Advertising 2003 Abstracts
Advertising Division
Stereotyping the ‘Model Minority’: A Longitudinal Analysis of Primetime Network Commercials, Comparing Asian Female and Male Characters to Themselves and Others • Dennis J. Ganahl, Liang Ge, and Kwangok Kim, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • Their population growth rate and purchasing power have made Asians a strong consumer market in the U.S. The longitudinal content analysis of primetime network commercials examined how Asians were portrayed in U.S. television commercials. Comparison analyses of All Asians to All Characters, Asian Females to All Females, Asian Males to All Males, and Asian Females to Asian Males were made for numerical representation, acting roles, products and age.
Is it Segmentation or Segregation? Exploring the Unintended Social Consequence of Targeting Minority Audiences with Advertising Placements Outside of Mainstream Media • Karie L. Hollerbach, Southeast Missouri State • An emphasis on segmenting audiences as a function of targeted marketing could lead to possible audience separation or even isolation for some audience members. This study examines the numerical representation and presence of African Americans relative to Caucasians in advertisements placed in primetime television programs found in the Nielsen African American Audience Index and the Nielsen General Audience Index.
A Propaganda Analysis of the Shared Values Initiative: The First US Advertising Campaign to the Muslim World • Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist and Jamie Armstrong Fullerton, Oklahoma State • Former advertising executive Charlotte Beers, appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, made propaganda history by implementing the first television “advertising” campaign to predominantly Muslim countries in 2002. Using the Jowett and O’Donnell 10-point propaganda analysis framework, this paper chronicles the events leading up to the creating of the controversial “Shared Values Initiative” as well as the reaction of various audiences to the campaign.
College Students’ Perceptions of ‘Creative Circumvention’ Beer Commercials • Lara G. Zwarun, Arlington • College students were shown beer commercials that “creatively circumvent” a self-regulatory advertising guideline, and asked what they believed they saw in the ads. Results indicate that some beer ads imply that dangerous activities are being combined with drinking, although the extent to which subjects perceive this varies by ad. Characteristics of beer ads that might contribute to these perceptions are considered; these findings could be used by beer advertisers to create more responsible ads.
RESEARCH
Perceptions and Purchasing of the Phrase “God Bless America” • John V. Bodle, and Larry Burriss, Middle Tennessee State • This study probes how meaningful the phrase “God bless America” is and whether it translates into purchases of consumer goods. The phrase is meaningful to two-thirds of Americans especially those calling themselves “born again” or “evangelicals.” Greater than one-fourth purchase consumer items with the phrase; it is particularly endearing to those with household income below $40,000óespecially when a high school diploma is the highest education level.
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Interactivity on Corporate Websites: U.S., U.K., Japan and Korea • Chang-Hoan Cho and Hongsik Cheon, Florida • This study is a cross cultural examination of interactivity on U.S., U.K., Japanese and Korean corporate websites. Utilizing cultural difference criteria of high vs. low context, power distance and individualism-collectivism, this study compares three dimensions of interactivity on each country’s top 50 advertisers’ websites. Our findings indicate that western websites tend to emphasize consumer-message and consumer-advertiser interactivity, while eastern websites highlight consumer-consumer interactivity.
Who are the “Others”? Third-person Effects of Idealized Body Image in Magazine Advertisements • Yoonhyeung Choi and Glenn Leshner • Missouri-Columbia • This study examined the third-person effects of idealized body images in magazine advertisements by proposing the importance of gender-based “other” (male vs. female). Based on literature from reflected appraisal theory and third-person effects literature, we hypothesized that exposure to idea! body images would create larger third-person perceptions when the “others” were males. Findings confirmed that when “others” were defined based on gender, significant third-person perceptions occurred.
