Advertising 2011 Abstracts

Research Papers

The Clearer, the Better?: The Effect of Sufficient Clarification and Specificity of Risk Disclosure in Broadcast  Direct-To-Consumer Advertising • Ho-Young (Anthony) Ahn, U of Tennessee; Lei Wu, University of Tennessee; Eric Haley, U of Tennessee • This study examined the effectiveness of clarifying the limitation of broadcast DTCA and the disclosure specificity.  Results of a randomized 2 x 2 online experiment (n=235) indicated that the ad featuring numerical disclosure without the ad-limitation statement produced more favorable attitude and trustfulness than (1) the ad featuring numerical disclosure with the ad-limitation statement, and (2) the ad featuring general disclosure without the ad-limitation statement. The ad presenting general disclosure with the ad-limitation statement earned more trust than that presenting general disclosure without the ad-limitation statement. Perceived trustfulness did not guarantee favorable attitude toward the ad. The implications for researchers and DTCA advertisers are discussed.

Practitioner Views of Comparative Advertising: A Twenty-Year Update • Fred Beard, University o Oklahoma • A replication of a survey of senior advertising creative practitioners revealed there has likely been neither a significant increase or decrease in the use of comparative advertising since the late-1980s, although the findings also show their beliefs remain quite favorable toward the tactic. In addition, respondents rated both comparative and noncomparative advertising effective for achieving almost all the same objectives and outcomes and under almost all the same conditions that the original study’s respondents did. Differences between the original survey and its replication suggest valuable directions for future research.

Science, Restraint, and J. Edgar Hoover:  Building and Maintaining the FBI Brand, 1933 to 1972 • Matthew Cecil, South Dakota State University; Jennifer Tiernan, South Dakota State University; Didem Koroglu, South Dakota State University • This study argues that J. Edgar Hoover’s disciplined focus on the FBI brand and on accruing brand equity and social capital was a key factor in the Bureau’s dramatic growth from a bureaucratic backwater into an iconic giant in American society. The success of FBI branding during the Hoover era offers an early, normative model of how to generate brand equity on a nationwide scale.

Children’s Prime-Time Food Commercials in China:  A Content Analysis of National and Provincial TV Channels • Xiaoduo Wang, Ohio University; Hong Cheng, Ohio University • In this content analysis of children’s prime-time TV commercials (N = 761) in China, two national channels (CCTV-1 and CCTV-Children) were compared with two channels (SXTV and HNTV) at the provincial level. Particular attention was paid to food product categories, promotional claims, eating occasions and locales, and characters’ body sizes. It was found that while China’s national channels were more likely to promote healthier food products and eating locales, its provincial channels tended to advertise more high-calorie food products, away-from-home eating locales, and underweight characters. Possible reasons and managerial implications of these disparities in the national and provincial TV commercials—a new and important finding about advertising in this booming market—were discussed.

Brand Placement in the Mosaic Screen: How Placement, Animation, and Onset Timing Impact Viewer Attention • Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications; Jillian Lellis; Robert Meeds • Concerns over ad avoidance have led advertisers and content producers to explore novel forms of co-presentation of commercial and television content.  We report on two studies that used eye tracking to examine one possible vehicle for co-presentation, a mosaic-style presentation of televised sports.  Evidence demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique, as viewers did attend to the inserted brands. Moreover, attention varied dependent upon spatial location of the insertion, use of animation, and timing of onset.

Seeing the Big Picture: Multitasking and Memory for the Ad • Brittany Duff, University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign; Sela Sar, Iowa State University; Sangdo Oh, UIUC; Yulia Lutchyn, U of Tennessee; Sydney Chinchanachokchai, U of Illinois • While media multitasking is said to be an increasing behavior for consumers, little work has been done looking at ads exposed during multitasking.  Multitasking is largely thought to have detrimental effects for consumer memory, particularly toward ads encountered during these times.  However, there may be situations and individuals for which multitasking does not cause a detriment to performance.  Two studies explore how holistic and systematic processing (either primed, state or mood induced) may affect both individual propensities toward multitasking as well as memory for the ads exposed during multitasking.

Responses to User-Generated Brand Videos: The Persuasion Inference Model • Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri • User-generated brand videos are online video contents created and shared by ordinary people, collectively describing a brand. Based on the concept of the Marketplace Metacognition (Wright 2002), this study proposes a simultaneous process of the Persuasion Inference Model in which two different metacognitions i.e., persuasion knowledge (PK) and persuasion acceptance (PA) interact with each other in response to user-generated vs. advertiser-produced brand videos. In particular, the impact of persuasion knowledge (PK), evoked from recognizing message source’s motives of persuasion intention, was significantly mitigated when persuasion acceptance (PA) was aroused by the brand video’s strong emotional appeal.

Consumer Attitude Toward Product Placement in the Movies: The Hierarchical Model of Individual Differences • Ilwoo Ju, University of Tennessee; Spencer Tinkham, University of Georgia • This study examines the influence of six individual differences (self-concept clarity, need for emotion, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, attention to social comparison information, need for cognition, and transportability) on consumer attitude toward product placement in the movies. The results show statistically significant relationships between three hierarchical levels of individual differences and attitude toward product placement in the movies. Two dimensions of attitude toward product placement in the movies exhibited substantially different patterns of relationships to these individual differences. The theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Think Smart: Smartphone User’s Intention to Accept Mobile Advertising • Jong-Hyuok Jung, Syracuse University; Yongjun Sung; Wei-Na Lee • This study explores motivations that influence smartphone users’ intention to accept mobile advertising. In order to accomplish this research objective, the relationships among various factors identified from past literature were tested via online survey. The empirical findings from the current study suggest that consumer’s attitude toward mobile advertising from his or her previous experience is the most powerful predictor of intention to accept mobile advertising on smartphone. In addition, consumer perception of the smartphone as a compatible device that fits with individual life style and the social benefits of using a smartphone predict intention to accept mobile advertising among smartphone users.

Direct-to-consumer prescription drug websites for stigmatized illnesses • Hannah Kang, University of Florida; Soontae An, Ewha Womans University • Given the growing importance of Internet as a source of health information, this study evaluated whether DTC prescription drug websites for stigmatized illnesses contained stigma-reducing components. We examined the content of first-level and second-level web pages in 88 stand-alone websites for 15 different stigmatized conditions. Results showed that on the homepages, textual cues and visual cues were rarely offered, especially for onset controllability. On the second layer, 22.7 percent of websites offered the three components together. Onset controllability (52.3 percent) and recategorization (54.5 percent) were the more prevalent, while offset controllability (38.6 percent) was relatively less frequent. Implications of the finding were discussed from health theory perspectives.

Assessing Circumplex Model as an Alternative Approach for Measuring Brand Personality • Chang Won Choi, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; Hyoungkoo Khang, University of Alabama; Yoo-Kyung Kim, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies • In responding to the limitations of the factor approach to brand personality, this study aims to suggest Circumplex model that demonstrates the correlations among the brand personality attributes. The results show that brand personality traits are related to each other in a highly systematic mode. Two dominant factors, activity and potency, were extracted and most brand personality attributes were evenly distributed around the circumference of these two dimensions. To some extents, thus, brand personality attributes are considered to be combinations of these two dimensions. In addition, the finding showed that brand personality items were identified into eight facets, youth, cheerfulness, warmheartedness, tradition, faithfulness, ascendancy, leadership and innovation. This study is expected to provide a theoretical foundation of brand personality studies, complement limitations of the five-factor model, and serve as a practical implication for creating varied brand related strategies in marketing and advertising.  Applicability and implication of the findings as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.

