Stacy Landreth Grau

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM): The Influence of Donation Proximity and Message-Framing Cues on the Less-Involved Consumer

Arguably, the majority of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns implemented since their inception over 20 years ago offer consumers who are highly involved with causes a strong reason to participate. Their involvement represents a significant motivating factor. However, a multitude of CRM campaigns competing for the limited number of socially conscious consumers and the emergence of new generations that are reportedly less socially conscious suggests that firms and their nonprofit partners should consider additional target-market opportunities. In two experiments, we assess the role of donation proximity and message framing on campaign attitudes and participation intentions of less-involved consumers. Findings reveal that local donations and positive message framing serve as effective message cues to produce favorable CRM outcomes among this market segment that strategists consider fertile ground. Additional findings and implications for creating and communicating CRM campaigns are discussed.

Too much Facebook? An exploratory examination of social media fatigue

This research examines social media fatigue and its proposed antecedents.Respondents with greater confidence experienced less social media fatigue.Respondents with greater privacy concerns experienced more social media fatigue.Social media helpfulness and social media fatigue are positively related.Respondents with greater self-efficacy experienced greater social media fatigue. Social media usage levels continue to climb generating copious amounts of content. As more people crowd social media (e.g. Facebook), and create content, some research points to the existence of a concept called social media fatigue. Social media fatigue is defined as a users tendency to back away from social media participation when s/he becomes overwhelmed with information. Langs (2000) limited capacity model is used to understand the role of information overload for social media fatigue. This research examines the concept of social media fatigue and its proposed antecedents: social media efficacy, helpfulness, confidence and privacy concerns. Using confirmatory regression, this research determined that privacy concerns and confidence have the greatest predictive value for social media fatigue. This paper has theoretical implications for not only LCM but also other technology acceptance models such as TAM and UTAUT and UTAUT2. It also has implications for those trying to engage with online audiences and their subsequent reactions to that attempt at engagement. Several future research ideas are explored as well.

Evaluating the Social Value of Charitable Organizations: A Conceptual Foundation

Charities are becoming more businesslike in their quest to address competitive pressures and funding reductions. However, this shift may have unintended consequences. For example, the best-marketed charities are not necessarily the ones with the greatest potential for social benefit. There is currently no mechanism that attempts to evaluate the social value of charities. Borrowing from social investing and corporate social responsibility literature, the authors argue that despite the difficulties inherent in this task, there are several issues that must be considered to assess a charitys social value, and each stakeholder will consider some dimensions of social value differently. Assessing a charitys social value has several ethical and policy implications, especially given the level of governmental and foundational support for charity organizations.

Gender stereotypes in advertising: A review of current research

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the historical context of gender stereotypes in advertising and then examine the scholarship related to gender stereotypes. Gender portrayals in advertising have been examined extensively in the last five decades and still remain an important topic. Changing role structure in the family and in the labor force has brought significant variation in both male and female roles and subsequently how it is reflected in advertising. It has been noted that there is a culture lag. Sexes for a long period of time were depicted in advertising in more traditional roles. Women were presented in an inferior manner relative to their potential and capabilities, while at the same the data indicated a shift towards more positive role portrayals. The changing role of men is the area that has seen the greatest interest in the past few years. Men are depicted in advertising in ‘softer’ roles, while interacting with their children. Men are also shown in more egalitarian roles. The paper finally attempts to outline the future research direction of gender portrayals in advertising. First, research should focus on examining gender portrayals in online platforms, and find ways to modify current coding schemes to digital formats. Second, companies and the media are beginning to pay attention to a once largely ignored segment the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) consumer. Third, recent advertising has focused on the ‘empowered’ women called femvertising.

