Mass Communication and Society 2007 Abstracts

Mass Communication and Society Division

Media Bias in the Eye of the Beholder: Issue Importance, Issue Support and Political Identity • Lee Ahern and Mark S. Pfaff, Penn State University and Paul Rutter, Curtis Johnson • Perceptions and accusations of media bias abound. Democrats decry the conservative slant of FOX news; Republicans bemoan the liberal bent of CNN. Implied within the bias claims on each side is a communications question worthy of study: How can those on the other side of the political aisle be persuaded by those messages? This study examines the degree to which evaluations of issue importance and issue support are related to political identity.

Rexamining the Application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Internet Advertising • Jaime Marshall Baird and Steven Collins, University of Central Florida • This experiment sought to validate the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion for online advertising. The quality of banner advertisement contents –product endorser and arguments –were manipulated testing the variables’ effect on attitude toward the advertisement for groups with high and low levels of product category involvement. For the low involvement condition, source liking predicted participants’ attitude toward the banner advertisements.

News Editorials and the Patriot Act • Sean Baker and Dominique Helou-Brown, Towson University • A frame analysis was conducted on newspaper editorials about the Patriot Act. Editors initially positioned the Act as a violation of civil rights. This “civil liberty” frame emphasized potential social problems that may arise from the Act by connecting it excessive law enforcement power. The discourse changed in 2004 where the Act was primarily used to support election commentary thereby diminishing the cultural importance of it. Implications for society are discussed.

Two for the Price of the Adversarial Press Corps • Stephen Banning, Bradley University and Susan Billingsley, Google Inc. • Increasingly, presidential press conferences are being held with a foreign dignitary present. This study used content analysis of solo and joint press conferences to test the likelihood of journalists to act in an adversarial manner when in either situation. It was found that journalists were much more likely to act in an adversarial manner in solo press conferences.

The body in question?: Thin-ideal media exposure, social physique anxiety and third-person perception about body image in self and others • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • Research examining the social effects of mass media as it relates to body image distortion often considers some behavioral components, specifically excessive dieting, bingeing, and exercising, but many factors related to predictors of these behavioral outcomes are still largely unknown.

Examining a status quo shift: The impact of Roe v. Wade on coverage of abortion protest • Michael Boyle, West Chester University and Cory Armstrong, University of Florida • Research has demonstrated a consistent pattern wherein the more a protest group threatens the status quo the more critically it is treated. Assessments of threat to the status quo are typically based on considering the group’s goals and tactics. However, the distinct influence of a group’s goals and tactics has not been explored. This study examines news coverage of abortion protests prior to and after Roe v. Wade.

Conceptualizations of Female Empowerment and Enjoyment of Sexualized Characters on Reality Television • Mackenzie Cato and Francesca Dillman Carpentier, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Now more than ever, media images have become increasingly focused on women and sex-as-power imagery. Specifically, reality-based television commonly portrays a type of female empowerment that seems to equal sexual power. This study examines audience reaction to the images seen on the popular reality show The Girls Next Door, which documents the life and fun-times of Hugh Hefner’s three sexy live-in girlfriends.

Electronic mass marketing communications: An evolving story regarding perceptions of unsolicited e-mails versus direct mail • Susan Chang, University of Miami and Mariko Morimoto, University of Georgia • The Internet is still a relatively new mass communication tool for advertisers and marketers. When weighing the potential benefits of electronic techniques against the financial investment, spam seems particularly attractive to marketers for either for-profit or non-profit objectives.

Food for Thought: The Role of Nutritional Information on Children’s Purchase Influence of Food Products • Courtney Childers, University of Tennessee • Research shows that advertising increasingly influences the majority of family purchase decisions, especially for food products and dining options. The present study contributes to the growing body of literature on advertising to children. Specifically, the purpose of this research is to determine whether the inclusion of nutritional content in advertisements targeting children impacts purchase influence/intention with this younger population. Stimuli were created featuring an original spokescharacter marketing a fictional breakfast cereal via 30-second commercial.

The Effects of Fear-Arousing Antismoking Ads on College Students: A Cross-Cultural Study • Hwiman Chung, New Mexico State University and Euijin Ahn, Yeung Nam University • Antismoking advertisements are increasingly used these days, but the effects of these fear-arousing messages have not been consistent throughout the studies. This study is two-fold: First, it explores the moderating role that culture plays on the effects of fear-appeal advertisements on subjects’ message acceptance. Second, this study also investigates the role of message type in two different cultures (Korea and the United States) using adolescents subjects.

Likelihood of Teachers to Discuss Cover-the-Cough Techniques with Students • Prabu David, Ohio State University • Influenza is a common communicable disease in the United States and the threat of Avian Influenza (H5N1) has received much public attention recently. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend three practices to minimize the spread of germs; (1) frequent hand-washing, (2) respiratory hygiene (covering coughs and sneezes), and (3) social distancing.

The Op-Ed Page: Limiting the Debate of Salient Issues • Anita Day and Guy J. Golan, Florida International University • Socialization of the newsroom research has examined how media routines influence news content. This study applies that line of research by examining how the socialization process may influence the content of the opinion section of the newspaper. The results of a content analysis of both editorials and Op-Ed articles from both the New York Times and Washington Post suggest that organizational ideologies in the newspapers’ editorial sections were reinforced in those papers’ opinion pages.

Online news: Uses, perceptions and displacement effects over time • Ester De Waal and Klaus Schoenbach, University of Amsterdam • This study examines changes in the profile of online news users, their uses and perceptions of online news and eventually how this affects the use of traditional media between 2002 and 2005 in the Netherlands by means of a two-wave panel survey. Findings indicate that the online news audience has become more mainstream in some ways, but also more distinct in others.

Partisan, Non-partisan Sources and News Media Framing of the Iraq Issue in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Campaign • Arvind Diddi, SUNY Oswego • This study adds to the conceptual understanding of the framing process in news media by examining the influence of partisan and non-partisan sources on framing of the Iraq issue in the context of a presidential campaign. In all, 445 stories from three network and three cable television channels were content analyzed between Labor Day and election day during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Don’t Tread on My Blog: A Study of Military Web Logs • Michel Haigh, Pennsylvania State University and Michael Pfau, University of Oklahoma • As the popularity of Web logs increases, so, too, have the number of military Web logs. Service members, veterans, and family members are blogging from home, from the base, and from the battlefield. These milbloggers are able to write daily reports that anyone in the world – friend or foe – can read. Little is known about milblogs. This paper analyzes the content of milblogs and how they depict military personnel.

Framing Memories and Constructing National Identity A Newspaper’s Role in an International Controversy • Choonghee Han, University of Iowa • This paper explores the roles of national media in the framing of memories and national identity construction. What frames were used and what kinds of roles a newspaper played towards its audiences are examined. Specifically, this paper examines news coverage of the shrine controversy as it appeared in Japanese largest circulation newspaper. The shrine controversy means the international dispute surrounding Japanese former Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Does Gender Still Matter? Issue Emphasis in 2006 U.S. House and Senate Campaign Ads • Kyle Heim, University of Missouri-Columbia • Political communication researchers examining gender stereotypes have typically found that female candidates benefit by focusing on “female” issues and men benefit by emphasizing “male” issues. In today’s political climate, however, this strategy may no longer make sense. This study content-analyzes 176 ads from the 2006 U.S. House and Senate campaigns and finds little difference between men and women in issue emphasis. Moreover, neither men nor women hurt their chances of winning by violating gender stereotypes.

Free Press, Front Lines: A Phenomenological Study of Embedded Journalists and Their Military Host Officers During the Iraq War • Ana-Klara Hering, University of Florida • During the Iraq War, hundreds of journalists enrolled in the Department of Defense Embedded Media Program, which offered the media frontline access to U.S. and Coalition troops. The unlikely partnership between the military and the media revolutionized modern-day war coverage. This study captured the personal experiences of 14 Marine Corps officers with whom journalists embedded.

Parental Mediation of News Content: Predicting Parental Viewing, Discussing, and Rulemaking about News with Adolescents • Lindsay Hoffman, Ohio State University • Little research has examined parental mediation of news content. This study examines the factors that make parents more or less likely to mediate news on television, in newspapers, and online. Attention is devoted to mediation with adolescents, who are more likely to consume news content than younger children. Family communication patterns, perceived effects of news on children’s attitudes and behaviors, news media use, and parents’ own parental mediation as children were significant predictors of mediation.

The Marijuana Debate: A Social Structural Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Marijuana • Stacey J.T. Hust, Masahiro Yamamoto, Yi-Chun Yvonnes Chen and Rebecca Van de Vord, Washington State University • A social structural analysis of newspaper coverage of marijuana indicated state newspapers are more likely to discuss aspects of the debate that are congruent with their state’s policy. Although research suggests higher circulation newspapers in structurally plural communities have the capacity to discuss complex issues, neither factors influenced media coverage of marijuana. Overall, these findings indicate news coverage in medicinal marijuana states validates the drug’s use.

Terrorism in Film Trailers: Demographics, Portrayals, Violence, and Changes in Content after September 11, 2001 • James (Jimmy) Ivory and Andrew Paul Williams, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Jennifer Hatch, The College of William & Mary and David Covucci, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Terrorism has long been a popular theme in theatrical films. Movie trailers, which have grown increasingly ubiquitous due to technologies such as the World Wide Web and portable digital media players, reach a far greater audience (some viewing intentionally, some unintentionally) than do the films themselves. This paper reports a content analysis examining the demographics and portrayal of terrorists in major-release film trailers, as well as the trailers’ prevalence of violence.

When ‘Good’ Conflicts Go Bad: Testing a Hierarchy-of-Influences Model on Embeds’ Attitudes Toward Censorship in the Iraq War • Tom Johnson, Texas Tech University and Shahira Fahmy, Southern Illinois University • This study, based on surveys of embedded journalists, examines whether embeds’ opinions towards press freedom have changed over time and whether they believe censorship has increased as criticism of the Iraq War have increased and public support has declined.

American Newspaper Coverage of Islam Post – September 11, 2001: A Community Structure Approach • Jason Katz, Victoria Cullen, Connor Buttner and John Pollock, The College of New Jersey • Using a community structure approach linking city characteristics and nationwide reporting on Islam for two years (9/11/2004 – 9/11/2006), a sample of 25 major cities yielded 357 articles. Article prominence and direction measures were combined into Pollock’s Media Vector scores for each newspaper, ranging from +.529 to -.388 (sixteen cities revealing negative coverage).

Verbal Styles of Presidential Candidates in Political Spots and Debates in the U.S. and South Korea • Hyoungkoo Khang, Sungkyunkwan University • This study examined similarities and differences in uses of verbal styles between candidates in both televised political spots and candidate debate statements, and contrasted between the U.S. and Korea. Throughout the computerized content analysis of the presidential spots and debates, to the extent that clear differences exist between American and Korean cultural patterns, political spots and debates, which are a conspicuous indicator of cultural values, appear to manifest these differences quite strongly.

“Your Weight Is Whose Problem?” A Content Analysis of News Frames on Obesity-Related Coverage • Hyo Jung Kim and Sungwook Hwang, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study compared the print news and television news coverage of obesity based on framing theory. Results showed an association between media type and news framing of obesity-related issues. Television news used individualizing frames and human-interest frames more frequently than did print news, while print news used systematic frames, responsibility frames and conflict frames more frequently than did television news.

The News Media Function of Government Websites and Communicative Engagement in Electronic Governance • Ji-Young Kim, Sungkyunkwan University • While the traditional media such as newspaper and television were the unique resources for people to obtain the information on government policies, the Internet has made it possible that they directly access that information with government websites functioning as a news media delivering policy news and political information.

Interplay between Media Use and Social Participation in the Context of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Health Communication • Chul-joo Lee, University of Pennsylvania • This study firstly aimed to explore how media use for health information acquisition and social participation interact in the context of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Then, based on the traditional two-step flow model of communication, I examined whether the interactive effects between media use and social participation on healthy lifestyle behaviors are mediated through interpersonal health communication.

Effects of TV Sexual vs. Physical Violence against Women on Viewers’ Gender and Sexual Attitudes • Moon Lee, J.T. Hust, Lingling Zhang, Yungying and Zhang, Mija Shin, Washington State University • We investigated the effects of sexual vs. physical violence against women portrayed in TV drama on viewers’ gender stereotypes, acceptance of the objectification of women, sexual permissiveness, and rape myth acceptance. Using a posttest-only group experimental design, one hundred and seventy six college undergraduates viewed a set of five clips of either sexual or physical violence on TV.

She May Have That Done: The Third-Person Effect in Plastic Surgery TV Programs • Shu-Yueh Lee, University of Tennessee • This study examines audiences’ perceived effects about plastic surgery television programs. First, the third-person effect is supported in this study. Second, the factor of social distance between self and others does not influence people’s perceived effects all by itself. The gender of the assumed targets is a stronger factor than social distance in affecting people’s perceived effects on others.

Why They Don’t Trust the Media – An Examination of Factors Predicting Trust • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas • Political communication literature reveals an on-going scholarly interest in issues surrounding the credibility of news media. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, many consumers continue to believe U.S. news media have a political bias and, therefore, are not to be trusted. This study seeks to explain media trust using a new theoretical model.

Selective News Exposure, Rally Effects and the Iraq War • Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut • News media coverage of the Iraq war plays a significant role in informing the public about the war event itself. This study examined whether exposure to different news sources had an impact on the public’s opinion on the war. It also explored how the public’s patriotic values, political orientation and religious conviction influenced relationships between their news source exposure and support for the war.

Framing of Public Health Issues: A Content Analysis of Smoking Ban Coverage in Ohio’s Six Major Newspapers • Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University • A content analysis of major newspaper coverage of Ohio’s smoking ban issues was conducted to ascertain possible media effects on voter preference. In general, news articles presented both sides of the arguments for and against the smoking ban, while opinions pieces favored smoking ban legislation. In addition, most articles focused on issues of human individual rights and tobacco companies’ deceptive tactics of persuasion. Implications for future health media campaigns are discussed.

Blog Functions as Risk and Crisis Communication During Hurricane Katrina • Wendy Macias, University of Georgia, Karen Hilyard and Vicki Freimuth • Blogs were examined during the two weeks following Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans to better understand what functions they served. The major functions included both filtering and linking about rescue needs and efforts, missing persons, ways to offer and find assistance, fostering community, and providing information on damage and government response. A thinker function was fulfilled where bloggers expressed opinions, especially on government response.

What Are We Saying About Sex? A Content Analysis of Sexual Health Issues in the Print News Media • Lesa Hatley Major and Kimberly Walker, Indiana University • This study provides a baseline assessment of how the news media present information about sexual health issues in the United States. We content analyzed 330 articles from 49 newspapers around the country. The framing of the coverage was examined using the five levels of the ecological model – intrapersonal, individual, organizational, community, and societal/policy.

All the children are above average: Parents’ perceptions of education and materialism as media effects on their own and other children • Patrick Meirick, Jeanetta Sims and Eileen Gilchrist, University of Oklahoma, Stephen Croucher, Bowling Green State University • Recent research shows parents manifest vicarious third-person perceptions on behalf of their children; that is, they believe their children are less affected by media sex and violence than other children. This study (N = 171) found vicarious third-person perceptions for materialism effects of television and vicarious first-person perceptions for advanced educational effects of public television.

What do we know about cosmeceutical product advertising? Factors influencing college women’s beauty care decision-making • Juan Meng, University of Alabama • By using a 2 X 2 factorial design, this experiment investigated the influence of cosmeceutical product advertising and product-related news on college women’s perceptions of self body-esteem and their beauty care decision-making. The results indicated that although cosmeceutical product ads/news did not exert a great influence on college women’s perceptions of self body-esteem, respondents with different levels of self body-esteem showed significant differences in terms of beauty care decision-making.

Television and social capital in Egypt: A third world examination of Putnam’s theory • Hesham Mesbah, Kuwait University • This study examines Putnam’s theory of social capital from an indigenous third world perspective. A random sample of 400 adults was interviewed in Cairo, Egypt. The results did not support Putnam’s hypothesis of time displacement. People do not get diverted from civic participation because of the amount of time they spend watching TV. Attention to particular programming is more powerful in predicting social capital.

Media Coverage of the Supreme Court • Emily Metzgar, Stella Rouse and Kaitlyn Sill, Louisiana State University • Although the Supreme Court’s influence as a political institution is largely dependent on the media’s dissemination of information about its decisions, little is known about variables leading to media coverage of the Court. In this paper, we examine whether journalists rely on case characteristics for cues about the newsworthiness and political salience of Court decisions. We find that reporters rely on a variety of case factors are indicators of both case importance and political salience.

Framing Islam and Democracy: A Content Analysis of Representations in the U.S. Prestige Press from 1985-2005 • Smeeta Mishra, Bowling Green State University • A content analysis study of the framing of Islam and democracy in the U.S. prestige press between 1985 and 2005 showed that coverage increased substantially after the 9/11 attacks, reaching its peak when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. The top two primary topics associated with the coverage of Islam and democracy were the threat of extremist Islam and political conflict.

Continuous Media Consumption: Evidence from the Middletown II Studies • Jay Newell, Iowa State University, Robert A. Papper, Michael Holmes and Mark Popovich, Ball State University and Mike Bloxham • The post-modern conception of media saturation assumes that individuals are inundated with mass media, and that media exposure is non-stop. This research tested the assumption of non-stop media consumption through an analysis of 4,500 hours of observations from the Middletown II multiple media studies (N = 350). A substantial number of participants were exposed to one or more forms of media for 100% of the observed day.

Patterns of failure: A functional analysis of television spots of unsuccessful U.S. presidential candidates (1952-2004) • Uche Onyebadi, University of Missouri • This paper examines the minimally researched area of television spots of failed presidential candidates. It applies the functional theory of political campaign discourse. An interesting finding: contrary to conventional wisdom, some failed Democratic Party presidential candidates acclaimed more than they attacked in their political spots.

Antecedents of College Student’s Future Intentions to Undergo Cosmetic Surgery: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach • Jin Seong Park and Chang-Hoan Cho, University of Florida • Cosmetic surgery is increasingly used in the U.S. as a method to improve physical appearance. Using a structural equation modeling approach, the authors developed and tested a theoretical model specifying the multiple pathways through which a number of psychological and socio-cultural factors potentially influence the intention to receive cosmetic surgery in the future.

Spiral Of Silence Experiment On An Online Forum: Willingness To Post A Message And Fear Of Isolation • Sung-Yeon Park and Gi Woong Yun, Bowling Green State University and Anca Birzescu • Presence of online forums changed the ways people communicate. Current Weblog culture reflects this cultural phenomenon. Authors of this study realized that the communication environment in CMC is particularly relevant to the discourses of the traditional communication theory, spiral of silence.

TV sex exposure and college students’ sexual expectations attitudes: An experiment • Jack Powers, Ithaca College • Using the Solomon four-group experimental method, 99 subjects were randomly placed into four groups to test the hypothesis that students exposed to 12-minute clips featuring sex content from TV would score higher on a sexual attitudes index than those subjects not so exposed. While there was no statistical significance between the control groups and the experimental groups, the reported attitudes about sexual expectations were quite interesting.

Consumer Culture and Lifestyle Politics: The Case of Socially Conscious, Green, and Anti-Consumption Consumption • Mark A. Rademacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Consumer culture has become entrenched in American society over the past century. The goal of the current paper is to trace to trace the emergence of consumer culture, its affect on civic engagement, and the rise of lifestyle politics. Specifically, three forms of lifestyle politics will be examined– socially conscious consumption, environmental consumption, and anti-consumption movements. Conclusions are discussed regarding the state of civic engagement and lifestyle politics in contemporary consumer culture.

Cancer Research Funding and the Press: Identifying a Relationship and Raising the Question of Causality • Jason Reineke and Michael Slater, Ohio State University, Marilee Long, Colorado State University and Erwin Bettinghaus, Klein Buendel, Inc. • This research was designed to determine if there is a relationship between the amount of news media coverage different types of cancer receive and the amount of money the National Cancer Institute grants for research on those cancers. Analysis of content, epidemiological, and NCI research funding data indicates that newspaper coverage is related to later NCI research funding, and that NCI research funding is related to later newspaper, magazine and television coverage. Implications are discussed.

Excitation Transfer: Arousal States Due to Exercise and Perceptions of Mass Media Images, Media Exposure, and Interpersonal Communication • Claudia Rojo, University of Texas-Austin • In 1959, Bernard Berelson argued that mass communications research appeared to be approaching its end. In response to this claim, Elihu Katz proposed a theory of his own—the uses and gratifications approach—which moved away from asking what media do to people, but rather focused on what people bring to media.

Statewide Political Journalism: Public Perceptions of Media Accuracy, Bias, and Problem-Solving Ability • Karen Rowley, David Kurpius, Robert Kirby Goidel and Christopher McCollough, Louisiana State University • This study explores how perceived media biases affect views of media as being helpful to citizens in their coverage of state politics and public affairs. This builds on a body of literature on cynicism, media bias, and public journalism. The study uses multiple regression analyses of a national survey of 605 respondents. The findings indicate perceived media bias works against the people viewing media as helpful in public problem-solving.

Television and the cultivation of gender stereotypes about sports • Shinichi Saito, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University • This study examines whether viewing televised sports news cultivates gender stereotypes about sports. Data from a sampling survey revealed that viewing televised sports news is related to traditional beliefs about the gender appropriateness of the sports categorized as masculine.

News Media Framing of American Indians: A Study of 10 Years of American Indian News Reports from the ABC, CBS, and NBC Broadcast Evening Network News Programs • John Sanchez, Pennsylvania State University • This study identifies and examines for the first time American Indian News reports broadcast by the CBS, ABC, and NBC evening news programs from 1990-1999. The close examination of these American Indian news reports determines the number of occurrences and examines the construction of news report frames of American Indians to which American Indian news reports can be classified.

Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News • Christian Schemer, Joerg Matthes and Werner Wirth, University of Zurich • This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials (affective priming) perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic and as more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, also had a positively biasing effect on the perceived importance of news.

The Smokers Inside Kids’ Heads: Re-examining Normative Influences on Youth of Tobacco Use • Maureen Schriner, University of Minnesota • The approach of this study in examining normative influences on youth was to compare 4th and 6th graders’ perceptions about tobacco use. Both grades had strikingly similar overestimates of adult smoking prevalence, at nearly three times the actual adult smoking rate. The 4th and 6th graders did differ significantly in mass media tobacco exposure and cigarette brand recognition, but not in other social influence measures.

Social Learning of Aggressive, Argumentative and Disrespectful Attitudes through Stand-up Comedy • Marc Seamon, Robert Morris University • The communication literature on social learning of attitudes through consumption of mediated entertainment has focused primarily on the effects of television violence. Humor researchers have not pursued the same line of media effects study but instead have examined the mood-enhancing effect of comedy.

Intra-media Interaction: The Multiplicative Effects of News Media Use on Political Knowledge • Fei Shen, Ohio State University • A secondary analysis of three data sets revealed that media use not only has independent impact on political knowledge, but also creates joint effects across different programs within a certain type of medium and across different types of media outlets.

The Political World in Storage: How Communication Influences Political Knowledge Structure • Fei Shen, Ohio State University • This study expands traditional studies on media’s influences on political knowledge by examining the relationship between political knowledge structure density (KSD) and various communication behaviors. Three major findings are suggested by data collected from a RDD telephone survey during November 2004 in Ohio. First, newspaper consumption and political discussion contribute to KSD. Second, elaboration, the tendency to make conceptual connections when processing news, is positively related with KSD.

