The Use of Different Endorser Types in Advertising: A Content Analysis of Magazine Advertisements

Most of the literature assumes that endorsements, particularly by celebrities, are a frequently used advertising strategy. However, no study has yet investigated the use of the different endorser types identified by academic literature. This study seeks to close this research gap by analyzing German print advertisements. It finds that endorsement strategy in general is used much less than academic literature assumes, and that the relative significance of the different endorser types is incongruent to expectations. Moreover, the data suggest that, contrary to the literature's assumptions, credibility is not the most important underlying construct for endorsement advertisements, the endorser type used is frequently determined by the product category that is being advertised, and campaigns based on authenticity and similarity are gaining considerable importance in advertising practice.     

Ethics in Food Advertising to Children in India—A Parental Perspective

Marketers are seen to bombard children with advertisements for unhealthy foods using sophisticated promotion techniques that have serious negative effects on health and overall well-being of children. So parents try to mediate children’s exposure to media content and call for governmental regulations in an attempt to shield them. The extent to which they mediate further determines whether they contemplate food advertisements as being ethical or unethical. Therefore, the present study tries to uncover the antecedents to ethical versus unethical perceptions of Indian parents about food advertisements directed at children. No study, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, has been conducted so far in India in this regard. Using binary logistic regression with mothers, it is found that the mothers who view food advertisements as unethical report their children to watch fewer hours of TV during weekdays and hold negative attitudes toward advertising to children. These mothers, however, do not feel that the government needs to impose restrictions on food advertisements aired on TV since they themselves indulge in mediation of TV advertising as a general parenting responsibility. The implications of the article are finally discussed.     

Estimating the Half-life of Advertisements

The effectiveness of an advertisement wears out over time; eventually, it becomes totally ineffective. The author proposes a concept for measuring the lifetime of an advertisement and derives closed-form expressions for it under certain conditions. In addition, the author distinguishes the proposed concept, the half-life of an advertisement, from the prevalent notion of the duration of advertising effects. More importantly, the information on the half-life of ads is actionable from a managerial standpoint, whereas that on the duration of advertising effect is hypothetical. To enable advertisers to estimate the half-life of their ads, the author describes an estimation approach and illustrates its use by applying it to the advertising of the Dockers® brand of Levi Strauss and Company. Substantively, the lifetime of advertisements for the Dockers® brand is about three months. Thus, advertisers are well-advised to periodically estimate the half-life of their ads, so that they can plan the timing to replace worn out advertisements.     

Consumer Readings of Green Appeals in Advertisements

This study evaluates consumers’ interpretation of green advertisements. The overarching theme that surfaced from the findings was that of “convenience.” The themes brought out by respondents of “not compromising your lifestyle,” a “simple-fix,” and a “collective participation/minor changes” all reiterated the theme of convenience. This suggests that the environmental initiatives of many companies/brands are focusing on minor green activities rather than sustainable activities. Additionally, all advertisements alluded to anthropocentric considerations, a human-centered system of values that regards nature as subject to the demands of human-utility, as opposed to ecocentric considerations that provide a non-contingent basis for protecting the natural world.     

Attitudes of Indonesian Mothers Toward Food Advertising Directed to Children

Advertising directed toward children is a controversial issue with growing concerns from parents around the world, including emerging markets such as Indonesia. The reasons for its negative effects include that such advertising could lead to materialism, parent–child conflict, and feelings of unhappiness. In particular, advertising by food companies is a target for criticism due to concerns about unhealthy food and childhood obesity. This article reports on the findings of a number of focus groups of Indonesian mothers to obtain an indication of the mothers’ ethical judgment toward such advertising. The results identify reasons why the mothers found particular advertisements to be unethical and ways advertisements can improve their message. From the responses, some important issues are raised that would be of interest to international advertisers.     

