The impact of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs on physician visits and drug requests: Empirical findings and public policy implications

This study analyzes the effect of DTCA expenditures for anti-hyperlipidemia drugs on patient behaviors. The key findings are: (a) DTCA expenditures have a positive and long-term effect on the number of visits to physicians by newly diagnosed hyperlipidemia patients. (b) The effectiveness of DTCA in generating new patient visits varies substantially across patient sub-groups. (c) The effect of DTCA is larger on drug visits than on non-drug-only visits. (d) Own-brand DTCA expenditures increase the number of patient requests for Lipitor and Zocor, but have no effect on patient requests for Pravachol. Competing drugs’ DTCA expenditures have a positive effect only on patient requests for the leading brand, Lipitor. (e) A cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that the economic benefits of DTCA in terms of life years saved by preventing cardiovascular disease are considerably larger than the costs of advertising. (f) DTCA on TV has strong effects on underserved segments of the population, such as those on Medicaid. We believe this finding should be carefully considered by proponents of a complete ban or stricter regulations on DTCA.     

广告学的研究范式探析

现代广告学是广告产业飞速发展的产物,它源源不断地从广告实务界以度传播学、经济学、心理学、社会学等诸多学科汲取理论和实践支持。随着广告学理论研究的深入,以哲学、社会学的理论关照广告学的研究成为本学科走向成熟的必要环节,其中,范式理论的应用,更为广告学提供了不同的研究视角和不同的理论维度。本文试图在梳理广告学研究对不同范式的应用中,借鉴现有研究成果,总结专属于广告学研究的范式,并为广告学研究范式体系的构建提供一种思雏导引。     

互联网广告批评初探

互联网的迅猛发展,必然带来互联网广告的繁荣。互联网广告繁荣的背后,也必然存在诸多问题。所以对互联网广告批评的研究意义重大,它能促进互联网广告的良性发展。本文认为互联网广告批评应该重点关注如下几个方面：互联网广告的真实性问题、性和暴力问题、隐私保护问题以及与公关的模糊化问题。     

围绕本质“立法” 坚持权威“执法”——浅析英国误导性广告的立法与司法实践

作为世界上广告监管最为规范的国家,英国的广告监管经验非常值得借鉴。在英国,广告监管主要通过行业自律机构实施,包括对误导性广告的监管。本文通过对英国误导性广告的现状、＂立法＂和＂执法＂等进行初步的分析和探讨,希望能对中国误导性广告监管有所借鉴。     

Advertising non-premium products as if they were premium: The impact of advertising up on advertising elasticity and brand equity

Non-premium brands occasionally emulate their premium counterparts by using ads that emphasize premium characteristics such as superior performance and exclusivity. We define this practice as “advertising up” and develop hypotheses about its short- and long-term impact on advertising elasticity and brand equity respectively. We test the hypotheses in two large-scale empirical studies using a comprehensive dataset from the automotive industry that includes, among others, the content of 2317 television ads broadcast over a period of 45?months. The results indicate that advertising up increases (decreases) short-term advertising elasticity for non-premium products with a low (high) market share. The results also show that an intensive use of advertising up over time leads to long-term improvements (reductions) in brand equity for expensive (cheap) non-premium products. Furthermore, an inconsistent use of advertising up leads to reductions in brand equity. The results imply that managers of non-premium products with a low market share can use advertising up to increase advertising effectiveness in the short run. However, advertising up will only generate long-term improvements in brand equity for expensive non-premium products. Finally, to avoid long-term reductions in brand equity, advertising up should be consistently used over time.     

跨国广告集团全球扩张模式的选择及其影响因素

本文运用对外直接投资理论和交易费用理论的相关原理,具体阐述了跨国广告集团全球市场扩张的经济动因,即跨国企业全球市场拓展和广告公司自身业务发展的双重需要。在此基础上,作者深度剖析了跨国广告集团全球扩张模式的三种主要模式及其选择不同模式的影响因素。文章最后重点分析了跨国广告集团在中国的市场扩张战略,以期为民族广告公司的可持续发展和国际化转型提供策略参考。     

Receptiveness of Black Americans to outdoor advertising

Outdoor advertisements, billboards especially, represent important advertising vehicles yet they receive little attention from marketing researchers. Many managers assume that the medium has limited segmentation potential beyond geographical, yet this study reveals major differences. Based on two sets of focus groups and a survey of over 1600 users of heath service facilities in Louisiana, Black Americans appear significantly more receptive than White Americans to billboards, using measures of awareness, information conveyance, influence, and overall views.These differences persist across most education/income level combinations; significant interaction effects emerge between receptiveness, race, education, and income. The authors draw from socialization theory to explain some of the difference but suggest the high exposure of Black Americans to billboards, plus their greater openness to advertising, also contribute. Many advertisers target Black Americans and this targeting is a subject of public policy concern, giving these findings implications for marketers, researchers, and policy makers.     

