Brigitte Naderer

Product placement disclosures: Exploring the moderating effect of placement frequency on brand responses via persuasion knowledge

The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not the effects of brand-unspecific product placement disclosures in a popular music video were moderated by product placement frequency. An experimental study exposed participants to the video clip ‘Telephone’ by Lady Gaga; the product placement frequency of the brand Polaroid (zero, moderate, high) and the presence of placement disclosures were varied experimentally. The results demonstrated that placement disclosures lead to an increase in brand memory for moderately frequently and frequently depicted placements. Disclosures also activate persuasion knowledge independent of placement frequency. However, persuasion knowledge did not lead to more negative brand attitudes. The paper concludes with the implications for researchers and marketers.

Questionable Research Practices in Experimental Communication Research: A Systematic Analysis From 1980 to 2013

Questionable research practices (QRPs) pose a major threat to any scientific discipline. This article analyzes QRPs with a content analysis of more than three decades of published experimental research in four flagship communication journals: Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Media Psychology. Findings reveal indications of small and insufficiently justified sample sizes, a lack of reported effect sizes, an indiscriminate removal of cases and items, an increasing inflation of p-values directly below p < .05, and a rising share of verified (as opposed to falsified) hypotheses. Implications for authors, reviewers, and editors are discussed.

Children's attitudinal and behavioral reactions to product placements: investigating the role of placement frequency, placement integration, and parental mediation

The role of placement characteristics such as brand integration and placement frequency for brand outcomes on children has largely been ignored in extant research. We also lack insights about parental mediation as a potential moderator in this context. The present paper describes an experimental study in which children were exposed to different versions of a cartoon movie which included a moderately or frequently placed chips brand. The brand was either presented as a screen- or as a plot-placement. Childrens attitudinal and behavioral outcomes were matched with surveys completed by their parents who answered questions about their mediation strategies. Compared to screen-placements, moderately and frequently presented plot-placements lead to an increase in childrens product choice. Parents’ advertising mediation strategies were not able to prevent this behavioral outcome. Our findings offer insights into childrens susceptibility to product placement effects relevant to parents, educators, and policy regulators.

Placing snacks in children's movies: cognitive, evaluative, and conative effects of product placements with character product interaction

ABSTRACT Type of placement integration has been shown to influence placement effects in adults. However, no studies have explored the role of character product interaction (CPI) for product placement effects on children. We also lack knowledge about the moderating role of age in this context. We therefore exposed N = 363 children aged 6–15 years to a movie containing no placement, a static placement, or a CPI placement. The presence of placements affected cognitive and conative brand outcomes. However, childrens product memory and consumption were higher for CPI placements compared to static placements. As a relevant implication for product placement research, we found that brand outcomes were independent of the childrens ages and prior movie familiarity. This suggests that childrens developmental stage concerning age does not mitigate product placement effects. Implications for educators and consumer advocates are discussed.

Television Commercials and Fading Behavioral Brand Choice Effects in Austrian Children

Previous research demonstrates that commercials can influence food choice and thus eating behavior in children but little is known about the duration of this effect. We conducted an experiment (N = 134) where seven- to eleven-year-old children watched a cartoon with an embedded advertising block. Half of the children saw a commercial for a specific brand of chocolate candies. After watching, we measured actual brand choice. We found that children watching the target commercial chose the advertised brand significantly more often compared to children not watching the target commercial. The primary contribution of the present study is the examination of how temporal delay influences this effect. We manipulated the time that elapsed between exposure to the commercial and brand choice. Analysis indicated that the behavioral effect on brand choice was only evident immediately after exposure and did not persist over time.

A treat for the eyes. An eye-tracking study on children\'s attention to unhealthy and healthy food cues in media content

Based on cue reactivity theory, food cues embedded in media content can lead to physiological and psychological responses in children. Research suggests that unhealthy food cues are represented more extensively and interactively in childrens media environments than healthy ones. However, it is not clear to this date whether children react differently to unhealthy compared to healthy food cues. In an experimental study with 56 children (55.4% girls; Mage = 8.00, SD = 1.58), we used eye-tracking to determine childrens attention to unhealthy and healthy food cues embedded in a narrative cartoon movie. Besides varying the food type (i.e., healthy vs. unhealthy), we also manipulated the integration levels of food cues with characters (i.e., level of food integration; no interaction vs. handling vs. consumption), and we assessed childrens individual susceptibility factors by measuring the impact of their hunger level. Our results indicated that unhealthy food cues attract childrens visual attention to a larger extent than healthy cues. However, their initial visual interest did not differ between unhealthy and healthy food cues. Furthermore, an increase in the level of food integration led to an increase in visual attention. Our findings showed no moderating impact of hunger. We conclude that especially unhealthy food cues with an interactive connection trigger cue reactivity in children.

