Do you take credit cards? The attitudinal and behavioral effects of advergames targeted at children

Advergames are a promotional tool that confronts children with brands in an entertaining and playful setting. The present study adds to the existing knowledge by analyzing an advergame placement that is usually not targeted at children: credit cards. Based on an emotional conditioning process premised on the positive gaming experience, we argue that advergames lead to an increase in brand evaluation and brand choice. In addition to changes in brand outcomes, we investigate how playing a game promoting credit cards can impact children's spending behavior. For that purpose, children either played the traditional version of Monopoly paying with cash money or they played the banking version, promoting Visa credit cards. Results indicate that exposure to the branded game enhanced preference for Visa. In addition, children's spending behavior increased in an online shopping task. As another important contribution to the literature, we found the behavioral and attitudinal effects to be independent of children's age. In light of young consumers' high debt, our findings raise concerns about targeting children with credit card placements in advergames. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Brand placements Bollywood style

• The globalization of media allows brand placements subtle ways to reach local and international consumers. This study examines Indians' responses to brand placements in a Bollywood film. Psychological processing of embedded brands was assessed by gauging the effects of film involvement and brand consciousness on recall. Film involvement showed an adverse effect on brand recall, while brand consciousness had a positive effect. Brand consciousness was also positively related to the notion that brand placements enhanced film realism, but was not related to attitudes toward product placement in general.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predicting Mothers' Intentions to Limit Frequency of Infants' Sugar Intake: Testing the Theory of Planned Behavior1

This study examines the ability of the Theory of Planned Behavior to account for mothers' intentions to limit the frequency of their infants' sugar consumption. One group of mothers (experimental) was exposed to a dental health education program designed to promote this behavior, the other (control) group was not. Each group of mothers was interviewed twice; the intervention was delivered to mothers in the experimental group immediately after their first interview. The interviews incorporated measures of the key constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitudes to behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions). Results indicated that the addition of perceived behavioral control resulted in small but significant increments in the amount of explained variance in intentions, thereby supporting the theory. Although the change in intentions to perform the advocated behavior was not significantly greater in the experimental group than in the control group, there was a significant change in attitudes to the behavior in the experimental group but no such change in the control group. Moreover, amount of change in behavioral intentions was significantly correlated with amount of change in attitudes, but not with amount of change in subjective norms or perceived behavioral control. Analysis of behavioral beliefs indicated that the attitude change reflected a change in a specific behavioral belief that was targeted in the intervention. Further analyses focused on the role played by direct experience of the behavior and show that such experience tended to enhance the role of perceived behavioral control in intention formation, apparently because mothers who have older children have discovered that they have relatively little control over frequency of child's sugar consumption. The implication of these results for the Theory of Planned Behavior are discussed.     

植入与非植入广告的效果:接受通道与延时的影响

以植入式与非植入式广告比较为主线,探讨感觉通道和延时因素对广告效果的影响。发现非植入式的和视觉+听觉通道的广告有更好的品牌记忆、植入式的听觉广告在品牌记忆与品牌偏好上优于视觉广告、延时条件下植入式广告的品牌偏好保持较好。以上结果与非植入式广告的信息印象优势、植入式广告的品牌较非植入广告与背景的结合度高以及听觉广告的情节整合度与材料特点有关。     

The Nature and Predictive Value of Mothers' Beliefs Regarding Infants' and Toddlers' TV/Video Viewing: Applying the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction

Viewing television and video programming has become a normative behavior among U.S. infants and toddlers. Little is understood about the extent of parents' decision making regarding their young children's viewing, although numerous organizations are interested in reducing time spent viewing among infants and toddlers. Prior research has examined parents' belief in the educational value of TV/videos for young children and the predictive value of this belief for understanding infant and toddler viewing rates, although other possible salient beliefs remain largely unexplored. This study employs the integrative model of behavioral prediction to examine 30 maternal beliefs about infants' and toddlers' TV/video viewing, which were elicited from a prior sample of mothers. Results indicate that mothers tend to hold more positive than negative beliefs about the outcomes associated with young children's TV/video viewing and that the nature of the aggregate set of beliefs is predictive of their general attitudes and intentions to allow their children to view, as well as children's estimated viewing rates. Analyses also uncover multiple dimensions within the full set of beliefs, which explain more variance in mothers' attitudes and intentions and children's viewing than the uni-dimensional index. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Liking of Movie Genre Alters the Effectiveness of Background Product Placements

Product placement has been likened to evaluative conditioning (EC) in which a viewer's liking of an actor using a brand transfers to the brand. Less research has evaluated how more subtle background placements work. Further, most published studies report explicit brand attitudes as outcome measures. We show that background placements of a familiar brand can alter implicit brand attitudes. Furthermore, viewers who liked the movie genre showed positive implicit attitudes, and viewers who disliked the movie genre showed negative implicit attitudes, suggesting that genre generated affect transferred to implicit attitudes. Advertising implications are discussed.     

