Public dialogue between butter and margarine in Finland 1923–1992

The paper presents an interpretation of Finnish advertising for edible fats and imagery related to the fats during this century. The material comprises copies of Kotiliesi magazine at 5-year intervals from 1923 to 1992. The advertising reflects the history of a changing relationship of references to the competing fat products, showing at the same time, however, how essentially the imagery related to the new product, margarine, has from the start been dominated by the image of a ‘natural’product, commonly associated with the already established product, butter. Paradoxically, margarine and butter have changed places this century in the dualism of nature and culture. As lifestyles have changed, margarine has become a ‘healthy’ symbol of nature while simultaneously butter has lost its leading position as a natural source of vitality. Advertising has played a central role in this metamorphosis.     

Magazine Advertising: Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Celebrity Advertising

This study analyzes the differences in celebrity effectiveness in advertisements of different styles as well as the impact of source credibility. This study uses an experimental magazine to test nine fictional advertisements for three products with unreal brands and three advertising styles. The findings show that the advertising styles that generate the greatest effectiveness differ according to the product; the celebrities do not increase effectiveness, but when the respondents recognize the celebrity, effectiveness increases; and credibility influences affective and conative measures. The work also considers how celebrity-product pairings, the existence of negative celebrity information, and the familiarity with the celebrity affect the effectiveness.     

Perceptions of Offensive Advertising Elements: A China–U.S. Comparison

ABSTRACT

As China continues to rapidly expand and further open itself to market forces, the People's Republic arouses significant interest as a new mega-market. Consequently, the influx of new business opportunities and advertising has resulted in Chinese consumers increasingly exposed to potentially offensive advertising. While some products and images may seem acceptable when advertised in the West, there are some that may offend Chinese cultural sensitivities. The purpose of this study is to better understand similarities and differences that exist between American and Chinese perceptions surrounding offensive advertising. The results highlight a number of statistical cultural differences that have business implications for international marketers.     

When does green advertising work? The moderating role of product type

Using environmental appeals to promote products is a popular marketing technique. However, little is known about how the effectiveness of green appeals varies across different product categories. The purpose of this study is to examine whether and to what extent green appeals in advertising are effective and how that effectiveness differs between products with more versus less environmental impact. Using the theoretical frameworks of ad-product fit hypothesis, our two product types (more harmful vs. less harmful) × two appeal types (green appeal vs. non-green appeal) experiment shows that ads with a green appeal are more effective for more-harmful products, whereas for less-harmful products, there is no significant difference between a green and a non-green appeal. Furthermore, cognitive response was found to mediate the interaction effect of green appeal and product type on ad persuasiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Emojis to conversion on social media

Emojis have become popular in online marketing communications. Marketers use emojis to humanize brand voice and elicit an emotional response from target audiences. However, little is known about how emojis are perceived and what kind of reactions they evoke. Therefore, this study aims to verify whether exposure to emojis leads to an increased intention to purchase and whether the use of emojis impacts campaign effectiveness in a real-life environment. In a theory build-up process, we draw upon the Dual Coding Theory and emotional contagion concept and develop seven hypotheses. We performed two data collection studies to test the hypothesized relations. The first study is based on a questionnaire (N = 318), while the second is based on experimental design in a real-life business environment. Surprisingly, we found that using emojis had a negative effect on purchase intention, while the effect was positive when mediated by positive affect. Emojis increased the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for hedonic products and strongly impacted the return on advertising spent. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications in the observed domains, particularly about the type of products emojis are most effective in promoting, gender differences, and real-life consumer behaviour. This is the first study to use an experimental design in a real-life scenario to capture the role of emojis on campaign effectiveness and decipher the differences between genders and their perceptions of emojis. Theoretical and practical implications together with future prospects are discussed.     

Identification of Web User Segments Based on Beliefs about Online Ads

Online advertising has been one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, due to the increased number of Internet users. From the perspective of marketing management, identifying the profile of web users who click online ads will enable designers to create better online advertising campaigns. Hence, the main objectives of this article are (1) to segment web users based on their beliefs about online ads, (2) to identify personality traits of each segment, and (3) to investigate attitudinal and behavioral differences across segments about online ads. Data were collected through an online survey and by using cluster analysis, web users were segmented into three groups based on their beliefs about online ads: “Supporters,” “Neutrals,” and “Opponents.” Personality trait differences as well as attitudinal and behavioral differences among three segments were examined and significant differences were found in terms of their personality traits, such as variety seeking, market mavenism, and innovativeness.     