The Effects of Environmental Brand Attributes and Nature Imagery in Green Advertising

ABSTRACT Following Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibáñez’ [(2009). Green advertising revisited. Conditioning virtual nature experiences. International Journal of Advertising, 28(4), 715–739] approach, this experimental study compares the effects of three types of green print ads: a non-green ad, a functional green ad promoting environmental product attributes, and a combined nature ad featuring a pleasant nature image in addition to functional attributes. We extend prior research by simultaneously testing moderating and mediating mechanisms to explain brand attitudes and purchase intention. Using a quota sample of 456 consumers, findings suggest that the functional ad enhances perceptions of environmental brand benefits, which positively affect purchase intention partially mediated by brand attitudes. The combined nature ad, by contrast, activates an additional emotional process of virtually experiencing nature which positively influences brand attitudes and purchase intention beyond perceptions of environmental brand benefits. The effects of the combined nature ad are even stronger for highly involved consumers.

Shaping children's healthy eating habits with food placements? Food placements of high and low nutritional value in cartoons, Children's BMI, food-related parental mediation strategies, and food choice

Research on media induced food choices of children has not sufficiently investigated whether food placements of snacks high in nutritional value can strengthen childrens healthy eating behavior. Furthermore, we lack knowledge about the moderating role of childrens individual characteristics such as parental food-related mediation or BMI. The current study combines data from an experiment involving children with a survey of their parents. We exposed children to a cartoon either containing no food placements, placements of mandarins (i.e., snack high in nutritional value), or placements of fruit gums (i.e., snack low in nutritional value). Afterwards, food consumption was measured by giving children the option to choose between fruit gums or mandarins. Children in both snack placement conditions showed stronger preference for the snack low in nutritional value (i.e., fruit gum) compared to the control group. Interestingly, neither restrictive nor active food-related mediation prevented the effects of the placements on childrens choice of snacks low in nutritional value. Compared to children with a low BMI, children with high BMI levels had a stronger disposition to choose the fruit gums if a snack high in nutritional value (i.e., mandarin) was presented. Thus, making snacks high in nutritional attractive for children through media presentation might need stronger persuasive cues.

Mass Media as Alcohol Educator for Everyone? Effects of Portrayed Alcohol Consequences and the Influence of Viewers’ Characteristics

ABSTRACT Many correlative and experimental studies indicate that the portrayal of alcohol in the mass media impacts viewers’ alcohol expectancies, attitudes, and behaviors. Based on social cognitive theory, the portrayed consequences and the valence of the character experiencing these consequences are important to consider when investigating the portrayal of alcohol in the mass media. However, experimental studies manipulating character valence and consequences are scarce. This study presents an experimental examination of an adult sample, manipulating the occurrence of consequences (no consequences, positive consequences, and negative consequences), as well as character valence (a positive or negative character). We investigated the effects of media portrayals on positive and negative alcohol expectancies, as well as on attitudes toward alcohol. Furthermore, the moderating role of participants’ level of alcohol consumption was considered. We found main effects only on the negative alcohol expectancies, supporting the differentiation of alcohol expectancies and attitudes. However, the valence of the depicted character did not moderate the impact of the portrayed consequences. Interaction effects of participants’ individual levels of alcohol consumption and portrayals of consequences of alcohol consumption in the mass media were uncovered. This finding has important implications for further research and prevention efforts directed at risk groups.

How brands appear in children's movies. A systematic content analysis of the past 25 Years

ABSTRACT Based on a theoretical framework of product placement characteristics, we present the most comprehensive content analysis of childrens movies to date. We analyzed the integration of brands in 250 movies from 1991 to 2015. We found that 64.4% of all movies contained at least one brand placement. Comedies and movies produced in the US contained a higher number of brand placements compared to other genres and non-US movies. Animated movies and movies presenting a nature-, or fantasy-scenery contained a comparatively low number of placements. Brands were inserted mostly visually, and placed in the centre of the screen without explicit evaluation. Placements frequently presented a physical or verbal interaction with a main character. This practice was found to increase over time even though the sole number of brand placements remained stable over the past 25 years. Implications for parents, consumer–advocacy-groups, and advertising researchers are discussed.