Advertising 1997 Abstracts
Advertising Division
Applying Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy to Strategic Market Planning: Implications for the Role of Communications in Building and Maintaining Brand Equity • Saravudh Anantachart, Florida • This article links the integrated marketing communications (IMC) concept to the planning process in marketing. As the integration of messages and media, IMC strategy is applied to an established strategic market planning model, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)’s growth-share matrix. Alternative portfolio strategies are identified from the product portfolio analysis. The view may also be thought as the on-going process of building and maintaining consumer brand equity. Conceptual findings are expected to help marketers think more strategically as they plan IMC programs for their products and services.
Frequency Levels and Activity Level Portrayals of the Mature Market: A Content Analysis of Magazine Advertising • Cecelia Baldwin, Girard Burke, San Jose State University • Social gerontology theories, semiotic theory related to advertising, activity studies in gerontology, and research of the mature market in advertising provided the framework for this study of the frequency of the mature market and of activity level portrayals of the mature market in national, high circulation magazines. The hypothesis that no increase in activity level would occur in the fifteen year time period was examined and upheld, as independent t-tests showed no significant change in activity level between 1980 and 1995.
Offering a Creative Track in the Advertising Major: A Case History • Beth Barnes and Carla Lloyd, Syracuse University • Many undergraduate advertising programs struggle with the question of how best to deal with students interested in a career on the creative side of the advertising industry, particularly since these students may have different curricular needs than students preparing for managerial careers. This paper describes an accredited undergraduate advertising program’s experience in phasing in a two-track major, with different course requirements for creative and management students.
Preparing Campaigns Students for Groupwork • Fred Beard, University of Oklahoma • Most educators who teach the advertising campaigns course require students to work as groups. A review of the cooperative learning and group dynamics literatures suggests that unless students are systematically prepared for groupwork, instructional goals will be difficult to achieve. This paper describes how pre-training activities in group skills can be adapted to prepare students for the demands of groupwork, provides a theoretical and pedagogical framework for their use, and reports the results of an assessment of the outcomes.
Sociocultural Influences on Advertising Seen From Gender-Role Portrayals: A Content Analysis of Chinese and U.S. Television Commercials From 1996 • Hong Cheng, Bradley University • Seeing advertising as a social actor and cultural artifact, this paper content analyzed gender roles portrayed in a total of 667 Chinese and U.S. television commercials from 1996. Results show that advertising in both countries portrayed more men in occupational roles and more women in non-occupational ones, and depicted men in recreational activities more frequently and women decoratively more often. Chinese advertising was found reinforcing even more stereotypes than its U.S. counterpart. Other major differences included the styles of dresses worn by female models and the number of models portrayed. Gender-role portrayals were also found related to product categories advertised.
Developing Integrated Marketing Communications Message Delivery Strategies: Challenges and Opportunities Associated with the Brand Contact Concept • Denise E. DeLorme, University of Central Florida, Glen J. Nowak, University of Georgia • The emergence and evolution of integrated marketing communications has facilitated conceptual and operational changes in many advertising functions. In the case of advertising media planning, IMC has brought forth the «brand contact» concept to media planning. This broader, more consumer-oriented approach to media planning has generated much practitioner interest, thanks in part to its decreased reliance on measured and traditional media. While the brand contact perspective appears to have much potential, there have been few, if any, critical examinations of its applicability and value. This paper addresses this void by overviewing the brand contact concept, identifying and discussing the major challenges and opportunities associated with its use, and putting forth recommendations for more effectively utilizing brand contacts for integrated marketing communications. Overall, the brand contact approach brings forth many opportunities that can increase advertising effectiveness and efficiency, but significant operational barriers may limit wider use and application.
Comparative Analysis of Advertising Information in U.S. and Mexico Editions of a Mens Magazine • Louis K. Falk, Florida International University Robert W. Jones, Independent Media Consultant Dawn E. Foster, Precision Response Corporation Sharaf Rehman, Islamic Information Services • The information content of Mexican and the U.S. advertisements is assessed to determine the relative levels of information content. This study undertakes an examination of a year’s worth of the international and domestic editions of Playboy magazine. Using a 14 point information cue criteria it was found that Mexican magazine advertisements are more informative than those of the U.S. Additional findings indicate that information cues are markedly different with respect to frequency within the advertisements of the two countries.
A New Federalism: National and State Cooperation in the Regulating of Green Advertising . . . and Beyond • Thomas Gould, University of North Carolina • The purpose of this paper is to outline the boundaries of a New Federalism, describe how its dynamics may function, and suggest how it will be applied in the future relations in the area of advertising regulations between the national and state governments. To accomplish this, the author will examine how the national and state commercial speech regulators developed a new relationship between 1987 and 1992 in the area of the regulating of green advertising.
Teaching Advertising Copywriting in a PC World: Changes and Developments in University Programs • Thomas Gould, University of North Carolina • Teaching advertising copywriting has changed in the past 10 years. New methods are developed; new information becomes available; new criteria are set. Today, an advertising educator is likely to talk less about teaching «copywriting» and more about teaching «concepts.» This is the best times and the worst of times to be teaching advertising copywriting. This paper examines how advertising curricula have changed in recent years. Specifically, how have the trade schools influenced these changes?
