Family man in advertising? A content analysis of male domesticity and fatherhood in Taiwanese commercials

This study examines how Taiwanese commercials represent women and men, particularly men, in the family context as spouses and parents. A content analysis of prime-time commercials indicates that advertising representations of gender roles have made only slight and slow progress. Men are much less likely than women to be shown doing housework and taking care of children. When men are shown as nurturant fathers, their involvements with children are limited to playing with offspring.     

The effectiveness of health disclosures within children's television commercials

In a study involving 164 children ages 3 to 14, the effectiveness of incorporating health information disclosures into actual television commercials was tested. Results indicated that most children were able to recall and make sense of such disclosures.     

The Impact of Television Advertising on Children's Christmas Wishes

In December 1997,250 children were asked to list their Christmas wishes. These requests were then compared to the commercials that were broadcast at the time of data collection. Sixty-seven percent of the seven- and eight-year-olds, 49% of the 9- and 10-year-olds, and 40% of the 11-and 72-year-olds asked for at least one advertised product. Children's gender and age, as well as their level of exposure to the network that aired the most commercials, were significant predictors of their requests for advertised products.     

Underrepresented,positively portrayed: Older adults in television commercials

This paper reports a content analysis of 778 television commercials. Commercials were examined for the presence of older adults. Commercials featuring older adults were then examined more closely to describe the nature of the portrayals. Consistent with previous research, older adults were shown to be underrepresented in the commercials examined, as compared to their presence in the population. This effect was particularly strong for older women and for members of ethnic minorities. However, older adults were found to be presented in a relatively positive light—as active, happy, and strong. In addition, older adults were shown to be least underrepresented in advertisements for financial services and retail chains, and most underrepresented in advertisements for automobiles and travel services. The results are discussed in terms of the changing position of the older adult consumer in the marketplace. Suggestions for future research are provided.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

The influence of irritating commercials on radio listening habits

This study tracks station‐switching behavior in a controlled setting and combines results from in‐depth personal interviews to assess reaction to radio commercials, particularly those commercials that cause irritation. Attitude toward the ad models were used to predict how listeners would react to exposure to irritating commercials. Results showed participants changed stations an average of once every minute and a half during the experiment. These changes took place two to three times more often during commercials than during music segments. The overall finding was that high levels of station changing occurred during all commercials, not just irritating ones. This research was made possible in part by a grant from the National Association of Broadcasters.     

Food and Beverage Advertising on U.S. Television: A Comparison of Child-Targeted Versus General Audience Commercials

Major advertisers and children's television networks have announced marketing policies designed to combat childhood obesity. A content analysis of food advertising was conducted on programming from broadcast and cable networks most likely to be viewed by children. Unlike previous content analyses, the results show that nutrition appeals are among the most frequently used. However, as in past research, unhealthy foods are most frequently advertised. Further, child-targeted commercials employ production techniques and persuasive appeals that children have found difficult to evaluate critically. The potential impacts of this advertising landscape are discussed on both the individual and social level.     

Gender-Differentiated Production Features in Toy Commercials

Twenty years ago researchers found that quite apart from the manifest content of television commercials aimed at children, certain formal features showed a marked tendency to vary according to the sex of the target consumers: in particular certain post-production features (transitions and voice-overs). The current study involved a content analysis of formal features in 117 toy advertisements broadcast on British television. Statistically significant differences were found for the same features and also for camera work.     

A conceptual framework for understanding the content of advertising: Its application to the specific case of Chinese television commercials

The conceptual framework for explaining advertising content formulated in this paper begins with environmental factors such as culture and economic system, and ends with the ads themselves—with advertising industry factors, such as practices and views/values of its actors, and consumer factors, such as experience making up the middle two layers. An empirical application of this model, through variables derived from it, to Chinese television commercials suggests post‐hoc substantiation for the most part. Future studies could pose and test a priori hypotheses (for other countries, media, and variables) leading to the refinement, clarification, and elaboration of the model.     

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.     

New scheme of communication: an exploratory study of interactivity and multimedia use in Chinese j-blogs and the implications

Major cultural values in Chinese and Indian TV commercials were identified in this content analysis. Commercials in both countries were found emphasizing modernity over tradition as a dominant value. Chinese commercials used more traditional values while Indian commercials reflected a more Western value orientation. Foreign brands used modernity more frequently than domestic brands. Foreign brands of Eastern origin used modernity even more often than those of Western origin. Product category emerged as the most important variable affecting cultural values in both countries' commercials. While contributing to international advertising research, this study provides implications for international advertising practice.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.