The Color of Choice: The Influence of Presenting Product Information in Color on the Compromise Effect

Consumers often find themselves challenged by the conflicting desires to seek uniqueness versus conformity, and thus seek some degree of balance. In a series of six studies we show that presenting each options’ product-related information in a unique color, as opposed to all product-related information presented in black-on-white, partially satiates the desire for uniqueness, thus amplifying the compromise effect. Consumers facing color presentation formats choose the middle, conforming option more often, yet perceive their choice as more unique. This color effect is not realized if each option's attributes are presented in different colors, but all options use a consistent color scheme, as is often the case in on-line retailing sites such as Amazon.com. Having to justify one's choice moderates the color effect. The practical take-away is that consumers’ choices can be influenced by using unique colors to present option-related product information, a variable that is entirely independent of the options’ performance characteristics. Two field studies confirm this finding, one using a plain background versus a colored background in a product display and the other using product containers that are either in plain white or wrapped in unique colors.     

Development of a Yellow Pages Media Unit for a Promotion/Advertising Course

Abstract

The Yellow Pages are relegated to the “other media” discussion sections of traditional advertising and promotion management textbooks. The medium in total now represents approximately $10.5 billion in total sales through more than 6,000 directories which are published annually. Yellow Pages now meets the total volume of radio as a medium.

This paper develops an outline for suggested topics for either a promotion management or advertising course to investigate the Yellow Pages as a vital and necessary medium. Topics include background of the Yellow Pages, advantages and disadvantages of the medium, creative work, placement, research and future trends.

Students are generally not being exposed to the Yellow Pages in an effective manner either in textbooks or in the classroom. There exist manifold career opportunities in the field, for employment after graduation. Further, since most Yellow Pages advertising is local in scope, many graduates may find the need to work with the medium in their marketing careers.

The teaching unit, as presented, can be utilized in a skeleton format for a single class period. At the instructor's choice, the unit can also be presented in enough depth for a week of class sessions. The goal is to provide students with a working familiarity with the Yellow Pages, for career growth and educational development.     

The Effects of Accent,Differentiation, and Stigmatization on Spokesperson Credibility in Radio Advertising

ABSTRACT

The authors analyze how a spokesperson's accent influences his or her credibility and its dimensions in the field of radio advertising. Two versions of a radio program were designed in which an ad hoc radio spot was inserted into a commercial block (standard accent [SA] versus local accent [LA]) that was tested on a sample of 987 radio listeners. The findings have implications for the spokesperson selection, given that the effect of accent on credibility depends on the listeners’ perception of their own accent and on accent stigmatization. Moreover, the SA obtains the highest evaluations of credibility.     

Alcohol Advertising: Orientations and Influence

The paper presents an analysis of the effects of televised alcohol beverage advertising on the consumption of alcohol among a sample of US teenagers. While no effects of exposure on total consumption are demonstrated for the total sample, consistent with other research on alcohol advertising effects, the present analysis reveals the importance of ‘orientations towards advertising’ as linkages between exposure and consumption behaviour. Specifically, a social utility orientation, involving learning of normative expectations about drinking, and a vicarious utility orientation, involving identification with models in alcohol beverage commercials, are shown to be mediating factors which condition the effects of advertising exposure.

‘Alcohol Advertising: Content and Controversy’, by the same author, appeared in the last issue of this journal.     

The Quality of Advertising Education Today

Abstract

Based upon their findings in a survey of advertising educators. practitioners, and students, the authors cite a lack of agreement on the proper content, the value, and the aims of advertising education. The article suggests that this failure to achieve consensus is actually a failure of communication, which is further manifested in the fact that educators have achieved neither the respect of nor the leadership in the field. The authors maintain that educators have the potential to command both but that they themselves must correct the situation through meaningful interaction win practitioners and thus resolve these misunderstandings and make their rightful contribution to advertising.

Note: The authors wish to thank Davenport Bruker, graduate student at the Universiy of Georgia, for his valued assistance in conducting the survey used in this study.     

