Chinese Viewers' Perception of Informative and Emotional Advertising

A systematic analysis of Chinese viewers' perception of television advertising was conducted using a sample of sixty commercials which were viewed by 160 respondents per commercial, who selected from a list of twenty adjectives adopted from the Aaker and Bruzzone (1981) study. Results indicated great differences in viewers' perceptions: informative commercials were most frequently considered to be ‘dull’, ‘uninteresting’ and ‘informative’, while emotional commercials were described as ‘appealing’, ‘interesting’ and ‘original’. Emotional advertising scored higher on ‘liking’ and perceived brand image than informative advertising. Factor analysis was carried out across commercials and individuals.     

Switching before the pitch: Exploring television channel changing before the ads even start

Although much research examines ‘ad zapping’ or channel changing during the commercials, the present work explores preemptive ad avoidance before the commercials begin. Television programs give different ad signals, which could alter rates of preemptive ad avoidance. Ad pods from two hit shows were explored using second-by-second channel-changing data; rates of preemptive ad avoidance were practically important and varied between shows. Inspection of program episodes suggested that the show with more preemptive ad zapping gave clearer ad signals and had more ‘ad safe’ time per episode, that is, there was more time when an ad break would not occur clearly. The data suggest that advertisers should seek unit-specific measures of opportunities to see commercials as such measures become possible with digital distribution of television.     

How coviewing reduces the effectiveness of TV advertising

In the present study – a naturalistic laboratory experiment – coviewing of TV commercials reduced their effectiveness (delayed proven ad recall) from 63%, obtained by single viewers, to 43%, for both coviewers. During coviewing, the ‘mere presence of another’ apparently distracts each coviewer's attention from the screen. The reduction in TV ads' effectiveness due to coviewing is equivalent to the loss from channel-change zapping, which reduces ad recall to 45%. More deleterious but less prevalent modes of digital video recorder-enabled ad avoidance are skip-button zapping, which reduces recall to 35%, and moderately fast zipping ( × 8 fast forward), which reduces ad effectiveness almost entirely, leaving only 6% recall. This study concludes with some practical suggestions for improving the effectiveness of TV commercials seen by a coviewing audience.     

Music-brand congruency in highand low-cognition radio advertising

Many radio commercials use background music to accompany a message. This research examines how brand-congruent music (i.e. music that ‘fits’ the brand) will affect ‘Attitude towards the Ad’ (AAd) and ‘Attitude towards the Brand’ (ABrand), specifically when used with different types of ad copy that are more or less demanding of cognitive resources (high-cognition vs low-cognition advertising copy). In high-cognition ads, congruent music results in a more positive AAd and ABrand compared to incongruent music or no music. However, this effect is not found with low-cognition ads, where AAd (and ABrand) are similar for all three conditions of congruent music, incongruent music and no music.     

Media portrayal of foods during Saturday morning television programming and in children's magazines

Eating habits are established in childhood and media portrayal of foods may affect food choices of children. To determine how foods are portrayed by the media, the contents of Saturday morning television programmes and commercials and three children's magazines were analysed. Foods portrayed during Saturday morning television programmes and commercials and in children's magazines were categorized as normal ‘food use’ (97.1% and 86.0%, respectively). Foods on television (91.3%) and in magazines (77.4%) were portrayed in a positive context. Foods were more often portrayed neutrally in magazines (206%) than on television (64%). The number of fruits and vegetables mentioned or shown on television did not statistically differ from the number of breads or cereals (P ≥ 0–05). In contrast, when combined as one group. fruits and vegetables that were included in magazines appeared more often than bread or cereals (P ≤ 0.05). Eighty per cent of all foods mentioned/shown on Saturday morning television were part of commercials, whereas only 12% of all foods in magazines were located in advertisements. Results indicate that opportunities exist in print and electronic media to convey positive nutritional messages about foods to children.     