Media Coverage of West Nile Virus and Avian Flu: News Source, News Values, and Issue • Tsung-Jen Shih, Rosalyna Wijaya and Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study examined the use of news sources in New York Times’ coverage of West Nile virus and avian flu through a content analysis. Our findings indicate that government and scientists were the most prominent sources in the coverage of West Nile virus, with the World Health Organization taking over as the second most prominent source in avian flu coverage.

Perceived Influence of Women’s Magazine Portrayals on Body Image • Melissa Shrader and Denise DeLorme, University of Central Florida • A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with frequent readers of beauty and fashion magazines to examine the perceived influence of women’s magazine portrayals on self and others. Findings provide additional evidence to support the third-person effect as it relates to female body image. Results reveal that the portrayals were perceived to have greater and more negative effects on others than on self.

Prime Time Characters and Violence in the 21st Century: Involvement, Race, Sex and Age • Nancy Signorielli, University of Delaware • An analysis of leading/supporting characters in week-long samples of prime time network programming broadcast between the fall of 2000 and the fall of 2006 found that 30% of the characters were involved in violence, with more men than women so involved. Compared to earlier studies, involvement now tilts toward committing violence rather than being a victim of violence, even for the women.

The dual role of ethnic media with its dual content: The effect of local news and home country news connectedness of ethnic media on the sense of belonging to the residential area • Hayeon Song, University of Southern California • Research on ethnic media has had a long dispute about whether ethnic media helps or hampers acculturation. This paper argues the contents of the ethnic media has been overlooked when explaining the two seemingly opposite roles of ethnic media, and it empirically test the effect of local news and home country news featured in ethnic newspapers in Latino, Chinese and Korean ethnic communities in Los Angeles on a sense of belonging to the residential areas.

Harry Potter and the Exploitative Jackals: Media credibility attribute salience in young audiences • Daxton Stewart, University of Missouri • J.K. Rowling’s wildly successful series of children’s books about Harry Potter, the boy wizard, depicts journalists in a decidedly unflattering light. The scandalous, unethical reporter Rita Skeeter antagonizes Harry in the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while The Daily Prophet, the wizarding world’s daily newspaper, portrays him as a mentally disturbed teenager crying wolf in the following book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Blood Diamonds: Coverage and Framing in US and Canadian Newspapers • Avril Adrianne De Guzman, Kyung Sun Lee and Sainan Wang, Iowa State • This study assessed US and Canadian newspaper framing of blood diamonds from 2000 to 2007. By applying the theoretical framework of framing cycle and triggering effect, the research explored shifts in frames used by newspapers marked by two triggering events. Results showed that ‘UN call for diamond certification scheme’ and the “launch of the movie Blood Diamond” were the most frequently cited. The stakeholder frame was the dominant frame for both US and Canada.

Local Media, Public Opinion, and State Government Policy: Second-Level Agenda Setting and Political Bias • Yue Tan and David Weaver, Indiana University • This study aims to explore second-level agenda setting at the state level. In particular, it examines the relationships among media bias of local newspapers, state-level public opinion and state policies, in order to better understand mass media’s role in state policymaking. It is found that local media’s tendency to cite liberal think tanks correlates to policy priorities, while its endorsement of Democratic candidates correlates to liberal public opinion and liberal policies.

Watching Network News and Supporting a Woman Presidential Candidate: Implications from a Non-Election Year Poll • Hai Tran, University of North Carolina • This paper explores the relationships between news use and willingness to support a female candidate for president. Cross-sectional survey data in a non-election year were analyzed to examine the differential effects of media channels on political learning and voting behavior. Findings suggest that exposure to network TV news contributes to opinions about the likelihood of voting for a woman seeking presidency.

Media Effects on Domestic Migration: The Influence of Money Magazine’s “Best Places to Live” Rankings • Sebastian Valenzuela, University of Texas-Austin • City rankings abound, but few studies have measured if they have an impact on real-world conditions. The present study is the first empirical attempt to asses if city ratings have an effect on the public by documenting the influence of Money magazine’s “Best Places to Live” ranking across a 7-year period on domestic migration flows of 66 U.S. cities.

Antecedents to Agenda Setting and Framing in Health and Medical Science News • Sherrie Wallington, Kelly Blake, Kalahn Taylor-Clark and Vish Viswanath, Harvard University and the Dana – Farber Cancer Institute • Few studies have determined the sources and resources that health journalists say they use in developing health and medical science news stories, as well as the priorities and angles they use in selecting and writing stories. We used a national survey of health reporters and editors to show that differential individual and organizational characteristics may influence health reporters’ and editors’ agenda setting and framing of medical and public health news.

The Impact of Political Discussion on Political Decision-making • Ming Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Bruce Pinkleton, Washington State University • A local telephone survey (n=237) was conducted in 2005 to examine how political discussions among voters would affect political decision-making. Factor analysis of the survey data first separates two distinct, yet related, constructs: political cynicism and political skepticism. Multiple regression analysis further shows that political discussion frequency is positively associated with involvement, political efficacy and political skepticism whereas perceived importance of political discussion is only associated with involvement and political efficacy.

What Shapes Americans’ Opinions about Other Countries? News, Entertainment, and Personal Contact • Xiuli Wang, Di Zhang and Temple Northup, Syracuse University • In today’s global environment, public perceptions of foreign countries can play an important role in foreign policy decisions. Accordingly, it is becoming increasingly important to understand what factors contribute to the opinions individuals hold about foreign countries. In this cross-sectional survey, the influences of news, entertainment, and personal contact are examined, with results suggesting that news exposure influences public opinion the most, although entertainment and personal contact may also play an important role.

An Experiment in Female Viewers’ Attentiveness to Pro-Esteem Media Messages • Pierre Wilhelm, Athabasca University and Lucian Dinu, University of Louisiana-Lafayette • The present investigation examined the extent to which commercial TV ads that promote a “pro-esteem” attitude regarding women’s appearance can improve female viewers’ appreciation of their personal beauty. It also questioned whether a professionally produced movie depicting hefty “real women” celebrating their personal beauty could improve female viewers’ body-esteem. Researchers raised two related research questions guiding the present experiment. The first question investigated the effect that test clips exerted on female viewers’ body-esteem.

Does newspaper coverage of breast cancer produce frame-setting effects on teachers’ perceptions? • Zheng Yang, Cornell University and Philip Hart • Results from a content analysis of 140 articles on the breast cancer issue from 1996 to 2005 are compared with data from a self-administered survey conducted in 2005. News articles are selected from the New York Times and four other regional newspapers in the New York State, where the survey was conducted among school teachers. Reports on new findings from scientific research emerge as the dominant theme in breast cancer coverage.

Context and Sources in Broadcast Television Coverage of the 2004 Democratic Primary • Geri Alumit Zeldes, Frederick Fico and Steve Lacy, Michigan State University • This study examined context variables (reporter speculation, multiple viewpoints, and story emphasis) and source variables (anonymous sources and source transparency) in broadcast television coverage of the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. Primary coverage was compared with coverage of other major stories. Primary coverage was no more focused on conflict than were other major stories. Primary coverage was, however, more focused on winners and losers, and primary reporting was more likely to include reporter speculation.

Electoral commitment as an intervening variable: Explaining why age, income and education affect newspaper readership • Jianchuan Zhou, University of Georgia • The theory of civic duty suggests that a sense of civic duty drives citizens to participate in politics and keep informed. Results from a telephone survey preceding a gubernatorial election support this theory. This paper confirms that a relationship between electoral commitment and newspaper use frequency is not spurious, and demonstrates that electoral commitment is an intervening variable between demographic determinants and newspaper use. The intervening role is particularly strong between education and newspaper use.

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Communication Technology 2007 Abstracts

Communication Technology Division (CTEC)

The Role of Animation in Targeted E-Mail Messaging at the Worksite • Betsy Aumiller, Susan B. Byrnes Health Education Center • Learning about healthy behavior is critical in an era when chronic diseases are strongly linked with personal lifestyle choices. Employers have a vested interest in pursuing educational strategies that work to improve employee health and decrease health care utilization. The use of e-mail for health promotion efforts at the worksite presents educators with the freedom to deliver messages outside the boundaries of time and location.

Effects of secondary internet use on people’s time-efficiency: Two time-diary studies on Korea and the United States • Young Min Baek, University of Pennsylvania • Previous studies on effects of internet use produced two contrasting findings – time-displacement and time-efficiency hypotheses. Some scholars supporting the time-displacement hypothesis argue that internet use drives individuals to be isolated and socially disconnected, while others holding time-efficiency hypothesis counter-argue that the internet can create more free time for interpersonal contacts because of its efficiency.

Gatekeeping: From Inception to the Internet • Michael Beam, Ohio State University • Gatekeeping theory has been actively used in communication research since its creation in the middle of the 20th century. While gatekeeping has been expanded to describe the traditional flow of news, it has been completely reconceptualized to describe the new channels through which information flows on the Internet. This paper will provide an overview of gatekeeping research on Internet technology and posit new directions for future research.

Identity and intimacy in online social networking: Qualitative study of young women’s experiences on MySpace • Denise Bortree, University of Florida • Online social networking has become a popular way for young people to maintain connections with friends both local and long distance. This paper explores the use of social networking websites by young women ages 18-21. Specifically, it asks women about activity displacement, the impact of social networking on new and existing relationships, and privacy concerns online. What emerges is the use of this communication forum for both identity and intimacy work.

Internet-Television, Peer-to-Peer Technology and Free Speech: Lessons from Web 1.0 • Mark Caramanica, University of Florida • Internet-protocol television (“IPTV”) services which stream data through a peer-to-peer (“P2P”) network architecture potentially provide for what may one day amount to limitless bandwidth for video content delivery. Such unlimited capacity is achieved through the “positive network effects” inherent in P2P file-sharing architectures. One such platform which has been the subject of recent media coverage is a platform known as “Joost.”

Predictors of the adoption of entertainment, information, communication, and transaction services on mobile phones • Jiyoung Cha and Sylvia-Chan Olmsted, University of Florida • The emergence of 3G networks introduced diverse value-added services on mobile phone. Consumers’ degree of adoption is not homogeneous depending on the service category. Using a survey method, this paper explored the factors that affect the adoption of four types of advanced services on mobile phone. Entertainment, social interaction, and instrumentality motivations predicted the intention to use entertainment, communication, and transaction services, respectively.

Factors behind frequency and duration of using social networking websites: motivations, perceptions, and privacy concerns • Jiyoung Cha, University of Florida • Social networking websites receive substantial attention from media and college students. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted with respect to the driving forces behind college students’ frequent use and time spent on social networks. Integrating uses and gratifications and the technology acceptance model, the current study found that interpersonal utility motive, perceived usefulness, ease of use, Internet experience, and age predict frequency of use of social networking sites.

Factors Affecting the Adoption Intent of VoIP Services: Focusing on Weighted Expected Improvement and SEM • Byeng-Hee Chang, Sungkyunkwan University • This study aimed to find the factors affecting the adoption intent of VoIP services. This study introduced a new concept, weighted expected improvement (WEI), and used structural equation modeling (SEM) as well as regression analysis. The regression results showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived social image, and weighted expected improvement affected VoIP adoption intent. The SEM results found the indirect effects of perceived ease of use and WEI on VoIP adoption intent.

Exploring the Next Frontier of Television: A Global Analysis of Issues Affecting the Development of Mobile Television • Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida • This paper presents a comprehensive examination of the emerging mobile television from the perspectives of its converged telephone-television characteristics, diverse technological delivery mechanisms, new consumption patterns, and major industry issues such as business models, marketing, and regulatory concerns. It was found that mobility, immediacy, personalization, and interactivity make mobile television a unique and complementary medium to fixed-line television for a complete audience viewing experience.

Sharing, Connection, and Creation in the Web 2.0 Era: Profiling the Adopters of Video-Sharing and Social-Networking Sites • Hsuan-Ting Chen, University of Texas-Austin • The objective of this study was to understand users’ behavior and motivations for adopting video-sharing and social-networking Web 2.0 applications. Results from a random-sample Web-based survey of 1,055 students revealed differences between adopters and non-adopters of theses two applications when analyzed according to demographic profile, use of other Internet activities, news consumption.

Gatekeeping Journalists’ Weblogs: The Influence of Media Organizations and Individual Factors Over U.S. Journalists’ Perceived Autonomy • Hyeri Choi, University of Texas-Austin • This study explored if j-bloggers are influenced by four factors: complexity, blog ownership, size, ad-dependency. It starts from the question that even if, in general, weblogs are considered a symbol of freedom, j-bloggers might not have autonomy. Four hypotheses were delivered. Four influencing factors in this study were guided by gatekeeping theory, following the assumption that gatekeeping theory can also be applied to certain types of new media, including weblogs.

Internet Use and Political Empowerment • Jae Eun Chung, University of Southern California • Unequal access to the Internet has become a critical issue from the concern that people with low degree of access to the Internet could be left behind in enjoying greater personal empowerment from using Internet-based services. In particular, political empowerment is important to democratic processes. This study explores the predictive effect of differing degrees of Internet access and demographic characteristics of internet users on political empowerment and political information gathering.

Risk judgments of online privacy • Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho, and Jaeshin Lee, National University of Singapore • This study examined how individuals’ judgments on risks related to online privacy (online privacy risks) were influenced by communication processes, prior experience, and self-efficacy beliefs.

Marshaling McLuhans’ “Laws” to Explicate New Media • Mike Dorsher, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire • All media follow four laws during their evolution and devolution, the Canadian father-son research team of Marshall and Eric McLuhan said in their 1988 book “Laws of Media: The New Science.” All media, they said, extend some faculty or organ of the user; close, or obsolesce, another faculty; retrieve some facets of previous media; and reverse into some unintended form when pushed to their capacity.

From Expression to Influence: Understanding the Change in Blogger Motivations over the Blogspan • Brian Eckdale, Kang Namkoong, Timothy Fung, Muzammil Hussain and Madhu Arora, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and David Perlmutter, University of Kansas • Because the majority of research on political blogs has focused on blog content (Adamic & Glance, 2004; Bichard, 2006; Jackson, 2006; Rogers, 2005), the influence of blogs (Drezner & Farrell, 2004) or blog readers (Johnson & Kaye, 2004; Kaye & Johnson, 2002), little study has been done on prominent political bloggers themselves.

The Dynamics of China’s Technical Internet Censorship System • Guangchao Feng and William Y. Lai, The University of Hong Kong • The Chinese government is concerned about its status as the world’s second largest Internet population but with priority on economic development, curbing the Internet is not so straightforward. This paper reveals that Chinese authorities use several methods to block Internet access, which are not just simply centrally-controlled, but instead use sophisticated multi-level filtering techniques. Furthermore, China’s Internet blocking mechanisms are volatile, diversified and dynamic in response to changing situations.

Does Interactivity serve the Public Interest? The Role of Political Blogs in Deliberative Democracy • Kim Garris, Jamie Guillory, Russ Manning and S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University • Political blogs are distinguished by their heightened interactivity, allowing users to participate directly in the political process. Does the interactivity afforded by political blogs really serve the public interest by contributing to deliberative democracy? A longitudinal between-subjects experiment was conducted during the week preceding the November, 2006 elections to answer this question. Registered voters and unregistered users responded in opposite ways, with theoretical implications for the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the psychology of interactivity.

Online and Offline Activism: Communication Mediation and Political Messaging Among Blog Readers • Homero Gil de Zuniga, Aaron Veenstra, Emily Vraga, Ming Wang, Cathy DeShano and Dhavan Shah, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Political bloggers are viewed by many as lone voices, socially disconnected and working apart from the traditional mechanisms of political participation. In this paper, we seek to challenge the basis for that view by examining the ways in which the members of blog audiences engage in the political process, not just through traditional means but through new online pathways, as well.

Comparing Audiences’ Responses to Real versus Virtual Human Product Endorsers on an E-Commerce Site • Li Gong and Osei Appiah, Ohio State University • Ethnic identity is posited as a key concept for understanding the degree to which ethnic minorities embrace their ethnic membership and communicate according to group-prescribed norms and preferences.

The Mediasphere and the Blogosphere in Canada: Analysis of Content and Link Practices Among Journalist-Blogs • Abby Goodrum, Ryerson University • This paper presents preliminary results from a study exploring Canadian Journalist-Blogs. The study builds on earlier work by Bruns (2005), and Singer (2006) and provides a descriptive baseline for exploring how journalists and mainstream media outlets in Canada are utilizing the blog format. The research focuses on 43 blogs associated with mainstream news media outlets, using a content and link analysis.

Reply magnets and preferential attachment in online political discussions: A network analysis of six month of discussions in 20 political newsgroups • Itai Himelboim, University of Minnesota, Danyel Fisher, Microsoft Research, Eric Gleave, University of Washington and Marc Smith, Microsoft Research • Online discussion groups, as many other large networks, form a power-law distribution, where few participants attract large number of replies to their posts, and most people receive very little. This study aims to explore the dynamics that create this unequal distribution of replies as well as to identify social roles played by the few highly replied individuals.

Comments Discussion and the Public Sphere: A Case Study on Comments in Online News Site • Yejin Hong, University of Minnesota • This paper examined the potential of the public sphere in comments discussion. The comment section is an interactive setting in online news, which encourages participants to exchange their opinions rather than others. In order to decide the potential of the public sphere in comments, three requirements of the public sphere were regarded: the quality of messages; the direction of conversation; the process of consensus.

The Role of Trust in Interactive Communication: Antecedents and Consequences of Website Trust • Jisu Huh and Soyoen Cho, University of Minnesota • The study aims to examine the role of trust in Web users’ participation in interactive communication in a form of information sharing and identify antecedents of trust. By testing a trust model empirically with a nationally representative sample, this study found strong direct relationship between trust in websites and information sharing behavior in commercial Websites.

Choosing is Believing: How Web Gratifications and Reliance Affect Internet Credibility among Politically Interested Users • Tom Johnson, Texas Tech University • This study relied on an online survey of politically interested Web users during the 2004 presidential election to examine the degree to which people judged online information as credible. All online media were seen as only moderately credible, with blogs and online newspapers being rated higher than online broadcast and cable news. Reliance on the online source proved to be the strongest predictor of whether it was judged as credible.

Parsing out the players in the blogosphere:Developing a predictive model of blogging and blog readers • Julie Jones and John Wirtz, University of Minnesota • To date, the means of discovering the attributes of bloggers has been left to largely anecdotal observations (Gillmor, 2004; Trippi, 2004), descriptive statistics (Davis, 2005), in-depth interviews (Cohen, 2005; Kline & Burstein, 2005) and content or linguistic analysis (Herring, Scheidt, Kouper, & Wright, 2007; Nowson, 2006; Sundar, Edwards, Hu, & Stavrositu, 2007).

Impression Formation Effects in Computer-Mediated Communication and Human-Computer Interaction • Sriram Kalyanaraman, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University • In this conceptual article, we outline the importance of impression formation effects in online environments. Unlike traditional impression formation research, we identify the importance of studying impression formation effects of not just online interactants or communicators, but also impression formation effects of the technology itself.

Perceived Credibility of Online Media: A study of Social Significance, Personal Significance, and Interactivity Factors • Ji young Kim and Stephen Masiclat, Syracuse University • To study online users’ perceived credibility of the online news media, this study proposed a positive influence of the three factors (social significance, personal significance, and interactivity) on the perceived credibility of the online news media, one of the key sources for understanding online media impact. In the tests of hypotheses, two treatment effects of social significance and interactivity were reported in evaluating the credibility of online news media.

Understanding Diffusion of J-blogs: An Examination of Factors Affecting Korean Journalists’ Blog Adoption • Yonghwan Kim, University of Texas-Austin • This study was designed to investigate factors affecting journalists’ adoption of weblogs, using three theoretical frameworks: the diffusion of innovation theory, the theory of planned behavior, and the uses and gratifications approach. The results of a national survey of Korean journalists indicated that perceived characteristics, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control and perceived needs are partially affecting j-blog adoption, while demographic profile and innovativeness did not turn out significant.

Are You Searching or Surfing? : The Effects of Searching vs. Surfing • Hyo Jung Kim, Jeesun Kim, Kevin Wise, University of Missouri • To contribute to the body of work on the role of searching vs. surfing in information processing, this study examined how these two ways of obtaining online content influence cognitive as well as emotional responses based on the theoretical framework of Elaboration Likelihood Model. A 2 (search type: searching vs. surfing) x 3 (repetition) mixed design experiment was performed.

Does the Internet add value to traditional print products? An analysis of newspaper Web sites and their relationship with the print version • Jennifer Kowalewski, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study investigated how traditional newspapers used their online Web sites to reach readers. Results indicated that larger circulation newspapers added more value to their online product then smaller circulation newspapers. Newspapers with higher household penetration offered a higher level of interactivity online. Newspapers used their online product similarly especially when dealing with offering breaking news, sports and advertising. Editors used Web sites slightly differently when dealing with interactivity.

Exploring Classic Political Participation, Involvement, and Socialization through Communication Technology • Ruthann Lariscy, Kaye Sweetser and Spencer Tinkham, University of Georgia • Looking at age cohorts, this study investigates political socialization and voting behaviors in relation to political participation and involvement in classic and contemporary contexts (including use of FaceBook, MySpace). Informed by general consensus and empirical findings that a younger cohort has different beliefs about politics than their older counterparts, this study delves into the concepts of political participation and involvement.

An International Empirical Analysis of Broadband Adoption Factors • Sangwon Lee and Justin Brown, University of Florida • Broadband infrastructure is a key component of the knowledge economy. Through statistical analysis of more 70 observations, this study examines influential factors of broadband adoption. The results of this empirical study show that platform competition, local loop unbundling, broadband speed, information and communication technology use and population density contribute to global broadband adoption. This study also finds that mobile broadband is neither a complement or substitute for fixed broadband.

Perceived knowledge, emotion, and health Information use: Exploring antecedence and consequence of patients’ worry • Sun-Young Lee, Hyunseo Hwang, Robert Hawkins and Suzanne Pingree, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The Internet has emerged as an important source for people diagnosed with cancer to obtain health-related information. During the course of the illness, women diagnosed with cancer need information to make decisions about treatment and to get help in coping with the decisions they have made.

Satellite Radio Adoption Dynamics: Adopter Cognition, Technology Fluidity and Technology Cluster • Carolyn A. Lin, University of Connecticut • The subscription-based satellite radio services changed the economic fundamentals of the radio industry. To better understand the long-term economic viability of the satellite radio industry, the present study proposes to examine the satellite radio adoption process by exploring audience beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and intentions, relative to their actual adoption behavior. Data was collected via a national telephone survey of radio listeners. Study results are discussed in conjunction with implications for theory building and industry practice.

The perceived ethicality of Web sites and its implication for persuasion processes • Robert Magee, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Sriram Kalyanaraman, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Evidence was found that people can attribute ethicality to a Web site, and differential perceptions of ethicality can lead to related perceptions being realized, as well. This study also extended the scope of previous findings in the Computers Are Social Actors paradigm, which have normally not examined deeper variables, such as extent of persuasion.

