Listener‐member perceptions of marketing strategies employed by public radio stations

This study measured the attitudes of public radio listener‐contributors regarding listener‐focused marketing strategies used by public radio stations. Four hundred forty‐two questionnaires from Northern Colorado and Central Michigan were returned. Overall, respondents expressed a positive attitude toward on‐air fund‐raising. Although they held a slightly negative opinion of on‐air pledge appeals, these negative responses were offset by positive responses about the perceived need for such fund‐raising. Respondents appreciated receiving direct mail from their radio station, but were strongly opposed to telephone contacts. They also agreed that underwriting announcements sound more like commercials than in the past.     

Effects of imagery‐eliciting on recognition and recall for radio commercials

This experiment suggests that recognition and recall are better for radio commercials with imagery‐eliciting copy than for commercials without imagery‐eliciting copy.     

Switching Radio Stations While Driving: Magnitude,Motivation, and Measurement Issues

station, this study looked at what motivates audiences to turn away. Among the findings of a general public survey of more than 350 people were that (a) drivers frequently switch stations during a mere quarter-hour listening span, and (b) avoidance of commercials (or zapping) was by far the most influential motivator. In light of these findings, this article discusses the limitations of conventional Arbitron quarter-hour methodology to measure station switching and explores how the company's experimental electronic Personal People Meter (PPM) can offer a welcome solution to this problem.     

Gender Portrayals Across the Life Span: A Content Analytic Look at Broadcast Commercials

This study investigated the role that age plays in gender portrayals in contemporary television commercials. A content analysis of 2,315 characters appearing in commercials aired during a composite week of prime-time programming on 6 major broadcast networks was conducted. The study compared images of female participants from childhood through the senior years to identify the extent to which female members of different age groups replicate conclusions drawn about images of females-in-general in advertising. The study also contrasted images of female characters from different age groups with their same-age male counterparts to shed additional light on the complexity of gender portrayals in prime-time commercials. The findings indicate significant differences among same-age gender portrayals and same-gender age portrayals. Results are interpreted within a social cognitive theory framework and directions for future research are articulated.     

Gender portrayal in Hong Kong and Korean children's TV commercials: A cross‐cultural comparison

This study examined gender portrayal in a sample of 345 television commercials broadcast during children's programmes in Hong Kong and Korea using content analysis. Literature suggests that Hong Kong culture differs from Korean culture on the dimension of Masculinity/Femininity proposed by Hofstede. The differences between the two countries provide a valid test of theory, and suggest hypotheses about the gender portrayal in children's advertising. The results of the study showed, contrary to expectations from Hofstede's framework, that the gender portrayal of central characters and the level of gender stereotyping in Hong Kong commercials was similar to those of Korean commercials. Possible explanations include the emerging homogeneous youth market using a standardized advertising strategy, and the rising concern for women's rights in Korea.     

Content analysis of shyness portrayals in television advertising

This study tested the hypotheses that shyness is under‐represented in television advertising and that among shy characters, women and children are over‐represented. Network commercials were content‐analyzed for their characterizations of inhibited behaviors. Results indicated that shyness was rarely exhibited and, within the shy portrayals, men and children were more likely to be depicted as shy.     

Race Representation in Child-Targeted Television Commercials

This study examined the visibility, status, and roles assigned to major U.S. racial groups in commercials broadcast during children's programming on 8 stations over 1 weekday and 1 weekend day (N = 1,487). Although the proportion of Whites and African Americans surpassed their actual percentages, Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans were dramatically underrepresented. The visibility of racial minorities was further diminished by their segregation into commercials for a limited group of products. When commercials showed racial minorities, they tended to cast them in stereotypical, lower prestige roles. Commercials privileged Whites by showing them in every type of commercial and role. Whites were the only characters in high-status roles and, in comparison to racial minorities, were significantly more likely to be spokespeople, initiators of action, and problem solvers. This asymmetry reveals that modest improvements in the demographics of child-targeted commercials are insignificant when weighed against the racial bias evident in the depiction of social power.     

“Masculine” vs. “feminine” strategies in political ADS: Implications for female candidates

This study explored several research questions concerning strategies typically said to be beneficial for female political candidates. Six 60‐second videotaped political commercials were produced featuring a female “candidate”, each containing either a “masculine” or a “feminine” strategy. The strategies were aggressive, nonaggressive, career, family, ambitious, and nonambitious. Each political commercial was inserted into a set of four locally produced, nonpolitical ads. Six groups of students were randomly assigned to each of the six treatment groups. After viewing the commercials, subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire to measure response to the candidate and to the ads through semantic differentials and Likert‐scale questions. Results from the study indicate that the “aggressive” strategy worked better in comparison with the “nonaggressive” strategy and the “career” strategy worked better in comparison with the “family” strategy. Few significant differences were found between the “ambitious” and the “nonambitious” strategies. Several implications for female candidates are discussed.     

Radio Station Innovation and Risk Taking: A Survey of Programmers and General Managers

We conducted a survey of radio station program directors and general managers to explore the perception and role of innovation within radio programming and the key factors that influence this perception. In the study, we found that, in general, programmers and general managers perceive little innovation in programming except at their own stations. Results also indicate perceptions that more risk taking is needed in radio programming, that risk taking is essential for the financial health of a station, that increased artist diversity and an innovative music rotation influence the perception of innovation at the station level, and that too many commercials are being placed within an average hour of programming.     