Variations in the contractual terms of cooperative advertising contracts: An empirical investigation

Cooperative advertising arrangements between manufacturers and resellers contain two principal components in their payment schedules: a participation rate and an accrual rate. We analyze 2,156 cooperative advertising plans to see how they vary across consumer and industrial products, as well as between convenience and nonconvenience consumer products. We also study how participation and accrual rates vary by the level of manufacturer concentration across product categories. We find that both participation and accrual rates are higher for consumer products than for industrial products and within consumer products are higher for convenience products than for nonconvenience products. We find mixed results for the effect of manufacturer concentration on these rates. We discuss how these results are consistent with existing perspectives on cooperative advertising.     

Product placement as leveraged marketing communications: the role of wishful identification,brand trust,and brand buying behaviours

Online streaming and DVRs have spurred the use of products placed within the storyline of a show to be an opportunity for advertisers to offer a message to their consumer about a brand even with the possibility of entirely avoiding commercial pods. This study examines wishful identification as a concept that mediates the relationship between favourite fictional character attributes, and buying behaviours and brand trust of products/brands used by a favourite character in a television show. Results indicate that wishful identification does, in fact, persist beyond the viewing experience. Additionally, the attribute of admiration and a combination of attributes we label the ‘Ideal Character’ is most predictive of wishful identification and our purchase intention dependent variables.     

A study of the believability of the forms of puffery

This study tested consumers' perceptions of the believability of puffery in advertising. Forms of puffery have been ranked for their potential ability to deceive consumers. Subjects were asked to rate how believable they found examples of each of the six forms of puffery. The study compared the believability of the claims with the subjects' familiarity and experiences with the products about which the claims were made. The results of a one-way analysis of variance showed little difference between consumers' levels of believability across five of the six levels of puffery. Overall, most consumers did not feel strongly one way or another about the believability of the puffed claims. That both familiarity and experience with the products significantly influenced the believability of the claims made in the study was indicated by χ²-tests. Recommendations are made concerning marketers' use of puffery. Topics for future research in the area are also suggested.     

Product Placement Versus Conventional Advertising: The Impact on Brand Choice of Integrating Promotional Stimuli into Movies

ABSTRACT

Despite the increasingly favorable environment enjoyed by product placement, the question of whether this technique produces stronger behavioral effects than conventional advertising remains largely unexplored. Based on the transportation-imagery model, we hypothesized that, among users of well-established products, promotional stimuli produce stronger effects on brand choice when integrated into movies than when presented as independent ads, while among nonusers, no differences are expected. Our hypotheses were confirmed in a field experiment that compared the effects of a Coca-Cola placement within the movie Ways to Live Forever with the same Coca-Cola stimulus shown as a usual commercial.     

Client influence and advertising standardization: a survey of ad agencies

With increased globalization of markets, the standardization of products, services, and promotion activities has streamlined the work performed by advertising agencies. In this study, managing directors of Australian and US advertising agencies were questioned about the extent their clients influence agency functions and the degree of standardization used. It was found that copywriting was the main service offered and the clients usually have a major influence on their services. As for those that handle multi-country campaigns, older agencies tend to be more involved in international markets, and there was some degree of standardizing of campaigns and creative work.     

Do Consumers Acculturated to Global Consumer Culture Buy More Impulsively? The Moderating Role of Attitudes towards and Beliefs about Advertising

This research advances knowledge that can foster understanding of how global consumer culture (GCC) and its elements relate to impulsive buying and sheds light on how advertising attitudes and beliefs interact with this main relationship. Specifically, this study examines the moderating effects of attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising on the relations between consumers’ level of acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC) and impulsive buying. Consumers who are the most acculturated to GCC, and who have positive attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising, buy the most impulsively. AGCC is related to increased impulsive buying, even when attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising are negative. The article contributes to the development of a theoretical explanation of these understudied relations by employing acculturation theory and congruity theory. Social and practical implications are discussed.     

Key Factors in Understanding Trends in Hollywood Product Placements from 2005 to 2015

This study updates extant product placement research by identifying the evolutions in product placements between 2005 and 2015 in top grossing Hollywood films. Using a quantitative content analysis, this research also offers insights into how production costs impact the use and implementation of product placements. The findings revealed films with lower production costs have significantly more placements overall, products are on screen longer, more brands are in films, products are mentioned and shown more often, and films contain more character involvement. Significant increases were found between 2005 and 2015 in all variables except the number of brands and length of placements.     

Professionals' views of comparative advertising and the scholarly research literature: A review and synthesis

Comparative advertisements that contrast identifiable, competing products or services may be among advertising's most important tactical weapons. Despite nearly a century of use in the USA, growing use by advertisers in many other countries, and decades of scholarly research, some researchers continue to argue that the status of empirical knowledge regarding comparative advertising's effectiveness remains equivocal. This study addresses this equivocality with a review of the research literature and comparisons with the findings of a recent survey of US advertising creative executives. The findings reveal substantial agreement among the beliefs of academic researchers and advertising professionals in regard to when and how comparative advertising will likely be effective. In addition to offering confirming evidence that academic researchers and advertising professionals do sometimes arrive at the same destination in regard to their shared understandings of advertising effects, the findings also point the way toward important directions for future research on comparative advertising.     

