Kathleen J. Kelly

Image Advertisements’ Influence on Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Desirability of Beer and Cigarettes

The authors examine whether attitude toward the ad (A ad ) and attitude toward the brand (A b ) mediate the effects of visual, image-oriented content in advertisements on perceptions of the desirability of beer and cigarettes, as well as of soft drinks. Adolescents (n = 384) rated either image advertisements with visuals for cigarettes, beer, and soft drinks or comparable tombstone advertisements that had no photographs or drawings. Advertisements with image-oriented visuals were found to directly produce more positive A ad , A b , and attitude toward the product category (A pc ) evaluations than did the tombstone versions. The authors then used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship among A ad , A b , and A pc . The results were generally supportive of the proposed mediating model. Also, little support was found for the assumption of some advocacy groups and policymakers that to be well received by adolescents, cigarette advertisements require human models. The authors discuss implications of findings for advertising research and public policy.

The Community Readiness Model: A Complementary Approach to Social Marketing

The Community Readiness Model is a theory-based model that is strategic in nature. It is designed both to assess and to build a community’s capacity to take action on social issues. It partners well with social marketing research by providing a framework for assessing the social contexts in which individual behaviour takes place and by measuring changes in readiness related to community-wide efforts. This article describes the theoretical roots of the model and describes how the model can be used as a tool for formative research, programme evaluation and as a catalyst for community mobilisation.

Flavoured cigarettes, sensation seeking and adolescents’ perceptions of cigarette brands

Objectives: This study examined the interactive effects of cigarette package flavour descriptors and sensation seeking on adolescents’ brand perceptions. Methods: High school students (n = 253) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions and sequentially exposed to cigarette package illustrations for three different brands. In the flavour descriptor condition, the packages included a description of the cigarettes as “cherry”, while in the traditional descriptor condition the cigarette brands were described with common phrases found on tobacco packages such as “domestic blend.” Following exposure to each package participants’ hedonic beliefs, brand attitudes and trial intentions were assessed. Sensation seeking was also measured, and participants were categorised as lower or higher sensation seekers. Results: Across hedonic belief, brand attitude and trial intention measures, there were interactions between package descriptor condition and sensation seeking. These interactions revealed that among high (but not low) sensation seekers, exposure to cigarette packages including sweet flavour descriptors led to more favourable brand impressions than did exposure to packages with traditional descriptors. Conclusions: Among high sensation seeking youths, the appeal of cigarette brands is enhanced through the use of flavours and associated descriptions on product packaging.

Segmentation on a shoestring: health audience segmentation in limited-budget and local social marketing interventions.

A cornerstone of social marketing is that it is customer driven. Although public health professionals may be persuaded that healthy behaviors outweigh the costs of those behaviors, that perspective is not necessarily shared by those most in need of change (Slater & Flora, 1994). One cannot identify costs (psychological, social, or economic), benefits (improved health, attractiveness), appropriate products, or place (means for delivery of product or communication) without segmentation unless these are essentially uniform for everyone, which is rarely the case. The purpose of this article is to review principles of audience or market segmentation and how to put these principles into practice with a limited budget and resources. In particular, we address the all-toocommon dilemma of the practitioner who appreciates the importance of segmentation but does not have the budget, time, or staff to obtain statistically sophisticated segmentation analyses. In doing so, we attempt to answer the basic questions so often asked: How much segmentation is enough? How do I know what my segments are? What do I need to learn about my segments? How can I possibly get these answers when doing a social marketing intervention in a limited resource context— where most of these interventions in fact take place?

The Use of Human Models and Cartoon Characters in Magazine Advertisements for Cigarettes, Beer, and Nonalcoholic Beverages

The authors examine the content of magazine advertising for cigarettes, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages from July 1996 to July 1997. A total of 476 advertisements (239 unique advertisements) from 12 different magazines were content-analyzed. In light of the ongoing debate and recent proposals over the regulation of tobacco and alcohol advertising aimed at young people, the purpose was to answer two principal questions: (1) whether the advertisements for cigarettes and beer contain more cartoons and animated characters than do advertisements for nonalcoholic beverages and (2) whether the presence of human models in an advertisements visuals is an adequate way to operationalize a lifestyle advertisement. The authors also replicate and extend previous research regarding the amount and type of extrinsic appeal or lifestyle advertising found in these product categories. Significantly more lifestyle content appeared in cigarette advertisements than in nonalcoholic beverage advertisements. Furthermore, a disproportionate number of cartoon characters in cigarette advertisements appeared in magazines with a higher share of younger readers, consistent with policy concerns regarding the use of such cartoon characters to appeal to youth markets. Also, 8.8% of advertisements that were classified as lifestyle advertisements did not contain recognizable human models. An implication of this finding is that the original tobacco settlement proposal to eliminate lifestyle content of cigarette and beer advertisements simply by eliminating models was inadequate to achieve its intended purpose.

