Aspects of visual metaphor: an operational typology of visual rhetoric for research in advertising

Metaphor is routinely expressed through pictures in contemporary advertising. Earlier work on visual rhetoric in advertising sought direct analogues for the tropes and schemes specific to verbal rhetoric. More recently, theory has developed out of characteristics particular to pictures, culminating in a typology of visual rhetoric by Phillips and McQuarrie. Subsequent work by ?orm and Steen considers processing stages in metaphorical interpretation. Phillips and McQuarrie's typology is adapted and expanded here in order to better describe the variation found in ads that utilize visual metaphor and its allies, thus identifying a range of examples that confound the original. A new processing model that directly addresses visual features described in the expanded typology is outlined, which builds on ideas from ?orm and Steen, but represents a distinct framework. Additional variables are identified that advertising researchers should either investigate or control in experimental studies of visual metaphor.     

Desire for Visual Aesthetics (DVA) in the Store Environment: Concept and Measurement

The article describes the development, purification, and validation of a reliable self-report scale designed to measure the Desire for Visual Aesthetics (DVA) in the store environment. There is limited literature on the subject and a measurement scale has eluded both academicians and practitioners that could help measure the need for aesthetics in the retailing environment and help marketers decide on the level and type of aesthetics for the different segments in the target market/s and also the different type of retail stores. We used 3 focus groups, 8 individual interviews, and 891 surveys to develop, purify, and validate the 9-item Likert type scale. We also provide evidence for dimensionality, reliability, and validity. The scale could be used by academicians and practitioners alike, and could replace single items to measure the concept.     

Visualizing CSR: A visual framing analysis of US multinational companies

The aim of this research study is to investigate how different levels of corporate social responsibility are visually framed through corporate publications used in marketing communications. Photographs used as visual marketing communication tools in the annual and sustainability reports of top American multinational companies that practice and promote measures of corporate social responsibility were analyzed. Findings indicate the corporations overall emphasize environmental sustainability efforts and visually communicate their practices through depictions of employees while other social responsibility efforts are often communicated through depictions of consumers. A discussion on the patterns of visual frames that communicate corporate social responsibility and the impact of visuals on organizational identity, brand image, and reputation are offered.     

用边际分析法确定财政分配规模模型的探讨

“边际分析法”是确定财政分配规模的一种科学方法。在对几种确定财政分配规模的传统方法进行批判的基础上．论证了边际分析法对于确定财政分配规模的科学合理性,探讨了运用边际分析法确定财政分配规模的修正模型,该模型对更为科学合理地确定财政分配规模有一定的参考意义。     

Critical visual analysis of gender: reactions and reflections

Abstract

As a way to think about gender in marketing, this article reflects on recent events of the ‘Gamergate’ scandal, in which an online analyst of gender in video games was severely harassed and threatened. We focus largely of representational conventions of gender, and introduce conceptual tools such as ethics of representation and performative iteration to illuminate key concerns within marketing representation. We raise several important issues for future work on gender and marketing, and urge a move beyond a search for ‘effects’.     

企业形象广告的文化取向特征与变迁——对《南方周末》1999-2008年间企业形象广告的内容分析

本文以1999-2008年间《南方周末》上的企业形象广告为研究对象,运用内容分析法,综合分析企业形象广告文化取向的总体特点和历时性特点,探讨企业形象广告的文化取向对企业形象塑造的意义和影响,并在此基础上,针对企业形象广告策略提出了相应建议。     

How background visual complexity influences purchase intention in live streaming: The mediating role of emotion and the moderating role of gender

There is growing evidence that visual complexity plays a crucial role in consumer purchase behavior. However, existing research on background visual complexity’s effect on individuals’ purchase intention in live streaming is limited. This study explores the relationships between live background visual complexity, emotional states, and purchase intention, by drawing on the stimulus-organism-response theory. A 3 × 2 between-subjects online experiment was developed with participants’ emotional and intention data. The results indicate that the background visual complexity of the livestream room influences consumers’ purchase intention positively via the evoked emotional states (pleasure and arousal). Background visual complexity exhibits an inverted U-shaped effect on consumers’ emotions. Additionally, the results reveal a significant moderating effect of gender on the relationship between background visual complexity and purchase intention. Women exhibit an inverted U-shaped effect on emotion and purchase intention, whereas men show a positive linear relationship when faced with complexity.     

Dark is durable,light is user-friendly: The impact of color lightness on two product attribute judgments

Visual design elements such as color do not only provide aesthetic appeal; they also convey information that consumers rely on when making unrelated product attribute judgments. Seven experiments reveal that consumers assess darker-colored products to be more durable but less user-friendly than lighter-colored ones. Both outcomes are linked to the influence of color lightness on perceived weight, but the latter outcome appears to be more easily disrupted than the former one. Specifically, the impact of color lightness on user-friendliness assessments, but not on durability assessments, is eliminated when the role of weight is unclear or when cognitive load is induced. However, consumers make greater downward adjustments in their durability assessments after physically handling a product with darker (vs. lighter) color. These findings highlight some of the potential complexities and nuances in consumer responses to color.     

