Archives for January 2012

Advertising Division

Research
The Effects of Ethnic Identification on Multicultural Adolescents’ Evaluations Of Ads • Osei Appiah, Iowa State • This manuscript examines whether the strength of ethnic identity influences multicultural adolescents’ responses to ads featuring models of different races and their responses to ads featuring race-specific cultural cues. The researcher digitally manipulated the race of characters in ads and the number of race specific cultural cues in the ads while maintaining all other visual features of these ads. Three hundred forty-nine black, white, Hispanic, and Asian-American. Adolescents evaluated black character or white character ads based. The findings indicate high black identifiers and low black identifiers responded, in part, differently to culturally embedded ads.

The Effectiveness of Banner Advertisements: Involvement and Click-through • Chang-Hoan Cho, Nebraska at Lincoln and John D. Leckenby, Texas-Austin • This paper explores the relationship between consumer’s level of involvement and clicking of banner ads on the WWW. This study indicates that people in high involvement situations are more likely to click a banner ad in order to request more information than those in low-involvement situations. Meanwhile, it is found that people in low-involvement situations are more likely to click a banner ad when it has a large size and dynamic animation.

Does Humor Really Matter ?: Some Evidence From Super Bowl Advertising • Hwi-Man Chung, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examined the effects of humor on advertised brand recall and recognition and advertising liking through quasi-experimentation conducted immediately following Super Bowl broadcasts. Simple regression shows that humor has a positive impact on advertised brand recall, recognition, and ad liking. Also, this study examined whether the effects of humor vary across product categories. Multiple regression shows that there are statistically significant differences in the effects of humor on recall, recognition, and ad liking among product categories.

Smoking in the News: Intermedia Agenda Setting and The Anti-Tobacco Advertising Campaign • Stacie Lee Greene, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Emotional Responses to Web Advertising: The Effects of Animation, Position, and Product Involvement on Physiological Arousal • Nokon Heo and S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State University • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

The Effectiveness of Comparative Advertising Among Koreans: Is It Effective to Increase the Intensity of Comparison over Time? • Jang-Sun Hwang and Mariea Grubbs Hoy, Tennessee • Despite the popularity of comparative advertising (CA), few studies have explored how to develop this strategy outside the United States. This study reports the results of an experiment conducted in South Korea, a country where CA is rarely used. Two hundred Korean college students were exposed to fictitious advertisements in which the independent variable of comparison intensity (non-comparative/low/medium/high/increasing) and exposure sequence (first/second/third) were manipulated. The dependent variables of attitude toward the brand and purchase interest assessed advertising effectiveness.

Influence of Cigarette Promotion on Juvenile Susceptibility to Smoking: A Path Analysis • Hye-ryeon Lee and Kristie A. Taylor, Arizona and Stacey Nofziger, Kansas State • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

The Effects of Threat in Verbal and Visual Print Ads on Perceptions and Behavioral Intention • Yulian Li, Minnesota • This experimental study applied the protection motivation theory in examining the effects of threat ads on the cognitive appraisal processes and the subsequent purchase intention. With verbal and verbal-visual ads manipulated into high and low levels of threat, it was found that there is a positive linear relationship between the amount of threat in verbal-visual ads and changes in the cognitive appraisal processes.

What the Real World Really Wants: An Analysis of Advertising Employment Ads • Sally J. McMillan, Tennessee and Kim Bartel Sheehan, Brandt Heinemann and Charles Frazer, Oregon • This study examines technology-driven changes in the recruitment of advertising professionals. The researchers analyzed content of employment advertisements published in Advertising Age and posted on HotJobs. Differences were found both over time and between offline and online sources. Technology has increased demand for both computer skills and people skills such as being a team player. Advertising educators must adapt to technological change, but the classroom should not emphasize technology at the expense of interpersonal interaction.

Super.Com: An Analysis of Message Strategies Utilized in Super Bowl Ads for Dot.com Companies • Margaret A. Morrison and Candace White, Tennessee • Using a message strategy typology developed by Taylor (1999), a thematic analysis of dot.com commercials appearing in Super Bowl XXXIV was performed to determine which strategies these businesses use. Other aspects of the ads, including the gender of main characters and voice-over narration, were examined. Results indicate that rational and ego message strategies dominated the ads. Male voice-overs and characters dominate. The efficacy of the strategies used, along with the tactical elements are discussed.

Political Advertising and State of the Union Addresses: Distinct or Merging Communications? • Nelson Mumma Jr., North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Political advertising and State of the Union addresses are seemingly distinct types of communication. However, research and existing literature indicate that the gap between the two may be narrowing. This paper reveals that presidents are using State of the Union addresses to deliver what are, in part, political advertisements by previewing television advertising themes that run later that year and by mentioning campaign issues, their accomplishments, and their vice presidents.