Meet the Parents: A Parents’ Perspective on Product Placement in Children’s Films

The ethics of advertising to children has been identified as one of the most important topics worthy of academic research in the marketing field. A fast growing advertising technique is product placement, and its use in children’s films is becoming more and more common. The limited evidence existing suggests that product placements are especially potent in their effects upon children. Yet regulations regarding placements targeted at children are virtually non-existent, with advertising guidelines suggesting that it remains the prime responsibility of the parents to provide guidance for children. This study measured the ethical evaluations of parents in the UK and Canada regarding product placements in children’s films. After exposing parents to a four-type typology of product placements, results show that explicit placements of ethically charged products were perceived as the most unethical type of placements. Parents in the UK were more sensitive to the use of the technique and there was a significant difference in relativism between the two groups. Both sets of respondents would like to see more regulation on the use of placements, especially placements of alcohol, tobacco and fast foods.     

Skin Tones in Magazine Advertising

Abstract

Although African Americans enjoy greater quantitative representation in American advertising than ever before, it is questionable if this representation is a true picture of African Americans. Because of the “what is beautiful is good” syndrome in advertising, advertisers have been criticized by some groups for using models who may present body images and facial features considered too idealistic. These unrealistic portrayals of attractiveness and beauty “likely reflect involuntary responses to subconscious cultural constraints” (Strutton and Lumpkin, 1993, p. 509). Thus a “myth of beauty” that generally favors Eurocentric features such as light-colored skin, narrow noses and thin lips is perpetuated. The exception to this rule, however, may be found in the use of Black athletes as spokespersons and models. To determine if there is a difference in the skin tones of models used in sports magazines and fashion magazines, this study is a content analysis of the models used in Sports Illustrated and Vogue. The results indicate that there were significant differences in the skin tones of the models used in these magazines.     

An Analysis of Consumer Complaints about Social Marketing Advertisements in Australia and New Zealand

While social marketers are rarely targeted in discussions of the ethics of advertising, we are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of ensuring that social marketing messages are developed and conveyed in an ethical fashion. The article reviews complaints made by members of the general public in Australia and New Zealand to the advertising regulatory bodies in those two countries for the five years 2000–2004; examining the number, type, and nature of these complaints – including the categories of advertising, and the types of appeals, which generate complaints from the general public in both countries. We find that, as for commercial advertising, there is a need for further research to explore “community standards” in relation to social marketing messages; and that there is a clear need for social marketers to consider consumer attitudes towards advertising when developing communication strategies and messages.     

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。     

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.     

从萨伊定律到供给学派:生态技术创新推力演绎

目前,传统技术创新的负面作用逐步显现,并制约着我国经济的可持续发展。通过改变技术发展方向,实行生态技术创新,旨在弥补资源和资本上的不足,协调社会、经济、自然发展的关系,最终实现包容性增长。不论是萨伊定律还是供给学派,其理论对生态技术创新都具有指导和推力作用,促使其从微观到宏观、从企业层面到国家层面演绎。     

Ethical limits to the intrusiveness of online advertising formats: A critical review of Better Ads Standards

ABSTRACT

This article argues that advertising ethics, traditionally focused on ad contents and vulnerable audiences, should be also applied to ad format intrusiveness. The increasing appearance of highly intrusive advertising formats resulted in an extraordinarily growth of ad blocking systems. To fight the economic costs of the ad blocker phenomenon, the most relevant agents of the industry have created a never seen Coalition for Better Ads including marketers, publishers, and agencies worldwide. This article analyses the experiments carried out by the Coalition to create Better Ads Standards establishing the limits of ad format intrusiveness to be implemented worldwide by means of self-regulation. Based on classical and current approaches to advertising ethics, this work explains that highly annoying ads should not only be banned for practical reasons but for overpassing ethical limits in terms of respect for the persuadee, equity of the persuasive appeal, and social responsibility for the common good. A basic exploratory replication study is presented to simulate further research on the ethical limits of intrusive advertising. Establishing which ad formats are allowed to continue and which ones should gradually disappear is such a relevant process for many stakeholders that it requires further discussion by consumers and scholars.     