When Does Green Advertising Work? — The Modertating Role of Product Type • Ying Kong, Towson University; Lingling Zhang • Using environmental appeals to promote products is a popular marketing technique. However, little is known about how the effectiveness of green appeals varies across different product categories. The purpose of this study is to examine whether and to what extent green appeals in advertising are effective and how that effectiveness differs between products with more vs. less environmental impact. Using the theoretical frameworks of ad-product fit hypothesis, our two product types (more harmful vs. less harmful) x two appeal types (green appeal vs. non-green appeal) experiment shows that ads with a green appeal are more effective for more-harmful products, whereas for less-harmful products, there is no significant difference between a green and a non-green appeal. Furthermore, cognitive response was found to mediate the interaction effect of green appeal and product type on ad persuasiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Country-of-Origin Cues in Cross-Border Strategic Brand Alliance: How Do Advertisers Do it? • Jin Kyun Lee, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Wei-Na Lee • This study explores the effects of cross-border strategic brand alliance (SBA) through two studies. A content analysis of magazines ad found that cross-border SBA was a dominant communication strategy. Follow-up experimental study confirmed that subjects in the low COO fit condition were more likely to recall partner brand’s product category and brand name than those in the high COO fit condition. Discussions and suggestions for future research in this area are provided.

Learning from the competition: Analysis of advertising appeals for healthy foods and unhealthy foods • Jung-Sook Lee, Towson University • Food advertising appeals are analyzed from 173 food advertisements found in 12 issues of People magazine from January through December 2008. Findings indicate that both taste appeals (30%) and emotional appeals (31%) are more common than nutritional appeals (22%). The other common appeals are new product appeals and convenience appeals. Taste appeals are dominant in food advertising for both healthy foods and unhealthy foods. Nutritional appeals are also found to a similar extent in ads for unhealthy foods as in ads for healthy foods. However, emotional appeals, are used more frequently in ads for unhealthy foods than in ads for healthy foods.

Combining Product Placements and Spot Advertising: Forward Encoding, Backward Encoding, and Image Activation Effects • Joerg Matthes, University of Zurich; Florence Horisberger • Although brand placements are frequently accompanied by traditional advertising in marketing campaigns, prior academic research has focused primarily on the distinct stand-alone effects of placements. In an experiment working with realistic audiovisual stimuli, the combined effects of product placements and TV spot advertising were examined. Three conditions involving the same target brand were created (placement-only, commercial-only, commercial-placement). Results revealed higher brand awareness for the placement-only and the placement-commercial condition compared to the commercial-only condition. It was also shown that exposure to a subsequent placement can enhance memory for the preceding commercial (backward encoding). However, exposure to a preceding commercial did not facilitate placement recall (forward encoding). Results also revealed that placements can strengthen brand images that were established by a preceding TV commercial (image activation). However, this effect was conditional on individuals’ persuasion knowledge. Implications of these findings for advertising campaigns are discussed.

Practitioner and Audience Attitudes toward Product Placement in Reality Television • Alex Walton, Cartoon Network; Barbara Miller, Elon University • As product placement continues to become a part of the television advertising landscape, television audiences are becoming more exposed to product placements and more aware of product placement as a persuasion tactic. Reality television, which represents a large percentage of the primetime television programming, provides an opportunity to present brand information in a context involving real events with real persona, perhaps limiting the activation of persuasion knowledge. Further, while including a brand name in a scripted show requires planning, capturing reality inevitably provides opportunities to place brand names into programming. This study examined product placements in reality television from multiple perspectives, including (1) in-depth interviews with network entertainment executives; and (2) a series of focus groups with audiences. The Persuasion Knowledge Model was applied as an analytic induction tool to analyze the findings for synthesis with existing literature. Implications for practitioners are discussed and a model of audience response to product placements and integrations is presented.

PKM: Changes in Millennials’ Experience with Media & Attitudes, Attention, and Coping Behaviors Regarding Advertisements Since 2004 • Jensen Moore-Copple, West Virginia University; Blair Dowler, West Virginia University; Kelley Crowley, West Virginia University • This study examines changing attitudes, attention, and avoidance of advertising as well as experience with different media for early (born between 1979 and 1987) vs. late (born between 1985 and 1993) millennials. The Persuasion Knowledge Model is used as a basis for understanding how audiences develop attitudes about persuasive attempts (e.g., advertising messages) and use this information to “”cope”” with future advertising interactions. This investigation extends work done by Speck & Elliot (1997) and Moore (2004) by comparing both traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television) and the Internet.  Using survey methodology, this research examines “”coping”” behaviors associated with exposure to today’s abundant advertising messages. Results suggest that between the five media, early vs. late millennials report very different attitudes toward advertising, attention to advertising, avoidance of advertising, and media usage. Implications for advertisers wishing to target millennials are discussed.

Direct-to-Consumer Antidepressant Advertising, Skepticism toward Advertising, and Consumers’ Optimistic Bias about the Future Risk of Depression • Jin Seong Park, University of Tennessee; Ilwoo Ju, University of Tennessee; kenneth eunhan kim, oklahoma state university • Although exposure to direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is reported to influence the public’s beliefs about diseases, no research has investigated how DTC advertising may affect the extent of consumers’ optimistic bias about the future risk of diseases. Based on a survey with members of an online consumer panel (N = 699), the current study revealed that: (a) consumers exhibited a tendency to believe they were at less risk of developing clinical depression in the future than their peers, demonstrating an optimistic bias; (b) exposure to DTC antidepressant advertising acted to reduce the extent of such bias, especially when consumers were less skeptical towards prescription drug advertising. When consumers were highly skeptical, DTC exposure did not significantly relate to the extent of optimistic bias; and (c) once formed, the extent of optimistic bias negatively related to consumers’ intention to seek information about depression. Implications of the research for the theory and practice of DTC advertising were discussed.

Can You Say What You Feel? A Matter of “”Wearin”” for (Musical) Codes in Advertising • Caroline Johnson; Carson Wagner, Ohio University • Research has shown that viewers may have more negative explicit attitudes toward brands using advertising codes perceived as “”worn out,”” the presence of the code led to more positive implicit attitudes. This suggests the possibility of detecting wearin—wherein viewers engage the codes—using implicit measures.  While viewers may express more positive explicit attitudes toward a brand that has replaced the codes with new ones, implicit attitudes may be more negative in response to the new code.

Effects of Emotion and Interface Design on Mobile Advertising Effectiveness among Chinese College Students • wenjing xie, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Yunze Zhao, Renmin University of China; Wenya Xie • This study examines the effect of emotional appeals and the interface design of mobile devices on people’s emotional reaction to attitude towards mobile ads as well as their purchase intention of the advertised products. A survey with 442 college students in Beijing shows that emotional appeal as a whole predicts all three dependent variables. Interface design factors of hand-held device, especially screen size, also predict attitude and purchase intention. Moreover, the ubiquitous feature, interface friendliness and advertisement size influence attention to mobile Internet ads. People’s emotional reaction to mobile ads can also predict their attitude and purchase behavior.

Young American Consumers’ Social Media Use, Online Privacy  Concerns, Trust, Risk, and Support for Advertising Regulation • Hongwei Yang, Appalachian State University • A web survey study of 422 American college students was conducted in October, 2010 to test a conceptual model of consumers’ regulatory support for social media advertising, built upon previous studies. It shows that consumers’ prior negative experience of online disclosure significantly increased their online privacy concerns that in turn elevated their perceived risks and undermined their trust of online companies, marketers and laws. Consumers’ heightened risks built up their support for government regulation of social media advertising while their trust enhanced their support for industry self-regulation. Interestingly, young consumers’ trust and perceived risk of online disclosure did not negatively influence their time spent on social networking and blogging websites. Implications for digital interactive marketers, government and self-regulatory agencies are discussed.

Predicting Reactions to Sex in Advertising: The Interplay of Emotional Arousal, Ethical Judgment, and Sexual Self-Schema on Responses to Sexual Content • Kyunga Yoo, University of Georgia; Hojoon Choi, University of Georgia; Tom Reichert, University of Georgia; Michael S. LaTour, University of Nevada Las Vegas; John B. Ford, Old Dominion University • Employing a large national sample, the current research examined how consumer’s emotional arousal and ethical judgment mediate between their sexual ad perception and ad response processes. Simultaneously, the influence of Sexual Self-Schema (SSS) on this mediating mechanism was also assessed. Findings show that consumers experience a conflict between their emotional arousal and ethical morality on processing sexual content in advertising, and SSS plays an important role in manipulating the extent of this conflict.