Advertising Spending and Quality for Services: The Role of Capacity

In this paper we explore the relations among advertising spending, capacity and quality for services. Data from a sample of New York City restaurants show that mid-quality restaurants spend more on advertising than either high quality or low quality ones, contradicting the usual Nelson-type prediction that advertising spending increases with quality. Also, controlling for quality, restaurants with larger capacities advertise more. We present a model of services to explain these observations. The key features of the model are: (1) capacity constraints, (2) uncertain demand, (3) the presence of both informed and uninformed consumers, and (4) a technological link between capacity and quality. We argue that for services, advertising not only informs consumers, but it also can improve capacity utilization. Given this dual role, advertising is more valuable to firms with larger capacities and higher price-cost margins. The variation of these two elements with quality determines the advertising-quality relation.     

Children's Television Advertising and Brand Choice: A Laboratory Experiment

This experiment attempts to investigate the vulnerability of children to television advertising. Subjects between six and eight years of age were exposed to commercial stimuli under varying conditions. Groups were randomly assigned to view segments of “Jeannie,” a network children's show, either with an experimenter-produced commercial of a previously-unknown brand or a control ad inserted into the program context. In addition, the effects of traditional methodologies employed in related literature to one which minimizes reactance effects were studied. Children's brand choices were found to be influenced significantly by the communication of the commercial message for the previously-unknown brand.     

商品广告设计中的色彩视觉效果研究

在商品广告设计中,色彩起着十分重要的视感作用。通过对色彩视觉的特性、功能性、情感性三方面分析,了解色彩对人们视觉刺激的心理感应作用,及商品广告色彩运用的表现手法和视觉效果。加强商品广告色彩视觉上的认识,对促进广告色彩设计运用会有帮助作用。     

The Influence of Acculturation and In-Group Bias on Source Credibility: The Case of Asian American Female Consumers

While research on cultural variables influencing source credibility has been called for by scholars, very few studies have made attempts thus far. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of acculturation and in-group bias on Asian Americans’ perceived source credibility and advertising effectiveness. The results indicate that while acculturation had some effects on the subcomponents of credibility, in-group bias did not have an effect on credibility and Asian Americans’ advertising responses.     

Alliances Between Brands and Social Causes: The Influence of Company Credibility on Social Responsibility Image

This research extends previous findings related to the positive influence of company credibility on a social Cause–Brand Alliance’s (CBA) persuasion mechanism. This study analyzes the mediating role of two dimensions of company credibility (trustworthiness and expertise) with regard to the influence of altruistic attributions and two types of brand–cause fit (functional and image fit) on corporate social responsibility image. A structural equation model tests the proposed framework with a sample of 299 consumers, and the results suggest that (1) image fit and altruistic attribution are cues that consumers use to evaluate company trustworthiness when linking to a social cause; (2) functional fit significantly influences perceived company expertise but not trustworthiness; and (3) trustworthiness has more weight than expertise in judgments about corporate social responsibility.     

The Influence of Product/Nudity Congruence on Advertising Effectiveness

Abstract

While a body of research has examined the effects of nudity appeals in advertising, previous studies examining the question of product/nudity congruency have failed to consider product categories of equivalent levels of involvement and towards which respondents had similar purchase intention. In this experimental study, we examine the role which product/nudity congruency and levels of nudity have on several measures of advertising effectiveness. We also examine the effect of the usa between these two variables. Our findings suggest that product type and the interaction between degree of nudity and product both influence significantly certain measures of advertising effectiveness. Implications for marketing professionals and researchers are outlined, along with directions for future research.     

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.     

Creating the Customer: The Influence of Advertising on Consumer Market Segments – Evidence and Ethics

For over half a century market segments have been considered objective groupings of individuals which marketers identify, understand, and target with advertising messages. The process of market segmentation has, therefore, occupied a position of moral neutrality. An increasingly popular method of segmentation is by consumer personality, with advertisers targeting messages to specific personality types. This paper explores personality segmentation, and presents empirical evidence to support the proposition that personality metrics that are used to assign individuals to segments may, in fact, be manipulable by advertising executions themselves. Quite apart from the implications that this has for the business efficacy of the segmentation process, the ethical implications – particularly as applied to children – are considerable.     

