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    Embedded commercial technologies : the role of smartphones and alcohol marketing in young adult drinking cultures : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Hebden, Ross Tāne
    As a result of the near saturation of smartphone devices among young adults, their drinking cultures are now effectively mobile. This expands the capabilities and potential for alcohol marketing embedded within those cultures, impacting on their development and the health outcomes associated with them. Couched within a growing critical literature on digital alcohol marketing, my research consisted of two related studies that investigated the role smartphones play in young adult drinking cultures. First, I attended the drinking events of 5 friendship groups (27 participants), and then conducted 8 follow-up interviews with a subset of individuals. Second, 9 participants downloaded a bespoke app on their phones that recorded phone activities across a drinking event. Within a week I showed these participants an animated video ‘map’ of their phone data from the night and interviewed them about the details. The data consisted of observational photos and field notes, transcripts of interviews and smartphone data (e.g. location, apps used, notifications headers, timestamps). These data were analysed using discursive approaches. Four discourses were identified, namely smartphones as social disrupters, smartphones as social facilitators, participatory marketing and constantly connected drinking cultures. Together the discourses highlighted that smartphones were crucial to sociality. However, participants also described smartphones as potentially distracting from important face-to-face sociality and the constant connection as being overwhelming at times. Findings suggested that mobilisation of young adult sociality has exacerbated the relationship between alcohol marketing and young adult drinking cultures by providing means for brands and alcohol-centric content to be naturalised into their social practices. In particular, the apps Snapchat and Facebook Messenger played prominent roles in expanding participants’ drinking cultures into cyberspace, while obscuring the commercial origins of marketing material. Smartphones are an important aspect of young adult drinking cultures due to the ways in which they shape young adult sociality and allow alcohol marketers to engage with them. Commercial entities that design smartphone devices, social media platforms, and alcohol marketing all have vested interests in maintaining a strong presence in young adult sociality. There are tensions between young adult autonomy and their reliance on these powerful commercial entities for provision of integral cultural services. Empowering young adult voices and ensuring their participation in alcohol legislation that is relevant to them, as well as continuing attempts to legislate transnational social media businesses, are important directions for policy and harm minimisation strategies.
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    The effect on trial and purchase behaviour of mail-drop product sampling and purchase incentives among non-users : a thesis prepared in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1992) McGuinness, Dalton Erin
    Escalating expenditure on sales promotion techniques has lead to increasing concern over their effectiveness . Techniques such as product sampling and purchase incentives are widely believed to encourage new trial and purchase behaviour among non-users, but few studies have verified this belief empirically. This thesis reports the results of three pioneering experiments that examine the effectiveness of mail-drop product samples, coupons, and cash-backs, as means of promoting new trial and purchase behaviour among non-users of three brands: a laundry detergent, an instant coffee, and a new toothpaste variant. A sample of 800 households was randomly selected and, for each product, households were assigned to one of four treatment groups: sample plus coupon, sample only, coupon only, and a control group. Trial and purchase data were obtained from 493 households after over two telephone interview waves. The results indicated that samples achieved much higher rates of new trial and purchase behaviour than coupons. Coupons and cash-backs delivered alone were found to be ineffective means of encouraging purchase behaviour among non-users, and including them with samples only had a marginal, if any, effect on purchase behaviour. This study has important implications for the practice of sampling and couponing. In particular, coupons may only subsidise purchases that would otherwise be made at full retail prices, which suggests that the current industry practice of providing coupons with samples may be unwarranted.
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    Reeling them in : printed New Zealand Army recruiting material 1899-1999 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Wildy, Daniel
    The decision to join the army, or any other armed service, is a significant one. Unlike most jobs, the prospect of death in violent circumstances, particularly during periods of armed conflict, is a realistic possibility. Regardless of how unattractive this proposition might be, New Zealand maintained an army made up largely of volunteers throughout the period under review: beginning with the South African War in 1899, through to the deployment to East Timor in 1999. Whether militia forces, part-time Territorials, or full-time Regulars, the army has used printed recruiting material to attract New Zealanders, both men and women, to join the potentially fatal occupation of soldiering. To be successful as items of advertising, printed recruiting material has to resonate with its audience. By assessing the various themes used to encourage generations of men and women to enlist in the army, it is possible to identify what was relevant to various audiences at particular times, and by extension, what was valued within society during certain periods. In addition, how the army portrayed its worth to society, not just its worth to potential recruits, is an important aspect of recruiting material, and one that provides further opportunities to understand New Zealand society. This thesis will demonstrate significantly greater continuity among the themes used in recruiting material, and by extension, greater continuity in social values during the period than there was change.
