Warnings in alcoholic beverage advertising are a subject of increasing policy interest. An experiment uncovers communication capabilities of such warnings in television advertising—the likely future battleground for policymaking. Results indicate a positive communication potential for including warnings in television advertising for alcoholic beverages with varying effects based on message severity and transmission mode (audio versus video).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AAF Washington Report (1989), January/February, 3–4.
2.
Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act (1988), Public Law 100–960.
3.
ASI (1975), “Audience Reaction Tests,” conducted for the Federal Trade Commission (April 17–19).
4.
AtkinCharles (1975), “The Effects of Television Advertising on Children—First Year Experimental Evidence,” unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University.
5.
BelkLeland (1962), “Immediate Recall of TV Commercial Elements,”Journal of Advertising Research, 2(September), 13–18.
6.
BerkowitzLeonard, and CottinghamDonald R. (1960), “The Interest Value and Relevance of Fear Arousing Communications,”Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, 37–43.
7.
BettmanJames R. (1975), “Issues in Designing Consumer Information Environments,”Journal of Consumer Research, 2(December), 169–77.
8.
BettmanJames R., PayneJohn W., and StaelinRichard (1986), “Cognitive Considerations in Designing Effective Labels for Presenting Risk Information,”Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 5, 1–28.
9.
BhallaGaurav, and LastovickaJohn L. (1984), “The Impact of Changing Cigarette Warning Message Content and Format,” in Advances in Consumer Research, (XI), KinnearThomas C., ed. 305–10.
10.
BlochPeter H., and RichinsMarsha L. (1983), “A Theoretical Model for the Study of Product Importance Perceptions,”Journal of Marketing, 47(Summer), 69–81.
11.
BrownAnitra (1989), “Industry Outlook: Alcoholic Beverages,”Marketing and Media Decisions January), 44.
12.
BryceWendy, and OlneyThomas J. (1987), “Modality Effects in Television Advertising: A Methodology for Isolating Message Structure from Message Content Effects,” in Advances in Consumer Research, HoustonMichael J., ed. Provo, Utah: Association for Consumer Research, 174–77.
13.
ChuGodwin C. (1966), “Fear Arousal, Efficacy, and Imminency,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 517–24.
14.
DabbsJames M., and LeventhalHoward (1966), “Effects of Varying the Recommendations in a Fear-Arousing Communication,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 525–31.
15.
DrewDan G., and GrimesThomas (1985), “The Effect of Audio-Visual Redundancy on Audio and Video Recall in Television News,” presented to the Radio-Television Journalism Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Memphis, Tennessee (August).
16.
FaisonEdmund (1961), “Effectiveness of One-Sided and Two-Sided Mass Communications in Advertising,”Public Opinion Quarterly, 25(Fall), 468–69.
17.
Federal Trade Commission (1976), “Advertising for Over-the-Counter Antacids: Invitation to Propose Certain Issues of Fact, and Invitation to Comment,”Federal Register (April 6), 14534–35.
18.
FordGary T., and KuehlPhilip G. (1979), “Label Warning Messages in OTC Drug Advertising,”Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 115–28.
19.
HenmonV.A.C. (1912), “The Relation Between Mode of Presentation and Retention,”The Psychological ReviewXIX (March): 79–96.
20.
HewgillMurray A., and MillerGerald R. (1965), “Source Credibility and Response to Fear-Arousing Communications,”Speech Monographs, 32, 95–101.
21.
HoustonMichael J., and RothschildMichael L. (1980), “Policy-Related Experiments on Information Provision: A Normative Model and Explication,”Journal of Marketing Research, 17, 432–49.
22.
HovlandCarl, LumsdaineArthur A., and SheffieldFred D. (1949), Experiments on Mass Communications, Vol. 3. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
23.
HsiaHower, and JesterRobert E. (1968), “Output, Error, Equivocation and Recalled Information on Auditory, Visual and Audiovisual Information Processing with Constraint and Noise,”Journal of Communication, 13, 325–53.
24.
InskoChester A., ArkoffAbe, and InskoVerla M. (1965), “Effects of High and Low Fear-Arousing Communications Upon Opinions Toward Smoking,”Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1, 256–66.
25.
JanisIrving L., and FeshbachSeymour (1953), “Effects of Fear-Arousing Communications,”Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 78–92.
26.
JanisIrving L., and FeshbachSeymour (1954), “Personality Differences Associated with Responsiveness to Fear-Arousing Communications,”Journal of Psychology, 23, 154–66.