An Historical Analysis of Journalists’ Attitudes Toward Advertisers and Advertising’s Influence • Denise DeLorme and Fred Fedler, Central Florida • Journalists often seem to have contradictory attitudes toward advertisers and advertising’s influence. The relationship is necessary but complicated and no studies have investigated its historic roots. Thus, this paper explores the perspective of “journalism’s early insiders,” through an historical analysis of autobiographies, biographies, and magazine articles written by and about early U.S. newspaper reporters and editors. Results reveal eight interrelated factors contributing to the origins of these attitudes. The paper concludes with implications and future research recommendations.
The Demographic and Psychographic Antecedents of Attitude toward Advertising • Mohan Dutta-Bergman, Purdue • Attitude toward advertising has been widely researched in the last few decades. Its ubiquitous effect on the advertising industry manifests itself in the domain of consumer purchasing behavior and in the freedom of the industry in placing its messages in media outlets. Although the relationship of demographic variables with attitude toward advertising has been explored in past research, psychographic variables have not been looked at in the context of their effect on the construct.
Cultivation Effects of Television Viewing: A Study of Relationships Among Viewing, Materialism and Attitudes Towards Commercials • Dennis Ganahl, Hongwei Yang and Jie Lui, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • A survey of 358 college students in the U.S. examined the relationships among television viewing, materialism and the respondents attitudes toward television commercials. Television viewing was significantly correlated with materialism. This finding suggests that television viewing cultivates college students’ materialistic values. Viewing was also positively correlated with positive attitudes about commercials such as the identification with similar values as those represented in television commercials, the believability of television commercials and the identification of television commercials as a primary source for product information.
Consumer Recognition of Sports Event Sponsors: The Impact of Advertising, Ambushers, and Audience Factors • Kyoo-Hoon Han, Yongjun Sung, Spencer Tinkham, Georgia • Considering rapid changes in sports marketing environments and growing interest in sports event sponsorship, the present study examines what factors might affect consumer recognition of the official sponsors for a recent global sports event: the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Based upon marketing literature and prior empirical findings, five factors ó ambusher presence, advertising expenditure, country of origin, sports event involvement, and gender ó are predicted to influence the consumersí level of sponsor recognition.
Strategies for the Super Bowl of Advertising: An Analysis of Message and Creative Strategies for Commercials and Related Web Sites • Juran Kim, Jang-Sun Hwang and Sally McMillan, Tennessee-Knoxville • Super Bowl advertising provides an ideal venue for exploring message and creative strategies in commercials and related Web sites. This study found television commercials more often use transformational strategies while Web sites are more informational. Message strategies were generally more consistent across media than were creative strategies. Some unexpected relationships were found between message and creative strategies, but these and other findings point to the importance of tailoring messages to meet technological capabilities of media.
Proactive and Retroactive Position Effects And a System for Evaluating Pod Positions (SEPP) • Koanghyub Kim, W. Joann Wong, Xinshu Zhao, North Carolina at Chapel Hill • no abstract available.
Do Sport Sponsorship Announcements Influence Firm Stock Prices? The Wall Street Journal Effect • Lance Kinney and Gregg Bell, Alabama • Event sponsorship is among the fastest growing areas of marketing communication. Sponsorship funds exceeded the 2001 expenditures for cable television, syndicated television, national newspaper, outdoor, national spot radio, Sunday magazines and network radio combined. However, measuring the value of sports sponsorship is a consistent problem for event producers and event sponsors. Event study methodology allows event and sponsoring brand managers to assess the impact of sports sponsorship announcements on financial markets.
When Patients Influence Physicians: Empowerment of Fine-Print Readers by Direct-To-Consumer Drug Advertising and Implications to the Two-Step Flow Model • Annisa Lee, North Carolina • “The Large Print Giveth, and the Small Print Taketh Away” is a common expression to describe the deceptiveness and uselessness of product ads and fine print in general. The situation is completely different in drug ads. This paper will show that for drug ads, “The Large Print Giveth, and the Small Print Giveth even more.” A survey of 1081 participants indicates that fine print reading of drug ads affects changes in attitudinal and behavioral aspects in patients.
