This study examined in an experimental setting the influence of comparative message strategies in political attack advertising messages on voter perceptions of the attacker and of the targeted candidate. Relying on theories of social cognition (Fiske & Taylor, 1991), the study posited that, among voters unfamiliar with either candidate, ambiguous and image-based attack messages would facilitate greater negative attitude shifts toward both candidates than other attack message strategies. Attacks were found to lower perceptions of both targeted and attacking candidates regardless of message strategy. Image-based attacks lowered perceptions of targeted candidates significantly more than issue-based attacks but did not influence perceptions of attackers significantly. Level of ambiguity did not appear to influence voter perception of targeted or attacking candidates.

Since the Surgeon General linked smoking to lung cancer in 1965, controversy has surrounded the tobacco industry and its advertising methods. Research over the past thirty five years has focused on the effect of cigarette advertising on sales, the impact of tobacco advertisements on youth, and the content of the ads.A content analysis conducted by David Altman in 1987 analyzed model activity in cigarette advertisements in magazines from 1960-1985. Altman concluded that tobacco advertisers were targeting youth and women's markets differently through the frequent use of health and vitality themes in the advertisements. The present study is a replication of the 1987 content analysis. The same eight magazines were selected for the years 1986-2000: Cycle World, Ebony, Ladies Home Journal, Mademoiselle, Popular Science, Rolling Stone, Time, and TV Guide. Three coders studied 365 tobacco advertisements and evaluated the act of smoking, the presence of low tar and nicotine claims, and the vitality of smoking themes.The findings indicated an increase in the use of health and vitality themes in cigarette advertisements, just as in the original study. Low tar and nicotine claims, however, decreased in the advertisements in the present study despite having increased in the 1987 data. Also consistent with the original study was the higher frequency of health and vitality themes used in advertisements geared toward youth and women than in those targeting general audiences. The portrayal of the act of smoking decreased in both studies.The researcher concludes that tobacco advertisers continue to target youth and women with health and vitality themes, and therefore violate the industry's advertising code. / Department of Journalism

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The economic analysts on Wall Street had all but signed Chrysler's death certificate when Lee Iacocca took the reins of a floundering corporate giant in 1979. At this writing (1985) Chrysler's $1.2 billion in government backed loans has been paid back seven years ahead of schedule and the company has reported profits well over $550 million. During Chrysler's recovery, a large public relations and advertising campaign was launched to promote Chrysler's new products and to present consumers with a more positive image of the company. This study was undertaken for two purposes. The first was to examine the changes in the presentation and content of Chrysler's image during the campaign. The second was to undertake a Burkean analysis of the persuasive messages of the campaign in order to assess their motivational structure, ideological perspective and potential effectiveness. How did the image of the Chrysler Corporation change from the time of the federally approved loan in 1979 to its repayment of loans in 1983? To answer the question, this writer employed a method of Burkean analysis to assess the rhetorical values of the Chrysler-paid media campaign. Uncontrolled media coverage was also examined, since it constituted a significant part of the rhetorical situation to which the paid media campaign had to respond. The results were a profile of Chrysler's attempts to gain identification with its constituents. What was the motivational and ideological thrust of the appeals? It was discovered that prior to the federal loan guarantee, Chrysler utilized scenic arguments claiming its own victimage. High energy costs, Japanese imports, runaway inflation, and government regulations were cited as factors contributing to its financial difficulties. After Chrysler successfully repaid its loan, its message was changed to emphasize the Agent: We the New Chrysler Corporation have great leadership and competence and these are the ingredients that led to our success. Chrysler's financial success provided the basis for changing its image from that of a failure to that of a hero.

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This study estimates the welfare effects of cigarette advertising using the framework posited by Becker and Murphy (1993). This model exposes previously unaccounted benefits of cigarette advertising and allows for conventional social welfare estimation by assimilating the theory of advertising into the general theory of complements. The policy implications of the Becker and Murphy framework will rely on the impact of advertising on equilibrium output price. A modification of the new empirical industrial organization technique allows estimation of a supply relation containing advertising in an imperfectly competitive environment. Allowing for different price effects of cigarette advertising before and after the Broadcast Advertising Ban leads to the conclusion that advertising after the ban has a larger price effect than before. This suggests that cigarette advertising is better able to enhance market power after the Broadcast Advertising Ban. Parameter estimates indicate that a one percent increase in cigarette advertising above its 1994 level will precipitate a conservative estimate of a reduction in social welfare of $14.3 million (in 1982 dollars). Thus, even if one ignores externalities altogether, cigarette advertising is clearly excessive from society's point of view. / Graduation date: 1997

The purpose of this research is to determine the extent of standardization of cosmetics advertising in Taiwanese and American magazines and to determine the brands and products most prevalently advertised in these two countries. The advertisements sampled were from Vogue and Cosmopolitan women's magazines, issues September 2004 to February 2005.

No description available.

From the television advertisements made by presidential candidates from 1952 to 1976, this study analyzed the 131 advertisements that contained women. The analysis used the following descriptors: Number of Women's Roles, Age, Occupation, Marital Status, Locale, Concerns, and Status Relative to the Candidate. The results indicate that women are most likely to be shown as physically present although not speaking, in the 18 to 30 age group, belonging to a non-business atmosphere yet outside the home, and of an unknown marital status, and will not be shown in the same frame as the candidate. Womens' images in these advertisements were most commonly associated with issues involving the cost of living, taxes, pro-Nixon, and social security.

Prescription drug direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has been a subject of controversy in recent years. Though government regulations require equivalent prominence of risks and benefits, there is concern about the ability of consumers with limited health literacy to fully comprehend the risks and benefits associated with drug use. Evaluating the images in DTCA is important because individuals may rely on the visual message if the wording is overly complex. Using semiotics, this study aims to evaluate whether there is functional equivalence in the presentation of risk and benefit information in prescription drug direct-to-consumer television advertising. A new analytical method is created and used to assess the consistency between the messages contained in the voice track, the primary visual images, and the superscript/ subscript text. The results indicate that risk and benefit messages in this DTCA sample lack functional equivalence. However, it is important to properly frame these findings as the study does not evaluate viewer comprehension of the various message structures.