27.
JanisIrving L., and TerwilligerRobert F. (1962), “An Experimental Study of Psychological Resistances to Fear-Arousing Communication,”Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 65, 403–10.
28.
KrugmanHerbert E. (1966–67), “The Measurement of Advertising Involvement,”Public Opinion Quarterly, XXX (Winter), 583–96.
29.
LastovickaJohn L., and GardnerDavid M. (1979), “Components of Involvement,”in Attitude Research Plays for High Stakes, MaloneyJ. C., and SilvermanB., eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 53–73.
30.
LeventhalHoward, SingerR., and JonesSusan (1968), “Effects of Fear and Specificity of Recommendations Upon Attitudes and Behavior,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2, 20–29.
31.
LovilDaniel D., and PadderudAllan B. (1981), “Video Disclaimers in Television Advertising: Are They Effective?”Journal of Communication, 31(Spring), 72–77.
32.
MorrisLouis, BrinbergDavid, and PlimptonLinda (1984), “Prescription Drug Information for Consumers: An Experiment of Source and Format,” in Current Issues and Research in Advertising, LeighJames H., and MartinClaude R.Jr., eds. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan.
33.
MorrisLouis, MazisMichael B., and BrinbergDavid (1989), “Risk Disclosures in Televised Prescription Drug Advertising to Consumers,”Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (8), 64–80.
34.
MorrisLouis, RuffnerMichael, and KlimbergRonald (1985), “Warning Disclosures for Prescription Drugs,”Journal of Advertising Research, 25(October/November), 25–32.
35.
NorusisMarija J. (1988), SPSS/PC + Advanced Statistics. Vol. 2.0.Chicago: SPSS, Inc.
36.
PenneyCatherine G. (1975), “Modality Effects in Short-Term Verbal Memory,”Psychological Bulletin, 82, 68–84.
37.
PettyRichard E., OstromThomas M., and BrockTimothy C., eds. (1981), Cognitive Responses in Persuasion.Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
38.
PopperEdward T., and MurrayKeith B. (1989), “Format Effects of an In-Ad Disclosure,” in Advances in Consumer Research (XVI), SrullThomas K., ed. Provo, Utah: Association for Consumer Research, 221–30.
39.
SawyerAlan G. (1973), “The Effects of Repetition of Refutational and Supportive Advertising Appeals,”Journal of Marketing Research, 10(February), 23–33.
40.
SemenikRichard J. (1980), “Corrective Advertising: An Experimental Evaluation of Alternative Television Messages,”Journal of Advertising, 9, 21–30.
41.
ShoupHal (1989), “Advertising Threatened in the Land of Lincoln,”AAA Newsletter (June), 6–7.
42.
Simmons Study of Media and Markets (1986), Vol. P–17. New York: Simmons Market Research Bureau, Inc.
43.
TyebjeeTyzoon T. (1979), “Refinement of the Involvement Concept: An Advertising Planning Point of View,” in Attitude Research Plays for High Stakes, MaloneyJ. C., and SilvermanB., eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
44.
WebbPeter H., and RayMichael L. (1979), “Effects of TV Clutter,”Journal of Advertising Research, 19(June), 7–12.
45.
WeinbergerMarc G., AllenChris T., and DillonWilliam B. (1981), “Negative Information: Perspectives and Research Directions,”Proceedings: Association for Consumer Research, 9, 398–404.
46.
WheatleyJohn J. (1971), “Marketing and the Use of Fear- or Anxiety-Arousing Appeals,”Journal of Marketing, 35(April), 62–64.
47.
WilkieWilliam L. (1986), “Affirmative Disclosure at the FTC: Strategic Dimensions,”Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 5, 123–45.
48.
WilkieWilliam L. (1982), “Affirmative Disclosure: Perspectives on FTC Orders,”Journal of Marketing and Public Policy, 1, 95–110.
49.
WilliamsTerrell G. (1976), “Effects of an Advertising Warning Message on Consumer Attitudes and Buying Intentions,” in Educator's Proceedings of the American Marketing Association, BernhardtKenneth L., ed. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
50.
WintersPatricia (1988), “Are Ad Warnings Next for Liquor?”Advertising Age (November 28), 52.
51.
WrightPeter (1979), “Concrete Action Plans in TV Messages to Increase Reading of Drug Warnings,”Journal of Consumer Research, 6(December), 256–69.
