Towards a Praxiology of Advertising

This article argues for the need to abandon traditional models of advertising effect, if a theory is to be developed which is capable of fitting the observable reality that people use advertisements deliberately rather than being used by them. Using information processing theory as the best available organizing principle, it proposes a number of candidate elements of a future, fully grounded theory of advertising effect.     

Shedding New Light on How Advertising Literacy Can Affect Children's Processing of Embedded Advertising Formats: A Future Research Agenda

Advertisers are continuously searching for new ways to persuade children; current methods include fully integrating commercial content into media content, actively engaging children with the commercial content, and increasing the number of commercial messages children are confronted with at one moment in time. This poses a challenge for how children cope with embedded advertising. This conceptual article aims to develop a theoretically grounded framework for investigating how children process embedded advertising. More precisely, it sheds light on previous research and conceptualizations of advertising literacy and provides suggestions for future research. The article examines conceptual and methodological issues and discusses the need for research on how to improve children's coping with embedded advertising by emphasizing the value of persuasive intent priming and implementation intentions. To conclude, future research directions are discussed regarding strategies to strengthen children's coping skills and their dispositional (i.e., associative network consisting of cognitive, moral, and affective beliefs related to advertising) and situational (i.e., actual recognition of and critical reflection on advertising) advertising literacy.     

Sports Marketing

Although text messaging as a communication tool in society is rampant, research on its effects within print advertisements is lacking. To help fill this void, we employ three between-subject experiments (i.e., Study 1: text message vs. no text message; Studies 2 and 3: text message vs. traditional language). We posit that using text message copy in print ads is a unique (as grounded in distinctiveness theory) and fitting (as grounded in communication trust theory) approach to commune with targeted viewers and, therefore, should lead to favorable advertising outcomes. The experimental results confirm this notion. For example, responses concerning ad novelty, attention toward the ad, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and perceived brand trust are more favorable toward the text message condition ads. Implications and directions for future text message-related research are discussed.     

Meta-Analysis in Advertising Research

Meta-analyses have become increasingly popular in many fields of the social sciences, including advertising research. The results of meta-analyses attract substantial interest from both scholars and practitioners, as indicated by high citation numbers and widespread dissemination in the media. By summarizing results drawn from a set of studies concerning a specific topic, and by discovering and explaining consistencies and inconsistencies within those results, meta-analysis is an essential step in the process of knowledge accumulation, theory building, and theory testing in science. Many developments in the last years have contributed to the advancement of the method, but they have appeared in disparate literatures. Furthermore, each discipline applies the method in a particular way that corresponds to the major research traditions in a field. However, no attempt to introduce the method to advertising researchers is available. The purpose of this article is therefore to provide a comprehensive overview of the meta-analysis method to advertising researchers that describes the procedures commonly applied in advertising research, that provides a better understanding of the method and evaluation criteria for judging the quality of meta-analyses, and that serves as a starting point for advertising researchers who are interested in conducting a meta-analysis.     

Children's understanding of television advertising: A grounded theory approach

The study investigates children's understanding of television advertising, with emphasis on differences between children of different ages (6‐ to 11‐year‐old children). Forty‐two focus groups were conducted and grounded theory analysis was employed to discover, analyze, and discuss the findings and their implications. Findings suggest that children view advertising as more complex than has been suggested by perspectives employed by previous research. Overall, a positive relationship was found between age and understanding of the aims of advertising. None of the 6‐ to 7‐, only a few of the 8‐ to 9‐, and most of the 10‐ to 11‐year‐old children understood the role of television advertising. Topics such as sponsorship or the source of television advertising seemed to confuse children in all age groups. Only a minority of children in the older age group recognized the persuasive intent of television advertising. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A REFINED VIEW OF GROUNDED THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION TO LOGISTICS RESEARCH

Logistics research with an objective to construct theory and develop deeper insights into logistics social phenomena and test those theories relies on both qualitative and quantitative methods. Grounded theory is one powerful qualitative research tradition for the theory building objective, yet it is also one that is often misunderstood and misapplied. The result of this misunderstanding can, and has in other disciplines such as marketing and management, resulted in weaker grounded theory studies than ought to be and research claiming to emerge from grounded theory but does not. The article offers a review of the foundations of grounded theory and insights to important aspects of two similar, but different, approaches to grounded theory that most researchers ignore, but are critical for researchers to understand. We argue that (1) logistics needs more qualitative research, (2) grounded theory offers the potential for a unique and specific kind of insight as compared to other traditions, (3) thus specific tenants of grounded theory must be followed, anything does not go, and finally (4) being specific in the application of grounded theory means knowing the differences between the Glaser and Straus views and understanding that a choice must be made as to how to proceed with grounded theory research based on that knowledge.     