Targeted advertising as a signal

This study presents a signaling model of advertising for horizontally differentiated products. The central ingredients of the model are two important characteristics of advertising—targeting, and noisy information content. The theory yields interesting results about the informational role of targeted advertising, and its consequences. First, targeting can itself serve as a signal on product attributes. Second, the effectiveness of targeting depends not only on firms knowing consumer preferences, but on consumers knowing that firms know this. This creates a distinction between strategies of targeting and personalization. Third, the effectiveness of targeting in equilibrium may (far) exceed the information contained directly in the targeted message. Fourth, information content is not, however, superfluous. Specifically, when ads contain no information, a targeting equilibrium does not exist. Together, these results reveal how advertising conveys information both through the content of the message and the firm’s choice of advertising medium. Furthermore, the model is robust to the various critiques of prior work on ads-as-signals: namely, that ad content is irrelevant, ad exposure is unnecessary, and the choice of ads as signals is inherently arbitrary.

A comparative analysis of advertising characteristics,strategy, style and form in global and national brand advertising

This paper considers the differences and similarities between national brand and global brand advertising through the use of three analytical frameworks – creative strategies, advertising styles and advertising form. It seeks to identify any differences between national and global brand advertising in terms of creative strategy, advertising style and advertising form. The structural elements of advertisements, such as the length of a commercial, number of camera shots and number or type of characters present, are also examined for a total of 551 television advertisements. A number of significant differences between the advertising of global and national brands have been recorded. In addition, the study identifies a discriminant function, which successfully predicts the advertising strategies, styles and formats for global brands.     

Dimensionality of advertising attitudes: cross-national insights

A consensus emerging from writings about attitudes towards advertising in general is that such attitudes consist of two dimensions: the social and economic effects. However, as is the case with other marketing concepts and propositions, the findings pertaining to the structure of advertising attitudes are primarily based on American research. This study investigates the dimensionality of advertising attitudes in a non-US setting. The results obtained from a survey of Saudi adult consumers suggest that advertising attitudes do indeed decompose into social and economic effects dimensions as espoused in the US-based literature. The measures developed to capture the two dimensions demonstrate satisfactory internal consistency reliability and pass the tests for convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Marketing and society: Preface to special section on volunteerism, price assurances, and direct-to-consumer advertising

We discuss the reasons why this call for papers was issued and describe the process of selecting the three articles presented in this special section. We argue that maximizing stakeholder welfare and not just consumption maybe a new goal for marketing that will be consistent with emerging societal trends. Three articles on volunteerism, price assurances, and direct-to-consumer advertising result from our call and are presented in this section. This introduction is an overview of the three articles.     

城市户外广告媒体资源市场化配置研究

城市,外广告媒体资源市场化配置是市场经济发展的必然要求,本文基于公共资源的视角,分析城市户外广告媒体资源市场化配置的寻租风险、商业风险和道德风险,通过完善户外广告管理系统,建立有救的产权交易机制,以及系统性的政府立法等,来提高城市户外广告资源的经济效益和社会效益。     

从广告产业发展趋势看当前高校广告教育存在的问题

我国广告产业正处于转型升级之中,大广告产业形态将是产业发展的必然趋势。一方面,是否符合产业发展趋势是衡量我国高校广告教育质量的重要标准,另一方面,我国高等院校广告教育质量的高低将直接影响与制约着我国广告产业的转型与升级。本文旨在从广告产业发展趋势的角度检视当前我国高等院校广告教育存在的问题并提出调整与改进的方法,以使我国高校广告教育能适应产业发展需求,更好更快地推动我国广告产业的转型与升级。     

Universal differences in advertising avoidance behavior: A cross-cultural study

The avoidance of TV advertising categories often include either mechanical (e.g., switching channels) or behavioral (e.g., talking to someone). Previous research seeking to explain avoidance with demographic and attitudinal factors shows conflicting results. Our aims are: to identify from these factors any that might consistently predict avoidance (by conducting surveys in three quite different cultures, the UK, Chile and Turkey), and: to compare the influence of demographic factors on avoidance with those of attitude to advertising. Males use more mechanical avoidance methods, whereas females use more behavioral avoidance methods. More educated people generally report higher behavioral avoidance. Family size and age help to explain avoidance in some countries but not in others. A negative overall attitude towards advertising is important generally in explaining mechanical avoidance. Behavioral avoidance is more important and is best explained by a combination of demographic and attitudinal factors. Country of residence is significant in predicting behavioral avoidance.     

自媒体背景下高校广告教学的困境及其对策

自媒体本质上是一种信息技术环境,它的勃兴对高校教学产生了重大的影响。文章聚焦广告学科,分析了自媒体对广告教学的影响,重点探讨了自媒体背景下广告专业教学的困境,进而探索其解决之道。     

论明星广告代言人正当利益保护

本文在赞同明星广告代言人应对其虚假广告代言行为承担责任的基础上,对于如何在广告代言活动中维护明星代言人的合法权益提出了自己的观点,认为应考虑广告性质的动态变化、已尽合理注意义务、广告审查依据错误以及责任期限等问题在追究明星广告代言人责任时的影响。     

跨国公司的中韩广告效果比较研究

跨国公司的广告根据不同国家的情况进行本土化战略。本研究将比较跨国公司在不同国家广告效果的差异,深入分析影响广告效果的因素,为跨国公司制定广告战略提供一定的参考价值。本文运用实验研究的方法,从观众对跨国公司在不同国家广告及品牌的态度、购买意图等角度比较分析跨国公司在不同国家广告效果的差异。研究发现：跨国公司通过本土化的战略并没有显著地提高广告效果,真正影响广告效果的因素是广告表现、创意及代言人等因素。因此,跨国公司在本土化的同时,如何发掘可以引起消费者心理共鸣的广告创意是影响广告效果的最核心因素。