Advertising, Consumer Psychology, and Health Conference
Hyatt on Capitol Square, Columbus, Ohio
May 2-4, 1997
Conference Co-Chairs
Richard E. Petty
Conference Background Information
Society for Consumer Psychology Home Page
Scroll down for complete conference program
The goal conference program is to examine theoretical perspectives from Psychology, Marketing, and Advertising for their usefulness in the development and execution of social marketing efforts employing promotional vehicles. Presentations from top academic, practitioner, and government researchers will focus on development of communications and other promotions designed to change the health-related behaviors of consumers. The program will be of interest to persons in public health, nursing, psychology, marketing, and advertising.
Preconference......
Friday, May 2nd, 3:00 - 5:00, Careers in Public Health, Social Psychology, Marketing, Journalism, etc..
A discussion session with Academic Faculty Members from Psychology, Advertising, Marketing, Journalism, Pharmacy, and Public Health about graduate training and employment opportunities. Undergraduate, graduate students and faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to attend this free session.
Click Here for Registration Materials
Friday, May 2nd, 5:00 - 7:00 PM, Conference Registration and Social Hour (persons attending the Careers Meeting but not registering for the conference are welcome to attend the social hour)
Please send questions or comments about the conference to Curt Haugtvedt
Session I: Health Attitudes and Persuasive Messages: Conceptual Foundations
Saturday, May 3rd, 8:00 - 10:00 am
The Changing Landscape of Health in the U.S.: Implications for Consumer Psychology
John T. Cacioppo, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
According to the US Public Health Service, of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S., at least seven could be reduced substantially if people at risk would change just five behaviors: compliance (e.g., use of antihypertensive medication), diet, smoking, lack of exercise, and alcohol and drug abuse. Consumer psychologists can contribute to health promotion and disease prevention through: (1) basic research to expand our understanding of cognitive representations and effective interventions; and (2) applied research to assess the effectiveness of various interventions and ways to more effectively implement what is already known about promoting health and preventing disease.
John T. Cacioppo (Ph.D., Ohio State University) focuses his research on the processes underlying people's discriminations between hostile and hospitable stimuli, the biological processes underlying thesediscriminations and associated social behavior, and the health consequences of these processes and appraisals. He has served as the associate editor of the Psychological Review and is currently the editor of Psychophysiology.
The Persuasive Impact of Hierarchical Messages: Don't .... but if you do ....
Diane M. Mackie, Department of Psychology, University of California-Santa Barbara
Crystal Wright, Department of Psychology, University of California-Santa Barbara
"Don't have sex -- but if you do, use a condom." Avoid exposing your skin to the sun. If you must be out in the sun, wear a sunblock." Despite their prevalence in the popular media, little is known about whether such messages are more or less effective in persuading persons to engage in healthy behavior. In this presentation, Professor Mackie will describe new research looking at why and how such messages may influence the attitudes and behaviors of consumers.
Professor Mackie (Ph.D. Princeton University) focuses on two main areas of research: social influence, the processes by which attitudes and behavior are changed, and intergroup perception, the processes by which we form impressions of our own and other groups. In both research domains, her concern is with the interaction of affective, cognitive, and motivational mechanisms that shape social interaction.
Using Cartoons to Encourage Safe Sex: Good News and Bad News
People are often reluctant to process health messages about life threatening illnesses because of fear. Often, the most fearful (and thus the most avoidant) people are those who are most at risk and thus most in need of behavior change. We report two studies conducted in the U.S. and the Netherlands that examine the use of cartoon messages as a means of inducing message processing in those who are typically least likely to engage in it.
Richard E. Petty, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
Arnold Bakker, Department of Psychology, University of Groningen
W. Blair G. Jarvis, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
Lisa M. Evans, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
Richard E. Petty (Ph.D., Ohio State University) focuses broadly on the situational and individual difference factors responsible for changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Much of his current research is aimed at testing a general theory of persuasion and assessing implications of the theory for consumer choices, political decisions, and health behaviors. He is the author of 7 books and over 150 journal articles and chapters. He served as editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin from l988-1991, and as a consultant on persuasion for such federal agencies as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Message Vividness and Health Persuasion: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Analysis
Stephen M. Smith, Department of Psychology, North Georgia College
Kerri D. Shannon, Department of Psychology, North Georgia College
It has long been believed that vivid arguments ("Smoking will turn your lungs into black lumps of hardened slime") are more memorable and hence more persuasive than pallid arguments ("Smoking is bad for your lungs"). However, research on the subject of vividness effects in persuasion has yielded minimal support for this notion. Our presentation describes research that illustrates how vividness can either enhance or undermine persuasion.