Calvin Klein’s Kiddie Porn Campaign, What’s the Fuss? A Q-sort of Student Attitudes Toward Objectionable Advertising • Robert L. Gustafson, Mark N. Popovich, Ball State University, Johan C. Yssel, The University of Southern Mississippi • The 1995 CK Jeans’ campaign created an unprecedented furor among parents, media companies and advertising practitioners over Calvin Klein’s portrayal of child-like models in sexually provocative settings. In addition to consumer and media boycotts, the Federal Bureau of Investigation explored possible violations of child pornography laws. This study employs a Q-sort methodology and personal interviews to investigate how college students, a segment of the CK Jeans’ target audience, view the CK Jeans’ campaign in comparison to other recent objectionable advertising campaigns. It also questions the ethicality of using shock techniques and sexual themes in advertising.
The Current Constitutional Landscape for Commercial Speech: Implications for Color and Imagery in Tobacco Advertising • R. Michael Hoefges, Florida • Recently enacted Food and Drug Administration regulations ban color and imagery in most tobacco advertising. Reducing underage use of tobacco is a laudable goal, but restricting advertising raises serious First Amendment concerns. The U.S. Supreme Court, in recent decisions, invigorated constitutional protection for advertising. The tobacco regulations raise issues not fully addressed by the Court’s current commercial speech jurisprudence. This paper explores these issues and the potential constitutional fate of the controversial tobacco advertising regulations.
Gender Response to Sexual Appeals in Ads Featuring Male Models • Lisa Hynd, Patricia Stout, Joan Schleuder, University of Texas • This study investigates how gender (male/female) and level of male nudity (low, medium, and high) in print advertisements influence viewers’ attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand, purchase intentions and tension, pleasure, and arousal levels. Results indicate that gender significantly affects each of these variables across all levels of male nudity, while level of male nudity affects Aad, Abr, PI, and pleasure but not tension and arousal independent of gender.
My Brother’s Keeper?: Publisher Liability and the Regulations of the Fair Housing Act on Discriminatory Housing Advertising • Robert Meeds, University of Missouri • Recent court interpretations and legal actions involving publisher liability for discriminatory housing advertising under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) are discussed with respect to the Central Hudson four part criteria for governmental regulation of commercial speech. Implications for newspapers and other advertising publishers are drawn and recommendations aimed at improving publishers’ levels of compliance with FHA regulations are made.
Campaign Up In Flames: Negative Advertising Backfires and Damages a Young Democrat • Maggie Jones Patterson, Anitra Budd, Kristin R. Veatch, Duquesne University • Dan Cohen, Pittsburgh City Councilman, challenged 15-year-incumbent Congressman Bill Coyne in the spring 1996 Democratic primary election. After successfully fund-raising with a positive campaign based on economic development and a pledge to be a more aggressive voice for the district, Cohen hired a crew of Washington consultants who advised him to toss out his positive themes and instead attack the Congressman in a blistering series of television, radio, and direct mail advertisements. The negative campaign backfired, Cohen’s support dwindled, and his own campaign treasurer publicly denounced him. The campaign serves as a case study here to examine how the rise of consultants and the diminishment of political parties have affected political advertising and whether the democratic process has been enhanced or hindered.
Effects of Alignment Advertisements: Brand Ads Containing Mention of Social Issues • Toni Schmidt, Jacqueline C. Hitchon, University of Wisconsin – Madison • Product ads are increasingly incorporating social issues in their messages. This study explores the effects of these hybrid messages, alignment ads, on viewers. Based on a literature review regarding the impact of congruency of information in a brand message and the evaluation of media channels, a pretest and two experiments test whether alignment ads are evaluated differently than brand ads. Findings indicate that placing an issue in an ad offers important advantages for advertisers, and that the congruency of the issue with the product further affects these results. Congruent issue information elicited more positive message evaluations than incongruent issue information.
Censorship of Political Advertising: A Third-Person Effect • Dhavan V. Shah, Ronald J. Faber, Seounmi HanYoun, and Hernando Rojas, University of Minnesota • No Abstract available.
Warning Signs on the Information Highway: An Assessment of Privacy Concerns of On-Line Consumers • Kim Bartel Sheehan and Mariea Grubbs Hoy, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville • As consumer usage of the Internet increases, advertisers are finding the Internet a valuable tool to gather information about on-line users. These users, however, are becoming aware of some of these practices and polls indicate that consumer concern with new technology is increasing. This study uses an electronic mail survey to investigate on-line user concerns. Results indicate that privacy concerns in an on-line environment are somewhat different from privacy concerns in other marketing contexts. For example, the findings of the study indicate that the traditional, two-dimensional model of privacy (control of collection and usage of information) may explain only part of what causes consumer concern. Consumer concern on-line may be effected by at five different factors: control of collection, control of usage, familiarity with entity, compensation, and type of information.