Customization vs. Personalization: The Role of Power Usage and Privacy • Sampada Marathe, S. Shyam Sundar and Christen Reese, Penn State University • This paper attempts to explain why power users prefer content that they customize themselves while low-end users would like it when the system personalizes content for them. It experimentally demonstrates that this interaction between self vs. system tailoring and power-usage occurs only under conditions of low privacy. It also explores other theoretical mechanisms via mediators such as self-efficacy, sense of control, convenience, and utility, with implications for theory and design of tailoring sites and systems.

Collective Identity on hate group Web sites • Michael McCluskey and Heather LaMarre, Ohio State University • Hate group Web sites communicate a collective identity to potential members. Analysis of 911 text articles on 28 hate group Web sites showed two elements of collective identity, justification and victimization, varied by target and group type. Material contained highest justification when foreign government and integration were targets, and among Neo-Nazi groups. Highest victimization occurred when Jews and U.S. government were targets, and among Skinhead groups.

Mobile Phone Text Messaging Overuse among Developing World University Students • Stephen Perry, Illinois State University • Mobile phone text messaging often is more affordable than voice messaging in the developing world. Its similarity to instant messaging and other Internet synchronous communication technologies suggests that overuse and addiction-like tendencies might be found among users as has been identified with these similar technology applications. Symptoms related to components of addiction diagnoses were found to be prevalent among 214 respondents to a survey, all of whom were completed questionnaires at the University of Mauritius.

Weight loss blogs: An analysis of their potential as adjuncts to women’s dieting efforts • Paula Rausch, University of Florida • This study sought to fill gaps in existing literature by examining weight loss blogs through qualitative grounded theory techniques to determine what they mean to the women who write and how they fit in to their weight loss endeavors. These meanings fell into six broad themes: expression and reflection, connection, balance, struggle, control, and fear. A theoretical model was developed showing how weight loss blogs may hold potential for breaking resistant weight loss-gain patterns.

Using the Internet for Specialized In-depth Information • Daniel Riffe, Ohio University, Steve Lacy and Miron Varouhakis, Michigan State University • This national survey found that the Internet is a valued source of in-depth information about health, science, and business. Between 31% and 50% of the respondents said they use the Internet weekly for in-depth information in one of the three areas. Background variables predicted whether people use the Internet for such information better than they predicted people’s evaluation of that information’s quality. The results suggest researchers should study the functions of in-depth specialized online information.

Chronicling the Chaos: Tracking the news story of Hurricane Katrina from The Times-Picayune to cyberspace • Susan Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The extraordinary breaking news story of Hurricane Katrina offered an opportunity to document how multimedia and interactive features interfere with the carefully crafted news story of a newspaper. This textual analysis of the case study was informed by press and medium scholarship. The main finding was that the newspaper tale of a mythic Flood in an American city transformed into a chronicle about people’s personal experiences in cyberspace.

What’s on Wikipedia, and What’s Not? Completeness of Information on the Online Collaborative Encyclopedia • Cindy Royal and Deepina Kapila, Texas State University at San Marcos • The World Wide Web continues to grow closer to achieving the vision of becoming the repository of all human knowledge. While improved search engines such as Google facilitate access of knowledge across the Web, some sites have increased in popularity and have attracted the attention of more Web users than others. Wikipedia is one such site that is becoming an important resource for news and information.

From Have Nots to Watch Dogs: Understanding the Realities of Senior Citizens’ Use of the Internet for Health Information • Sally J. McMillan and Avery Johnson, University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Wendy Macias, University of Georgia • Senior citizens are often positioned as “have nots” in the digital age, but many use the internet for health information. This study uses grounded theory to explore online health communication among older Americans. Open-ended survey responses from 424 internet users age 55+ were analyzed. Selective coding categories were: empowerment, personal and professional communities, and watchdogs and peer assumptions. These themes are discussed in the context of health communication literature with suggestions for future research.

Innovation or Normalization in E-Campaigning? A Longitudinal Content and Structure Analysis of German Party Web Sites in the 2002 and 2005 National Elections • Eva Johanna Schweitzer, University of Mainz • The paper explores the innovation and normalization hypothesis of e-campaigning by a longitudinal content and structure analysis of German party Web sites in the 2002 and 2005 National Elections. The comparison of the formal home page appearance and its argumentative stance provides support for a partial innovation process: The Web sites became more information rich, more interactive, and more sophisticated. On the content level, though, traditional offline strategies, such as metacommunication or negative campaigning, prevailed.

The U.S. Transition to Digital Television: The Final Steps • Pete Seel, Colorado State University • On February 17, 2009 the nation’s television broadcasters will turn off their analog transmitters. The final stage of the transition to digital television will affect five primary groups: broadcasters, the federal government, television manufacturers, multi-channel video program distributors, and consumers. This paper analyzes the preparedness of these groups for the transition and questions if federal plans to assure universal access to the new digital television format are workable.

VOIP-telephone service: Economic efficiencies and policy implications • Sangho Seo, Konkuk University • The primary purpose of this study is to estimate, empirically, the economic efficiency of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) technology and discuss how the emergence of VOIP technology is effective in leading to additional competition in U.S. local telecommunications markets.

Perceived Credibility of Job Search Sites and Users’ Intention to Post Resume • Wonsun Shin, University of Minnesota • This study investigated how perceived credibility was related to persuasion in two job search websites. Results showed that perceived credibility was positively related to users’ intention to post their resume on the website they visited. Observable credibility cues played more important roles for those who were less familiar with the websites in their decision to post or not to post resume, while reputation and quality attributes did not work differently by website familiarity.

The Interconnected Web: Media Consolidation, Corporate Ownership, and the World Wide Web • Charlene Simmons, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga • Has the Internet become a democratic medium and source of alternative information, like some hoped? Or is the Internet, like other mass media, controlled by large media corporations? This study explores this question by examining the entities behind the most popular Web brands. In the end, the article finds that the most frequented portion of the Web is controlled by commercial corporations and does not appear to serve as an alternative to traditional media sources.

If You Build It, Will They Come? Blogs in the Journalism and Mass Communication Curriculum • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire/University of Iowa • Despite the spread of blogs in the media and in academia, little scholarly work has explored their use within the journalism and mass communication curriculum. This study, based on incorporation of blogs in 10 classes over five semesters, examines student use of the format in relation to theories of social and blended learning. The findings suggest that although students tend to approach blogging as yet another assignment, their engagement in online conversation offers pedagogical benefits.

Predicting iPod Implementation: Use and Impact of an iPod • Tang Tang, Ohio University • This survey study was designed to examine the iPod usage and impacts. The findings of this study suggested that the iPod usage was influenced by motivations, availability, accessibility, user activities, alternative media behavior, and attitudes toward use. Among all the factors, attitudes toward use was the strongest predictor of the iPod usage, followed by audience availability and the cost an iPod user spent on purchasing music, media files, and accessories for the iPod.

From Product to Service: Dynamic Content in Online Newspapers • Mark Tremayne, Amy Schmitz Weiss and Rosental Alves, University of Texas-Austin • Our study documents a steady increase in dynamic journalism on the websites of 24 U.S. newspapers, including a sharp rise in 2006 of multimedia elements, particularly video. This trend was apparent for smaller newspapers as well as large. While traditional news categories are the most common source of dynamic content, the growth is coming from coverage of weather, sports, crime and accidents. There also appears to be a rise in softer news.

Frames and Opinion in the Blogosphere: Testing Attitude Constraint in Political Blog Readers • Aaron Veenstra, Rosalyna Wijaya, Emily Acosta and Muzammil Hussain, University of Wisconsin-Madison • As blog readership increases, the question of how political blog readers differ from non-readers becomes more important to fully understanding the landscape of political attitude formation. Most extant research on blogs fails to address this question in some fundamental way – focusing on non-political blogs, focusing on bloggers rather than readers, or failing to separate blog readership from other types of Internet use.

Behind Closed Doors: China’s Internet Censorship and Its Implications on the Blogosphere • Shao-Jung Wang and Junhao Hong, University of Buffalo • This paper investigates the implications of regulation in China’s blogosphere and the extent to which it impacts bloggers from both a social and a cultural context. The abundant diary-style blogs and bloggers’ limited interest in politics demonstrate a new cultural phenomenon that obscures the impact of censorship on blogging. However, cyberspace creates the structure of surveillance environment, concentrated power and sustained inequality. China’s blogosphere has relatively little value as a medium for organized free speech.

The Digital Divide and the Knowledge Gap • Lu Wei and Douglas Hindman, Washington State University • Based on a national survey, it has been found that (1) the informational use of the Internet is more important than the access to the Internet in predicting political knowledge, (2) socio-economic status is more strongly associated with the informational use of the Internet than with that of the traditional media, and (3) the usage gap of the Internet is associated with a greater knowledge gap than is the usage gap of traditional media.

“Why do you read blogs and update your facebook page so much?”: Using psychological variables to predict specific Internet behaviors • John Wirtz and Julie Jones, University of Minnesota • The current study presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between four psychological variables-need for cognition (NFC), social comparison orientation (SCO), sensation seeking (SS), and need for uniqueness (NFU)-and three popular Internet behaviors. NFC explained variation in blog reading but not blogging or updates to myspace/facebook pages, while SCO explained variation in all three activities.

Breaking News on the Web: Top Story Life and News Topic and Type • Jin Xu, Winona State University • This research examines the relationship between the life and update of the online news top story and news topic and type. The research sample consists of the real-time updates to CNN.com’s top stories in nine randomly selected 72-hour periods. The findings show that the degree of timeliness is determined, to a large extent, by the topic and type of the top stories. The implications of the findings and further directions of this research are discussed.

Online Consumer Trust in the Context of Internet Experience-Exploring Antecedents and Consequences • Liuning Zhou, University of Southern California • Past studies have looked for determinants of online consumer trust in variables internal to the online shopping process or trusting disposition of online shoppers. It is a strategy for conceptual and empirical convenience. This study puts online consumer trust in the context of Internet experience, and examines variables external to the online transaction process. Results from a national random sample show that Internet ability and Internet perception have a significant impact on online consumer trust.

<< 2007 Abstracts

Advertising 2007 Abstracts

Advertising Division

Research
Motivation Crowding: The Hidden Costs of Introducing an Incentive in Advertising to Promote Intrinsic Behavior • George Anghelcev, University of Minnesota and John Eighmey, University of Minnesota • Common sense suggests that the offer of an incentive, such as a rebate or another promotional offer, should increase people’s willingness to perform a certain behavior. Indeed, incentives are often placed in advertising to increase the speed and extent of consumer response. But, do incentives always work in an additive manner to increase the motivation to respond to advertising? Or, are there circumstances in which incentives reduce the motivation to respond?

“Look Mom! Can I get that toy?”: Parental Concern Regarding the Impact of Television Advertising on Pre-School Children • Shannon Bichard, Maria Fontenot, Kent Wilkinson and Alex Ortiz, Texas Tech University • Many have debated the impact of television on young children as well as issues of responsibility. Specifically, advertising aimed at young children has been addressed as a cause for concern. The current study attempts to reveal perceptions of advertising influence from a unique perspective – parents of pre-school aged children belonging to two cultural groups: Anglos and Hispanics.

‘Ad Nauseum’ Hits Nebraska: Analysis of 2006 Television Ads for U.S. House and Senate Candidates • Ruth Brown and Kyle Petersen, University of Nebraska at Kearney • This research analyzed all of the television advertisements uploaded to the websites of candidates for three U.S. House and one U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska in 2006. Verbal and nonverbal content plus cinematography techniques were studied to determine if they followed national trends or blazed new trails that could be followed by future campaigns in conservative states. Results showed that the candidates’ ads followed some trends but also carved some niches all their own.

Cultivation effects of television advertising: An urban rural comparison • Xiao Cai, Wei Fang and Kara Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University • A survey was conducted to examine the cultivation effects of television advertising on the belief about the prevalence of affluence in society and the materialistic value orientation among adolescents in urban and rural China. Altogether 792 adolescents aged 11 to 17 in a rural county in Henan province and in Guangzhou city were surveyed in October to December 2006.

Is That Website for Me? An Affect/Pleasure-as-Information Model of Self-Website Image Congruency Effects • Chingching Chang, National Chengchi University • This study explores the idea that the visual design of a website can convey a brand and/or corporate image. It is proposed that, because of the ability of self-concepts to regulate affect, congruency between a website’s projected image and a consumer self-concept will produce positive emotional responses and hedonic pleasure.

Consumer Attitudes towards Product Placement: Implications for Public Policy • Federico de Gregorio, University of Alabama, Yongjun Sung, University of Texas-Austin and Jong-Hyuok Jung, University of Texas at Austin • As a form of covert marketing communication tool, the practice of placing branded products within films for commercial purposes has gained popularity among marketers and brand managers. At the same time, the popularity of this practice increases concerns and discussions of public well-being from various groups such as public policy makers, consumer interest groups, regulatory agencies, and consumers.

Influence of Appeal Type in Direct Mail: How Inducing Feelings of Gratitude and Obligation Affects Consumer Response • Sara Dodd, Natalia Kolyesnikova and Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • Gratitude and obligation are identified as two affective responses that have received minimal treatment by social scientists and virtually no consideration in advertising research. Participants (N = 120) were exposed to advertising copy text in mock postcards sent from a hypothetical winery to its visitors. Results indicated exposure to gratitude messages translated positively to consumers’ purchase intents and attitudes toward the company. Exposure to obligation messages, on the other hand, had less positive influences.

Excellent Account Planning: What Award Winning Planning Cases Tell Us about Planning’s Utility in Advertising • Eric Haley, Margaret Morrison and Ronald Taylor, University of Tennessee • This study investigated three years of the Jay Chiat Planning Awards given for excellence in account planning. Among measures, case studies were analyzed with an interpretive approach to identify the 1) problem; 2) types of research used to solve the problem 3) solution orientation and target market; 4) insight; 5) goal of advertising; 6) creative strategy; 7) media used; 8) media, public relations and sales promotion implications; and, 8) results.

Appeals and Physician Portrayals in Cosmetic Surgery Magazine Advertisements from 1985 to 2004 • Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Although increased marketing activity has contributed to the rise in cosmetic surgery, little is known about the content of advertising messages. This study examines physical properties, appeals, and portrayals of physicians in cosmetic surgery advertisements in city magazines for four markets from 1985-2004 and finds that promotional activity has increased significantly over time, that most ads continue to use rational vs. emotional appeals, and that physicians credentials play a central role in such ads.

Physician Perceptions of Third-, Second-, and First-Person Effects of DTC Prescription Drug Advertising on the Physician-Patient Interaction • Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota • This study, using the DTC advertising phenomenon as a context, examined three types of person-effects of DTCA among physicians, and explored how and what types of personal background and experience factors might determine first-person, second-person, or third-person effect perceptions. Behavioral implications of different person-effect perceptions were also investigated.

Understanding the Effectiveness of Product Placement: The Role of Placement Congruency and Information Processing • Kavita Jayaraman, Jing Zhang • This project examined the influence of placement congruency and information processing on the effectiveness of product placement in a TV sitcom. In an experiment, we found that compared to an incongruently placed product, a congruently placed product elicited lower level of product recall, but more favorable product attitudes among respondents. Moreover, this attitudinal effect was more pronounced when the respondents engaged in incidental (vs. deliberate) information processing when they watched the TV program.

Effects of multitasking and arousal on television advertising recall • Se-Hoon Jeong, University of Pennsylvania, Weiyu Zhang and Martin Fishbein • Audiences frequently engage in multitasking that is using media while doing something else (e.g., work). The present experiment examined young audiences’ recall of advertising content as a function of a) multitasking (watching television while doing homework) and b) arousal due to sexual content in television programming. Results suggest that multitasking tends to reduce audiences’ recall of advertisements, and there is an interaction between multitasking and degree of sexual content.

Attitudes toward Advertising in General: A Re-Inquiry • Hyun Seung Jin, Kansas State University • This paper investigates attitudes toward advertising in general. We argue in this paper that laypeople perceive some types (examples) of advertising as more typical (more likely advertising) and others as less typical (less likely advertising). A Promotional Activity Profile was developed and used to measure the typicality in advertising. Perceived typicality in a person’s mind, in turn, can affect attitudes toward advertising in general.

The Role of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Evaluation of Corporate Visual Identity • Jong Woo Jun and Chang-Hoan Cho, University of Florida and Hyuck Joon Kwon, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies • This study investigates the role of affect and cognition in shaping attitudes toward the Corporate Identity Logo. The findings suggest that both affective and cognitive components of CVI exert significant influences on consumer attitudes toward the CI logo, which in turn, leads to company attitudes and subsequently to purchase intention. Cultural differences were also detected in consumer CI evaluation: affect was more important for the American while cognition was more significant for the Korean subjects.

An Exploratory Content Analysis of Online Gambling Advertising on TV: The Trojan Horse Strategy • Jong-Hyuok Jung, Yoojung Kim, Wei-Na Lee, The University of Texas at Austin and David J. Lyon • This study explored the amount and characteristics of online gambling advertising on television to obtain a better understanding of the current state of online gambling advertising in the U.S. To achieve this goal, a content analysis of televised poker program advertising of five networks (i.e., ESPN, ESPN2, GSN, FSN, and Travel Channel) was carried out.

Viewing Television Programs and Commericals in a Public Setting • Hana Kim, Wesley Burnett, Lenette Golding and Dean Krugman, University of Georgia • This study examines television viewing behavior in public settings. Eyes on screen measures and field notes were used to examine attentiveness to both commercials and programming during the 2006 NCAA basketball tournament. Results reveal that on average respondents had their eyes on screen 29% of the time during commercials and 51% of their time during the programming. Findings for commercial viewing are close to previous studies using similar techniques for in-home viewing.

A Frontier Analysis for Advertising Budget Decisions • Kihan Kim and Yunjae Cheong, University of Texas at Austin • In an attempt to help marketers set and allocate advertising and promotion budget, we developed efficient frontier among the 38 global firms using DEA methodology. Seven input variables, including six breakdowns of advertising media spending and the total promotion dollars, and two output variables, corporate revenue and reputation, were analyzed.

Value Congruency Effects of Advertising on Attitude and Behavioral Intentions • Sora Kim and Eric Haley, University of Tennessee-Knoxville • This study intends to explore how people’s different personal and business values could influence their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward product and corporate advertising. Our study found a significant value congruency effect for both product and corporate ads. High value congruency groups showed more favorable attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the ads and brands advertised than low value congruency groups for both personal and business values.

Agenda Setting Effects of Public Service Advertising: An Experiment • Joongrok Kwon and Jack Powers, Ithaca College • This study is aimed at testing the agenda-setting effects of public service advertisements on children. It employs an experimental approach, using a number of alternative stimuli. This study concentrates particularly on the dimensions of a recipient’s attention level, recall, level of interest and importance of the exposed PSA theme, plus behavioral intention.

Global brands without ads? Insights into Starbucks’ customer satisfaction • En-Ying Lin and Marilyn Roberts, University of Florida • Starbucks dominates global coffee consumption by capturing customers’ attention and commingling with their lifestyles without large sums of mass mediated advertising. The study uses survey methodology to examine the opinions from 400 of Starbucks’ customers living in Taipei. The findings suggest that conducting business and making them feel distinctive are keys to high satisfaction. These findings contrast with two important prediction variables for general customer satisfaction levels.

I see what you don’t see. The Role of Individual Differences in Field Dependence-Independence as a Predictor of Product Placement Recall • Joerg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Werner Wirth and Anna-Katerina Kissling, University of Zurich • Individual differences in the cognitive trait of field dependence-independence are an integral factor for the perception of product placements. The reason is that field independent individuals are better able to separate a stimulus from its embedding context; thus, they can more easily recognize a placement in a complex audiovisual field. The results of an experiment demonstrate that field independent individuals score higher on recall measures than field dependent individuals.

Putting to Death the Talk of the Death of the 30-Second Commercial • Michael Maynard, Temple University and Alison Carey, American Board of Internal Medicine • More than a few industry analysts have predicted the death of the 30-second commercial due to the arrival of DVR and its time-shifting technology. All the talk has encouraged most advertising executives to seek replacements for the advertising unit they hear has lost its force. This paper seeks to put to death this claim and argues, instead, that the DVR actually adds life, not death, to the 30-second television commercial.

Pets in Print Advertising–Are We Really Seeing More of Rover and Fluffy? • Charles Mayo, Kennesaw State University, Donna Mayo and Marilyn Helms, Dalton State College • This content analysis of advertising in four popular magazines investigates whether the role of pets—specifically dogs and cats—has changed as they have grown in popularity and power in American culture. Analysis of print ads in 1994 and 2004 suggests that although the frequency with which household pets appear in print ads has declined slightly, portrayals of “Rover” and “Fluffy” have changed to reflect society’s growing fascination with and devotion to our furry family members.

The Third-person Effect and Its Influence on Perceptual and Behavioral Outcomes: In a Cosmeceutical Product Advertising Context • Juan Meng, Williams Gonzenbach and Federico de Gregorio, University of Alabama • By using a 2 X 2 factorial design, this experiment investigated cosmeceutical product advertising and product-related news coverage within the third-person effect framework. As predicted, respondents perceived cosmeceutical product advertising and news to exert greater influence on others than on themselves. More significantly, the findings showed that both perceptual differences and behavioral intentions varied according to respondents’ levels of self body-esteem.

Mechanisms of Consumer Responses toward Unsolicited Commercial E-mail • Mariko Morimoto, University of Georgia and Susan Chang, University of Miami • Using the survey method, this study investigates how consumers regard unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) and advertisers using this communication method. Specifically, the study closely examines the potential effect of psychological reactance on consumer perceptions towards spam and the process of attitude formation.

To Buy or Not To Buy: Socially Responsible Consumer Behavior and Implications for Advertisers • Hye-Jin Paek, University of Georgia and Michelle Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • We identify characteristics of the two types of socially responsible consumers (boycotters and boycotters) and examine how they think about big business, brand values, advertising, and advertising ethics. Our analysis of 2004-2005 national consumer panel data reveals that SRCs share personal traits and support restricting unethical advertising. But consumers who engage in these SRCBs show dissimilar levels of belief in brand values and cynicism about big business and advertising.

“Real” Beauty and the Dove Campaign: The Role of the Thin-Ideal Media in Cultivating Notions of Ideal Beauty and Thinness in Women • Amy Rask and Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • Using an experiment with college women at a university in the south, we used an image of a model from Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty with other lingerie and swimsuit models of varying shapes and sizes to test how or if the campaign’s objective of teaching women that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes was at all successful in changing college women’s beliefs about beauty and attractiveness in themselves and in other women.

The Effects of Moods on Evaluations of Brand Extension Ads • Sela Sar, Iowa State University and Brittany R.L. Duff, University of Minnesota • Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of mood on consumers’ evaluations of brand extensions. Consumers in a positive and a negative mood were asked to evaluate brand extensions by judging how well they fit with the parent brand. The results revealed that consumers in a positive mood perceived higher brand extension fit and evaluated brand extensions more favorably than did consumers in a negative mood. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Understanding the Joint Effects of Information Valence and Network Structure on Electronic Word-of-Mouth Intention • Dongyoung Sohn, University of South Florida • Consumer electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is a dual-edged sword for companies: Positive eWOM about products and companies may be the most powerful form of advertising, while negative eWOM may be a nightmare.