Stephen Smith (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is primarily interested in attitudes and persuasion, with a special focus on factors that influence the extent to which people systematically process messages. His research has appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Psychology & Marketing, and Advances in Consumer Research. From 1991 - 1993, he held an NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Ohio State University.
Role of Pictures in the Effectiveness of Health Warnings
Timothy C. Brock, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
Laura A. Brannon, Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma
Warnings typically contain negative information (for example, side effects) and this negative information is juxtaposed to positive (favorable) information or positive symbols (attractive images) about the product or service. How does a consumer process and act upon this mixed information? The impact of pictorial warnings is illustrated in experiments in which respondents report the dangerousness of products such as beer, ice cream, and cigarettes; pictorial and nonpictorial warnings were attached to advertisements for those products. We suggest that selection of warnings by manufacturers and service providers can and should be based on empirical demonstration of the efficacy of those warnings.
Professor Brock (Ph.D. Yale University) has three current lines of inquiry: the mechanisms that may be involved in attitude change persistence; how fictional presentations work to change attitudes and beliefs; and the conditions under which warning labels affect health-related behavior. Professor Brannon (Ph.D. The Ohio State University) is broadly interested in advancing theory about social influence by examining underlying mechanisms. This interest is reflected in her forthcoming book on behavioral compliance and in her NIMH-supported research on matching public health messages to the self-schemas of recipients to improve preventative behavior with respect to sexually transmitted diseases.
10:00 - 10:15 Coffee Break
Session II: Attitudes and HIV Risk Behavior
10:15 - 11:45
Aids and Me, Never the Twain Shall Meet: Factors Affecting Judgments of Risk
Priya Raghubir, Department of Marketing, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Geeta Menon, Department of Marketing, Stern School of Business, New York University
The HIV virus is now an international killer but people perceive they are less likely to contract the virus than are others -- i.e., the self-positivity bias. Three studies investigate the antecedents and consequences of the self-positivity bias in judgments of risk of contracting AIDS. We demonstrate that increasing the accessibility of a cause of AIDS in an advertisement propounding safe sex increases perceptions of own risk of AIDS, reduces the self-positivity bias, leads to more favorable attitudes and intentions towards practicing precautionary behaviors (e.g., using condoms, taking an HIV test), and also leads to deeper processing of AIDS educational material.
Geeta Menon (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is interested in information processing models and their implications for questionnaire design, consumer behavior and advertising effectiveness. She has published in the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Consumer Behavior. She has also conducted several short courses on how respondents answer autobiographical questions in surveys.
Implications of a Bivariate Model of Attitudes for AIDS Prevention
Wendi Gardner, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University
John Cacioppo, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
The bivariate model of attitudes proposes that positivity and negativity toward an object or event are characterized by different activation functions, and further, that high ambivalence toward an object or event will almost always result in behaving in a negative fashion. The current research explores the implications of this model for the area of condom use and AIDS prevention among college students. Implications of this research and theoretical model for the design of AIDS prevention messages will be outlined.
Wendi Gardner (Ph.D., Ohio State) focuses on the process of evaluation, including possible differences in the positive and negative bases of attitudes. Her work often involves psychophysiological measurement in addition to traditional paper and pencil measurement techniques. She has presented papers at numerous national conferences, including the annual meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. She also studies the interrelationships among the social versus individual self-concept, values, and collective behavior.
Safe Sex, Ambivalence, & Attitude Specificity: Examining the Relationship Between Attitudes and Health-risk Related Behavior.