Climate change regulation : implications for business executives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overarching conceptual decision model that delineates the major issues and decisions associated with carbon regulations that will allow executives to better understand the potential regulatory schemes and implications that may be imposed in the near future.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the extant literature as the foundation to develop a conceptual model of the decisions pertaining to climate change regulation that face business executives today.Findings – This paper suggests four major categories of issues that must be addressed in any climate change regulatory scheme. These include: “scope” – will carbon emission management systems be global or regional; “who pays” – will the consumer or will the supply chain be responsible for the cost of their emissions; “market or compliance‐based mechanisms” – will the CO2 emissions system be market‐based or a compliance‐based regulatory system; and “criteria” – how can credence of the remedy be es...

Does consumer scepticism negate the effects of visceral cues in weight loss advertising

The theory of visceral influences posits that certain drive states are commonly associated with impulsive behaviour, and that cues that maximise a reward’s temporal and hedonic appeal can even persuade wary consumers. In this research we examine the effects of visceral cues in a weight loss advertising context on both sceptical and non-sceptical individuals, given that past examinations by the FTC had revealed the potentially visceral nature of weight loss advertising. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of visceral cues in a weight loss advertising context, and to examine whether or not ad scepticism can diminish the effects of visceral cues. Results from two experimental studies indicate that visceral cues that emphasise vividness of reward and provide a visual prime have attention-narrowing and impulse-inducing effects that persist regardless of ad scepticism. Implications and future directions of the findings are subsequently discussed.

Perspectives on social impact measurement and non-profit organisations

Purpose – Acknowledgement of the social impact created by organisations has become an increasingly frequent discussion among practitioners. The importance of such value creation cannot be understated, yet in an increasingly competitive funding environment, the need to articulate “true” value is paramount. The purpose of this paper is to examine how Australian and US managers of non-profit organisations (NPOs) and foundations view the measurement of the social impact of NPOs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper includes 19 in-depth interviews of non-profit professionals in the USA and Australia. Respondents included non-profit managers, foundation managers and consultants in both countries. Findings – The in-depth interviews found that in both countries respondents generally agreed that objective measures of impact are desirable, but recognised the difficulties in developing objective assessment frameworks enabling comparisons across the non-profit sector. These difficulties, as well as the implication...

Gender stereotypes in advertising: exploring new directions

Since the early 1970s, scholars have studied portrayals of women and men in advertising. Advertisers use what consumers believe about gender roles to promote products and services. As such, researc...

Cause-Related Marketing: Factors Promoting Campaign Evaluations

Advertisers have long been interested in the persuasiveness of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns, and the authors extend this stream of research using two separate experiments that considers the effectiveness of the companys product versus cash donations. Findings from Study 1 indicate consumers perceive sponsoring companies of CRM campaigns less favorably when these companies make product rather than cash donations to their nonprofit CRM partners, and the level of consumer participation effort required in these campaigns does not moderate this effect. However, Study 2 introduces congruency as a potential explanation for these adverse effects and extends Study 1 by demonstrating that more (as compared to less) congruent product donations can eliminate the negative effects of product donations. Further, it confirms prior findings concerning the importance of sponsoring company–cause congruency. Campaigns designed with higher levels of both types of congruency (product donation–cause and company–cause) promote favorable campaign outcomes. Further, both studies demonstrate that the effects of product donations on campaign outcomes are mediated by company motive. Implications for advertising theorists and practitioners are offered.

Lose 30 lbs in 30 days

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to outline key social marketing issues apparent in deceptive weight‐loss advertising, from the perspective of government policy‐makers, manufacturers, the media, and consumers. The purpose is to examine the complexity of one aspect of the obesity battle and provide a framework for coordinated and integrated social marketing initiatives from a multiple stakeholder perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The results of deceptive weight‐loss advertising are framed using the harm chain model, and the paper offers recommended solutions based on a framework of marketing, education and policy changes across the network of stakeholders.Findings – This paper concludes that a resolution to the harm created by deceptive weight‐loss advertising can be achieved by the creation of a more holistic, system‐wide solution to this important health and policy issue. This networked approach must involve all aspects of harm in a multi‐stakeholder solution, including both upstream and downst...