Revenues, Pressures, Managers: Advertiser Influence on Local TV News • Jim Upshaw, University of Oregon, Gennadiy Chernov, University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada) and David Koranda, University of Oregon • This paper reports on a study of commercial influence on news content in a nationwide sample of network-affiliated television stations in 2004. Results showed more “stealth advertising” at the end of a quarter (March) than at the start of the next quarter (April). Sales figures suggest that favorable treatment of advertisers at the end of a quarter may lead soon to revenue growth. Manager interviews indicate pressures to place financial sustainability above journalistic independence.

Cross-channel integration of advertising: Does personal involvement matter? • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut-Stamford • This study examined the effect of cross-channel integration of an advertiser’s television spot that invited viewers to play an online game and website that featured the game on viewers’ perceived media engagement, brand attitudes, and behavioral intentions. A moderating factor, personal involvement, was also tested. The results revealed that interaction effects were evident between cross-channel integration and personal involvement on media engagement and brand attitudes. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.

An Exploratory Study of Infomercial Clearance on High Reach Cable Channels: Could Deceptive Infomercial Advertisers Be Targeting Elderly, Less Educated or Lower Income Viewers? • Jan Wicks, University of Arkansas, Robert Brady, Stacey Effrig and Katherine Widder • The billion dollar infomercial industry reaches millions of U.S. consumers annually. While most infomercials are legitimate, this study examines the deceptive infomercials that aired on seven high reach cable channels throughout 2001. The results suggest cable channels earning lower profits air more deceptive infomercials and lower income, less educated and elderly viewers may be exposed frequently to them. Suggestions are made to improve consumer protection by requiring advertisers and media outlets to be more proactive.

Marie Claire in Five Flavors: A Look at Transnational Advertising • Margaret Young and Sara Netzley, Bradley University • To explore whether globalization leads to homogenized advertising messages across cultures, this study examined advertisements in Marie Claire issues from five countries. It found that the majority of advertisements were for internationally marketed products, and that contrary to past research findings, advertisements in Western issues were no more sexual than advertisements in Asian issues, and Western models were not depicted as sexier than Asian models.

Teaching
Advertising Education in the New Millennium: A Survey of Faculty • Stephen Banning and John Schweitzer, Bradley University • Advertising education has faced major changes in recent years with media and methods undergoing tectonic shifts. While the changes are well documented, the state of advertising education has not been seriously surveyed for over a decade. This study surveyed advertising educators’ opinions on a variety of topics related to advertising education. Results indicate educators are aware of technological and other changes.

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in the Advertising Campaigns Course: What Do Students Learn and How Can We Measure It? • Frauke Hachtmann, Nancy Mitchell and Linda Shipley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • This paper investigates how educators can develop a sustainable plan to measure student learning in the campaigns course as an appropriate starting point for program assessment. The authors developed an assessment model for teaching and learning and used it in a mixed methods study to explore the differences between grading and learning, which led to course improvement. Students listed skills related to professional, interpersonal, and personal development as primary learning outcomes of the campaigns course.

Advertising Educators’ Advice About Guest Speakers: Making the Most of Visits by Ad Professionals • Eric Haley and Robyn Blakeman, University of Tennessee-Knoxville • The purpose of this study is to evaluate the guest speaker experience. Bringing professional speakers into the classroom or to an extra-curricular activity should be an educational and personalized experience for students, faculty and speaker alike. Preparation and interaction between faculty and speaker beforehand can make the experience a positive one. However, speakers who have their own agenda can initiate negative feelings in students about a program, the profession, and the speaker’s agency.

PF&R
Pizza, Beer and Multiculturalism? A Content Analysis of Super Bowl Ads 1996-2005 • Ruth Brown, University of Nebraska at Kearney and Kathryn Bodenhamer • Research found that African-Americans accounted for the largest percentage of minorities shown in Super Bowl ads; Hispanic-Americans were least represented according to the proportionality criterion. People of Color frequently appeared in ads for products of value but were shown in disproportionately high numbers in soft drink commercials. Starring roles for Caucasians decreased while starring roles for People of Color increased.

Whiter than White: A cross cultural comparison of skin tones in advertisements from Singapore, India and the USA • Katherine Frith, Nanyang Technological University, Kavita Karan and James Chen • Flawless, fair skin has long been valued for its beauty in Asia and in the West. Thus, marketers produce a variety of products for women that claim to increase skin fairness. In this study we look at the historical evidence that links fairness with beauty.

Job Satisfaction Among Minority Advertising Professionals • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University, Alice Kendrick and Connie Frazier • Government investigations and the resulting advertising agency initiatives involving the hiring and retention of racial or ethnic minority employees have received substantial coverage in the trade press in the past two years. The current study provides data regarding job satisfaction — one important aspect of employee retention – among minority advertising employees.

Special Topics
Sound Advertising: A Review of the Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Music • David Allan, Saint Joseph’s University • This paper reviews the empirical studies on the effects of music on advertising. The most relevant literature is analyzed through the formation of two comprehensive tables of theories and experiments. Music variables such as appeal, fit, melody, mood, tempo, texture, tonality, and valence are shown to influence consumer attitude toward the ad and the brand, recall, pleasure and arousal, and purchase intention. The review concludes with the identification of future research issues into sound advertising.

The Ad Bowl Score Keepers: USA Today vs. Advertising Age • Bonnie Drewniany, University of South Carolina • The management at CareerBuilder is reported to have been so disappointed by a poor showing in the 2007 USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter that they called for an agency review. The advertising agency subsequently quit. Curiously, the very same campaign that fumbled in the USA Today Ad Meter scored a touchdown in the Advertising Age Ad Review.

Considering a General Theory of Creativity in Advertising: The Value of a Socio-Cultural Model • Lee Earle, Roosevelt University • While the previous literature has looked at specific elements of creativity in isolation, in reality it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. By reviewing articles from advertising and other disciplines, this paper will examine creativity not from the perspective of individual process or potential but, rather, as an end product. From this viewpoint, a general theory of creativity will be established utilizing a socio-cultural model, one that requires interaction between three subsystems: creator, domain, and field.

A Visual History of Women’s Images in Advertising in Singapore from 1960-2000 • Katherine Frith, Nanyang Technological University • Her World has been the top-selling women’s magazine in Singapore since 1960. To remain relevant for such a long period of time, the magazine must reflect images that are resonant to readers. Thus, a historical analysis of the advertising images in Her World over forty years can tell us a great deal about how Asian women of various races have seen themselves reflected in the pages of this popular Asian women’s magazine.

Positively Negative: Arguments in Favor of Political Attack Ads • Michael Maynard, Temple University • This position paper argues in favor of negative political advertising. The case for negative political advertising, including the Attack Ad, is supported because negative political advertising draws more attention and contrasts differences between candidates more effectively than positive ads. It is also argued that negative political advertising engages the mind, levels the playing field, stimulates voter turnout, and advances democracy.

The Power of Political Advertising Advocacy: A Case-Study of 2006 Missouri Election Stem-Cell Celebrity Endorsements • Lori McKinnon, Oklahoma State University, Trish McBeath and Nicole Nascenzi • The authors use a case-study analysis to examine celebrity endorsements in advertising supporting and opposing the 2006 Missouri amendment on stem-cell research. The spots in this case received considerable coverage in the national news media selected for analysis. Not only do the authors conclude that the use of celebrities in this case was effective, but also that these spots helped focus the national news agenda on the Missouri race and on the stem-cell research issue.

Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233: This Is Not a Game • Sharon Terrell, University of Southern Mississippi • Books have traditionally been on the bare fray of utilization for the practice of product and brand placement. Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233, (2006) created a vigorous debate about using product placement in children’s books, and the issue of rewriting a novel for the purpose of including such placements. The authors of the book inked a deal with CoverGirl (Proctor & Gamble), to alter the storyline to reflect their products.

Student Papers
Effects of Proximity: Sponsor and Consumer Location Influences on Recall of Collegiate Athletic Program Advertisers • Glenda Alvorado, Texas Tech University • The majority of collegiate sporting programs garner a large portion of their budgets from some form of sponsorship. Donors to a collegiate athletic program were surveyed as to what effect variables such as game attendance and proximity to a university have on sponsor recall and the value respondents place on such advertiser support. Findings suggest that both the location of the sponsor and location of the consumer play a part in sponsorship recall.

Understanding Health Promotion Strategies and Appeals • Tae Hyun Baek and Hyunjae Yu, University of Georgia • Drawing from behavior change theories, this study explores how health promotion strategies and appeals are used differently in the United States and South Korean weight-loss Web sites. The results suggest that weight-loss Web sites in both the U.S. and South Korea hold that the essential characteristics of health promotion strategies are to promote effective and efficient use of informational resources and to provide benefits of collaboration.

Comparing the cognitive impact of conventional television advertising and product placement: A fist look • David Carr, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Product placements continue to be adopted as economically viable alternatives to conventional television advertising, yet the majority of the research regarding product placement has focused on motion pictures. To begin expansion of the scope of knowledge regarding product placement, this experiment examined the comparative cognitive impact of product placements and conventional television advertisements. Analysis of the data revealed that audiovisual product placements may generate higher levels of cognitive impact than conventional television advertisements.

The influence of visual images in print advertisements • Dohnia Dorman, University of New Mexico • A post-test only experimental study was conducted to investigate the difference in consumer attitude toward the advertisement, attitude toward the brand (beliefs), and purchase intention between a magazine print advertisement with the advertised product versus one with visual imagery—visual content such as couple interacting with each other. Positive and negative emotional responses to the two advertisements were also analyzed. T-test analyses showed that the two advertisements elicit separate consumer attitudes, purchase intention, and emotions.

Where Would Ads Work During Multi-Segment Broadcasts? A Four-Year Research Of Advertising Position Effects In Super Bowl Broadcasts • Yongick Jeong and Hai Tran, University of North Carolina • This study examined the impacts of ad positions on advertising effectiveness in Super Bowl broadcast, a multi-segment television program. The results support general primacy effects. The brands advertised during the first half are better recognized than those appeared in the second half. The findings also indicate that the brands shown in earlier quarters are better remembered than those in later quarters. However, advertising liking was not related to the positions of commercials.

World Cup as Creative Motif of Internet Advertising Across Cultures • Jong Woo Jun and Hyung-Seok Lee, University of Florida • Focusing on ambush marketing, this cross-national study explores the depiction of cultural values on banner ads run during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany period. Based on Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimension including those of Hofstede, and Hall, a cross-national content analysis was performed to compare cultural values embedded in banner ads from Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The impact of regulatory fit on message framing effect • Hui-Feng Lin, Pennsylvania State University • This study posits that fit between message framing of product attributes and one’s regulatory focus is expected to lead to greater persuasion effects. A 2 (Regulatory focus: promotion vs. prevention) x 2 (Products attributes: hedonic vs. utilitarian) x 2 (Message framing: gain vs. loss) between-subjects design was used (N=215). As hypothesized, findings showed that when product attributes framed as gain or loss frames fit one’s regulatory focus, stronger attitudes toward brands and advertisements were found.

Think pink: The effect of cause-related marketing on feeling toward the ad • Sarah Nightingale, Rebecca Chrisner and Ajija Farmer, Kansas State University • Companies are under increasing pressure to behave in a socially responsible manner and many companies have partnered with non-profit organizations in cause-related marketing (CRM) strategies. This paper reports the impact of vague and specific donations to a breast cancer fund on student’s perceived feelings towards a breakfast cereal advertisement. The results demonstrate that the inclusion of a charitable donation elevated participants’ warm and upbeat feelings toward the ad.

DTC Antidepressant Advertising and Future Intentions to Consult Doctors to Discuss Depression • Jin Seong Park and Wan Seop Jung, University of Florida • The authors proposed and tested a conceptual model that specifies the pathways through which a number of factors potentially determine intentions to consult doctors to discuss depression. Based on survey with 206 undergraduates, this study found exposure to direct-to-consumer (DTC) antidepressant advertising positively related to the perceived prevalence of depression.

Measuring issue and image in political advertising: An informational/transformational approach • Feng Shen, University of Florida • An experiment examines Puto and Wells informational/transformational advertising scale in the context of issue and image political advertising. The purpose is to empirically prove the conceptual similarity between information/transformation and issue/image and assess the validity of using the scale to measure the perception of issue and image content in political advertisements.

The reality behind television advertising: Influence of product placements on viewer recall, recognition and purchase intention • Xiuli Wang, Lisa Wortman, Jiyeong Jeong, Hsin-Yi Ting and Gang Han, Syracuse University • This study uses a within-group experimental design to test how the size, position and length of a product placement influence viewer recognition, recall and intentions to purchase the featured brands. Length turns out to be highly significant for viewers’ recognition and recall of the featured brands and also their purchase intention, with longer product placements resulting in better memory of the brands and higher purchase intention.

A cross-cultural study on women’s role portrayals in Chinese and American Web Advertising • Jie Zhan and Shu Chuan Chu, University of Texas-Austin • This study examines the differences and similarities of women’s role portrayals in Web advertising between China and the US. In addition to Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism, this study input Triandis’ horizontal versus vertical individualism/collectivism typology to further analyze the role portrayals of women. The author’s content-analyzed women’s role portrayals in 378 Web ads selected from top Chinese and American portal Websites.

<< 2007 Abstracts

Science Communication 2008 Abstracts

Science Communication Interest Group

Environmental legitimacy: Developing reliable and valid measures of perceived organizational environmental performance • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Communication about environmental policies and practices has become a critical area of focus for corporations. Organizations that are perceived as more environmentally responsible experience fewer negative consequences from key stakeholders and tend to be favored by consumers. This research developed and tested measures of environmental legitimacy. It also measured the relationship between environmental legitimacy and two other variables, ethical environmental communication and knowledge of organizational environmental performance. Both relationships were significant in a positive direction.

Digital Veils, Virtual Triage, and Health Taboos: Health Information Seeking and Anonymity on the Web • Chris Brabham, University of Utah • This qualitative research links together converging literature about health information-seeking on the Web, the notion of anonymity on the Web, and health taboos. Data from open-ended responses to an online health survey (N = 366) are collected. Analyses of the responses to questions about private health conditions reveal an unchanging array of health taboos and embarrassing health conditions.

Why Can’t They Get it Right? Mobilizing Journalism, Government Accountability, and the Autism-Vaccine Controversy • Chris Clarke, Cornell University • The mass media are often criticized for inadequately presenting health risk information to the public. This paper argues, however, that decisions to include risk information represent a fundamental tension between norms of objectivity and government accountability on one end and “mobilizing” journalism on the other. The paper explores this tension in the context of the autism-vaccine controversy. Implications for journalism ethics and risk communication are discussed.

Conflict Theory and Climate Change News: The Interplay of Media, Science, Politics, Industry and Audience • Julia Corbett, Lindsay E. Young, and Byron L. Davis, University of Utah • This study investigated factors contributing to the mercurial path of U.S. news coverage of climate change since 1985. Time-series analysis uncovered both “leaders” and “followers”: media attention to climate change was led by Congressional attention, and after several years, by increasing temperatures. There were feedback loops between public concern and a variety of factors, including news coverage. Scientific evidence had the most complex role, leading and following numerous variables both positively and negatively.

Socialization or rewards: Prediciting American scientist-media interactions • Sharon Dunwoody, Dominique Brossard, and Anthony Dudo, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study investigates scientists as public communicators, particularly what factors encourage or discourage scientists from engaging in public communication via interactions with the media. Based on a US survey of biomedical scientists, the findings suggest that scientists continue to have more contact with the media than has commonly been assumed, and that status, socialization (measured via formal communication training and communication self-efficacy) and positive intrinsic rewards are all positively associated with higher frequencies of media contact.

Social Proximity and Risk: A Comparative Analysis of Media Coverage of Avian Flu in Hong Kong and in the United States • Timothy Fung, Kang Namkoong, and Dominique Brossard, University of Wisconsin-Madison Media • The purpose of this paper is to compare media coverage of avian flu in Hong Kong and in the United States, based on an analytical framework derived from the literature on public risk perceptions. Notably, this study uses the psychometric paradigm to identify a number of dimensions that should be taken into account when analyzing news coverage of risky issues.

Scientists’ Understanding of Nanotechology, Nanoscience and the Public • Amelia Greiner, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Laura Black, Ohio University; Katherine McComas, Cornell University and Chris Clarke, Cornell University • This study investigates what scientists engaging in nanoscale science and engineering (NSE) research understand about the public and its perceptions of nanotechnology. It offers a qualitative analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with prominent NSE scientists that explores their perceptions of nanotechnology, public knowledge, and the appropriate role of public engagement. The conclusions suggest implications for public engagement, while offering future directions for science communication scholars advocating public engagement more generally.

Understanding how audiences understand science on stage: Cultural context in the dramatization of Darwin’s letters • Megan Halpern, Cornell University • This study explored the relationship between science, performance, and audience in a theatrical production of RE:Design, A Dramatisation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin and Asa Gray by Craig Baxter. A focus group and supplementary survey were conducted to learn what audience members thought they had received from attending the performance.

A Crying Shame: Shaken Baby Syndrome in the News • Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Elizabeth Dougall, Chapel Hill • This paper reports a qualitative analysis of broadcast news and newspaper coverage of Shaken Baby Syndrome from 1992 to 2007. The findings indicate that episodic coverage of SBS from a criminal justice perspective was the most dominant story type; thematic coverage in the form of health features emerged but with much less frequency. The dominant frames were SBS in question, scared straight, and cautionary tales. Sources were more often law enforcement, medical, and legal.

Tacit Understandings of Health Literacy: Interview and Survey Research With Health Journalists • Amanda Hinnant, Missouri School of Journalism and Maria Len-Rios, University of Missouri • This research offers both qualitative and quantitative data about how health journalists approach health literacy practically and conceptually. Using interviews with 20 writers and editors for magazines and newspapers and a survey (N=396), this analysis uncovers journalistic techniques and tacit theories for making information understandable. Findings show that journalists struggle to maintain scientific credibility while accommodating different audience literacy levels. Journalists’ definitions of health literacy strategically carve out a place for their work as translators.

Influences of Mass Media, Interpersonal Communication, and Cognitive Processing on Risks versus Benefits Perception of Nanotechnology • Shirley Ho, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dietram Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Elizabeth Corley, Arizona State University • This study examines the influences of mass media, interpersonal communication, and cognitive processing on perception of risks versus benefits in the context of nanotechnology, using a nationally representative telephone survey conducted in 2007. Results indicate that cognitive processes in the form of reflective integration had a significant negative main effect on risks-versus-benefits perception.

Nationwide Newspaper Coverage of Adult Obesity: A Community Structure Approach • Kristen Kiernicki, The College of New Jersey and John Pollock, College of New Jersey • A national cross-section of 28 newspapers was selected from Newsbank. Articles were scored for placement, length, headline size, presence of photographs or graphics, and “direction” (advocating for community responsibility, individual responsibility or a combination). Pearson correlations and regressions explored links between city demographics and coverage and revealed five clusters of characteristics that had significant relationships to newspaper coverage of adult obesity including race, lifestyle and SES.

Assessment of a university-based program of citizen engagement on emerging technologies • Victoria L. Kramer, University of South Carolina and John Besley, University of South Carolina • This study assesses the impact of a novel citizen engagement model. “Citizens’ Schools” on nanotechnology and fuel cell and hydrogen technology enhanced participants’ senses of science efficacy, the interpersonal fairness of scientists, and to a limited extent the procedural and informational fairness of scientists. Participation was also associated with changes in views about the risks and benefits of technology. This study advances theory in the use of justice as fairness in evaluating deliberative citizen engagement.”

Quantification of Medical News Coverage in US Newspapers • William YY Lai, University of Hong Kong • This study investigates front-page newspaper coverage of two prominent medical stories reported in the United States, with a hard news story chosen as a control. For each story, over 300 newspaper front pages were surveyed to quantify the extent of coverage (interrater agreement for all stories: >96 percent observed agreement, kappa>0.84), and identify different news sources (all stories: >90 percent observed agreement, kappa>0.80).

Source selection: A case study on agenda setting in newspaper reports following an FDA announcement on meat cloning • Jane W. Peterson, Iowa State University; Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University and Jennifer Scharpe, Iowa State University • This case study analyzes patterns of coverage by newspaper reporters following a Food and Drug Administration announcement about meat cloning. Researchers identified sources used in 81 U.S. newspapers and 37 articles from world newspapers. The study suggests that unbalanced sourcing is a chief component of agenda setting and is potentially more pronounced in science communication due to reporter lack of knowledge about the subject matter. Comparisons of U.S. vs. world newspaper sourcing also are presented.

Science vs. Sentiment: A comparison of framing in newspaper headlines and the stories they introduce • Yvonne Price, University of Florida • This study compared newspaper headline and story framing of a global science issue—the redefining of our solar system from nine planets, to eight. This global science event provided a unique opportunity to analyze how the media’s framing may be influencing the communication of hard science news.

Making Sense of Emerging Nanotechnologies: How Ordinary People Form Impressions of New Technology • Susanna Priest, UNLV and Victoria L. Kramer, University of South Carolina • Nanotechnology provides opportunities to observe opinion formation for previously unfamiliar technologies. In a panel study design, 76 individuals in South Carolina, recruited via community groups, were interviewed and surveyed during summer 2007. The results confirm some ideas about how people form opinions, while challenging others. Although 64 of the 76 reported they were not (or not very) familiar with nanotechnology, they offered 164 specific images or associations, largely consistent with scientists’ usage of the term.

Matching News Frames with Audience Values: Moderating Affect Related to Issues of Climate Change • Sonny Rosenthal • This study examined the relationship between environmental value-orientations and environmental concern, moderated by value-oriented news frames. Results show that, while a frame alone does not increase value-matched concern, the strength of the relationship between a value-concern pair was greatest after exposure to a value-matched frame. This has implications for how journalists report on environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Gender Stereotypes of Scientist Characters in Television Programs Popular Among Middle School-Aged Children • Jocelyn Steinke, Western Michigan University; Marilee Long, Colorado State University; Marne Johnson, Western Michigan University; and Savani Ghosh, Western Michigan University • This study examined gender stereotyping in portrayals of scientist characters in television programs popular among middle school-aged children. Male scientist characters were found to be both more prevalent than female scientist characters; and they were more likely to be shown with the masculine attributes or traits of independence, athleticism, and dominance. Female scientist characters were not more likely than male scientist characters to be shown with the traditional feminine attributes of dependency, caring, and romantic.

Preparing for Disaster: An Examination of Public Health Preparedness Information on Local TV Web sites • Andrea Tanner, Daniela Friedman, Daphney Barr, and Alexis Koskan, University of South Carolina • This study provides a nationwide examination of public health emergency information on local television Web sites, analyzing 293 news stories that focused on all aspects of a potential emergency, including preparedness, response and recovery. Mobilizing information (MI), defined as information that aids people to act, was also examined. Public health emergency information was present on nearly all (96%) of the sites examined.

Compliance Gaining to Change Parenting Behaviors in Cognitive-Behavioral Violence Prevention Groups • Maria Elena Villar, Florida International University • This study analyzed behavior change messages as recalled by Hispanic participants in cognitive behavioral violence prevention (CB-VP) Fatherhood groups in Miami, Florida. Using concepts from health behavior, compliance gaining and social influence, messages were classified by topic, type of behavior targeted and compliance gaining strategies used. The methodology used in this study provided a greater understanding of the motivations used to support behavior change in violence prevention parenting groups.”

