The impact of marketing practices and its regulation policies on childhood obesity. Opinions of stakeholders in Spain

The aim of this study was to identify Spanish stakeholders’ views on the relationship between childhood obesity and the marketing and advertising of food and beverages aimed at children in Spain, as well as on the corresponding of regulations. We performed a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with Stakeholders/Key Informants (KI) from 13 organisations: experts (2), consumer advocates (1), public health advocates (2), food manufacturers (2), advertising advocates (1), government representatives (1), child/family/school advocates (2) and media (1). The variables studied were Prevalence of childhood obesity and its relationship to marketing/advertising and Regulation of marketing. In order to identify the most relevant arguments (pearls) in the discourses, a blind independent analysis by four members of the research team was performed. We found that the prevalence of childhood obesity was perceived to be higher than the European average. Self-regulation was identified as the main form of marketing control. Only food manufacturers and advertising agencies considered voluntary action and supervisory procedures to be effective. The other stakeholders advocated state control through legislation and non-state actions such as external assessment and sanctions. Despite the divergence of opinion between stakeholders, there was agreement on the need to improve supervision and to ensure compliance with current self-regulatory codes in Spain.

Communication strategies in civil movements: «Marea Blanca», «Marea Verde» and Telemadrid’s mobilization

This article analyses the importance of the communication strategies applied by three significant social movements: Telemadrid workers’ mobilization (Madrid’s public television), the «Marea Blanca» («White Tide»), which grouped up the healthcare professionals, and the «Marea Verde» («Green Tide»), which was done by teachers. These movements are a practical application of the «indignados» («outraged») movement and, following the 15-M steps, they improved these strategies in what refers to communication and mobilization. For this purpose, we carried out two investigations: twelve in-depth interviews with leading members of these social movements; and an online questionnaire passed to strategic planners who are the experts in communication strategies from the advertising agencies.

Productividad científica en España sobre las profesiones de comunicación entre 1971 y 2009

A la luz de la Convergencia Europea, los títulos de grado en comunicación elaborados en España están fundamentados en las competencias requeridas para el ejercicio de cada una de las profesiones. Es necesario, pues, analizar al profesional de la Publicidad y las Relaciones Públicas, del Periodismo y de la Comunicación Audiovisual. Este trabajo pretende conocer los estudios de investigación centrados en este tema. Realiza una revisión sistemática de los artículos, libros y tesis doctorales sobre las profesiones de comunicador desde la década de los setenta hasta 2009, en las bases de datos ISOC, ISBN y TESEO. Extrae indicadores bibliométricos y sigue los criterios de evaluación mantenidos por la CNEAI (Comisión Nacional Evaluadora de la Actividad Investigadora) y la ANECA (Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación) para valorar las investigaciones. Los resultados muestran que es la firma del Plan Bolonia lo que parece iniciar un ciclo de atención hacia las profesiones de comunicación. Periodismo es la profesión más estudiada. La mayoría de los estudios no cumplen con los criterios de calidad de las agencias evaluadoras. En conjunto, se observa la necesidad de aumentar la cantidad y la calidad de las investigaciones para realizar planes de estudios «basados en evidencia», así como la pertinencia de fortalecer la formación de los investigadores en la metodología de la investigación social.

What makes an ad enjoyable? Analysing advertising appeals as viewed by Portuguese consumers

Nowadays, consumers are faced with a variety of media that convey myriad advertising messages, which struggle amidst a highly competitive environment, with a view to drawing the viewers’ attention, raising awareness, creating interest and inspiring desire and, ultimately, leading to the purchase of the product/service at stake. For this, advertising professionals deliberately intertwine their selling arguments with emotionally-charged creative concepts. It is the aim of this study to analyse the impact of the main creative appeals and to identify groups of consumers based on their attitudes towards them. We have undertaken a quantitative study, by means of a survey administered to a convenience sample with a list of creative appeals, which had to be classified by the respondents according to their attitudes. Globally speaking, the preferred appeals were humour, music and animation. Nonetheless, it was possible to divide the respondents into three groups. ‘Advertising fans’, the ‘rationally-minded’ and the ‘emotionally-minded’. This study presents some limitations, especially as to the sample used. Apart from the reduced number of respondents and lack of more widespread geographic reach, some academic qualifications were underrepresented. The results of this study offer some avenues to be explored by marketing and advertising professionals when it comes to deciding on the best creative approach to select for their advertising campaigns. Besides, this study paves the way to the development of future research on the issue of advertising appeals and its relationship with the psychographic characteristics of consumers.