Group membership,group norms,empathy, and young children's intentions to aggress

This study assessed the effect of ingroup norms and empathy on 6 and 9‐year‐old children's (N=161) attitudes and aggressive intentions toward outgroup members. Prior to an intergroup drawing competition against an outgroup, participants' empathy was measured, and they were randomly assigned to a simulated group with a norm of direct or indirect aggression, or no aggression norm. Results indicated participants' attitudes were less positive toward the outgroup vs. the ingroup, and that both direct and indirect aggressive intentions were displayed toward the outgroup. Most importantly, the ingroup was liked less when it had an aggression norm, and the participants' aggressive intentions were not enhanced by the group aggression norm. Empathy was a significant negative predictor of direct but not indirect aggression intentions. Implications for understanding the instigation and inhibition of children's aggression intentions are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 35:244–258, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Children's Attitudes towards Peers with Disabilities: Associations with Personal and Parental Factors

The purpose of this study was to investigate the following: (i) associations among children's prior contact with people with disabilities and the three dimensions of children's attitudes towards people with disabilities: children's understanding of and their feelings about people with disabilities and their behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions; (ii) the relation between children's behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions and the demands of activity contexts and the types of disabilities; and (iii) the association between parents' attitudes and children's attitudes. Participants included 94 typically developing four‐ and five‐year‐old preschoolers. Children's understanding of disabilities and their prior contact with people with disabilities were found to be positively related to their feelings about people with disabilities; children's understanding of disabilities was a significant moderator of the relation between their behavioural intentions and activity contexts or types of disabilities. The hypothesized association between parents' attitudes and children's attitudes was not significant. Preschoolers may benefit from having more regular contact with people with disabilities to develop positive feelings towards their peers with disabilities, which is also related to their understanding of disabilities. Children's behavioural intentions to make inclusion decisions need to be understood in relation to their understanding of disabilities, the demand of activity contexts, and types of disabilities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents of children's physical activity intentions and behaviour: Predictive validity and longitudinal effects

Abstract

This study examined the predictive validity and time-lagged relationships in a model of children's physical activity intentions, attitudes, perceived behavioural control (PBC), behaviour and past behaviour using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) as a framework. In Study 1, 386 children aged 12–14 years completed measures of intentions, attitudes, subjective norm, PBC and past behaviour. Their physical activity behaviour was assessed one week later. Structural equation analyses supported the construct and predictive validity of the TPB with the exception of subjective norms which did not predict intentions. In Study 2,70 children completed measures of their physical activity attitudes, intentions, PBC and past behaviour. Attitudes, intentions, PBC and recent behaviour were re-assessed five weeks later. The cognitions demonstrated a moderate degree of stability over time and there were some cross-lagged effects between attitudes and PBC. Past behaviour demonstrated additive rather than attenuating effects. These results support the use of the TPB cognitions and past behaviour as a framework to examine children's physical activity behaviour.     

TEACHER POPULARITY AND CONTRAST EFFECTS IN A CLASSROOM TOKEN ECONOMY

There is a common fear that the use of a token economy in one classroom might harm pupil performance in situations where the contingencies are not in effect. This study investigated potential contrast effects on measures of children's productivity and attitudes toward teachers. Six children with reading deficits participated. A multiple baseline design was used to assess the effects of a token economy which was systematically introduced across three teachers. Dependent measures included two rating forms of teacher popularity and work rate on a programmed reading series. The results indicated that the token system was effective in increasing the children's productivity and that no consistent behavioral contrast effects occurred. Furthermore, children's attitudes toward teachers did not appear to be influenced by the token economy until only one teacher was not delivering tokens. At this point, her popularity declined until she also delivered tokens. The token economy manipulation appeared to have a specific, desirable effect on the targeted behavior (i.e., work rate) and had minimal negative or positive “side effects” on teacher popularity.     