Communicating the risks of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Effects of message framing and exemplification • Nan Yu, Lee Ahern, Colleen Connolly-Ahern, and Fuyuan Shen, The Pennsylvania State University • This study seeks to extend and elaborate on research in message framing in health communication by examining potential interaction between gain-loss frames and exemplar-statistics message appeals. The experiment also looks at a class of health issue that has received little scrutiny – a prevention behavior that requires the cessation of a potentially dangerous activity.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Visual Communication 2008 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

“That’s the one!” An examination of spot news photography choices • Chris Birks, Northern Illinois University • Picture editors play an important role in how we understand the world. This paper looks at the selection of photographs that U.S. newspapers ran after the Virginia Tech shooting to see if there is any evidence of a consensus on what constitutes a preferred type of spot news photography. This study found nearly 80% of newspapers ran the same type of spot news photo, one defined as tension/action. Suggestions for further research are also included.

The Eyes Don’t Have It All: A Corporeal Approach to News Photography • Mary Bock, University of Pennsylvania • This essay proposes that the study of news images would be enhanced by attention to the corporeal factors influencing their ontogenesis. The argument is based in constructivist theory with special attention to the role of the body in visual newsgathering. It is argued that this approach yields not only information about what we see, but often, just as importantly, what we do not see.

Do pictures matter? Effects of photographs on interest in information seeking and issue involvement • Michael Boyle, West Chester University; Mike Schmierbach, Penn State University • Information-seeking behavior in audiences is vital to news users and producers. While it seems intuitive that the inclusion of news photos will contribute to audience interest and information-seeking about an issue, little research has explicitly tested the role of visual elements in generating information-seeking.

Twin Myth, the Film and the Regime: Images in the Documentary Film A State of Mind. • Suhi Choi, University of Utah • The paper critically analyzes A State of Mind (Daniel Gordon, England, 2003), a documentary film which depicts both the mass games and the lives of two schoolgirl gymnasts in North Korea.

“Moving” the Pyramids of Giza: Teaching Ethics within a Visual Communication Curriculum • Nicole Smith Dahmen, Louisiana State University • As mass communication educators, we should be greatly concerned about how we teach ethics to our students. The goal of this research is to assess the effects of integrating ethics within a visual communication course. A key finding of the study is that there was a significant difference in how participants viewed selected ethical issues in visual communication from T1 to T2.

Greenpeace Visual Framing of Genetic Engineering: Neither Green nor Peaceful? • Avril De Guzman, Iowa State University; Kojung Chen, Iowa State University • This paper applies the levels of visual framing proposed by Rodriguez and Dimitrova (2007) to investigate how Greenpeace visually framed genetic engineering (GE) in its online campaign against this innovation. Greenpeace imagery in two countries with divergent policies toward GE, Australia (precautionary) and China (permissive) were also compared. The results indicate that the images used mostly showcased the organization’s peaceful direct action activities.

Dark vs. Light: Environmental Illumination Influence on Startle Reflex Amplitude Measured During Manipulation of the Affective State Using Pleasant and Unpleasant Picture Presentations • Mugur Geana, University of Kansas • In recent years psychophysiology has been increasingly used in mass communication studies. Thirty-five subjects viewed pleasant and unpleasant pictures in a light or dark environment; eyeblink SR amplitude was measured at random intervals during picture presentation. Exposure to pleasant or unpleasant visual stimuli in a room with lights on creates distinct affective responses; in a dark room exposure to the same type of pictures eliminates all differences between observed affective responses.

The Fictional Japanese Photography of Mariko Mori and Julie • Timothy R. Gleason, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh • Mariko Mori and Julie are Japanese photographers whose images have appeared in book form, a mass medium infrequently examined by communication scholars. This paper examines Mariko Mori and Samurai Girl by applying both photographic critiques and a cultural analysis. It is argued that Mori challenges Japanese social norms by creating visual criticism, while Mori adopts the norms to have control over them. The differences between analyzing a monograph style photobook and a traditional photobook are discussed.

“Whatever they want to do – do it”: The conflicted resignation of female college athletes • Marie Hardin, Penn State University; Susan Lynn, Florida State University; Erin Whiteside, Penn State University • This study incorporates the mediated (hetero) sexualization of female athletes into the identity formation and aspirations of young sportswomen. Twenty U.S. college athletes were interviewed about their media use and about the ways they contextualize passive, sexualized images of well-known sportswomen. Participants said they used popular, glamorized depictions to seek the feminine ideal, which they sought as part of their “dual identity” as woman and as athlete.

Visual Processing of Animation: An Experimental Testing of “Distinctiveness” and “Motion Effect” Theories • Nokon Heo • In order to test two competing theories explaining animation effects, a 2 (Animation) x 2 (Banner Type) x 4 (Number of Animated Distractors) within-subjects factorial visual search experiment. A hypothesis predicting different patterns in search time has been proposed based on two theories – “motion effect” and “distinctiveness” theories. All the experimental conditions were counterbalanced to avoid any order effects, and both the target and non-target items were randomly selected by a computer.

Making Yuyanapaq: Reconstructing Peru’s Armed Internal Conflict through Photographs • Robin Hoecker, University of Missouri • Sponsored by Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Yuyanapaq photography exhibit documents the country’s armed internal conflict from 1980 to 2000. This study examined the curators’ role as gatekeepers in creating the exhibit, currently at Peru’s National Museum. In-depth interviews revealed the curators’ criteria when selecting photographs, how they handled graphic violence and strived to maintain historical accuracy. It also addresses how the curators’ personal experiences affected their decisions.

Teaching Button-pushing vs. Teaching Thinking: The State of New Media Education in U.S. Universities • Edgar Huang, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis • Using content analysis and survey, this study examines how the teaching of thinking skills and that of technological skills have been balanced in U.S. new media programs to produce both employable graduates and life-long learners. Findings show that most programs have balanced the two skill sets but that more effort should be made to integrate the teaching of both skill sets in individual courses to give students an expedited, holistic learning experience.

The Sin in Sincere: Deception and Cheating in the Visual Media • Paul Lester, California State University, Fullerton • Few discussions about the ethical issue of picture manipulations have focused on the nature of deception and cheating. Using the work of the American contemporary philosopher Bernard Gert, this paper features the concept of manipulation in a variety of contexts—from magic acts to journalism spreads—to help aid researchers and others to determine whether an alteration is merely deceiving others, or crosses the line and reaches the level of cheating.

Visuals, Path Control, and Knowledge Gain: Variables that affect students’ approval and enjoyment of a multimedia text as a learning tool • Jennifer Palilonis, Ball State University; Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh • Survey data collected from 143 undergraduate students revealed specific multimedia features, as well as interaction and outcome variables, predicted participants’ approval of a multimedia text as a learning tool. The sense of knowledge gain, the value placed on animated graphics and an ability to control one’s path through the material independently predicted both enjoyment of the module and an intent to take a course using a multimedia text.

Laura Mulvey’s Psychoanalytic Argument: Does It Fit Hindi Cinema? • Ananya Sensharma, San Jose State University; Diana Tillinghast, San Jose State University • The study’s primary objective was to determine whether Mulvey’s (1975, 1989) psychoanalytic theories of male gaze and female spectatorship that she applied to classical Hollywood cinema can also be applied cross-culturally to mainstream Indian cinema.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Public Relations 2008 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

How Do the News Media Frame Crises? A Content Analysis of Crisis News Coverage • Seon-Kyoung An and Karla Gower, University of Alabama • The present study is a content analysis of crisis news frames found in 2006 crisis news coverage. A total of 247 news stories were analyzed to examine which of five news frames (attribution of responsibility, human interest, conflict, morality, and economic frames) and level of responsibility (individual and organizational level) were used by the media according to crisis types.

A Cross-Cultural Study of Effective Organizational Crisis Response Strategy in the U.S. and South Korea • Seon-Kyoung An, University of Alabama; Dong-Jin Park, Hallym University; Seung Ho Cho, Mississippi State University; Bruce Berger, University of Alabama • This cultural comparative study investigated the public’s perception toward organizational crisis response strategies by using a 2 x 2 x 2 design with level of responsibility (individual vs. organizational level), organizational response (causal and treatment responsibility), and two countries (the U.S. vs. South Korea). Students (N = 410) responded to hypothetical news stories describing a recall accident.

Effect of Company Affiliation on Credibility in the Blogosphere • Elizabeth Bates and Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • Blogging is a form of corporate communication adopted as a means of addressing corporate criticism and providing a forum for corporate communicators to interject themselves into conversation. Little empirical research, however, has explored perceptions of credibility relative to the blogosphere. Through spokesperson and blog sponsorship manipulation, this study (N = 167) shows that company spokespersons are more credible than anonymous sources. Corporate or citizen group sponsorship of the blog did not affect perceptions of credibility.

JetBlue’s Valentine Day Crisis: Implementing Safe Side Strategies • Asya Besova, Louisiana State University • This research study tests the Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) while analyzing corporate messages disseminated by the JetBlue after the Valentine’s Day storm. Press releases, broadcast messages and Internet messages were content analyzed in an attempt to reveal underlying public relations strategies. JetBlue used strategies mainly from the deal response option, rather than from diminish and deny response option, as suggested by the SCCT model. Ingratiation and compassion were the most widely used strategies.

“Without a Sacrifice of Truth”: William Wirt Constructs the Image of Patrick Henry • Mary Blue, Tulane University • Patrick Henry’s historical prominence was largely the result of the efforts of William Wirt. The prosecutor in Aaron Burr’s treason trial, U.S. Attorney General 1817-1829, and Anti-Masonic candidate for President in 1832, Wirt was also Henry’s first biographer. This paper considers Wirt’s use of ideas and mechanisms that are considered today to be some of the basic principles of public relations to give his Patrick Henry an enduring place in American history.

Exploring Adolescent-Organization Relationships: A Study of Effective Maintenance Strategies with Adolescent Volunteers • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This paper reports on a study of the adolescent volunteer-nonprofit organization relationship. The study identified three key relationship maintenance strategies that influence an adolescent public – guidance, assurances and shared tasks. In addition, it identified the relationship quality outcome of control mutuality as playing a key role in the adolescent volunteer-nonprofit relationship.

The Level of Glocalization of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities of Multinational Corporations: Content Analysis of Home and Host Countries’ Web Sites • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida • The purpose of this study is to investigate how similar and how different the CSR issues presented on the Web sites of U.S. MNCs and their subsidiaries in Korea are. Also, the study aims to examine the extent to which subsidiaries provide CSR programs target the local community. The study found that subsidiaries of MNCs in Korea provide limited CSR information on their Web sites and limited CSR programs for the local community.

Anger and Moral Judgment in Crisis Communication • Seung Ho Cho, Mississippi State University • This study attempts to examine the relationship between causal attributions and anger through a public’s moral judgment about an organization involved in a crisis, and to measure the effect of anger on blame and the resultant image of the organization during the crisis. This study manipulated causal attributions to create different types of crises—internal/external controllability and stability.

The Effects of Attribution of VNRs and Risk on News Viewers’ Assessments of Credibility • Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Penn State University; Susan Grantham, University of Hartford; Maria Baukus, Penn State University • The executive branch practice of issuing video news releases without attributing them to government agencies has been sharply criticized by the Government Accounting Office. However, the effects of attribution on VNR viewers are not understood. This paper reports the results of an experiment testing the relative credibility of two different government agencies by viewers of a VNR attributed to an agency, compared with viewers who saw the VNR without attribution.

Communication Activism as Mediator of Efficacy and Fatalism as Predictors of Fire Safety Behavior • David Dozier and John Kim, San Diego State University • Longitudinal data collected over a two-year period tracked desired changes in wildfire safety behavior. Activist communication behavior was positively correlated with efficacy and negatively correlated with fatalism. Individuals predisposed to activist communication were significantly more likely to enact positive outcomes regarding fire safety behavior over the period of study. Efficacy and fatalism exerted no direct, independent influence on desired wildfire safety behavior, once communication activism was controlled.

How National Security Reporters Make Meaning of Terrorism Information Disseminated by the U.S. Government • Heather Epkins, University of Maryland, College Park • Arguably one of the most important issues of our time, terrorism is a concept that continues to spawn debate regarding its meaning and scope. Scholars have examined numerous components of this crucial topic and several have explored the role of the American press in communicating terrorism information to the public, but none have been found to seek an understanding of the detailed process of disseminating terrorism news content from the viewpoint of the national security reporter.

Fulfilling Psychological vs. Financial Needs: The Effect of Extrinsic Rewards on Motivation and Attachment to Internships • Vincent Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; Bob “Pritch” Pritchard, Ball State University • Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000) has posited that extrinsic rewards have the potential to undermine intrinsic motivation and thus diminish engagement, enjoyment and attachment to activities (Lepper, Green & Nisbett, 1973). A study of public relations students who have completed a recent internship (n=141) indicates that need satisfaction trumps extrinsic rewards in predicting both supervisor and overall internship experience approval. Implications for educators are discussed.

Team Teaching to Teach Teaming • Susan Gonders and Doug McDermott, Southeast Missouri State University • New public relations practitioners are expected to collaborate and work in teams, but faculty typically do not model teamwork in the classroom. This case study demonstrates how team teaching can effectively teach teaming by example in public relations skills courses. Team teaching is more work, not less, and it pulls grumbling students from their comfort zones. However, the greater effort of team teaching comes with significant payback for both teachers and students.

Impact of Hosting a Global Sporting Event on the Hosting Nation in Terms of Tourism • Jee-Hee Han, University of Dayton • This paper examined whether hosting a global sporting event such as the Olympics would have a positive impact on the hosting nation in a way that it would result in an increase in tourism. After analyzing the data, it was found that there were not much of differences in the change ratios before and after the event in terms of inbound tourism.

Mattel’s Toy Recall: The Influence of Government and Corporate Media Efforts on News Coverage. • Jooyun Hwang and Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This study explores the crisis response strategies and issues frames that emerged in government and corporate information subsides during the Mattel Toy Recall.

A Functional Analysis of the 2007 South Korean Presidential Campaign News Releases • Sungwook Hwang, University of Missouri • This functional analysis study examined the 2007 South Korean presidential news releases. Candidates acclaimed more than attacked. Policy was discussed more often than character. The Incumbent party candidate Jung Dong Young acclaimed more and attacked less than the challenger Lee Myung Bak. The challenger attacked more than acclaimed in terms of past deeds. Candidates acclaimed more than attacked in terms of general goals and ideals. Simple denial was the most frequent defense strategy.

What’s Ethics In Public Relations? : PR Practitioners’ Perceptions of Their Ethics in Global PR Firms in Korea • Jiyeon Jeong, University of Missouri • This qualitative study seeks to review the perceptions held by public relations practitioners who work specifically in global public relations firms, regarding their ethics, and to identify factors that support their ethics. In-depth interviews were conducted seeking the ethical views of 20 public relations practitioners, from five global public relations firms in Korea.

A South Korean “Telethon” and Charitable Donation: Examining Uses and Gratifications and Situational Variables • Bumsub Jin, University of Florida. • This study examined whether South Koreans’ charitable donation behaviors were related to the major factors of two theoretical frameworks. In the uses and gratifications perspective, the study argued that audience activity in a telethon can be linked to donation behaviors. In the situational theory of publics, problem recognition and level of involvement may also be related to donation behaviors. The study asked 300 South Koreans from 41 different cities to respond to a Web survey.

The Effects of Public’s Cognitive Appraisal of Emotions in Crises on Crisis Coping and Strategy Assessment • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University • Despite the importance of affect in persuasion and strategic decision making, there is a lack of a systematic and integrated approach to understanding how discrete emotions publics experienced in crisis influence their crisis information processing and behavioral tendency.

How Do Different Publics in Crises Feel? Insights from Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model in Crisis Communication • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Augustine Pang and Glen Cameron, University of Missouri • Extending current theories in crisis communication, the authors have developed a more systemic approach to understanding the role of emotions. The authors’ Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model is based on a public-based, emotion-driven perspective where different crises are mapped on two continua, the organization’s engagement in the crisis and primary public’s coping strategy.

Comprising or Compromising Credibility?: Use of Spokesperson Quotations in News Releases Issued by Major Health Agencies • Elizabeth Johnson Avery and Sora Kim, University of Tennessee • As audiences increasingly question source credibility during crisis, the use of spokesperson quotations in press releases deserves greater scrutiny, particularly in the context of relaying health information. This study analyzes use of direct quotations in avian flu press releases issued by leading health agencies to reveal the nature of quotes and use of sources.

Difference or Commonality in PR Strategies between American and Korean Corporations: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Interactivity • HyunMee Kang, Lisa Ladwig, and Pengpeng Li, Louisiana State University • This study’s main concern is possible differences in themes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and activities and in interactivity features on the websites between American and Korean corporations. Also, based on understanding the unique Korean corporate environment, the study examines differences in CSR themes and in interactivity features between Chaebol and non-Chaebol corporations.

Source Credibility and Public Information Campaigns: The Effects of Organizational Sponsors on Message Acceptance • Deena Kemp and Derina Holtzhausen, University of South Florida • This study establishes a link between research on organizational source credibility and the effects of public information campaigns. Research has established that source credibility is one factor audiences evaluate when responding to messages and that credible information sources enhance message acceptance, while untrustworthy sources can interfere with desired message effects.

Causal Linkages between Relationship Cultivation Strategies and Relationship Quality Outcomes • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Linda Hon, University of Florida • This study was designed to examine how relationship cultivation strategies used by a membership organization affected members’ perceptions of relationship quality outcomes with the organization. Links among six relationship cultivation strategies and four relationship quality outcomes provide new information concerning the function of cultivation effects. Overall, relationship cultivation strategies like access, positivity, sharing tasks, and assurances represent the proactive approaches that organizations may employ to cultivate or nurture quality relationships with their target publics.

The Importance of Corporate Environmental Responsibility: A Content and Semantic Analysis of 2007 Fortune 500 Companies Websites • Daejoong Kim, Yoonjae Nam, Sinuk Kang, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York • This study investigated some corporate websites included in both the heavy and light industries among 2007 Fortune 500 companies’ websites, analyzing how the both industries utilizing their websites to present their commitment and performance to the environment and encourage dialog with the public on issues relating to the environment.

Embedding a Social Cause in the News: The Effects of Corporate Sponsorship and News Proximity on Consumer Attitudes and Participation Intentions • Hyo Kim and Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • This study compares response to two ways of promoting non-profit companies. One is a news feature story written only about the non-profit. The other is a news feature story written about the non-profit, but including the sponsorship of a commercial company. Both types of stories were also presented as either localized to the city in which the students lived or not.

Influence of Social Involvement on Corporate Local Philanthropy • Jangyul Kim, Colorado State University; Youjin Choi, University of Florida • This study attempted to test the effects of philanthropic activities on publics from the perspective of stakeholders (N = 6,056). It was shown that individuals’ personal involvement with social cause, perception (skepticism) of a corporation’s charitable activities, and expectations of a business organization’s charitable contribution to local communities were major variables that affected stakeholders’ intention to purchase products or use services of a corporation that engages in charitable giving.

Finding Primary Publics: A Test of the Third-Person Effect in Corporate Crisis • Jeesun Kim and Hyo Kim, University of Missouri • The present study applies the third-person perception to the corporate crisis setting. From a public relations perspective, a multiple publics approach was employed to better understand the underlying third-person process with comparison targets, moving beyond the past social distance approach. Results indicate that third-person effects were found only when the comparison targets were customers, stakeholders, and competitors in both food and laptop product category crises.

Nexus between Activism and Public Relations • Jeong-Nam Kim, Purdue University; Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Sri Guruduth Agencies • We introduced a conceptual linkage between socio-cultural environmental variables, activism, and public relations practice. Our paper has offered research questions that could be used by future studies to add empirical evidence and refine the conceptual model presented here. These studies could assess whether higher levels of activism do contribute to strategic public relations in all societies or whether the socio-cultural environments of different societies deal with activism differently.

Linking Official National Web Sites and the National Brands Index from a Public Relations Perspective • Sooyeon Kim and Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This study examined the public diplomacy role of operating official national Web sites. The contents of 86 official national Web sites of 38 countries showed a positive correlation between the richness of information of Web sites and the Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI). This study suggests that actively operating official national Web sites can be one important relationship building strategy of public relations towards national branding.

Searching for Effective Crisis Response Strategies: An Empirical Approach • Ruthann Lariscy and Youngju Sohn, University of Georgia • This is an experimental study designed to provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of crisis response strategies (CRSs). Specifically, this study uses a crisis situation triggered by unethical mismanagement. A product category, the MP3 player, was intentionally selected as the product type and parent-corporation for its appropriateness with the college age demographic tested. This experiment also tests the effectiveness of Coombs’ clustering scheme of CRSs. Results support the effectiveness of the clustering categorization scheme.

Who vs. How: Exploring Factors that Impact Outrage During Risk Situation on the Internet • Hyunmin Lee and Minji Kim, University of Florida • This study examined the impacts of source credibility and modality on the level of initial outrage in a risk situation. A total of 197 students in a southeastern university participated in a 2 (Source credibility: high vs. low) X 3 (modality: text only vs. text plus visual vs. text plus video) factorial design.

Ethical Leadership in Public Relations: Roles, Dimensions and Knowledge Transfer • Seow Ting Lee and I-Huei Cheng, University of Alabama • Extended from the extant research literature that is limited to ethical business leadership, the current study explores the roles and characteristics of leadership in developing and managing ethics in public relations, based on in-depth interviews with 19 high-profile leaders and managers in the public relations field in the United States. Focusing on ethical leadership, the systematic analysis of the interview data identified multiple dimensions of ethical values and roles of public relations leaders and managers.

Influences on Corporate Reputation: Personal Experience, Advertising Recall, and Media Recall • Sunyoung Lee and Craig Carroll, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • The results indicate that advertising recall has a positive influence on organizational reputation, and media recall has a negative influence on organizational reputation, and personal experience had no influence on organizational reputation. Moreover, these recollection effects vary across the dimensions of reputation. Both advertising recall and media recall influence the perception of companies’ emotional appeal, product and service, and social responsibility dimension.

A Rules Theory Approach to Understanding How Health Journalists Judge Public Relations Sources • Maria Len-Rios, Amanda Hinnant, and Sun-A Park, University of Missouri • The research presented here examines how health journalists (N=598) evaluate the appropriateness of public relations materials by public relations source (e.g., nonprofit, government). Also assessed are differences in journalist perceptions according to their news media (e.g., newspapers, magazines) and markets. Rules theory guides the analysis. Findings show that health journalists are least accepting of material from business and federal government agencies. Newspaper and freelance health journalists are sometimes more incredulous than are other journalists.

Is Apology a Cure-All Strategy? Testing the Effects of Apology and Compassion Response in Product-Harm Crises • Ying-Hsuan Lin, PRIME Research; Yoonhyeung Choi, Michigan State University • This study compares the effects of apology and compassion responses on crisis outcomes in product-harm crises in the context of Situational Crisis Communication Theory. A one-way between subject experiment (crisis response: correction (control), correction + compassion, correction + apology, and correction + compassion + apology) was conducted to examine whether compassion and apology result in significant differences.

Distinguishing Elite Newspaper and A-List Blog Crisis Coverage: A Primer for Public Relations Practitioners and Academics • Brooke Liu, DePaul University • Historically, the litmus test for measuring whether an organization effectively managed a crisis was the amount of negative media coverage the crisis received. Today, with the explosion of online media, crisis managers now face an additional litmus test: the amount of negative blog coverage a crisis receives. Despite this reality, public relations practitioners largely have been reticent to embrace blogging.

