Christina Boutsouki

Humor and cultural values in print advertising: a cross‐cultural study

Purpose – The present study aims to discuss the role of Hofstedes cultural dimensions, uncertainty avoidance and individualism/collectivism, on the use of various humor types in print advertising, across culturally diverse countries.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 12,351 ads (3,828 humorous) from the largest circulated UK and Greek magazines was content‐analyzed in light of Specks humorous message taxonomy, emphasizing humor types and intentional relatedness.Findings – The results indicate that cultural diversity is reflected in the types of humorous devices that tend to be used in the UK and Greece. British advertisements incorporate not only sentimental but also disparaging humor types such as sentimental humor and full comedy, providing a great deal of pure entertainment. On the contrary, Greek print ads emphasize cognitive humorous appeals, in an attempt to provide credible information to the uncertainty‐avoiding Greek audience.Practical implications – The findings of this study highlight ...

Greek retailing in transition

Within the past four years retailing in Greece has begun to change dramatically. A system of small, independently owned and operated shops, which has been protected by tight legislative controls on store operations, is now under threat from the introduction of modern retail formats, organization and management practices – largely by foreign retailers, either directly or through joint ventures and franchising activity. The trigger to the change has been the liberalization of the trading environment. The consequences for consumers, indigenous retailers and wholesalers, and manufacturers are likely to be profound. The sudden nature of the change and the size of the country make Greece an ideal laboratory for the study of retail change.

A longitudinal analysis of the changing roles of gender in advertising: a content analysis of Super Bowl commercials

Although the prevalence of gender stereotypes in advertising is well established, relatively little research has examined gender stereotypes in the context of Super Bowl that is arguably the most important event in US television advertising. This study systematically examines gender representations across various product categories in Super Bowl commercials over a 20-year period (1990–2009). Our findings detect and discuss shifts in the cultural notions of gender constructed in advertising messages targeting the largest and the most demographically diverse audience in US television. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings.

Facebook usage among teenagers – the effect of personality and peer group pressure; an exploratory study in Greece

Teenagers have become the most electronically connected generation of all time and the most avid users of social networking sites. The present study examines Facebook usage among teenagers (12–14 years old) and investigates the mediating effect of personality characteristics and peer group pressure on its use. A survey among 567 teenagers in Greece indicated that intensity of Facebook usage is positively related to increased extraversion and peer group pressure. The majority of Greek teenagers are ardent Facebook users mainly for two reasons: First, because it is a trend and second, in order to keep in touch with them.

Superiority Theory and Disparagement Humor: The Role of Gelotophobia, Gelotophilia, and Katagelasticism

Risky communication strategy though it is, disparagement humorous advertising has proliferated over the last decades (Gulas et al., 2010; Weinberger et al., 2015). Although humorous advertisements are generally known to have a positive effect on attitude toward the ad (Duncan and Nelson, 1985; Eisend, 2008; Venkatesh and Senthilkumar, 2015; Weinberger and Gulas, 1992), highly disparaging humorous advertisements may lead to adverse consumer reactions (Cho, 1995). Consumers seem to form a positive attitude toward the disparaging humorous advertisements only when the latter are perceived as very humorous (Brown et al., 2010; Newton et al., 2016; Yoon, 2016).

Less is More or Less is A Bore

Minimalism is defined in architecture and arts as an innovative and sophisticated design style that aims to activate its recipients to willingly involve and find the real essence, the unique or multiple meanings of an incomplete stimulus (Abadi-Nagy, 2001; Courbet et al., 2013). According to the interdisciplinary nature of minimalism, a minimal, print advertisement is reported to consist of, at least, a dominant, extended, monochrome white space, mainly in shades of gray (Margariti et al., 2017) that enhances the independency of unique interpretations in contemporary eras. However, minimalism is not the only advertising design that satisfies post-modern demands for heteroglossia and polysemy (Firat et al., 1993; Firat et al., 1994; O’ Donohoe, 1998).

A Τypology of Minimalism in Advertising

Minimalism is a dynamic movement that relates to a number of fields ranging from architecture and arts (Adcock, 1990; Botha, 2014; Stevanovich, 2013; Stockl, 2009) to interface (Lenay and Stewart, 2012; Wren and Reynolds, 2004) and computing design (Osen, 1982; VanEenoo, 2011). As a style, it involves simple design formats (Burgess, 1997), sparseness (Botha, 2014; Inbar et al., 2007), and visual peace (Stevanovich, 2013).

The role of economic conditions on humor generation and attitude towards humorous TV commercials

Abstract A two-phase experimental study investigates the role of economic conditions on humor generation and on the relationship between perceived humor and attitude toward the ad (Aad). It designates that the economic context affects the generation of humor and the relationship between perceived humor and Aad; TV commercials can more effectively create humor as well as positive Aad in an expansion rather than in a recession. The generation of humor during a recession, requires a combination of high levels of perceived surprise and low levels of perceived irritation. In the same vein, attitude towards a humorous ad, in a recession, increases significantly only when there is high perceived humor and low perceived irritation. Specific managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.