Hojoon Choi

Are nutrient-content claims always effective?

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which recently prevalent nutrientcontent claims in food advertising are effective and how the level of effectiveness might differ between food products perceived as healthy and unhealthy. Guided by the match-up hypothesis and its theoretical underpinnings, a set of 2 (nutrient-content vs taste claim) × 2 (healthy vs unhealthy food) experiments investigated the impact of nutrient-content claims compared to the impact of taste claims on two different food product types. The authors found that (a) respondents evaluated food ads with nutrient-content claims as healthier than food ads with taste claims regardless of product type, but (b) the respondents showed better advertising evaluations on nutrient-content claims for foods perceived as healthy foods and on taste claims for foods perceived as unhealthy. Our findings provide implications and suggestions for improving food advertising and marketing strategies, and public health policy.

Presence and effects of health and nutrition-related (HNR) claims with benefit-seeking and risk-avoidance appeals in female-orientated magazine food advertisements

A multi-method study was conducted to, first, establish the prevalence of types of health- and nutrition-related (HNR) claims (nutrient content, structure/function and health claims) with benefit-seeking and risk-avoidance appeals in food advertisements appearing in magazines with large female audiences and, second, determine the effects of the two HNR-paired appeal types on females’ evaluative judgements of food advertisements. Analysis of 633 food advertisements from eight women-orientated magazines found a substantial use of risk-avoidance appeals in food advertising, primarily in association with nutrient content claims. Risk-avoidance appeals were especially present in product categories considered relatively unhealthy and less nutritious. Two experiments conducted to examine appeal-type effects in association with nutrient content claims found that both benefit-seeking and riskavoidance appeals enhanced perceived healthiness of advertised food products among females; however, risk-avoidance appeals were preferred to benefit-seeking appeals, regardless of food healthiness.

How to Use Health and Nutrition–Related Claims Correctly on Food Advertising: Comparison of Benefit-Seeking, Risk-Avoidance, and Taste Appeals on Different Food Categories

This study applies the concepts of health halos and unhealthy = tasty intuition to examine how the different health and nutrition–related (HNR) appeal types interact with different food product types compared with taste claims. The experiment investigated the impact of benefit-seeking and risk-avoidance HNR appeals compared with that of taste appeals on different food types. The authors found that although respondents evaluated food ads with the two HNR appeals as less risky/more beneficial and healthier than food ads with a taste claim, the respondents showed better ad-related evaluations on the HNR appeals for perceivably healthy food and on taste appeal for perceivably unhealthy food. The findings provide several theoretical and practical implications for health food marketing and public health policy.

Promoting Health (Implicitly)? A Longitudinal Content Analysis of Implicit Health Information in Cigarette Advertising, 1954–2003

Tobacco studies indicate that health-related information in cigarette advertising leads consumers to underestimate the detrimental health effects of smoking and contributes to their smoking-related perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes. This study examined the frequencies and kinds of implicit health information in cigarette advertising across five distinct smoking eras covering the years 1954–2003. Analysis of 1,135 cigarette advertisements collected through multistage probability sampling of three popular consumer magazines found that the level of implicit health information (i.e., “light” cigarette, cigarette pack color, verbal and visual health cues, cigarette portrayals, and human model–cigarette interaction) in post-Master Settlement Agreement [MSA] era ads is similar to the level in ads from early smoking eras. Specifically, “light” cigarettes were frequently promoted, and presence of light colors in cigarette packs seemed dominant after the probroadcast ban era. Impressionistic verbal health cues (e.g., soft, mild, and refreshing) appeared more frequently in post-MSA era ads than in pre-MSA era ads. Most notably, a majority of the cigarette ads portrayed models smoking, lighting, or offering a cigarette to others. The potential impact of implicit health information is discussed in the contexts of social cognition and Social Cognitive Theory. Policy implications regarding our findings are also detailed.

‘Thinking and feeling’ products and ‘utilitarian and value-expressive’ appeals in contemporary TV advertising: A content analytic test of functional matching and the FCB model

Using the Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) grid model and functional matching effects as theoretical frameworks, this study analyzed 1356 primetime TV commercials to assess the extent to which there is a functional match-up between think and feel product types and utilitarian and value expressive message appeals in contemporary TV advertising. Additionally, the use of sales promotion techniques in those TV commercials relative to the FCB models think/feel and involvement dimensions was analyzed. Results reveal that utilitarian appeals were used more in commercials for think products while value expressive appeals were used more in spots for feel products. Presence of sales promotions in the TV commercials was found to differ by product involvement rather than by the prediction of the functional matching hypothesis. The results suggest that contemporary TV advertising practice is more complicated than conceptualized in the four quadrants of the FCB model (i.e. relative to the integration of product, message, and sales promotion techniques). Discussion and implications of the results are presented.