Joseph Priester, Department of Marketing, University of Michigan
Richard E. Petty, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
A study on the relationship between attitudes toward safe sex and self-reports of safe sex is described. Results reveal that attitude ambivalence (evaluative tension or mixed feelings and thoughts) and specificity play important moderating roles.
Joseph Priester (Ph.D., Social Psychology, Ohio State University) focuses his research on psychological processes underlying social and consumer behavior, especially as related to attitudinal ambivalence, expectancies, and source perceptions.
Alcohol and Unsafe Sex: Implications for Interventions Designed to Increase Condom Use
Tara K. MacDonald, Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge
Geoffrey MacDonald, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo
Mark P. Zanna, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo
Geoffrey T. Fong, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo
In a series of experiments, the authors investigated the effects of alcohol on intentions to engage in unprotected sexual intercourse. Results indicate that alcohol does not necessarily lead to risky sexual behavior. Instead, alcohol causes people to attend to the most salient cues in their environment, as predicted by the theory of Alcohol Myopia. Implications for designing programs to decrease the incidence of unsafe sexual intercourse associated with alcohol intoxication are discussed.
Tara MacDonald (Ph.D., University of Waterloo) is interested in examining the attitude-behavior relationship, specifically with respect to health-related behaviors. In the past, she has examined physiological states that affect information processing and decision-making. In related lines of research, she is generally interested in studying situations in which people fail to attend to all of the relevant information in their environment, and the reasons for this neglect.
Luncheon: 11:45 - 1:15
The Safer Sex Sell: What's Love Got to Do with It?
Leslie F. Clark, School of Public Health, University of Alabama-Birmingham
Leslie F. Clark (PhD U.C.L.A., MPH Emory University) studies the personal relationship context of sexual behavior and sexual risk. Theories of attraction, love, and intimacy are applied to sexual risk behavior in attempts to determine effective campaigns to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Session III: Promoting Prevention Behavior
1:15-2:45
Framing Messages to Promote Healthy Behaviors: Basic Findings
Peter Salovey, Department of Psychology, Yale University
Health-relevant communications can be framed in terms of the benefits (gains) or costs (losses) associated with a particular behavior, and the framing of such persuasive messages influences subsequent decision-making. In this talk, we will review several field experiments suggesting that gain-framed messages may be most effective in promoting prevention behaviors but that loss-framed messages may be most effective in promoting early detection behaviors.
Peter Salovey (Ph.D., Yale University) is professor of Psychology, Epidemiology, and Public Health at Yale University. His research focuses on the psychological significance of moods and emotions and on the application of social/personality psychological principles to the promotion of health protective behaviors. Professor Salovey has published many articles in the scientific literature and is editor of Review of General Psychology.
Framing Messages to Promote Healthy Behavior: Moderation and Mechanism
Alexander Rothman, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
Our program of research has identified the conditions that maximize the effectiveness of both gain- and loss-framed messages. In this talk, we will address the cognitive and affective processes that may underlie the impact of differentially framed messages on behavior.
Alex Rothman (Ph.D., Yale University) focuses on how people form judgments about issues concerning health and illness, how these judgments inhibit and facilitate the performance of health behaviors, and how health information should be communicated to promote the adoption of healthy behavior. He is a co-author with Peter Salovey and Judith Rodin of a chapter on health behavior in the Handbook of Social Psychology (4th Edition).
Health Protective Behavior and Emotional Moments
Kevin D. McCaul, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University
Kathryn B. Quinlan, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University
McCaul will first describe a number of models that have been used to predict and understand health-protective behaviors. Most of these models either ignore affect or treat it as an experience that only adds to cognition. McCaul will present data from his work in the area of breast cancer screening to argue that worry about cancer has valuable health-protective benefits.
K.D. McCaul (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is a frequent contributor to the literature in Health Psychology. His most recent research focuses on the role that affect, especially negative affect, plays in motivating and sustaining health protective behaviors. McCaul argues that anxiety and fear are often experienced in "emotional moments", that such moments can prompt positive, "healthy" behaviors, and that affect adds to cognition to produce these effects. The studies reported in this talk are based on a statewide survey of 600 women . The study was conducted to better understand various factors associated with decisions to have a mamography exam.