Effects of Purchasing Experience and Repeated Exposure to the Website on Online Customers’ Brand Relationship • Doyle Yoon, University of Oklahoma • This study examines the effects of prior purchase experience, Internet efficacy, and repeated exposure on consumers’ relationship with retailers, using data collected from an online survey of 802 respondents (465 for a web-based e-retailer version and 337 for a click-and-mortar retailer version). Three relationship quality constructs – trust, satisfaction, and commitment  are higher in respondents with prior purchasing experience and higher Internet efficacy. However, decreasing trends are found in all three constructs over repeated exposure to the Website. Belyne’s (1970) Two-Factor Theory is used to explain the decrease of relationship quality over repeated exposure. More implications are discussed.

To Help You or To Serve Myself? Exploring the Two Psychological Tendencies that Motivate Online Influentials to Communicate • Jie Zhang, University of Evansville; Wei-Na Lee • This paper describes a study in the psychology of eMavenism, the consumer tendency to acquire general marketplace information from the Internet and become especially involved in electronic word-of-mouth communication. The purpose of the study was to investigate empirically the associations between eMavenism and two important psychological tendencies, altruism and status seeking. The findings support the notion that eMavenism is driven by both other-regarding concern and self-serving interest. Furthermore, the relationship between altruism and eMavenism was found to be negatively moderated by revealing true identity online. Revealing true identity online did not significantly impact the relationship between status seeking and eMavenism. These findings enrich the knowledge of the psychology of eMavenism, improve the concept of eMavenism, and suggest some motivations for engaging in eMavenism. Practically, advertising strategies can be fine-tuned to appeal more effectively to eMavens by satisfying their psychological tendencies.

Am I Really Doing It For Your Benefit? Exploring Social and Personal Motivations for Providing Positive versus Negative Electronic Word-of-Mouth • Jie Zhang, University of Evansville; Wei-Na Lee • This paper describes a study examining whether social and personal motivations affect presenting positive versus negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) similarly or differently. Altruism, consumer self-confidence—social outcome decision making, and personal innovativeness for Web were selected to represent social, social-personal, and personal motivations for eWOM giving. The findings support that all three motivations are important driving forces for eWOM provision in general. In particular, the social-personal motivation, consumer self-confidence—social outcome decision making, was significantly more associated with positive than negative eWOM giving. Advertisers need to incorporate themes linked to this motivation in their campaigns in order to get more “”good”” word from consumers. Both altruism and personal innovativeness for Web affected providing pleasant versus unpleasant product information similarly. Advertisers need to monitor these two motivations when consumers form negative impressions concerning a product. The findings expand the knowledge of social and personal motivations for providing eWOM and improve the theoretical understanding of the relationship between motivations and the type of eWOM presented.

Risk, Realism, and Responsibility in Beer Commercials • Lara Zwarun • When exposed to beer commercials that creatively circumvent the spirit of self-regulatory advertising guidelines by juxtaposing drinking with risky physical activities, participants who drink alcohol perceived them as more realistic than non-drinkers did. The Message Information Processing (MIP) model is applied to illustrate how this perceived realism is part of logical mental processing that reinforces drinking beliefs and behaviors. Drinkers also found the commercials more responsible than non-drinkers, despite some participants believing they had seen people engaging in risky activities while under the influence. A commercial featuring designated driving was viewed as less realistic by drinkers; open-ended comments reveal this may be because in their experience, the use of designated drivers is rare.

Teaching Papers

Consumer Insights, Clients, and Capstone Campaigns Courses: Teaching Research in Advertising Curricula • Danielle Coombs, Kent State University • Evidence suggests that teaching research to undergraduate advertising students can be one of the most challenging roles an advertising faculty member will undertake. Unlike classes in copywriting, media planning, or account management, students often fail to see the connection between the course content and their eventual careers. This disconnect is exacerbated by fears and anxiety surrounding the topics of statistics (and its often equally disliked sibling, mathematics in general). Evidence indicates that some students chose advertising over marketing majors in part because of the reduced math requirements, and—for many—research classes are explicitly linked to these dreaded areas. Despite these challenges, research remains core component for most advertising curricula. This research is designed to understand how research currently is taught and the perceived value of teaching research in a contemporary advertising program, both in terms of individual, specific research-centered classes and as a component of strategy- or campaigns-driven courses. Within that context, we also explore how experiential learning (operationalized for our purposes as client-based projects) can be utilized to better support objectives associated with teaching research to undergraduate advertising students.

Is diversity “”non-existent”” or a “”non-issue?””: Preliminary results from a thematic  analysis ascertaining how educators define diversity in advertising • Laurie Phillips • In the past four decades, diversity has been the subject of heated debate on Madison Avenue and within the halls of the academy alike. Within the ad industry, diversity has been the catalyst for lawsuits concerning employment discrimination, vitriol about monocultural representations within ad messaging, and frequent trade press coverage of America’s changing demographics. Building upon this information, this study reports on qualitative data from an on-going nationwide survey assessing educators’ attitudes toward teaching about diversity in advertising. Reviewing nearly 300 responses to the query “”how do you define diversity in advertising?”” from educators at both accredited and unaccredited institutions, the study includes feedback from those who are rarely surveyed: educators in ad programs housed both inside and outside of schools of journalism and mass communication.

Why Students Major in Advertising • Ron Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • A total of 145 essays written by students seeking admission to an advertising degree program at a major Southeastern university were examined for student motivation for pursuing an advertising major.  All essays for three academic years, each five years apart, were selected to maximize the opportunity to find differences.  The essays were submitted in the academic years 1997-98 (46 essays), 2002-03 (38 essays), and 2007-08 (61 essays). The opportunity to express one’s creativity ability is the primary reason students are attracted to advertising.

Professional Freedom & Responsibility (PF&R) Papers

Job Satisfaction Among Minority Advertising Professionals: An UpdateJami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University • This paper partially replicated and updated a study of job satisfaction among  minority advertising graduates honored through a national program.  In the current study, responses from alumni of the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Minority Students in Advertising from the years 2006-2010 were compared with results from a similar study of alumni from 1997-2005. In the current study, overall job satisfaction for those working in advertising was on the positive side of neutral but significantly lower than alumni who did not work in advertising.  Minority advertising professionals were most satisfied with their co-workers and least satisfied with their compensation.  Salary was positively correlated with job satisfaction, as was the presence of a professional mentor. Verbatim responses about employment challenges described a steep learning curve for recent graduates who joined the workforce. Implications for industry and academic programs are discussed.

Special Topics Papers

Dealing with Conflicting Health Messages:  A Qualitative Study of College Students’ Understandings of Tanning and Skin Cancer Prevention Advertising Messages • Ho-Young (Anthony) Ahn, U of Tennessee; Stephanie Kelly, University of Tennessee; Lei Wu, University of Tennessee; Eric Haley, U of Tennessee • The aim of the current study was to explore how college students make sense of conflicting health messages in relation to tanning in an advertising context. In-depth interviews with 30 college students revealed a certain degree of conflict between advertising message claims, their beliefs and feelings toward the messages. Self-resolution strategies such as problem-solving, compromising and avoiding emerged. Suggestions and implications for health promotion practitioners were provided in terms of advertising skepticism, advertising moderation, credible message sources in advertising and a gap between attitude and behavior.

Maximizing Optimization:  A Small Business Owner Confronts SEM (A Case Study In Search Engine Marketing) • Martine Beachboard, Idaho State University • A New England auto mechanic launches an online specialty auto parts shop and considers how best to market it:  through pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, or a combination.  He seeks advice from a professional web consulting firm and examines their proposal for three levels of analysis and support.  This teaching case offers a relevant and detailed example to supplement textbook coverage of search engine marketing.  It is designed to promote class discussion and critical problem solving.