The Role of Advertising, Special Promotions, and Loyalty Programs on Grocery Shopping in the New Millennium • Mary Alice Shaver, Michigan State and Carol J. Pardun, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • A random sample of 119 grocery shoppers indicated that most shoppers (95.9%) have at least one loyalty card to use while shopping. In addition, 31.2% were identified as loyal shoppers (those who had one card and shopped at one store) and 67.8% variety shoppers (those who had many cards and shopped at different stores). Both kinds of shoppers disregard newspaper advertising before heading out to the grocery store — and prefer national brands over store brands.

Effects of Violence and Brand Familiarity on Responses to Television Commercials • Fuyan Shen, South Dakota • This empirical study investigates the effect of violence and brand familiarity on an individual’s responses toward television commercials measured in terms of memory, brand attitude and purchase intention. Results indicate that violence has significant effects on the processing of advertising messages. These effects are moderated by brand familiarity. Specifically, on the measures of brand attitude and purchase intention, violence appears to be more effective in generating less favorable responses for familiar brands than unfamiliar brands.

Slackers, Whiz Kids, Introverts and Extroverts: Self-concept, Advertising, and the Susceptibility to Campus Drinking Rituals • Joyce M. Wolburg and Edward R. Frederick, Marquette • This study examines the relationship between self-concept, exposure and attention to alcohol advertising, and the influence of three functions of the drinking ritual among college students. Findings show that susceptibility to the functions of the drinking ritual is related to attention and exposure to alcohol advertising. Influence of the ritual function also varies among four self-identity groups — Slackers, Whiz Kids, Introverts and Extroverts.

Special Topics
The Role of Self in Processing Advertising Messages — An Exploration of Gender Schema • Ching Ching Chang, National Chengchi University • This study examines how individuals’ self-schemata interfere with their processing of advertising messages. It suggests that how subjects perceive themselves on one important dimension of self-schemata — gender schema — affects the way they respond to advertising messages with different user portrayals. Findings show that self-congruent messages generate higher levels of self-referencing, more positive emotions, less negative emotions and higher levels of calmness. Enhanced self-referencing and positive emotions lead to more positive ad liking and, in turn, result in more positive brand attitude.

From European Autonomy to Advertising Autonomy: European Advertising Self-Regulation in the Context of a Unified Europe • Anne Cunningham, Louisiana State • Few critics have questioned the contention — championed by such international organizations as the newly formed European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) — that unfettered advertising is necessary for the development of a free and thriving world economy. In an effort to promote freer exchange of advertising worldwide, many organizations are working to coordinate European advertising self-regulatory codes and practice. However, the literature on the detrimental impact of cultural synchronization and on the media’s, particularly advertising’s, role in transporting culture raises concerns about how standardizing European advertising self-regulation might influence those cultural values that threaten capitalist values.

Threat, Authoritarianism And Political Advertising: An Experiment In Personality And Persuasion • Fang Wan, Patrick Meirick, Jennifer Williams, Justin Holmes and Christina Fiebich, Minnesota • This study explores the interaction of authoritarianism and threat in evaluations of positive political advertisements. Threat and reward versions of ads for three issues were shown to 136 students. As predicted, those high in authoritarianism found threat ads more persuasive when the issues were analyzed as a whole, but this preference was significant for only one of the three when analyzed separately. Attitudes toward the ads and candidate traits, in turn, were related to evaluations of the candidates.

Messages of Hope: Developing Health Campaigns that Address Misperceptions of Breast Cancer Held by Women of Color • Cynthia M. Frisby, Missouri • Abstract According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among black women. Medical literature identifies two reasons for the high mortality rates for Black women: detection of the disease in its advance stages and/or myths, misperceptions, and fears concerning the causes of and prognosis related to breast cancer. Ninety-two African-American females ranging in age from 20 to 77 were surveyed to determine the beliefs and perceptions held about breast cancer.

Internet Advertising: A Cross-Media Analysis between Advertising Content on the Internet and in Print • Sarwat M. Husain, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This pilot study attempts to compare advertising content between the Internet and a traditional medium. Both media focused on vehicles that ware targeted to women; women’s websites and a woman’s general interest magazine. Information collected via frequency tables showed that print magazines had almost twice as many ads (86) compared to websites (mean 47.5). Therefore, advertising was not found to be as prevalent on the Internet as in the traditional print media.

Television News Coverage of Advertising: A Census of the Last Years of the Twentieth Century • Kevin L. Keenan, The American University in Cairo • This study is a content analysis of all television news stories about advertising on ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC during the years 1994 through 1999. Variables examined include the types of advertisers reported on, the tone and theme of advertising stories, the types of sources consulted, and the media categories included. Comparisons are made with an earlier study of television news coverage and with a study of how newspapers cover advertising.

A Niche Analysis of the Web, Catalogs and Retail Stores: A Case in Taiwan • Cheng Kuo and Vincent Huang, National Chengchi University and Hairong Li, Michigan State • This study examines channel utilities of the Web in comparison with catalogs and retail stores from the perspective of niche theory. It identified and measured three channel utilities (communication, distribution, and convenience) with a set of 14 questions. Through on-line surveys, information about 909 Taiwanese internet users were collected and analyzed. Scales of channel utilities were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and then used to examine the niche breadth, niche overlap, and niche superiority of these channels.