全媒体时代广告教育新模式建构

为应对全媒体时代广告教育新问题,文章提出构建广告教育新模式的基本路径:确立"三观"统合式培养观,建构大广告教育新模式;根据广告学科新定位,建立跨学科整合的课程体系;建立以能力培养为核心、更富实效的广告实训体系;广告教学要加强新媒体研究,善用新媒体于教学之中。     

Market Research and Advertising Strategy in Portuguese Agencies: Perspectives of Professionals

SUMMARY

The advertising campaign development process is frequently described in manuals and textbooks. Nevertheless, the empirical perspective gives us a better understanding of the real world. In this study, we tried to understand, to systematize, and to describe the process of research and strategy in advertising agencies. To accomplish this objective we conducted 25 in-depth interviews with advertising agency professionals in Portugal. Cross-analysis of the statements allowed us to identify 5 themes: research done by the client before providing the brief to the agency, client's brief, information gathering done by the agency, brief's discussion inside the agency, and creative brief.     

Consumer Magazine Advertisement Portrayal of Models by Race in the US: An Assessment

This study examined the frequency of portrayal, positive or negative depiction, relative hierarchy position, and relative social authority status of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and White American models in a sample of consumer magazine advertisements, utilizing content analysis. A longitudinal framework was employed in the study to determine if the patterns of depiction have stabilized or have experienced meaningful change over a ten‐year period. In contrast to previous studies, the results were generally that minority group models were frequently featured, relative to their proportion in the total US population, and they were depicted in a favorable manner, relative to White models, during the periods under consideration.     

The Current Impact and Carryover of Advertising on Sales in the Restaurant Industry

ABSTRACT

A common source of conflict in the relationship between restaurant franchise and franchisee involves advertising fees. Conflict arises when the franchisee feels that he or she has not received an adequate return on his or her advertising investment. This paper reports the results of a study conducted on both the short-term and long-term effectiveness (duration) of advertising among restaurant chains. The findings suggest that only a small proportion of restaurant chains enjoy immediate, positive returns to their advertising fees. However, over half of all chains examined realized a significant carryover effect of advertising. Several explanations are offered as to why these results are found and recommendations are made as to how restaurant chains should react to these findings.     

Measuring the Impact of Product Placement on Children Using Digital Brand Integration

Recent marketing literature has called for more research that focuses on the influence of new media on children and, specifically, the use of product placement. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of food and beverage product placements on children of different ages. Using an experimental approach, groups of children viewed the same television program, but with either healthy products or unhealthy brands digitally inserted. A detailed survey then measured aided and unaided recall and immediate choice behavior. In total, 225 children from two schools took part in the experiment. The results indicated strong recall for the products placed, especially for the unhealthy products, and particularly among older children. However, the placements had only a modest influence on immediate behavior, with regression analysis suggesting that the packaging was more significant in influencing choice. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Uses of Redundancy in Print Advertisements in Nigeria

The creative repetition of the most important aspects of communications, or redundancy, is a strategy employed in the field of advertising to ensure that messages are understood and acted upon by the audience or prospects. The article shows the influence of redundancy on consumer learning. Six brand advertisements were purposively selected and analyzed for content to demonstrate the occurrence, uses, and limitations of creative repetition of messages in advertising, along with appropriate recommendations.     

Advertising in times of war: Themes in Argentine print advertising during the Malvinas/Falklands War

In the plethora of literature that investigates how the advertising industry reacts to changes in society, very few studies are concerned with regions outside of North America and Europe. For this study, we were interested in testing whether the conclusions of North American research in marketing communications would transfer to an understudied market. The ever-changing Argentine economy is a fertile ground to analyze changes in advertising strategies and tactics during times of turmoil. Thus, this study considered changes in appeals and strategies in print advertisements across two eras for the Latin American country: prewar (1981) and war (1982). With the advancement of the war efforts, results indicated that there were changes in (1) the tactical intent of the ads, (2) the nature of the advertiser, and (3) the products advertised. Additionally, our study shows that discursive strategies employed by advertisers were consistent with those emphasized by other media, such as television and print journalism.     

An Investigation of Egyptian Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Ethical Issues in Advertising

This article investigates Egyptian consumers’ attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising held by a sample of 306 participants. The subjects completed a 20-item instrument originally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward controversial issues in advertising. The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. The results revealed that Egyptian consumers have negative attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. There are significant differences between males’ and females’ perceptions of ethics in advertising. Finally, the study detects a significant difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in Egypt regarding their attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. These results lend strong support to the adaptation hypothesis and suggest that ads produced in one country cannot be standardized or directly translated for use in another, particularly if they are different culturally.