Connecting Virtual World Perception to Real World Consumption: Chinese Female White-Collar Professionals’ Interpretation of Product Placement in SNSs • Huan Chen; Eric Haley, U of Tennessee • A phenomenology study reveals the lived meanings of product placement in social network sites (SNSs) among Chinese female white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. In total, 15 face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings indicated that participants’ interpretations of product placement were interrelated with the socially constructed meanings of the SNS, participants’ social role of white-collar professionals, and consumer culture of contemporary Chinese society. In particular,  the socially constructed meanings of product placement in the context of SNS are jutisfying the existence, connecting to the real world, noticing the familiar, insinuating brand image, and linking to consumption.

“The Other Hangover””: A Case Study in Implementing and Evaluating an Anti-Binge Drinking Advertising Campaign • Nathan Gilkerson, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities; Michelle Gross; Andrea Ahneman • The Other Hangover is an award-winning anti-binge drinking advertising campaign created by students and launched on the University of Minnesota campus in the fall of 2010.  Undergraduates led development and implementation of the campaign, and multiple surveys were designed to evaluate the impact and success of the project.  Following an overview of the research and creative strategy behind the campaign, a summary of the evaluation results — including both quantitative and qualitative data — is presented.

Exploring the Effects of External Brand Placement on Game Players’ Processing of In-Game Brand • Eunice Kim, The University of Texas at Austin; Matthew Eastin, The University of Texas at Austin • There are many branded game-related products, which we call as external brands. This study explores the effects of external brand experience during game play on players’ processing of in-game brand. Results reveal that the in-game brand is better recalled by players experiencing an identical external brand to the in-game brand than players experiencing no external brand or a competing brand. Brand memory was greater for the competing external brand than the in-game brand.

The Cat Herder: The Role and Function of the Agency Creative Director • Karen Mallia, University of South Carolina; Kasey Windels, DePaul University; Sheri Broyles, University of North Texas • While creativity is the lifeblood of the advertising agency, little is known about the role of the creative director in guiding the creative process. This exploratory research aims to uncover the role of the creative director as perceived by agency creatives. Utilizing quasi-ethnographic methods, this research is based on data from six agencies. Findings suggest successful creative directors are transformational leaders with many roles, including brand steward, culture builder, and champion of creative teams.

Channeling the Spirit of IMC: Analysis of the Context and Conditions that Underscore Integrated Marketing Communication • Brian Smith • Integrated marketing communication (IMC) has been discussed as both a process and a concept. On the one hand it is mechanical, through message and image matching, channel management, and measurement. On the other hand, it is also conceptual, based on a unique organizing philosophy that underscores communication mechanics. The latter, which can be termed “”the spirit”” of integration, has received little attention in the literature in spite of its influence on communication. This study outlines the organizational variables that underscore integration, including informal processes and social interactions, which facilitate the mechanics of integration. Results provide theoretical insight and progress integrated communication theory beyond the current emphasis on mechanics to co-creational and socially-constructed considerations in communication integration.

Extending TPB and TAM to Mobile Viral Marketing: A Cross-cultural Study  of Young American and Chinese Consumers’ Attitude, Intent and Behavior • Hongwei Yang, Appalachian State University; Liuning Zhou, Center for the Digital Future, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California • A web survey of 440 American college students was conducted in April, 2010 and a paper survey of 835 Chinese college students was administered in May, June and October, 2010 to validate the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technology Acceptance Model in predicting young American and Chinese young consumers’ mobile viral marketing attitude, intention and behavior. Structural model testing results confirmed the chain of mobile viral marketing attitude to intent to actual behavior. Subjective norm, behavioral control, perceived utility, and perceived cost predicted their attitude toward viral marketing. Their attitude and perceived utility predicted their viral marketing intent while their intent and attitude predicted the actual behavior. The implications for the industry and academia were discussed.

Student Papers

Advertising Images of Gender and Race Portrayed in Sports Illustrated Kids, 2000-2009 • Ashley Furrow, Ohio University • Gender and racial discrimination in sport remains rampant, and sports media continue as a leading arena for the reproduction of dominant, traditional images of gender and race and of inequality between the sexes and races (Sage, 1990; Smith, 2007). This study conducted a content analysis of advertising images (N=1,490) in Sports Illustrated Kids to determine whether these visual images reflect actual participation rates in athletic competition based on gender and race and whether the number of images of women in the magazine has increased during the magazine’s second decade of publication, 2000 to 2009.  This study found that women and racial minorities continue to be vastly underrepresented within the magazine’s advertising pages. Photographs featuring men were found to vastly outnumber those featuring women in SIK advertising photographs by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1 (79.7% to 20.3%).  As far as a racial difference, African, Asian, and Hispanic models are still fighting for representation in the magazine with only 27.8% depicted in advertising images.

Examining the Influences of Online Comments on Viewers’ Perceptions of  Corporate Advertising on YouTube • Jiran Hou, The University of Georgia; Hojoon Choi, University of Georgia • This study examines the impact of the co-appearance of online peer comments and corporate advertising on online viewers’ attitudes toward the ad, claim believability and attitudes toward the brand. The findings show that the impacts of online peer comments on ad processing and attitudes varied depending on the comment valences and individuals’ previous attitude toward the brand. Negative comments were more influential than positive comments in affecting viewers’ claim believability, attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand. Viewers with negative prior brand attitudes were hardly influenced by any types of peer comments, and viewers with positive prior brand attitudes were more easily influenced by negative comments.

The influence of fear appeal on persuasion effects for skin cancer public service announcements (PSAs) according to fear message framing and fear type • Hannah Kang, University of Florida • This study examined the impact of fear message framing and fear type in fear appeal on the persuasion effect of skin cancer public service announcement (PSA). To examine persuasion effects, this study used attitude toward advertising, attitude toward using tanning beds and sunbathing, and behavioral intention as the dependent variable. The experiment was designed by a 2 (message framing: positive message/negative message) X 2 (fear type: health risk/ social risk) factorial design between-subjects experimental design. Results indicated that the main effect of fear type was found on the attitude toward advertising. Moreover, there was significant interaction between fear message framing and fear type not only on the attitude toward using tanning beds or sunbathing, but also on behavioral intention. Implications and limitations of the findings were discussed.

Goal Theories and Attention to Online Banner Advertisements • Dae-Hee Kim, University of Florida • Drawing upon several findings from goal theories in cognitive psychology, the present study investigates a potential mechanism about how consumers process online banner advertising. Two online experiments with simulated web pages revealed that consumer’s goals could determine the attention to online banner advertising. More specifically, the first study showed that subjects paid more attention to the banner stimuli that was relevant to their primed goal. In the second study, subjects attended more to banner advertising on the webpage where they completed the goal-directed tasks rather than on a webpage where their tasks were ongoing. Implications and directions for future research are extensively discussed.

Boys will be Boys: An Analysis of the Male Image in Advertising over the Past 60 Years • Katherine Krauss, Manhattan College • This paper examines conceptions of masculinity, commercialization of personal hygiene, and the formation of the American male identity in order to create a general foundation of understanding as to why masculinity is perceived in the way that it is and why advertisers sell the way that they do to men. Focusing on the advertising efforts of Proctor & Gamble’s beauty and grooming product, Old Spice, this paper analyzes the commonalities and differences of theme and content in advertisements of the 1950s and 2000s.  This paper discusses the advertised messages being conveyed to the 18- to 36-year old age demographic in both decades, where each ad is examined for the cultural values it represents and markets to men.  Using a textural analysis approach, each advertisement is examined in its wording and image to highlight the representation of hegemonic ideals, namely, sex, pleasure-seeking, and reputation.  This in-depth analysis of the Old Spice campaigns allows this paper to identify that the image of the young macho-man lifestyle has been strongly static throughout American history, mirroring and perpetuating the hegemonic male ideal.