J. Peterman and Seinfeld: Why a Promotional Success Was a Marketing Failure • Richard Parker and James A. Karrh, Alabama • Despite unprecedented exposure as part of television’s most popular show, the J. Peterman Company failed. This paper reviews the Peterman case in light of research on the value of such in-program brand exposures. A set of principles is offered that not only helps explain J. Peterman’s missed opportunities but that also serves as a guide to other marketers seeking to arrange and exploit in-program brand exposures, brand (product) placements, and other forms of publicity.

Advertising and the Consumer’s Hunt for Information: Traditional and Internet Sources • Catherine Ilse Pfeifer, Wisconsin-Madison • “The advertising world is changing.” This is a statement that has been uttered since the dawn of marketing, but it is also becoming truer as time passes. The marketplace is experiencing a shift in both the target audiences and the media. This change in the advertising and marketing situation needs to be accompanied by changes in thinking about how to contact customers.

Underwriting the War Effort: The Advertising Council Organizes the Advertising Industry, 1942-1945 • Inger L. Stole, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • The focus of this paper is on the (War) Advertising Council during the Second World War. It discusses how the Council, acting in a public relations capacity for the advertising industry, spent considerable energy on coaching, encouraging, even guilt-tripping advertisers into compliance. The paper also discusses how the advertising community’s work through the Council was received among the American public. A case study of the War Advertising Council’s controversial 1944 campaign to “Stamp Out V.D.”, offers an interesting look at the extent to which individual advertisers were committed to the Council’s work.

Testing a Fear-based Personality Construct in the Consumer Context • Tao Sun, Minnesota • Based on the DDB Needham Life Style data, this paper validates the fear-based personality construct proposed by Doyle (1999). Set in a consumer behavior context, this paper investigates how people of different personalities, in order to diffuse their unique patterns of fear, engage in such consumption behaviors as saving, innovativeness, brand-name seeking, lottery buying, fashion pursuit, and energy/environment consciousness. Advertising implications (i.e., use of brand personality and of fear appeals) are discussed.

PF&R
Trouble with Angels: A Multi-disciplinary Analysis of Calvin Klein Jeans Advertising • Carla V. Lloyd, Syracuse • The 1995 Calvin Klein jeans campaign stirred up widespread opposition not seen before by the advertising industry. Scholarly research on this controversial ad campaign has tended to focus on the profession by examining the legal, regulatory and ethical ramifications of sexually explicit advertising on the practice of advertising. This study breaks new ground by using a multidisciplinary approach to examine this controversial advertising campaign. The findings of this study suggest that the young models appearing in the ads were posed and stylized to look like cherubs.

The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility • Cynthia R. Morton, Florida • The evolution in corporate social responsibility is represented by a consistent trend in company activity since the early l900s. Four major areas have contributed to the increasing influence of corporate involvement on issues of broad social concern. This paper examines the progression in corporate social responsibility, from the origin of philanthropic giving to more marketing-based activities such as sponsorships and cause-related marketing.

The Effectiveness of Attack and Response in Negative Political Advertising • Sung Wook Shim, Florida • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.

Teaching
Teaching Consumer Empathy: Adding a Service-Learning Component to the Advertising Research Course • Beth E. Barnes, Syracuse • Service-learning has been adopted by U.S. university faculty in many disciplines. This paper describes a service-learning component included in the advertising research course at a large university. Unlike many service-learning programs in communications the experience described here does not involve students working on a project such as a survey for a community organization, but instead puts students into organizations as volunteer observers. The mechanics of the program are described as well as preliminary outcomes.

Teaching TV Advertising Creative Using Digital Video on the Desktop • Fred K. Beard, Oklahoma and David Tarpenning, Advertising & Marketing Resources, Inc. • This paper describes the development and presentation of a TV advertising instructional unit based on desktop video technology. The paper (l) describes the authors’ curriculum development approach, (2) reports the results of quantitative evaluations of the unit by both students and advertising practitioners, (3) draws conclusions regarding the feasibility of including desktop video in advertising creative courses not entirely devoted to TV advertising, and (4) provides a sufficiently detailed description of the unit so it can be replicated by interested advertising educators.

A View From The Ivory Tower To The Real World: A Survey Of Those Who Teach Advertising Creative Courses • Sheri J. Broyles, North Texas • A national survey of educators in advertising creative classes asked about teaching challenges as well as the same open-ended questions asked of Creative Directors in the Kendrick, Slayden, and Broyles (1996) study. Results showed some differences, but more striking similarities. Both professors and professionals agree on the importance of conceptual ability and the portfolio for the entry-level creatives as well as bringing working professionals into the classroom. It is suggested that the Ivory tower and the Real World may not be all that different.

Integrating Public Speaking into the Advertising Curriculum • Kim Golombisky, South Florida • Presentations are an inevitable and crucial part of the advertising business. Yet advertising education does not emphasize effective public speaking skills. This essay first argues the need for advertising students to develop presentation skills and then shares a method for integrating public speaking into advertising courses without “crowding out” traditional advertising content. Following “writing across the curriculum” programs, “speaking across the curriculum” provides a model for incorporating oral communication skills into advertising courses.