Examining the Influence of Distant Consequences on Present Behavior
Alan Strathman, Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia
Nancy C. Dorr, Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia
Faith Gleicher, Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel
When making decisions about a variety of health-related behaviors, individuals often must consider consequences that vary in the extent to which they are relatively immediate or distant. A new individual difference measure, the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale, identifies stable individual differences in the extent to which individuals are influenced more by immediate versus distant consequences. In this presentation, the CFC measure is described along with research examining on the influence of this construct on a variety of health-related behaviors.
Alan Strathman (Ph.D., Ohio State University) is interested generally in issues related to time and temporal orientation. Currently he is examining the extent to which individuals are influenced by the potential consequences of behavior that vary in propinquity. He has demonstrated that this concern is influential in a variety of cognitive and behavioral domains.
2:45 - 3:00 Coffee Break
Session IV: Perspectives on Creating Effective Promotion Messages
3:00 - 4:45
Employing Attitude Change Theory to Reduce Intimate Violence Against Women
Martin Heesacker, Department of Psychology, University of Florida
This presentation describes two studies that successfully employed Petty and Cacioppo's elaboration likelihood model of attitude change (ELM) to reduce the attitudes that support sexually assaultive behavior in collegiate men. Moreover, both studies provided evidence of attitude change stability, even up to 30 days later. In a third study, the ELM was successfully employed in changing violence-related attitudes and beliefs of convicted spouse/partner batterers attending an ELM-based, court-mandated treatment program. These findings will be discussed with regard to both future related research and general principles that may prove useful in applying the ELM in other health-related settings.
Martin Heesacker (Ph.D., University of Missouri, Columbia ) specializes in counseling and social psychology. The author of over 50 scholarly publications, Dr. Heesacker is professor of psychology at the University of Florida. His honors include the Early Career Award in Counseling Psychology, Fellowship in the American Psychological Association, an Eli Lilly Foundation Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and two University of Florida teaching awards.
A Framework To Develop Tailored Health Education Messages
Eloise Coupey & David Brinberg, Department of Marketing, Virginia Tech University
Substantial evidence exists that tailored messages are more effective in changing health-related behaviors than messages that treat consumers as anonymous members of a larger market segment. The processes that underlie the effects of tailored messages are unclear. We describe a framework that focuses on two components of health education: the theories needed to determine what information to select for a tailored message and the processes invoked once this information is presented to the end-user. The framework is intended for the healthcare practitioner as a guide for developing effective tailored messages and for basic researchers who are interested in improving the effectiveness of these messages.
David Brinberg (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is currently the Robert O. Goodykoontz Professor of Marketing and Department Head of Marketing at Virginia Tech. His research interests include the application of attitude-based decision models to health-related behaviors and research methodology issues in the behavioral and social sciences. Eloise Coupey (Ph.D. Duke University) focuses on the role of constructive processes in decision making, with an emphasis on how consumers structure information from internal and external sources to make judgments and choices that affect behavior.
The Self in Information Processing: A Conceptual Framework for examining Tailored Message Effectiveness
Simani M. Price, Department of Marketing, American University
This paper reviews current theoretical approaches to tailored messages (i.e., health belief model, transtheoretical model, theory of reasoned action & behavioral alternatives models). Although these models have provided useful frameworks for designing tailored massages, little evidence exists on the underlying mechanism that make tailoring effective. In addition, there are many discrepancies and inconsistencies in the empirical findings of the effectiveness of tailored messages. This paper discusses the self on a continuum of information processing, (category-based versus attribute-based) and it's implications for designing effective tailored messages.
Simani M. Price (Ph.D, Virginia Tech) broadly focuses her research on the reciprocal processes of affect and cognition as underlying mechanisms in explaining attitude structure, formation, change and message comprehension. She has presented papers at several conferences including the Association for Consumer Research, American Psychological Society, and the American Psychological Association.