The influence of relevance and emotional appeals in public service ads on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward global climate change • Supathida Kulpavaropas • This study examines the main and interactive effects of two emotional appeals (happy and fear) in public service advertisements and the degree to which this topic is assessed as relevant on people’s attitudes and behavioral intention toward global climate change. The results of an experiment showed that participants with high issue relevance reported more positive attitude toward global climate change and more positive behavioral intention when they viewed an ad with a happy vs. fearful appeal.

Effects of Message Involvement and the Tone of Reviews on Facebook:Perceived Credibility, Attitude toward the Ad and Brand • Jinhyon Kwon, University of Florida; Ji Young Kim • This study examines how the Facebook brand page environment, where advertisements and consumer reviews coexist, affects consumers’ attitudes toward the advertisement and the brand. A 2 x 3 experiment manipulated the level of ad message involvement and the tone of online reviews. Results suggest that the tone of online reviews affects consumers’ perceptions of review credibility. Furthermore, an ad message involvement and the review tone interaction emerged for attitude toward the brand.

Effects of Fair Trade Label, Consumers’ Social Responsibility, and Message Framing on Attitudes and Behavior • Seul Lee • This study explored the effectiveness of a Fair Trade certified label, differences of personal social responsibility, and the message framing through an online experiment. The findings indicated that more socially concerned group manifested more positive attitudes and purchase intention than less socially concerned group and that gain-framed messages had a more positive impact than did loss-framed messages. However, this study failed to present that a Fair Trade certified label generated more positive impact.

Effectiveness of blog advertising: Impact of message sidedness, communicator expertise, and advertising intent • Hyun-Ji Lim; Jin Sook Im; Yoo Jin Chung, University of Florida • This study attempts to examine how three factors — message sidedness, communicator expertise, and advertising intent of blog messages — can affect the perception of the message recipients regarding the credibility of the message, improve their attitudes toward the product or the brand reviewed, and provoke changes in their intended behavior. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment was designed. The experiment involved stimulus material in the form of a blog post, which was modified according to the treatment factors of message sidedness (one-sided vs. refutational two-sided), communicator expertise (high vs. low), and advertising intent (explicit vs. implicit). 388 data sets were collected. This study concluded that a one-sided message was found to be more effective than a refutational two-sided message for blog advertising. Communicator expertise is an important factor while advertising intent was not. This study suggested additional findings related to gender difference.

What Path, Advertising Framing? Tracing the Travels of Framing Through the Advertising Journals, 1996-2010. • Carmen Maye, University of South Carolina • Frame analysis in advertising journals is examined between 1996 and 2010. Included are Advertising & Society Review, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising and Journal of Interactive Advertising. Frame  analysis appears to be gaining traction in the advertising literature. That advertising journals have more slowly embraced framing research than their communications counterparts may owe to inherent differences between news content and advertising.

From Unspeakable to Homosexual to Gay to LGBT: The Evolution of Research on Marketing’s Most Controversial Market Segment • Laurie Phillips • For nearly two decades, collectively the trade press, LGBT marketing firms, tremendous ad expenditure growth in LGBT publications, the explosion of LGBT-targeted, ad-supported media outlets, and strong buying power figures have justified the existence of an LGBT market. Through an in-depth literature review of over 75 five pieces of peer-reviewed advertising and marketing scholarship, this study addresses how scholars have studied the market. In addition to providing one of the most extensive literature reviews on the topic to date, this study provides researchers with a roadmap for future research.

The Effects of Using “”Real Women”” In Advertising • Amber Remke, Oklahoma State University • Are advertisements that use more realistic models as effective as those that use “”ideal”” models? This study seeks to answer that question using an experimental design to determine whether there is a difference in how females will respond to ads featuring an “”ideal”” model or a more realistic model and whether body-esteem or self-esteem are moderating variables. Results show that regardless of high or low body- or self-esteem, the women surveyed preferred the ad featuring the more realistic model. This study has important implications for providing a greater understanding of how media affects self-image, as well as the implications of these unrealistic standards and how they impact a consumer’s attitudes toward advertising.  This study also has important implications for American women with an unrealistic image of true beauty. If advertisements focused on portraying more realistic models, American females’ perception of beauty could possibly shift away from an unattainable ideal to a more realistic vision of beauty.

Trappist or Tropist? The Monastic Brewing Heritage and Its Effect on Perceptions of Product Authenticity and Intentions to Purchase • Susan Sarapin, Purdue University; Christine Spinetta, Purdue University • This study explored perceived authenticity of a beer brewed by monks in a monastery and four inauthentic beers, measured on respondents’ awareness of the “”real”” beer’s heritage, and what influence that knowledge has on intentions to buy it. The heritage narrative had a significant effect on authenticity ratings and purchase intentions. Respondents’ religious preferences had no effect on the dependent variable. The study has implications for the marketing of Trappist and inauthentic, abbey-style beers.

Signaling Theory and Its Role in Branding University Contract Training Programs • Shelley Stephens, University of South Alabama • Academic outreach divisions (AOD) within institutions provide open enrollment and contract training. Often surrounding businesses are unaware of this resource, despite holding the institution’s name in high regard through association sets and frequency. The unawareness creates information asymmetry for AODs according to the Signaling Theory.  Larger association sets and frequency of encounters with the institution’s brand name deepens implicit memory encoding. This quantitative study found that feelings for the institution transfers to other divisions AODs are cobranded.

Verbal Claims and Graphical Features on Toddler Food Packaging:  Advertising “”Healthy”” Products • Chan Le Thai, University of California, Santa Barbara • Advertising features, verbal and graphic, on food packages and labels can convey a wealth of information to consumers, including whether the product is healthy.  A content analysis was conducted to investigate how often certain health-implying front-of-package features appear on packages of toddler snack foods. Five undergraduate coders coded 68 products for health claims, nutrient claims, ingredient claims, and graphics.  Ingredient claims and graphics of potential ingredients were identified and cross-referenced with the ingredient list on the back of the package. The data revealed that almost all of the packages used the coded features: 82% of the sample featured nutrient claims; 52% featured health claims; 97% included graphical depictions and 66% of those graphics were possible ingredients in the product; and 86% featured ingredient claims. Of all the products that contained an ingredient claim or graphics of a potential ingredient, the ingredient used in the claim or graphical feature was present in the ingredient list, but the ingredient was rarely the first ingredient on the list and was often in a non-conventional form, such as a puree, a powder, flavor, or color.  The findings from this study provide a foundation of knowledge that may guide future research and policies related to package  advertising and labeling.

Use of Culturally Meaningful Symbols or Iconographies in Gay-Themed Ads • Nam-Hyun Um • This study examines the characteristics of gay-themed ads, focusing on culturally meaningful symbols and iconographies, in gay magazines (specifically The Advocate, Out, and Curve). In recent years, advertising scholars and practitioners have grown more interested in how gay-themed ads influence gay consumers and non-gay consumers. In gay-themed ads, advertisers employ culturally meaningful symbols or iconographies as part of an effort to not alienate non-gay consumers. Gay-themed advertising, however, has yet to be deeply analyzed in terms of creativity or consumer reactions. Hence, Study 1 examines the characteristics of gay-themed ads using content analysis of gay-targeted magazines (The Advocate, Out, and Curve). As a follow up study, Study 2 assesses consumers’ responses to gay-themed ads. The study, using implicit and explicit gay-themed ads, gathers reactions from straight and gay participants. We go on to clarify the findings’ implications, discuss some concerns raised over gay-themed ads, and suggest directions for future research.

What should I eat today?  An exploration of how college-aged females use different media platforms to influence food decisions • Mari Luz Zapata Ramos, University of Florida • This study sought to assess if and how college-aged females use smart phones and other informational sources to make or influence food related decisions.  A survey administered to 365 female college students revealed that respondents use smart phones to influence food decisions.  Four focus groups were conducted using survey participants with the required characteristics.  Dominant reasons for using a range of informational sources to influence food decisions were identified.

