This study examines the prevalence of emotional appeals in COVID-19-themed brand advertisements from around the world in the months immediately following the World Health Organization’s declaration of the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic. The study analyses the frequencies of use of positive and negative emotional appeals in the content of the ads, and concurrent combinations of such appeals. A content analysis was conducted on a sample of 376 ads from the “Ads of The World” digital archive. The results reveal a preference for positive emotions, with nurturance and affiliation being the most frequent. Sorrow was the third most preferred emotional appeal, and the most used negative emotion. Some brands have compared the virus to a hurricane (Brazil), an assassin with a chainsaw (US) or the death personified (Peru). Advertisers should be careful when using negative emotional appeal content during COVID-19. According to the law of apparent reality, during times of stress the recommendation is to be cautious with negative emotions, as they may be felt more intensely by consumers. Advertising has a social responsibility, which can be directed at promoting consumer behaviours that leave a positive or negative impact on their communities. In a situation such as the pandemic, brand communication professionals must use emotions rigorously, employing this resource to contribute to society, avoiding giving rise to harmful attitudes or behaviours. The research findings are consistent with the literature and lead to future examination of emotional appeals in advertising in stressful and uncertain circumstances.

Scientific journal published by the Department of Journalism, Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the Faculty of Communication.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect on brand name recall in advertisements with varying levels of female sexual objectification content among young millennials and the effect of distraction on this recall effort. The question arises whether this group evokes those brands that appear in advertisements using different levels of objectification content.Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a correlational design that includes two studies with different groups of subjects: an assessment of perceived female sexual objectification levels in a set of ads and a quasi-experimental study that used the assessed perceived levels of female objectification and brand name short-term recall scores of those ads, with and without the intervention of an attention distractor.Findings: Results suggest that female sexual objectification content exerts a limited influence on brand name recall between participants. In addition, it is not men who remember brand names from ads using sexual objectified images, but young women.Research limitations/implications: The study had an exploratory scope and used a small non-probabilistic sample. Subjects belong to a cultural context of Western world developing economy, and thus perceived female objectification may vary between different cultural settings. Results refer to graphic advertisements, though this cohort is exposed to other audiovisual content platforms.Originality/value: Several studies have addressed female objectification in advertising and media, but few focused on young Latin American audiences and its impact on the recollection of advertised brands. Brand name retention and awareness is still a relevant variable that the advertising industry takes in account as one of several predictors toward buying decisions. Even less research has been made on Latin American social and cultural contexts.

This study explores the experiences of women working as creatives in Mexican advertising creative departments. It is based on 22 in-depth interviews and suggests that these women face significant challenges within the machismo culture, which permeates Mexican advertising creative departments. Mexico plays an important role in global advertising, particularly in Latin America, but in this country female workers only represent five per cent of those working in creative departments. This is the first study focused on Mexican women creatives in advertising, highlighting the confluence of advertising women creatives and Mexican culture. Analysis reveals ten subcategories which articulate the horizontal and vertical barriers women creatives in Mexico face. Additionally, two broad workplace cohorts emerge: “old glories,” the misogynist men creatives who have historically managed advertising creative departments; and “forward thinkers,” young women and men who work side-by-side within advertising creative departments, disregarding or embracing gender differences. The findings, contextualized by cultural and organizational feminist theories as well as power theory, expose a machismo environment within Mexican advertising creative departments. Resumen: Creativas y machismo en la publicidad mexicana: Eliminando barreras hacia el éxitoEste estudio explora las experiencias de mujeres que trabajan en los departamentos creativos de las agencias de publicidad en México. Se han realizado 22 entrevistas en profundidad que sugieren que las creativas enfrentan desafíos significativos dentro de la cultura machista que impregna los departamentos creativos publicitarios. México desempeña un papel importante en la publicidad global, particularmente en América Latina, sin embargo, en este país, solo existe el 5 por ciento de mujeres creativas. Este es el primer estudio enfocado en mujeres creativas publicitarias mexicanas teniendo en cuenta el contexto cultural de México. El análisis revela diez subcategorías que articulan las barreras horizontales y verticales que enfrentan las mujeres creativas de este país. Además, surgen dos tendencias en el lugar de trabajo: old glories, hombres misóginos creativos que históricamente han administrado los departamentos creativos publicitarios y forward thinkers, mujeres y hombres jóvenes que trabajan codo con codo dentro del departamentos sin tener en cuenta las diferencias de género. Los hallazgos están contextualizados por los estudios culturales, las teorías feministas organizacionales y las teorías del poder, exponen la existencia de un ambiente machista en los departamentos creativos publicitarios mexicanos.

By 2020, brands will invest half of their marketing budget on Internet advertising. The Internet has effective potential in advertising, and it can mold stereotypical roles for future generations of consumers. Social norms and beliefs towards respect and gender equality can be reinforced through digital advertising. This study compares empirical evidence of how women are portrayed in digital advertising on Facebook from Mexico and Chile. Samples were compiled by selecting forty fan pages with the most followers –20 from Mexico and 20 from Chile. 1600 posts were examined by quantitative content analysis method. Results show that Mexican posts use 10.2% more sexist stereotypes than Chilean posts. In a traditional role’s context, advertising emphasizes behaviors along gender stereotypes, where women are not perceived equal to men. “I love shoes” (97.5%), a Mexican company with the second highest number of followers and “Forever 21,” an American juvenile clothing brand (85%) in Chile, are the brands that portray women in mostly traditional roles. These data reinforce the theory that femaleaudience brands support sexist values in advertising. Both countries show women engaged in activities outside the home, but not professionally or as an authority figure. Summary, in many ways, evidence suggests a paradoxical approach to portrayals of women in Mexican and Chilean Facebook fan page advertising.