Marketing communications implications of children's new electronic media use: a survey of parental opinions and perceptions

Currently new electronic media, the Internet in particular, are poised to become a major part of the marketing and communications mix, not only for adults but also children. This poses challenges and heralds a new debate on both protection of the young vis‐à‐vis more equitable access and the need, nature and forms of regulation warranted. This paper reviews the literature on this debate and related issues. It reports on a New Zealand empirical study of parental perceptions of their children's electronic media use and examines the findings and the insights obtained on the use of the Internet and its role as a marketing communications medium. It also reports on what these parents consider to be the key concerns in this area and their Internet site preferences. The issues relating to children, the Internet and the link between violence and video games are examined and implications for marketing communications are discussed.     

Exploring the link between obesity and advertising in New Zealand

This paper reviews the debate on the causes and potential solutions to growing obesity and whether there is a proven correlation with advertising, particularly among children. The paper first considers this debate from the context of the burgeoning literature on this topic. The findings from an empirical study with parents of primary‐age children in New Zealand are then presented. However, any kind of proposed relationship between obesity and advertising tends to be as much emotive as evidential, with for‐and‐against camps lined up to defend entrenched positions. However, it does seem fair to argue that, while advertising does present a problem in relation to food selection choice, many other issues, such as peer pressure, quality of life, in‐school food services, nearby retail outlets and social class criteria, exacerbate the problem. Thus, easy solutions based on insufficient evidence that have failed to substantiate causal effects between advertising (ostensibly) directed at children and nutrition can be seen as inequitable and, thus, ineffective in their intended aims. Although here the paper considers the problem from a New Zealand perspective, the findings may have implications for research elsewhere in the world.     

A Code of Ethics for Social Marketing? Bridging Procedural Ethics and Ethics-in-Practice

We consider the role of codes of ethics in social marketing, distinguishing between “procedural ethics” and “ethics-in-practice” (after Guillemin & Gillam, 2004). We review foundations for “procedural ethics”—formal systems for ethical oversight—including moral and political philosophy, existing codes of ethics, and previous proposals for codes of ethics for social marketing. We then discuss “ethics-in-practice,” the ethical dimensions of the small moments that comprise everyday life. We connect this idea to Aristotle’s concept of phronesis, the practical wisdom to respond in just the right way to particular situations. Supporting the ethical practice of social marketing will require both procedural ethics and ethics-in-practice, iteratively related to one another. We conclude with three tasks for the profession: (1) develop and apply norms, standards, and sanctions; (2) develop formal, procedural ethics, in a just way (e.g., codes of ethics); and (3) support social marketers to develop ethics-in-practice, or phronesis.     

Rowena Olegario. A Culture of Credit: Embedding Trust and Transparency in American Business

Rowena Olegario has written a narrative about the importanceof information in the development of the U.S. economy by exploringthe development of mercantile agencies, organizations that pioneeredthe practices of credit evaluation and reporting in nineteenth-centuryAmerica. The main argument throughout the book is that the establishmentof credit evaluation and reporting moved business behavior frombehind a veil of secrecy and institutionalized a culture oftransparency throughout the economy. Mercantile agencies accomplishedthis transformation by commodifying credit     

Social marketing theory development goals: an agenda to drive change

ABSTRACT

Environmental, health, and social change is complex and frequently is framed as a problem(s) to be solved. This framing focuses effort on delivery of solutions designed to change systemic environmental, health, and social problems. Theory, an organising framework for effort, remains under-utilised in behavioural and social sciences. An individual psychological lens dominates and emphasis is placed on explaining and predicting individual behaviour and not behavioural change. It is time to break free and deliver frameworks that extend focus beyond individuals to all citizens, and apply new evaluation approaches that assess individual and structural changes. Ten Social Marketing Theory Development Goals (goals) categorised in three groups: (i) research design; (ii) building social marketing theory; and (iii) methodological innovation are outlined to assist social marketers to develop new ways of thinking that will deliver the theory and evidence base needed to outline what practitioners and policy makers should do to effect change.     

The Relative Effect of Property Type and Country Factors in Reduction of Risk of Internationally Diversified Real Estate Portfolios

We examine and test the merits of diversifying portfolios of real estate securities internationally and across property types. Our analysis covers the period January 1990 through July 2005. Using data from the Global Property Research GPR 250 Property Securities Index, which has monthly prices for five property type indexes in 21 countries, we decompose country and property type sources of variation in real estate security returns. We find that property type effects are smaller than country effects. Property type specialization explains only 6% of the variance of national real estate securities index returns. Because property type effects are so small, country diversification is a more effective tool for achieving risk reduction than property type diversification. In addition, we find evidence that the relative importance of country effects is decreasing while that of industry effects is increasing. However, country effects continue to dominate property type effects.     

Boundary work and tax regulation: A Bourdieusian view

Boundaries are ubiquitous in modern social life, and the work of creating and maintaining boundaries is particularly evident within regulatory fields. Through the analysis of a recent critical incident in the tax field (Arctic Systems) with which the accounting profession is intimately associated, this paper uses a Bourdieusian lens to unravel the relational complexities of the regulation of tax avoidance at the complex and fuzzy boundary between acceptable and unacceptable tax practice. We develop an alternative, relational interpretation of tax regulation and contribute to a more nuanced understanding of regulatory practice within the tax field that also raises questions about regulatory practice more widely. We conclude by highlighting how a move towards ‘relational’ regulation might contribute to improved understanding of regulatory processes and practices.     

Brand Imitation: Do the Chinese Have Different Views?

Trademark infringement is a big problem for international brands in Asia, especially among the three Chinese societies — the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. An exploratory study of the perceptions and attitudes of these consumers regarding their acceptability and willingness to purchase brands which imitate the look of multinational brands was carried out. The results showed the Hong Kong Chinese to be more aware and loyal to multinational brands. The PRC nationals and Taiwanese generally had low awareness of which brands were originals and which were imitators. All respondents thought the manufacture of imitator brands to be unethical, but not the purchase of such brands. The major predictor of choosing an imitator brand was the respondent's ability to identify the original brand. The results from this study suggest marketers should educate their new consumers that they are the original brand or market leader in their product category.