Consumers Young and Old: Segmenting the Target Markets for Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising

Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising (DTCA) studies have typically focused on older adults or a general population of adults. However, college students are viable targets for DTCA and are receiving more research attention in this area. In this article, we compare college students with two adult age segments. Our findings indicate all age groups had relatively high awareness of DTCA and similar attitudes and behavioral responses to the ads. However, there were significant differences in media use and health characteristics as well as the factors predicting DTCA ad trust, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.     

An Empirical Analysis of Consumers' Attitudes Toward Physicians' Advertising

Advertising by physicians is a relatively recent phenomenon. Historically, most professions prohibited licensed members from engaging in speech activities that proposed a commercial transaction—advertising. However the history of a physician's legal right to advertise is not the main focus of this article. A brief review of the past, present, and possible future of such rights might assist readers in understanding the revolutionary constitutional and commercial speech changes that have occurred over the past three decades. A physician's legal right to advertise has developed as part of the evolutionary interpretation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers' attitudes toward advertising by physicians and (b) whether city of residence, occupation, age, sex, race, marital status, number of children in household, total family household income, and education of the consumer accounted for any significant difference in attitude toward physicians who advertise. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to physicians in planning marketing strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many marketing professionals that advertising and marketing clearly have a place in the future of health care services.     

VIDEO GAMES AND A CULTURE OF CONFLICT

This paper is an examination of phonograph records marketed to children in the first decades of the phonograph industry and the cultural discourses that surrounded them. I focus on the first book and record hybrid marketed to children: a pioneering instance of cross-media synergy between the book publishing and record industries. The first edition of the “Bubble Books” was released in 1917, and indicates the design of home media texts that were considered to be “good for children,” as well as some of the anxieties that surrounded the arrival of such products into the home. The marketing of “the books that sing” provides a rich case study in the early implementation of techniques for marketing children's media that would become widespread later in the twentieth century. Advertising materials for Bubble Books reveal a lost phase in the development of the marketing of children's media products to parents and children. Ultimately, this essay is concerned not only with adding the phonograph industry to historical accounts of children's media, and with documenting early strategies for marketing children's media products, but also with identifying aspects of that marketing that allowed these pioneering instances of home media products for children to be woven into the fabric of everyday American family life.     

YOUNG CHILDREN,NEW MEDIA

Over thirty years ago it was argued that advertising placed women into subordinate roles and that the male voice was authoritative. Studies using detailed content analysis argued that the use of specific production features, activity level and type, voiceover and aggression revealed gender differences and that these had an impact on the child viewer. This study investigates whether gender polarity still exists in advertising for children of primary school age in the UK. We engage in detailed content analysis of 168 television advertisements recorded between December 2006 and August 2007, focusing on production features, activity levels, voiceover, aggression and language used. In addition we draw on interviews with children and parents to argue that advertisements still not only sell children products but also sell them gender ideology.     

"Not one single case of throat irritation": misuse of the image of the otolaryngologist in cigarette advertising

Early in the last century, when questions about the health effects of smoking became a topic of widespread discussion, tobacco companies undertook a multi-faceted campaign to allay the public's fears. As terms like "smoker's cough" and "coffin nails" (referring to cigarettes) began to appear in the popular vernacular, tobacco marketers recognized the need to counter this threat to their livelihood. One strategy was to use endorsements by healthy and vigorous-appearing singers, radio stars, and actors. Another was to raise fears over weight gain: "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Among the more reprehensible tactics was the utilization of the image of the noble and caring physician to sell cigarettes: doctors were depicted both as satisfied and enthusiastic partakers of the smoking habit (e.g., "More doctors smoke Camels"). Images of medical men (and a few token women) appeared under warm reassurances of the safety of smoking. Frequently, images appeared of a head-mirrored "throat doctor," smiling benignly, while indicating that the company's product would do no harm. Indeed, many cigarette ads, especially for menthol brands, suggested a therapeutic soothing benefit from smoking. Liberal use was also made of pseudo-scientific medical reports and surveys. Our intention is to tell, principally through advertising images-the story of how, between the late 1920s and the early 1950s, tobacco companies used deceptive and often patently false claims in an effort to reassure the public of the safety of their products.     

Food advertising to children and its effects on diet: review of recent prevalence and impact data

In the context of a global obesity epidemic that has led to an unprecedented burden of non‐communicable disease, the role of food and beverage marketing to children has been scrutinised in numerous studies. This article discusses the broader concept of an obesity‐promoting food environment, before reviewing key, recent (last 5 yr) international research findings with regard to both the prevalence and effects of food and beverage advertising on children's intake. Evidence relating to the two main avenues of food marketing exposure, television, and the Internet, is explored and consideration is given to the differences in consumer experience of these types of promotion. Despite methodological differences and the varying population samples studied, the outcomes are broadly consistent – food advertising is prevalent, it promotes largely energy dense, nutrient poor foods, and even short‐term exposure results in children increasing their food consumption. Policymakers are implored to drive forward meaningful changes in the food environment to support healthier choices and reduce the incidence of obesity and related diseases. This article aims at providing an overview of recent developments in this field. After limiting the search to the last five full years 2009–2014, we searched the following databases: Web of Knowledge and PubMed (keyword search terms used: television, Internet, new media, food advertising, food marketing, children, food intake, energy intake, consumption, and combinations of these terms). In addition we used the references from the articles obtained by this method to check for additional relevant material.     

网络时代医学书评的资源建设与发布推广

医学书评关注的是医学图书中学术思想及理论知识界的最新动态,推荐最新学术成果,所评医学图书必须具有学术传承价值并能直面医学发展中遇到的新问题及新挑战。对于医学院校图书馆的资源建设来说,书评可以说是医学知识积累与发展的助推器。本文梳理了中国医科院图书馆近20年医学专家书评工作,介绍了中国医科院图书馆医学书评资源建设的经验,还探索了书评网络平台发布与推广的方式。