Toward an Analytical Structure for Evaluating the Ethical Content of Decisions by Advertising Professionals

This article proposes a model for conceptualizing advertising ethics theory based on a distinction between philosophical and occupational ethical systems and the assumption that the fundamental goal of occupational ethics is to address the imbalance of power between the practitioner group and the community or communities they serve through practices that cultivate a relationship of trust. An analytical model is proposed as the basis for future empirical research to test and clarify the suggested relationships. It is suggested that a more refined theoretical meta-model could provide a common framework within which research in specific advertising ethics issues might be revisited.     

Integrating Results from Children's Television Advertising Research

Children's television advertising is rapidly becoming a major concern to government agencies, citizens' groups and researchers in many areas of the social sciences. To this point there has been little integration of research efforts. This article presents a model of the processing of television advertising by children in order to organize and integrate previous research results and to act as the basis for suggesting future directions for research. The authors indicate that more involvement by advertisers is needed.     

Trends in Advertising Research: A Longitudinal Analysis of Leading Advertising,Marketing, and Communication Journals, 1980 to 2010

This study provides a longitudinal content analysis of advertising research articles in 17 top-tier advertising, marketing, and communication journals published over the past 30 years (1980–2010, n = 926). The study's purpose is to shed light on the direction and progression of advertising as an academic field by updating and extending Yale and Gilly's (1988) study of advertising research trends. Nine content characteristics of the journal articles were examined: (1) theory presence (theory driven versus not theory driven), (2) names, types (theory versus theoretical framework/model versus construct), and originating disciplines of theory, (3) topic areas, (4) media of interest, (5) research approaches (empirical versus nonempirical and quantitative versus qualitative versus mixed), (6) methods, (7) types of effects, (8) units of analysis, and (9) research implications. Changes in the content characteristics of journal articles were found across the 30 years analyzed in five-year intervals. Implications for the field, scholars, and advertising practitioners are discussed.     

Research and Publishing in the Journal of Advertising: Making Theory Relevant

As the latest contributor in this invited article series, I offer my perspective on conducting and publishing advertising research and navigating the review process. I also discuss the importance of the relevance of research to advertising practice, with a particular emphasis on the role that theory plays in making research relevant. In addition, I offer a few general observations about future advertising research.     

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.     

Qualitative Research in Advertising

In spite of the rise of big data and the ease with which online experiments and surveys may be conducted, there is more need than ever for qualitative advertising research. This review considers both the methods and findings of such research. It focuses on the role of qualitative analyses in revealing how ads are “read” by consumers. Methodological approaches considered include observation, depth interviews, projective methods, focus groups, netnography, and videography. Theoretical approaches reviewed include semiotics, reader response, and co-optation theory. Because cultural analyses are a strength of qualitative research, global and cross-cultural advertising research is also examined. The article concludes with an evaluation of the ways in which qualitative advertising research can be combined with data analytics to produce richer and more complete understandings of consumer behavior in response to advertising.     

Towards an Organizational Theory of Advertising: Agency—Client Relationships in South Africa

There has been a recent spate of advertising research drawing upon aspects of organization theory. To date, however, much of this work remains highly fragmented in nature. This article develops a tripartite organizational theory model that attempts to explain the relationship between advertiser and advertising agency. The model examines this relationship prior to, during and subsequent to the contracting process. In the empirical section of the article two facets of the model are tested: (1) the extent to which agencies use creative awards as signalling devices, and (2) the effect that the accreditation system has had upon industry concentration. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and suggestions for further research.     