Designing for the genders: The role of visual harmony

While marketers often design their offers to visually appeal to either female or male audiences, the traditional view on gender is changing. This research explores (1) the influence of gender on the perception and attractiveness evaluation of marketing visuals varying in harmony including (2) the underlying mechanisms through which gender differences occur, and (3) the differential roles of biological sex and gender identity. Drawing from the selectivity hypothesis and self-congruity theory, we argue that consumers process visual harmony along three distinct stages: (a) an early stage where their biological sex plays a role, (b) an intermediate stage where the consumer appraises cognitive effort, and (c) a late stage where consumers evaluate the congruity between the design and their self, including their gender identity. Four studies test these propositions using mixed methods, a variety of marketing visuals, and different concepts of gender. We find that biological sex plays a moderating role in the early phase of visual harmony perception due to men's and women's differential processing abilities, whereas gender identity plays a significant role later in the more reflective phase of visual harmony evaluation. Managerial implications for gendered marketing and avenues for future research are delineated.     

物流企业快速成长的战略杠杆:供应链金融

随着现代金融制度及管理模式的创新,金融体制必将发生深刻的变革,而这种变革又将带来更加适合竞争与发展的新型金融管理模式。供应链金融就是为中小物流企业量身定做的一种新型融资模式。在供应链金融实际应用过程中,可根据主体具体情况的不同采取不同的融资流程和方式,但都不可避免地会存在一定的风险。为更好地促进物流企业快速成长,在供应链金融实际应用过程中,应从供应链自身存在的风险、供应链金融业务中涉及到的信用风险、运营风险、法律风险等角度出发,对供应链金融业务风险进行深入分析,并针对相应的风险采取相应的规避措施,如政府带头培育良好的信用环境和法律环境,在供应链金融实施过程中选择好产业链群,商业银行加快构建较为完善的风险控制体系,建立供应链保障机制。     

IT融合的概念内涵及多维结构解析

IT对组织绩效的影响很大程度取决于IT融合。本文在总结前人研究的基础上,剖析IT融合的含义,并对其维度划分方法进行探讨;最后从广度、深度和层次三个维度对IT融合进行划分,并提出IT融合的多维结构模型。本文的研究成果为未来学者进一步深入研究IT融合提供基础,也为企业对其信息化融合水平进行准确定位提供理论依据。     

Notes to self: the visual culture of selfies in the age of social media

This paper explores the cultural fascination with social media forms of self-portraiture, commonly known as “selfies,” with a specific interest in the self-imaging strategies of young women in their teens and early 20s. Ubiquitous on social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, and Instagram, the selfie has become a powerful means for self-expression, encouraging its makers to share the most intimate and private moments of their lives – as well as engage in a form of creative self-fashioning. Popularly regarded as a shallow expression of online narcissism, the selfie is both adored and reviled; yet it flourishes as one of the most effective outlets for self-definition. Through a critical engagement with a history of feminist representational politics, this paper explores the political urgency at the heart of the selfie phenomenon, and contemplates whether the urge to compulsively self-image is mere narcissism, or a politically oppositional and aesthetic form of resistance.     

The persistence of memory: an fMRI investigation of the brain processing of Surrealistic imagery in advertising

Surrealistic images sought to duplicate the mysterious workings of dreams by the juxtaposition of incongruous and seemingly unrelated objects. Although Surrealist images have been the subject of extensive critical reflection, no previous neuroimaging studies have investigated how the brain processes Surrealistic imagery in advertising. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study aimed at investigating the neural mechanisms associated with Surrealistic art techniques in advertising. The study employed a block design paradigm in which participants viewed five blocks of different real sets of advertisements arranged in four conditions: novel-congruent, repeated congruent, novel-Surrealistic and repeated Surrealistic. The results showed that, compared to other types of advertisements, Surrealistic imagery elicited greater activation in several brain areas including the parietal cortex (BA 1, 2, 3), the precuneus (Brodmann area (BA) 7), the lateral parietal cortex (BA 39/40), the prefrontal cortex (BA 6/9), the inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45/46), the anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24), the insula (BA 13) and the amygdala. This result suggests that, compared to other types of advertisements, Surrealistic advertisements are processed in different functional brain pathways. This finding lends strong support to the elaboration and surprise hypotheses, which postulate that incongruous stimuli elicit increased processing that leads to more distinct and robust memory traces.     