Public Attitudes toward Advertising: Trends and Predictors • Tien-tsung Lee, Washington State and Martin Horm, DDB Worldwide • Using a series of surveys conducted annually between 1975 and 2002, changes of public attitudes toward advertising were analyzed. Contrary to the findings of recent studies, the present research shows that American consumers hold increasingly positive attitudes toward advertising over the past few decades. In addition, predictors of such attitudes were identified using a 2001 survey.
Academic Institutional Television Commercials: A Comparison of Universities • Brian Parker and Gail Baker, Florida • This study cataloged the application of academic institutional advertisements and provided empirical documentation of 153 executional items. A content analysis of commercials from AAU leading research universities and other large non-AAU universities demonstrated significant variations in benefits communicated, commercial tone, image based claims, and the utilization of a spokesperson. In general, academic institutional advertisements combine a general message about the university reputation while promoting the product/service offered by the institution to prospective audiences.
From Information Retrieval to Actual Purchase: A Path Analysis of the Online Purchase Decision Making Process Among U.S. and Indian Consumers • Padmini Patwardhan • Texas Tech and Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois • Drawing from theories of consumer decision making that posit hierarchies and exploiting their match with the components of online purchasing, this study first proposes a path model of online purchase decision making and then empirically examines it for U.S. and Indian consumers. The model integrates two stages-knowledge and behavior-of the rational consumer behavior hierarchy with a two-stage beliefs-action hierarchy.
Advertising in Bulgaria: Prospects and Challenges in this Struggling Democracy • John Schweitzer, Bradley • The main objective of this study was to explore the history and evolution of advertising in Bulgaria. It begins with an overview of the country’s history and society and then examines the variables that affect its advertising industry: geography, transportation and population; the historical and cultural context of the country; the political and legal environment; the social and economic context and the state of the media.
An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship of Television Program and Advertising Delivery • June-Young Song and Kuen- Hee Ju-Pak, California State University-Fullerton • The present study investigated the relationship between program and advertising delivery by examining the people meter data of AC Nielsen Korea. Results indicate a large gap between the two types of delivery, which questions the current practice of equating the program delivery with the delivery for an ad inserted in the program. The relationship between the two measures was found to be moderated by various audience-related and communication context factors.
Anti-Drug Ads: Do Traditional Attitude Measures Exaggerate Their Effectiveness? • Carson B Wagner, Texas-Austin • Due to their obtrusiveness, the sensitive nature of illicit drugs, and research situation demands, self-report attitude measures used in anti- drug ad studies may produce exaggerated estimates of message effectiveness. To explore this possibility, a between-participants experiment (N = 25) was run to compare traditional self-report measures with newly-emerging, less obtrusive response latency attitude measures. Results indicate that self-report measures tend to magnify drug ad effects as compared to response latency measures.
You’re so Vain! The Influence of Personal Vanity in the Perception of Magazine Advertising • Tom Weir, and Roy Kelsey, Oklahoma State • This study attempts to fill a void in advertising literature by assessing the role of personal vanity in the perception of advertising. Subjects were rated for vanity on the scales of Netemeyer, Burton and Lichtenstein (1995), and subsequently asked to rate their perception of magazine ads. Results indicate that parts of the scale are more predictive than others. Regression analyses reveal that the more important parts of vanity are internal for men, and external for women.
Do the Number and Type of Sources Used to Appear to be Related to Infomerical Success? An Exploratory Study • Jan Wicks, Katy Widder and Robert Brady • Arkansas • This preliminary study examined whether infomercials having a greater than average or modal number of sources were more successful, using an industry measure of success, than those using fewer sources. Sources that past research suggested were persuasive were coded as present or absent (e.g. celebrity, expert) and summed to create a total number of sources in each infomerical. Results suggest that infomercials having more sources are more successful in generating sales.