Do feminists still respond negatively to female nudity in advertising? Investigating the influence of feminist attitudes on reactions to sexual appeals

To test the belief that feminism and sexualization of women in advertising stand in opposition, this study employed a large US national sample (N = 1298) to examine how consumers’ feminist attitudes differentiate and predict their ethical judgment and ad-related evaluations of sexual images of women in advertisements. The results indicate that (1) consumers with higher feminist attitudes evaluated sexual ads more favorably than those having lower feminist attitudes, and (2) consumers’ feminist attitudes positively predict ad-related evaluations with full mediation of ethical judgment. These findings, which diverge from previous research, may indicate that contemporary feminists view sexual images of women differently than in previous decades. Theoretical and practical implications are described.

Five decades of promotion techniques in cigarette advertising: a longitudinal content analysis.

This study examines frequencies and types of promotion techniques featured in five decades of cigarette advertising relative to five major smoking eras. Analysis of 1,133 cigarette advertisements collected through multistage sampling of 1954 through 2003 issues of three youth-oriented magazines found that 7.6% of the analyzed ads featured at least one promotion technique. Across smoking eras the proportion of promotion in the ads steadily increased from 1.6% in the “pre-broadcast ban era” to 10.9% in the “the pre-Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) era” and 9% in “post-MSA era.” The increased use of sponsorships/events in cigarette ads for youth-oriented brands warrants more attention from tobacco control experts and government regulators.

Product, Personality or Prose? Testing Functional Matching Effects in Advertising Persuasion

Abstract Despite calls for research on the use of utilitarian versus identity appeals more than a decade ago, few advertising studies have examined which appeal may be more persuasive for whom. Guided by the functional matching effects thesis, our two experiments test the separate and interactive roles of product function (social identity-SI, utilitarian-UT), personality (self-monitoring), and advertising copy (socially adjustive-SA, utilitarian-UT) on advertising persuasion. In a within-subject design, Study 1 demonstrated significant product-based, but not personality-based, functional matching effects. Participants preferred the UT advertising copy for the UT product (condom) and the SA copy for the SI product (beer). In a between-subjects design, Study 2 revealed a complex interplay among personality, product, and advertising appeals. Limited yet significant interaction effects indicate that high/low self-monitors formed more favor able attitudes toward the ad and purchase intent when the ad for beer employed the SA/UT copy. Together, our findings suggest that the theoretical premise of the functional matching effects may be promising for advertising persuasion. They also highlight the importance of considering both product and audience characteristics together when selecting advertising appeals. (Key Terms: Advertising Appeals, Self-monitoring Personality, Functional Matching Effect, Creative Strategy, and Attitude Functions)

Differential Impact of Message Appeals, Food Healthiness, and Poverty Status on Evaluative Responses to Nutrient-Content Claimed Food Advertisements

A 2 × 3 × 2 mixed factorial experimental design was used to examine how three message appeals (benefit-seeking vs. risk-avoidance vs. taste appeals), food healthiness (healthy vs. unhealthy foods), and consumer poverty status (poverty vs. nonpoverty groups) impact evaluative responses to nutrient-content claimed food advertisements. Subjects were partitioned into two groups, those below and those above the poverty line, and exposed to nutrient-content claimed advertisement treatments for healthy and unhealthy foods featuring the three appeals. The findings reaffirmed the interaction effects between perceivably healthy and unhealthy foods and different appeals reported in previous studies, and found interaction effects between consumer poverty level and response to the message appeals featured in the experimental food advertisements. Age, body mass index, current dieting status, education, and gender were examined as covariates.

Trends in the use of statistics in major advertising journals over four decades

The use of statistical techniques in data-based articles appearing in the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research and Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising was analysed over four decade intervals (i.e., 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s) and by journal. Among the trends, the study found: (1) nearly seven of every 10 journal articles reported statistical analyses (68.8% or 541 of 786); (2) the trend for statistically based articles was remarkably consistent over the time intervals and held true for the different advertising journals with one exception; (3) the use of different statistical techniques changed over time, with statistical techniques becoming more diverse and sophisticated through the years, but more so in some advertising journals than in others; (4) statistics were correctly applied in the majority of the research reports relative to ‘study purpose’; (5) the use of different statistical techniques varied by method of data collection generally and within articles appearing in three of the four journals; and (6) the presence or absence of hypotheses and/or research questions in the advertising studies was differentially associated with the application of different statistics. The inquiry serves to move advertising research forward in two ways: first, it documents how statistical analyses have changed over time and, second, it provides insight into where the field might be headed regarding the use of statistical techniques.