The Mere‐Measurement Effect: Why Does Measuring Intentions Change Actual Behavior?

Recent research has demonstrated that merely measuring an individual's purchase intentions changes his or her subsequent behavior in the market. Several different alternative explanations have been proposed to explain why this “mere‐measurement effect” occurs. However, these explanations have not been tested to date. The purpose of this article is to test several competing explanations for why measuring general intentions to purchase (e.g., How likely are you to buy a car?) changes specific brand‐level behavior (e.g., which specific brand of car is purchased). The results provide a clearer understanding of the cognitive mechanism through which the mere‐measurement effect operates. The results show that when asked to provide general intentions to select a product in a given category, respondents are more likely to choose options toward which they hold positive and accessible attitudes, and are less likely to choose options for which they hold negative and accessible attitudes, compared to a control group of participants who are not asked a general intentions question. These results provide support for the conjecture that asking a general purchase intent question influences behavior by changing the accessibility of attitudes toward specific options in the category.     

The Situational Impact of Brand Image Beliefs

This study experimentally examines some situational influences on the formation and consequences of two brand image beliefs, pertaining to fun and sophistication (classiness). It tests McCracken's (1986) meaning transfer mechanisms and establishes that nonverbalized personality associations of celebrity endorsers on these dimensions can indeed reinforce equivalent consumer beliefs about a brand's fun and classiness benefits. However, this occurs only if a social consumption context is evoked, and only if the brand image beliefs are appropriate to the consumer schema for the product category involved. Moreover, under these facilitating conditions, such ad‐created brand image beliefs have an impact only on brand purchase intentions and not on brand attitudes. Results have implications for the growing literature on different types of brand imagery associations, as well as for future research on the processing of nonverbal stimuli, the measurement of nonfunctional brand beliefs, and consumer inference processes.     

Can disclosures lead consumers to resist covert persuasion? The important roles of disclosure timing and type of response

While sponsorship disclosure is proposed as a remedy for covert marketing, i.e., tactics such that the persuasive nature of the communication is not clear to consumers, little is known about whether or when disclosures prompt consumers to correct for persuasion. Three experiments reveal that covert marketing, in the form of subtle product placements, can increase brand recall and attitudes but that both instructions to avoid influence and mere disclosure of sponsorship can lead to correction. The first experiment demonstrates that consumers are able to correct both brand attitudes and stated recall when there are instructions to avoid influence. The following two experiments show that mere sponsorship disclosure can evoke use of persuasion knowledge for correction. However, disclosure timing differentially influences correction for recall and attitudes. Disclosure prior to exposure to the covert marketing tactic leads only to correction for effects on recall; attitude is as high with a prior disclosure as with placement with no disclosure. Disclosure after placement provides general correction of the impact of the covert marketing tactic on both recall and attitudes.     

Schadenfreude as a consumption‐related emotion: Feeling happiness about the downfall of another's product

Emotional antecedents of schadenfreude—joy experienced when observing another's downfall—were investigated in a status consumption context. Across 3 studies, status product failure produced schadenfreude and led to intentions to spread negative word-of-mouth (studies 1, 2), and increased negative affect and overall negative attitudes toward the status brand (study 3). Furthermore, studies 1 and 2 suggest that envy (particularly of social attention) can lead to schadenfreude by transmuting into hostile emotions. Finally, these studies suggest that schadenfreude in a consumption context can be precipitated by factors such as degree of target advantage and flaunting of the status product.     

A theory‐driven investigation of prospective applicants' intentions to submit video résumés

As a quickly growing trend among job seekers, video résumés represent an area where practice has outpaced research. This study investigated whether the theory of planned behavior (TpB) can be used to understand future job seekers (n = 154) video résumé submission intentions and behaviors. Results supported the TpB model. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predicted intentions, which in turn predicted video résumé creation behaviors. Compared with perceived behavioral control, attitudes and subjective norms were more important predictors. As one of the first empirical studies on video résumés, this research breaks important new ground. It also extends what is known about the TpB because it is the first study to use a relative importance analysis to statistically compare the influence of the theory's antecedent constructs.     

From empathy to action: Can enhancing host‐society children's empathy promote positive attitudes and prosocial behaviour toward refugees?

