Food-Borne Zoonoses and the Consumer

Abstract

The aim was to analyze the role of fear and panic caused by a zoonosis in the development of eating habits and rituals. The news media, being the source of information for the consumers about infectious agents having a high morbidity and mortality, can cause fear and panic about foodstuffs of animal origin. In this way, they play an important role during changes in eating habits, many of which become rituals. Rituals affect consumers' behavior and perceived needs regardless of socio-economic class, thus they increase consumption. Hence, the mass news media for selling profit-making information or promoting one kind of food against another, or the products of one country against those of another could use fear and panic caused by zoonoses.     

Content Analysis of the ‘Clean Your Plate Campaign’ on Sina Weibo

ABSTRACT

At the beginning of 2013, a Beijing non-profit group launched a ‘Clean Your Plate Campaign’ on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like microblogging site, with aims to reduce food waste. This paper examines social media users’ reactions during two periods of the first three years of the campaign. Upon examination of topic content, supporting participation was the most popular topic in January 2013 and showcasing individual achievement was the most frequently discussed topic in March 2016, with socialising as the common purpose for posting in both months. Users mentioning the campaign most in January 2013 belonged to private organisations, with posts from ordinary people becoming more predominant by March 2016. This study sheds light on the use of social media to raise public awareness regarding food waste in China. The findings will help campaigns aiming to promote food waste reductions or other social movements that use social media as a platform for citizen involvement.     

How Have Restaurant Firms Responded to Food Safety Crises? Evidence From Media Coverage

Media communication has become a crucial part of crisis communications due to the rapid dissemination of information along with its immense impact on consumers and other stakeholders. Based on a structured content analysis of electronic media reports on restaurant-associated food safety crises from 1993 to 2015, this study examined media reporting patterns focusing on three elements: instructing information, crisis response strategies, and stakeholders. This study also identified the effect of situational factors (severity of risk and crisis type) on the media reporting patterns using Chi-square tests. The results indicated that restaurant firms were more likely to use proactive than passive response strategies, and identified primary stakeholders during a food safety crisis such as regulatory agencies, victims, and customers. Finally, two situational factors were found to influence the pattern of media reporting. The media reporting patterns were found to vary by risk severity and crisis type.     

Media

Abstract

This article explores young adults' views of seven mass advertising media, and provides an in-depth inquiry into the qualitative media effect these audiences ascribe to each medium. This paper discusses many issues related to young audiences, and provides a useful supplement to the quantitative survey data most commonly found in media research. Respondents showed a distinct preference for media that provided visual stimulation, and a strong preference for media that afforded them control over the experience. Consistent with the concept of selective exposure, respondents preferred media that represented their own interests and opinions. However, media use was often inconsistent with media perceptions. Many respondents willingly suspended criticism when using media, as they consulted mass media for entertainment, rather than information.     

Alternative Measures of Health Information and Demand for Fats and Oils in Japan

This study investigates the major factors affecting the demand for fats and oils under the possible influence of health information on fat and cholesterol in Japan. The fat and cholesterol information indexes based on diminishing effect schemes provide better measures of the changing health information on fat and cholesterol than the ad-hoc cumulative index. This study shows that increasing consumer health information appear to have reduced the consumption of hog grease, tallow, and palm oil, and increased the use of fish oil, but it has had no major impact on other vegetable oils yet.     

国庆六十周年大阅兵的媒介仪式观研究

国庆六十周年大阅兵的成功，在于通过大众媒介对一系列具有象征意义的传播符号进行了呈现，用媒介仪式建构了国家权威、国家形象、历史记忆这三大意义，从而传达社会核心价值观，发挥社会整合的凝结剂作用，教导与规范社会生活。     

Product Placement in Mass Media: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

This article provides a comprehensive and systematic review of the product placement literature in order to map the thematic development of product placement research, help researchers understand the current research status, and suggest directions for future research. A pool of 874 publications related to product placement in mass media was retrieved from the Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar databases. Bibliometric and network analyses were used to identify the leading journals, scholars, and publications to capture information about emerging issues and to map the development of product placement research. Three major clusters of product placement research were identified: (1) basic concepts, fundamental research frameworks, and empirical studies on product placement in movies and television programs; (2) empirical studies on product placement in games, especially focusing on children and food product placements; and (3) empirical studies on the effects and underlying mechanisms of product placement disclosures. This article concludes by suggesting a future research agenda for product placement research.     

