Hahm, Jung Min (Grady Ph.D. Alum) & Han, Jeong-Yeob. (2023, March). “The Impact of Social Distance and Message Framing on Young Adults’ Response to the Anti-vaping PSAs on Instagram: The Mediating Role of Psychological Reactance,” paper to be presented to American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Annual Conference, Denver, CO.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the effect of perceived social distance from message source and message frame on psychological reactance, attitude toward vaping cessation, and intention to quit vaping and (b) to investigate the mediating role of psychological reactance and attitude toward vaping cessation on intention to quit vaping. Findings show that message frame did not have a direct effect on attitudinal or behavioral intention change but did have a direct effect on the level of psychological reactance. Perceived social distance from the message source directly and indirectly, through psychological reactance and attitude toward vaping cessation, affected intention to quit vaping. Finally, one week after the experiment, attitude toward vaping cessation and intention to quit vaping did not significantly decrease, indicating that the effect of the message frame and perceived social distance from the message source persisted.
Hye Jin Yoon, Yoon Joo Lee, Jinho Joo, and Youngjee Ko (Ph.D. candidate), “The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility Orientation in Green Demarketing Publicity & Advertising,” has been accepted for presentation at the 2023 ICA conference in Toronto, Canada.
Abstract: Green marketing asks consumers to buy more of a green product, while green demarketing recommends buying less of what you need and doing more with what you have. With an online experiment, this research found that for individuals with lower corporate social responsibility orientation (CSRO), any mix of green or demarketing publicity or ad did not lower perceptions of the “brand as honest.” On the other hand, individuals with higher CSRO perceived the brand to be more honest when demarketing publicity was followed with a demarketing advertisement (vs. a green advertisement). These effects on purchase intention (if one needed to buy a product of this type) and anticipated product satisfaction (which could help lower repeat and follow-up purchases) occurred through the mediating role of “brand as honest.” Inarguably an uphill battle, demarketing could have societal and environmental benefits while increasing trustworthiness for companies and building a solid and ongoing relationship with consumers. Thus, this paper proposes that companies should put in continuous efforts in demarketing for a more sustainable future.
Frank, A. (PhD student), Read, G. L., Duncan, J. (PhD student), Hatfield, H. R. (PhD student), & Kim, S (former PhD student). “Examining the effects of violence level and provocation on aversive motivation activation and resource allocation in violent humorous ads,” paper to be presented at 2023 International Communication Association. Toronto, Canada.
Abstract: Our study’s purpose is to examine the balance between humor and violence in ads on cognitive and affective processing of the ad and brand. Prior research suggests positive consumer response to comedic violence in ads may hinge on whether the violence is justified or ‘deserved’ in retaliation to a provocation. Others examined the effectiveness of this marketing strategy on different genders and attitudes toward social norm violations, such as men responding more positively than women to extreme comedic violence. Yet less is known about consumers’ cognitive and emotional processing of comedic violence in ads. We will examine the interaction of violence and provocation in humorous ads upon emotional and cognitive response, specifically probing emotional responses associated with motivational activation and resource allocation as mechanisms underlying the violent humorous ads on overall ad outcomes–e.g., ad and brand attitudes and purchase intentions.
Glenna L. Read, Zhao, W. (PhD student), Choi, S. (PhD student), Hudson, S. (undergraduate student), Wen, T. “This ad speaks to me: An investigation of mechanisms underlying social identity relevant advertising,” paper to be presented at 2023 International Communication Association. Toronto, Canada.
Abstract: Brands increasingly engage with social issues with messages distributed to consumers. One essential factor explaining the success of brands’ corporate advocacy advertising (CAA) is consumers’ social identity and relevant pre-existing attitudes toward a social issue. A brand’s CAA makes these identity cues salient, resulting in a cascade of psychological and physiological responses that predict message outcomes. For this reason, the intersection of consumers’ identity with the social issue presented in marketing communications is essential for predicting the success of a CAA campaign. We investigate motivational activation as mechanisms underlying this interaction, which has implications for cognitive and affective processing of messages and persuasive outcomes. Informed by social identity theory and theories of motivational activation, we employ an experiment using psychophysiological measures with a 2 (pre-existing attitude: consistent or inconsistent with message) x 4 (message topic: racial justice, environment, COVID-19 vaccination, control) x 2 (message repetition) design to examine response to CAA based on consumers’ (current n = 52, total desired n = 100) attitudes toward social issue. We expect that messages that are consistent with participants’ attitudes will activate appetitive motivational system activation and lead toward more positive attitudes toward the ad, brand, purchase intention, and social media engagement behavior.
Alexandra Frank (Ph.D. student), Glenna Read, Geoff L.Duncan (PhD student), Weinberger, M. G., & Gulas, C. S. (to be presented 2023). “I laugh at your pain: Effects of violation of social norms and affect on evaluation of ads that are both humorous and violent.” American Academy of Advertising. Denver, CO, March 2023.
