Ivonne M. Torres

Creativity Via Cartoon Spokespeople In Print Ads: Capitalizing on the Distinctiveness Effect

Although some research has examined the effects of animation in interactive advertisements, no research has investigated consumer responses to animated effects or cartoon spokespeople in print ads. Distinctiveness theory suggests that an ad can be considered distinctive if it has atypical traits that differentiate it from other marketing stimuli. Distinctiveness theory should be readily applied to advertising research, as advertising agencies and clients continuously strive to make their advertisements different, noticeable, and memorable to consumers. Our research applies distinctiveness theory to a creative caricature or cartoon spokesperson in print ads in a between-subjects experiment. Results of the study reveal that compared with a human spokesperson in the same advertisement, the creative use of cartoon spokespeople in print ads leads to more positive consumer advertising outcomes, including attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention of the advertised brand. The implications for practitioners and directions for future creativity and distinctiveness research are discussed.

The Effects of Warning-Label Placement in Print ADS: A Social Contract Perspective

Although some research into warning labels in advertisements has been conducted, little examines the impact of the placement of labels in print ads, including consumer responses to warning label placement and consumer response effects. Social contract theory suggests that consumers may, somewhat paradoxically, put a relatively high value on an advertisement of a brand that prominently displays warning information, rather than minimizing it. Our research probes the relevance of social contract assumptions by reviewing current print advertisement warning practices with a content analysis (CA) of consumer magazines and by testing the effectiveness of label placement strategies with a between-subjects experiment. Validating social contract assumptions, our study shows more positive consumer responses for recall, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, purchase intention, and responsible advertising when warnings are overtly rather than discreetly placed in print ads. Also, we develop a robust, multi-item responsible advertising scale. Our paper explores the implications and directions for future research from our warning label findings.

Does Hispanic‐targeted advertising work for services?

Purpose – The study seeks to examine two variables of interest to marketers in the area of services advertising, ethnicity and service involvement. The goal of this study is to investigate the relative effectiveness of ethnic‐targeting in services advertising, specifically, Hispanic‐targeted advertising. The purpose of this research is to understand what types of services can benefit from Hispanic‐targeted service advertising and develop practical implications for practitioners trying to spend advertising dollars more efficiently.Design/methodology/approach – The impact of the advertising models ethnicity on post‐exposure attitude toward high and low involvement service brands was explored.Findings – The results of this quasi‐experimental study suggest that appealing to strong Hispanic identifiers may be highly desirable in terms of creating favorable attitudes toward service brands when advertising low involvement services, where, by definition, the consumer does not engage in intensive decision making ...

Advertising's Unintended Consequence

The purpose of our study is to explore what relationship, if any, exists between advertising and economic growth. Endogenous growth theory (Romer 1990) is proposed as a possible solution to this 50-year debate. Using endogenous growth theory, we develop a model that links advertising to incentives for business innovation and for overall levels of information and knowledge in society. Results indicate that advertising expenditures offer significant explanatory power for long-term economic growth for a panel of 64 countries. This study contributes to the debate in two major ways: (1) by empirically showing that on a macrolevel, advertising expenditures and economic growth are related; and (2) by developing a theoretical economic growth model that demonstrates that not only are advertising expenditures related to economic growth, but that they can bring about economic growth. Finally, by providing a refinement of how marketing actions may positively affect the economy, the study contributes to the broader debate of advertisings role in society.

Boundary conditions to the effect of fluency and comprehension on AAD when targeting Hispanics vs Whites with single meaning vs polysemous slogans

Purpose – This paper aims to show that high ethnic identifying Hispanics and Whites pursue different routes discussed in the Elaboration Likelihood Model when processing single meaning versus polysemous slogan ads. The authors found that high ethnic identifying Hispanics used the peripheral route (processing fluency) to a higher extent compared to Whites who used the central route (comprehension) to process ads. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, 310 undergraduate students of a Southwestern university were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (slogan: single meaning vs polysemous) in a between-subjects experimental design. Subsequently, participants responded to statements measuring constructs of interest and demographics. Participants were debriefed at the end of the survey. Findings – It was found that high ethnic identifying Hispanics used the peripheral route (processing fluency) to a higher extent compared to Whites who used the central route (comprehension) to process advertisements....

Text Message Copy in Print Ads: A Shrewd Communicative Strategy?

Although text messaging as a communication tool in society is rampant, research on its effects within print advertisements is lacking. To help fill this void, we employ three between-subject experiments (i.e., Study 1: text message vs. no text message; Studies 2 and 3: text message vs. traditional language). We posit that using text message copy in print ads is a unique (as grounded in distinctiveness theory) and fitting (as grounded in communication trust theory) approach to commune with targeted viewers and, therefore, should lead to favorable advertising outcomes. The experimental results confirm this notion. For example, responses concerning ad novelty, attention toward the ad, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and perceived brand trust are more favorable toward the text message condition ads. Implications and directions for future text message-related research are discussed.

Services' influence on minority portrayals in magazine advertising

Purpose – The primary goal of this study is to examine how services advertising strategy relates to the prevalence of minority portrayals in magazine advertisements.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a content analysis method. Over 1,000 advertisements were collected, and 455 were employed in the study. Chi‐square difference tests were used to test hypotheses. A second sample was collected to verify some initial findings.Findings – It was found that minority models were more likely to appear in advertisements for services than in advertisements for goods. Differences were also found across types of services. Asian models were overrepresented in advertisements for technologies, a product category with a strong services influence.Research limitations/implications – Emphasis was placed on portrayals of African‐Americans and Asians, so findings are most directly applicable to these groups. The generalizability of the results may be limited to the types of publications from which the sample was drawn...

Millennials’ ethical ideology effects on responses to alcohol advertisements: The role of strength of ethnic identification and ethical appraisal of the ad

Abstract In an extension of generational theory, the present research argues that ethical ideology (i.e. idealism vs. relativism) impacts attitude toward the ad (Aad), attitude toward the brand (Abrand), and purchase intention (PI). Additionally, this research examines how this relationship is mediated by the ethical appraisal of the ad and moderated by the level of ethnic identification (i.e. high vs. low). The results of this experiment provide additional evidence in support of generational theory which states that each generational cohort holds distinct ethical ideologies. Furthermore, this study identifies differences in the participants’ responses to alcohol ads resulting from their personal values (i.e. in this study we focus on strength of ethnic identification).

A Bilingual’s Perspective on Polysemous and Single Meaning Slogans

Multiculturalism, bilingualism, consumer diversity and predominance of polysemous slogans has increased the complexity of consumer and advertiser interactions. Ad research considering the subjective feelings of ease-of-processing in ad evaluations is limited. Strategically, fluency has the persuasive capacity to impact Aad /Abrand despite consumers’ cultural differences and slogan type differences. In the case of single meaning slogans, comprehension played a limited role, therefore, advertisers might diminish the use of comprehension advertising strategies to influence both monolinguals and bilinguals. In the case of polysemous slogans, advertisers should consider that monolingual (vs. bilingual) consumers were impacted more by comprehension when forming Aad /Abrand.

What Products Can Benefit From African American Advertising Appeals? The Moderating Role of Product Involvement

With a significant spending power, the African American segment is one of the most lucrative, interesting, and complex targets for national and local advertisers. As this consumer segment continues to grow in importance, marketers need to focus on what types of products could benefit from African American-targeted advertising. Our research studies show African Americans respond to advertising targeted to them and their responses are moderated by ethnic identification and product involvement. Consistent with both theoretical frameworks, distinctiveness theory and ethnic identification theory, we found that identified African Americans prefer African American models especially when advertising low-involvement products.