • Anan Wan, University of South Carolina • This study explored whether advertising majors and non-advertising majors hold different attitudes toward advertisements on social media in terms of their advertising education and their social media self-efficacy, based on a pilot study of 20 interviews and a survey study of 165 responses. It provides a look at the current advertising majors’ perceptions of and attitudes toward social media advertising as the insiders and future professionals. The findings from both studies demonstrate that advertising students have more positive attitude than non-advertising majors toward social media advertising. Theoretical of the Situated Learning Theory were discussed.
Message strategies in Korean cosmetic surgery websites • Gawon Kim, University of Tennessee; Ron Taylor, University of Tennesse, Knoxville • The purpose of this study was to investigate message strategies used in South Korean cosmetic surgery websites. The paper uses Taylor’s six-segment message strategy model to analyze the Korean sample websites and conducted a content analysis. The outcome of the content analysis revealed that Informational and Transformational strategy was both equivalently used. Additionally, it found out that ration and ego strategy was the most frequently practiced strategy. Result, implication and limitations will provide more information on this paper’s result and future research.
Snap or Not: Young Consumers’ Interpretation of Snapchat Marketing • Huan Chen, University of Florida • A qualitative research was conducted to explore young consumers’ interpretation of Snapchat and marketing via Snapchat. The themes that emerged regarding those young consumers’ understanding of the photo-and-video-sharing social medium are being intimate, being casual, and being dynamic, and the themes regarding the participants’ interpretation of marketing information on Snapchat include freedom of choice, seamless integration with the social medium, and eventful and festival orientation. Theoretical and practical implications were offered.
The Myth of Big Data: Chinese Advertising Practitioners’ Perspective • Huan Chen, University of Florida; Liling Zhou • A qualitative study was conducted to explore Chinese advertising practitioners’ perceptions and interpretations of big data in Chinese market. 22 in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Four overarching themes emerged regarding their perception of Chinese advertising market, definition of big data, application of big data, and future development of big data. Based on the themes, a theoretical model was developed to demonstrate big data’s application and development in Chinese market. Theoretical and practical implications were offered.
Proposing Social Cue as a New Social Media Ad Tactic in Unfamiliar Product Adoption • Hyejin Kim, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities; Keonyoung Park, University of Minnesota Twin Cities; John Eighmey • This study proposed and tested the effect of new social media advertising tactic, a social cue, on unfamiliar product adoption. Findings demonstrated that participants with extremely large social network were particularly susceptible to the socially-cued advertising. Their purchase intention showed an inverted U shape as the number of product purchase predecessors increases. This study is expected to contribute to social media advertising literature by providing proactive insights on simple yet innovative ad tactic.
“The Ultimate Cliffhanger:” Campaign Strategies and Extreme Drinking Rituals for Turning 21 • Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University; Nathan Gilkerson, Marquette University • “This qualitative study examined the drinking ritual of the 21st birthday celebration among college student binge drinkers to gain insights that can lead to more effective campaign strategies. Through depth interviews, a pattern of intense peer pressure emerged, not only for the person turning 21 but also for friends. Because each has a role to play in a ritual that celebrates the “ultimate cliffhanger,” campaign strategies aimed solely at the person turning 21 are not sufficient to change behavior.”
Student Papers
Corporate social responsibility (CSR): the effects of cause-related marketing (CRM) message, cause proximity and cause involvement • Hannah Kang, University of Kansas • This study examined the effects of the type of corporate social responsibility (CSR), cause proximity and cause involvement on attitude toward brand, attitude toward company, attitude toward campaign, and campaign participation intention. This study also examined how CSR type, cause proximity and cause involvement affect individual’s risk perceptions toward a particular risk issue. The experiment was a 2 (CSR type: CSR advertising message with CRM/ CSR advertising message without CRM) X 2 (cause proximity: national/international) X 2 (cause involvement: high/low) between-subjects factorial design. A total of 239 undergraduates participated. This study found that a CSR advertising message with CRM components produced a more positive attitude toward a company, a more positive attitude toward a campaign, and a higher campaign participation intention than a CSR advertising message without CRM components. Moreover, the main effects of cause involvement were found on attitude toward brand, attitude toward company, attitude toward campaign, campaign participation intention as well as risk perception toward a cause and importance of a cause.
Corporate Ethical Branding on YouTube: CSR Communication Strategies and Brand Anthropomorphism • Jing (Taylor) Wen, University of Florida; Baobao Song • Even as ethical branding gain increasing prominence, the effectiveness of specific communication and branding strategies remains somewhat unexplored. A content analysis was conducted to examine Fortune 500 companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertisements and user comments on YouTube. The results showcase the importance of involvement strategy of CSR communication and brand anthropomorphism on generating positive consumer responses, and a positive correlation between these two strategies. The findings further suggest that the success of ethical branding on social media lies in more interactive and engaging communication as well as branding strategies.
