Linda E. Swayne

The Portrayal of Older Americans in Television Commercials

Abstract A content analysis of 814 advertisements from three major television networks was conducted to assess the representation and role portrayal of senior citizens in television advertising. While 12 percent of the current U.S. population is over 65 years of age, only seven percent of the advertisements containing people utilized elderly characters. In the majority of commercials, the elderly are not typically cast in major roles, but instead appear most often in home settings with members of other age groups present. In those advertisements where older persons are portrayed as major role advisors about a product or service, the advisor is likely to be male.

Contribution of southern authors in major marketing publications

Publication in a discipline’s major journal(s) is widely regarded as the pinnacle in academic success. In the present study, articles dating from 1960 in three prominent marketing journals were analyzed. Writers that had achieved five or more publications were identified as “prolific authors” and studied in more detail. Of specific interest was the proportion relative to all North American universities, of authors from southern institutions either as the institution of record (employing institution at the time of the most recent publication) or the PhD-granting school. Over the 27 years studied, 153 researchers were found to have written five or more articles. The results indicate that in recent years, southern schools are producing more prolific writers and that this group’s proportion of the total is approaching representativeness in the discipline of marketing.

The Portrayal of African-Americans in Business-To-Business Direct Mail: A Benchmark Study

Abstract The purpose of this article is to extend latitudinally the stream of research regarding racial minorities in industrial advertising and to provide a benchmark for future longitudinal studies. It utilizes content analysis to examine business-to-business direct mail advertising depiction of African-Americans. Findings indicate that about 28 percent of the direct mail pieces depicted blacks, nearly six percent of all people portrayed were African-American, there was virtually no difference in occupational portrayals of blacks and whites, and blacks were most frequently portrayed separately from whites. Implications of these findings for users of industrial direct mail are discussed.

Publication in Major Marketing Journals: 1960-1986

Academic authors from 276 American/Canadian institutions have written over 2,400 articles in major marketing journals since 1960. Contributions were studied by five-year periods to determine trends in the number of schools represented, relative rank of the institutions, professorial rank of the author(s), and the number of authors per article.

Comparative advertising in horizontal business publications

Abstract Comparative advertising, the practice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement, is well known to industrial marketers. This article focuses on the use of comparative advertising in the three leading business publications: Business Week , Forbes , and Fortune . The authors studied approximately 2900 full-page advertisements from 1970 through 1985. It was found that there was a significant increase in the use of comparative advertising during this period; in fact, the use of comparative advertising nearly tripled from 1970 to 1985. Although the predominant use of comparative advertising involves implied comparisons, there has been a continuing increase in the use of the more aggressive strictly comparative format.

Is the Changing Status of African Americans in the B2B Buying Center Reflected in Trade Journal Advertising

To examine the portrayal of African-American models in trade journal advertising, this longitudinal study content analyzed more than 1,200 trade journal advertisements, containing about 3,700 people, to provide a unique sixdecade perspective on African-American ad portrayals in the infrequently studied trade segment of the B2B (business-to-business) market. Prior research and cultivation theory are the foundations for this study. Results from four different B2B sectors—architecture, automotive, health, and law—indicate that over the 60-year span of the study, the number of African Americans in B2B trade journal ads increased. Furthermore, the percentage of black female models increased, although the increase was variable and in only one decade of the six studied did the percentage of black females exceed that of black males. Looking at roles portrayed, by the last two decades of the study, there were significant increases in blacks in major roles and significant declines in minor roles. Last, there was a marked change in black occupational portrayals from primarily blue-collar to white-collar/professional roles. Findings based on this six-decade study of trade journals representing different sectors of the B2B market suggest that B2B advertising, at least in these vehicles, is consistent with the mainstreaming tenet of cultivation theory.

Comparative industrial advertising: The content and frequency

Abstract Comparative advertising is the pratice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of comparative advertising in widely circulated industrial publications. The study examined approximately 2100 full-page advertisements in major trade publications for the years 1970, 1975, and 1980. It was found that comparative advertising is not the dominant format for industrial journal advertising. Further, there was a significant decrease in the use of comparative advertising from 1975 to 1980. Nevertheless, when industrial advertisers use comparative advertising, they tend to rely more frequently on implied comparisons rather than on the more aggressive, strictly comparative format. Also, industrial marketers seem to be more inclined to stress product features rather than price, distribution, or promotion when using comparative advertising.

The use of comparative advertising in business-to-business direct mail

Abstract More than twenty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to encourage the use of comparative advertising, the aggressive tactic of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. Although numerous articles have been written about this practice since the early 1970s, none has addressed the use of comparative advertising in the direct mail medium, in general, or specifically in business-to-business direct mail. Because sales from direct mail advertising now exceed

Big Data consumer analytics and the transformation of marketing

120 million annually, and direct mail use in industrial marketing is increasing, this void in the literature needs to be filled. Therefore, this study examined hundreds of pieces of current year business-to-business direct mail advertising to determine the frequency of use and nature of comparative advertising employed in business-to-business direct mail. The results indicate that the incidence of use of comparisons in business-to-business direct mail is less frequent than that found in other business periodicals. Moreover, the nature of direct mail business-to-business comparisons is different in several other respects from those seen in the business print media.