Effect of interpersonal communication and advertising viewing: A youth survey

Kara Chan and Gerard Prendergast, Kara Chan and Gerard Prendergast, Hong Kong Baptist UniversityHong Kong Baptist University

AAA conference March 30-April 2, 2006AAA conference March 30-April 2, 2006

materialism

Who am I? am I?

How do I perform when compared with others?

Am I as lovely as Gigi Leung?

Theoretical model

Social comparison

Imitation of Celebrity models

materialism

+

+

Theoretical model

Comm. With parents

Peer influence

Social comparison

Comm. With teachers

Comm. With friends

--

+

+

Theoretical model

TV viewing

Motivation for viewingads

Imitation of celebritymodels

Youth mag reading

Attn to TV ads

++

+

+

Method

• Intercept survey at malls, outside public libraries, and shopping areas

• Target 15-24 (quota on sex and age)• July/Aug 2005 summer holidays• 1-8 pm, self-administered by

respondents• Monitored by RA (random visit)• N=631

Sample profile

• Roughly equal M and F

• 78% students, 18% working, 4% unemployed

• 35% public housing (31% for pop.), 17% HOS housing, 48% private housing

Measures

• Materialism Richins (2004) 6 items• Comm. With parents/friends/teachers:

2 items each• Peer pressure, 6 items• Social comparison, 4 items (close frien

ds, richer friends, favorite movie stars and pop singers, media celebrities)

Measures

• TV viewing: no. of hours a day

• Youth mag reading: no. of hours a week

• Attention to TV ad: one item

• Motivation for watching ad: 7 items

• imitation: of celebrity models: 4 items developed from Kasser et al. (2004)

Findings

3.1

2.4

1.8

3.2

2.9

2.7

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

mat.

parents

teachers

friends

peer pres

s compare

Findings

3.1

2.8

1.6

3

3

2.4

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

mat.

tv/day

mag/wk

attn

motivation

imitate m

Model supported by data

Comm. With parents

Peer influence

Social comparison

Comm. With teachers

Comm. With friends

0.080.10

0.27

0.31

R square=0.22

Theoretical model

TV viewing

Motivation for viewingads

Imitation of celebritymodels

Youth mag reading

Attn to TV ads 0.38

R square =15

Model from data

Social comparison

Imitation of Celebrity models

materialism

0.28

0.38

R square=29

Discussion/implication

• Role of interpersonal communication

• Peer influence

• Social comparison (who, what, when)

• Motivation of viewing ads

• Critical analysis of media celebrities endorsing products

limitation

• Non probability sample

• Relatively short questionnaire

• Small number of working young adults

• Do not have family SES information

• Social desirability