The Creative Search for an Insight in Account Planning: An Absorptive Capacity Approach

In advertising agencies, insight is frequently sought to solve advertising problems. However, the ideation process of the account planner is not well understood. Viewing account planning through a lens of absorptive capacity suggests that planning is about identifying and assimilating external information about consumers for use in the creative process. Account planners thus need to search deliberately for insight and work hard to express it to the creatives, who then exploit it to develop powerful creative ideas. The study adopts an in-depth grounded theory investigation of the insight phenomenon among 20 Sydney-based account planners. The findings reveal that identifying and applying insight is a highly creative process. The account planner uses research, personal knowledge domains, challenging conventions, borrowed sources, and central narrative extension to search for insights. However, because not all insights are equal, this study also uncovered what account planners consider quality insight. These include attributes of originality, relatability, usability, and vision. These findings provide guidelines for marketers and account planners who seek insight in framing an advertising message.     

Advertising agency planning – conceptualising network relationships

This study investigated the networked relationships between agency parties involved in the process of advertising planning, internal and external to advertising agencies. The study provides a conceptual grounding for understanding the shift from dyadic to multiple relationships in advertising planning. It focuses on the degree of collaboration and integrative relationships inherent. Using a theoretically derived, grounded theory approach, depth interviews were conducted with twenty two practitioners spread across four dominant parties: advertising account management and creatives, independent media planners and researchers. Four core constructs were abstracted from the data forming the conceptual basis for a model. These were shared (agency) purpose and philosophy, personal chemistry between involved parties, power relations between parties with their incumbent conflictual tensions and finally trust between parties. The study provides an important bridgehead, opening up and exploring the increasingly networked foundations for advertising planning.     

The advertising creative process: A study of UK agencies

Advertising agencies are hired to develop creative advertising for their clients. This paper explores the advertising creative process used by agencies when developing new creative work. Using in-depth interviews with 21 agency practitioners in the UK this study examines the stages that take place within the advertising creative process. Findings suggest the process is made up of a series of sequentially linked stages and illustrate how agencies validate advertising creative during development. The study provides insight into how agencies customise the process and identifies that agencies have different approaches to the level of client involvement. Implications for practitioners are discussed and areas for future research identified.     

Subliminal advertising and the psychology of processing unconscious stimuli: A review of research

This article reviews progress to date on research on the effects of subliminal stimulation on subject populations and potential applications to persuasive communications. Three areas of inquiry covered in the literature include psychological, physiological, and behavioral (choice) responses, the last of which is of particular interest to advertising and marketing specialists. The article identifies several fruitful areas for continued research and experimentation, especially in areas of social marketing research. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Online Focus Groups

The rise of Web 2.0, the advent of greater bandwidth, and new technology platforms have made it possible to extend the range of focus-group research to the online environment. This provides advertising researchers, advertising agencies, and advertisers with opportunities to reach consumers who were heretofore difficult to reach, to create groups with new and different compositions, and to use online collaborative tools not readily available in face-to-face groups. This article reviews online focus-group research, identifies several types of online groups, and contrasts the uses and results of online focus groups with the uses and results of face-to-face focus groups. The article concludes that online and face-to-face venues for focus-group research are complementary, with online focus-group research opening new opportunities for gathering data to inform advertising research, theory, and decision making. The article also suggests that differences between online focus-group research and face-to-face focus-group research, with respect to group interaction and the ability to obtain information, are being eroded as technology provides greater opportunities to create social presence in an online environment.     

Methodological Issues in Advertising Research: Current Status,Shifts, and Trends

This article presents some self-reflective considerations on the methodology applied in advertising scholarly publications, based on a review of articles in four leading journals: Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. This article first identifies two approaches in the positivist paradigm that exert strong impacts on the development of advertising research: the message effects research tradition in the communication field and the consumer psychology research tradition in marketing. With this background, the article next introduces several research questions to explore which methods have dominated advertising research, the role of theory building in affecting the adopted methods and the number of reported studies, differences across the journals, and the degree to which researchers integrate different methods or approaches (quantitative and qualitative) in their research. A content analysis of articles published in these four advertising journals from 2001 to 2015 helps address these research questions and reveals the current status, shifts, and trends in advertising research since the turn of this century.     

Sex Differences in Socially Responsible Advertising Decisions

This article attempts to document potential differences in socially responsible behavior exhibited by male and female advertising executives. Earlier research has found that female advertising majors see themselves, and the “successful” advertising practitioner, as being more sincere and honest than do male advertising majors. This indicates that, once a practitioner, female advertising executives may perform in a more socially responsible manner. Findings reported in this article do indicate greater social responsibility in advertising content decision-making by female advertising executives. Further research is called for and some possibilities are suggested in the article.