Promoting Healthy Behaviors: An Attitude Strength Perspective
Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Department of Marketing, Ohio State University
Molly Lynch, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University
Sylvia Long-Tolbert, Department of Marketing, Ohio State University
Haugtvedt suggests that effectiveness of health promotions should be judged by the strength of the attitudes created. Attitudes that remain relatively unchanged over time, are resistant to change in the face of attack, and that serve as effective guides behavior are characterized as strong attitudes. With an understanding of the factors associated with the creation of strong attitudes from basic research, the techniques used health promotion are categorized by their likelihood of inducing relatively strong vs. relatively weak health-related attitudes.
Curtis P. Haugtvedt (Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia) directs research programs designed to better understand factors leading to the formation and maintence of strong attitudes. His research has appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Consumer Research, and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Consumer Psychology and on the Editorial review boards of the Journal of Consumer Research and Psychology and Marketing.
5:00 - 7:00 Social Hour (Poster Session from 5:00 - 6:00)
Session V: Media Messages and Health Behavior
Sunday, May 4th, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
Media Literacy and Health
Suzi Gates, Centers for Disease Control
Media messages--through television, radio, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, billboards--surround us and often normalize and glamorize unhealthy risk taking behaviors. Through MEDIA LITERACY individuals around the world and across the United States are learning to decode the overt and hidden messages in media to make better lifestyle decisions. Ms. Gates will present the "MediaSmart" guide and video developed by CDC's Office on Smoking and Health and SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to help young people critically analyze the many direct and indirect messages in the media that promote unhealthy behavior, specifically tobacco and alcohol use. The presentation will also address the development of the "MediaSmart" project, expert feedback, and research summaries.
Suzanne (Suzi) Gates, MPH, works in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's newly created Office of Communication and is directly responsible for facilitating youth communication efforts including media literacy. She has also worked for CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, the Missouri and Louisiana departments of health, the American Red Cross, and the United States Peace Corps. Ms. Gates' received her undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
ADSMARTS: An Intervention Invoking Reactance To Combat Alcohol Usage By Youths
Marvin E. Goldberg, Department of Marketing, Penn State University
Lori J. Bechtel, Penn State University
Adsmarts is a program seeking to inform youth about persuasive techniques in promotion and advertising. The program portrays young smokers/drinkers as having come to smoke/drink as a result of these marketing efforts. It is intended that youth who come to understand this process will find it difficult to use these products/ behaviors as symbols of independence of decision making and of being "grown up," motives typically so central for them. To the contrary, it is predicted that youth who are exposed to this program will exhibit "reactance"(Brehm and Brehm 1981;) in other words, they will react against those trying to constrain their freedom of choice and will reject their persuasive efforts. This presentation will report on a intervention focusing on alcohol; subjects were 6th graders in 15 middle school classes in central Pennsylvania.
Marvin E. Goldberg is the Irving & Irene Bard Professor of Marketing at Penn State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He has served as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology. He presently serves the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Marketing & Public Policy. His research has largely focused on the effects of advertising on youth. Dr.Goldberg's recent research has involved interventions to discourage youth from experimenting with alcohol and cigarettes.
Attributions and Illicit Consumption: Implications for Social Marketing Communications
Randall L. Rose, Department of Marketing, University of South Carolina
William O. Bearden, Department of Marketing, University of South Carolina
Kenneth C. Manning, Department of Marketing, Gonzaga University
Attribution theory is used as a basis for recommending strategies designed to reduce conformity among young people exposed to peer pressure in favor of substance abuse. Results from several studies involving college and high school students that suggest normative explanations for substance abuse may reduce conformity are summarized. The implications of this body of research for the design of communications vehicles intended to reduce substance abuse among teens and preteens are discussed.
Randy Rose (PhD., The Ohio State University) focuses primarily on the persuasive effects of advertising and the role of social influences in consumer behavior, has appeared in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, among others. Experience as a counselor and caseworker in a community drug and alcohol assistance center have led to his interest in using marketing and consumer behavior knowledge to counter the darker side of consumption in its various manifestations.
Media and Message Strategies for Curbing Youthful Male Drinking and Driving Behavior
John P. Murry, Jr. Department of Marketing, Case Western Reserve University
This session will discuss both media and message strategies for PSA campaigns targeting youthful male drinking and driving. First, we will discuss a recent multi-city field experiment that examined the relative effectiveness of paid vs. donated PSA media strategies in decreasing fatal and incapacitating accidents. Second, recent advances in self-concept theory will be used to offer prescriptions for developing more effective PSA messages.
