Dietary supplement advertising in the US

Dietary supplement advertising is an important, yet neglected, advertising research subject. This article overviews the US dietary supplement industry, describes advertising practices for dietary supplement products, and reviews the existing research on the topic. Based on the literature review, we offer a research agenda for advertising researchers around the world to stimulate and guide future investigations of dietary supplement advertising.     

Peeking Under the Curtain and Over the Horizon: The Reflections of Another Former Editor

Being an editor of the Journal of Advertising (JA) provides a unique perspective into the publishing process and the field of advertising. In this article I have tried to offer a glimpse of what I learned from this experience. It reveals what I learned (mostly from mistakes I made) about the review process. It also provides some thoughts about how to be a good reviewer. The second part of the article takes a broader view of how the field of advertising research has developed, what might be missing, and how we can expand its development in the future.     

The Impact of Price Level and Appeal Type in Hotel Advertising: A Pilot Study

Limited extant experimental research on advertising appeal effectiveness in the presence of price cues in a service offer provides the motivation for this study. While past research has found support for the effectiveness of both rational and emotional appeals in services marketing, this research, in the context of hotel advertising, shows that appeal type effectiveness may vary with the price level of the service. More specifically, this study finds that rational appeals are more effective than emotional appeals for low-priced hotels, but for high-priced hotels, rational and emotional appeals show no significant difference in influencing consumer evaluations of the offer.     

How do firms make money selling digital goods online?

We review research on revenue models used by online firms who offer digital goods. Such goods are non-rival, have near zero marginal cost of production and distribution, low marginal cost of consumer search, and low transaction costs. Additionally, firms can easily observe and measure consumer behavior. We start by asking what consumers can offer in exchange for digital goods. We suggest that consumers can offer their money, personal information, or time. Firms, in turn, can generate revenue by selling digital content, brokering consumer information, or showing advertising. We discuss the firm’s trade-off in choosing between the different revenue streams, such as offering paid content or free content while relying on advertising revenues. We then turn to specific challenges firms face when choosing a revenue model based on either content, information, or advertising. Additionally, we discuss nascent revenue models that combine different revenue streams such as crowdfunding (content and information) or blogs (information and advertising). We conclude with a discussion of opportunities for future research including implications for firms’ revenue models from the increasing importance of the mobile Internet.     

Mistaken Inferences from Advertising Conversations: A Modest Research Agenda

I review the changing advertising landscape and suggest that the definition of advertising has inherently changed. Using the current advertising context, I develop research questions that consumer behavior scholars are well poised to address. This research agenda is rooted in real-world observations about advertising and can help us develop new theories about when, how, and why advertising influences and persuades consumers. A recurring theme in this article is that consumers may be misled due to information overload from multiple channels and sources. I use the advertising-as-conversation metaphor to derive hypotheses and test one such hypothesis in an experiment. I end with a summary and discussion of advertising impact measurement.     

What's Wrong with "Deceptive" Advertising?

In this paper I present a moral account of the legal notion of deceptive advertising. I argue that no harmful consequences to the consumer need follow from a deceptive advertisement as such, and I suggest instead that one should focus on the consequences of permitting the practise of deceptive advertising on society as a whole. After a brief account of deceptive advertising, I move to discuss the role of the reasonable person standard in its definition. One interpretation of this standard is empirical, aiming to objectify the quality of misleadingness in the advertisement. I offer an alternative normative interpretation which aims to draw the line between the advertiser's responsibility and that of the consumer, between misleading and miscomprehension. I then examine and reject several possible moral grounds for condemning and prohibiting deceptive advertising. These include: harm, in the sense of welfare, to the misled consumer; harm to competitors; and a violation or a reduction of the consumer's autonomy. Finally, I explain how the effect of the practise of deceptive advertising on society as a whole should inform our normative line-drawing between misleading and miscomprehension, and how it provides the basis for the moral evaluation of deceptive advertising.     