The Test of the Effectiveness of Product Placements in Video Games: Comparing Explicit and Implicit Memory for Grand Names • Moonhee Yang, Lucian Dinu and David Roskos-Ewoldsen, Alabama • Given the increasing practice of brand and product placements in video games, this study examined the effects of placed brands on the game playersí memory. Both implicit and explicit memory for brands placed in two sports games were tested using a word fragment test, and a recognition task, respectively. The results indicated that although the players did not perform well on explicit memory (recognition test), they showed implicit memory (word-fragment test) for the brand names placed in video games.
SPECIAL TOPICS
Product Placement from Lumiere to E.T.: The Development of Advertising in Motion Pictures • Jay Newell, Iowa State and Charles Salmon, Michigan State• The practice of inserting trademarked products into popular entertainment in order to stimulate consumption, variously called “product placement” and “brand placement,” has been an integral part of advertising long before “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” followed a trail of Reeceís Pieces out of the woods. Using internal documents from motion picture studios, advertising agencies and public relations firms, this paper traces the development of product placement from its beginnings with Sunlight Soap in the Lumiere films of the mid-1890s through the success of E.T. and Reece’s Pieces in 1982.
An Assessment of Consumer Attitudes toward Direct Marketing Channels: A Comparison between Unsolicited E-Mail and Postal Direct Mail • Susan Chang, Mariko Morimoto, Michigan State • An examination of consumer attitudes towards two major direct marketing methods, unsolicited e-mail and postal direct mail, Psychological Reactance Theory was used to determine what factors might influence consumers’ attitudes toward each communication method. Focus groups were conducted to discover the common themes and to identify the influential factors. The results of this study indicated that in comparison, unsolicited e-mails were more problematic than postal direct mail due to the inconvenience that spam presented to consumers.
Advertising Theory Beyond the Context of Advertising: Taylor’s Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel Offers an Integrated Model of Political Science Theory • Anne Cunningham and Eric Jenner, Louisiana State • In an effort to integrate several decades of research on voter behavior this paper turns to four decades of consumer behavior research, culminating in two advertising planning models: FCB Grid and Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel. After outlining the debate over the rationality of voting behavior and political involvement, we suggest that much of the political science research can be integrated if examined through Taylor’s Strategy Wheel. In seeking to integrate current findings in advertising and political science, this paper offers a contribution to both fields of inquiry.
Latino Consumer Behavior and Acculturation: A Communication Model • Olaf Werder, New Mexico and Frank G. Perez, Texas at El Paso • The fastest growing and largest consumer segment in the U.S. is the Latino market with a combined buying power of $630 billion. Given that several variables affect the consumer behavior of individuals and that Latino consumers are in a state of cultural flux, a variety of misperceptions exist that prevent successful advertising communication to U.S. Latino audiences. The goal of this study is to introduce a decision making model as it relates to Latino consumer behavior.
Hard-Sell Killers and Soft-Sell Poets: Modern Advertising’s Enduring Message Strategy Debate • Fred K. Beard, Oklahoma • The historical study of the advertising trade literature reported in this paper sought to describe and explain the nature of the enduring debate between advocates of hard- and soft-sell advertising. Data consisted of works published primarily in Printers’ Ink, supplemented with contemporary professional thought identified in advertising and marketing trade journals. The findings of the study are consistent, overall, with what many might consider to be the “received view” of modern advertising.
Exporting the “Fun, Fearless Female”: Cosmopolitan Magazine as a Case Study of a Global Media Brand • Michelle R. Nelson, Wisconsin-Madison and Hye-Jin Paek, Wisconsin-Madison• This case study is the first to examine branding for an international media brand. We compare Cosmopolitan magazine packaging (look and feel), editorial content, and advertising across Brazil, France, India, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom, and USA. Descriptive content analyses, in-depth examinations, and an interview with a local editor are used to explore strategies. Results intimate that while Cosmopolitan aims to create a standardized brand, the nature of the medium suggests some localization is necessary.
