Evaluation of Sports Ads Value Based on Consumer Psychology / Evaluación del valor de los anuncios deportivos basados en la psicología del consumidor

The effective dissemination of ads information can stimulate consumers’ desire to purchase sports products/services. In return, the purchases by consumers reflect the effectiveness of media dissemination of sports ads. Currently, there is not yet an index system or evaluation model for accurate evaluation of sports ads value. The relevant research of ads value is detached from consumers’ willingness to buy and purchases. Therefore, this paper presents a novel sports ads value evaluation method based on consumer psychology. Firstly, a reasonable evaluation index system (EIS) was established, and the index data were processed by principal component analysis (PCA) based on consumer psychology. Next, Schwartz-Moon model was extended into a sports ads value evaluation model in the light of consumer psychology and applied to evaluate sports ads value through numerical simulation. Our model and EIS were proved effective through experiments.(AU)

Use of advertising strategies to target children in sugar-sweetened beverages packaging in Mexico and the nutritional quality of those beverages.

BACKGROUND: A product package can be a powerful marketing tool to persuade and attract consumers at the point-of-sale. Evidence shows that most advertised products have low nutritional quality. Currently, Mexico has incorporated advertising regulations on food and beverage packaging. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the advertising strategies used to target children on packaging and to assess the nutritional quality of sugar-sweetened beverages available in the Mexican market. METHODS: Photographs of 2380 beverages available in retail stores in Mexico City from January to March 2017 were analyzed. Beverages were classified as displaying child-directed strategies or nondirected strategies. Nutrition quality was evaluated using the Pan American Health Organization nutrient profile model. RESULTS: The use of characters was the most frequent strategy among beverages with child-directed strategies (82.0%). The evaluation of nutrition quality found that 88.0% (P < .001) of sugar-sweetened beverages with child-directed strategies were excessive in free sugars and 56.9% (P < .001) contained other sweeteners. Beverages with more than two advertising strategies have the highest proportion of excessive free sugars (93.4%, 95% CI 82.8-98.6). CONCLUSIONS: The use of characters and other visual strategies were frequently used in the packaging of sugar-sweetened beverages with child-directed strategies. In addition, these beverages are excessive in free sugars and contain a large number of products with other sweeteners.

Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the frequency with which kid influencers promote branded and unbranded food and drinks during their YouTube videos and assess the nutritional quality of food and drinks shown. METHODS: Researchers used Socialbakers data to identify the 5 most-watched kid influencers (ages 3 to 14 years) on YouTube in 2019. We searched for 50 of their most-watched videos and 50 of their videos that featured food and/or drinks on the thumbnail image of the video. We coded whether kid influencers consumed or played with food or toys, quantified the number of minutes food and/or drinks appeared, and recorded names of branded food and/or drinks. We assessed the nutritional quality of foods using the Nutrient Profile Model and identified the number of drinks with added sugar. RESULTS: A sample of 418 YouTube videos met the search criteria, and 179 of those videos featured food and/or drinks. Food and/or drinks were featured in those videos 291 times. Kid influencers' YouTube videos were collectively viewed >48 billion times, and videos featuring food and/or drinks were viewed 1 billion times. Most food and/or drinks were unhealthy branded items (n = 263; 90.34%; eg, McDonald's), followed by unhealthy unbranded items (n = 12; 4.1%; eg, hot dogs), healthy unbranded items (n = 9; 3.1%; eg, fruit), and healthy branded items (n = 7; 2.4%; eg, Yoplait yogurt). CONCLUSIONS: Kid influencers generate millions of impressions for unhealthy food and drink brands through product placement. The Federal Trade Commission should strengthen regulations regarding product placement on YouTube videos featuring young children.

Direct to Consumer Telemedicine: Is Healthcare From Home Best?

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine is increasingly popular and enables patients to obtain medical advice and treatment via electronic media (e.g., computer, telephone, or smartphone) without a prior doctor-patient relationship. Convenience, accessibility, and home delivery make DTC telemedicine attractive to patients. Concerns about DTC telemedicine include: a lack of regulation, transparency, and an established patient-provider relationship (physician and pharmacist). In future, researchers, providers, and insurers need to better understand the concerns and challenges that this new form of healthcare poses.

Electronic direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals: an assessment of textual and visual content of websites.