The Younger Maintain, the Older Regulate: The Generational Effects on Sequential Mixed Emotions • Jing (Taylor) Wen, University of Florida; Naa Amponsah Dodoo, University of Florida; Linwan Wu, University of Florida • Ads with mixed emotions can capture audience’s attention and therefore be persuasive. By using Socio-emotional Selectivity Theory as a theoretical framework, this research examines the influence of generations and sequential mixed emotions on persuasion. Findings indicate that Baby Boomers exhibit more favorable evaluation than Millennials when exposed to an appeal with improving mixed emotions (i.e., negative then positive), because Baby Boomers are better at emotion regulation. In contrast, when exposed to declining appeal (i.e., positive then negative), both generations evaluate the ad positively, because both age groups are able to maintain positive emotions. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
Overcoming Skepticism toward Cause-Related Marketing Claims: The Role of Consumers’ Attributions of Company Motives and Consumers’ Perceptions of Company Credibility • Mikyeung Bae • This study examined two situational factors that might interfere with the intended outcome of a cause-related marketing (CRM) ad on social network sites (SNSs): statements about the motivation of the sponsoring company for supporting a social cause and types of appeals (emotional or informational). This study also explored how highly skeptical consumers and consumers with lower levels of skepticism differ in their responses to CRM ads. An online experiment with 409 college students showed that a firm’s acknowledgements of firm-serving motivation as well as of public-serving motivation could be an effective marketing strategy to reduce consumer skepticism about a firm’s motives. Highly skeptical consumers are less doubting about a company’s intention behind its support of social causes when the company honestly states firm-serving benefits as well as public-serving benefits in its CRM ads. The procedure by which a consumer perceives and evaluates the motives of a company determines the effectiveness of the company’s CRM ads. Finally, a consumer’s perception of a company’s credibility has a great impact on the consumer’s intention to join that company’s brand page. This study advances theories about consumers’ defensive mechanisms that can help predict their favorable responses to the brand pages featuring CRM on SNSs.
Animal Crackers in My…Book? Effects of Shared Reading on Parents’ Memory for Product Placement in Children’s Books • Steven Holiday, Texas Tech University • The shared reading of children’s picture books fosters involvement, engagement, and communication, and results in socialization and development of both parents and children. It can also make readers susceptible to product placements used in the medium, a practice that exists despite its notable absence from academic research. Using experimental design and quantitative statistical analysis, this study explores how social and multi-sensory aspects of shared reading positively affect parents’ recollection of product placements in children’s books.
The Golden Touch: How Screen Touches Influence Product Attitude and Purchase Intention • Xiaohan Hu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The widespread usage of touch screen devices such as smartphones and tablets has changed how people interact with mediated information. The physical action of touch is more direct in that people interact with the information on the screen, rather than indirectly via input devices like a mouse or trackpad. The goal of this study is to examine whether different ways of physically interacting with media influence consumers’ attitude and purchase intention in online shopping, and how haptic congruity between specific product and touchscreen may moderate this effect of interaction. The study reported here showed that consumers assigned more value when product information was acquired by touching. However, main effect of physical interaction on attitude and purchase intention, and interaction effect between interaction and haptic congruity were not found.
The Influence of Persuasion Knowledge on Consumer Responses to Celebrity Endorsement in Social Media • Yiran Zhang, University of Minnesota Twin Cities • This paper explores the effects of consumers’ persuasion knowledge of celebrity endorsement in social media on their attitude toward the celebrity and the endorsed brand, and the moderating role of parasocial interaction. Results show that recognition of advertising intent is negatively associated with consumers’ attitude toward the celebrity. Additionally, parasocial interaction strengthens the relationship between attitude toward the celebrity and brand attitude, but doesn’t interfere with persuasion knowledge to influence brand attitude.
Teaching Papers
From Introducing the World Wide Web to Teaching Advertising in the Digital Age: A Content Analysis of the Past Twenty years of the Journal of Advertising Education • Emory Daniel, North Dakota State University; Elizabeth Crawford, North Dakota State University; David Westerman, North Dakota State University • For twenty years, the Journal of Advertising Education (JAE) has “toiled in the vineyards of advertising academé” to become a highly reputable source for advertising scholarship (Johnson, 1996 p.3). For the purposes of this study, we explored the last twenty years of literature in JAE. A content analysis was implemented to uncover patterns in areas such as areas of focus, methodologies, authorship, and Carnegie classifications of the universities represented.
Student-Run Communications Agencies: Providing Students With Real-World Experiences That Impact Their Careers • Lee Bush, Elon University; Daniel Haygood, Elon University; Hal Vincent • This study examined how current industry professionals perceived the benefits of their student agency experiences and how they applied those experiences to their careers. Graduates placed value on the real-world experience gained from student agencies, learning how a professional agency functions, and working with a diverse set of clients and people in team-based settings. Graduates reported that their student agency involvement separated them in job interviews, better preparing them versus their peers for entry-level positions.
What Do Students Need To Know About Technology And Idea Generation: Voices From The Agency • Robyn Blakeman, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Maureen Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Robert Lambert • The advertising field is constantly changing and educators should identify if changes in the industry prompt changes in the classroom. This paper inquires into the most fundamental part of the advertising process: the idea generation stage. Technology has changed the way art directors interact with design. But the extent of that change, and its implications for advertising pedagogy, are still unknown. This study reports the results of a survey of 38 advertising creatives to describe what is happening in conceptualization at advertising agencies around the country. The findings suggest ways forward in advertising pedagogy, especially curricula in the design sequences.
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