Advertising and Public Relations

Marketers often use incentives such as coupons, rewards or special membership discounts in order to motivate consumers to purchase or recommend a particular brand. This practice is based on the underlying assumption that an increase in incentives will lead to an increase in consumer response – an idea which has been at the core of traditional economic thinking for decades. Some psychologists have claimed, however, that under specific conditions an increase in incentives can reduce (rather than increase) one's willingness to perform the behavior which is being incentivized. If materialized, the possibility that extrinsic incentives may diminish consumer willingness to recommend a favorite brand could have important theoretical and practical consequences in the context of word-of-mouth or buzz marketing. This study tests that possibility in the context of an experiment about Apple computers, a favorite brand among US college students. Participants were asked to recommend the brand to a friend (1) in absence of any monetary reward and (2) for a small monetary incentive. Students who were promised a small monetary reward experienced a decrease in intrinsic motivation and wrote shorter recommendations than those who were not promised any incentives. Data also suggest that the quality of the recommendation may decrease when incentives are offered. The results are discussed in line of their possible theoretical and practical significance.

Purpose -The effectiveness of social marketing communication should depend both on message features and on the psychological characteristics of message recipients. This premise was tested in an experiment focused on why consumers may respond differently to different types of pro-recycling advertisements. The message feature was the way in which the advertisements were framed. The psychological characteristic of the message recipient was the respondent's mood. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -Hypotheses were tested in the context of an experiment focused on paper recycling. Findings -It was hypothesized that congruity between mood and the frame of the message would result in more favorable message evaluations and higher intentions to recycle than incongruity. Supporting the study's hypotheses, the data showed that participants in a negative mood had higher intentions to recycle paper and evaluated pro-recycling advertisements more favorably when the ads emphasized avoiding negative consequences as opposed to attaining desired benefits. Among participants in a positive mood, desired benefit advertisements induced higher intentions to recycle paper and were evaluated more favorably than advertisements framed in terms of avoiding negative consequences. Practical implications -A clear message placement strategy is suggested to increase the effectiveness of social marketing communication campaigns. Originality/value -This mood congruity effect has not been reported before in the context of pro-environmental communication. Furthermore, the study provides empirical evidence of the underlying psychological mechanisms that cause the observed interaction. The evidence suggests the data could be predictive of similar response patterns in other social marketing communication domains (e.g. in response to health messages, volunteering, charity, etc.).

Most health communication research is grounded in theories of rational human behavior, which emphasize the role of cognition in health-related decision making. The role of affect-particularly pre-exposure mood-as a determinant of responses to health campaigns is underexplored. Using experimental data, the present study describes variations in attitudinal and behavioral responses to health communication as a function of preexisting mood (positive/negative), message relevance (high/low), and health message type (prevention/detection). Data show that message relevance moderated the effects of health message type under positive, but not under negative, mood.

Purpose -The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of pre-existing audience mood on responses to health public service advertisements (PSAs). The paper also aims to show the practical and theoretical importance of mood as a variable in health communication. Design/methodology/approach -Hypotheses regarding the impact of audience mood on the outcome of health PSAs were tested experimentally using health PSAs about vaccination and virus detection behaviors. Findings -The influence of pre-existing mood was mediated by the perceived risk of contracting the illness mentioned in the health advertisement. Personal estimations of risk mediated the impact of audience mood on behavioral intent and actual behavior. The more negative one's mood, the higher the perceived risk of contracting the disease mentioned in the message, and the more likely one was to adopt the precautionary behavior recommended by the PSA. Positive mood had opposite effects. Practical implications -The findings suggest a novel media planning approach to maximizing the effectiveness of health risk messages. Due to the impact of context-induced mood on perceptions of risk, messages could be more effective if placed in editorial contexts which induce negative mood (e.g. crime investigation reports) versus environments which induce positive mood (e.g. sitcoms), because negative mood makes people think they are more at risk and motivates them to act. Originality/value -The mood-and-risk mediation hypothesis proposed here has never been examined in public health marketing. Findings call for further research on the impact of contextual affect on responses to public health communication. The paper suggests a new placement technique for media planners working in public health advertising.

