Abstract: This Author Meets Critics conversation (with Edward Timke, Duke University; Mara Einstein, Queens College, CUNY; Nora Draper, Univ. New Hampshire) focuses on Joseph Turow’s book The Voice Catchers: How Marketers Listen In to Exploit Your Feelings, Your Privacy, and Your Wallet (Yale University Press, 2021). Turow states that the voice intelligence industry is one example of a society based on surveillance capitalism, in which the monitoring and use of people’s personal information drives economic productivity. What concerns Turow is how marketers are analyzing and using the human body. Up until now, the techniques for profiling people have been constructed through demographics, lifestyles, psychographics, and online and offline behaviors. With voice technology, we are moving into a world where the body becomes a realm marketers are trying to exploit. Hamilton found Turow’s book to be very important in helping scholars, students, marketers, and policymakers understand the broader implications of how marketers use voice technologies to do their work. In particular, Hamilton appreciates how Turow warns us that the use of biometric data has become institutionalized and is largely unregulated. Wildly inaccurate predictive models based on these data are concerning because they can reinforce harmful discriminatory practices and structural inequities.
Topic: marketing communication
Pro-Veganism on Instagram: Effects of User-Generated Content (UGC) Types and Content Generator Types in Instagram-Based Health Marketing Communication about Veganism
Abstract: Through two experiments, this study assessed source and message effects of Instagram-based pro-veganism messages. Experiment 1 (N = 294) examined effects of organization (brand versus non-profit) and message types (egoistic versus altruistic) on consumer responses to Instagram-based pro-veganism content. Experiment 2 (N = 288) examined effects of source type (celebrity versus non-celebrity) and message valence (positive versus negative)on consumer responses to Instagram-based pro-veganism content. Results demonstrated significant main effects of organization type, with consumers indicating more positive attitudes and higher credibility towards the brand. Significant main effects of message type were also found, with altruistic messages eliciting higher perceived information value than egoistic messages. Subjective norms had moderating effects on attitude towards the organization, while attitude towards veganism had moderating effects on perceived information value. Results also indicated significant main effects of message valence on perceived information value of pro-veganism Instagram posts and significant interaction effects of the two manipulated factors on intention to spread electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) about veganism. Implications for use of Instagram-based health marketing communication about veganism were discussed. Specifically, organizations looking to use social media to influence attitudes and behavioral intentions towards health issues should seek to reach their target audiences through selecting endorsers and messages that will optimally present the health issue in a relatable and engaging way.
The Roles of Celebrity Endorsers’ and Consumers’ Vegan Identity in Marketing Communication about Veganism.
Abstract: Celebrities endorsing veganism may exert social influence on consumers’ attitude toward veganism and behavioral intention to become vegan. A between-subjects online experiment (N = 303) examined the effects of consumers’ eating habits (meat eater versus non-meat eater) and celebrities’ vegan identity (altruistic motivation versus egoistic motivation) on various outcomes of health communication about veganism. Results of statistical analyses revealed a significant multivariate main effect of consumers’ eating habits on health consciousness, intention to spread electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) about veganism, and behavioral intention to become vegan. The results also reveal interaction effects between vegan celebrity endorsers’ motivation and consumers’ eating habits on health consciousness, intention to spread eWoM about veganism, and behavioral intention to become vegan. Additionally, moderating effects of source credibility, subjective norms, and identification with the vegan celebrity endorser were found. This study sheds some light on celebrity endorsements of veganism and effects of message framing on consumers’ veganism-related attitude and behavioral intention.