Conside (RED) Accountable? Consumer Insights for the Product (RED) and Global Fund Partnership Through Public Relations Theory • Amy Martin and Meghan Sanders, Louisiana State University • Product (RED), a cause-related marketing venture to be a catalyst for the private sector to be involved in social responsibility, app roached it’s first anniversary in late October 2007. The campaign’s design incorporates public relations and marketing elements for consumers to buy products and support an international non-profit organization: The Global Fund. The researcher used focus groups to investigate consumer awareness and understanding of the Product (RED) campaign and it’s partnership with The Global Fund.

Strategies for Engaging Ethnic Minorities: A Survey of the Public Relations and Mass Communication Literature • Belio Martinez and Stephanie Dowling, University of Florida • A content analysis of 242 articles from public relations, advertising, marketing, and social marketing published between 1995 and 2007 explored the most effective strategies for communicating with ethnic minorities. Public relations articles continue to be mostly introspective. Articles across fields tend to focus more on setting relevant goals and objectives, using news media tactics, and targeting African Americans. Journal of Advertising yielded most relevant articles. A comprehensive list of best practices is offered here.

Corporate Online Press Rooms as Predictors of Media Salience • Soo Jung Moon, University of Texas • This study examines the relationship between features of corporate online press rooms and media salience. It analyzed websites of Fortune 500 companies and compared the features of online press rooms and the number of news stories from five newspapers and newswires. A bivariate correlation demonstrated that the number of press releases, database indices and RSS/emails had significant relationships to the number of news stories.

Exploring Relationship Management as an Integral Part of Strategic Management of Public Relations • Lan Ni, University of Texas-San Antonio. • The present study aims to explore a preliminary theoretical framework of integrating relationship management into the strategic management process of public relations by examining how relationships are managed in different stages of strategic management and at different levels of organizational strategies. Through analysis of online documents from 13 organizations and documents from these organizations’ publics, the following patterns have been revealed.

Go Team!: A Look at Spokesperson and Message Strength in Encouraging School Spirit • Kristin M. Pace, Elizabeth Foste, and Tomasz A. Fediuk, Illinois State University • School spirit is an important component of college unity and may lead to increased student involvement, alumni donations, and higher enrollment. Not much research has been conducted examining school spirit, and how to develop it. To address this gap the current paper examines school spirit as a form of identification with the university and cohesion. A study was conducted to test the effects of matching a serious or non-serious spokesperson with a strong or weak message.

The Case of the “McDonald’s Grandma”: New Media, New Realities for Public Relations • Janis Page, University of Florida; William S. Page, MediaWerks (Florida); Kendall Sharp and Sasha Talenfeld, University of Florida. • This case study explores the implications of new media on the public image of an organization, observes the dynamics of message control, and makes recommendations for organizational management. The study follows a specific ten-day news “event” as it unfolded on the Internet.

Proactive Approach in a Crisis Communication • Sun-A Park and Glen Cameron, University of Missouri • By conducting a controlled experiment, this study examined the effectiveness of a conflict positioning strategy as a proactive approach in crisis communications. Using multiple sample structural equation modeling, this study tested noninvariance across groups between people exposed to news coverage with a conflict positioning strategy and those not exposed to this strategy. The study showed multi-group models representing differences of people’s evaluation process of a crisis across conditions of presence or absence of conflict positioning.

Much Ado About Something: Web 2.0 Acceptance and Use by Public Relations Practitioners • Kenneth Payne, Western Kentucky University • Evidence suggests communications professionals in public relations are reluctant to accept and use emerging Web 2.0 technologies – blogging, podcasting, web video, content syndication (RSS), wikis, virtual worlds, and social networking.

Persuasion and Public Relations: Rhetorical Perspectives in Giving Meaning to Public Relations • Lance Porter, Louisiana State University • To dismiss a statement as “nothing more than rhetoric” is nearly as severe a slight as to say that a statement is “merely public relations.” Sharing this mutual stigma, rhetoric and public relations attempt to define truth in society through dialogue. However, most of the current research in public relations continues to use Grunig and Hunt’s previous conceptualization of the symmetrical model of public relations, which condemns persuasion.

Understanding Ivy Lee’s Declaration of Principles: U.S. Newspaper and Magazine Coverage of Publicity and Press Agentry, 1865-1904 • Karen Russell and Carl Bishop, University of Georgia • In 1905, Ivy Lee issued a notice to a number of city editors an explanation of his new agency’s method of operation. Dubbed the “Declaration of Principles” by journalist Sherman Morse, Lee’s handout has been called the “starting point of modern public relations.” But what did Lee’s remarks mean in the context of his time? This study examines newspaper and magazine discussion of publicity and press agentry in relation to business and industry.

The Whole Picture: Coorientational Measurement of Direct and Meta-Perspectives in an Organization-Public Relationship • Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Michael Mitrook, University of Florida • This study extends the relational perspective through the application of a new methodology for measuring organization-public relationships. The Hon-Grunig (1999) relationship scale was applied in a coorientational framework to include the direct perspectives of both an organization and a stakeholder public. This represents a departure from existing organization-public relationship measurement. Meta-perspectives of each party were also included to assess agreement, accuracy, and congruency. The effect of time on the coorientational relationship variables was also examined.

How New Media Influence Global Activism: A Study of Transnational NGOs’ Online Public Relations • Hyunjin Seo and Ji Young Kim, Syracuse University • This study examines how nongovernmental organizations make use of new media tools for their public relations activities and what factors influence their online public relations. To analyze related issues, we conducted a survey of communications representatives at transnational NGOs based in the United States. A total of 71 organizations participated in the survey, which included both closed- and open-ended questions.

Corporate Social Responsibility in China: The Role of Public Relations • Hongmei Shen, University of Maryland • The study explored the role of public relations in managing social responsibilities in multinationals operating in China. Results from 18 interviews of top communicators and other employees found that public relations was viewed as “publicity” or “media relations,” and communication at best. But participants suggested that the public relations function could contribute strategically to managing social responsibilities by acting as a coordinator or leader in the formulation, implementation and evaluation processes.

Extending Institutional Theory to Public Relations Analysis • Simon Sinaga, Texas Tech University • Public relations researchers and educators have long urged theory development in the field. Because public relations is practiced in organizations, theory development grounded in an organizational perspective is particularly important. This paper proposes the sociology-based institutional theory that organization studies have developed as one that is in a solid position to assess public relations’ role in advancing organizational interests because social processes define an organization’s legitimacy and ability to change.

A Need for Translation? Conceptualizing Public Relations in Spain • Brian Smith, University of Maryland • Research on global public relations is heavily focused on interpreting practice through the lenses of dominant U.S. ideology. This is particularly the case for analyses of public relations in Europe. This research explores the development and current practice of public relations in Spain, a country which has received little attention in global PR research, but which has followed a unique path of development.

Corporate Social Responsibility in U.S. Hispanic Businesses: A Qualitative Analysis of Levels of Participation and Support • Leticia Solaun and Juan-Carlos Molleda, University of Florida • The Hispanic-owned business demographic is a burgeoning component of the U.S. economic sector. This study explores the perceptions, attitudes, and participation of this demographic in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Factors evaluated include the extent to which these businesses incorporate a CSR framework, communication of core values with key publics using a U.S. model of giving, cultural perspectives of CSR, and, within the context of stakeholder theory, measures to build relationships with stakeholders through CSR initiatives.

A New Way of Looking at Public Relations • Jessalynn Strauss, University of Oregon • In this paper, James W. Carey’s “ritual view” of communication is examined and applied to the academic study of public relations, specifically the field of relationship management theory. The paper presents a brief biography of Carey and outlines his significant contributions to the field of communication studies, including the ritual view of communication.

The Role of Relationship and Reputation in the Management of Organizational Communication • Minjung Sung and Jang-Sun Hwang, Chung-Ang University (Korea) • This study focused on the role of two critical concepts in public relations literature: relationship and reputation. Three popular marketing constructs including corporate image, involvement, and consumer loyalty are investigated as the consequences of these two. Relationship, which is behavior-oriented measure, and reputation proved to be strong predictors of consumer loyalty by mediated with corporate image and involvement.

Credibility of Corporate Blogs and Impact on Attitude toward a Company • Jiun-Yi Tsai, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study provides an empirical approach to investigate the impacts of corporate blogging. It explores whether different sources of blog authors could influence people’s perceptions of credibility and attitude toward a company. Also, it tests whether level of involvement can moderate the effect of perceived source credibility on attitudes. By performing an experimental design (N =177), this inquiry sheds light on research of blog communication and persuasion literature.

An Exploratory Study of the Media Transparency in Ukraine • Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma; Anastasia Grynko, Kiev (Ukraine) Mohyla Academy • This study extends the media transparency project by analyzing the phenomenon of media transparency, or media bribery, in Ukraine. Surveying of journalists and public relations practitioners revealed that media bribery is present in Ukraine in different forms, most of which deal with indirect influences owners and governments have on the media. The results revealed multiple factors influence how communication leaders make sense of media transparency. Implications and recommendations for future studies are offered.”

The Implications of Social Circles for the “Anomaly” of Government Relations: An “Anomaly” No Longer? • Leah Tuite, Marist College • Government relations, a specialized form of public relations, has been found to be an anomalous form of public relations. Its successful practice deviates from the Excellence theory of public relations, tending not to correlate as strongly with some theoretical indicators of excellent public relations as do other specialized forms of public relations, such as media, employee, or member relations (Dozier, L.A. Grunig, & J.E. Grunig, 1995; J.E. Grunig, 1992; L.A. Grunig, J.E. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002).

Societal Culture a Determinant for Gender-Roles in Organizational Public Relations in Romania • Antoneta Vanc, University of Tennessee • This study aims to understand the Romanian societal accepted gender-roles, and its implications for public relations in organizational settings. This study expands on the body of research concerning gender-role attitudes in public relations organizations and argues that cultural determinants are important in understanding women’s and men’s attitudes and the historical context in which these attitudes are formed.

Student-coach Relations: A Case Study Examining Crisis Communication in Higher Education • Tulika Varma, Louisiana State University • This study examines how public relations officials managed the crisis arising from the news of the resignation of coach Chatman at Louisiana State University and the subsequent linkage of her resignation to inappropriate conduct with former student athletes within the framework of public relations in higher education and crisis communication. The findings from this study reveal how internal stakeholders view crisis and how their perception of the crisis determines their evaluation of the crisis management.

Public Relations, Marketing, and the Disintegration Paradox • Robert Wakefield, Brigham Young University • The public relations field seems to be in better condition than ever; yet, ominous trends portend a reduction in stature for public relations over time. As one researcher argued, while public relations scholars and practitioners debate integration with marketing and other fields, the field is actually disintegrating in critical ways—particularly at the levels that have traditionally been the highest in stature and remuneration. This paper explores these trends and proposes solutions.

Effects of Positive Versus Negative News Coverage of Blockbuster’s End of Late Fees Promotion on Perceived Trustworthiness and Message Strength and Attitude toward News Coverage • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut; Ron Anderson, University of Texas at Austin • This study compared the relative effects of positive and negative news coverage of Blockbuster’s End of Late Fees promotion on perceived trustworthiness and message strength and attitude toward the news coverage. Valence of news coverage has been shown to play a contingent role in message processing that is positively related to message effects. Positive and negative are two dimensions of news-coverage valence, whereas message effects are manifestations of audiences’ perceived trustworthiness and message strength.

Rethinking Relationship Maintenance Strategies: Comparing the Impact of Cultivation on Major Gift and Annual-giving Donors • Richard Waters, North Carolina State University • In recent years, the organization-public relationship has drawn the attention of many public relations scholars. Now, scholars are beginning to discuss the impact of relationship cultivation strategies on individual types of relationships. In this study, six strategies adapted from interpersonal communication theory and four stewardship strategies derived from the practice are subjected to path analysis to determine which strategies are most impactful on how donors evaluate their relationships with nonprofit hospitals.

Communicating Outside the Classroom with Millennials: Preparing for the Next Generation of Public Relations Students • Richard Waters, North Carolina State University and Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Recent research has shown that the current group of students enrolled in colleges and universities are vastly different from their previous generations. The Millennial generation is more collaborative and sociable than any before them, and they routinely multi-task while communicating. However, this generation is also quite protected by their parents, who frequently are involved in decision-making situations and their children’s academic problems.

The Emergence of the Communication Strategist: An Examination of Practitioner Roles, Department Leadership Style, and Message Strategy Use in Organizations • Kelly Werder and Derina Holtzhausen, University of South Florida • A survey of Public Relations Society of America members (N=885) indicates the emergence of the communication strategist role. Results indicate that public relations department leadership style influences practitioner role enactment. In addition, practitioner roles were found to influence public relations message strategy use in organizations.

Communicating Before a Crisis: An Exploration of Bolstering, CSR and Inoculation Practices • Shelley Wigley, Texas Tech University; Michael Pfau, University of Oklahoma • This study explored the effectiveness of communicating to publics before a crisis occurs by using both affective and cognitive inoculation messages, along with bolstering, corporate social responsibility, and control messages. Results indicate that inoculation, bolstering and CSR messages work similarly in protecting a corporation’s reputation following a crisis. The study also found no downside to providing inoculation messages to an organization’s publics even when a crisis does not occur.

PR Gets Personal: A Framing Analysis of Coverage Before and After a Source’s Criticism of the Media • Shelley Wigley and Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • Public relations practitioners emphasize the importance of positive source-reporter relationships, but what happens when sources are critical of the reporters who cover them? Using framing analysis, this study examined newspaper coverage both before and after a source’s personal attack on the media and found few differences in how the editors and reporters covered the source of the attack. Therefore, at least in this study, journalists were able to maintain their objectivity.

An Action Research Analysis of an Art Museum’s Relationships with Two Key Stakeholder Groups • Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University • This action research study considers the major theoretical concepts from relationship management theory, stakeholder theory and donor relations theory to assess an art museum’s relationship with two key publics with the intent of developing strategic programs to enhance the museum’s relationships with them.

Mediation Effects of Organization-Public Relationship Outcomes • Sung-Un Yang and Minjeong Kang, Syracuse University • The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the value of organization-public relationship outcomes in the behavioral framework of awareness, attitude, intention, and behavior (e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen, 2006). More specifically, this study is to examine mediation effects of relationship outcomes on key factors of stakeholders’ support for a not-for-profit organization, which include awareness, attitude, and behavioral intention toward supportive relationship-building.

Message Strategies Used (or Unused) in Crisis by Contractors Operating in Iraq • Olga Zatepilina, Syracuse University • This study analyzed the corporate discourse by selected U.S. government contractors operating in Iraq in 2004-2007 in response to charges of factual or alleged wrongdoing. Corporate apologiae was the message strategy of choice. Contractors routinely refused to comment but rarely apologized. Condolence was found to be a frequently used message strategy, which doesn’t fit into the existing image-repair typologies. In crisis, contractors protected their bottom line and did little to effectively manage their long-term reputation.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Media Ethics 2008 Abstracts

Media Ethics Division

The Ethics of Lobbying: Testing an Ethical Framework for Advocacy in Public Relations • Kati Berg, Marquette University • This study evaluates the ethical criteria lobbyists consider in their professional activities using Ruth Edgett’s (2002) model for ethically-desirable public relations advocacy. Data were collected from self-administered surveys of 222 registered lobbyists in Oregon. A factor analysis reduced 18 ethical criteria to seven underlying factors describing lobbyists’ ethical approaches to their work. Results indicate that lobbyists consider the following factors in their day-to-day professional activities: situation, strategy, argument, procedure, nature of lobbying, priority, and accuracy.

Cultivating Critical Thinking in a Media Ethics Classroom • Piotr Bobkowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Media ethics instructors and researchers seem to agree that proper ethics education entails the development of critical thinking. But evidence that would support this notion is absent from journalism and mass communication literature. Addressing this deficiency, the present paper identifies the components of critical thinking instruction, evaluates the extent to which decision-making models presented in media ethics textbooks promote critical thinking, and identifies teaching strategies that further critical thinking in a media ethics course.

Documentary Tradition and the Ethics of Michael Moore’s Sicko • Sandra Borden, Western Michigan University • Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko, is evaluated using virtue theory, which calls our attention to the way traditions inspire us to perform our various roles with moral integrity. Focusing on his use of voice, truth, argument, humor and irony, I will argue that Moore’s performance as a documentary filmmaker generally exhibits coherence, continuity and creativity within the documentary tradition. On the other hand, his performance is not entirely consistent with the moral commitments of documentary filmmakers.

The Moral Sensitivity and Character of Public Relations Students: A Preliminary Study • Mathew Cabot, San José State University • Public relations practitioners and academics have been exploring ethics models, revising ethics codes, holding ethics workshops, and building ethics curricula – all in an attempt to address the ethical lapses that continue to occur in the profession. Little of this activity, however, has included research dealing with the moral development of public relations practitioners and its connection to ethics theories, codes, and instruction.

Ethics of Antismoking PSAs • I-Huei Cheng, University of Alabama; Seow Ting Lee; Jinae Kang, University of Alabama • This study examines the ethical dimensions of public health communication, with a focus on antismoking public service announcements (PSAs). The content analysis of 826 television antismoking ads from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Media Campaign Resource Center is an empirical testing of Baker and Martinson’s (2001) TARES Test by directly examining the content of tobacco control ads for elements of Truthfulness, Authenticity, Respect, Equity, and Social Responsibility.

Mortality Morality: Effect of Death Thoughts on Journalism Students’ Attitudes Toward Relativism, Idealism, and Ethics • David Cuillier, University of Arizona • This study, based on terror management theory, examines how the thought of death affects views toward relativism, idealism, and unethical behavior. College journalism students (N = 101) participated in an experiment where half were primed to think about death and the other half, the control group, thought about dental pain, and then all of them completed a questionnaire.

Constructing a “Moral Minefield”: News Media Framing of the Ethical Debate in Stem Cell Research • Nicole Smith Dahmen, Manship School of Mass Communication, LSU • The ethical considerations surrounding stem cell research are fueling increasing debate in science, politics, and religion. And this debate has largely been played out in the news media (Nisbet, 2005). This research provides in-depth understanding of how the media have framed the ethical aspects of the stem cell debate. In the analysis of the ethical frames, the theme of the consequences of impeding scientific progress received considerably less coverage than did the religious theme.

There is No Right Answer: What Does Media Ethics Mean to Journalism Students? • Allyson DeVito, University of Tennessee • This study examines the meanings of ethics to journalism students. Although many scholars have argued the importance of teaching media ethics and how best to teach it, there have been few research attempts to examine how journalism students actually understand ethics. After analyzing twelve qualitative interviews, the findings show that students with more professional experience have different meanings of ethics than those with limited experiences outside the classroom, which has implications for teaching media ethics.

Fair Comment? The Ethics of Anonymous Postings on News Web Sites • Kyle Heim, University of Missouri • Many news Web sites now permit readers to post comments on blogs and news stories or to share their thoughts in message forums. Often, readers may do so without having to give their names. Defenders of anonymity say it fosters more candid discussion, but critics charge that it damages trust and encourages incivility. This paper examines the debate and draws on ethical theories to advocate a middle ground of pseudonymity coupled with full-name registration.

The Effectiveness of Newspaper Codes of Ethics • Emily Housley, Texas Christian University • In an industry where public perception appears at an all-time low, it is vital to evaluate the effectiveness of newspaper codes of ethics. Studies have evaluated the role of codes of ethics in the ethical decision-making process, but none have looked at the overall effectiveness of having a code. This study is a quantitative evaluation of one newspaper’s code of ethics, in relation to individuals’ ethical differences, code applicability and code agreement.

The Ethics of Punishing Unethical Expression: Journalism, Imus, and First Amendment Values • Robert L. Kerr, University of Oklahoma • This paper considers the ethics of punishing unethical words — words that not only offend but are argued to cause more harm than simple offense. In this case, the particular words were uttered by radio and television talkshow host Don Imus in 2007. Even though there were no issues implicating First Amendment law in the Imus controversy, strictly speaking, a closer analysis indicates that the relationship between ethical principles and freedom of expression is more symbiotic.

Ethics Research in the New Millennium: A Survey of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics from 2000-2007 • Carol Madere, Southeastern Louisiana University • This article summarizes research published in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics and seeks to determine the most common topic, method of research and theories used. It also evaluates the direction of ethics research against Starck’s prescription for future ethics research after his survey of the journal from 1990-1999. Finally, it proposes future directions for ethics research in the new millennium.

Tragedies of the Broadcast Commons: Consumer Perspectives on the Ethics of Product Placement and Video News Releases • Jay Newell, Iowa State University; Jeffrey Blevins, Iowa State University • Adapting Hardin’s (1968) metaphorical use of “commons” to the domain of broadcasting, we surveyed the attitudes of individuals towards two phenomena (product placement and video news releases), and three constructs (cynicism directed towards government, cynicism directed towards marketers, and the individual’s assessment of their marketing literacy). Respondents were highly cynical about government regulation of advertising and nearly as cynical of the ability of marketer’s to self-regulate.

A Dangerous Deficiency: Why Journalists Have An Ethical Responsibility to Understand the Essentials of Ecology • Bryan H. Nichols, USF • The world is becoming more populated and urbanized, disconnecting people from the natural support systems that maintain their quality of life. This disconnect results in unsustainable policy decisions and lifestyle choices, a situation which journalists are in an ideal position to address. Unfortunately, most journalists are as ecologically illiterate as the public. This paper uses an ethical analysis to argue that all journalists have a responsibility to learn basic ecological principals.

That’s a Wrap (-around!): Blurring the Boundaries of Entertainment and Ads • Kathleen O’Toole, Penn State University • The Children’s Television Act of 1990 restricted the amount of advertising carried on children’s programming and required program separators to distinguish between commercial and non-commercial programming. The law took a “golden mean” approach that balanced the economic imperatives of the television industry with the best interests of young viewers. This paper examines a relatively new genre of programming that may represent an attempt to subvert the spirit and the letter of the law.

“Good Story”—But How Good? Notes Toward a Rhetoric of Journalism • Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson University • Attempts to define how journalists assess their work have consisted of survey research on quality “criteria” and qualitative proposals of “elements” or “principles.” This paper proposes an assessment framework based on the study of rhetoric and organized within five “faculties” (discovery, examination, interpretation, style and presentation). Five standards arise (quality journalism is independent, accurate, open to appraisal, edited and uncensored) plus five criteria of excellence (the best journalism is ambitious, undaunted, contextual, engaging and original).

Academic and Professional Dishonesty: Student View of Cheating in the Classroom and On the Job • Linda Shipley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • Early studies of academic dishonesty discovered that a large percentage of students admitted they cheated. Since then, additional studies have found even higher numbers of students who report that they cheat, and those students indicate that stress related to getting good grades is a driving factor. Recently, there have been several incidents of journalists who were caught cheating. Could academic and professional dishonesty be connected? This study looks at several factors that might contribute to both.

“Comment Is Free, But Facts Are Sacred”: User-generated content and ethical constructs at the Guardian • Jane B. Singer, University of Central Lancashire/University of Iowa; Ian Ashman, University of Central Lancashire • This case study examines how journalists at Britain’s Guardian newspaper and affiliated website are assessing and incorporating user-generated content in their perceptions and practices. It uses a framework of existentialism to highlight issues of particular interest here, including authenticity and the potentially conflicting ethical constructs of autonomy and responsibility. This study represents one of the first empirical approaches to understanding how journalists are negotiating both personal and social ethics within a digital network.