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    Holy pharma! : healthism discourses in a pharmaceutical advertising website : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2009) Hathaway, Madeleine
    Modern changes in the public health philosophy and government legislation reflect a desire of health for all. The changes support a new healthism ideology that controls the experience and definition of health. Scholars parallel the function of healthism to that of a religion that meets the needs of a modern secular culture. This study examines a pharmaceutical advertising website, taking a social constructionist stance to investigate dominant representations of healthism and any parallels to the values and practices of Western religion. The website selected is published by a pharmaceutical marketing group that has been disseminating health and product information for l0 years. The installment of March-April 2009 was examined in its entirety. A critical discourse analytic approach drawing on Durkheim and Foucault was adopted to analyse texts, images, and videos. Particular attention was given to the similarities and differences of healthism and religion in terms, meanings, subject positioning and function. Results show healthism to parallel religion in its construction as information, instruction and ritual practice. The expert discourse within healthism promotes a morality that parallels and deviates from religious values with a turn toward the value of the self. This expert discourse informs healthism discourses, constructing a doctrine of unquestionable behaviours that legitimate ritualized health practices. When viewed as an integral entity, the form, content, and function of healthism in pharmaceutical advertising takes on the religious connectivity of values, beliefs and practices that underlies all social life. The website is an intense concentration of coercive and symbolic power to inform the institutionalized social system ofs healthism.
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    The ethics of charity advertising : this thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.), Massey University
    (Massey University, 1994) Kelly, Anne Therese
    This thesis examines a selection of promotional material from the five largest, development oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in New Zealand. A variety of investigation techniques have been used to assess the ethics of the advertising practices of World Vision, Save the Children Fund, Christian Children's Fund, Tear Fund and Christian World Service. Each NGO is placed in its appropriate social and historical context. These organizations not only provide aid but also produce images of the Third World. A content analysis is undertaken of 655 promotional images, followed by a more detailed semiotic investigation of three case studies. Areas where the strategies of particular agencies are inconsistent with various advertising standards and recommendations are identified. This thesis concludes with general recommendations of ethically appropriate techniques in charity advertising.
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    The effects of likeability on consumers' choice behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate of Business Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Lynch, Nicky
    The persuasive abilities of advertising and therefore, advertising effectiveness, have been discussed extensively in advertising literature. In particular, the components that make an advertisement effective have intrigued both advertisers and advertising agencies over the past three decades. Likeability of advertising is suggested to be a key indicator of advertising effectiveness (Haley & Baldinger, 1991) yet, the literature in this area concentrates on establishing what likeability is rather than exploring the effect of likeability on consumers' behaviour. Given the level of interest that has been driven by claims that likeability can heighten the persuasiveness of an advertisement, it seems pertinent to investigate the effect of likeability on consumer behaviour. The research reported in this thesis examined the effect of more and less likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour. The data for this research was obtained from a cross-sectional survey in which choice modelling techniques were used to establish consumers' choice behaviour. This data was used to investigate the effects of likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour for the product category of milk. Overall, it was found that advertisement likeability had a very weak effect on consumers' choice behaviour. Furthermore, it was established that the type of milk variant was the most influential attribute in determining consumers' choice behaviour. Price was also an important factor although this attribute was far less influential than the type of milk attribute. However, the research found some support for the idea that likeability enhances the salience of advertising, as likeability did improve the salience of the advertisements for different groups of consumers within the sample. The main implication that arises from this study is that likeable advertisements do not necessarily lead to consumers changing their purchasing behaviour. Likeability is one of many measures of effective advertising and does not appear to command more attention than any other measure of effective advertising.
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    'Large letter'd as with thundering shout' : an analysis of typographic posters advertising emigration to New Zealand 1839 - 1875 : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Material Culture, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Thomas, Patricia Ann
    This thesis examines the role of ephemeral, typographic material in the promotion of emigration to New Zealand in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the advertising posters produced by the New Zealand Company, the Otago and Canterbury Associations, the provincial governments and Government of New Zealand. It aims to identify how advertising and typography contributed to the transfer of the promotion message from the producer to the audience in this specific historical context. For the first time a comprehensive data set of emigration posters of this period has been gathered together and examined. The posters are analysed in the context of their contemporary visual, material and print cultures, with particular reference to ephemeral printing. To account for all the historical, textual and graphic properties of the posters, the thesis develops and applies a novel, multilayered system of analysis, drawing on communication theory, social semiotic principles and Gestalt principles of composition. The posters afforded emigration promoters a visual medium for distributing audienceappropriate messages through typographic strategies. They provided promoters with the facility for fast and inexpensive messaging that was otherwise unavailable in nineteenth century communication. The thesis concludes that posters were a significant part of an early, coherent and systematic advertising campaign which utilised processes and persuasive tools that have traditionally been seen as emergent only in the late nineteenth century. This thesis establishes the value of ephemeral material and the study of graphic language when applied to the examination of historical phenomena. As well as shedding new light on these particular forms of historical design and modes of communication, it also adds a further valuable dimension to the more well-known story of nineteenth century emigration promotion by focussing on its graphic and advertising languages rather than its pictorial aspects. The investigation undertaken provides a new analytical system through which a combination of historical, ephemeral, typographic and advertising material can be examined in the future.