Considering the important role of the Internet in health information seeking by consumers, it is critical to examine the health information that is available to them through the Internet. This study contributes to existing knowledge by employing a content analysis to examine visual and textual information on prescription medication websites. A stratified random sample was selected from a list of the 100 most-prescribed medications in the United States. Findings point to under-utilization of audiovisual components on the homepage of prescription medication websites as well as a lack of racial diversity in people pictured. Medications for chronic conditions were more likely to have homepages with a positive emotional tone than those for acute conditions. Further, more depictions of women on homepages predicted a greater number of prescriptions filled. This study includes implications for health education and healthcare professionals, patients and the Food and Drug Administration.

Relationship of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising to Efficiency of Care, Quality of Care, and Health Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is effective in promoting pharmaceutical products to consumers and may pose a challenge to providers in the delivery of care. This study examined advanced practice nurse prescriber (APNP) general views of DTCA and tested the effects of DTCA discussion between the patient and APNP in an office visit on efficiency of care, quality of care, and health outcomes. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used to survey 1,163 APNPs in a single US Midwestern state. The final sample consisted of 316 participants (27.17%). Pearson's chi-squared and multinomial logistic regression analyses tested DTCA effects. RESULTS: Direct-to-consumer advertising disadvantages were increased costs of drugs (80%) and misled patients (75%). Direct-to-consumer advertising benefits included a balanced presentation of risks and benefits (60%) and patients getting treatments (51%). Direct-to-consumer advertising discussion was viewed as worsening time efficiency of visit (53%). Worsened efficiency was associated with worsened nurse-patient relationship. Direct-to-consumer advertising discussion had no effect on quality of care (86%) and health outcomes (89%). Worsened quality was related to inappropriate clinical requests and challenged prescriptive authority among other factors. The nurse doing what the patient wanted was related to worsened health outcomes. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest training initiatives to maximize DTCA benefits in health care delivery.

The Use of Narratives to Deliver Information in Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Commercials: A Content Analysis.

Information communicated through a narrative format is typically processed and evaluated differently compared to non-narrative formats. Therefore, differences in the use of narratives across various information categories within direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements (DTCA) could have significant implications for consumers' processing of that information. Such differences could have further implications regarding the "fair balance" rule put forth by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This study sought to document the presence and nature of narrative and non-narrative messages in a content analysis of 61 U.S.-based broadcast DTCA airing during 2016. Specific narrative styles (classic drama, vignette, first person, second person, third person) were distinguished from non-narrative styles (lecture, directive, endorsement, graphic/demonstration) according to key characteristics of each (chronology and character, showing versus telling). Results indicated widespread use of narrative styles in DTCA overall, but the styles used differed substantially between different types of information. Narrative styles were delivered prominently to present health condition and drug benefits information while non-narrative styles primarily reinforced drug benefits and presented drug risks. These differences offer a new frame through which to view an imbalanced presentation of drug risks and benefits and provide a foundation for future research to test the effects of various narrative and non-narrative forms on patient understanding and message recall.

Correlates of Discordance between Perceived and Objective Distances to Local Fruit and Vegetable Retailers.

Background: Perceptions of neighbourhood attributes such as proximity of food retailers that are discordant with objective measures of the same are associated with poor health behaviours and weight gain. Factors associated with discordant perceptions are likely relevant to planning more effective interventions to improve health. Purpose: Analysis of cross-sectional relationships between individual and neighbourhood factors and overestimations of walking distances to local fruit/vegetable retailers (FVR). Methods: Perceived walking times, converted to distances, between participant residences and FVR were compared with objectively-assessed road network distances calculated with a Geographic Information System for n = 1305 adults residing in Adelaide, South Australia. Differences between perceived and objective distances were expressed as 'overestimated' distances and were analysed relative to perceptions consistent with objective distances. Cross-sectional associations were evaluated between individual socio-demographic, health, and area-level characteristics and overestimated distances to FVR using multilevel logistic regression. Results: Agreement between objective and perceived distances between participants' residence and the nearest FVR was only fair (weighted kappa = 0.22). Overestimated distances to FVR were positively associated with mental well-being, and were negatively associated with household income, physical functioning, sense of community, and objective distances to greengrocers. Conclusions: Individual characteristics and features of neighbourhoods were related to overestimated distances to FVR. Sense of connectivity and shared identity may shape more accurate understandings of local resource access, and offer a focal point for tailored public health initiatives that bring people together to achieve improved health behaviour.

Taking Repeated Exposure into Account: An Experimental Study of Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Television Ad Effects.

