Measuring Source Credibility with Generation Y: An Application to Messages about Smoking and Alcohol Consumption

In recent years there have been widespread media campaigns directed at communicating to young people the potential risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption and smoking. Increasingly, these messages are being developed by industry organisations as well as government and health agencies, raising questions as to the credibility of these industry sources. In this study, university students were provided with the names of fourteen sources of campaigns directed at encouraging responsible alcohol consumption and smoking cessation. We found that the overall rating was effective in terms of identifying the different levels of perceived credibility in regards to the sources, but examination of those individual dimensions added useful information as to why a source was perceived as being more or less credible

A comparison of viewers\u27 cognitive and psychophysiological responses to threat-appeal TV advertisements

This study examines the emotional reactions experienced by viewers during threat appeal anti-speeding TV advertisements using both a cognitive continuous response measure of fear and a psychophysiological response measure of arousal. Static, postonly, self-report methods are typically used to obtain ad responses, however this study uses dynamic continuous response measures to gain a better picture of how viewers are responding throughout the entire ad. A comparison of the two different types of continuous response measures is made to determine if both measures produce similar or different results. Participants for the study watched one of four anti-speeding ads, with 20 participants per ad group (total n=80). Using responses from each type of measure, two graphs (patterns) were formed for each ad group. These graphs show divergence for three of the four ads tested, with only one of the ads evoking similar cognitive-fear and arousal responses. Road safety advertisers need to consider the measurement issues of each continuous response method when attempting to identify fear patterns in threat appeal TV advertisements ads as arousal can be caused by physiological reactions to fear-evoking stimuli and also other stimuli, such as exciting music and positive images

A qualitative analysis of young drivers\u27 perceptions of driver distraction social marketing interventions

This study gives insight into why current driver distraction social marketing interventions are not motivating the high-risk target audience of young drivers to cease using their mobile phones when driving. Three focus groups (n=30) were conducted with drivers aged 18-25 years old to explore current attitudes and behaviours in regard to mobile phone use when driving. Additionally four emergent themes were identified from the target audience’s reactions to six social marketing interventions specifically targeting mobile phone cessation. These themes are analysed through the lens of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) comprising perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, response efficacy and self-efficacy

University students\u27 attitudes towards using public transport to and from university: exploring attitude change strategies

According to the NSW Department ofInfrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources\u27 (DIPNR) Metropolitan Strategy Discussion Paper an average of 76% of all trips are made by private vehicle, with less than 20% of trips being made by public transport in the general community. A successful solution to this imbalance is the Travel Smart program, which was initiated by the Western Australian Government and has since been adapted to various other metropolitan areas in both Australia and overseas. A preliminary investigation has been undertaken to determine the likely acceptance and feasibility of a similar program being implemented at a regional Australian University that is currently experiencing traffic congestion and parking problems. This paper addresses some of the issues which face public transport providers when trying to promote a service which is much-maligned in the media and by the public as being inefficient, unreliable and costly. By combining the results of the exploratory research with knowledge of current marketing theories on attitude change this paper examines opportunities for providers and other stakeholders to better promote the usage of public transport networks and services

Development and validation of an Australian Video Speed Test (AVST)

Anti-speeding educational campaigns (in television commercials, print ads, and outdoor ads, mostly) are constantly being tried but it is difficult to determine which ads are effective in reducing speed. A promising solution to this problem is to use a behavioural simulation such as the Video Speed Test, the VST (Horswill and McKenna, 1999). The driving simulation test involves getting drivers to view video excerpts of a person driving a vehicle in real driving situations. The drivers then are asked to estimate the speed that they would use in the same situations, that is, how many kilometres/hour slower or faster they would drive. This test has been shown to correlate highly with self-reported habitual speeding and also correlate highly with drivers\u27 past involvement in speed-related accidents. The present study develops and validates an equivalent Australian version of the driving simulation test, called the Australian Video Speed Test (AVST). A variety of roads and driving situations were filmed, including driving through residential areas, country roads, roundabouts, shopping centres, on freeways, and around bends. An initial set of 15 scenes were selected for testing, using responses from 268 drivers, with age categories ranging from 17-25 to 66+, who were recruited via mall-intercept interviews in the IIlawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), which tests for differences between means of different populations (such as: young drivers\u27 speed choice versus older drivers\u27 speed choice; males\u27 speed choice versus females\u27 speed choice), was conducted for all demographic and driving history variables. Based on this analysis, the 15 scenes were reduced to a final set of 11 scenes, including 1 practice scene and 10 test scenes. Overall, the AVST was validated by the fact that it correlated highly with self-reported habitual speeding (r =.52, p =.01). The 10-item AVST has high internal-consistency reliability, with an alpha coefficient of 0.83