Student
Advertising Ethics: What is it and who has it? • Kimberly C. Gaddie, Oklahoma • This study fills a gap in prior research on advertising ethics by focusing not on what types of ethical guidelines should be applied in agencies, but rather on what guidelines are applied. This study proposes that advertising practitioners employ a multi-tiered set of ethical codes in those decision-making situations. In-depth interviews were used to gain insight to the foundations and applications of ethics to daily decision-making processes. Findings indicate that elements of different ethical codes do in fact blend together to guide the decision-making processes of advertising practitioners.

Effective Communication of Brand Extensions: A Comparison of Close and Remote Extensions • Jooyoung Kim, Colorado-Boulder • Brand extension is where many branding theories are used since it requires a company to understand the original brand’s brand position, the intended extension category, and various communication strategies. Since brand extension is often a very effective marketing strategy, many scholars have been researching brand extensions, focusing on product development strategies and consumers’ basic evaluation process. However, relatively little research has been conducted regarding the communication aspects of brand extensions.

Differences in the Use of Message Strategies between the U.S. and Korean Television Automobile Commercials • Guiohk Lee, Tennessee • The purpose of the present study is to identify the similarities and differences in the use of creative strategies between American and Korean automobile TV commercials. The cultural differences of the two countries provided a basis for the hypotheses in examining the differences in the use of message strategies. The results show that there are statistically significant differences in the degree of informational/transformational strategies and the use of specific message strategies.

Examining Pathos, Ethos and Logos in Magazine Advertising • Jongmin Park, Pusan National University • Throughout the history of human communication, three different fields of study have developed: rhetoric, ethic, and logic. Manipulative advertising in this study is scrutinized by these three modes. The majority of rhetoricians regard manipulative advertising as a type of discourse used to demonstrate their diverse techniques. On the other hand, when consumers get extra utility and affirmative feelings from manipulative advertising, in addition to information, utilitarian ethicists do not believe it is unethical.

Presidential Primary 2000 Videocassettes: A Framing Study • John Parmelee, Florida • Current research on presidential primary campaign videocassettes provides merely a brief history of this unique type of advertising. This study uses frame analysis to explore the presidential primary campaign videos of Gary Bauer, Bill Bradley, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Al Gore, and John McCain. Two researchers systematically viewed the videos and found that while each candidate frame was unique, all six videos shared one frame: mass media as supplier of candidate validation.

Slinging Mud: The Effectiveness of Attack and Response in Negative Political Advertising • Sung Wook Shim, Florida • The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of the attacked candidate’s issue response and image response and the impact of issue and image attack on the attacking candidate. An experiment with manipulated television commercials was conducted to examine the character evaluation, commercial evaluation and likelihood of voting for the attacking candidate and attacked candidate. Issue attack had a more positive impact on the character evaluation, commercial evaluation and likelihood of voting for the attacking candidate than image attack.

What Works?: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Anti-Drinking and Driving Campaigns Aimed at College Students • Katie Wilson, Arkansas • Past focus group research of college students’ perceptions of anti-drinking and driving campaigns and promotions aimed at them is reviewed. The goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of these types of advertising campaigns in changing college students’ behavior. Analysis of the content of a college-sponsored ad suggests alternate approaches and different effectiveness levels.

<< 2000 Abstracts

Commission on the Status of Women

Emma Says: A Case Study of the Use of Comics for Health Education Among Women in the AIDS Heartland • Barbara Barnett, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Since AIDS was first diagnosed more than twenty years ago, international health organizations have designed numerous education and prevention programs using mass media. Many of these health programs have targeted women, hoping to empower them to gain some measure of control over their sexual lives. This paper examines Emma Says, a comic series, designed to educate and empower women in rural Africa. It proposes a new women-centered model for examining the impact of health messages.

HBO’s Sex and the City and the Perpetuation of Myths About Women: A Feminist Cultural Criticism • Tina Carroll, University of Miami, and Ukaiko Bitrus, Beverly Pike, Summer Powell, Mona Moore and Aimee Ivas, University of South Alabama • Sex and the City is a 30-minute cable show depicting the lives of four, single women in Manhattan. The show received a Lucy Award for Innovation by Women in Film for “excellence and innovations that has enhanced the perception of women in television.” Given this, we analyzed the show and determined it perpetuates common societal myths concerning women. Since myths shape our beliefs and perceptions of the world, this question is important to the field of feminist research.

Televised Reproductive Health News Reports as a Public Panoptican Policing the Plagued, Passive, and Perverse Female Patient: A Content Analysis • Marie Dick, Southwest State University • This content analysis of televised reproductive health reports, describes differences in body visibility, invasions and positioning between male and female patients. Based on medical history, post-structuralist and feminist theories, the analysis posits that these images may function as a public panoptican placing women’s bodies in positions that transfer detriments of the medical gaze to a public gaze, and maintain socio-scientific social positioning of women defined as passive, reproductively sick, and as sexual/fetish objects.

