Purpose: Childhood obesity is a serious health concern (World Health Organization (WHO), 2013) and advertising exposure is known to be a contributing factor (Institute of Medicine (IOM), 2006). In recent years consumers have expressed an increased interest in products appearing healthy and food companies have committed to changing their…

Two studies are conducted to test how consumers respond differently in feeling nostalgic depending on age and gender. Study 1 uses narrative writing tasks to empirically test the effect of nostalgic versus nonnostalgic feelings on youthfulness by age and gender. To increase the external validity of our findings in Study 1, Study 2 replicates it…

Background: The prevalence of electronic-cigarette (e-cigarette) product placement in music videos is on the rise and currently unregulated. This promotional activity is concerning given the popularity of music videos among young adults. Aims: We examined associations between self-reported levels of exposure to music videos with any e-cigarette…

Because of the dearth of available partners, older women looking to date may have to relax their dating standards to find a dating partner, perhaps accepting a life situation that is not what they had hoped for. However older women may be reluctant to sacrifice an often recently-gained lifestyle free of caregiving obligations. Older men, on the…

Conflicting results on children's understanding of advertising may stem from differences in research methods. Most studies are conducted using interviewing techniques, employing only verbal questioning. In the present study, 136 children of two age groups (7 and 10 years) were first asked what advertising was for and, after responding, shown…

With the baby boomers increasing in age, the number of older Americans is projected to increase to 82 million by 2050, an increase of 225% from the year 2000. But despite their growing numbers, older individuals continue to face negative attitudes toward them, their way of thinking, and their abilities. These negative attitudes result from the…

This study examined the impact on children of two deceptive and two non-deceptive 60-second color commericals inserted in a 25-minute film. The ads were rated as deceptive or non-deceptive by attorneys at the Federal Trade Commission. A total of 102 students aged 11 to 13 and 34 students aged 7 viewed the film with the ads inserted. Pre- and…

This report provides data from a larger study investigating consumer socialization of children which focused on the processes by which children acquire knowledge skills and attitudes related to consumer behavior. The research has utilized two theoretical perspectives: cognitive development and information processing theories. The data reported are…

To determine whether differing attitudes toward, and the utilization of, the daily newspaper are related to the variable of age, 481 persons responded to a questionnaire designed to measure their attitudes and opinions about mass media in general and their evaluations of newspaper content in particular. The findings revealed the following…

This study explores children's understanding of television commercials that feature the same primary characters as those in the adjacent program content, a commercial technique known as "host-selling." Responses of children 4 to 5 and 7 to 8 years of age to identical commercials presented in both a host-selling and normal viewing…

In Western cultures, girls' self-esteem declines substantially during middle adolescence, with changes in body image proposed as a possible explanation. Body image develops in the context of sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media images of female beauty. In a study of 136 U.K. girls aged 11-16, experimental exposure to either ultra-thin…

This study was conducted in order to assess the link between exposure to television advertising for snack foods and children's actual snack choices. One hundred and forty 5-to 8-year-old low income children attending summer camp were randomly divided into two experimental groups each of which contained equal numbers of younger and older children.…

Forty students aged 9-18 were asked to explain the meanings of lexically ambiguous advertisements from magazines, newspapers, and brochures. Older subjects explained the meanings correctly more frequently than younger subjects. The psychological meanings of the ads were found to be more difficult to explain than the physical meanings. (Author/JDD)