Eye-tracking evidence that happy faces impair verbal message comprehension: the case of health warnings in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical television commercials

Risk warning or disclosure information in advertising is only effective in correcting consumers’ judgments if enough cognitive capacity is available to process that information. Hence, comprehension of verbal warnings in TV commercials may suffer if accompanied by positive visual elements. This research addresses this concern about cross-modality interference in the context of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical commercials in the United States by experimentally testing whether positive facial expressions reduce consumers’ understanding of the mandated health warning. A content analysis of a sample of DTC commercials reveals that positive facial expressions are more prevalent during the verbal warning act of the commercials than during the other acts. An eye-tracking experiment conducted with specially produced DTC commercials, which vary the valence of characters’ facial expressions during the health warning, provides evidence that happy faces reduce objective comprehension of the warning.     

When New Commercials Do Not Meet Expectations

The present research investigates whether a brand's prior commercials create expectations against which consumers compare its new commercials. Extending the expectation–disconfirmation paradigm, this article proposes that the degree to which consumers’ expectations are disconfirmed affects their attitudes toward a new commercial, which then influence their brand attitudes. Studies 1, 2, and 3 tested these predictions by exploring consumers’ expectations with regard to creativity, humor, and specific ad features (e.g., spokescharacters) in new commercials. The findings support the predictions; both value-laden and value-neutral expectations exert the proposed influences.     

农村居民选择超市或集市购买的决定因素与比较——来自全国28个县(市)1308名农村居民的调查

农村居民选择超市或集市购买的决定因素对"农改超"和"农超对接"具有重要意义。本文对全国28个县(市)的1308位农村居民进行随机调查,研究结果表明,农村居民既选择农村集市又选择超市购买产品,但农村居民选择两者购买的意愿及其影响因素、感知程度等存在显著差异。农村居民选择集市或超市购买的共同决定因素包括产品质量可靠性和购买便利性;不同的决定因素体现为,农村居民选择在集市购买主要取决于购买文化与习惯,而选择在超市购买则取决于超市销售服务水平,这种决定因素的差异导致农村超市与传统集市互补共存。     

Why strategy is key for successful social media sales

Many successful companies spend substantial time and effort engaging with potential consumers on social media sites. They determine how consumers spend their time online and develop interesting content to increase awareness and enjoyment of the brand—often only to lose those potential customers because the purchase process becomes too difficult once consumers have decided to buy the product. New technology recently introduced by third-party vendors allows companies to offer a sales option directly on social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. In this article, we present the effects on the consumer decision process created by the ‘Buy Now’ option across the consideration, evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase stages. We compare and contrast three distinct decision models: (1) traditional media only, (2) traditional media and social media with only a communication capability, and (3) traditional media and social media with the added function of immediate purchase. We argue that though the possibility of buying on social media will decrease the number of brands considered and evaluated, the number of purchases and amount of brand advocacy will increase significantly due to the ease of purchase. We conclude with some recommendations on future research.     

How Chinese Children's Commercials Differ from Those of the United States: A Content Analysis

Abstract

A content analysis was conducted of children's television commercials from China and the United States that were recorded over a period of eighteen months. We describe how the content of the two sets of commercials differs and the underlying reasons for the differences, including cultural, economic, and social conditions. The results suggest that, for the most part, Chinese children's commercials reflect China's traditional cultural values and its social and economic development level. However, the analysis was able to detect a shifting in power in Chinese society from the elderly to the young, resulting mainly from its one-child policy implemented during the past two decades. We also found some evidence of Western values creeping into Chinese children's commercials. Limitations are noted, and suggestions are offered for additional research that will corroborate these findings.     

Determinants of online food purchasing: The impact of socio-demographic and situational factors

The amount of food sold online is increasing, but it accounts for a small share of total e-commerce. In this study, we investigate the factors that influence individuals' likelihood to buy food online. Applying a logit model to a sample of 34,488 respondents who participated in the Italian National Institute of Statistics multipurpose survey ‘Aspects of Italian Daily Life’, we explore the effects of socio-demographics and situational factors. We found that the food-online consumer is likely to be a young, well-educated, female, living in a small family, with a very good or adequate overall economic condition. Among situational factors, working time, being obese, having health problems, and practising a sport regularly positively affect the probability to buy food online. Surprisingly, distance from brick-and-mortar stores and car possession are not predictors of online shopping. These findings can support marketers and retailers in defining their marketing strategies and enhance the knowledge of this emerging food market.     