Abstract: From nighttime talk shows to candy bar ads, violent humor captures audiences’ attention and elicits both positive and negative emotional responses. Research demonstrates the effectiveness of violent humorous ads in increasing consumers’ attention and recall. However, at a certain “tipping point” these ads can also alienate consumers and increase negative attitudes toward the ad, brand, or product. We examined this tipping point, and the mechanisms underlying it, using a 2 (violence level: high, low) x 2 (violence provocation: present, absent) between-subjects online experiment. Participants (n= 394) viewed an ad, then answered questions to assess perceptions of violation of social norms (VSN), affect and arousal, attitudes toward the ad and brand, and purchase intention. Interaction analyses revealed that ads with high unprovoked violence elicited the greatest VSN and negative affect. VSN predicted attitudes toward ad and brand and purchase intention while negative affect only predicted purchase intention, indicating different mechanisms underlying these consumer outcomes. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Eline Brussee, Eva Van Reijmersdal, Nathaniel Evans, and Bart Wojdynski (forthcoming), “Disclosure-Driven Recognition of Native Advertising: A Test of Two Competing Mechanisms,” Journal of Interactive Advertising
Abstract: This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining how two opposite-valanced mechanisms (activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge and perceived transparency of the native advertising) explain positive and negative effects of sponsorship disclosures on brand responses (i.e., brand attitude and purchase intentions) and by examining the role of message source. An experiment (N = 133) showed that disclosures of native advertising decreased persuasion via activated persuasion knowledge: Readers who understood that a blog post was a form of advertising due to a disclosure, showed more attitudinal persuasion knowledge, which in turn led to less positive brand attitudes and lower purchase intention. However, the disclosure also enhanced persuasion via perceptions of transparency of the blog post: due to the disclosure, the blog post was perceived as more transparent, which resulted in less attitudinal persuasion knowledge and in more positive attitudes toward the brand and higher purchase intentions. Source did not moderate these mediation effects. By incorporating two competing mechanisms this study offers important new insights into the theoretical mechanisms that explain advertising disclosure effects.
Lee, M. & Glenna Read (Forthcoming). “Exploring emotional and cognitive priming effects in mediated sports using psychophysiological measures: How sport program-induced emotions and ad schema congruity influence effectiveness of advertising”. Communication & Sport.
Abstract: The purpose of current study was to examine (1) the emotion transfer effect from sport programs and (2) program-ad congruity effects on the effectiveness of ads. A 2 (program-induced valence: pleasant, unpleasant) × 2 (program-induced arousal: arousing, calm) × 2 (advertising theme: sport, non-sport) within-subjects design, along with real-time psychophysiological measures, was employed to test the hypotheses. As predicted, an ad placed after a pleasant situation (favored team’s victory) was more effective than an ad placed after an unpleasant situation (favored team’s defeat). Also, an ad played after an arousing situation (close game) was more effective than an ad played after a non-arousing situation (lopsided game). Further, advertising effectiveness was greater for sport-themed ads (congruent) than non-sport-themed (non-congruent) ads. The findings suggest that the same ad can result in different persuasive impacts depending upon the emotional and cognitive context of the preceding sports program. The study offers new insights to the existing sport marketing communication literature by examining emotional and cognitive priming effects in the context of sport media programing.
Hye Jin Yoon, “Humor as a Buffer to Negativity in Advertising.” Invited lecture at the School of Journalism and Advertising, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, October 24, 2022.
P. Pan, M. Bhandari, & Juan Meng.(accepted, 2022). Promoting healthy eating: The intervening role of health and nutrition-related claims in food advertisements. Health Education Journal, forthcoming, OnlineFirst: https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969221132210
Abstract: This study aimed to examine how consumers’ attitudes towards health and nutrition-related (HNR) claims in food advertisements affected their healthy food choice (HFC) and how online searching for nutrition information (OSNI) about food products mediated the impact of obesity knowledge on HFC. An online survey was conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of 897 participants were recruited, with 484 women and 380 men. A moderated mediation analysis using PROCESS was conducted. OSNI was found to mediate the impact of obesity knowledge on HFC. The extent to which consumers’ obesity knowledge influenced their HFC depended on consumers’ attitudes towards HNR claims in food advertisements. The direct effect of consumers’ obesity knowledge on their HFC was moderated by their attitudes towards HNR claims in food advertisements.
Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jooyoung Kim, & Jaemin Kim (Grady PhD student) (in press). The future of advertising in virtual, augmented, and extended realities. International Journal of Advertising.
Abstract: The ever-changing media environment brought on by the constant advent of new technologies requires advertising scholars to stay nimble, updating and innovating research theories and methodologies. In this essay, we note how the International Journal of Advertising has contributed to our understanding of immersive technologies and propose research areas to further advance our knowledge of ‘how advertising works’ in immersive spaces. Through the discussion of the four focal research areas, including naturally mapped interactivity, context-on-demand in advertising, user experiences with immersive advertising, and the emerging media landscape associated with the metaverse, we call on advertising scholars to consider the next steps forward to enhance our knowledge through transdisciplinary team-science efforts and collaboratively pursue the syntheses of theories, methods, and knowledge.