Do sexy mouthwash ads leave a bad aftertaste? The interaction of sexual self-schema and brand positioning fit on female-targeted sexual advertising efficacy

We explore females’ reactions to a sexually themed advertising with regard to a key personality variable, sexual self-schema (SSS). In extant research, SSS has largely had a positive impact on females’ reactions to sexual advertisements. We further explore this dynamic by considering the role of female sexual self-schema (SSS) on attitudes and purchase intent for products with brand positions that differ with regard to fit with sexual themes. Informed by our study and extant literature, we also offer areas for further SSS-based advertising research, particularly in another unexplored area: the role of SSS in identification and resultant attitude formation in sexual, but less explicit, advertising.     

Consumer Responses to Slice-of-Life Versus Slice-of-Death Advertising Appeals: Exploring the Role of Polysemy,Branding, and Culture

Prior research has not verified the theoretical or practical value of slice-of-life and slice-of-death advertising appeals in relation to advertising and branding constructs like advertising polysemy and consumer-based brand equity. The authors make conceptual, measurement, and managerial contributions to this research issue dealing with slice of life versus death advertising appeals. Across three studies, the authors measure, evaluate, compare, and contrast slice-of-life and slice-of-death (SOL/D) advertising appeals across British and American cultures. The authors demonstrate the interrelationships of SOL/D appeals with advertising polysemy, consumer-based brand equity, cultural differences in advertising attitudes, and purchase intentions. From a measurement perspective, the authors develop and validate parsimonious measures of slice-of-life and slice-of-death (SOL/D) advertising appeals. Furthermore, they test the assumptions that underlie these appeals for United States and British customers, and investigate how the cultural characteristic of uncertainty avoidance moderates the impact of SOL/D advertising attitudes on purchase intentions. Managerially, the research demonstrates that SOL/D appeals offer value in predicting (a) consumer-based brand equity through advertising polysemy, (b) consumers’ advertising attitudes across different cultures, (c) consumers’ intentions to purchase, and (d) advertising differences and varying consumer responses in the United States and Britain.     

Marketing images of gender: A visual analysis

An interpretive method drawing from social psychology, feminist theory and art criticism is developed to analyze contemporary images of gender. Utilizing and expanding upon visual research techniques, a selection of ads from contemporary fashion magazines and catalogs was assembled to illustrate particular themes suggested by research on the representation of gender in advertising. The body‐and what it expresses‐is a site of central concern, and discussion focuses on how female and male bodies are represented in advertising. The conventions of art history, when framed within a social science perspective, offer unique contributions to the study of advertising and gender, well suited for researchers interested in the culture of consumption.     

Wireless digital advertising: nature and implications

The convergence of the Internet and wireless telecommunications in the late 1990s has opened the way for a plethora of data services for the mobile handset user. One potential area of development is wireless advertising. The personal, always-at-hand nature of devices, along with the ability to assess context dependence (e.g. time and location), presents a rich platform for wireless advertising. Using a range of wireless platforms, operators will be able to offer very different advertising services that go beyond those of the wired Internet. The purpose of this paper is to review the emerging technologies, applications and research issues associated with wireless advertising. It concludes with some predictions on the future role of wireless advertising.     

CONTRIBUTIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING RESEARCH: An Assessment of the Literature Between 1990 and 2002

Research in the field of international advertising has produced a large volume of literature. Although some attempts have been made in the past to review this stream of research, there has been no attempt to assess the contributions to this literature by individuals and institutions. This study assesses the contributions of individual researchers and institutions from 1990 to 2002, based on their publications in major advertising, marketing, and international business journals, and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The findings of this study offer researchers a unique view of this field and some directions for future research.     

