Thomas Hove

The Networked Public Sphere

Abstract Habermas’s late theory of the public sphere is fundamentally about democracy and growing complexity. The network form is at the core of growing complexity, and the centrality of networks in the economy, political system, civil society, and the lifeworld calls for revisions in central theoretical assumptions about the structure of the public sphere. We argue that in order to maintain Habermas’s larger democratic project, we will have to rethink theoretical assumptions linked to its neo-Parsonsian systems theoretical foundations and to systematically integrate new network forms of social life into theory.

The multidimensional nature and brand impact of user-generated ad parodies in social media

What is the impact of ad parodies on the brands they spoof? This question arises from the recent confluence of heightening comedic interest in parodying advertising and the growing trend of amateurs creating their own ad parodies in social media. This article reports on a multi-phase study investigating the key dimensions of ad parodies and how they influence brand attitudes, attitudes towards the parodies, and intention to pass along the parodies. Four primary dimensions of ad parodies were discovered: humour, truth, mockery and offensiveness. Humour and truth were positively related to attitudes towards the parodies and intention to pass them along, while offensiveness was negatively related to attitudes towards the parodies. However, the dimensions of ad parodies had no impact on brand attitudes. The results demonstrate that, although advertisers should be aware of this trend, they can take comfort in consumers’ ability to distinguish between brand messages and entertainment.

Peer or expert

To promote prosocial concerns and call attention to social problems, public service advertising practitioners are increasingly trying to involve laypeople in creating and delivering persuasive campaign messages. An emerging media channel for these efforts is websites that feature user-generated content (UGC), particularly the video-sharing website YouTube. However, despite this trend, little is known about the extent to which a public service announcement (PSA) video will be more effective depending on who produced it. Accordingly, this study empirically tests the degree to which the persuasive impact of a video differs depending on whether the producer is a layperson or an expert. We draw theoretical rationales from several areas to compare the impact of a perceivably similar producer and an expert producer on attitudes towards video, issue importance and behavioural intention. We also analyse how issue involvement moderates these producer effects. Implications for consumer educators, policy makers and marketers are discussed with specific reference to social media.

Attention cycles and the H1N1 pandemic: a cross-national study of US and Korean newspaper coverage

This study analyzes US and South Korean news coverage of the H1N1 pandemic to examine cross-cultural variations in attention cycle patterns, cited sources, and news frames. A content analysis was conducted on 630 articles from US and Korean newspapers during the period of April to October 2009. It found that attention cycle patterns, news frames, and sources varied across the two countries according to professional norms, cultural values, social ideologies, and occurrences of relevant events. While US news coverage showed two phases of waxing and waning attention, Korean news coverage showed five phases. The frames used in US news stories placed more emphasis on attribution of responsibility, action, and reassurance. Other framing variations were found as news attention in each country rose and fell. Regarding sources used, Korean news stories relied more on governmental sources, while US news stories used a greater diversity of sources. This study advances research on variations in the attention cycle for transnational issues by specifying how journalists’ framing of social problems can differ according to the following: cultural factors, the shape of the news attention cycle, and the occurrence of events related to the issue at hand.

Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of School-Level Tobacco Policies on Adolescent Smoking: The Case of Michigan

BACKGROUND In efforts to curb and prevent youth smoking, school tobacco policies have become an important and effective strategy. This study explores the degrees and types of tobacco-free school policy (TFSP) enforcement that are associated with adolescent smoking. METHODS A multilevel analysis was performed using 983 students who are nested in 14 schools. The individual-level data are drawn from the 2009 Michigan Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The school-level data are drawn from the 2008 School Health Profiles survey. RESULTS Two factors are associated with lower adolescent smoking: greater punishment for TFSP violation and more tobacco control communication efforts. By contrast, the factors associated with higher adolescent smoking are designation of a tobacco-free school zone and school-level smoking. CONCLUSIONS This study theoretically and methodologically guides researchers to test TFSP effectiveness in other states. Three strategic implications emerge: (1) schools should provide a consistent antismoking message in smoke-free environments; (2) schools should integrate TFSP into a comprehensive tobacco control initiative, including community-wide tobacco control programs and messages; and (3) the way a specific TFSP is promoted and communicated could determine how effective it is.