Localizing to Arabic consumers: Insights from print advertising

This study argues that understanding the nature and influence of cultural differences in print advertising is important for an effective international marketing strategy. Previous studies have investigated cross-cultural differences in advertising, but have not focused on advertising from the Arab world. There is also a shortage of studies providing specific recommendations about localizing advertising for Arab consumers. This study therefore conducts a comparative analysis of Arab and US print advertisements in magazines, to identify cross-cultural differences in advertising and make recommendations on localizing advertising to Arab consumers, and in particular, those in the Persian Gulf states.     

Multinational corporate website strategies and influencing factors: A comparison of US and Korean corporate websites

This study, using a content analysis method, explored whether and to what extent multinational corporate websites targeting different markets are standardized. It also tested three organizational factors – country of origin, company size, and product type – for their potential influence on the level of corporate website standardization. A sample of 52 top US-based multinational companies and 52 Korea-based multinational companies was drawn and a total of 104 pairs of websites for these companies were content-analyzed. Overall, the degree of website standardization was not significantly different between companies based in the two countries. The results suggest that both US and Korean multinational corporations tend to maintain their websites in a similar way when targeting the home and foreign markets. Among the three organizational factors, only product type – B2B versus B2C products and durables versus non-durables – was found to be significantly associated with the level of website standardization. This study makes important contributions to the research literature by offering new information on the current state of multinational corporate website strategies and advancing our knowledge about international marketing communications on the Internet and influencing factors.     

An Investigation of Egyptian Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Ethical Issues in Advertising

This article investigates Egyptian consumers’ attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising held by a sample of 306 participants. The subjects completed a 20-item instrument originally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward controversial issues in advertising. The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. The results revealed that Egyptian consumers have negative attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. There are significant differences between males’ and females’ perceptions of ethics in advertising. Finally, the study detects a significant difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in Egypt regarding their attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. These results lend strong support to the adaptation hypothesis and suggest that ads produced in one country cannot be standardized or directly translated for use in another, particularly if they are different culturally.     

Consumer choice for hearing aids and listening devices: newspaper advertisements for UK private sector provision

In the UK there can be several ways to access health care and this is true of hearing aid provision. Although there may appear to be a well‐defined distinction between the National Health Service (NHS) and independent dispenser hearing aid provision, there have been many examples of overlap between the two and recent government policy initiatives mean that distinctions have become less clear. This article outlines the changing relationship between the two sectors and the problems that potential consumers face accessing information on private sector options for amplification devices. A 1‐year sample of newspaper advertisements was content‐analysed for clarity of information provided. The analysis highlighted a range of provision, from well‐known hearing aid dispensers to the greyer areas of listening device retailers and intermediary services. Some advertisements were found to have been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority. Sufficiently misleading adverts may also infringe consumer protection legislation. The article concludes there is the possibility of consumer confusion about products and their potential for amelioration.     

Attitudes and related perceptions about product placement: a comparison of Finland,Italy and the United States

The primary goal of our study is to explore cross-national differences in attitudes and perceptions about product placements, after investigating measurement invariance. Our cross-national focus includes three countries that have not been compared previously: Finland, Italy and the USA, which differ significantly in terms of the evolution/maturity of product placement markets, regulatory structures and cultural contexts. Motivated by earlier studies, we investigate the cross-national measurement invariance of scales to measure four research constructs related to the product placement domain (attitude toward credibility of advertising, attitude toward advertising-in-general, attitude toward placement-in-general and attitude toward regulation of placements). Our research also extends earlier work focused on similar constructs from a cross-national perspective. Results from multi-group analyses using a structural equation modeling approach indicate important and statistically significant differences in latent means between the three countries for all four constructs of research interest. Substantive explanations of these differences and their implications for future practice and research are discussed.     

Dairy product consumption in South Korea

The per capita daily consumption of dairy products increased approximately 2450% in South Korea from 1969 to 1987. The purpose of the present study was to determine the frequency with which urban South Koreans consume 10 common dairy products, and to find the socio-economic group most responsible for the increase in dairy product consumption. Data were collected on the dietary patterns and socio-economic backgrounds of 923 women, 880 children and 772 men in urban areas. This study showed that seven of 10 dairy products investigated were consumed evenly by both sexes, all age groups and income levels. However, three recently-introduced products (i.e. cheese, ice cream and butter) were found to be consumed most frequently by young Koreans in the high income level.