Intergenerational appeal in advertising: impacts of brand–gender extension and brand history

An intergenerational (IG) appeal in an advertising campaign usually presents a nostalgic image with family portraits, emphasizing the traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation or harkening back to the ‘good old days’ between father and son, or mother and daughter. The IG appeal can effectively enhance a brand's image and induce that all-important consumer purchase. This paper takes gender differences (father/son or mother/daughter) into consideration while examining two moderators related to branding: (in)congruent brand–gender extension and brand history. Results indicate that a well-established brand history enhances the effects of the IG appeal. In addition, a congruent brand–gender extension increases the effects of the IG appeal. More interestingly, IG appeals can be effective in presenting a less established brand which has an incongruent brand–gender extension.     

Visual attention toward tourism photographs with text: An eye-tracking study

This study examines consumers' visual attention toward tourism photographs with text naturally embedded in landscapes and their perceived advertising effectiveness. Eye-tracking is employed to record consumers' visual attention and a questionnaire is administered to acquire information about the perceived advertising effectiveness. The impacts of text elements are examined by two factors: viewers' understanding of the text language (understand vs. not understand), and the number of textual messages (single vs. multiple). Findings indicate that text within the landscapes of tourism photographs draws the majority of viewers' visual attention, irrespective of whether or not participants understand the text language. People spent more time viewing photographs with text in a known language compared to photographs with an unknown language, and more time viewing photographs with a single textual message than those with multiple textual messages. Viewers reported higher perceived advertising effectiveness toward tourism photographs that included text in the known language.     

Effects of ethnic advertising on consumers of minority and majority groups: the moderating effect of humor

The effects of portrayals of ethnic endorsers in advertising are ambiguous. These portrayals strengthen the ethnic identity of ethnic minority groups, thus leading to positive responses toward the ad. They can lead to negative responses, because these portrayals can be perceived as stereotyped. Humor is a tool that can increase positive effects of identity-building and reduce negative effects of stereotyping. In this study, we investigate how humor moderates the effects of ethnic advertising on consumers from ethnic minority and majority groups. We find that humor supports the effects of traditional portrayals for both groups. Moreover, the effect of traditional portrayals combined with humor is strongest for the minority group. These findings provide evidence for the positive effects of humor in ethnic advertising and thus provide new insights to the stereotyping, ethnic advertising, and humor literature. The findings have practical implications for advertising using ethnic endorsers, humor, or targeted at ethnic minority groups.     

Global Advertising Practices

Abstract

This empirical study of European, Japanese and U.S. multinational companies provides a cross-sectional investigation on the degree of standardization practiced in advertising strategy and message elements, objectives and types of content of standardized advertising and ways of using adapted strategy. Based on the sampled data, no statistical difference was found for any of the analyses at the 0.05 significance level. However, it can be concluded from the data that global marketers are moving toward standardization in their advertising. The contributions of this research can be significant for both academicians and practitioners. Managerial implications and future research directions were also provided.     

Effectiveness of Absurdity in Advertising Across Cultures

This paper examines the effect of absurd advertising on memory and persuasion across cultures. Drawing on Hofstede's cultural dimensions, it is hypothesized that the effect of absurdity on recall is culturally invariant, whereas the effect on attitude toward the ad is contingent on the recipients’ cultural orientation. The assumptions are tested using a between-subjects experimental design, in which we manipulated type of absurdity and used the cultural dimensions as blocking variables. Data was collected from 274 students in the United States, Germany, Russia, and China. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications of these findings as well as guidelines for further research.     

Examining Polish Market Mavens and Their Attitudes Toward Advertising

Abstract

In this paper, we offer some insights about Polish consumers with varying levels of general marketplace expertise, their role in diffusing product information, and their views of advertising. Market mavens are consumers who exhibit heightened interestin and knowledge about the marketplace. Because of their interest in communicating with others about the many aspects of the marketplace, these consumers can play an integral role for companies interested in diffusing marketing information. Our study results indicate that market mavens do indeed exist in Poland and they exhibit similar characteristics to market mavens identified in the U.S. They have more favorable attitudes toward advertising than other consumers. Additionally, they consider advertising as an important source of product and social image information. Although Polish mavens are less critical of advertising being misleading and confusing, they are concerned about advertising promoting materialistic values. Our findings imply that firms doing business in Poland would be well advised to target market mavens because they pay attention to advertising, have favorable attitudes toward advertising, and like to talk about marketplace phenomena with others.     

Advertainment

Abstract

This essay explores the issues implicated by entertainment vehicles created solely to spotlight specific advertisers. From the contemporary exemplar of this paradigm in the highly successful 1990-1998 “Sophisticated Taste” campaign for Taster's Choice(r) instant coffee, in which viewers watched the sparks fly between the characters of Tony and Sharon in a continuing series of ads that functioned as television programming across multiple media platforms, to the most recent incarnation in advergames, online computer games that promote brands, this study considers the nature and implications of perhaps the ultimate evolution of product placement and blurring of the lines between entertainment and commercial persuasion.     

Ads That Attack the Tobacco Industry: A Review and Recommendations

ABSTRACT

While traditional anti-tobacco social marketing campaigns have focused on prevention and cessation, a new breed of anti-tobacco message has arisen during the last decade, which focuses on attacking the tobacco industry and its tactics. This type of anti-tobacco program has been termed a tobacco industry manipulation campaign in the United States, where it was introduced in the early 1990s. The objective of a tobacco industry manipulation campaign is to point out negative traits of the tobacco industry, including manipulative marketing strategies and tactics. Evaluations of tobacco industry manipulation campaigns have found that these ads are effective in redirecting the guilt that smokers often feel, channeling it instead into anger at being manipulated. Guidelines are provided for how social marketers can incorporate this approach within their tobacco control campaigns.     

The Effectiveness of a Buzz Marketing Approach Compared to Traditional Advertising: An Exploration

Marketers are now willing to go anyplace they can find a captive audience to espouse the virtues of their products. The success of the “buzz” marketing approach is linked to the consumer being lured into doing the advertising by spreading the message to others. This study compares students’ responses to a traditional advertising and a buzz approach. Using a factor analysis to identify variables, the results show that subjects perceive a buzz approach to be more influential than a traditional advertising. However, they do not perceive a buzz approach to be authentic. This finding is consistent with practitioners’ argument that, although a buzz approach may be effective in the short-term, once consumers recognize its selling intent, the program may have a “boomerang effect.”     

The Effect of Pricing and Advertising on Customer Retention in a Liberalizing Market

This study investigates the drivers of customer retention in a liberalizing market. The authors address key retention issues that allow them to contribute to existing retention research in several critical ways. They (1) examine the effects of pricing and mass advertising, (2) account for (new entrants) competitors' actions, (3) investigate the dynamic impact of marketing tactics, and (4) study the proposed relationships in a market recently opened to competition. Using longitudinal data for a sample of 650 mobile phone consumers and a split-population hazard model that accounts for the notion that some customers are never at risk of defection, the authors show that both the focal firm's (incumbent) and the competitors' price and mass advertising exert a significant influence on the probability of terminating an existing incumbent relationship. They find that the relationships between marketing variables and retention are not static but vary over time. Price is generally less effective in the early stages of market liberalization, which suggests that customers become more price sensitive in later stages. Finally, the study findings can have important strategic implications on designing customer management and marketing resource allocation strategies, as well as on providing a competitive regulatory framework in liberalizing markets.