Though research has shown that social context influences behavior, research on product placement is yet to incorporate such effects. This is a very significant research gap since product placements are often consumed as part of a shared viewing experience. To address this gap, this dissertation examines social contextual influences on consumer behavior associated with the coviewing of product placements. Two aspects of social context were examined in a 2 (group composition: friends versus strangers) x 2 (coviewing context: interactive versus passive) experimental design. Data were collected during a laboratory experiment in which participants in dyads first viewed a 22-minute Seinfeld sitcom episode and then completed an online survey, designed to collect data on the variables in this study. Since the data were hierarchical in nature, i.e., individuals nested in groups, multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed that friends recalled significantly more placed brands than did strangers. Friends also held significantly stronger, more positive attitudes toward the audiovisual, very prominently placed brand, Gore-Tex. However, there was no significant difference between interactive and passive coviewers on recall of and attitudes toward placed brands. Results suggest that the impact of individual-level variables on brand recall and on attitude toward placed brands did not significantly depend on social context. The exceptions were for the effects of: (1) brand familiarity on attitude toward Gore-Tex, which was stronger for strangers than friends, and (2) parasocial attachment on attitude toward the visual only, very subtly placed brand, Coca-Cola, which was stronger for interactive than passive coviewers. The results hold implications for marketing theory, methodology, and practice. Results suggest that to the extent marketers can create, encourage, and maintain social contexts that favor friendship effects, they stand to benefit with desired outcomes. Results also suggest that interaction during coviewing may not cause a significant enhancement in or decrement to recall of and attitude toward placed brands. This study is the stepping stone for research on social contextual influences in product placement research. There is still much to be done on research in this area, particularly since social contextual influences are expected to play a major role in the future of marketing.

The association between television exposure and infants’ toy play was examined. Specifically, differences in the amount of program content and coviewing in the home were expected to predict different patterns of play when children were away from television. This thesis also sought to extend Pempek’s (2007) findings indicating that the more parents coviewed certain baby videos (i.e., Sesame Beginnings) in the home with their children, the more likely these parents actively engaged with their children in the laboratory. Consequently, the current thesis examined whether or not this active engagement resulted in something meaningful for children’s play behaviors. Parents of infants who were either 12- to 15- months or 18- to 21- months were given a TV viewing diary to record their children’s TV exposure at home over a two-week period. In addition, parent-infant dyads were randomly assigned to view either Baby Einstein or Sesame Beginnings videos in the home. A control group was not assigned to watch any videos. All dyads visited the laboratory after the exposure period for a videotaped 30-min free-time session (no TV). Each observation was coded for the amount of time children spent in play, mean play episode length, and total number of play episodes as well as the level of parent engagement. Results indicated that the amount of television exposure in the home did not influence infants’ toy play even when program content and coviewing were considered. Moreover, the increase in active parental engagement found in Pempek’s study did not result in an increase in children’s play behaviors. These results suggest that television does not have a distal influence on children’s play behaviors, regardless of content, coviewing, and level of parent engagement.

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