An examination of gender role portrayals in television commercials in Romania: A gender of nations approach

This study examines gender role portrayals in Romanian television commercials. Results reveal both progressive and traditional gender role portrayals for both women and men reflecting a society and economy in a state of transition toward European Union membership. The study also involves a test of the concept of gender of nations using Hofstede's Masculinity Index (MAS). Extending a methodological approach first used by Milner and Collins (1998, 2000) gender role portrayals in Romanian commercials (moderate MAS) were compared with those appearing in Japanese (high MAS) and Swedish (low MAS) commercials. The results, which are consistent with predictions based on the relative MAS scores of the three nations, are discussed along with managerial implications.     

What does the ‘inner world’ of Chinese managers tell us about their management values,thoughts and practices? An ethnographic study

This article aims to investigate an important implicit expectation held by many observers: the dramatic economic change presently occurring on mainland China would be accompanied by the transformation of Chinese managerial values, thoughts and practices. Using an ‘ethnographic’ approach, we seek to understand the forces that are currently shaping Chinese managerial values, thoughts and behaviours in some privately owned firms. A set of ten managerial assumptions at three levels – ‘self’, ‘managing’ and ‘organisation’ – are unveiled and we see how they function coherently in animating managerial behaviour with distinctive ‘Chinese characteristics’. The importance attached to ‘family’ when dealing with employees, the requirement to be as ‘flexible’ as possible in managerial behaviour and the compulsion to call for ‘harmony and stability’ indicate that our informants define good management in a unique way. Interestingly, after years of intense political, ideological campaigning, economic reforms and opening-up policies, a set of traditional Chinese values continues to shape their managerial behaviour.     

Some Economic Issues and Policy Implications of Studies on the Competitive Effects of Advertising Expenditures

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the litersture in Economics that concerns itself with the economics of advertising and to present some of the public policy implications of the results of these studies.

It is found that it is unlikely that advertising expenditures are subject to increasing returns to scale, thus probably do not lead to an increased concentration of industry for this reason.

A study is presented that deals with competition by advertising expenditures and product differentiation in the U.S. cigarette industry. It is found that advertising expenditures. during the 1956–68 period, were not effective in obtaining sales from competitors, although they may have had the affect of inducing new customers to buy the product. The effect of anti-smoking commercials is examined, and it is found that. although they may have had some effect on cigarette smoking. it is doubtful that they provide the impetus for the decreases in advertising expenditures in this particular industry.     

Antecedents and consequents of consumers not adopting e-commerce

This study investigated the antecedent and consequent factors of the non-adoption behavior of e-commerce, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). For the antecedents, this research used the constructs of ‘attitude’, ‘subjective norms’, ‘perceived behavioral control (PBC)’, and ‘intention’. For the consequents, the constructs were ‘negative word-of-mouth’ and ‘disinterest in e-commerce’. The noteworthiness of this study is the investigation of non-adoption of e-commerce and its effects, as adoption behavior of e-commerce is more often studied. In addition, the study explains the resistance behavior of the consumer toward e-commerce through the TPB, which is rarely used for understanding resistance behaviors. Moreover, it explains the antecedents of non-adoption of e-commerce with constructs that reflect the perceptions and beliefs of the individual, which differs from previous studies. A survey was conducted with 260 people who stated they did not buy through e-commerce. To analyze the data, we used structural equation modeling with PLS. The results showed that the construct intention is positively influenced by the constructs attitude and PBC. Behavior was positively influenced by both intention and PBC and was the influencer of two consequent behaviors: negative word-of-mouth and disinterest in e-commerce. We observed no statistical significance between subjective norms and intention when considering the control variables. This research brings relevant information that can help e-commerce companies develop strategies specially aimed at reaching consumers resistant to online shopping.     