Video News Release Policies and Usage at Television Stations: Deontological Implications for the Newsroom • Burton St. John, Old Dominion University; Ed Lordan, West Chester University of Pennsylvania • In the last decade, television news stations have received an increasing number of video news releases (VNRs) from PR practitioners who are representing a variety of clients, including government agencies, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. Despite the increased public profile of the VNR, no research has been conducted on newsroom selection procedures regarding VNRs — specifically, how newsroom VNR policies relate to broadcast journalists’ deontological obligations to multiple audiences.

Twice Victimized: Lessons from the Media Mob at Virginia Tech • Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida; Norman Lewis, University of Florida; Jeff Neely, University of Florida • In-depth interviews with survivors, family members and others associated with the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings revealed that some journalists worsened the trauma through intrusive, insensitive behavior. While some displayed compassion, other journalists knocked on doors at 6 a.m., attempted to sneak hidden cameras into hospital rooms, interrupted grieving students and grabbed a student’s wounded arm.

A Comparison of the Moral Development of Advertising and Journalism Students • Stephanie Yamkovenko, Louisiana State University • This study employed the Defining Issues Test (DIT) to complete the analysis and comparison of the moral development of mass communication students, specifically those who major in advertising and journalism. The DIT is an instrument based on Kohlberg’s moral development theory and is a device for assessing the extent to which a person has developed his or her moral schemas.

How Much Do They Care about Advertising Ethics? -A Content Analysis of Plastic Surgeons’ Websites • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State University; Tae Hyun Baek, University of Georgia; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University; Ilwoo Ju, University of Georgia • The present study focuses on the websites of plastic surgeons who are practicing in the ten major cities of the U.S. Websites are, along with magazine ads, the most popular advertising tool for American plastic surgeons who are now in serious competition among themselves. Under this extremely competitive situation, it is possible that the advertising content could be exaggerating or deceptive to get patients’ attention, as several researchers have indicated.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Advertising 2008 Abstracts

Advertising Division

Research Papers
Tiptoe or tackle? How product placement prominence and exposure frequency moderate the mere exposure effect • Jorg Matthes, University of Zurich, Werner Wirth, University of Zurich and Christian Schemer, University of Zurich • According to the mere exposure effect (Zajonc 1968), the mere unreinforced presentation of product placements can increase brand liking. In an experiment, we manipulated placement prominence and placement frequency for an externally and internally valid stimulus. As results indicate, a mere exposure effect can only be observed for frequently presented subtle placements, but not for prominent placements. The reason is that prominent placements lead to high placement recall which impedes positive attitudinal effects.

Reducing Stigma through Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising: A Content Analysis of Television Commercials • Jennifer Ball, University of Texas, Angie Lang, University of Texas and Wei-Na Lee, University of Texas • Due to its prevalence, direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising may contribute to improving the acceptance of stigmatized health conditions. This study explores the potential of these ads to reduce the stigma of disparaged health conditions. A content analysis was conducted on DTC television commercials assessing the inclusion of elements reflective of stigma reduction methods. The study yielded mixed results for anti-stigma factors in terms of offering enough educational information and stereotype disconfirmation and encouraging perspective-taking.

Cell phone usage and advertising acceptance among college students: A four-year analysis • Michael Hanley, Ball State University and Michael Becker, Golden Gate University • This study employs five online surveys conducted over a four-year period to investigate college student cell phone usage, and exposure to and acceptance of mobile advertising. Surveys were conducted between November 2005 and February 2008. Results showed that incentives are a key motivating factor for cell phone advertising acceptance; students are receiving more cell phone ads, but annoyance has not shown a corresponding increase; consumption of mobile content has shown little growth.

Consumer Responses to Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Role • Xiaoli Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yan Wang, Beijing University of Technology • This research examines the effects of brand/cause fit in cause-related marketing (CRM) on consumer responses in a cross-cultural context. An experiment found that brand/cause fit was positively associated with perception of altruistic sponsor motives, but unrelated to perception of self-serving sponsor motives. These results were found for both American and Chinese consumers.

Is there a need for speed? Fast banner ads are arousing and increase product trial • Brittany R.L. Duff, University of Minnesota, Sela Sar, Iowa State University and Joel Geske, Iowa State University • Findings in research on banner ad animation have generally indicated that animation leads to arousal but have often had conflicting findings for dependent variables related to the banner ad itself. We conducted two experiments and showed that not only is self-reported and physiological arousal higher for faster animation ads, but also that those who saw the faster ad are more likely to try and pay more for a product in a subsequently seen print ad.

Changing impacts of direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising information sources and specific drug requests • Annisa Lee, City University of Hong Kong • This study tracks trends and changes in four information sources for direct-to-consumer drug advertising since the inception of an approach proposed in the Guidance for Industry about Consumer-directed Broadcast Advertisements. These guidelines aimed at fulfilling the adequate provision requirement (21 CFR 202.1(e)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act issued by the Food and Drug Administration) regarding patients’ asking doctors about specific drugs.

Investigating the structure of consumer imagery processing: A hierarchical personality approach • Joseph Mahan, University of Maryland and Stephen McDaniel, University of Maryland • Consumer use of imagery to process advertising messages has received much attention in the literature (e.g., Thompson and Hamilton 2006) yet little is known about its underlying structure. The current study adopts a hierarchical personality approach (cf. Mowen and Spears 1999) in examining the influence of certain traits on an individual’s processing style. Results suggest that variance in processing style is accounted for by interplay among personality traits (e.g., Openness to Experience and fantasy-proneness).

Motivations for Providing eWOM: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of U.S. and Korean College Students • Sung Mi Han, Michigan State University and Mira Lee, Michigan State University • This study investigated consumers’ underlying motivations to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication through online opinion platforms and their relationships with eWOM behavior. The study also examined cross-cultural differences in motivations for providing eWOM between American consumers and Korean consumers. The analyses identified five factors that motivate consumers to provide eWOM: social interaction benefits/self-enhancement, helping the company, vengeance upon the company, concern for others, and economic incentive.

Applying the selectivity model to cause-related marketing campaigns: Does gender influence consumers’ responses? • Alexandra Vilela, Towson University and Michelle Nelson, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign • The Selectivity Model is used to examine sex differences in cognitions and attitudes toward companies and causes after cause-related marketing (CRM) message and at a delay. In line with theory, women demonstrated more favorable attitudes than men did after the CRM message prime, but these effects faded over time. No sex differences in message elaboration were found; however, women’s attitudes were made up of multiple factors (including thoughts), whereas men relied on singular cues.

Responsible Regulation? The DISCUS Code’s role in priming positive attitudes toward alcohol • Stacey Hurst, Washington State University and Jessica Fitts, Washington State University • An industry-produced Code of Responsible Practices outlines responsible advertising tactics for members of the Distilled Spirits Council, yet also helps citizens decide if an advertisement is in violation. According to priming theory, the framing of a document can make particular perspectives more salient and can influence opinion formation. This study tested whether the Code influenced perceptions of the industry and its advertising practices.

Evaluation, Use, and Usefulness of Interpersonal, Advertising, and Mediated Sources of Prescription Drug Information among Anglo- and Hispanic-Americans • Denise DeLorme, University of Central Florida, Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota and Leonard Reid, University of Georgia • This telephone survey determined and compared how Anglos and Hispanics evaluate and use interpersonal, advertising, and mediated prescription drug information sources. The findings reveal: Hispanics rely on doctors, Internet sources, and DTC advertising, while Anglos most frequently use Internet sources and health professionals; Anglos are more likely to use health-related websites; Hispanics rely on TV and DTC TV advertising more than Anglos.

Writing the Headlines: Influencing News Content through Marketplace Advocacy • Barbara Miller, Elon University • Previous research has identified interactions between political advertising and news content (Roberts & McCombs, 1994) and political Web sites and the public’s agenda (Ku et al., 2003). Previous research has also suggested that issue advertising has the potential to raise public awareness of certain issues by providing information to the media at reduced cost or effort, thereby influencing the media’s agenda, and ultimately influencing the public’s agenda (Gandy, 1982).

Measuring Player Perceptions of Advertising in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games • Lance Porter, Louisiana State University and Ben Lewis, Louisiana State University • In an experiment involving 100 participants aged 18-24, we conducted a study to measure effects of advertising in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) on perceived interactivity and other aspects of gameplay experience. Results from a post-test questionnaire suggested that while advertising in MMORPGs can trigger high awareness rates, in-game advertising can also reduce a game’s perceived sense of realism and annoy players if not coordinated with the game environment.

Who is she wearing? A study of brand appearances in top-rated television shows • Cara DiSisto, Elon University • New technologies allow consumers to record their favorite shows or view them online, bypassing traditional television commercials. This study examined the extent and nature of product placements in television given these changes. A content analysis of top-rated television shows in 2007 found that while there seems to be a decrease in overall volume of brand appearances, the nature of the brand appearances seems to be much more in line with what practitioners have suggested is important to the success of a placement.

Perceptions of Mississippi Golf Coast Residents toward the Insurance Industry before and after Hurricane Katrina • Patricia Mark, University of South Alabama • This paper examines perceptions of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents toward the property and casualty insurance industry before and after Hurricane Katrina. It seeks to determine: 1) What perceptions Mississippi Gulf Coast residents held toward the property casualty insurance industry prior to Hurricane Katrina, 2) What perceptions Mississippi Gulf Coast residents held toward the property casualty insurance industry after Hurricane Katrina.

Possible Gap in the Advertising Classroom; Different Perceptions of Advertising Creativity between Advertising Professors and Advertising Major Students • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State University and Mariko Morimoto, University of Georgia • Many scholars and practitioners agree that advertising creativity is one of the most significant parts in advertising, but, at the same time, they also admit that the topic has not been addressed enough. Individuals’ subjective perceptions about advertising creativity could be one of the reasons explaining the lack of the academic studies dealing with advertising creativity due to the difficulty in conducting the research.

Detecting pod position effects in the context of multi-segment programming: Implications from four Super Bowl broadcasts • Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University and Hai Tran, University of North Carolina • Using ads placed in four Super Bowl broadcasts, this study investigated the impacts of pod positions on advertising effectiveness in a multi-segmented television program. The results support general primacy effects. The brands advertised during earlier quarters are significantly better recognized than those appeared in later quarters. However, advertising liking was not related to pod positions. This study also determined the pod position effects on brands recognition and advertising liking in the entire program.

Mothers’ perceptions about the usage of animated characters in TV food advertising targeting children • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State University and Karen Whitehill King, University of Georgia • As TV food advertising has been considered one of the important factors in increasing the rate of childhood obesity, discussions about the content of this advertising have been more popular than ever. Among them, animated characters in TV food are an important topic because they prompt children to nag their parents to buy the food products they see on TV.

Understanding Consumer Attitudes toward Luxury Brands: A Cross-Cultural Study • Mark Yi-Cheon Yim, University of Texas and Yeo Jung Kim, University of Texas • This study investigates the relationship between the attitudes toward luxury brands and cultural typology based on U.S. and Korean college students. The study results suggest that rather than the dimension of Individualism-Collectivism, the dimension of Horizontality–Verticality was a valid predictor of attitude toward luxury brands. More specifically, vertical cultural orientations have positive effects on attitude toward luxury brands, whereas horizontal cultural orientations have negative effects. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed at the end.

Portrayals of the Elderly in Advertising: Do Hong Kong Ads Reflect Respect? • John Schweitzer, Bradley University and Daniel Ng, University of Oklahoma • This exploratory research was undertaken to investigate the portrayal of the elderly in Chinese advertising. The results of the investigation showed that the elderly are underrepresented in terms of their population numbers, but, on the whole, they were depicted in a favourable light. The research suggests several new areas for research to more fully understand the portrayal of the elderly in advertising.

Advertising disclosures and corporate social responsibility • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut • Although research into product disclosures has been conducted, little examines consumers’ attitudes toward disclosures in print ads. Research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and the Social Contract Theory (SCT) suggests that consumers may put a relatively high value on corporations that use disclosures in their print ads responsibly.

The effects of salient risk-reducing advertisements on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions • Roger Rudolph, St. Cloud State University and Roya Akhavan-Majid, St. Cloud State University • The concept of perceived risk in consumer decision-making constitutes an important area in advertising research. The present experiment was designed specifically to identify and reduce salient components of risk for two purchase conditions and measure the impact of the risk-reducing advertisements on, a) advertising believability, b) attitudes toward brand, and c) consumer purchase intentions.

Instructional interactivity: Measuring the effects of combining the produce and process of interactivity • Jesse Hoggard, Louisiana State University and Lance Porter, Louisiana State University • Using a between subjects, experimental design among 421 subjects, this study explicated and defined a new type of interactivity—instructive interactivity, where actors in the online advertisement instruct the user on how to interact. Results show that instructive interactivity can drive consumer engagement, through positive effects on attitude towards the ad, click-through, and intent to purchase. Brand advertisers can use instructive interactivity to literally tell consumers what to do: purchase products.

Consumer responses to stereoscopic 3-D as an advertising tool: An exploratory study • Mark Yi-Cheon Yim, University of Texas-Austin and Terry Daugherty, University of Texas-Austin • Since the emergence of auto-stereoscopic display technology, much literature has predicted its applications to outdoor advertising. However, there have been no efforts to evaluate its usability for advertising. As a seminal study, this research investigated the average consumers’ responses to this new technology which displays objects with the appearance of the true depth, and conducted an experiment to see the effectiveness of this new 3-D technology, compared to 2-D advertising.

The role of reviewers’ avatar on consumers’ processing of online product reviews • Mira Lee, Michigan State University. Mikyoung Kim and Wei Ping, Michigan State University • Drawing from attribution theory, this study demonstrates that the reviewer’s avatar facial expression moderates the effect of the valence of a consumer-generated product review on consumers’ causal attributions. In addition, this study reveals a three-way interaction effect of the valence of the product review, the reviewer’s avatar facial expression, and the consumers’ skepticism toward online consumer-generated product reviews on the strength of attitude toward the brand. Implications for researchers are also discussed.

Corporate reputation and ad-induced emotion: The effects of forewarning, affect intensity, and prior brand attitude • Sang Yeal Lee, West Virginia University • A between-subjects experiment was conducted to understand the role of forewarning of persuasive intent, affect intensity and prior attitude. Results indicated that forewarning of persuasive intent had negative attitudinal effects on the dependent variables regardless of experimental conditions. Forewarning of persuasive intent had negative attitudinal effects even among participants who had positive attitudes toward the company, and those who had high affect intensity.

Does the Exposure to Repeated Brand Information Inhibit Recognition of Non-repeated Brands? • Hyun-Seung Jin, Jatin Srivastava • The purpose of this study is to examine whether repeated exposure to some brand visuals inhibits or impairs the recognition of other non-repeated brand visuals in the context of the list-strength paradigm. Two experiments were conducted. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that different types of recognition tests play a significant role as a moderating variable. No significant inhibitive effect was found when recognition test items were distinctively different from the items that were pre-exposed.

The effects of body esteem on consumer attitudes toward diet product advertising – the mediating role of Social Comparison • Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, Louisiana State and Tae Hyun Baek, Georgia • There have been several studies dealing with the relationships between the perceptions of self and an individual’s attitudes toward advertising for diverse products. However, specific research about diet products, which have recently seen a dramatic increase in sales, has been scarce.

Teaching Papers
The National Student Advertising Competition: Chapter Advisers Describe Structure, Resources and Issues • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University, Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University and Connie Frazier, American Advertising Federation • It has been almost ten years since a survey has been published of advertising program participation in the American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). The current study reports results from a nationwide survey of AAF student chapter advisers. NSAC is considered by the vast majority of advisers to be a valuable experience for students, one that often leads directly to advertising employment, and one that is the closest to “real world” activities.

Curriculum Convergence from the Employer’s Perspective: An Analysis of Required Entry-Level Job Skills for Advertising, IMC, and Interactive Marketing Graduates • Dennis Lowry and Lei Xie, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This paper reviews methodological flaws in some past studies of required employment skills for entry-level advertising and marketing jobs, and then develops a new deductive approach (using QDA Miner and WordStat software) to analyze 645 entry-level employment ads. The purpose of the study was to look for skills that transcend convergence in advertising, marketing, and the media, and to isolate skills that employers require regardless of the advertising/marketing major.

Determining the Level and Nature of Curricular Integration in Programs of Journalism and Mass Communication • Andrew Lingwall, Clarion University • This study explores the level and nature of curricular integration in university programs of journalism and mass communication according to the principles of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). It also explores respondents’ perceptions about the value of such an integrated curriculum.

The Influence of Thai culture on Group-based Learning in the Advertising Campaigns Class • Chawanuan Kananukul, Burapha University and Margaret Morrison, University of Tennessee • Group-based learning is normally utilized in the advertising campaigns course because it is believed that it can provide students with opportunities for enhancing their learning through practical application and better prepare them for careers in the advertising industry. While group-based learning in campaigns classes is common in the U.S., accounts of how it works in other cultures and the role that cultural values might play in its success are rare.

PF&R Papers
The Mid-Career Vanishing Act: A Qualitative Examination of Why So Few Women Become Creative Directors • Karen Mallia, University of South Carolina • Few women reach the top levels of advertising agency creative departments, though relatively equal numbers of women and men enter the field as copywriters and art directors. This study examines why creative women have been unable to achieve the success women have seen in other agency arenas. Through 17 depth interviews, the study identifies numerous factors underlying the dearth of women creative directors, some of those factors unique to advertising or agency creative positions.

Representation of African Americans in Super Bowl Commercials, 1989-2006: An Analysis of Primary and Secondary Characters • Kenneth Campbell, University of South Carolina, Phillip Jeter, Middle Tennessee State University and Ernest Wiggins, University of South Carolina • A content analysis of Super Bowls from 1989 to 2006 finds that African Americans in primary roles are represented at a rate somewhat below their proportion in the U.S. population. They are more likely to be relegated to background roles over primary roles, and associated with less prestigious products much more frequently than higher-end products. It raises questions about the cultural messages communicated concerning African Americans.

Assimilating the Queers: Representations of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexual, and Transgender People in Out-of-Closet Advertising • Wanhsiu Tsa, University of Miami • This paper investigates how mainstream advertising in the U.S. represents gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people. The objective is to explore how the identity categories of sexuality, gender, race, and class are enacted in advertising. The new gay dream consumer stereotype has partly replaced the previously stigmatized image. Gayness has been redefined via consumption ideologies and GLBT representations are sexualized and commodified to assimilate the sexual and gender minorities into the mainstream.

INSPI(RED) or (RED)ICU(LESS)? The Assessment of the (PRODUCT) RED Campaign • Kwangmi Kim, Towson University and Lauren Ambrogio, Towson University • Recently, we are witnessing a new, expanding CRM campaign, called (PRODUCT) RED campaign. While presenting a new business model within the CRM, this campaign has drawn various attention and concerns from non-profit organizations as well as from the marketing industry and the media.

Special Topics Papers
Starting the Buzz: Assessing the Practice of Buzz Marketing • Amy Struthers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Hailey Abbott, University of Nebraska-Lincoln • This study questions whether Buzz marketing is a practical tool for a health campaign targeting teenagers; and if so, how does one test the concept with teenagers, craft a campaign around “Buzz,” and finally implement the campaign into high schools. To begin, literature regarding health promotion, the teenage demographic and the concept of Buzz marketing is summarized, followed by a review of how the concept of Buzz marketing tested with teenagers.

Measuring the Immeasurable; Testing the 4-D Model of Advertising Creativity • Mark Stuhlfaut, University of Kentucky and Chan Yoo, University of Kentucky • A proposed model of advertising creativity with 19 characteristics that were organized into four dimensions was tested for validity, reliability and predictability. Confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation modeling supported the four-dimensional structure after the removal of four characteristics. Regression analysis showed support for the ability of the model to predict high and low levels of creativity exhibited by four advertisements in the alcoholic beverage product category.

Consumers as Avatars: An Ethnographic Exploration of Brand and Object Meanings in an Online Virtual World • Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Advertisers increasingly reach consumers as avatars in online virtual worlds or social videogames. This virtual ethnography pilot study in MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach / The Hills studies meanings of brands and objects regarding player identity expression and social roles, world structure and social interaction within the theories of symbolic interactionism and self-presentation. Findings show players using brands and objects as forms of currency or capital, with uses for shifting power, with interactive structural influence.

Toward a more Efficient Brainstorming: The Optimal Number of Wild Thoughts to Successful Ideas in an Advertising Exercise • Michael Maynard, Temple University and Margo Berman, Florida International University • This study explores the assumption that the more unfiltered ideas generated, the more likely an increase in the odds for a successful, workable idea. Focus is placed, instead, on the minimal number of ideas necessary for success. The classroom-based experiment finds that for a 15-minute solo brainstorming session, the optimal minimum number of wild thoughts a student must generate to produce a successful idea is between 4 and 6.

Bowled over with violent humor: An analysis of the top-scoring Super Bowl ads from 1989 to 2008 • Bonnie Drewniany, University of South Carolina • This longitudinal study looks at the highest-rated Super Bowl commercials over a 20-year period, 1989-2008, to determine if the use of violent and aggressive humor in the “best” Super Bowl ads has increased over time. Half of the humorous Super Bowl commercials that made it to the USA Today “Top 10” list and 36.6% of the humorous Super Bowl commercials that earned top ratings in the Advertising Age Ad Review used violence and/or aggression.

Truth, Art and Advertising: The Creative Perspective • Lee Earle, Roosevelt University • Creativity is at the heart of the advertising industry and scholars have written extensively on the subject. But, in reviewing the literature, one word is never mentioned, a word award-winning agency creatives feel is essential, a word as simple as truth. In this essay, the concept of truth will be explored from the perspective of the arts and advertising. This discourse will help illustrate how truth, whether about a product or human life, is essential to creating engaging communication.

Growing up in Smoke: The Early Years of the Tobacco and Hollywood Alliance • Laleah Fernandez, Michigan State University • In the years leading up to 1950s, tobacco marketers used a number of tactics to align their product with the glamour of Hollywood including celebrity use and endorsement, advertising in entertainment magazines and sponsoring top-rated radio and televisions programs. By the time information surrounding the health consequences of smoking became widely known, tobacco companies had already established deep networks and connections among the highest executives and rising stars within the entertainment industry.

Human Flourishing Theory in Advertising: Case Studies • Craig Davis, Ohio University and Timothy Brotherton, Saginaw Valley State University • This manuscript examines the subject of human flourishing and its use in current advertisements. Human flourishing deals with the concept of a deeper happiness based upon living the good life. It was first developed by Aristotle over 2000 years ago. What Aristotle called “eudaimonia” has continued to be examined and discussed by philosophers, psychologists, and economists to this day.

Theoretical Approaches and New Variable Assessments in Sport Sponsorship Marketing • Thomas Mueller, University of Florida • Event sponsorship has become one of the fastest growing sectors of U.S. marketing. Sponsorship can amplify the impact of traditional advertising; ad copy can tout the sponsorship affiliation, and the same media can be displayed at sport events. More definition is demanded of those who market sport as a viable advertising tool, and new variables that contribute to the overall measurement of sponsorship value will be required to move the industry forward.