Capital, Consumption, Communication, and Citizenship: The Social Positioning of Taste and Civic Culture in the United States

In this article, the authors analyze the field of cultural consumption in the United States. Using the 2000 DDB Lifestyle Study, they examine a cross-section of Americans in terms of their occupational categories, media usage, consumption practices, social behaviors, and indicators of civic and political engagement. In doing so, the authors find many parallels to the determinants of taste, cultural discrimination, and choice within the field structure observed by Bourdieu in 1960s French society. However, there are also some notable differences in terms of the composition of cultural capital consistent with the concept of omnivorousness. The distribution of positions is largely defined by patterns of taste that discriminate between refinement, moderation, nurturance, and a communal orientation, on one side, and coarseness, excess, aggressiveness, and an individual orientation, on the other. Historical and national differences partly account for this variation, but a major role may be played by the increasing formation of identities around media and consumption, leading to a more gendered and ideological positioning of taste cultures in the U.S context.

Theories into practice: a content analysis of anti‐smoking websites

Purpose – This study aims to examine the extent to which anti‐smoking websites use intervention strategies that have been informed by four prominent theories of health‐related behavior change: the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action/theory of planned behavior, the transtheoretical model, and social cognitive theory.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was applied to 67 unique and independent anti‐smoking websites to determine their use of 20 intervention strategies based on the four theories.Findings – The findings reveal that anti‐smoking websites used the health belief model the most and social cognitive theory the least. In addition, websites devoted to smoking cessation used these theories more extensively than websites devoted to smoking prevention.Research limitations/implications – The sample size is somewhat small, which may result in lack of sufficient statistical power. Also, the analysis may have overlooked some important intervention strategies that are particularly ef...

When Distant Others Matter More: Perceived Effectiveness for Self and Other in the Child Abuse PSA Context

Perceived effectiveness (PE) has been studied as an important antecedent of persuasion. But judgments of PE may vary its persuasive impact depending on whom people think about as message referents. This study explores PE judgment for both self and different others as well as their independent roles in the persuasion process. Theoretical rationales are drawn from the third-person effect and its contingent concepts regarding perceived media effects. A study was conducted among 355 participants who evaluated two child abuse prevention public service announcements (PSAs). They estimated that the average American parent judged the PSAs more favorably than their close peer or themselves. Structural equation models indicate that selfs and close-peers PE judgment led to persuasion for one PSA (“Wonders”), while the targets PE judgment affected persuasion for another PSA (“Awareness”). These results suggest a potential moderating role of message characteristics in self–other PE judgments and their consequences.

Newspaper Portrayals of Child Abuse: Frequency of Coverage and Frames of the Issue

For several years, child welfare advocates have claimed that the U.S. news media misrepresent child abuse and fail to highlight its societal dimensions. To investigate the accuracy of this diagnosis, the following study examines findings of a content analysis of child abuse coverage in major national and urban U.S. newspapers from 2000 to 2008. First, we determine how frequently newspapers covered the different types of child abuse. Second, we analyze whether child abuse has been framed as either an isolated phenomenon (episodic and individual frames) or a broadly systemic and public problem (thematic and societal frames). Third, we look for changes in coverage frequency and media frames over time. Findings are mixed: On one hand, different types of child abuse receive varying degrees of coverage, with sexual abuse receiving a disproportionately large amount; on the other hand, the topic of child abuse in general has predominantly been framed thematically as a problem that has societal causes and solutions. However, there was no clear pattern in the way these causes and solutions have been framed over the years. Based on these findings, we suggest that child welfare advocates should focus on communication goals other than influencing media frames.

Determinants of Underage College Student Drinking: Implications for Four Major Alcohol Reduction Strategies

Guided by the assumptions of the social ecological model and the social marketing approach, this study provides a simultaneous and comprehensive assessment of 4 major alcohol reduction strategies for college campuses: school education programs, social norms campaigns, alcohol counter-marketing, and alcohol control policies. Analysis of nationally representative secondary survey data among 5,472 underage students reveals that alcohol marketing seems to be the most formidable risk factor for underage drinking, followed by perceived drinking norms (injunctive norm) and lax policy enforcement. This analysis suggests that, to make social norms campaigns and alcohol control policies more effective, alcohol reduction strategies should be developed to counter the powerful influence of alcohol marketing and promotions.