Quality of pharmaceutical advertising and gender bias in medical journals (1998-2008): a review of the scientific literature

Objective: To review the scientific literature on pharmaceutical advertising aimed at health professionals in order to determine whether gender bias has decreased and the quality of information in pharmaceutical advertising has improved over time. Methods: We performed a content analysis of original articles dealing with medical drug promotion (1998-2008), according to quality criteria such as (a) the number, validity and accessibility of bibliographic references provided in pharmaceutical advertising and (b) the extent to which gender representations were consistent with the prevalence of the diseases. Databases: PUBMED, Medline, Scopus, Sociological Abstract, Eric and LILACS. Results: We reviewed 31 articles that analyzed advertising in medical journals from 1975-2005 and were published between 1998 and 2008. We found that the number of references used to support pharmaceutical advertising claims increased from 1975 but that 50% of these references were not valid. There was a tendency to depict men in paid productive roles, while women appeared inside the home or in non-occupational social contexts. Advertisements for psychotropic and cardiovascular drugs overrepresented women and men respectively. Conclusions: The use of bibliographic references increased between 1998 and 2008. However, representation of traditional male-female roles was similar in 1975 and 2005. Pharmaceutical advertisements may contribute to reinforcing the perception that certain diseases are associated with the most frequently portrayed sex.

The representation of the world in national Arab news agencies: an exploration of (trans)national networks in the official Arab media

The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the representation of the world and of Arab states as reflected by the countries of the region. To do so, we have analysed the news (4,093 news randomly collected on February and August 2005) produced by the governments of the Arab states through their national news agencies. Several regional and world maps had been constructed to show the official Arab representation of the World, the Arab countries conflict agenda, the persistence of colonial ties (with the European metropolis) and the emergence of new relationships (Asian countries). The representation of the world that appeared in the analysis focuses its interest on the USA, the war in Iraq, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the United Kingdom, France, and Iran. The Arab regional powers organise the flow of information (Saudi Arabia and Egypt) and the colonial past determines the current structure of communication (French-speaking bloc and English-speaking bloc).

Assessing advertising in a hierarchical decision model

Many destination marketing organizations in the United States and elsewhere are facing budget retrenchment for tourism marketing, especially for advertising. This study evaluates a three-stage model using Random Coefficient Logit (RCL) approach which controls for correlations between different non-independent alternatives and considers heterogeneity within individual’s responses to advertising. The results of this study indicate that the proposed RCL model results in a significantly better fit as compared to traditional logit models, and indicates that tourism advertising significantly influences tourist decisions with several variables (age, income, distance and Internet access) moderating these decisions differently depending on decision stage and product type. These findings suggest that this approach provides a better foundation for assessing, and in turn, designing more effective advertising campaigns.

Online Media and Crisis? of Advertising Media Planning

Nowadays, online media represent a great choice for advertising. From de advertising media planning, new media give new ways to reach the consumers, but they also add more complexity. The communication capacity of online media and the greater use of that media by part of the users open up the debate about the necessity of rethinking the approach of the ‘traditional’ advertising media planning, which structure and work processes were developed when media were offline. So, this article gives a panoramic view about the influence of new media in advertising media planning. To do this, in first place, describes the current scenario, analyzing the penetration and advertising expenditure in Internet. Also, it shows the main online media according to their proximity to the offline advertising media planning conception. In second place, this article addresses the current challenges at measuring new media as a symptom of the impulse at the change of model. Finally, the article ends up showing some trends that are presented as drivers of change. However, after this analysis, comes up the point that those aspects would not change the essence of advertising media planning, so it is questionable if we can speak of a crisis or, instead, if new media are showing the necessity that media planning have to be involved with this new scenario.

Does the scientific evidence support the advertising claims made for products containing Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium lactis? A systematic review

Background To analyse the scientific evidence that exists for the advertising claims made for two products containing Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium lactis and to conduct a comparison between the published literature and what is presented in the corporate website. Methods Systematic review, using Medline through Pubmed and Embase. We included human clinical trials that exclusively measured the effect of Lactobacillus casei or Bifidobacterium lactis on a healthy population, and where the objective was related to the health claims made for certain products in advertising. We assessed the levels of evidence and the strength of the recommendation according to the classification criteria established by the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM). We also assessed the outcomes of the studies published on the website that did not appear in the search. Results Of the 440 articles identified, 16 met the inclusion criteria. Only four (25%) of these presented a level of evidence of 1b and a recommendation grade of A, all corresponding to studies on product containing Bifidobacterium lactis, and only 12 of the 16 studies were published on the corporate website (47). Conclusions There is insufficient scientific evidence to support the health claims made for these products, especially in the case of product containing Lactobacillus casei.