Machines learn neuromarketing: Improving preference prediction from self-reports using multiple EEG measures and machine learning

A basic aim of marketing research is to predict consumers’ preferences and the success of marketing campaigns at the population-level. However, traditional marketing tools have various limitations, calling for novel measures to improve predictive power. In this study, we use multiple types of measures extracted from electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and machine learning (ML) algorithms to improve preference prediction based on self-reports alone. Subjects watched video commercials of six food products as we recorded their EEG activity, after which they responded to a questionnaire that served as a self-report benchmark measure. Thereafter, subjects made binary choices over the food products. We attempted to predict within-sample and population level preferences, based on subjects’ questionnaire responses and EEG measures extracted during the commercial viewings. We reached 68.5% accuracy in predicting between subjects’ most and least preferred products, improving accuracy by 4.07 percentage points compared to prediction based on self-reports alone. Additionally, EEG measures improved within-sample prediction of all six products by 20%, resulting in only a 1.91 root mean squared error (RMSE) compared to 2.39 RMSE with questionnaire-based prediction alone. Moreover, at the population level, assessed using YouTube metrics and an online questionnaire, EEG measures increased prediction by 12.7% and 12.6% respectively, compared to only a questionnaire-based prediction. We found that the most predictive EEG measures were frontal powers in the alpha band, hemispheric asymmetry in the beta band, and inter-subject correlation in delta and alpha bands. In summary, our novel approach, employing multiple types of EEG measures and ML models, offers marketing practitioners and researchers a valuable tool for predicting individual preferences and commercials’ success in the real world.     

Selling through entertaining: The effect of humour in television advertising in Hong Kong

Considerable research evidence has indicated that humour has a positive impact on attention but no consensus is reached with regard to the persuasive effect of humour in advertising. Two hundred and fifty-four university students were recruited to watch five television commercials and respond to a structured questionnaire in this study. Results show that humour secures attention getting while disrupts message processing. Humour enhances message persuasiveness when the moderating variable need for cognition (NFC) is controlled. Participants with low NFC are easier to be persuaded by humorous commercials than participants with high NFC do. It is also found that repeated exposure to the same humorous commercial does not harm its persuasive effect. Male audiences regard humorous commercials as more persuasive while female audiences are the opposite. The study provides guidelines for advertisers/advertising practitioners who would like to employ humour in their communication at the same time it draws ethical concerns towards the increased application of entertainment-coated persuasion.     

The concept of corporate responsibility

Opening with Ford Motor Company as a case in point, this essay develops a broad and systematic approach to the field of business ethics. After an analysis of the form and content of the concept of responsibility, the author introduces the ‘principle of moral projection’ as a device for relating ethics to corporate policy. Pitfalls and objections to this strategy are examined and some practical implications are then explored. The essay not only defends a proposition but exhibits a research style and a research program. Philosophical ethics and organizational management are joined in the process.     

TV advertising of OTC medicines and its effects on child viewers

The influence of over-the-counter (OTC) medicine commercials on children's choices concerning use of OTC medicines was investigated in two experiments. In the first, 115 third and fourth graders were exposed to commercials for six different OTC medicines or commercials for other products. They were then asked to recommend either a medicine or nonmedicine remedy for a child and an adult with various illnesses and/or problems. The OTC medicine commercials appeared to influence children's recommendations only with respect to use of sleeping pills. In the second experiment 234 third and fourth graders were exposed to either fever and cold medicine commercials, all of which were directed toward the child viewer, or nondrug commercials. Only the fever medicine commercials appeared to influence the children. It was concluded that OTC medicine commercials do not, in general, influence children's choices concerning use of those medicines. Possible exceptions to this general case are noted.     

Social influence on sustainable consumption: evidence from a behavioural experiment

Although social influence on consumers’ behaviour has been recognized and documented, the vast majority of empirical consumer studies about sustainable products considers mainly, if not only, individual characteristics (socio‐demographic attributes, individual environmental attitudes, etc.), to explain the decision to buy sustainable products. Making use of experimental methods, this paper studies the social influence that peer groups like colleagues, family and friends may exert in the decision to choose for environmentally friendly products rather than conventional ones. We also test for different types of social influence, in particular for ‘herd behaviour’ vs. ‘social learning’. In our experimental setting, the relevance of peer effects is corroborated. We find clear evidence for ‘herd behaviour’ and the data indirectly support the presence of ‘social learning’ effects. The results also suggest heterogeneous impact of specific social groups.