A Meta-Analysis into Multiscreening and Advertising Effectiveness: Direct Effects,Moderators, and Underlying Mechanisms

Using another media screen while watching television has become a part of people’s daily routines. The topic of multiscreening has thus received increased attention from advertising scholars in recent years. To gain a better theoretical understanding of the circumstances under which multiscreening effects occur and to offer practical guidelines to advertisers, the current study synthesizes the results of past studies on multiscreening and advertising and examines the direct effects of multiscreening on both cognitive and affective advertising outcomes, the possible moderators of those effects, and the underlying mechanisms of multiscreening with regard to advertising outcomes. The results indicate a negative direct effect of multiscreening on cognitive outcomes. The effect is weakened, however, by factors related to research, advertising, and media. In addition, the results show no direct or total effect of multiscreening on affective advertising outcomes, but this again depends on various media-, advertising-, and research-related factors. Finally, the results show that attention, enjoyment, and resistance constitute the underlying mechanisms that explain the effect of multiscreening on memory and persuasion.     

The Journal of Advertising and the Development of Advertising Theory: Reflections and Directions for Future Research

In this article, I provide some thoughts that guided my decision making while I was editor of the Journal of Advertising (2003–2006). Specifically, I reflect on the definition of theory and how it has been and should be used in the advertising discipline. In particular, I attempt to distinguish between weaker (contextual) and stronger (universal) theories and present my views on how future research in advertising can proceed in developing useful theories within this domain.     

Managing advertising investments in marketing channels

This paper investigates how should manufacturers optimally allocate resources to retailer-initiated (retailer) advertising through cooperative advertising programs and own (manufacturer) advertising in a bilateral monopoly. Retailer advertising stimulates immediate sales but may also harm long-term (post-advertising) demand, whereas manufacturer advertising aims at building brand equity and stimulates both immediate and long-term sales. A game-theoretic model in which a manufacturer and a retailer set pricing and advertising decisions over a two-period planning horizon is developed to account for the differences between manufacturer and retailer advertising. We characterize equilibrium solutions for four advertising scenarios for the manufacturer, ranging from no investment in any advertising activity to undertaking own advertising and supporting retailer advertising simultaneously. Comparing the two players’ equilibrium strategies and profits across these scenarios, we find that manufacturers should avoid offering exclusively cooperative advertising programs to retailers. When retailer advertising positively influences long-term sales, manufacturers should offer cooperative advertising supports to retailers in addition to undertaking their own advertising. When retailer advertising negatively affects long-term sales, manufacturers can still undertake own advertising and offer cooperative advertising under certain conditions. However, if these conditions are not met, focusing exclusively on own advertising is their best advertising strategy. Retailers also prefer scenarios in which manufacturers advertise, but may choose not to participate in manufacturers’ cooperative advertising programs. This leads to suboptimal outcomes if cooperative advertising programs are not enhanced by additional incentives (e.g., side payments or other services).     

The making of self and world in advertising

In this paper I will criticize a common practice I call associative advertising. Briefly, associative advertising induces people to buy (or buy more of) a product by associating that market product with such deep-seated non-market goods as friendship, acceptance and esteem from others, excitement and power even though the market good seldom satisfies or has any connection with the non-market desire. The fault in associative advertising is not that it is deceptive or that it violates the autonomy of its audience — on this point I find Robert Arrington's arguments persuasive (Advertising and Behavior Control, Journal of Business Ethics 1 (1982), 3–12). Instead, I will argue against associative advertising by examining the virtues and vices at stake. In so doing, I will offer an alternative to Arrington's exclusive concern with autonomy and behavior control.My main criticism is two-fold: (a) Advertisers must surely desensitize themselves to the compassion, concern, and sympathy for others that are central emotions in a virtuous person, and (b) associative advertising influences its audience to neglect the nonmarket cultivation of our virtues and to substitute market goods instead, with the result that we become worse and, quite likely, less happy persons.John Waide is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Christian Brothers College.An earlier draft of this paper was presented to the Tennessee Philosophical Association, 10 November 1984. I am indebted to that group for many helpful comments.     

