Dr. Karen Whitehill King
About: Dr. King has taught advertising media planning, advertising campaigns and advertising research. Her research interests include advertising industry issues and health communication.
Dr. King officially retired in August, 2020, but she still advises some Ph.D. students and co-directs the Cannes Lions program.
Education
Ph.D., Communications, University of Illinois
M.S., Advertising, University of Illinois
B.S., Advertising, University of Illinois
Research Interests and Activities
Dr. King’s research principally focuses on health communications and advertising industry issues. She has published her research in leading academic journals including Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Newspaper Research, Journal of Health Care Marketing and Journalism Educator. She was the editor of the 1994 Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising Conference. In addition, Dr. King has presented her work at numerous advertising, marketing and mass communication academic conferences.
Abstract: This study examined the mechanisms through which attitudes toward OTCA in general and OTCA prompted behaviors are formed based on a consumer socialization framework. An online survey was conducted using […]
Read MoreFaculty and doctoral graduates in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations in Grady College were the most visible authors or co-authors in the three leading peer-reviewed advertising research journals from 2008-2019, […]
Read MoreAbstract: The role of media context in advertising has been the subject of interest for marketers and media practitioners over the past fifty years. However, there remains a lack of […]
Read MoreAbstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of program-induced engagement on the amount of media multitasking (MM) and its subsequent impact on ad memory. It explored […]
Read MoreEun Sook Kwon, (Grady PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology), Karen Whitehill King (University of Georgia), Greg Nyilasy (Grady PhD, University of Melbourne) and Leonard N. Reid (University of Georgia), (2019). […]
Read MoreAbstract: This study examines the effects of ad-context congruence and ad positions on consumers’ response in an in-stream video advertising setting. Findings of the study indicate that, regardless of ad […]
Read MoreAbstract: Previous studies have found that emotional arousal and emotional valence are important for video ads to be shared. As marketers are exploring new strategies to increase their viral effectiveness […]
Read MoreAbstract: Media professionals and scholars have examined the influence of media context on advertising effectiveness for more than 50 years, but clarity regarding media-context effects remains lacking, amid an abundance […]
Read MoreTeaching Specialties
Her primary teaching interests are media planning, advertising account planning/research and advertising campaigns. With Margaret Morrision at the University of Tenneesee, Dr. King coauthored a textbook supplement, Media Buying Simulation. She is a member of the Graduate Faculty and was a participant in the UGA Lilly Teaching Fellows program. In 1999, she was named the Donald G. Hileman Educator of the Year by the American Advertising Federation’s Seventh District for her work with the University of Georgia Ad Club and campaign competition team.
Experience
Prior to joining the Grady College, Dr. King worked at Foote, Cone and Belding Communications, Inc. in Chicago as a media buyer/planner and a research supervisor. While on the faculty at UGA, she has been a visiting communication researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta working on their AIDS public service campaign and a visiting professor at Lintas in New York. She served as a research consultant to Searle, Sylvan Learning Centers, Promedica, WAGA-TV and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Awards and Fellowships
In September 2001, Dr. King was nominated to UGA’s Teaching Academy. The Academy recognizes excellence in teaching and exists to promote improved teaching throughout the University. Dr. King was named a Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, UGA’s highest teaching honor, in 2016.
