21 pages, Social media and the internet have impacted how companies and organizations advertise to consumers. Digital advertising has created the opportunity to engage with consumers, target specific groups, and capture metrics of use to help build effective advertising strategies. The floral industry is a large sector within the agricultural arena, which is primed to engage with young consumers. This research examined the effectiveness of utilizing static and animated social media advertisements to increase consumers’ intention to purchase floral products. Using an online survey and an experimental design, this study examined 8,488 respondents’ intention to purchase floral products after viewing static and animated social media advertisements. This study identified respondents’ attitudes, social norms, age, and internet use to be significant predictors in their intent to purchase floral products. Recommendations from a theoretical and applied perspective are discussed within relation to the study’s findings to advance strategic advertising in the floral industry.
13 pages., Because of various financial reasons, or a change in strategic focus, sometimes brands stop broad-reach media advertising for a year or longer. These long dark periods have not been subject to much study, so little is known about the likely consequences. This exploratory study addresses this omission by documenting the sales performance of 41 beer, cider, and spirit brands that advertised intermittently over almost two decades. Changes in aggregate brand sales are reported for the years when brands stopped advertising relative to the last advertised year. On average, brand sales declined immediately in the first year and every subsequent year of advertising cessation. Decline generally was faster for smaller brands and for brands that already were declining in sales before advertising cessation.
22 Pages., Consumers have varying levels of trust in agricultural production practices, which can influence attitudes, shift opinions, and change behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine what agricultural messages are considered the most trustworthy among consumers and what differences exist among five dimensions of trustworthiness. With a pro-agriculture video as the stimulus, this study used continuous response measurement (CRM) to collect data from 151 post-secondary students who were randomly assigned to evaluate one of five trustworthiness dimensions (trust, honest, sincere, dependable, reliable). Participants used handheld dials to continuously rate their evaluation of the messages in the video then completed a questionnaire to provide additional insights. Overall, participants trusted agricultural messages, although some specific phrases were rated more positively than others. Participants had more trust in messages that portray agriculture as a family endeavor and create connection between producers and consumers. Participants indicated skepticism in messages revolving around farmer/rancher motivation in agriculture. The results support the importance of strategically tailoring and crafting effective messages. Recommendations for future practice and research are discussed.
21 Pages, Visual messaging is becoming the new avenue to connect with consumers. The majority of the American public is not connected with agriculture and often questions procedures, practices, and tactics within the industry. Practitioners and researchers have suggested value congruent messages, a type of emotional appeal, may increase attention to agricultural messages. However, limited research has been conducted to define and investigate value congruent messages in agricultural communications. The purpose of this study was to describe the presented messages in videos used in one agricultural advocacy effort, CommonGround’s “Nothing to Fear Here” campaign. This content analysis described the video’s message content and use of value congruent messages. Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values (2012) was used to identify the values present in each video within the campaign. The values of benevolence, security, self-direction, universalism, and hedonism were common values displayed in the campaign. Message sensation value was calculated, and it was found the videos had moderate levels of emotional arousal. The primary characters in the videos were mothers, farmers, and children. More research should be conducted to explore how the value congruent messages and message sensation value interact to increase a receiver’s level of attitude change after viewing the message.
9 pages., Via online journal., Certain pesticides are coming under scrutiny because of their impact on pollinator insects. Although most consumers express willingness to aid pollinators, the reasons for consumers’ preferences or barriers to purchasing pollinator-friendly plants and the types of pollinators’ that consumers are trying to protect are less understood. Using an online survey of 1200 Connecticut (CT) consumers, of which 841 had home landscapes, we find that 46% of consumers with home landscapes purchased pollinator-friendly plants to attract pollinators to their landscape. Consistent with past research that focused on consumers’ preferences for pollinator-friendly plants, the data also reveal that some consumers are willing to pay premiums for plants that contribute to pollinator’s health. However, only 17% stated that attracting pollinators was their primary motivation; a finding that suggests labeling alone will likely not motivate consumers to purchase plants. The major barriers to purchasing pollinator-friendly plants included lack of labeling (cited by 28%), followed by high price (28%). Consumers purchasing pollinator-friendly plants were trying to attract butterflies (Lepidoptera) (78%), bees (Apidae) (59%), hummingbirds (Trochilidae) (59%), and other birds (41%). We also find that demographics and purchasing behavior affect barriers and types of pollinators desired. Simply labeling plants has the potential to increase purchasing, but increasing price could be detrimental as many consumers feel pollinator-friendly plants are highly priced. Implications for ornamental horticulture stakeholders are discussed.
Yoon, Sukki (author), Kim, Yeonshin (author), and Baek, Tae Hyun (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08835
Notes:
Pages 93-105 in Yoon, Sukki and Oh, Sangdo (eds.), Social and environmental issues in advertising. United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London. 169 pages.
Orazi, Davide C. (author), Bove, Liliana L. (author), and Lei, Jing (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08838
Notes:
Pages 149-166 in Yoon, Sukki and Oh, Sangdo (eds.), Social and environmental issues in advertising. United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London. 169 pages.
Kim, Yohan (author), Yun, Sunyoung (author), Lee, Joosung (author), and Ko, Eunju (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08831
Notes:
Pages 23-41 in Yoon, Sukki and Oh, Sangdo (eds.), Social and environmental issues in advertising. United Kingdom: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London. 169 pages.