Introduction: Little is known about how repeated exposure to direct-to-consumer prescription drug promotion can impact consumers' retention and perceptions of drug information. The study described here tested the effects of varied ad exposure frequency on these outcomes. Methods: In an in-person experiment, participants with seasonal allergies (n = 616) were randomized to view a mock prescription drug television ad either once, twice, or four times within 1 h of television programming, embedded with six commercial breaks. Respondents then answered a 20-min survey administered via computer. Results: Those who viewed the ad more frequently were better able to recall both risk (X2 = 20.93, p < .001) and benefit information (X2 = 9.34, p = .009) and to recognize risk (F(2,597) = 11.89, p = .001) and benefit information (F(2,597) = 3.17, p = .043) than those who viewed the ad one time. Ad exposure frequency was not associated with perceptions about the magnitude or likelihood of risks or benefits. In general, risk information seemed to require more repetitions than benefit information to be accurately remembered. The recall was mediated by elaborate processing. Discussion: Effects on memory were small; retention of both risks and benefits remained low overall even after four exposures.

The impact of exposure to wagering advertisements and inducements on intended and actual betting expenditure: An ecological momentary assessment study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Research suggests that a large proportion of regular sports and race bettors experience harm related to their gambling. In Australia, people who bet regularly are targeted by a proliferation of different forms of inducements and advertising - many of which are believed to encourage excessive betting and erroneous perceptions of risk. However, scant research has examined the impact of marketing messaging to this group, which is also limited to cross-sectional or qualitative designs. We aimed to determine whether exposure to wagering advertisements and inducements influenced intended betting expenditure, actual betting expenditure, and spending more than intended. METHODS: We report on an ecological momentary assessment study, measuring regular exposure to 20 different forms of marketing, as well as wagering spend from 318 race bettors and 279 sports bettors. Up to 15 assessments per participant were conducted over 3 weeks (mean = 11.46, median = 14), yielding 6,843 observations for analysis. RESULTS: Exposure to advertising and inducements was reliably linked to a greater likelihood of betting, higher intended and actual betting expenditure, and spending more than intended. "Push" messaging and inducements that convey the impression of reduced risk (stake-back inducements and multibet offers) were particularly influential, as well as brands promoted during events and advertisements on betting websites/apps. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Given that a large proportion of regular sports and race bettors experience problems, restrictions on these forms of marketing are advisable. These findings suggest that this is particularly important for marketing that is "pushed" to gamblers or that suggests reduced risk.

Wagering Advertisements and Inducements: Exposure and Perceived Influence on Betting Behaviour.

A proliferation of wagering advertising has raised concerns about its effects, especially on vulnerable gamblers. This study examined exposure to wagering advertisements and inducements, and their reported influence on the size, frequency and riskiness of bets placed-amongst regular bettors and by gambler risk group. An Ecological Momentary Assessment design minimised recall bias. After completing a baseline survey, 722 regular bettors completed up to 15 surveys administered on 5 days per week over three non-consecutive weeks. Data were analysed for the 316 race bettors and 279 sports bettors completing at least one survey. The results indicate that regular bettors have almost daily exposure to wagering advertising, including for inducements. The most frequently seen and influential advertisement types were direct messages (emails, texts and/or phone calls from wagering operators, which, in Australia, bettors are automatically opted-into when opening a betting account) and advertisements on betting websites or apps. Participants reported the most influential inducements to be: stake-back offers, multi-bet offers, match your stake or deposit offers, better odds/winnings inducements, happy hours, rewards programs, and cash out early offers. The findings indicate that wagering advertisements, including for inducements, are likely to be having powerful effects on regular bettors. On each day that respondents saw these advertisements (most days for most advertisement types), substantial minorities reported increased size and frequency of betting. Results did not vary by gambler risk group. Understanding which types of wagering advertising are associated with most gambling-related harm can inform advertising regulations, targeted public health interventions, and future research.

Communicating Risk Information in Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Television Ads: A Content Analysis.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) television ads for prescription drugs are required to disclose the product's major risks in the audio or audio and visual parts of the presentation (sometimes referred to as the "major statement"). The objective of this content analysis was to determine how the major statement of risks is presented in DTC television ads, including what risk information is presented, how easy or difficult it is to understand the risk information, and the audio and visual characteristics of the major statement. We identified 68 DTC television ads for branded prescription drugs, which included a unique major statement and that aired between July 2012 and August 2014. We used subjective and objective measures to code 50 ads randomly selected from the main sample. Major statements often presented numerous risks, usually in order of severity, with no quantitative information about the risks' severity or prevalence. The major statements required a high school reading level, and many included long and complex sentences. The major statements were often accompanied by competing non-risk information in the visual images, presented with moderately fast-paced music, and read at a faster pace than benefit information. Overall, we discovered several ways in which the communication of risk information could be improved.