The Representation of Women in Prime-Time Television: An Examination of Genre and Stereotypes • Jennifer Jacobs Henderson and Gerald J. Baldasty, University of Washington • This study examines the image of women in TV drama shows and situation comedies in an effort to gauge the impact of genre on TV images. On sitcoms, women were defined primarily by traditional female stereotypes, while women in dramas had more diverse roles and images. In many areas, however, few differences appeared between genres. Women in both genres were often defined according to their beauty and sexuality, and more by emotions, affection and nurturing than men.

Home Court Disadvantage?: Examining the Coverage of Female Athletes on Leading Sports Websites – A Pilot Study • Tara M. Kachgal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This exploratory content analysis study examined gender representation of female athletes on three leading sports websites (CBSSportsLine, CNNSI, and ESPN) using descriptive indicators and framing analysis. Results show that female athletes received less coverage (i.e., number of news items and images) than male athletes but were not framed any more ambivalently than male athletes. These findings suggest that sports websites may marginalize athletes in the same way that traditional sports media do but may differ in gender stereotyping.

NAMING RAPE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS: A U.S. NEWSROOM POLICY STUDY, 2000 • Kim E. Karloff, California State University-Northridge • Traditionally, editors of U.S. newspapers have withheld the identification of rape victims, unless the victim was well-known or unless the victim was murdered. This newsroom policy study, conducted in November 2000, focuses on whether or not the major newspaper in each state has a policy regarding the naming of rape victims, and what that policy says and/or what that policy allows its newspaper editors and reporters to cover in reporting on the crime of rape. Based on this study’s findings, most daily newspaper editors support employing and maintaining policies to withhold the names of rape/sexual assault victims. What is new: At least 50 percent of the daily newspaper editors said they would make an exception and name the victim if she or he asked for or consented to identification.

TITLE IX BABIES, SPORTS MEDIA AND ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN IN SPORTS AND SOCIETY • Paula Whatley Matabane and Bishetta D. Merritt, Howard University • The 1990’s are a watershed decade reflecting the impact of Title Ix on American sports with unprecedented numbers of females participating. A study of 189 college students’ use of sports media and participation showed females’ positive attitudes toward women in sports and society were related to watching women sports on television; males negative attitudes were related to watching male sports on television and sports news.

The Olympic Ideal: A Content Analysis of the Coverage of Olympic Women’s Sports in San Francisco Bay Area Newspapers • Greg Mellen and Patricia Coleman, University of Missouri • This study extends previous research on coverage of women’s Olympic sports in selected newspapers. A content analysis was conducted on sports sections from large, medium and small newspapers from the San Francisco Bay Area. 513 stories and nearly 18,000 inches of text, photos and graphics were coded. The study supports Kinnick’s findings of equitable and proportional coverage, but finds a bias in favor of “gender appropriate” sports.

VIRTUAL WOMEN: REPLACING THE REAL • Nnedi Okorafor, The Star Newspapers and Africana.com Chicago, and Lucinda D. Davenport, Michigan State University • This is the first study to examine only female characters in video games. Researchers reviewed documented game character profiles, did content analysis of female characters’ appearance in the games, and qualitatively examined a game series within action/adventure, role-playing and fighting types of games. Findings showed that female characters possessed highly exaggerated and negative stereotypes in appearance and behavior that increased over time. These stereotypes may influence boys and girls to adopt the roles and values they see in video games (cultivation theory), but also may affect girls in developing cognitive proficiency and computer skills.

Resuscitating Feminist Audience Studies: Colonialism, Occidentalism, and the Control of Women • Radhika E. Parameswaran, Indiana University • In this essay, I critique recent arguments in cultural studies that advocate for a radical shift from audience studies to textual analyses and political economy. I suggest that instead of abandoning the audience, feminist scholars must instead acknowledge the racial politics of critiques, which imply that cultural studies has finished the project of gathering knowledge on audiences. The paper urges feminist scholars to resuscitate audience studies by paying attention to historical and ideological contexts that frame audience activity. Analyzing a sample of the contexts that determined and shaped the contours of my ethnographic research among young middle-class women in India, I show that feminist audience studies can contribute rich insights into the multi-layered and intricate qualities of women’s resistance against patriarchy. In conclusion, I argue that far from disbanding the study of women audiences, feminist audience ethnographers must enrich their studies by carefully accounting for contexts.

Portrayals of Wife Abuse in the New York Times 1915 & 1925 • Ginger L. Park, Kansas State University • This study seeks to examine how the media has portrayed wife abuse historically. It offers insight into coverage of intimate relationships during the period surrounding the Nineteenth Amendment and of the importance of women’s rights and safety to society. Issues of the 1915 and 1925 New York Times were studied to determine how it portrayed victims, perpetrators and wife abuse in general before and after a major turning point in women’s history.