<< 2011 Abstracts

2011 Abstracts

AEJMC 2011 Conference Paper Abstracts
St. Louis, MO • August 10 to 13

The following AEJMC groups conducted research competitions for the 2010 conference. The accepted paper abstracts are listed within each section.
Divisions:

Interest Groups:

Commissions:

<< AEJMC Abstracts Index

AEJMC Council of Divisions Assessment Process and Schedule

The AEJMC Bylaws require that all divisions and interest groups file an annual report on their activities during the current year. These reports are due each year no later than June 15. These reports are used during each group’s assessment process.

Each group is assessed every five years by an Assessment Committee comprised of one member of each elected standing committee and the chair and vice chair from the Council of Divisions. The officers of each group being assessed in any given year will meet with the Assessment Committee during the annual conference and discuss the group’s activities and projects over the five-year period. It is also a time to discuss future ideas and activities that the group may want to explore.

The current assessment schedule is pasted below:

Conference 2021
Communication Technology
Cultural and Critical Studies
Media Management and Economics
Religion and Media IG
Small Programs IG
Political Communication

Conference 2022
Comm Theory and Methodology
Minorities and Communication
Visual Communication
Participatory Journalism IG
Community Journalism IG

Conference 2023
Magazine Media
Mass Communication and Society
Newspaper and Online News
Scholastic Journalism
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender IG
Internships and Careers IG

Conference 2024
History
Public Relations
Electronic News
Media Ethics
ComSHER
Graduate Student IG

Conference 2025
Advertising
International and Communication
Law and Policy
Entertainment Studies IG
Sports Communication IG

Officer Resources

Top Tips for Writing Your Annual Report

WHY IS THE ANNUAL REPORT IMPORTANT?

Every AEJMC division and interest group is assessed every five years. These assessments are based on annual reports over those five years, as well as previous assessment reports. The purpose of assessment? To help insure the division/interest group is serving its membership as well as the mission of AEJMC. Most importantly, it is to help the officers of the division/interest group maintain quality and sustainability.

The Assessment Committee looks to see progress over the course of five years to see how well each group has met its own goals in that time. The annual report is the place to review how well the group has faired, how well the goals have been met, summarize its successes and weaknesses, and report the vision for the future.

WHAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR ANNUAL REPORT?

There is annual report information and the template for the report on the AEJMC website. Follow that closely. In addition, you will have the previous years’ annual reports. It is important that the reports be consistent, but NOT copied. Each year should see progress and reflection. Don’t just cut and paste from the previous year or cut and paste your program copy. Use this opportunity to define your group, its goals, its membership, and its progress. Think of this as a historical document as well. This annual report will be representative of your group for years to come. Spend some time showcasing the work your group has accomplished over the past year.

TIPS FOR A GREAT REPORT!

  1. Your annual report is due by June 15 of each year
    a. With this in mind, request information from your respective chairs (teaching, research & PF&R) early so you have more time to track down missing information and so that you can reflect on your objectives
  2. Read the annual report from earlier years
    a. Assess the goals, assess how well your group met those goals, determine what is realistic for the next year (of course this means that you should set goals at the beginning of the year!!!!!)
  3. You will need to cover all aspects of the three pillars of AEJMC – teaching, research and public freedom & responsibility. Be familiar with programming from previous years so you know what areas of teaching, research and PF&R are not being addressed in programming. Be sure you touch on all three. However, no one expects you to be superior in all three all the time. But you will need balance among the three areas over five years. If you choose to focus on one or two one year and not the other, explain why.
  4. At the convention, attend all of your sessions so you can take note of the demographic information of speakers, moderators, discussants, etc.
  5. Your report should go beyond what we can get from looking at the program.
    a. What new things did your division involve itself in? How was that helpful?
    b. What can division members learn from your activities?
    c. This should be a dialogue that includes reflection on the part of your leadership.
    d. How are you striving for leadership consistency?
  6. Demonstrate in the annual report how you involve and interact with your membership.
    a. Online, via the newsletter, via pre-conference activities, via mid-winter activities
    b. Discuss the diversity of your membership.
    c. How do you involve graduate students and their research?
  7. The report on research should go beyond acceptance rates and the demographics of authors and judges.
    a. What are you actively doing to improve research in your division?
    b. What steps are you taking to solicit work from people in other divisions?
    c. How well does your call for papers reflect what you really want to see in research?
    d. How well does your call for papers define “student” papers?
  8. Assess what you feel your division’s trends and patterns are over the years.
    a. What do you do well at consistently?
    b. In what areas are you lacking?
    c. If you don’t want to be stuck in a rut, what can you do differently?
  9. Do not leave blanks on any section of the annual report.
  10. Do not put N/A on any section of the annual report.
  11. Recognize the annual report is due at the worst time of the year, so start culling data at the convention (yes, almost a year in advance) to help you later.
  12. Save copies of newsletters, mailers, fliers, recruitment material, announcements, etc. Document everything your group has done and include it in your annual report.

<<Officer Resources

Resolution One 2004

Resolution One: Free Press Resolution

Whereas it is the belief of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication that a free press is essential to a democratic society, and

Whereas this body is dedicated to promoting the highest levels of journalism in classrooms and in media organizations around the globe, and

Whereas in 2002 this body spoke out against unnecessary and possibly unconstitutional restrictions on the civil liberties of the academy and media in the name of homeland security, vowing to monitor restrictive actions and legislation and to support measures designed to protect free expression, and
Whereas the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act currently places greater restrictions on journalists visiting the United States on business from government-designated friendly nations than are placed on non-journalists coming to the United States on business from those nations, and
Whereas it has been documented that more than a dozen working journalists from countries such as Canada and Great Britain, nations deemed by the U.S. government as friendly to the United States, have been detained, body searched, fingerprinted, handcuffed, forced to spend a night in a cell in a detention facility and deported under this law, and

Whereas such measures not only present other nations an unacceptable image of the United States’ regard for press freedom but also invite retaliatory measures on U.S. journalists,

Therefore, be it resolved that:
1) The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication rejects and condemns
as indicative of a police-state mentality the discrimination that so far has been imposed under
the Immigration and Nationality Act on more than a dozen journalists seeking entry to the
United States from nations deemed allies of or countries friendly to the United States.

2) The president of this association be directed to write to President George W. Bush, Secretary
of State Colin L. Powell, Homeland Security Director Thomas Ridge, Attorney General John
Ashcroft, the as-yet-unnamed National Intelligence Director, Senators Orrin G. Hatch and
Patrick J. Leahy, Reps. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. and John Conyers Jr., and other appropriate
members of Congress, demanding:

a. An end to discrimination toward the media of friendly countries.

b. Support for HR 4823 IH amending Section 221(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
to remove discriminatory restrictions on media of friendly nations.

3) The AEJMC leadership continue to monitor this and similar legislation as well as other developments regarding Homeland Security and the work of the media, both domestic and international, in order to promote and defend the highest ideals of journalism.

Approved by the AEJMC Membership
August 6, 2004 * Toronto, Canada

<< 2004 Resolutions

Resolution Four 2006

Resolution Four: Concerning AEJMC Membership and Affiliate Support of Gender and Race Equity, and the Establishment of a Committee to Oversee the Process

The Ad Hoc Gender and Race Equity Resolution Committee, formed by resolution at the 2005 AEJMC annual meeting, proposes the following resolution to the Association:

Whereas, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August 1989 approved a resolution that encouraged “its members and affiliates to have at least 50 percent of their faculties and administrations composed of females and minorities by the year 2000,”

And whereas research shows that, “In 2000, 42 of 201 academic programs, about 21 percent of the schools, met the criteria. About 35 more schools (17 percent) had between 40 percent and 49 percent women and minorities. That left the majority of the schools, about 124 schools (roughly 62 percent) with 39 percent or fewer women and minorities” (Rush, Oukrop, & Creedon, 2000, p. 118),

And whereas the membership approved a resolution in August 2005 “to appoint a committee to investigate ways of achieving the goals adopted in 1989, using as a starting point the 2005 Recommendations in Search of Equity,” and to report back at the business meeting of the 2006 convention of AEJMC,

Therefore, be it resolved that, based on the recommendations of the 2005-06 Ad Hoc Gender and Race Equity Resolution Committee,

  1. AEJMC will assess, recognize, and reward journalism and communication programs that excel in gender, race, ethnicity, and diversity equity, and will develop a process for funding the institutionalization of this equity assessment model.
  2. Further, the incoming president of AEJMC will appoint an AEJMC Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Assessment (GREDA) Committee that in 2006-07 will establish equity assessment criteria, a reporting instrument, and an implementation and award process in conjunction with the Task Force on Diversity. In Years 2007-08 and 2008-09 this committee will implement the assessment process.
  3. And further, the incoming president will work to develop a Joint AEJMC and ASJMC GREDA Fund Raising and Evaluation Committee to be established in 2007-08 to raise funds to support the GREDA assessment and reward process and to evaluate the success of the entire GREDA process in 2008-09.