Export performance of emerging market firms

I investigate the export performance of firms from emerging economies based on resource based view (RBV) of a firm. Based on review of extant literature, I identify firm size, research and development expenditure, advertising expenditure and business group affiliation to be important antecedents of level of exporting activities of a firm. I utilize a two-stage least square estimation (G2SLS) on a sample of 47,140 firm-year observations over a period of sixteen years from 1990–2005. The findings suggest that export sales and domestic sales are interdependent and affect each other. R&D expenditure and business group affiliation positively affect export sales, however advertising expenditure negatively affects export sales.     

Pigott,Stanley. OBM/A Celebration: One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years in Advertising. London: Ogilvy,Benson & Mather Limited, 1975

Abstract

This study reports the results of a survey of advertising managers and editors of weekly and daily newspapers and of selected consumer magazines concerning the issue of feature advertising. Feature advertising is defined as paid advertising space that looks like editorial copy in the form of a short feature article. It was posited that this type of advertising might offer a unique challenge to the process of advertising self-discipline among print media. Ad managers and editors differed on a number of points, but agreed that questions pertaining to feature ads should be addressed through media self-discipline.     

Inclusive advertising featuring disability on instagram: Effect on consumer well-being,brand engagement,and purchase intention

Should advertisers continue to promote their brands through brand endorsers without considering their diverse characteristics, or should they embrace diversity in advertising? Gender, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation are some of the aspects of diversity that have been investigated in advertising research, primarily in the context of Western and developed countries. However, it remains underexplored how physical disabilities in influencer advertising on Instagram affect consumer well-being and consumers’ responses toward brands in a non-Western market. Through an experimental design (including both inclusive and non-inclusive samples), this study examined the effects of inclusive advertising (including disabled persons) on consumer well-being (both hedonic and eudaimonic), brand engagement, and purchase intention. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. In Study 1 (shampoo brand case), a data analysis of 260 young Pakistani consumers revealed that inclusive (vs non-inclusive) advertisements enhance both hedonic well-being (HWB) and eudaimonic well-being (EWB), with a stronger effect for EWB. The spillover effects of EWB and HWB indicated a significant influence on brand engagement and purchase intention, whereas the effect of HWB is significant only on brand engagement. The effects of HWB on brand engagement and of EWB on purchase intention showed a greater influence in the case of inclusive advertisements than in traditional non-inclusive advertisements. In Study 2 (clothing brand case), an analysis of 235 respondents revealed that inclusive advertising drives both HWB and EWB, which have a greater influence on brand engagement and purchase intention when individuals are exposed to an inclusive advertisement featuring disabled persons than a non-inclusive one. These studies confirm that inclusive advertisements attract a more diverse customer base in addition to existing customers. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights for advertising and consumer research.     

An Involvement Explanation for Nostalgia Advertising Effects

This study seeks to offer additional insights regarding why positive “nostalgia effects” in advertising may be observed, that is, why nostalgic ads tend to elicit more favorable consumer responses than do non-nostalgic ads. Using the personal relevance component of advertising involvement as a theoretical foundation, the study supports hypothesized expectations that nostalgic ads are capable of inducing greater levels of self-reflection and advertising involvement. Furthermore, hypothesized effects were shown to be more pronounced when a “personal” nostalgia-themed ad (eliciting “a yearning for a realized, lived past”) was used, as opposed to when an “historical” nostalgia-themed ad (eliciting “a yearning for a distant past, never experienced”) was used. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered.     

Is Your Product Facing the Ad's Center? Facing Direction Affects Processing Fluency and Ad Evaluation

This research investigates a frequently encountered and important decision faced by advertisers: how to face profile images of products in advertisements. Three empirical studies find support for a profile-fluency effect: Profile images of products facing inward (versus outward) toward the center (versus edge) of an ad are easier for consumers to process and result in more positive consumer evaluations. In addition, there is evidence that this effect depends on the shopping goal of the consumer. The results have clear implications for current practices in advertising and offer opportunities for future research.