Using motivation crowding theory, the study examined the possibility that low monetary
incentives may reduce (rather than increase) students’ motivation to volunteer as mentors, compared to situations when no incentives are offered. Data from an experiment supported this counter-intuitive proposition. Advertising students exposed to an ad promising a small monetary reward experienced a significant drop in intrinsic motivation and were overall less likely to volunteer as peer mentors than those exposed to an ad promising no reward. The impact of high incentives on motivation was studied also. Students exposed to an ad that promised a large monetary reward were more likely to volunteer than the low incentive and no-incentive groups, but their intrinsic motivation to help was replaced by the desire for monetary gain. The study has theoretical and practical implications for the use of incentives in advertising education to promote peer mentorship and for motivating volunteers in general.

Brand zealotry was defined as a specialized form of opinion leadership. Brand zealots are consumers who frequently engage in brand-related opinion leadership, report high interest in identifying the best brands to buy, and regularly purchase the brand name products they favor. The concept was operationalized by means of an index of the propensity to engage in brand zealotry. Brand zealotry was found to be associated with the demographic factors such as younger and higher income consumers. Certain personality characteristics and media preferences pointed to the possibility that brand zealots are discerning consumers who rely on information provided in advertising and on the Internet.

This research examines the impact of Web-based anthropomorphic agents on consumers' attitudes toivard the Web site and the brand, with particular focus on two mediating factors. An experiment found that the presence {versus absence) of an anthropomorphic agefit led to significantly more favorable attitudes toward the Web site, buf had ininimum influence on attitudes toward the brand. In addition, the influence of the ngent on attitudes toivard the Web site was mediated by perceived credibility of the Web site and positive emotional responses.

Esta es la traducción al español de un artículo publicado originalmente en inglés. Para citar, por favor utilice lo siguiente: Anghelcev, George y otros: "A ZMET-based Resumen Propósito: este documento tiene como objetivo informar de la investigación cualitativa sobre las percepciones que existen entre los jóvenes surcoreanos acerca del cambio climático, para ilustrar los beneficios de los enfoques cualitativos complementarios. Las campañas de comunicación de márketing exitosas requieren de una evaluación exhaustiva de las percepciones y actitudes actuales del público hacia el tema de la campaña. Es muy probable que se obtengan estos conocimientos si se utilizan diversos métodos de investigación; sin embargo, en el ámbito de las campañas a favor del medio ambiente, ha existido una dependencia excesiva de las encuestas cuantitativas. Diseño / metodología / enfoque: el estudio empleó una variante de la Técnica Zaltman de Investigación por Metáforas (ZMET, por sus siglas en inglés), un protocolo híbrido que combina fotografías con las metáforas que se obtienen del análisis de esas imágenes en una entrevista más posterior más profunda. A diferencia de la investigación de encuestas, la ZMET destapa las estructuras mentales emocionales, interpretativas y sensoriales que, junto con el conocimiento fáctico, conforman la mentalidad pública sobre el cambio climático. Hallazgos: el análisis reveló un modelo mental multifacético del cambio climático, por el que el conocimiento fáctico, interpretativo y emocional se organiza en torno a temas de pérdida, codicia humana, angustia afectiva y representaciones icónicas de finales trágicos. Las dinámicas causales del cambio climático se construyen a lo largo de un continuo psicológico de distancia, con los antecedentes colocados en la proximidad, y los efectos asignados a espacios temporales, geográficos y psicológicos, a lo lejos. Implicaciones prácticas: se identifican cuatro estrategias de mensajes para las campañas de mitigación del cambio climático con base en los hallazgos. Originalidad/valor: el estudio presenta un argumento metodológico para complementar la investigación mediante encuestas con investigaciones cualitativas basadas en imágenes en las etapas formativas de campañas ambientalistas. Más específicamente, el artículo demuestra la aplicabilidad de la ZMET a la comunicación de márketing social. Aparte de las implicaciones metodológicas, esta parece ser la primera investigación cualitativa en profundidad de las percepciones públicas del cambio climático en el este de Asia, una región poblada y de rápido desarrollo que se ha convertido en un importante contribuyente a las emisiones de carbono del mundo, y un actor valioso en el esfuerzo global hacia la mitigación de los efectos del fenómeno.

This study examined psychological constructs related to the subjective experience of binge-watching serial video content. The results underscore the centrality of transportation in shaping viewers' perceptions of the binge-watching experience and their binge-watching behaviors. Transportation was positively related to binge-watching frequency and mediated the impact of binge-watching session length on development of parasocial interactions (full mediation) and on binge-watching enjoyment (partial mediation). Ability to experience flow was found to predict the length of a binge-watching session. Other significant relationships were revealed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed , along with suggestions for future research and the possibility of expanding current conceptual views of binge-watching.