<< 2006 Resolutions

Resolution Three 2006

Resolution Three: Censuring Ocean County College for Violating the Free Press Rights of Students, and Calling for Reinstatement of Prof. Karen Bosley as Adviser to the Student Newspaper

Moved: Barbara Reed, Rutgers.
Seconded:

*****************************

Whereas, Karen Bosley has served with distinction as adviser to the Viking News, the student newspaper at Ocean County College, for more than 30 years, and,

Whereas, the Viking News has been a consistent winner of national and state awards for college journalism, with 24 national awards from the Society of Collegiate Journalists since and 42 awards from the New Jersey Collegiate Press Association over the same time period, and,

Whereas, College Media Advisers, the national organization of advisers to college newspapers and other student media, named Professor Bosley “Distinguished Newspaper Adviser for the Nation’s Two-Year Colleges” in 1978 and this year nominated her for it’s Hall of Fame, and,

Whereas, Professor Bosley started the first journalism program at a two?]year college in New Jersey at Ocean County College more than three decades ago and created most of the journalism courses currently taught at Ocean County College, and,

Whereas, the college’s Board of Trustees, at the urging of President Jon Larson, terminated Professor Bosley’s contract as adviser to the Viking News, effective in June of this year, and,

Whereas, the college administration has barred Professor Bosley from teaching any journalism classes during the coming academic year and reassigned her to teach only English classes, and,

Whereas detailed fact-finding reports completed earlier this year by two national journalism organizations, College Media Advisers and the Society of Professional Journalist, found that these actions by the administration were unjustified on administrative or pedagogical grounds, and,

Whereas, both fact-finding reports concluded that the administration’s action came after stories critical of or embarrassing to President Larson appeared in the Viking News and appeared, despite administration denials, to be aimed at intimidating the student editors and curtailing future reporting seen as critical of President Larson and the college administration, and,

Whereas, three student editors of the Viking News have sued the college for abridging their First Amendment rights as students and journalists by dismissing Professor Bosley and taking other actions to control the content of the campus newspaper and have asked the court to order her reinstatement, and,

Whereas, both College Media Advisers and the national board of the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, have all urged Ocean County College to immediately renew Professor Bosley’s contract as adviser to the Viking News and allow her to continue teaching the journalism courses she normally teaches, and

Whereas, a judge hearing this case has granted a temporary order restraining Ocean Community College from preventing Professor Bosley to act as adviser to the student newspaper, although her suspension from teaching journalism courses remains in effect.

Therefore, be it resolved that

  1. AEJMC censures President Jon Larson and the Trustees of Ocean County College for attempting to control the content and violate the First Amendment rights of student on their campus by unjustified retaliation against the faculty adviser to the student newspaper, and,
  2. AEJMC calls on the administration of Ocean County College to reinstate Professor Karen Bosley as adviser to the Viking News and to restore her normal journalism course load, and,
  3. AEJMC asks that the parties involved attempt to resolve their disputes in the interests of the students and their right to a free press, and,

And be it further resolved, that

  1. The Executive Board of AEJMC should sign this resolution and send it to the President of the Board of Trustees of Ocean County College, President Jon Larson, Professor Karen Bosley, the entire AEJMC membership, and to newspapers and other news media in New Jersey.

************************************************************

Offered to the business meeting of the annual convention of the Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 4, 2006.

<< 2006 Resolutions

Resolution Two 2006

Resolution Two: A Motion In Support of the First Amendment Rights of Students and Protection of Faculty Advisers to Student Media

Moved: Barbara Reed, Rutgers.
Endorsed: Resolutions Committee, Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility.

*****************************

Whereas, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication repeatedly has affirmed a First Amendment right for the student media at both public and private colleges and universities, and

Whereas, increasingly college and university administrators have sought prior control of content in the student media by coercing, penalizing, or dismissing faculty advisers to the student media, and

Whereas, prior control of the student-media content by any means is repugnant to those who believe in a free press and the First Amendment and sets a damaging example of bad citizenship for students and the public,

Therefore be it resolved that,

1. The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication hereby affirms:

a. That advisers to student media should not be put in positions requiring them to control content of the media they advise at public or private colleges and universities; and

b. That college and university administrations, both public and private, should not expect student advisers to student media to determine content or give approval for content appearing in the student media, and

c. That advisers to student media at public and private colleges and universities should not be obliged to seek permission of administrators for the use of and placement of any content in the student media.

d. That no adviser to student media should be removed, punished, or face other sanctions because of content published or broadcast by student media.

And be it further resolved that:

2. The leadership of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication:

a. Communicate to the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) the membership’s deep concern over examples of administration abrogation of the letter and spirit of the First Amendment in curricular and extra-curricular journalism activities at public and private schools around the country and urge that such behavior be given special consideration in accreditation decisions, especially appeals of site team reports, and

b. Communicate the sense of this resolution directly to the administration of any college or university, public or private, that is seen to be exercising control of student-press content through the faculty adviser.

c. Publicize each and every example of bad faith among colleges and universities respecting the First Amendment in curricular and extra-curricular activities through member publications and through press releases to the media. Stand ready to promptly work with the Student Press Law Center, the College Media Advisers organization, and other institutions and individuals in protecting the rights of students, faculty, and media advisers through any and all means appropriate.

************************************************************

Offered to the business meeting of the annual convention of the Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 4, 2006.

<< 2006 Resolutions

Resolution One 2006

Resolution One: A Motion To Object to the Bush Administration’s Anti-Press Policies and Practices

Moved: Dr. David T.Z. Mindich, St. Michael’s
Endorsed: Resolutions Committee, Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility

*****************************

Preamble
The relationship between the presidency and press has always been uneasy. This tension is both unavoidable and generally salutary: When each side conducts its duties with honesty and integrity, both hold the power of the other in check. It is difficult to find a period in American history in which this mutual opposition did not exist.

However, it has come to pass that the current administration has engaged in a number of practices and has enacted a series of severe and extraordinary policies that attack the press specifically and by extension, democracy itself:

A working democracy requires a free press that is muscular in its reporting. It requires a press that holds leaders accountable for their actions. It requires a press that contrasts leaders’ words with their actions. It requires a press that uncovers errors and wrongdoing by employing named and unnamed sources. We believe the actions of the current administration compromise these press functions.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. However, American press history has been marked by periods in which press freedoms have retreated. The Alien and Sedition Acts of the 1790s represented one such period. Another was during the Civil War, in which journalists were jailed en masse because of dissent. The Espionage Act of 1917 paved the way for encroachments on press freedom (see Schenk v. United States). In each of these periods, politicians, judges, and scholars came to see, at least in hindsight, that anti-press policies in the name of national unity produced real harm to democracy itself: We believe that the Bush administration’s anti-press policies and practices represent another major period.