The Impact of Cause-Related Marketing on Millennials’ Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

This study, using scenarios, examined the impact of two kinds of cause-related marketing (CRM) efforts (a traditional donation of a portion of sales to a related cause and a more strategic one-for-one donation of donating a product to a related cause when that product was purchased) on millennials’ (those born between 1982 and 2000) attitudes and purchase intentions for four different consumer product categories. The four different consumer product categories selected included a specialty good (laptop), a shopping good (hat), a convenience good (bottled water), and a service (food restaurant). Given the importance of social media to millennials, this research also examined the role of social media on CRM awareness. While millennials had relatively low awareness of CRM campaigns, there was a positive correlation between social media use and CRM awareness. Additionally, CRM efforts may not work for all products as there was no impact on attitude or purchase intention for the product category of laptops. Additionally, the positive attitudes created by marketers’ CRM efforts will not always translate to increased purchase intentions. The use of a strategic one-for-one CRM effort though had a greater impact, specifically for products that deal with needed fundamentals, such as food and water.     

互联网广告创意传播研究——从互联网广告创意人和网络使用者双重角度看互联网广告创意传播的现状

本研究通过对专业的互联网广告创意人员和网络使用者的深度访谈,运用对比的方法,研究了在大众传播媒体时代品牌塑造中“百变不变”的广告创意理念在互联网营销传播环境下的状态,探讨了互联网广告创意对网络使用者的影响,以及网络使用者容易接受的广告创意形式和表现。文章以初探式研究入手,期望归纳并探究互联网环境下广告创意传播的走向,同时也能为网络使用者的消费态度研究提供开创性思考。     

Corporate communication,sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green

This empirical research explores how 16 global corporations from four different industry sectors—retail, technology equipment, food/beverage/tobacco, and consumer goods—use social media platforms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to communicate about sustainability. Facebook, Twitter, CEO letters from annual reports and CSR/sustainability reports, and other company documentation are examined to compare the content and scope of these firms’ corporate communication. The sample is divided into two subsamples (Green and Not Green firms) using Newsweek's Greenest Company 2012 rankings, and compared for differential use of social media and corporate reports. Results show that communication varies across firm and industry regarding types of sustainability initiatives reported, metrics employed, and communication media utilized, and that Green firms are more active than Not Green firms both in addressing sustainability and in general social media activity. Implications are discussed herein and recommendations are presented for companies seeking to better understand the effective use of social media and sustainability communication.     

The Impact of Advertising on Consumer Demand for Beef:

Thi study used two related data sets to obtain new estimates of food shopper responses to prices and advertising. Supermarket scan data comprised the source of information of sales and prices. Chain level newspaper and broadcast media advertising in the area measured the marketing program. Unique features of the study include the use of item movement and the accomodation of possible cross media effects. Consequently, the paper presents a way of monitoring promotions and relating them to sales. Three fresh beef aggregates (ground, roasts, and steaks) are used to estimate the impacts of broadcast media and newspaper adevertising by a supermarket chain. New estimates of direct and cross advertising impacts are also reported.     

Socialization,Gender, and Adolescent's Self-Reports of Their Generalized Use of Product Labels

This study examines how various aspects of the consumer socialization process affect male and female teenagers' tendencies to use product labels in general. In contrast to the traditional information-processing perspective used in many studies of gender differences and studies of labeling, this research focus more on sociological explanations for gender differences in teens' tendencies to read product labels. Specifically, because males and females are likely to receive differential consumer socialization, differences are expected in the genders' use of product labels. Male and female teenagers may be differentially taught about the importance and use of product labels through differences in exposure to marketplace-related communication from parents, peers, and mass media. Exposure to marketplace-related communication, in turn, is likely to have positive effects on teens' tendencies to use product labels in general. With the exception of exposure to mass media, results based on data from a sample of high school students generally supported this mediational model.     

