The megaphone effect refers to the fact that the web makes a mass audience potentially available to ordinary consumers. The article focuses on fashion bloggers who acquire an audience by iterated ...displays of aesthetic discrimination applied to the selection and combination of clothing. The authors offer a theoretical account of bloggers’ success in terms of the accumulation of cultural capital via public displays of taste and describe how the exercise of taste produces economic rewards and social capital for these bloggers. The article situates fashion blogging as one instance of a larger phenomenon that includes online reviews and user-generated content and extends to the consumption of food and home decor as well as clothing. In these instances of the megaphone effect, a select few ordinary consumers are able to acquire an audience without the institutional mediation historically required.
Narrative transportation—to be carried away by a story—has been proposed as a distinct route to persuasion. But as originally conceived, narrative transportation is unlikely to occur in response to ...advertisements, where persuasive intent is obvious and consumer resistance is expected. We analyze fashion ads to show how narrative transportation can nonetheless be a possible response to ads, if specific aesthetic properties are present, most notably when grotesque imagery is used. We then situate narrative transportation as one of five modes of engaging fashion advertising, each of which serves as a distinct route to persuasion. Interviews showed that consumers variously engage ads to act, identify, feel, transport, or immerse. We explain how aesthetic properties of ads call forth different modes of engagement and explore how grotesque imagery can lead to either narrative transportation or immersion. As routes to persuasion, transportation and immersion work by intensifying brand experience rather than boosting brand evaluation.
Social Media Influencers (SMIs) are micro‐celebrities with large followings on social media platforms who engage consumers and hold the potential to promote customer‐brand relationships across ...different product categories. SMIs have an existing relationship of trust with consumers, and consumers seek out the content created by SMIs for valuable information and advice. This study explores the process of brand engagement between consumers and brands in the digital content marketing environment, specifically examining the research question: Do SMIs act as a route to brand engagement for their followers? The context for this study is the beauty community on YouTube; over 60,000 user comments were analyzed through automated text analysis. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence that SMIs do act as a route to brand engagement through the three dimensions of cognitive processing, affection and activation.
Previous research has demonstrated that older women carry a stigmatized identity in society and are severely underrepresented in advertisements in all types of media around the world. Brands have ...been admonished to increase the presence of older women in their ads. However, it is unclear how older women wish to be depicted in ads. This study used an interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) approach to explore older women's preferences regarding model appearance and roles in ads targeted toward them. Interviews were conducted with twenty women aged 53 to 71; all were white, none were severely disabled, and none were in financial distress. Participants expressed a preference for belonging: to see models that represent their actual age shown in groups of older women or with women of different ages. In addition, common advertising stereotypes were reframed using participants' preferences to portray authentic identities: from ageless beauty to age-appropriate and attractive, and from traditional granny to woman of purpose. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
We performed a systematic review of the OSA-related risk of crash in commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The primary objective involved determining whether individuals with obstructive sleep ...apnea (OSA) are at an increased risk for a motor vehicle crash when compared to comparable individuals who do not have the disorder. A secondary objective involved determining what factors are associated with an increased motor vehicle crash risk among individuals with OSA.
Seven electronic databases (MEDLINE, PubMed (PreMEDLINE), EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, TRIS, and the Cochrane library) were searched (through May 27, 2009), as well as the reference lists of all obtained articles. We included controlled studies (case-control or cohort) that evaluated crash risk in individuals with OSA. We evaluated the quality of each study and the interplay between the quality, quantity, robustness, and consistency of the body of evidence, and tested for publication bias. Data were extracted by 2 independent analysts. When appropriate, data from different studies were combined in a fixed- or random-effects meta-analysis.
Individuals with OSA are clearly at increased risk for crash. The mean crash-rate ratio associated with OSA is likely to fall within the range of 1.21 to 4.89. Characteristics that may predict crash in drivers with OSA include BMI, apnea plus hypopnea index, oxygen saturation, and possibly daytime sleepiness.
Untreated sleep apnea is a significant contributor to motor vehicle crashes.
Background & Aims The effectiveness of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin usually is evaluated by the surrogate end point of sustained virologic response (SVR), ...although the ultimate goal of antiviral treatment is to reduce mortality. The impact of SVR on all-cause mortality is not well documented by HCV genotype or in populations in routine medical practice with substantial comorbidities. Methods From the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), we identified all patients infected with HCV genotypes 1, 2, or 3, without human immunodeficiency virus co-infection or hepatocellular carcinoma before HCV treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, who started HCV treatment from January 2001 to June 2007, stopped treatment by June 2008, and had a posttreatment HCV RNA test result of SVR or no SVR. Mortality data from VA and non-VA sources were available through 2009. Results HCV genotypes 1, 2, or 3 cohorts consisted of 12,166, 2904, and 1794 patients, respectively, with SVR rates of 35%, 72%, and 62%, respectively. Each cohort had high rates of comorbidities. During a median follow-up period of approximately 3.8 years, 1119 genotype-1, 220 genotype-2, and 196 genotype-3 patients died. In genotype-specific multivariate survival models that controlled for demographic factors, comorbidities, laboratory characteristics, and treatment characteristics, an SVR was associated with substantially reduced mortality risk for each genotype (genotype-1 hazard ratio, 0.70; P < .0001; genotype-2 hazard ratio, 0.64; P = .006; genotype-3 hazard ratio, 0.51; P = .0002). Conclusions An SVR reduced mortality among patients infected with HCV of genotypes 1, 2, or 3 who were being treated by routine medical practice and had substantial comorbidities.