Improving the store design of male fashion and apparel retailers

This study focuses upon men’s store preferences when shopping for fashion and apparel items and represents an extension of Torresa, Summers and Belleau’s (2001) research, which displayed a rank-order of ten shopping preferences of male University students. An additional item of ‘ease of finding items’, which is arguably a critical component of consumers’ first impressions of a store and their degree of comfort in-store, was included in the rank-order activity of the current study. The participants of the current study were drawn from the general population, consisting of a convenience sample of 226 men of all ages. Similar to the findings of Torresa, Summers and Belleau (2001) quality, price and selection of merchandise were the three most important factors when selecting a fashion store. However, ease of finding items was ranked 5th of the 11 attributes. The findings of the survey research are combined with a store audit analysis that reinforces the need for retailers to improve their store layout and design to appeal to the growing market segment of “hunter” versus “gatherer” shoppers, particularly for young male shoppers

A guest lecturing program to improve students\u27 applied learning

Initial research findings are presented on the benefits of a guest lecturing program currently being implemented by a School of Marketing at an Australian University. The program entails establishing relationships between the Marketing School and leading marketing corporations. Individual employees from these companies are matched to appropriate marketing subjects and asked to deliver a lecture demonstrating theory in practice. Academics have the opportunity of building research contacts with guest lecturers which may result in linkage grants, thus improving the research-teaching nexus. The development process and initial outcomes of establishing the program could be used by other Universities to improve their marketing students knowledge of contemporary business practices and career prospects

The importance of fear-reduction in fear-based road safety advertising appeals

Road safety advertisers need to include fear reduction in fearbasedadvertisements to improve road safety behaviouraloutcomes. When designing advertisements containing reliefcomponents to reinforce safe driving attitudes and practices,there should be greater emphasis on formative research, such aspre-testing advertising concepts to ensure the correctadvertising execution is achieved. Defining and selecting targetaudiences on current attitudes and behaviours, such as offenders(brand loyals), conformers (other brand loyals) and vacillators(switchers), is recommended. Finally, moving beyond thesimplistic categorization of fear-based advertising according to`levelsÿ of fear to a new focus on `patternsÿ of fear, whichrequires the inclusion of a `fear reductionÿ mechanism, shouldincrease the effectiveness of road safety advertising

A comparison of factual/low context versus emotional/high context message appeals: persuading Chinese smokers to ring the Chinese quitline

This study does not support the notion developed from cross cultural advertising literature that members of a particular cultural group will prefer a particular message advertising appeal if it reflects values that are congruent to its culture. An experimental design is applied to examine whether emotional/ high context appeals (n=120) are more persuasive than factual/ low context appeals (n=124) among target groups from collectivist cultural backgrounds. Analysis of Chinese smokers’ pre-and-post intentions to contact the Chinese Quitline after viewing print advertisements determined that there was no difference between the two ad groups’ shift scores. The common use of direct translations of Australian mainstream campaigns for this culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) target group could be viewed as an acceptable practice

A Conceptual Model of the Factors Affecting the Choice of Nonprofit Organisation by Large Corporations in Australia

This paper develops a new conceptualisation of corporate giving which advances our knowledge in the field of nonprofit marketing through the development of a model which assists in identifying the drivers of corporate giving in Australia. Existing conceptualisations are limited in that the commercial realities of corporate life and the pressures that many organizations face in achieving concrete outcomes from their giving behaviour have not been properly reflected in research results. In an environment of increased competition amongst nonprofits for donations in terms of money, resources, and volunteers the better understanding of how and why corporations give will enable nonprofit organisations to better position themselves in communicating with corporations, targeting requests and competing for corporate giving. Using the extant literature and evidence from qualitative interviews conducted with giving managers of eight large organisations operating in Australia (not just Australian owned organisations) we develop a conceptual model of the managerial interpretation and actualisation of corporate policy which incorporates our finding that organisations chose and support their NPOs differently primarily based on how giving managers classify the value of the NPO relationship. As a key decision maker or influencer in the choice and support ofNPOs the individual giving managers role is explicitly included in our model. This paper adds a further dimension to the literature and an increased understanding of the giving by large corporations to nonprofit organisations