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    The search for a robust measure of road safety advertising effectiveness : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North
    (Massey University, 2006) Macpherson, Terry Alan
    Loss of life resulting from road accidents incurs an immeasurable social and financial cost on society every year. Fortunately, the number of road injuries and fatalities has been reducing in most industralised countries for the past three decades due to the ongoing improvement of the engineering of roadways, the safety of vehicles and the changing attitudes and behaviour of drivers. Governments are constantly developing innovative tactics to further reduce the number of road accidents. One such initiative has been the adoption of marketing theory and specifically, advertising, by transport agencies in Australia and New Zealand into their road safety strategies. The Governments of both countries have proclaimed the campaigns to have been a success. However, the two road safety advertising campaigns have been studied by a number of researchers with conflicting results and conclusions about their efficacy. The studies have varied in form, estimation, outcomes, and data, making the comparison of their claims often very difficult. Policymakers and the public rely on the research of road safety experts when deciding on the best actions to undertake. However, the experts have each in turn argued that their approach was the most appropriate and that other researchers had done something wrong to reach their conclusions. The objective of this research was to identify a robust measure of road safety advertising effectiveness to take the confusion out of the ongoing debate. Using a single set of data and a range of advertising forms and road safety outcomes, previous evaluations of the New Zealand campaign were replicated and extended to discover which approach provided the best explanation of the value of road safety advertising. A further refinement was then made that addressed a potential problem with the original methods. Therefore, the research exhausted all the appropriate single and multiple equation approaches to the econometric evaluation of the effectiveness on road safety advertising using non-experimental data. The research shows that using one data source and a range of road safety outcomes, a robust and consistent measure of advertising effectiveness could not be identified among the approaches investigated. Furthermore, there is no objective way of knowing which of the models tested best reflects the actual situation. Therefore, it is claimed that a viable solution to this dilemma is to implement an experimental approach to identify the true effect of road safety advertising on driver behaviour.
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    Blood brothers & southern men : engaging with alcohol advertising in Aotearoa : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University. Psychology, 2005) Cherrington, Jane
    The aim of this project is to develop a robust methodological translation of the insights of 'culturalist' theoretical positions in communications studies as an alternative through which to approach contemporary media research. The focus is on engagements with alcohol advertising. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, as internationally, there is a significant body of publicly-funded research examining how alcohol advertising affects audiences. However, this thesis contends that important questions need to be asked about the adequacy of these (dominantly positivist) investigations. A review of local research identifies that in theoretical and methodological terms the majority of these studies are riddled with tensions and contradictions. In addition, when located within the context of wider developments in contemporary communication studies, an important epistemological gap is highlighted as requiring attention and debate. Comparison of this local review with international studies highlights similar concerns, particularly around 'effects' driven research, the adequacy of dominant positivist models, and the need to examine epistemological alternatives that can encompass meta, meso, and micro forms of enquiry. A discursive-theoretical approach is then argued as an epistemological alternative that is highly congruent with contemporary communication studies, which, if more robustly translated through methodology and method, could provide a very solid 'culturalist' alternative framework for media research. Taking a contrastive, multi-voiced, context-based approach, the present research focuses on connections, divergences, or disjunctions between different participants' interpretations of, and responses to, themes, ideas and positions they perceive as existing in the ad-texts, and themes and ideas on offer about alcohol in the wider social context. Using a methodology I describe as 'Discursive Sonar', this research highlights the socially located, interpretative complexity of advertising engagements. By unpacking that complexity, this project identifies how, and why, media engagements vary for different participants (including that of the reflexively engaged participant researcher). By locating the interactions between participants and ad-texts within the context of wider struggles over meanings around alcohol in Aotearoa/New Zealand the research shows ways in which both ad-texts and participants reflect, employ, and debate those wider struggles. I contrasted and compared individual participant interactions with the content and themes they identify in response to the ad-texts, with what producers intended those texts to communicate, and also with the views of the other participants. Through these analyses key textual 'mechanisms' become apparent as determining why and how engagements can be closely shared or variable between people and groups. Focusing on diversity and variance in engagements highlights cultural shifts around how alcohol is understood in Aotearoa/New Zealand, as well as significant alterations in views between the generations involved in the project. Focusing on commonalities across engagements identifies how 'interpretative communities' can be produced through textual responses, which are in turn engendered in response to commonly held constructs such as gender and age. This project succeeds in two ways. As well succeeding in significantly developing existing 'operationalisation' of discursive theory, it also constructs a viable discursive framework through which to approach media research. It is suggested that further development of this alternative might move us beyond the barriers of abstraction and effects in media research to examine the ways in which media and other dominant discursive forms interact, and are interacted with, to shape choices in our social worlds.