John Murry (Ph.D. University of Kansas) focuses on marketing communications and promotion. He has extensive consulting and executive education experience with Samsung Corporation, Motorola Corporation, Saab Cars USA, KeyCorp, Pizza Hut, Inc., Menasha Corporation, Bailey Controls, The Highsmith Company, FirstStar Bank Corporation, University Health Care, Inc., Wisconsin State Lottery, and the Wisconsin Center for Demand Side Research .
Session VI: Nutrition Labeling and Health Promotion
10:15 - 11:30 AM
Does the Use of Health-Related Information in Food Marketing Really Educate Consumers?
Mario F. Teisl, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Alan S. Levy, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Mr. Teisl will present an analysis of trends in diet-disease awareness among American consumers from 1984-1995 in relation to possible sources of diet-disease information, including news sources (newspapers, popular magazines) and food advertisements, with particular attention to differential effects of these information sources according to consumer characteristics such as education level.
Mario Teisl is a Staff Fellow in the Consumer Studies Branch in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He is also a Ph.D. student (ABD) in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at the University of Maryland. Mario obtained his M.S. in Resource Economics from the University of Maine and was previously employed at the University of Maine as a Research Associate.
Consumer Impact of Health Claims: An Experimental Study
Alan S. Levy, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Brenda M. Derby, Statistician, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Brian Roe, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Dr. Levy will provide an overview of the issues surrounding the regulation of health claims on the food label, in particular communication issues raised in the 1995 Keystone Report and in recent health claim petitions to the Food and Drug Administration. Findings from the 1995 Health Claims Study demonstrate the relative impact of health claims on the credibility and compellingness of label-provided health information, the conditions under which health claims provide "added value" to consumers and provide an assessment of the "magic bullet effect" attributed to some health claim formats.
Alan Levy is Chief, Consumer Studies Branch in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He received a B.S in Physics from Michigan State University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Columbia University in 1973. Before coming to FDA, he taught psychology at Duke University and worked as a project officer at Market Facts on government sponsored survey projects. At FDA, Dr. Levy has worked on issues related to food labeling, food safety, weight-loss practices, vitamin and mineral supplement use, infant feeding practices and nutrition education.
Is the Daily Reference Value Really Enough? Facilitating the Use of Nutrition Information Through Summary Information
Madhu Viswanathan, Department of Business Administration, University of Illinois
Manoj Hastak, Department of Marketing, American University
The FDA's Daily Reference Values provide consumers with a means of interpreting brand information relative to recommended daily intake. However, consumers often search for nutrition information with the goal of making a choice or judgment, tasks that require the interpretation of brand information relative to all available brands. Moreover, many consumers may not be able to place the nutritional content of a specific product in the context of a daily diet. This research examines Daily Values versus summary information in terms of the degree to which they facilitate usage of nutrition information by consumers.
Madhu Viswanathan's (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) research interests include understanding how consumers use magnitude information along product attributes, specifically numerical & verbal information, understanding how consumers use nutrition information, and developing measures of individual differences in preferences for types of information.
Buffet Lunch: 11:30 - 12:00
Session VII: Putting It All Together
12:00 - 2:30
That's Not What I Meant: Improving Health Communication with Formative Research
Patricia S. Stout, Department of Advertising, University of Texas-Austin
Theory-based research requires that theory and message development be integrated at the micro level; i.e., in addressing what the message should be, how it should be said, and by whom. The results of formative research to develop messages in three studies (for HIV prevention, adolescent drinking and driving, and childhood immunization) are reported here. Theoretical frameworks discussed include Protection Motivation Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The tradeoff for the considerable costs involved in systematic formative evaluation is the ability to reduce error due to messages that are inappropriate or irrelevant to the target audience. In addition, formative evaluation provides an opportunity to gain feedback about the relevance and usefulness of theoretical models--something that over time will enhance theory development and facilitate the creation of more effective promotions.