Whereas the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s membership is troubled by the following policies and practices:

1. The Bush administration’s response to press requests for information. While we do not take sides on the issue of whether “enemy combatants” should be detained without charges by the United States government, we are troubled by the administration’s failure to provide names and other vital information. When a democratically elected government holds people indefinitely without charges, it is the press’s role to shine light on the practice so that citizens and their elected representatives can debate that policy and decide its merits. Until the AP won a FOIA request in March 2006, names and other vital information about Guantanamo detainees were withheld by the Bush administration.(1) Around the time the AP won its FOIA request, other news organizations were reporting on an even more secretive prison run by the United States, in Bagram, Afghanistan.(2)

2. The Bush administration’s use of staged town meetings. One of the most important responsibilities of the nonpartisan press is that it should include a wide range of political opinions so that the views of political leaders can be held up to scrutiny. That way, citizens can debate the merits of these views and choose one over others or develop policy based on a combination of ideas. Part of this process involves an open exchange between citizens and their elected representatives. While every administration since the birth of the 20th century has sought to manage the photo opportunities of its leaders’ interactions with citizens, a practice that increased markedly in the presidencies of the TV era, the current administration has taken this practice to an unprecedented level. During the 2004 presidential campaign, for example, the Bush campaign frequently excluded non-supporters from campaign events. This practice continued through Bush’s trips to promote his Social Security agenda. Even “informal” discussions with soldiers have been staged.(3)

3. The Bush administration’s vision of the government as a private domain. From the start of the administration’s tenure, when Dick Cheney’s office refused to reveal industry leaders who attended a meeting about energy policy, the administration maintained a practiced silence about many aspects of government. In March 2006, the Associated Press reported that many FOIA requests are unanswered or needlessly delayed.(4)

4. The Bush administration’s practice of massive reclassification of documents. (5) A February 2006 article in the New York Times outlines a secret plan to reclassify documents, many of which had been declassified and publicly available for years. While national security dictates that some documents be secret, the wholesale reclassification of documents makes it more difficult to understand and evaluate the workings of government.

5. The Bush administration’s support of policies that weaken the multiplicity of voices on a local and nation scale. The administration, through its appointees at the FCC, has sought new rules that allow large corporations to consolidate local media outlets under one corporate umbrella. We call on the administration to support FCC rules that preserve local ownership and competition.

6. The Bush administration’s policy of not allowing photographs of coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq to be released. An essential part of a public’s deliberation of the worth of any war is the consideration of the human costs involved. Denying the images essentially denies the humanity of the U.S. servicemen and servicewomen who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their lives should be part of the public debate.

7. The Bush administration’s use of propaganda, including video news releases. We support the language of Boston University’s Journalism Department’s 2005 resolution “condemning fraudulent use of video news releases”: “[We] condemn the use of ‘phony’ reporters hired by the government to perform in VNRs where their affiliation with government is unstated, and urge the Administration to translate the President’s words into action by ceasing this practice at once.” [see Appendix]

8. The Bush administration’s use of bribes and payments to columnists and other opinion makers, both in the United States and abroad. We believe, as the nonpartisan General Accounting Office found in October 2005,(6) that the payments to columnists, including a reported $400,000 to Armstrong Williams, violated laws against “covert propaganda.” The White House even credentialed James Dale Guckert, a phony reporter, under a pseudonym, Jeff Gannon. The fake journalist, granted extraordinary access by the White House, in turn asked softball questions of the administration, including, “How are you going to work with people [the Democrats] who seem to have divorced themselves from reality? “Recent reports have shown that the administration has also bribed journalists in Iraq and has planted fake news stories there.(7) The administration claims that the war is being fought in part to promote democracy in the Middle East, but these practices are antithetical to that aim. We believe that the Bush administration’s policy of bribing reporters and using fake journalism is a threat to democracy.

9. The Bush administration’s manipulation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. When the Bush administration appointed a new chairman of the CPB and supported his efforts to correct the “slant” of the broadcasts, what it was engaging in was essentially a putsch of responsible journalism. Responsible journalism of the left, right, and center seeks to interrogate power and hold the ideas of the various political parties up to scrutiny. When powerful interests seek to neuter responsible journalism, democracy itself suffers.

10. The Bush administration’s using the courts to pressure journalists to give up their sources and to punish them for obtaining leaked information. According to a March 2006 article in the Washington Post, recent actions by the Bush administration have included “several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.”(8) We believe that attacking journalists in this way can upset the power relationship between the government and the press, and could eventually turn reporters from watchdogs to lapdogs.

Therefore, be it resolved:

1. That the membership of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication urges the Bush administration to abandon its anti-press policies, and urges people who value journalism’s role in our democracy to take notice and take action. Specifically, we urge journalism and mass communication departments to consider actions of their own including, perhaps, an endorsement of this document, and

2. That the president of the AEJMC be directed to disseminate this resolution to:
a. President George W. Bush
b. Vice President Richard B. Cheney
c. The membership of the AEJMC
d. The College Media Advisers Association
e. The general news media and trade press, and
f. Any and all such other organizations that relate to Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment.

Postscript
For more information about this document, contact David T. Z. Mindich, Saint Michael’s College <>. The author thanks Mitchell Stephens, New York University, for substantive comments.

Appendix

Unanimous Resolution of the Boston University Journalism Faculty Condemning Fraudulent Use of Video News Releases
March 22, 2005

As educators of the next generation of American journalists, we the journalism faculty at the College of Communication, Boston University:

Recognize the need of citizens in a democracy for information that is accurate, unbiased and independently gathered and presented;

Recognize the vital need of government to communicate with its citizens and the useful role print and video news releases (VNRs) can play in this process;

Recognize the obligation of news organizations to identify clearly the origin of any editorial material provided by government, business, interest group or any source other than their own news gathering or that of affiliated news organizations;

Recognize the obligation of government to avoid using VNRs for purposes of political advocacy or propaganda;

Recognize the need to avoid presenting the material in a way that invites public confusion as to its source;

Note the President’s recent statement that acknowledges the need to maintain a clear line of distinction between journalists and members of the government or Administration;

Condemn the use of “phony” reporters hired by the government to perform in VNRs where their affiliation with government is unstated, and urge the Administration to translate the President’s words into action by ceasing this practice at once;

Urge the Administration to identify and cease other practices with respect to VNRs that run a substantial risk of misleading the public;

Condemn the deliberate use by television news outlets of material knowingly obtained from the Administration without clear identification of its origin, and urge all members of the media to cease this deceptive practice at once.

We invite colleagues at other journalism schools and departments to endorse the Boston University Resolution.

NOTES:
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(1) Associated Press, “Pentagon identifies Guantanamo detainees,” March 3, 2006. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-gitmo0303,0,879609.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

(2) Tim Golden and Eric Schmitt, “A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantanamo,” New York Times, February 26, 2006.

(3) New York Times, “In a Scripted TV Scene, Soldiers Reassure Bush,” New York Times, October 13, 2005, p. 14.

(4) Martha Mendoza, “Agencies Missing FOIA deadlines, AP Finds, Associated Press, March 12, 2006.

(5) Scott Shane, “U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review,” New York Times, February 21, 2006.

(6) The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “GAO says Bush team engaged in illegal ‘covert propaganda,”‘ October 4, 2005. http://www.rcfp.org/news/2005/1004 bct-gaosay.html

(7) Anne E. Komblut and Philip Shenon, “Columnist Resigns His Post, Admitting Lobbyist Paid Him,” New York Times, December 17, 2005, p. 14.

(8) Dan Eggen, “White House Trains Efforts on Media Leaks,” Washington Post, March 5, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dvn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400867.html. We have also seen the FBl’s investigation of the papers of the late Jack Anderson in April 2006 [Scott Shane, “F.B.l. Is Seeking To Search Papers Of Dead Reporter,” New York Times, April 19, 2006, p. 1] and the issuance by a U.S. attorney in Los Angeles of subpoenas to compel journalists to reveal the identities of confidential sources in the baseball steroids scandal, [Adam Liptak, “U.S. Subpoenas Newspaper For Sources in Steroids Case,” New York Times, May 9, 2006, p. 23].

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Offered to the business meeting of the annual convention of the Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 4, 2006.

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2004 AEJMC Resolution

AEJMC Members approved one resolution during the 2004 Convention in Toronto, Canada.

Resolution One: Free Press Resolution

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