The Influence of Nutrition Information on Choice: The Roles of Temptation,Conflict and Self-Control

This study investigated the impact of nutrition information on consumers' choice of a cake and examined the roles of key psychological decision factors. Based on a generalized linear model, results of an experiment on 299 female consumers in the United Kingdom showed that the presence of nutrition information in the form of Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) had a direct impact on food choice. GDA information had a moderating effect on the relationship between two psychological factors (conflict and self-control, but not temptation) and consumer choice. Temptation, conflict and self-control had direct effects on choice.     

The Signaling Impact of Low Introductory Price on Perceived Quality and Trial

Economic signaling theory suggests that consumers interpret price withinthe context of market conditions. Under specific conditions it predicts thatlow price may signal high quality. Results from an experiment designed totest the behavioral assumptions underlying this prediction indicate thatconsumers intentions to purchase conform to the predictions of economicsignaling theory, but their judgments of product quality do not. The resultssuggest that consumers' response to signals may be more complex thanpreviously shown.     

Advertising Ethics: The Use of Sexual Appeal in Chinese Advertising

With increasing social awareness of unethical advertisements in today's advertising, this study explores consumers' ethical judgements about the use of sexual appeals in advertising in a Chinese context by replicating LaTour and Henthorne's study. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethical scale, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The results show that sexual appeal was evaluated as the most frequent use in Hong Kong print advertising and they were also perceived as the most attractive instrument. Similar to LeTour and Henthorne's findings, regardless of respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal was not well received by Chinese consumers and resulted in less favorable attitude toward the ad itself and the purchase intention than using mild sexual themes. However, the degree of sexual content used in advertising has no direct influence on brand attitudes. Due to the conservative nature of Chinese culture, the advertisers should be careful in the use of sexual appeal for Chinese consumers.     

In Advertising We Trust: Religiosity's Influence on Marketplace and Relational Trust

Trust is a critical component of marketing for both brands and consumers. Competing theories suggest that high-religiosity consumers could be either more or less trusting of marketing. Thus, this article explores religiosity's influence on broad marketplace trust that influences more specific relational trust in the context of advertising messages. Study 1 shows that marketplace and relational trust positively mediate the relationship between religiosity and product evaluations. Studies 2 and 3 test moderators to this relationship based on three dimensions of religiosity: affective, behavioral, and cognitive.     

Nonprofit Advertising: Impact of Celebrity Connection,Involvement and Gender on Source Credibility and Intention to Volunteer Time or Donate Money

Two studies examine celebrity endorsers in a nonprofit context. In Study One a framework is developed incorporating connection (congruence), source credibility, involvement, and gender as key elements in understanding the impact of celebrity endorsers on nonprofit advertising effectiveness. Hypotheses are tested in the course of the studies that manipulate celebrity connection and advertising involvement. Results support the primary model viewing a relationship between the celebrity's connection, source credibility, and intention. Study Two verifies the connection and source credibility findings of Study One, but cannot confirm the impact of the celebrity connection on intention. Study Two includes attractiveness as a source credibility dimension, and increases the number of endorser types. An attractiveness main effect on intention is identified.     

The Trade-off Between Quantity and Quality of Information in Gender Responses to Advertising

Unlike females, males tend to process informational ads in a heuristic manner and form their judgments based on the mere number of product assertions presented in a message. Consistent with this prediction, there was a positive linear relationship between argument quantity and message persuasiveness for males, and it persisted even when brand attributes conveyed in an ad were relatively unimportant. Alternatively, females' responses exhibited an S-shaped relationship between argument quantity and advertising effectiveness, and were affected by the strength of message claims. The author argued that this pattern occurred because females engaged in more detailed yet selective processing of advertising information.     

The Influence of Image Valence on the Attention Paid to Charity Advertising

Non-governmental charities operate in a competitive market and survive with funding from membership fees and donations from supporters. Knowing and motivating potential donors has become increasingly important. Advertising is one of the key means of communication used by these organizations. This paper reports a pilot study to explore the influence of image valence in advertising on one’s attention and intention to donate. The study consists of an experiment wherein data processing is based on eye tracking and an electroencephalogram. The results show that negative images get more attention than text and logos. No differences were found with regard to gender and intention to donate in terms of attention paid to the advertising images. However, women do show greater willingness to make a donation. Finally, strategies adapted to charitable NGOs are discussed in the conclusions.