First- and Third-Person Perceptions of Advertising Images and Stereotyping:
An Inter-Generational Perspective • Tom Robinson, Brigham Young and Don Umphery, Southern Methodist • This study examines the relationship between third-person perceptions and stereotypes by determining on what basis older people and younger people perceive each other. More specifically, when individuals look at positive or negative images in advertisements what will be their perception of the effects those images will have on others. The results indicate that a third- and first- person perception does exist and that young people are influenced by stereotypes when making decisions about older people.
Warning Signals, Wind Speeds and What Next: A Pilot Project for Disaster Preparedness Among Residents of Central Vietnam’s Lagoons • Jyotika Ramaprasad, Southern Illinois • This paper describes a pilot disaster risk communication campaign that was designed and is in its final stages of implementation in Central Vietnam. Central Vietnam is highly prone to water related disasters, which cause enormous loss of lives and livelihood and make sustainable development almost impossible. Residents in the lagoons of Central Vietnam, who are particularly vulnerable because of their proximity to water, were the target audience for this project.
STUDENT
Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising on Television: A Pilot Study • Juhee Cho, Arkansas • The goal of this pilot study is to see whether Direct-to-Consumer TV ads contain adequate information for consumers. This study analyzed eleven DTC prescription drug ads for the most heavily advertised drugs between 1999-2000. The results shows that information in DTC ads is not balanced and informative for consumers, suggesting the FDA should regulate DTC TV ads more closely to ensure public health.
Gender, Ethnicity and Ethnicity/Gender Relations Represented in Advertising Claims: An Analysis of Persuasive Techniques in Primetime TV Commercials Across 18 Channels • Jongbae Hong, Eunseon Kwon, Jeongseon Kwon and Suijeong Kim, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between gender, ethnicity, and ethnicity/gender relations and persuasive advertising techniques, portrayed in primetime TV commercials across 18 channels. The findings of this study suggest that although men, white, and white men tended to use deceptive pseudo-verbal techniques most frequently, white men’s prestige were protected by their most frequest appearance in the use of extremely sophisticated visual techniques, resulting in the victimization of other cultural groups or as a result of other cultural groups’ victimization.
The Portrayal of Older People in Television Advertisements: A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of the United States and South Korea • Byongkwan Lee, Michigan State and Bong-Chul Kim, Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation • A cross-cultural content analysis of 2,295 prime-time television ads ó 859 ads from the United States and 1,436 ads from South Korea ó was conducted to examine the differences in the portrayal of older people between U.S. and Korean ads. In two countries, the underrepresentation of older people in ads was found in terms of proportions of the actual population.
To Vary or Not? Research Implications of Ad Variation in Web Advertising • Sang Yeal Lee, Pennsylvania State • The tremendous growth of the World Wide Web has attracted many advertisers who want to take advantage of the medium. However, as the novelty of the Web disappears and users become experts of the Web, declining advertising effectiveness has become an important issue for advertisers. This article explores the potential impact of ad variation to maintain or increase advertising effectiveness in Web context.
A Content Analysis of Print Advertising Appeals in Times of Crisis • Alexander Muk, Southern Mississippi • The basic element associated with an advertising strategy is the choice of advertising appeals. Advertising appeals are commonly categorized into two broad types of appeal: rational and emotional. The purpose of this paper is to use content analysis procedure empirically examining the impact of September 11 on service advertising in magazines. In times of crises, what kinds of advertising appeal are highly utilized in print advertising?
Perceptual Antecedents to Attitudes toward Internet Advertising in General • Xiaoli Nam, Minnesota • Based on Pollay and Mittalís (1993) 7-factor advertising belief model and Fishbein and Ajzenís (1975) attitude theory, which posits that beliefs are mediators of attitude formation/change, this study investigates beliefs toward Internet advertising as perceptual antecedents to attitudes toward Internet advertising in general. A survey was administrated to 192 college students.