Student Papers
“Politics by Other Means:” Testing the Relationship between Socially Conscious Consumption and Political Participation • Lucy Atkinson, University of Wisconsin • Affluence, materialism and consumer culture are often criticized for the deleterious effects they are assumed to have on social life and community connectedness. The rising trend of socially conscious consumption, such as buying organic or fair-trade products, offers a challenge to this negative view of consumer behavior. However, little research exists testing the relationship between mass media messages emphasizing specific consumer orientations and civic and political outcomes.

A Tale of Two Social Contexts: Race-Specific Testimonials on Commercial Web Sites and their Effects on Numeric Majority and Numeric Minority Consumer Attitudes • Troy Elias, Ohio State University • This study examines the effects of race-specific testimonials on both Black and White consumers, and on Black majority consumers and Black minority consumers. In this study, Black and White product endorsers in high, moderate, and low level vividly presented ads are evaluated as predictors of consumer product and web attitudes. Findings show that Black Internet surfers respond more favorably to testimonial ads that utilize Black character testimonials than they do to testimonials that use White characters.

Asian Medical Tourism Web Sites: How They Use Credibility Characteristics to Attract American Consumers • Leslie Cermak, Karen Paul, University of Oklahoma, Ibrahima Ndoye, University of Oklahoma and Sarabdeep Kochhar, University of Oklahoma • Medical tourism is an expanding trend that appeals to Americans searching for alternatives to health insurance costs. This study analyzed the content of these Web sites to determine how they try to create perceptions of credibility as medical experts while also creating awareness of their service through branding strategies. The study found that medical tourism Web sites are formatted to target American consumers and create perceptions of trust and expertise.

Bottled Fantasies: College Students’ Interpretation of Alcohol Advertising and its Effects • Yanjun Zhao • This study, under the MIP theoretical framework, provides empirical data on how alcohol advertising influences college students, as well as how anti-alcohol messages might change college students’ interpretation of alcohol advertising. An experiment showed that the logic-based anti-alcohol messages had an impact while the emotion-based ones did not.

Brands as Social In-Groups: Applying Optimal Distinctiveness Theory to Consumer Brands • Wendy Maxian, Texas Tech University • Optimal distinctiveness theory is applied to brands. Brands are conceptualized as social groups which must foster a balance between individuation among members and assimilation within the group, as well as differentiating themselves from other similar groups. Results suggest that individuals do not perceive brands as a means of individuation, but that brand differentiation and perceptions of brand inclusion are crucial to brand loyalty and a positive brand attitude.

Culture and Persuasion: Exploring Chinese Consumers’ Attitudinal and Perceptual Reactions toward Culturally Oriented Online Advertising • Gennadi Gevorgyan, Louisiana State University • With framing and communication accommodation theories as its primary conceptual framework, this paper explores the role of culture in online marketing communication. By examining the attitudinal and perceptual effects of culturally oriented online ads, we aim to develop and test a framework that advertisers and marketers can apply to reach out to ethnically diverse consumers whose buying power has been increasing at an unprecedented rate.

Differences in Consumers’ Perceptions and Acceptance of Product Placement in Films and Movies • Glynnis Johnson, University of Texas • The goal of the study was to explore African-Americans’ perceptions and acceptance of products for placement in films and movies and to compare the perceptions to those of Anglo-Americans. A mixed between and repeated measure ANOVA was run to test four hypotheses dealing with race, gender and product differences. The results indicated that there are differences in the perceptions and acceptance of products for placement in films and movies.

Gain-Loss Framing in DTC Prescription Drug Advertising and the Moderating Impact of Product Knowledge • Kenneth Kim, University of Florida and Jinseong Park • A 2 (gain versus loss framing) X 2 (high versus low product knowledge) experimental study was conducted to investigate the framing effect of direct to consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising on the persuasion process. Specifically, the study attempted to explore the moderating role of product knowledge in the framing–persuasion relationship. One-hundred-fourteen female college students participated in the experiment. The results show a significant moderating impact of the product knowledge on the processing of the framed DTC drug advertising.

Global Youths’ Attitudes toward Global Brands: Implications for Global Advertising Strategy • Szu-Chi Huang, University of Texas and Shu-Chuan Chu, University of Texas • This study investigates the relationships between the college-educated global youth’s attitude toward global brands and the macro factors of global media and reference groups in two culturally different countries, China and the United States. We draw upon the uses and gratifications theory and reference group theory to examine the motivations of global media usage, the role of exposure to global media, and the influences of reference groups in shaping young consumers’ attitudes toward global brands across cultures.

Influence of Sporting Event Attendance on Sponsorship Recall, Perceived Value and Support for Participating Advertisers • Glenda Alvarado, Texas Tech University • Sponsorship is an important revenue source for athletic departments and it is necessary for those departments to verify that advertisers are noticed and appreciated. This study surveyed donors to a collegiate athletic program (N = 771) to determine the recognition, and value, of sponsorships at sporting events. Frequent attendance resulted in the ability to recall more sponsors, perceive value in sponsorship support, and show inclination to purchase products from advertising contributors to the athletic program.

Sexual Orientation: A Peripheral Cue in Advertising? • Adrienne Holz Ivory, Virginia Tech • Although advertising featuring gay male and lesbian models can be an effective means of targeting the significant gay and lesbian market, few empirical studies examine how consumers respond to gay-themed advertisements. To address the absence of message-processing research dealing with heterosexual responses to gay-themed advertising, this paper examines how sexual orientation of model couples featured in magazine advertisements affects heterosexual viewers’ responses using the elaboration-likelihood model as a guiding framework.

The effect of Internet use motivations and opinion leader characteristics on eWOM behaviors • Soyoen Cho, University of Minnesota • This study attempts to explore the effect of Internet use motivations and opinion leadership factors on eWOM behaviors. A survey was conducted using a college student sample. The results demonstrated that product category knowledge was the most significant predictor of product category eWOM behaviors, regardless of the content characteristic – either information or entertainment eWOM. Also, social interaction motivation for using the Internet was found to be significant in predicting eWOM behaviors in general.

The Effects of Value-based Advertising on Brand Associations in a Durable Goods Category • Michael Clayton, University of Florida and Jun Heo, University of Florida • The authors investigate how value-based messaging affects brand associations, including brand image, brand attitudes, and consumer quality perceptions, within a durable goods category. The present research proposes that value-messaging will be detrimental to brand association measures, compared to non-value based messaging within a durable goods category. A 2 x 2 factorial design was employed with cognitive involvement (high/low) and advertising message (brand/value) as the experimental factors.

The Interpretation of the Messages in an Advergame: The Effects on Brand Personality Perception • Dohyun Ahn, University of Alabama • This study explored whether advergames represented persuasive messages, and discussed how the messages were interpreted. One hundred seventy one participants played an anti-advergame that censured the business practices of a fast food company. The results indicated that the interactive feature of advergame represented messages, and that messages were interpreted being consistent with the expression of the game. However, the direction of the interpretation did not always coincide with the intention of the game designer.

Themes, Appeals and Genre Differences of Non-Alcoholic Beverage Advertisements in Teen-Oriented Magazines from 1999-2001 • Yvonnes Yi-Chun Chen, Washington State University • The food industry’s marketing strategies have garnered numerous criticisms nowadays. This is partially due to the industry’s unethical advertising practices and strong appeals attractive to teens. Indeed, using a three-year longitudinal content analysis of non-alcoholic beverage advertising published in teen magazines, this study found that advertisers strategically design appeals that are developmentally appropriate and heavily gender-stereotyped.

Zipping as Ad avoidance: Intrusiveness and Ad effectiveness of the Simultaneous Presentation Advertising as an alternative ad format in DVR environment • Yoonjae Nam, State University of New York at Buffalo, Sungjoon Lee, State University of New York at Buffalo and Kyounghee Kwon, State University of New York at Buffalo • The study explored the ad effectiveness of the Simultaneous Presentation Advertising (SPA), an alternative ad strategy to restrain to zipping behavior in DVR environment. Results revealed that SPA is more effective than spot ad in terms of lessening zipping and increasing recall. The result also showed that the increased recall was significantly related with reduced zipping rather than the ad format itself. However, SPA produced more negative outcomes when perceived intrusiveness and product image were tested.

<< 2008 Abstracts

Civic and Citizen Journalism 2009 Abstracts

Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group

What’s Journalism Got to Do with It? Political Blogs and Bloggers • Tom Bakker, University of Amsterdam; Klaus Schoenbach, University of Amsterdam; Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam • This article reviews studies on political blogging. While citizen journalism advocates had high hopes that blogs would lead to more diverse and broader coverage, produced by all types of citizens, data shows that political bloggers resemble traditional journalists (white educated males) and that bloggers do little original reporting and mainly publish opinion based on news by mainstream media. More systematical empirical research is needed to assess the journalistic contribution of political bloggers.

New Media’s Contribution to Presidential Debates • Pamela Brubaker, The Pennsylvania State University • Web 2.0 technologies add a new dimension to political campaigns whereby citizens can view and listen to political messages and well as produce and distribute the messages themselves. This study examines the debate questions aired during the Republican and Democratic CNN/YouTube presidential primary debates, whereby citizens had the opportunity to submit video questions through the video sharing website YouTube.

Reporting By the People: A Case Study of Citizen Journalism During the 2008 Election • Rebecca Coates-Nee, San Diego State University, JMS; K. Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies • This case study examined a year-long, citizen-journalist project that focused on the 2008 presidential campaign. Six bloggers were recruited, trained, and contributed weekly posts to a group blog hosted on a public radio/television station’s Web site. In this study, participant observation, interviews, and project reports were used. Findings indicate that managing blogger motivation is key, training bloggers is important, and bridging the gap between professional journalists and citizen bloggers is difficult.

How Citizen Journalists Conceive of and Practice Community in One Midwestern City • Cathy DeShano, University of Wisconson-Madison; Sue Robinson, University of Wisconson-Madison • This research examines how citizen journalists in one city conceive of and engage in communities, drawing from theories about social capital, public sphere, communicative integration, and community to consider the implications of virtual contribution for democratic governance.

Interacting is Believing?: Examining bottom-up credibility of blogs among politically interested Internet users • Daekyung Kim, Idaho State University • This study examines how politically interested Internet users perceive blogs as credible sources of news and information. More specifically, this study aims to identify a new possible factor that has an impact on blog credibility assessment in the collaborative nature of digital media circumstances. It was found that blog credibility was predicted by the interaction between blog reliance and online news activity. Implications of the findings were discussed for future research.

The Blogger as Journalist • Gerry Lanosga, Indiana University School of Journalism • This is a secondary analysis of Pew Internet data from a 2006 survey of bloggers. The bloggers were analayzed by cohorts, with particular attention to those who view their blogs as journalism. Using journalistic standards such as fact-checking and source attribution correlated significantly with levels of audience attention reported by those bloggers. This finding tempers enthusiasm about journalistic characteristics of bloggers as a whole that stem from the failure to distinguish between types of bloggers.

Frequency Of Links To Primary Source Material In The Hyperlinking Patterns Of Political Blogs • Mark Leccese, Emerson College • Political bloggers claim to be a crucial source of information in American elections and public policy debates, usurping the role of mainstream media. This study coded more than 2,000 hypertext links on the World Wide Web on six widely-read political blogs during seven consecutive days in January 2008. It found that fewer than about 15% of hyperlinks directed readers to primary sources.

“Anyone can know:” Citizen journalism and the interpretive community of the mainstream press in a Mid-Western city • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconson-Madison; Cathy DeShano, University of Wisconson-Madison • Online citizen writers are forming a loose community that is alternatively collaborating or at war with journalists’ own interpretive community. Interviews with bloggers and professional journalists revealed convergences and tensions within these communities according to framing values of socially responsible missions, access to information, entitlement to knowledge and informal notions of professionalism.

Sustaining Hyperlocal Media and Citizen Journalism: In Search of Funding Models • David Kurpius, Louisiana State University; Emily Metzgar, Indiana University; Karen Rowley, Louisiana State University • As traditional media operations struggle to find their footing in a world of rapidly evolving interactive technology and economic turmoil, media innovators are exploring new ways to identify, collect, and disseminate information. One innovation that is attracting attention is the development of hyperlocal media.

The Future of News? A Study of Citizen Journalism and Journalists • Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi; Mary Lou Sheffer, University of Southern Mississippi • A survey of citizen journalists was conducted to assess what, if any, impact they are having on traditional news values such as balanced reporting, double checking facts and ethical reporting. Citizen journalists at three different news/sports sites took part in the study.

Is Blogging Journalism? Analyzing the Blogosphere’s Perspective • Michael Sheehy, University of Cincinnati; Hong Ji, The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism • This content analysis identifies bloggers’ perceptions of the relationship between blogging and journalism through framing theory. The study found bloggers generally do not perceive blogging as journalism, even though many see a connection between the two. The study also found growing blogger sentiment that blogging is journalism, that bloggers identify work processes as best characterizing the similarities or differences between blogging and journalism, and that bloggers typically rely on other blog sites as sources.

Discourse in The Malaysian Sociopolitical Blogosphere Amidst Racial Politics • Jun-E Tan, Nanyang Technological University; Indrajit Banerjee, Nanyang Technological University • ‘The Chinese are only squatting here’, remarked Ahmad Ismail, a Malaysian politician during a political rally in August 2008, drawing flak from numerous parties within the multicultural country. This paper examines the sentiments at the grassroots level in the Malaysian sociopolitical blogosphere after the incident by performing content analysis on 10 prominent blogs.

Sniffing Out Sleeping Dogs: Web 2.0 and Reconceptualizing the Public Sphere and Guard-dog Media • Ryan Thomas, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University; Mary Grace Antony, Washington State University • In this paper, we synthesize literature on the media’s role in the public sphere with work on the agenda-setting and guard-dog functions of mass media. We argue that citizen journalism has reinvigorated notions of the public sphere while posing significant challenges to agenda-setting and guard-dog theories. We highlight the Oscar Grant shooting on New Years Day, 2009 and the subsequent response as a lens through which the emancipatory potential of citizen journalism can be realized.

Online and Offline Citizen Journalism News: Which do our Young Adults Believe in? • Charlene Wee, National University of Singapore; Julian Lin, National University of Singapore • This study compares perceived credibility of online and offline citizen journalism news, with controls placed on the news stories, authors and publisher. A survey of over 300 young adults — deemed to be more familiar and frequent in their consumption of online and citizen journalism news — indicates that contrary to beliefs that newspapers are increasingly made redundant by the Internet, readers see offline news versions as being more credible. The findings contribute to research and practice.

Practicing Place: Sharing, Collaboration, and Collective Action in an Online Urban Forum • Patrick Wehner, University of Pennsylvania; Dana M. Walker, University of Michigan • Increasingly, research is demonstrating how internet-enabled technologies are not separate from, but actually embedded in, our everyday and localized practices. If the internet is becoming “more local,” as some scholars have claimed, how can we understand the role of citizen-produced information, news, and discussion within the media landscape of news and information about the city?

<< 2009 Abstracts

Visual Communication 2009 Abstracts

Visual Communication Division

Assessing the Impact of Website Domain on End-user Evaluations of Web Page Aesthetics Using an Immediate Aesthetic Perception Technique • Jonathan Adams, The Florida State University; Forrest Doddington, Curiositî Design Solutions; Juliann Cortese, Florida State University • This study investigated the ‘immediate aesthetic impression’ method of quantifying the perception of attractiveness of website designs. This study is an extension of an existing line of research that investigates end-user’s “first impression” evaluations of web page attractiveness. The current research evaluates the potential influence of website domain on end-user perception of website visual aesthetics. A snowball technique was used to contact and enroll 184 participants.

The Analysis of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks Photographs in the New York Times from 2001 to 2008 • Kanghui Baek, The University of Texas at Austin • This study examined photographs of 9/11 terrorist attacks that were published in the New York Times from 2001 to 2008. This study attempted how journalists have constructed a visually historic memory of the 9/11 as members of a culture of terror and to consider what the visual discourse might reveal about journalism in the United States, both at the time and in relation to lasting effects.

Labeling Participation: Exploring the Role of “I Voted” Stickers in Public Affairs Participation and Conversation on Election Day • Elizabeth Cohen, Georgia State University • The role of visual, social labels in public affairs engagement has been relatively neglected by research. Drawing from self-perception theory, this study predicted that identity variables would mediate the effect of wearing “I Voted” stickers on voters’ intended political involvement. The relationship between sticker display and interpersonal conversations was also investigated.

Why They Clash? The role of political posters in perpetuating the hegemonic structure of feudalism and sectarianism in Lebanon • Yasmine Dabbous, Louisiana State University; Khaled Nasser, Louisiana State University • To understand why clashes over political posters occur in Lebanon, this study analyzes the banners’ visual rhetoric and the characteristics of the posting practice. Taking the Beiruti street as an arena of collective assimilation, the paper argues that posters are more than pictures of political leaders. They promote the parties’ agendas and create a symbolic bonding between leaders and community. Reflections of collective identities, posters perpetuate a hegemonic feudal and sectarian system tearing Lebanon apart.

Self-trained and self-motivated: Newspaper photojournalists strive for quality during technological challenges • Keith Greenwood, University of Missouri; Scott Reinardy, University of Kansas • Photojournalists are often at the forefront of technological change in the newsroom. Newsroom efforts to increase Web production oftentimes hinge on the work of photographers, asking them to acquire skills to create multiple-image galleries, slideshows with audio and now video stories. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine newspaper photojournalists and their perceptions of job security, job quality, organizational trust, job satisfaction, morale and job commitment.

PHOTO FIXATION: Evaluating Web Site Conventions in Online News Slideshows • Lynette Holman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Laura Ruel, UNC-Chapel Hill • With the advent of more advanced software like Flash in 1996, and Soundslides in 2005, news entities have been able to produce their own slideshows with greater ease. The key question is which presentation conventions are most useful and effective in gaining and keeping the attention of the audience.

Visual Framing of the 2008 Anti-China/Olympics Demonstration/Riot: A Content Analysis • Ying Huang, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • A content analysis of 74 photos from New York Times and Washington Post on the 2008 anti-China/Olympics protest/riot revealed that the event was framed positively, and the positive portrayal was achieved through framing demonstrators as peaceful, and the police as violent and intimidating. More photos with pro-Tibet parties and fewer photos with pro-China parties magnified the scope of the anti-China/Olympics demonstrations. Further, the demonstration, suppression and confrontation frames appeared more frequently than other frames.

A visual typology of surveillance news: Tools, techniques, and implications for public understanding • J Kilker, UNLV • To examine visual framing of the complex but important topics of surveillance and civil rights, this project used specialized software and a card sort to develop a typology of images in stories from three media sources. Photography focused on technology, social, and policy-making aspects of surveillance; other image categories were products of surveillance and constructed imagery. Few images were of the artifact, explanatory, timeline, and visualization types that might help public understanding of this topic.

Photojournalism’s Dilemma: Being a Dispassionate Observer or a “Good Samaritan” • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky • When documenting human tragedy, photojournalists frequently face serious ethical dilemmas in choosing between acting as dispassionate observers and “Good Samaritans.” Regarding these ethical dilemmas, this study asked whether readers adopt a situational ethics rationale when they assess the photojournalist’s decision to make a photograph of a person suffering severe trauma, or whether they use an absolutist or utilitarian rationale.

A Semiotic Analysis of the Media Representation of China by the Australian Public Broadcaster • Xiufang (Leah) Li, Miss • Due to the significance of visual communication and the gap of the previous works, semiotic approach is employed to examine how the ‘Foreign Correspondent’ current affairs show produced by the Australian Broadcasting Cooperation represents China. It explores what kinds of signs are used; how they respond to each other under what kinds of context; whether there are any embedded myths.

Too Wide to Please? A Comparison of Audience Responses to Widescreen vs. Pan and Scan Presentation • Kimberly Neuendorf, Cleveland State University; Evan Lieberman, cleveland state university; Lingli Ying, cleveland state university; Pete Lindmark, cleveland state university • Motivated by film industry concerns over “pan and scanning” and a dearth of empirical research on audiences, an experiment was conducted. 71 subjects viewed sequences from four films presented in either widescreen or pan and scan format. Results show (a) audiences split in their preferences, (b) differences in viewers’ perceptual outcomes between the formats, (c) other perceptual factors predict positive affect, (d) the specific film is highly predictive for both perceptual outcomes and positive affect.

Using Research Informed Design Methods Enhances Audience Understanding Among Visual Communications Students • Jennifer Palilonis, Ball State University • This case study focuses on two courses comprised of journalism graphics students during which research-informed design and development strategies were implemented as a learning exercise in order to provide visual communications students with a better sense of audience understanding related to their design work. Students who took a survey and the completion of each course that was intended to gauge their opinions about research-informed design activities were overwhelmingly positive about the experience.

Visual Surfaces and Epidermal Fantasies: The Gendered Body and Transnational Modernity in India • Radhika Parameswaran, Indiana University • This paper’s analysis of the body, beauty, and transnational modernity in India offers a semiotic critique of discourses on skin lightening and skin color in a wide range of visual images. The paper employs a cultural studies methodological approach in order to connect, disconnect, and juxtapose visual, textual, and ethnographic data and travel across national, cultural, and gendered spaces.

Animated Web political cartoonists of 2008 presidential campaign: Finding their voice? • Karon Speckman, University of Missouri • This paper examined whether professional political cartoonists were finding better ways to use visual and audio metaphors in animated cartoons to promote democratic debate of the 2008 presidential campaign. Using Lamb’s definition of satire and Medhurst and De Sousa’s taxonomy for cartoon classification, the study suggested that animated political cartoonists were still trying to find their satirical voice. Music, multiple frames and movement hampered satire by diluting condemnation messages.

Discriminating news-reading behavior and cognition using eye-tracking methodologies • Dave Stanton, University of Florida • Two-hundred readers were exposed to prototype newspapers and news websites in order to understand their reading behaviors and cognition. Prototypes varied the number and types of discrete visual structures to see what combinations would result in great information recognition. Eye-tracking equipment measured eye-movements as proxy measures for underlying cognitive processes. Initial findings support the notion that utilizing visual structures that are limited to small number of information categories generated great information recognition.

Effects of Hyperlink Density on News Web Page Reading: An Eyetracking Study • Laura Ruel, UNC-Chapel Hill; Bartosz Wojdynski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Multiple theoretical models indicate that the complexity of Web pages affects how users interact with Web content. This study tracked participants’ eye movements to study the effects of hyperlink density on how users view, perceive, and recall content from online news Web sites. Results indicate that increased hyperlink density leads to an increase in number of stories viewed and alterations in link-reading patterns on the homepage itself, but has little effect on attitudinal measures.

Message Characteristics and Persuasion: The Mediating Role of Visual-Verbal Redundancy on the Effectiveness of Anti-smoking Messages • Jie Xu, Villanova University • This study investigated the mediating role of visual-verbal redundancy on the impact of three features (message sensation value, message cognition value, and smoking scenes) of anti-smoking messages on young adults’ ad processing. Using a within-subject experimental design, the mediation analyses indicated that V-V redundancy played a partially role mediating the relationship between MSV and message effectiveness. Also, it came between the other two message factors (MSV, and smoking scenes) and ad effectiveness as a complete mediator.

Correlating eye tracking with robust cognitive measures for visual representations in news • Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland • Eye-tracking studies to assess the effectiveness of visual elements continue to increase and “heat maps” suggest how readers attend to graphics, text, etc. To further test the relationships between eye movements, news stories and one’s understanding of content, this multi-method pilot (N = 20) analyzes eye measurements from two types of text and graphics in four stories about science and health.

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