Exposure to Child-Directed TV Advertising and Preschoolers' Intake of Advertised Cereals.

INTRODUCTION: Child-directed TV advertising is believed to influence children's diets, yet prospective studies in naturalistic settings are absent. This study examined if child-directed TV advertisement exposure for ten brands of high-sugar breakfast cereals was associated with children's intake of those brands prospectively. METHODS: Observational study of 624 preschool-age children and their parents conducted in New Hampshire, 2014-2015. Over 1 year, parents completed a baseline and six online follow-up surveys, one every 8 weeks. Children's exposure to high-sugar breakfast cereal TV advertisements was based on the network-specific TV programs children watched in the 7 days prior to each follow-up assessment, and parents reported children's intake of each advertised high-sugar breakfast cereal brand during that same 7-day period. Data were analyzed in 2017-2018. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted Poisson regression model accounting for repeated measures and brand-specific effects, children with high-sugar breakfast cereal advertisement exposure in the past 7 days (i.e., recent exposure; RR=1.34, 95% CI=1.04, 1.72), at any assessment in the past (RR=1.23, 95% CI=1.06, 1.42), or recent and past exposure (RR=1.37, 95% CI=1.15, 1.63) combined had an increased risk of brand-specific high-sugar breakfast cereal intake. Absolute risk difference of children's high-sugar breakfast cereal intake because of high-sugar breakfast cereal TV advertisement exposure varied by brand. CONCLUSIONS: This naturalistic study demonstrates that child-directed high-sugar breakfast cereal TV advertising was prospectively associated with brand-specific high-sugar breakfast cereal intake among preschoolers. Findings indicate that child-directed advertising influences begin earlier and last longer than previously demonstrated, highlighting limitations of current industry guidelines regarding the marketing of high-sugar foods to children under age 6 years.

Direct-to-Member Household or Targeted Mailings: Incentivizing Medicaid Calls for Quitline Services.

INTRODUCTION: Innovative methods are needed to promote tobacco cessation services. The Medi-Cal Incentives to Quit Smoking project (2012-2015) promoted modest financial and medication incentives to encourage Medi-Cal smokers to utilize the California Smokers' Helpline (Helpline). This article describes the implementation and impact of two different direct-to-member mailing approaches. METHODS: Medi-Cal Incentives to Quit Smoking promotional materials were mailed directly to members using two approaches: (1) household mailings: households identified through centralized membership divisions and (2) individually targeted mailings: smokers identified by medical codes from Medi-Cal managed care plans. Mailings included messaging on incentives, such as gift cards or nicotine patches. Number of calls per month, calls per unit mailed, and associated printing costs per call were compared during and 1 month after mailings. Activated caller response was based on reporting a household mailing promotional code or based on requesting financial incentives for individually targeted mailings. Analyses were conducted in 2018. RESULTS: Direct-to-member mailings, particularly with incentive messaging, demonstrated an increase in call volumes during and 1 month after mailing, and increased Medi-Cal calls to the Helpline per unit mailed. Mailings with only counseling messages had the lowest percentage of activated calls per unit mailed, whereas the incentive messaging mailings were consistently higher. Although household mailings demonstrated lower printing costs per call, individually targeted mailings had a higher percentage of activated calls per unit mailed. CONCLUSIONS: Household and individually targeted mailings are feasible approaches to increase Medi-Cal calls to the Helpline, particularly with incentive messaging. Choosing an approach and messaging depends on available resources, timing, and purpose. SUPPLEMENT INFORMATION: This article is part of a supplement entitled Advancing Smoking Cessation in California's Medicaid Population, which is sponsored by the California Department of Public Health.

Beyond Dr. Google: the evidence on consumer-facing digital tools for diagnosis.

Over a third of adults go online to diagnose their health condition. Direct-to-consumer (DTC), interactive, diagnostic apps with information personalization capabilities beyond those of static search engines are rapidly proliferating. While these apps promise faster, more convenient and more accurate information to improve diagnosis, little is known about the state of the evidence on their performance or the methods used to evaluate them. We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed and gray literature for the period January 1, 2014­June 30, 2017. We found that the largest category of evaluations involved symptom checkers that applied algorithms to user-answered questions, followed by sensor-driven apps that applied algorithms to smartphone photos, with a handful of evaluations examining crowdsourcing. The most common clinical areas evaluated were dermatology and general diagnostic and triage advice for a range of conditions. Evaluations were highly variable in methodology and conclusions, with about half describing app characteristics and half examining actual performance. Apps were found to vary widely in functionality, accuracy, safety and effectiveness, although the usefulness of this evidence was limited by a frequent failure to provide results by named individual app. Overall, the current evidence base on DTC, interactive diagnostic apps is sparse in scope, uneven in the information provided and inconclusive with respect to safety and effectiveness, with no studies of clinical risks and benefits involving real-world consumer use. Given that DTC diagnostic apps are rapidly evolving, rigorous and standardized evaluations are essential to inform decisions by clinicians, patients, policymakers and other stakeholders.

