Veronica L. Thomas

A content analysis of male roles in television advertising: Do traditional roles still hold?

Analysis of male roles in television advertising is limited. In order to remedy this, our research serves as a catalyst by providing a review of the current literature, conducting a preliminary examination of male roles in television advertising, and discussing ways for this area of research to move forward in the future. Specifically, the study conducted in this paper examines television advertising to provide insight on the depiction of males, the portrayed relations between males and other individuals, and how these depictions may have changed from 2003 to 2008. Male depictions in lead roles are contrasted using 907 primetime commercials from 2003 and 961 commercials from 2008 from the four major US broadcasting networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX). Results suggest that some aspects of male depictions in advertising are counter to, while other aspects are reflective of, the changing gender roles occurring in society.

Hidden consumption behaviour: an alternative response to social group influence

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how conflicting brand preferences between a social group and an individual may lead the individual to hide their consumption. Specifically, the authors examine the conditions under which hiding behaviour is most likely to occur and the impact of susceptibility to interpersonal influence on the decision to hide. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were conducted using a combination of student and adult samples. Analysis of variance and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – Findings suggest that individuals are most likely to hide their consumption behaviour when group sanctions for non-conformity are severe, but the likelihood of being caught is low. Further, individual differences in susceptibility to interpersonal influence are found to affect individuals’ decisions to hide their consumption behaviour. Research limitations/implications – By identifying hidden consumption behaviour as a possible response to preference conflict, this...

Creating a Professional Blog The Impact of Student Learning Styles on Perceptions of Learning

This article provides marketing educators with a blogging activity that allows students to add to their marketing expertise as well as enhance their communication skills. Specifically, we propose an activity that incorporates the necessary steps for experiential learning to be achieved. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this activity is examined by individuals who participated in the blog activity as well as individuals who analyzed the blog contributions. The results suggest that participants perceived that this activity was effective in aiding their learning, but differences in learning effectiveness were detected based on participants’ learning style and gender.

Role-Playing in a Consumption Context: An Experiential Learning Activity Focused on the Consumer Decision-Making Process.

Instructors are faced with the challenge of teaching a significant amount of material covering a wide variety of topics in a Principles of Marketing course. In order to present the critical consumer decision-making process concept in a meaningful way while remaining mindful of time constraints, we propose a semi-structured classroom activity that facilitates experiential learning. We provide detailed instructions on how to implement a unique role-play activity that demonstrates the various factors that impact the consumer decision-making process along with empirical evidence suggesting that students perceive this activity to be both engaging and effective at enhancing learning.

ENHANCING STUDENTS’ MARKETING INFORMATION LITERACY

A principal goal of marketing educators is to prepare students to be successful in their future careers. The marketing education community is beginning to recognize the importance of information literacy as an important component of job readiness. We present details of a content analysis that describes the amount and scope of marketing coverage provided in two business periodicals. Our second study examines how students use business publications and assesses students’ perceptions of their usefulness in enhancing information literacy. The results suggest that some business periodicals provide considerable marketing content; however, many students do not voluntarily take advantage of these resources.

The tangled web we weave: Deceptive consumption behaviors as a means to cope with identity threat

Consumers have been observed to engage in deceptive consumption behaviors, including hiding their brand consumption and pretending to consume brands that they actually do not. This article defines deceptive consumption behaviors as the deliberate falsification or concealment of an individual’s consumption behaviors pertaining to a brand. The present work recognizes deceptive consumption behaviors as a relatively unexplored construct in the consumer behavior literature. Therefore, this article sets out not only to define and delineate the various types of deceptive consumption behaviors but also to explore the underlying motivations that would result in consumers engaging in this practice. We propose that these behaviors are a response to an identity threat that occurs due to goal conflict between personal and social identities. We further propose a typology to illustrate the various behaviors that consumers may employ when engaging in deceptive consumption. We explore the consequences of engaging in deceptive consumption behaviors for the consumer as well as for the consumer’s relationship with the brand and the group. Finally, we identify avenues for future research on deceptive consumption behaviors.