Creativity,attention and the memory for brands: an outdoor advertising field study

This study investigates whether creativity is sufficient by itself to attract attention to the ad space or whether the ad must also be conspicuous. Attention to the ad is an important driver of message processing that leads to favourable advertising effectiveness outcomes, such as improved memory for the brand. To provide insight on this, we conducted a field study of billboard advertising along an urban expressway to explore the variables that affect recognition of outdoor advertising. Using a computational neuroscience software program, we find evidence for the presence of an attention capture threshold. That is, creativity's message processing promoting strategy only improves memory when billboards cross a threshold, i.e., when the ads are at a sufficient level of conspicuity within an individual's visual field. This threshold represents a boundary condition for creativity and provides evidence that attention must first be captured in some contexts before creativity increases the memory for brands in advertising. Results also show that billboard size, visual saliency, and brand familiarity increase recognition rates.     

Moral Choice in an Agency Framework: The Search for a Set of Motivational Typologies

Moral choice, as a precursor to behaviour, has an important influence on the success or failure of business entities. According to Rest, 1983, Morality, Moral Behavior and Moral Development (John Wiley & Sons, New York), moral choice is prompted, amongst other things, by a motivational component. With this in mind, data obtained from a sample of four hundred financial sector operatives, employed in a rapidly developing region of China, was used to construct a relatively stable set of motivational typologies which could be used to predict choice within an agency-based context. A non-egoist version of the agency theory was developed, which permitted the modelling of alternative heuristic patterns. Altruists and persons identified as bordering on the verge of being classified as psychological egoists, refused to reorganize their motives when responding to a problem that included both moral hazard and adverse selection criteria. It was also possible to identify certain personal and contextual issues which discriminated between the typologies. Gordon Woodbine, Ph.D., FCPA is Senior Lecturer employed in the School of Accounting, Curtin University of Technology teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students in auditing, business ethics and governance. He has taught for extended periods overseas and is published in several refereed journals including Journal of Business Ethics, Asian Review of Accounting and Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Dennis Taylor Ph.D., FCPA is Chair Professor in Accounting at University of South Australia. Previously, he held professorial, associate dean, and head of school appointments at University of Adelaide, Curtin University of Technology and City University of Hong Kong. He is the author of over 100 publications in areas of corporate financial disclosures and public sector accountability.     

Building strong brands in Asia: selecting the visual components of image to maximize brand strength

Asian brands have often struggled to develop quality images. The visual aspects of branding have received little attention on how they might be used to strengthen brand perceptions in Asia. Guidelines for designing visual brand stimuli are developed using evaluations of logos in China and Singapore. There is a significant relationship between design and the responses companies seek, including positive affect, perceptions of quality, recognition, consensus in meaning, and feng shui. How designs are perceived, and their effect on consumer responses, were similar between China and Singapore. Companies are encouraged to leverage design to strengthen their brands. In particular, they should select logo designs that are elaborate, natural, and harmonious as these created positive affect and quality perceptions, clear meaning, true recognition, and feng shui. Many of these relationships hold in the United Sates as well, implying that the visual aspects of brand strategies may accomplish companies' goals across international borders.     

物流金融:破解中小企业融资难的新平台

中小企业融资难是一个世界性难题,由于其自身的原因按传统的方式获得资金已不能满足其发展的需要。本文以物流金融为平台破解中小企业的融资困境,把金融机构、物流企业和中小企业联系起来,达到多方共赢。     

Avoiding through glossiness and approaching through matte: The effect of visual finish on perceived product effectiveness

This research examines whether, how, and why visual finish (i.e., whether a product/package is glossy or matte) can affect consumers' perceived effectiveness of problem-solving products. Drawing on approach–avoidance goal pursuit theory, this work classifies problem-solving products into problem-approaching and problem-avoiding ones according to their operation processes. A pilot study demonstrates that participants are more likely to choose a glossy finish over a matte one for a problem-avoiding (vs. problem-approaching) product. Studies 1 and 2 collectively find that glossy (vs. matte) finishes increase consumers' perceived effectiveness of a problem-avoiding product while the reverse is true for a problem-approaching product. Moreover, this effect is mediated by perceived trustworthiness of product function (Study 3). Studies 4–5 further document its consequential implications on willingness-to-pay (Study 4; incentive-compatible paradigm) and consumers' actual ad clicks (Study 5; field study). The findings contribute to the visual finish, product effectiveness, and approach–avoidance goal pursuit literatures. They also have significant managerial implications on product appearance design.     

民间金融的类型与法理分析(上)

民间金融是目前我国比较突出的金融问题,也是法律上的难点问题。对于民间金融的合法性,有关专家学者和相关政府部门都提出了许多观点和意见,但在金融和法律层面上对它还缺少完整的认识,其合法与非法的认定标准还没有明确的定论。为更好地判定民间金融的合法性,在具体的民间金融的司法实践中,应从金融权的公平性,民间金融的行为目的,公众财产利益保护,社会综合金融环境,整体的金融效率、秩序与安全等五个方面入手,找到它们最佳的边际均衡点,并将之作为合法与非法金融的判断标准。