Smoking Behavior,Information Sources,and Consumption Values of Teenagers: Implications for Public Policy and Other Intervention Failures

This paper uses a hierarchical decision process model, uses of information, and a theory of consumption values as a strategic framework for evaluating the general failure of intervention strategies for teenage smoking initiation. Extremely high smoking consideration-to-trial rates and rapid cessation by occasional smokers provide narrow but unused strategic opportunities for intervention. Use of information sources varies by stage of model with interpersonal sources dominating consideration, trial, and cessation stages and mass media showing only a slightly increasing use in cessation compared to the earlier stages. The decision process model and consumption values are necessary for planning strategic interventions. Existing intervention programs are not appropriately targeted in the decision process. Programs should be developed to reduce the smoking consideration to trial rates in younger children and to encourage rapid cessation in older teenagers. The use of either print or broadcast mass media intervention programs is not supported.     

电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法测定聚乙烯、聚丙烯中铬、锆、钒和铪

采用微波消解技术对以聚乙烯、聚丙烯为原料制作的食品容器、食品包装薄膜进行预处理,确定了溶样酸介质及其用量、微波消解温度、时间等关键因素,建立了一种快速测定聚乙烯、聚丙烯材料中铬、锆、钒和铪含量的电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法。实验结果表明,5mL硝酸和1mL过氧化氢的混合溶液即可实现样品的完全消解,同时通过优化光谱分析条件,得到铬、锆、钒和铪的检测限分别为1.0 mg/kg,0.7mg/kg,0.7 mg/kg,1.4 mg/kg。该法加标回收率在88%-103%之间,相对标准偏差（n=3）为0.84-6.4%。用于实际样品的测定,所得结果与标准样品的参考值相符。     

How ‘social’ are social media? A cross-cultural comparison of online and offline purchase decision influences

Traditional word of mouth (WOM) involves personal communications among family, friends, and others. Today, social media sites like Facebook offer the possibility of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), a mediated form of WOM. Little is known about the best way for marketers to use social media. Even less is known about international differences in consumer usage of social media and how eWOM influences consumer decision-making. This study helps address that research gap and uses cultural dimensions to compare the use of social media and other information sources for consumer decision-making across 50 countries. The results indicate that the use of information sources that influence online purchase decisions strongly varies by culture. For example, relationship-oriented collectivists rely to a greater extent than individualists on social media, which are an alternative for interpersonal WOM communication. Interestingly culture affects the influence of social media on purchases differently than the influence of traditional WOM through family or friends. Furthermore, there are major differences in online complaint behavior by country, due to cultural variations.     

食药安全监管的群众路线工作法

在当前的社会背景下,食品和药品安全一直是社会比较关注的问题,所以为了促进人们使用放心食品和药品,应当保证食药安全。在社会主义发展和建设过程中,我们党坚持以群众路线为根本工作路线,发挥人民群众的巨大作用。新时期,我国的食药安全监督管理工作面临着诸多挑战。为了确保食药安全,应当发挥群众的作用。基于此,针对食药安全监管的群众路线工作法进行分析,通过对当前我国食药监管现状加以探究,并提出大力开展群众路线工作法的有效措施,从而最大程度提升我国食药安全质量,维护人民群众的根本利益。     

Reconsidering Media Discourses on Food Crisis from a Quantitative Perspective

In 2007–2008, when food prices started to increase dramatically, purchasing power parity of consumers, especially the urban poor, started to decrease automatically. High food prices were argued to cause poverty, hunger, and food riots among urban populations. Henceforward, “food crisis” became a new storyline in the current debate. In contrast, in the pre-2007 period, when rural farmers had been facing negative welfare effects of low food prices for many years, there were no crisis talks. This article analyzes different media coverage of urban consumers and rural producers under changes in relative incomes for the 2000–2013 period and propounds media bias on the food crisis debate by using content analysis and the OLS regression model.     

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.     

Using word of mouth data from social media to identify asymmetric competition in food retailing

Competition between food retailers is often assumed to be asymmetrical, whereby one retailer may compete with another retailer but not vice versa. Little is known about how (a)symmetric competition among retailers currently is. One way to investigate this is to use word of mouth data. A mixed methods analysis of customer comments on social media confirms the existence of asymmetric competition among German food retailers, mainly between supermarkets and discounters. Overall, consumers compare competitors frequently on the basis of their assortments, the price-performance ratio as well as quality and freshness. The results have implications for competition policy and strategic management.