All forms of personification draw on anthropomorphism, the propensity to attribute human characteristics to objects. In an experiment, we show that visual personification—pictures in an ad that ...metaphorically represent a product as engaged in some kind of human behavior—can trigger anthropomorphism. Such personification, when embedded in an ad, appears to lead to more positive emotions, more positive attributions of brand personality, and greater brand liking. Implications for advertisers are discussed.
Abstract Objective To assess the relationship between sleep, time of exercise, and intensity of exercise in a large American sample. Methods The 2013 National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America Poll ...was a cross-sectional study of 1000 adults stratified by age (23–60 years) and US geographical region. Sleep outcomes included self-reported sleep quality, total sleep time, sleep latency, and waking unrefreshed. Exercise timing was characterized as morning (>8 h before bed), afternoon (4–8 h before bed), or evening (<4 h before bed). Exercise intensity was assessed with a modified version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results After adjustment for confounders, evening moderate or vigorous exercisers did not differ in any of the reported sleep metrics compared to non-exercisers. Morning vigorous exercisers had the most favorable sleep outcomes, including greater likelihood of reporting good sleep quality (OR = 1.88, p < .001) and lower likelihood of waking unrefreshed (OR = 0.56, p = .03). Most individuals who performed vigorous evening exercise believed that their sleep was of equal or better quality (97%) and duration (98%) on days they exercised. Conclusion Evening exercise was not associated with worse sleep. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that sleep hygiene recommendations should not discourage evening exercise.
Rhetorical scholarship has found rich source material in the disciplines of advertising, communications research, and consumer behavior. Advertising, considered as a kind of communication, is ...distinguished by its focus on causing action. Its goal is not simply to communicate ideas, educate, or persuade, but to move a prospect closer to a purchase. The editors of "Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric" have been involved in developing the scholarship of advertising rhetoric for many years. In this volume they have assembled the most current and authoritative new perspectives on this topic. The chapter authors all present previously unpublished concepts that represent advances beyond what is already known about advertising rhetoric. In the opening and closing chapters editors Ed McQuarrie and Barbara Phillips provide an integrative view of the current state of the art in advertising rhetoric.
1. Advertising Rhetoric: An Introduction, Edward F. McQuarrie and Barbara J. Phillips; Part I. The Starting Box: Using the Past to Hypothesize the Future; 2. Rediscovering Theory: Integrating Ancient Hypotheses and Modern Empirical Evidence of the Audience-Response Effects of Rhetorical Figures, Eric D. DeRosia; 3. Rhetrickery and Rhetruth in Soap Operas: Genre Convention, Hidden Persuasions, and Vulnerable Audiences, Barbara B. Stern; 4. What the Symbol Can't the Icon Can: The Indispensable Icon/Symbol Distinction, Val Larsen; Part II. The Black Box: Understanding the Cognitive Processing of Rhetoric; 5. A Model of the Cognitive and Emotional Processing of Rhetorical Works in Advertising, Bruce A. Huhmann; 6. The Dark Side of Openness for Consumer Response, Paul Ketelaar, Marnix van Gisbergen, and Johannes W.J. Beentjes; 7. Inspecting the Unexpected: Schema and the Processing of Visual Deviations, Mark A. Callister and Lesa A. Stern; Part III. The Gift Box: Examining the Structure of Style; 8. A Case for a Complexity Continuum, Tina M. Lowrey; 9. Pictorial and Multimodal Metaphor in Commercials, Charles Forceville; 10. Reading Pictures: Understanding the Stylistic Properties of Advertising Images, Kai-Yu Wang and Laura A. Peracchio; 11. Classifying Visual Rhetoric: Conceptual and Structural Heuristics, Alfons Maes and Joost Schilperoord; Part IV. The Toolbox: Unpacking the Inquiry Process; 12. A Visit to the Rhetorician's Workbench: Developing a Toolkit for Differentiating Advertising Style, Edward F. McQuarrie; 13. Visual Analysis of Images in Brand Culture, Jonathan E. Schroeder; 14. Expanding Rhetoric, Linda M. Scott; About the Editors and Contributors; Index.
The currently recommended treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is pegylated interferon alfa (PEG‐INF) and ribavirin, which can be difficult to tolerate. More information about predicting ...sustained virologic response (SVR) may allow more informed treatment decisions to be made. This retrospective observational cohort study identified predictors of SVR to PEG‐INF and ribavirin in routine medical practice at 121 Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. Among 5,944 patients infected with HCV genotypes 1, 2, or 3 who had been treated with PEG‐INF and ribavirin, SVR rates were 20%, 52%, and 43%, respectively, and discontinuation rates were 68% (prior to 48 weeks), 34% (24 weeks), and 41% (24 weeks), respectively. In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of decreased likelihood of genotype 1 patients having an SVR were being African American, clinical liver disease, diabetes, low cholesterol, low hemoglobin, low platelet count, and treatment at a low‐volume facility. Predictors of increased likelihood of genotype 1 patients having an SVR were low‐level HCV viremia, elevated ALT quotient, and receiving PEG‐INF 2A (rather than 2B). For genotype 2 patients, increasing body mass index, prior use of interferon, and low platelet count were negative predictors; only low‐level HCV viremia was a positive predictor. For genotype 3 patients, only receiving PEG‐INF 2A affected the likelihood of an SVR; its effect was positive. Conclusion: Among patients for whom HCV treatment is initiated during routine medical care, multiple factors including form of PEG‐INF received affect the SVR rate for genotype 1 patients. Few of these factors affect the rate for genotype 2 patients, and even fewer do so for genotype 3 patients. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)
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