Over half of refugees are school‐aged children. In host communities, children's attitudes and behaviours are important for the integration of refugee children. This study examines the empathy–attitudes–action model in middle childhood (N = 94, 8 to 11 years old). In both the experimental and control conditions, children were introduced to a (fictional) refugee and told that he or she would be moving to their school. The experimental condition also listened to a storybook about the child's refugee experience. Empathy, outgroup attitudes, and prosocial behaviour toward the incoming child, and refugees as a group, were measured. Although mediation was not supported, the storybook condition reported more empathy and helping intentions, and attitudes predicted helping intentions but not giving to refugees. Results highlight how host‐society children can welcome refugees.     

Even with the Best of Intentions: Paternal Involvement and the Theory of Planned Behavior

Implicit in much of the fatherhood discourse is the assumption that if fathers want to take an active role in their children's lives, they could and would do so. While research has highlighted the factors associated with fathers' involvement, very few, if any, of these studies have been guided by a theory that accounts for both fathers' involvement intentions and their ability to follow through on those intentions. The theory of planned behavior and its emphasis on attitudes, the beliefs of significant others, and whether one has control over engaging in behavior is a conceptual fit to respond to questions related to the complex nature of paternal involvement. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Study, the purpose of this study was to test the utility of the theory of planned behavior in predicting fathers' involvement intentions and reports of involvement. The results revealed that the theory of planned behavior can be useful in examining paternal involvement and should be used in future research to enhance the fatherhood literature.     

Direct evaluative conditioning in brand placement: The impact of scene valence and prominence on brand placement repetition effects

Whereas previous studies investigated the affect transfer from one specific affective stimulus of the brand placement context (such as an artist or the genre) to the brand, this research study investigates the effect of the valence of various scenes in which the brand is repeatedly placed on brand attitude. Direct evaluative conditioning theory suggests that pairing a brand repeatedly with various positive (negative) stimuli positively (negatively) affects brand attitude. The results of 2 experimental studies indicate that when a brand is repeatedly and prominently placed in different affective scenes of the same valence (a series of either positive or negative scenes), the affect aroused by those scenes influences explicit and implicit brand attitudes. In addition, whereas previous research found negative effects of brand prominence on brand evaluations, this study found that prominence positively moderates the affect transfer from the valence of various scenes on brand attitude. This implies that by placing the brand in various positive scenes, prominent brand placements can have a positive effect on recall and recognition and on brand attitude, which transcends the previously declared paradox of prominent placement.     

To Have–or Not to Have–Another Child: Family Planning Attitudes,Intentions, and Behavior1

Two hundred eighty-two respondents, representing 141 married couples with either one child (N= 71 couples) or two children (N= 70 couples), were interviewed about their considerations and intentions regarding whether or not to have another child. Reports of their actual subsequent family planning behavior were obtained 12 months later via a mailed questionnaire. The data was gathered and analyzed according to Fishbein's attitude-behavior model which stipulates that the individual's actual behavior is a function of one's behavioral intention. This intention, in turn, is determined by two multiple factors: (a) the individual's beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his/her evaluation of those consequences, and (b) one's normative beliefs multiplied by one's motivation to comply with the perceived norms. The results provided substantial support for the model; both behavioral intention and actual behavior were successfully predicted from the attitudinal and normative components of the model. It was also shown that the behavioral intention mediates the relationship between the model's attitudinal and normative components and actual behavior.     

An examination of premarital sexual behavior among college students in hong kong

Abstract

This study examined the determinants of Hong Kong Chinese college students' intentions to engage in premarital sexual behavior. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action (TOFA) and Ajzen's (1985) perceived behavioral control were used as the theoretical framework for our investigation. Two hundred and thirty eight students completed a questionnaire designed to measure constructs of the two theories. Results from the regression analysis: (a) support the applicability of TORA in predicting these students' intentions to engage in premarital sex; (b) suggest that while attitudes toward engaging in premarital sex were more important in predicting male students' intentions, subjective norms were more important for female students; (c) reveal that the additional prediction contributed by the behavioral control components was relatively weak. Other findings were basically consistent with premarital sex research conducted in Western societies. Given the fact that promoting abstinence is one way to stop the transmission of the AIDS virus, both the theoretical and applied implications of our results for health intervention are discussed.