Does Background Music Really Help Radio Commercials? The Effect of Involvement on Ad Recall

This study tested the effects of background music on the recall of radio commercials. Free and aided recall were significantly higher for subjects who heard the commercials containing no background music in the talk program compared to that of subjects hearing the commercials containing no background music in the music program. Furthermore, involvement level appears to be a factor in influencing recall. The involvement level with the music program was low compared to the involvement level with the talk program and this seems to have a mitigating effect on the recall of the commercials.     

A world bibliography of selected periodicals on broadcasting

The authors designed two instructional units—role‐playing and traditional—to examine if young children can be taught general and specific intent of television commercials. The results demonstrate that both treatment groups of children, ages six to seven, experienced significant increases in understanding of commercials.     

Using mass media in the presidential primaries: Effects on candidate issue knowledge and confidence in judging candidate viability

The role of mass media in the presidential primaries has not been examined in the same fashion as in the presidential general elections, congressional elections, and gubernatorial elections. This study is based on a survey (face‐to‐face interviews) of 392 adults randomly selected from a city with a population of 444,000 during the 1996 presidential primaries. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that television news programs increase learning about candidate issue policies. People's confidence in judging which candidate has a better chance to win the party's nomination is influenced by reading of newspaper campaign stories, viewing of the campaign commercials, and their attention to the campaign news on TV. This study enriches our understanding of media effects in the presidential primaries.     

Commercial Humor Enhancement of Program Enjoyment: Gender and Program Appeal As Mitigating Factors

Previous research has shown that if commercials showcase higher levels of humor, they can enhance the viewer's enjoyment of the program in which the commercials are contained. The theory of excitation transfer has been used to explain this phenomenon. This experimental research suggests some modifications to its application in this setting, suggesting that there must be an adequate level of TV program appeal initially for the appeal to be enhanced by commercials. In this study, men's enjoyment of a sitcom was enhanced when high humor commercials were included in the program.     

Effects of emotion and product involvement on the experience of repeated commercial viewing

The intensity of the viewing experience people have while watching television was expected to enhance recall of commercials and also to render commercials less vulnerable to negative attitude change over multiple exposures. The effects of two variables, commercial induced emotion and product involvement, were tested in an experiment where people watched one hour of programming and embedded commercials on four consecutive days. Testing occurred after the fourth session; ads were repeated from two to 12 times during this time period. Broadly stated, findings indicate that emotional appeals and product involvement have favorable effects on brand name recall, attitudes, and purchase intention. Results are discussed with regard to their managerial and social implications.     

Enhancing responses to television advertisements via the transfer of residual arousal from prior programming

Viewers rated television commercials seen two and one‐half to four minutes after highly arousing film segments as significantly more effective and enjoyable than the same commercials seen after less arousing programming.     

FROM THE SCREEN TO ME, 1984–2008

This paper explores Apple and Microsoft television commercials from the last 25 years and argues that they visualize three phases of the human–computer relationship through the changing positions of the computer and the human body. The three phases are: disembodied cyberspace, embodied hybridity and ubiquity. Ultimately, what becomes apparent is the extent to which these television commercials demonstrate what Henry Jenkins calls a ‘cultural convergence’ in relation to the human–computer relationship and why this convergence experienced a shift from phase one to phase two around the turn of the millennium. The paper ends by examining more recent Apple and Microsoft television commercials in order to explore the possibility of a new, third phase in the human–computer relationship.     

Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News

This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic, and more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Of interest, viewers in positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, perceived the topic presented in the news story as less important and serious.     

Behind the Smile: Reading Cultural Values in Thai Advertising

This study investigates how Thai cultural values are expressed in advertising messages. Manifest cultural values in Thai TV commercials were compared with value clusters identified by S. Komin in Psychology of the Thai people: Values and behavioral patterns (1991). Findings suggest that values expressed in the advertisements differ somewhat from those important to Thai people. While commercials were most likely to emphasize ego, a value rated as important to Thai people, the ads also focused on fun and pleasure and achievement/task orientation which are of lesser importance to Thais. Similarly, advertisements focused on maintaining smooth and gratifying interpersonal relationships were downplayed, despite the fact that these values are important in Thai society.     

How people tell an ad story: Western vs. Asian styles

The likelihood that people tell stories in advertising, as well as the type of stories they tell, may reflect their cultural variation. A content analysis shows that commercials in Taiwan are more likely to employ narrative appeals than are commercials in the United States, and the story structures in Taiwanese commercials are less likely to be well-developed. Narrative ads in the two cultures also differ on three content dimensions: problems to be solved, psychological benefits from solving the problem, and the emotion experienced in the process. The discussion of such differences relies on an integrated explanatory framework.     

Effects of music on source evaluations

Dr. Simpkins is an assistant professor in the department of advertising at Michigan State University, while Mr. Smith is a media analyst at Campbell‐Ewald, Inc. in Detroit. The research that follows offers some useful advice to producers of commercials and other material using a musical background.