Assessing media campaigns linking marijuana non-use with autonomy and aspirations: "Be Under Your Own Influence" and ONDCP's "Above the Influence".

Two media-based interventions designed to reduce adolescent marijuana use ran concurrently from 2005 to 2009. Both interventions used similar message strategies, emphasizing marijuana’s inconsistency with personal aspirations and autonomy. “Be Under Your Own Influence” was a randomized community and school trial replicating and extending a successful earlier intervention of the same name (Slater et al. Health Education Research 21:157–167, 2006). “Above the Influence” is a continuing national television, radio, and print campaign sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). This study assessed the simultaneous impact of the interventions in the 20 U.S. communities. Results indicate that earlier effects of the “Be Under Your Own Influence” intervention replicated only in part and that the most plausible explanation of the weaker effects is high exposure to the similar but more extensive ONDCP “Above the Influence” national campaign. Self-reported exposure to the ONDCP campaign predicted reduced marijuana use, and analyses partially support indirect effects of the two campaigns via aspirations and autonomy.

Testing Alternative Explanations for Exposure Effects in Media Campaigns: The Case of a Community-Based, In-School Media Drug Prevention Project

This study examines longitudinal evidence for the impact of exposure to an in-school media campaign on adolescent substance use attitudes and behaviors, using data from four middle schools in two school districts. Amount of exposure to the campaign directly impacted perceptions that marijuana use was inconsistent with personal aspirations and intentions to use marijuana and appeared to reduce maturational decay in those attitudes. Path analyses suggested effects on behavior change, consistent with the theory of reasoned action, were via effects on intention and exposure effects on intention were via effects on aspirations. Reverse causation was tested and rejected, as were possible moderation models that might also qualify exposure effects. Analyses of a foil recognition measure using a treatment and control population suggested that response set artifacts were nominal in size and that response bias was slight and could be statistically controlled.

Integrating Social Marketing, Community Readiness and Media Advocacy in Community-Based Prevention Efforts

Media advocacy and conventional social marketing approaches have been opposed as means toward promoting social goods by at least one critic and have their conceptual foundations in different disciplines. Nonetheless, media advocacy and public affairs approaches may complement social marketing efforts to influence individual behavior directly, by creating increased awareness and involvement with the topic, and more important indirectly, by influencing community climate and the likelihood of ongoing community support for prevention-oriented activities. The community readiness for prevention model provides a framework for planning and assessing communication and marketing interventions intended to influence community climate and practices. Conversely, media advocacy and public affairs activities may be used to support direct coalition-building intervention efforts intended to help increase community readiness. Conceptual foundations for these various approaches are reviewed, and an overall framework for use of media advocacy and public affairs approaches in the context of community readiness and social marketing is discussed. THE WILLIAM D. NOVELLI AWARD The William D.Novelli Aivards for Innovation in Social Marketing were presented at the Innovations in Social Marketing Conference 20Q0 m

Development of An Aspirational Campaign to Prevent Youth Substance Use: “Be under Your Own Influence”

We describe the development of a media campaign that decreased the uptake of substances by 40% among middle-school students. The campaign, “Be Under Your Own Influence,” is unique in its focus on the incongruence of drugs with achieving future aspirations and personal autonomy, themes which have received scant attention to date. Other distinctive features of the campaign include in-school distribution as well as media advocacy and other community-based efforts. The article will describe conceptual frameworks and formative research used to inform campaign development and implementation. The discussion will identify factors that may have enhanced success, as well as implications for social marketing efforts.

Tobacco counteradvertisements aimed at bicultural Mexican American youth : The impact of language and theme

The growing population of Mexican American youth and the increasing smoking rates in this population present a considerable public health challenge. Tobacco counteradvertisements have demonstrated their ability to shape attitudes, behavior, and public policy, but little is known about the most effective ways to adapt messages aimed at this audience. To explore key variables that can affect success, a study was conducted with 249 Mexican American middle-school youth from a U.S./Mexico border community to examine the effectiveness of language (English, Spanish, or a combination of English and Spanish) and theme (secondhand smoke, antitobacco social norms, and tobacco industry manipulation) in print tobacco counteradvertisements. Measures included ad preferences, acculturation, and tobacco-related attitudes and behavior. Results showed that although a large percentage identified with the Mexican American rather than the Anglo American culture and spoke Spanish in selected contexts, readability was greater for ads in English, and participants rated the English ads as most effective. The social norms counteradvertisement was preferred overall. Potential implications for health communication and policy are discussed.