Patricia A. Stout (Ph.D., University of Illinois-Champaign) is a former President of the American Academy of Advertising. In recent years, she has worked with the Centers for Disease Control in the development of national advertising campaigns. Her research focuses on viewer response to advertising, with particular emphasis on emotional response to health communications messages and social marketing issues.
The Ontario Ministry of Health Tobacco Strategy: A Smoking Prevention Model
Lynn Fletcher, Vickers & Benson Advertising
This paper presents the key findings from a major research program targeted at understanding why young people smoke and the strategies for prevention that were developed from it. An in-depth exploration of the complex behaviors and motivations, using ethnographic techniques, led the Ontario Ministry of Health toward a new, clarified model of how to structure efforts to armor young people against smoking. The resultant communication strategy used a combination of mass media, education and parental motivation to encouraging effect.
Lynn Fletcher is Executive Vice President, Director of Planning at Vickers & Benson Advertising, where she is responsible for ensuring that a genuine consumer insight is at the core of every strategy. Vickers & Benson is a Canadian advertising agency, committed to developing and nurturing big ideas for a range of well-known Canadian and international companies - Bank of Montreal, 3M, McDonalds and the Canadian Government are some of the more familiar names. Lynn joined Vickers & Benson following a dozen years in the Ogilvy & Mather network working with Unilever, Smithcline Beecham and American Express, where her work took her to live in both the US and the UK. Lynn is a UK trained planner returned to Canada.
Social Marketing and Diffusion-Based Strategies for Communicating with Unique Populations: HIV Prevention in San Francisco
James W. Dearing, Dept. of Communication, Michigan State University
Everett M. Rogers, Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico
Gary L. Meyer, Communication, Marquette University
Mary A. Casey, Communication, Michigan State University
Nagesh Rao, Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico
Shelly Campo, Communication, Michigan State University
A two year investigation of HIV prevention program staff was conducted to learn the extent to which strategies based on social marketing and diffusion of innovation concepts are used in preventive health communication with unique populations.
Jim Dearing (Ph.D., University of Southern California) teachers courses in research design, program evaluation, mass communication theory, and social change. A principal investigator for National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, , he has held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan and University of California-Berkeley. He is co-author, with Everett M. Rogers, of the Sage book, Agenda Setting (1996).
Self Interest, Exchange, Competition, And Public Health Marketing
Michael L. Rothschild, School of Business, University of Wisconsin
The marketing of public health and social issues is fundamentally different from commercial marketing. In the latter, marketers play on the self interests of consumers, while in the former, managers often are asking a target to act against its own perceptions of its self interest and its own current behavior. If behavior management is to occur, managers need to develop exchanges that are based on the self interests of the target. This paper examines these issues with respect to three classes of behavior management tools: communications, marketing, and the force of law.
Professor Rothschild (Ph.D., Stanford University) is interested in expanding current views of public health and social issue marketing and the application of its tools. In his current conceptual work, he is considering social marketing from the perspectives of behaviorism, evolutionary psychology, social exchange theory, economics, political philosophy, and other literatures.
Conference Summary Comments and Panel Discussion
Conference Paper Presenters discuss questions posed by conference attendees.
Poster Session (5:00 - 6:00 PM Saturday)
Consumer Perspectives on Condom Acquisition and Use: A Cross-Gender and Cross-Cultural Comparison
Robert D. Winsor, COB, Loyola Marymount University
Chris Manolis, COB, Loyola Marymount University
Sheb L. True, COB, Fort Lewis College
Computer-Mediated Communication and Health Topics: Relationships between Interactivity, Site Creators, Content Categories, and Communication Goals.
Sally J. McMillan, School of Journalism & Communication, University of Oregon
The Marketing Concept and Health Promotion: A Survey and Analysis of Recent Health Promotion Literature
Railton Hill, School of Business, La Trobe University, Victoria Australia
Anne Hill, School Dental Service, Victoria Australia
The Effect of Health Claims on Label Reading, Purchase Intentions, and Product Evaluation
Brian Roe, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Alan S. Levy, Staff Fellow, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Brenda M. Derby, Statistician, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration
Psychographics of Excercisers and Non Excerisers
Faith Hwang, School of Journalism, Northwestern University