Get Hooked on Collecting A Qualitative Exploration of the Relationship Between the Hallmark Brand and Hallmark Collectors • Jan Slater, Syracuse University • More and more brands are becoming collectible, and more and more manufacturers are building lines of collectible merchandise. One of the most prominent brands to move into this category in the last twenty years is Hallmark Cards. Hallmark has become the leader in collectible Christmas ornaments and manage a collector’s club with more than 275,000 members. This study explores this relationship between the brand and the collector. Via this collecting activity, Hallmark has enhanced brand loyalty, while creating an emotional tie between the collector and the brand, as well as the ornaments collected.
Animation and Priming Effects in Online Advertising • S. Shyam Sundar, George Otto, Lisa Pisciotta, Karen Schlag, Pennsylvania State University • This study investigates effects of animated versus still presentation of online advertising in primed versus unprimed conditions within the context of the World Wide Web. All subjects (N = 41) in a factorial between-subjects experiment were asked to view online news and advertising material on a website. They were then tested for their memory of the ad, asked to provide an evaluation of the ad content and report their general level of emotional arousal. Analyses revealed significant relationships between priming and ad memory, animation and subjective evaluations of ad material, and interaction effects between priming and animation on the arousal measure.
Messages of Individualism in French, Spanish, and American Television Advertising • Ronald E. Taylor, University of Tennessee, Joyce Wolburg, Marquette University • Individualism is a central value in French, Spanish, and American cultures. However, what it means to be an individual and how this is expressed varies among cultures. This study explores the ways that television advertising reflects individualism in French, Spanish, and American cultures and identifies six main advertising message strategies across the three cultures.
Protecting the Children: A Comparative Analysis Of French and American Advertising Self-Regulation • Ronald E. Taylor, Anne Cunningham, University of Tennessee • This paper compares advertising self-regulations designed to protect children in the United States and France. The findings suggest that French children enjoy greater protection, and the authors question whether American children should not be entitled to the same level of protection.
Emerging Lifestyles in China and Consequences for Perception of Advertising, Buying Behavior and Preferences for Consumption: An Exploratory Study • Ran Wei, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study segments consumers in China into five groups based on six empirically-tested lifestyles: Traditionalists, Status-quo, Modern, Transitioners and Generation Xers. Marked by old age, poor education and poverty, Traditionalists lead an old-fashioned life and resist to change. Demographically similar to Traditionalists, the Status-quo segment, however, has not reached a stage where life goes around established routines. Ill-educated with low income, Transitioners are much younger and open to change. The Modem segment is the most affluent, well-educated, pursing a fashionable and materialistic life. Generation Xers, born after the Cultural Revolution, are best-educated; they show disrespect for routines and tradition and worry little about money.
A Study of the Underrepresentation of Women in Advertising Agency Creative Departments • Larry Weisberg and Brett Robbs, University of Colorado • A survey conducted by the authors indicates that although women make up 60% of account service departments, they remain vastly underrepresented in creative departments. Interviews were conducted to determine if there were aspects of the job or the creative culture that might account for this. A number of factors were identified. The two with the greatest impact were the conflict between professional and family roles and the sexism found in certain aspects of the culture.
An Investigation of Three Cultural Values in American Advertising: The Role of the Individual, The Depiction of Time, and the Configuration of Space • Joyce M. Wolburg, Marquette University and Ronald E. Taylor, University of Tennessee • Interest in the study of cultural values in advertising has continued to increase in the last two decades; however, previous studies have not fully explored the complexity of these values. Using a document analysis approach, this study explicates the ways in which three core values in American culture appear in network primetime television advertising. A number of main message strategies and contextual categories are described, which provide a better understanding for use in international advertising and offer insight into creative strategy for domestic advertising.
Clutter and Serial Order Redefined and Retested • Xinshu Zhao, University of Minnesota/University of North Carolina • Due to the deficiencies in the concepts of clutter and serial order as they have been traditionally defined, the author argues that the position effects may be better defined in terms of two components, i.e., proaction from preceding ads and retroaction from succeeding ads. The traditionally defined clutter and serial order effects can be seen as results of interaction between proaction and retroaction. The author also argues for a need to distinguish pod clutter from program clutter. Further, a holistic theory of position effects on memory and liking is proposed. The redefined concepts and the holistic theory were applied in a naturalistic quasiexperiment. More than 1,000 randomly selected residents of Orange County, North Carolina were interviewed via telephone after the 1992-1994 Super Bowl games. The results suggest that preceding ads have negative effects on brand recall, brand recognition, and advertisement liking; and succeeding ads have a negative effect on brand recognition.
The Effect of Brand Placement Type and a Disclaimer on Memory for Brand Placements in Movies • Mary R. Zimmer, University of Georgia, Denise E. DeLorme, University of Central Florida • An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of placement type and a disclaimer on recall, recognition, and attitude toward brand placements in movies. Results showed: l) a positive effect on memory for placements that were verbal, in the foreground, that used humor, or that involved character usage; 2) that a disclaimer heightened recall and recognition in some instances; and 3) that participants had positive attitudes toward placements but negative attitudes toward disclaimers. Brand placement appears to be an effective form of marketing communication but requiring disclaimers is not recommended.
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