Impact of a direct-to-consumer information campaign on prescription patterns for overactive bladder.

BACKGROUND: Direct-to-consumer information (DTCI) campaign is a new medium to inform and empower patients in their decision-making without directly promoting specific drugs. However, little is known about the impact of DTCI campaigns, expanding rapidly in developed countries, on changes in prescription patterns. We sought to determine whether a DTCI campaign on overactive bladder increases the prescription rate for overactive bladder treatment drugs. METHODS: We performed a 3-year retrospective cohort study of 1332 participants who were diagnosed overactive bladder but not prescribed treatment drugs prior to the examined DTCI campaign (exposure), using the health insurance claims dataset of the Japan Medical Data Center (November 19, 2010 to November 18, 2013). The DTCI campaign for overactive bladder included television, Internet, and print advertising (November 19, 2011 to December 22, 2011). We divided the study period into Pre-Campaign Year (2010-2011), Year 1 (2011-2012), and Year 2 (2012-2013). Each year began on November 19 and included Period 1 (weeks 1-5) through Period 10 (weeks 46-50). The main outcome was first-time prescription of the treatment drug for each patient, measured by 5-week periods. Using Period 10 in the Pre-Campaign Year as the referent period, we applied the Cox proportional hazard model for each period. Additionally, we performed the interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) for the first-time prescription rate per 5-week period. RESULTS: Following the DTCI campaign, patients were about seven times more likely to receive a first prescription of a treatment drug during Period 4 in Year 1 (hazard ratio 7.09; 95% CI, 2.11-23.8; p-value<.01) compared with the reference period. Similar increases were also observed for subsequent Periods 5 and 6 in Year 1. The ITSA confirmed the DTCI campaign impact on the level of prescription rate (one-time increase in the regression-intercept) that increased by 1128.1 [per standardized 100,000 persons] (p < .05) during Period 4 in Year 1. CONCLUSIONS: The examined DTCI campaign appeared to increase the prescription rate among patients with overactive bladder for 15 weeks with a 15-week delay. Clinical outcomes of the patients with targeted diseases need to be monitored after DTCI campaigns by a future study.

Direct-to-Consumer Broadcast Advertisements for Pharmaceuticals: Off-Label Promotion and Adherence to FDA Guidelines.

BACKGROUND: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs in the United States are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Off-label promotion, or the advertisement of a drug for an indication not approved by the FDA, is prohibited. Our objective was to examine the presence of off-label promotion in broadcast DTC ads and to assess their adherence to FDA guidelines mandating fair balance in presentation of risks and benefits and prohibiting misleading advertisement claims. METHODS: All English-language broadcast DTC ads for prescription drugs that aired in the United States from January 2015 to July 2016 were obtained from AdPharm, an online collection of healthcare advertisements. Ad length was measured and adherence to FDA guidelines was assessed for several categories: key regulatory items, indicators of false or misleading ads, and indicators of fair balance in presentation of risks and benefits. RESULTS: Our sample included 97 unique DTC ads, representing 60 unique drugs and 67 unique drug-indication combinations. No ads described drug risks quantitatively, whereas drug efficacy was presented quantitatively in 25 (26%) ads. Thirteen (13%) ads, all for diabetes medications, suggested off-label uses for weight loss and blood pressure reduction. The most commonly advertised drugs were indicated for the treatment of inflammatory conditions (n = 12; 18%), diabetes or diabetic neuropathy (n = 11; 16%), bowel or bladder dysfunction (n = 6; 9%), and infections or allergic reaction (n = 6; 9%). More than three-quarters (n = 51; 76%) advertised drugs to treat chronic conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Few broadcast DTC ads were fully compliant with FDA guidelines. The overall quality of information provided in ads was low, and suggestions of off-label promotion were common for diabetes medications. The impact of current DTC ads and off-label marketing on patient and prescriber decisions merits further scrutiny.