Understanding Celebrity Endorsers in a Cross-Cultural Context: An Exploratory Analysis of South Korean and U.S. Advertising • Hye-Jin Paek, Wisconsin-Madison • This study links McCraken’s “cultural meaning transfer” model (1989) with Hofstede’s cultural typology, to understand cultural meanings of celebrity endorsers in cross-cultural advertising. The content analysis of South Korean and US newspaper ads finds that ads in a high uncertainty avoidance and power distance culture employ a greater number of celebrity endorses and that there is some possibility for international advertisers to use standardized celebrity endorser strategy. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed.
Fighting to the Finish: Advertising and Public Opinion at the End of World War II • Robert A. Rabe, Wisconsin-Madison • This paper examines twar-related advertising at the end of World War II and efforts by the War Advertising Council and other groups to urge Americans to refocus their attention on the Pacific War in the final months of conflict. It discusses the debate within the industry over reconversion and advertising postwar consumer products and the role that advertising played in shaping Americans’ attitudes about the end of the war.
Gender Role Stereotyping in Children’s Television Advertising, 2003: A Cross-Cultural Study of the United States and South Korea • Eun-Jung Roh, Ohio • This study examined gender role portrayals in a sample of 212 television advertisements featuring children in programming aimed at children in the United States and South Korea. The results of the study showed that the recent tendency to increase the proportion of girl’s characters and their independent interaction in the samples of both nations supports that gender portrayals in TV commercials have less stereotyped content than had been indicated by previous research.
Congruity Effect Hypothesis: Attentional Focus and Commercial Effectiveness • Sela Sar, Minnesota • The purpose of this study was to investigate congruity effect. The congruity between subject’s attentional focus and commercial content was studied. Subjects were randomly assigned to either cognitive and/or affective attentional focus conditions. Subjects in both conditions were told to watch one television program segment. Attentional focus was directly manipulated. Subject’s attentional focus was manipulated through instructions and a television program segment.
TEACHING
Account Planning and Underground Education: Preparing Strategic Thinkers • Kendra Gale and Brett Robbs, Colorado-Boulder • Based on depth interviews with senior planners and planning directors from major U.S. agencies, this paper identifies the skills advertising agencies look for in entry level account planners as well as typical responsibilities of junior planners. While business and research understanding are vital areas of knowledge, interviewees repeatedly stressed the value of integrative thinking skills. Potential implications for curriculum development are discussed.
Attitudes Toward Grades Among Advertising Students: Creative Orientation, GPA, Gender and Other Factors • Don Umphrey and Jami A. Fullerton, Southern Methodist • Attitudes toward grades were measured among advertising majors at two universities. More favorable attitudes toward grades were found among underclass students, while more advanced students were more jaundiced in their attitudes. Findings indicated that female students were more favorably disposed toward grades, but perhaps this was a reflection of their higher GPAs. Those interested in the creative aspects of advertising demonstrated ambivalence. Attitudes toward professors were not necessarily tied to attitudes toward grades.
Legal Obligations to Students with Invisible Disabilities: What Advertising Teachers Need to Know about Working with Learning-Disabled Students in Team-based Classes • Debbie Treise, Elaine Wagner, Lindsay Minter and Linda Correll, Florida • This study investigates accommodation of learning-disabled (LD) students in team-based classes, such as Advertising Campaigns, from the perspective of deans of students, university general counsels and faculty attorneys. Four themes emerged, that could be important for faculty when LD students identify themselves: be proactive about disabilities guidelines, communicate with disabilities offices and to the student; set up and define rules in the syllabus by which students can assess progress; and share responsibilities with disabilities officers.
Applications of Q Methodology to In-class Advertising Research Projects • Douglas Blanks Hindman, Washington State • Audience research can help guide the development of a creative strategy by suggesting target audiences and advertising themes that would be particularly appealing to those audiences. This paper describes how Q methodology can be used as an alternative to survey research and focus group studies for in-class advertising research projects. The paper provides examples of how the technique has been used by students to develop creative strategies and evaluate existing campaigns.
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