Differentiated effect of advertising: Joint vs. separate consumption

In a context of intense competition, cooperative advertising between firms is critical. Accordingly, the objective of this article is to analyze the potential differentiated effect of advertising on two basic consumption patterns: individual products (i.e. hotel, restaurant) vs. bundle (i.e. hotel + restaurant). This research adds to the extant literature in that, for the first time, this potential differentiated effect is examined through a hierarchical modelling framework that reflects the way people make their decisions: first, they decide whether to visit or not a region; second, whether to purchase an advertised product in that region; and third, whether to buy products together or separately at the region. The empirical analysis, applied to a sample of 11,288 individuals, shows that the influence of advertising is positive for the decisions to visit and to purchase; however, when it comes to the joint or separate consumption, advertising has a differentiated effect: its impact is much greater on the joint alternative (“hotel + restaurant”) than the separate options (“hotel” and “restaurant”). Also, the variable distance moderates the advertising effect.

The regulation of professional advertising practices in Spain, 1988–2013

From the perspective of the sociology of professions, every professional activity should have its own clearly circumscribed and regulated sphere of action. Such an articulation facilitates the regulation of the production of a given profession as well as the way in which it is practiced. The purpose of the research reported here was to provide a comprehensive review and evaluation of the regulatory framework governing the advertising sector in Spain. To this end, the authors analysed external regulatory legislation and self-regulatory codes extracted from the data base of the Asociación para la Autoregulación de la Comunicación Comercial (Autocontrol) that had been enacted or adopted between 1988, the year that Law 11/1998 on General Telecommunications entered into force, and 2003 as well as other relevant documents retrieved from the Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE) pertaining to the same period. Findings indicate that although there has been a groundswell of legislation governing advertising practices in Spain since 1988, especially at the regional level, lawmakers have focused on the content of advertising messages and shown very little interest in regulating the professions of advertising and public relations. Furthermore, Spanish legislation enacted in 2003 and EU policies appear to have encouraged the adoption of voluntary codes of ethics. Sectors traditionally subject to mandatory advertising regulation, either due to the vulnerability of their target audiences or the potential impact of their commercial messages on public health or the environment, are more likely to develop self-regulatory codes of conduct than others

Nuevos medios y empresas innovadoras. El caso de las agencias de medios

Los medios digitales abren nuevos horizontes para la investigación y la planificación publicitaria. Las agencias de medios deben adaptar su actividad a esta nueva realidad con el propósito de seguir llegando a los públicos y aprovechar las oportunidades de negocio. Este artículo plantea que este proceso de asimilación de los nuevos medios en las campañas publicitarias amplía los servicios ofrecidos por las agencias, construyendo los pilares para que las mismas sean consideradas empresas innovadoras. Para ello, se observan las diez agencias de medios españolas que más inversión publicitaria gestionan, de acuerdo con el ranking de Infoadex. Estas empresas contribuyen a la iniciativa “Unión por la innovación” de la Estrategia Europea 2020.

La comunicación de la innovación de las agencias de medios. Big data en las webs propias

Las agencias de medios constituyen uno de los sectores publicitarios en el que la aplicación de big data proporciona soluciones innovadoras que debieran ser comunicadas a través, entre otros canales, de sus webs corporativas. Con el propósito de facilitar tal comunicación, las webs deben estar preparadas para ser consultadas por varios dispositivos. Así, este estudio pretende averiguar su uso para comunicar innovaciones relacionadas con big data, cuidando el responsive design, de las 20 primeras agencias de medios españolas, y reflexiona sobre las debilidades, amenazas, fortalezas y oportunidades de tal innovación.

Fashion opinion leadership, innovativeness and attitude toward advertising among Portuguese consumers

In the context of the fashion market, this study aims to analyze opinion leadership and, specifically, to verify the correlation that may exist between opinion leadership, fashion innovativeness and attitude towards fashion advertising. It is also intended to identify two different consumer groups: opinion leaders and fashion followers based on “opinion leadership” construct. Data collection was done through a self-administered questionnaire with a convenience sample of 203 graduate and postgraduate students of two universities of Porto, the second major city of Portugal. Results show a positive correlation between fashion innovativeness, fashion opinion leadership, and attitude towards fashion advertising. It was possible to identify two groups of consumers: fashion influencers, who exhibit a moderate sense of innovativeness and a positive attitude towards fashion advertising; and fashion followers who don’t consider themselves neither innovators nor opinion leaders, but have a moderate positive attitude towards fashion advertising.