A Descriptive Analysis of NBC’s Coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics • C.A. Tuggle, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Suzanne Huffman, Texas Christian University and Dana Scott Rosengard, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study examines the amount of NBC’s 2000 Olympics coverage devoted to women’s athletics. Analysis showed that women received proportionately less coverage in 2000 than they did in 1996 on the U.S. network, and that coverage focused on individual events, with women competing in team sports receiving relatively little coverage. As was the case in 1996, women who competed in 2000 in sports involving power or hard physical contact received almost no attention.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Science Communication Interest Group

Riding the Hoopla: An Analysis of Mass Media Coverage of GMOs in Britain and the United States: 1997-2000 • Eric A. Abbott, Tracy Lucht, Jeffrey P. Jensen, Zajira Jordan-Conde, Iowa State University • Three models – social amplification of risk, hoopla, and triggering effects – were used to develop and test predictions about coverage of genetically modified organisms in the New York Times, London Times and London Daily mail from 1997-2000. A content analysis showed scientists have declined significantly as sources over time, while citizens’ groups have remained constant Themes, or frames, for articles shifted in response to triggering events. Positive themes declined over time while negative ones remained relatively constant

The Internet and the Environmental Protection Agency: Public Access to Toxic Chemical Off-Site Consequence Information • James F. Carstens, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Final Rule in August 2000 that regulates public access to information about possible dangers to pubic safety involving potentially toxic chemicals used in manufacturing plants (Off-Site Consequence Analysis – OCA). Limited information concerning accidental chemical releases, including worse-case scenarios, is now accessible through federal reading rooms. Law officials were concerned OCA information could allow manufacturing plants to be targeted by terrorists. It is an important and unique ruling, in which the benefits of providing public citizens with information directly related to their health and welfare had to be weighed against the distinct possibility that the same information could compromise national security.

Experts in All Areas: Medical and Scientific Sources in Stories about AIDS • William P. Cassidy, University of Oregon • This study examines attributed comments made by medical and/or scientific (non-governmental) sources in news stories about AIDS in four elite and four non-elite newspapers during a nine week period in late 1986 and early 1987. Results show that 38.4% of attributed comments made by medical and/or scientific (non-governmental) sources fell outside their areas of expertise. Elite newspapers published a higher percentage (43.2%) of such comments than non-elite newspapers

Motivations to Participate in Riparian Improvement Programs: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior • Julia B. Corbett, University of Utah • This study utilized the theory of planned behavior, a model of attitudinal factors related to behavioral intention, to investigate the lack of participation in government-sponsored programs to conserve riparian areas. A questionnaire mailed to rural landowners whose property abutted a waterway revealed that financial motivations, past behaviors, exposure to government information, and self-efficacy predicted 29% of the variance in intent to participate in future conservation programs. The findings suggest that financial variables are important moderators of perceived behavioral control.

Get Excited! Be Calm! An Examination of Risk-inducing and Risk-reducing Statements in Food-Safety Messages • Joye Gordan, Kansas State University • Risk perception is a well-established factor impacting a host of human behaviors. As such, risk communicators are often motivated to stimulate or allay emotional reactions to physical hazards. This study questioned if governmental versus private sponsorship of food-safety messages was related to the amount of risk-inducing and risk-reducing statements in those messages. Results of a quantitative content analysis found that governmental communicators are saying “get excited,” while private communicators are asking consumers to “be calm.”

The Importance of Being Accountable: The Relationship Between Perceptions of Accountability, Knowledge and Attitude Toward Plant Genetic Engineering • Tracy Irani, University of Florida, Janas Sinclair, Florida International University and Michelle O’Malley, Kansas State University • A survey of 381 respondents was conducted to in an attempt to explore the relationship between perceptions of the accountability of government, industry, and the regulatory process and respondents’ knowledge and attitudes toward potential benefits of food biotechnology. Using regression analysis, results indicated that accountability linkages as derived form Schlenker’s model could be used to develop a prediction model in which accountability was a better predictor of attitude toward potential benefits of biotechnology than respondents’ level of knowledge.

Has Media Coverage Become More Environmentally Friendly?: The Case of Sprawl Development • Patricia M. Kennedy, Syracuse University • Sprawl, for those who may be unfamiliar with the term, is a way of describing the primarily vertical pattern of residential and commercial construction that spreads in a non-contiguous (“leapfrog”) manner outward from a nearby metropolitan core. This paper examines media coverage of “sprawl” and provides evidence that the mass media are behaving in ways that support a more environmentally friendly pattern of development of the built environment. It is the thesis of this paper that journalistic interest has increased the volume, and altered the valence and manner of media presentation of the issue of sprawl development, which is in turn is causing a national “hard look” at the way we construct our built environment. It is the author’s view that in the case of sprawl, the press is acting to inform the public and to frame the issue in ways that influence and shape public opinion in environmentally positive directions. This paper includes a discussion of the history, causes and defining characteristics of sprawl development, a description of what journalists are saying about the newsworthiness of sprawl; a review of previous research in which it is argued that sprawl is a suitable case for studying patterns of environmental coverage, a proposed method for evaluating when the media are covering an issue in an environmentally friendly way and a report of some preliminary findings from a content analysis project examining media coverage of sprawl.

