Barbara Loken

Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour

Mass media campaigns are widely used to expose high proportions of large populations to messages through routine uses of existing media, such as television, radio, and newspapers. Exposure to such messages is, therefore, generally passive. Such campaigns are frequently competing with factors, such as pervasive product marketing, powerful social norms, and behaviours driven by addiction or habit. In this Review we discuss the outcomes of mass media campaigns in the context of various health-risk behaviours (eg, use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, heart disease risk factors, sex-related behaviours, road safety, cancer screening and prevention, child survival, and organ or blood donation). We conclude that mass media campaigns can produce positive changes or prevent negative changes in health-related behaviours across large populations. We assess what contributes to these outcomes, such as concurrent availability of required services and products, availability of community-based programmes, and policies that support behaviour change. Finally, we propose areas for improvement, such as investment in longer better-funded campaigns to achieve adequate population exposure to media messages.

THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF EXTENSIONS: CAN FLAGSHIP PRODUCTS BE DILUTED?

This article extends the scope of investigations into the potential risks of brand and line extension strategies. Here, the authors examine whether extensions can dilute beliefs associated with a s...

Alternative Approaches to Understanding the Determinants of Typicality

Data were collected for eight sets of product- and brand-level categories to better understand the determinants of typicality and the relationship between typicality and attitude of reach category level. Measures of both feature similarity (family resemblance) and goal achievement (ideals, attribute structure) predicted typicality. However, the latter measures were more likely to moderate the typicality-attitude relationship. Frequency of instantiation was superior to a general familiarity measure in predicting typicality. Attitudes and attribute structure better predicted typicality for subordinate (e.g., fast-food restaurants) than superordinate (e.g., restaurants) categories. Implications for the nature and structure of product and brand categories are discussed. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Brand Concept Maps: A Methodology for Identifying Brand Association Networks

Understanding brand equity involves identifying the network of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory. This article introduces a methodology, Brand Concept Maps, for eliciting brand association networks (maps) from consumers and aggregating individual maps into a consensus map of the brand. Consensus brand maps include the core brand associations that define the brands image and show which brand associations are linked directly to the brand, which associations are linked indirectly to the brand, and which associations are grouped together. Two studies illustrate the Brand Concept Maps methodology and provide evidence of its reliability and validity.

Category Attitude Measures: Exemplars as Inputs

The role of exemplars in formation of attitudes toward a category has, surprisingly, been ignored in prior consumer research. In the present research we seek to develop a better understanding of the relationship between category exemplars (e.g., the products in a brand category) and overall attitudes toward the category. Attitude measures that incorporate evaluations of individual branded products may be useful, both conceptually and practically, and can complement more traditional multi-attribute measures of attitude. Across 3 studies we present evidence that a composite index of attitudes toward category exemplars, weighted by exemplar typicality, is related to overall category attitudes, sometimes more strongly than a traditional multi-attribute index. We also demonstrate that elaboration upon the individual exemplars further strengthens the relationship between category attitudes and this composite index. Theoretical implications for attitude theory, as well as managerial implications, are discussed.

Relationships between Information Recall and Subsequent Attitudes: Some Exploratory Findings

Relationships between recalled information and subsequent attitudes toward chosen and rejected alternatives were explored under different experimental conditions. Memory for product information and effects of amount recalled on subsequently reported attitudes varied as a function of the processing objective and chosen or rejected alternatives. Results are discussed in terms of recent theoretical models describing effects of memory on judgments.

Attitude processing strategies

Several models of memory-based attitude processing were examined in a laboratory experiment. After receiving stimulus information with implications for either one or both of two attitudes (toward a person and toward a behavior with respect to this person), subjects were asked to recall the information and to report their attitudes. Information was received under instructions to form only one of these two attitudes. Consistent with past research, information was subsequently better recalled when it had implications for the attitude being evaluated than when it did not. However, null effects of the instructional set on reported attitudes suggested that subjects relied on their memory-for-attitude (or additional implications) rather than on memory-for-facts. The present findings extend the generality of this conclusion to behavioral attitudes, large stimulus sets, and heterogeneous stimulus items. Low correlations between recalled stimuli and reported attitudes also supported a memory-for-attitude model. However, correlations between behavioral attitudes and recall of behavioral outcomes increased under certain conditions. Results are discussed in relation to recent findings in person perception research.

Heart Health Program

Social influence processes have played an important role in the conceptual underpinnings, development, and implementation of the Minnesota Heart Health Program (MHHP). MHHP is a communitywide program developed to prevent illness and disability by helping people reduce their own risk factors associated with heart disease. This chapter describes the program as a way of illustrating how social influence processes have been used in a primary prevention program. (The program has been described at length elsewhere; see Blackburn et al., 1984; Mittelmark et al., 1986).