A Comparison of Biotechnology Coverage Across Specialist Journalists and News Organizations, 1995-1999 • Matt Nisbet and Bruce V. Lewenstein, Cornell University • A quantitative content analysis of print media coverage of biotechnology 1995 to 1999 was compared across types of specialist journalists, including science, political, business, and news wire reporters; and across publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Newsweek. Significant differences in patterns of attention, focus on themes, use of framing devices, and featured actors were found across publications and types of specialist journalists. Our findings provide useful indicators for communication researchers, journalists, and policy-makers concerned with mass media treatment of biotechnology, and other political or social controversies related to science and technology.

A Repertoire Approach to Environmental Information Channels • Garrett ‘ÕKeefe, Heather Ward, and Robin Shephard, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study supports the hypothesis that given the multiple functions communication channels can serve, individuals use repertoires or groups of overlapping information channels for various purposes. Landowners in three Wisconsin counties were segmented into urbanites, rural nonfarmers, and farmers. We analyzed the frequencies with which these groups used different channels for information regarding conservation. Channel use by the groups differed although the same repertoires were found for each. Predictors of repertoires varied.

Media Effects on Public Understanding of Salmon Recovery: The Role of Information Processing • Keith R. Stamm, Fiona Clark & Marcos Torres, University of Washington • Weak and inconsistent effects have been reported in recent reviews of research on media contributions to public understanding of environmental problems. A random digit dialing (RDD) telephone survey incorporated a new measure of receiver engagement with media content, as well as new measures of public understanding focused on the political and economic dimensions of a regional environmental problem. The study found that the amount of receiver engagement made a significant difference in effects on public understanding.

Science in Cyberspace: An Analysis of Science Web Sites for Girls • Jocelyn Steinke, Western Michigan University • Girls who have little or no contact with women scientists may develop perceptions about science-related careers based partly on media images of women scientists. This study analyzed the content of 27 science Web sites for girls and examined the themes addressed in 166 biographies of women scientists found on these sites. The findings indicate these sites both teach girls about science and present vocational information about careers in science. The biographies focus on issues considered important in influencing girls’ participation in careers in science. These include encouragement from parents, acceptance by male colleagues, and family-friendly workplaces.

Do New Media Messages Mitigate the Effect of Corporate Environmental Ads? A test of source credibility and message balance • John Trent and Jennifer Greer, University of Nevada-Reno • A quasi-experimental design was used to examine factors that influence attitudes toward an environmental advertisement and its sponsoring company. Subjects were shown one of five news stories to test for the effects of news source credibility and message balance. One-sided stories were more effective at causing subjects to critically evaluate “greenwashing” claims than two-sided stories. Source credibility did not influence attitudes, but age, ideology, and experience with gas companies were related to subject attitudes.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Religion and Media Interest Group

Religiosity and the Third-Person Effect • Guy Golan, University of Florida • During the past decade, the third person effect has emerged as an important area of research in the field of mass communications. The current study provides the first empirical measurement of the influence of religion on the third person effect. The study provides evidence that on moral issues, religiosity is positively associated with perceived media impact on others. The study also provides evidence that on non-moral issues, religiosity is not associated with perceived media impact on self or others.

The Effect of Survey Mode on Responses about Religious Beliefs and Behaviors • Barry A. Hollander, University of Georgia • This study focuses on the effect the mode of a national survey (phone versus personal interview) can have on answers to questions about religious beliefs and behaviors. Mode is found to have little effect on how people answer questions about their religious beliefs and behaviors or on the relationships among religious variables and other variables of interest, including media exposure and trust. The one exception is the self-identification of oneself as a born-again Christian.

Newspaper Coverage of Fundamentalist Christians, 1980-2000 • Peter Kerr, Patricia Moy, University of Washington • In light of evidence indicating that political attitudes are driven in part by attitudes toward fundamentalist Christians (Bolce & de Maio, 1999), this study examines the potential role of media coverage in influencing these attitudes. A content analysis of a probability sample of 2,696 articles drawn from Lexis-Nexis indicates a relatively stable and slightly negative portrayal of fundamentalist Christians over the past two decades. The amount and type of depictions differed by geographical region as well as by type of newspaper article. Also emerging from the data was a trend toward the meshing of religion and politics. Implications of such coverage are discussed.

A Public Interest in Religious Broadcasting: A Case Study of Korean Religious Cable TV • Min Soo Kim, The Seoul Catholic Archdiocese of Korea • no abstract.

Religion and Topoi in the News: An Analysis of the “Unsecular Media” hypothesis • Rick Clifton Moore, Boise State University • Mark Silk has proposed in Unsecular Media that journalists operate with a limited series of topoi and that these are borrowed from religion. Silk thus claims when journalists write about religion, they do so in a very positive manner. In this study, I apply topic analysis to recent news coverage of Jesse Jackson to determine the extent to which the topos of hypocrisy was employed and whether this employment supported or challenged religious values.

Gone Fishin’: A Framing Analysis of the Fight over a Small Town’s City Seal • Mark Paxton, Southwest Missouri State University • This study is a framing analysis of regional and national newspaper, Internet and Associated Press news coverage of the legal dispute over the inclusion of a fish symbol on the city seal in the small town of Republic, MO. Analysis of news articles revealed four frames. First, news reports framed the fish as a Christian symbol, despite supporters’ contentions that it merely represented non-denominational moral values. Second, news reports trivialized the dispute by framing the issue as unimportant. Third, news accounts represented the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city as a religious outsider because of her Wiccan beliefs. Fourth, news accounts framed the dispute in terms of grassroots support for the fish symbol and outside meddlers opposed to the fish symbol.

Fantasy Theme Analysis in the interplay of Charles M. Sheldon’s In His Steps and his Jesus Newspaper • Michael Smith, Regent University • This article uses fantasy theme analysis to explore the remarkable work of the Rev. Dr. Charles M. Sheldon, a Congregationalist minister. In 1887 Sheldon wrote In His Steps, a best-selling novel, and gained international recognition. This novel depicted ordinary people who were inspired to make decisions by asking themselves, “What would Jesus do?” In the novel, a newspaper editor applied the question to his business and altered his advertising and editorial policies to conform to standards he believed Jesus would practice. In 1900 Sheldon was invited to become that fictional newspaper editor and lead a daily newspaper from March 13 to March 17, 1900. This research examines the way Sheldon’s approach to journalism formed a web of meaning for his audience that reflected his worldview. Using the “What would Jesus do?” question, Sheldon created a rhetorical vision for his readers. The fictional world described in the novel was reproduced in real life as Sheldon’s rhetorical vision spread through his work in the daily newspaper.

‘Where all things are pure and of good report’: The Doctrinal Theology, Religious Practice, and Media Manipulation of the Christian Science Church • Douglas Swanson, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse • The Church of Christ, Scientist, is a 21st century religious movement that is facing considerable challenges to its existence on many fronts. The church is morally hound to the unalterable religious theology of its 19th century founder, Mary Baker Eddy. The church is legally obligated to an intractable management structure Mrs. Eddy proscribed in the church Manual. For more than a century, church leadership has been able to follow Mrs. Eddy’s example and successfully manipulate the media to control dissemination of information about the church’s theology and practice. At the same time, the church has presented a pleasing public image of “rectitude and spiritual understanding” (Eddy, 1906, p.403). But recent financial crises and legal action against the church have generated unprecedented dissent, both inside and outside Christian Science. Examining how church leadership is struggling to address current issues with its 19th century frameworks could be indicative of the future success or failure of the Christian Science movement.

“Jesus Sends Dolphins to Save Cuban Child:” How the Press Played the “God Angle” in the Elian Gonzalez Story • Susan Willey, Florida Atlantic University • This study explores how well journalists report on supernatural religious claims when they insert themselves in a political and foreign policy story. An analysis of press reports of the Elian Gonzalez story reveals that reporters generally ignored the religious angle. When it was covered, journalists failed to question the assertions or provide any critical explanation that would have added depth and context and better understanding of the political power of religion within the Cuban-American community.

<< 2001 Abstracts

Media and Disability Interest Group

“Disability” as Diversity in Public Relations Textbooks • Louella Benson-Garcia, Pepperdine University • The purpose of this study was to determine the extent, if any, that public relations textbooks address the diversity category of “disability.” Of the 17 textbooks analyzed, 12 did not. Four listed people with disabilities in a one- or two-sentence laundry list of diversity groups. The most substantial – a 69-word passage on eliminating writer bias. Results indicated a need for interest/advocacy groups to proactively provide curriculum materials and other information to educators, many of whom are textbook authors.

Primetime Portrayal of Persons with Disabilities: A Study in Representation, Stereotype and Impact • Dennis J. Ganahl & Mark Arbuckle, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • This study examined the presence and portrayal of persons with visually detected physical impairments during prime time network television commercials. The research coded 1,337 prime time commercials during a 1999 sweeps rating period. First this study identified Primary and Secondary Actors with visually detected physical impairments. Then it categorized those actors’ roles according to Nelson’s Stereotypes. After being counted and categorized, the roles were evaluated for their potentially positive or negative impact. Broadly, this research found that persons with visually detected physical impairments were virtually nonexistent and only half of the acting roles could be categorized according to one of Nelson’s Stereotypes.

Leaving up to the Industry: People with Disabilities and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 • Tomoko Kanayama, Ohio University • Telecommunications policy becomes more important to solve the problem of the disabled in the information society. This paper examined whether Section 255 of the 1996 Act can achieve the goal. The paper found that this regulation remains more on encouragement to the industry to consider accessibility issues for the disabled. If the FCC will continue to rely on the voluntary efforts of the industry, the disabled will not enjoy the benefits of access to telecommunications systems.

A Right to the News: Accessibility of Newspaper Web sites to the Visually Impaired • Kathleen K. Olson, Lehigh University • Image-rich Web pages are often difficult for screen readers and other assistive technologies to interpret, limiting their usefulness to the visually impaired. This study uses the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines for Web developers to determine whether the top daily papers in the United States fulfill the Priority 1 requirement of accessibility for the disabled by providing textual alternatives to the visual content on their home pages.

<< 2001 Abstracts