EXPRESS: How Marketer Actions Influence Persuasion Knowledge: Meta-Analytic Evidence of a Non-Linear Relationship

Persuasion knowledge development leads to better coping with marketplace persuasion, better consumer decision-making, and adds to consumer well-being. While significant knowledge exists on the impact that individual factors (e.g., age) and cues (e.g., sponsorship disclosure messages) have on consumers’ persuasion knowledge development, little is known about the influence of marketer actions, such as advertising spending. This is surprising, as marketer activities provide a major source of information for consumers’ persuasion knowledge learning and practice and can theoretically either support or hinder persuasion knowledge development. We develop several explanations for various types of relationships between advertising spending and persuasion knowledge and test these relationships by means of a meta-analysis of the persuasion knowledge literature based on 140 papers with 162 distinctive datasets that address persuasion knowledge measurements. We find that increasing advertising spending also increases consumers’ persuasion knowledge. The relationship follows an inverted-U curve, and, at a certain level of advertising spending, persuasion knowledge begins to decrease. The findings have theoretical and societal implications and, depending on the level of advertising investment, policy implications with the ultimate aim of ensuring consumer well-being and protecting consumer groups with low levels of persuasion knowledge.

EXPRESS: When Detailed Information Works Better: Comparison of Three and Five Color/Letter Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels

The adoption of front-of-package (FoP) nutrition labels to promote healthier food choices is increasing worldwide, yet it remains unclear which types of nutrition labels are superior from a public policy perspective. This research compares two common forms of evaluative FoP nutrition labels that vary in the number of colors and corresponding letters they display (three colors, A—C [3C] vs. five colors, A—E [5C]). Four studies, including a field study with vending machines and a study in an experimental supermarket using eye-tracking, show that compared with the 3C label and no label (control) conditions, the 5C label enhances purchase intentions and choices of healthy alternatives. In particular, the 5C nutrition label is superior because it provides more information that helps consumers discriminate the products’ healthiness. This ability to discriminate healthiness modifies consumers’ perceived healthiness of products and influences both their purchase intentions and choice of healthy food options.

EXPRESS: Identity Management as a Coping Strategy for Stigmatization: The Case of Indian Sex Workers in a Libidinal Market

Poor women can face stigmas about indolence, moral turpitude, and substance abuse. This stigmatized condition includes female sex workers, who live and work in situations that exacerbate impoverishment and bring societal exclusion and shame. We situate our arguments at the nexus of poverty and stigma and examine the value of identity formation and reformation in the context of female sex workers in India. These women face restrictions to meet basic needs and remain in the profession despite significant challenges. Our study reveals five identity pathways in their collective consciousness: protector, sacred, commoditized, provider, and eudaimonic/self-acceptance. They come together as themes that reflect these women's lived experiences who were forced to endure systemic violence in relative silence. We use and advance arguments provided by Hill, Ozanne, and Viswanathan and their various colleagues to frame our current understanding of their plight. We contribute to theory by revealing that these identities have positive consequences for personal reconfiguration under conditions of vulnerability. Finally, our results indicate that public policy should recognize the value of self-identities that support resistance in a marginalized marketplace. Sensitizing stakeholders, including policy makers, to destigmatization may also help sex workers gain the courage of their convictions to leave the profession.

EXPRESS: JPPM’s Global Perspective and Impact: An Agenda for Research on Marketing and Public Policy

For several decades, the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing has stimulated and led debates with far-reaching implications for consumer well-being, global relationships and, ultimately, human survival. The challenges we face have not disappeared but intensified. Today, we must respond to climate change, manage a global pandemic, and address disparities and inequities that threaten our planet in ways we are yet to comprehend fully. However, the JPP&M community remains well-placed to inform responses to these crises. This article draws together perspectives on new and long-standing questions and challenges, as we highlight the increasing urgency of addressing inequities and embedding sustainability at the heart of policy-making. Yet, while progress addressing these complex questions often has been slow, we also identify compelling opportunities. Sound policies and good marketing and consumption practices in response to health crises, environmental degradation, injustice, automation, violence and war; the transformational benefits following Constructive Engagement offer hope that, even when faced with unprecedented challenges, human resilience and ingenuity can create meaningful responses. As we address chronic and novel problems, we are confident JPP&M’s community of researchers, policy makers, and advocates will continue to bring innovation, insight, and rigor, and play a leading role in discovering solutions, locally and globally.

EXPRESS: The Future of Marketing Analytics and Public Policy

The purpose of this special issue is to encourage the emerging role of analytics in marketing and public policy research. We draw attention to a multitude of comprehensive data sources and analytical techniques that tackle important public policy and marketing issues. We highlight six key domains that provide fruitful avenues for such pursuit: retail analytics, social media analytics, marketing mix analytics, services including healthcare, nonprofits and politics, and artificial intelligence and robotics. We also offer an overview of the various articles and commentaries that are included in this special issue, and we encourage future research building on the underlying analytics approaches, substantive findings, and theoretical discoveries.

EXPRESS: What Exactly Is Marketing and Public Policy? Insights for JPPM Researchers

In this JPPM article for the 40th Anniversary of the Journal of Public Policy … Marketing, the authors first share what is meant by “policy,” “public policy,” and “marketing and public policy” for researchers in our field. The authors then offer examples of JPPM research informing policy across different stages of the policy making process: problem identification, agenda setting, policy formulation, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation. They also discuss important sources of public policy (e.g., federal, state, and international agencies; self-regulation; the courts; nonprofits; society; industry standards; company policies; personal ethics) and their role in the marketing and public policy process. The authors then offer JPPM application examples (e.g., consumer protection; anti-trust/competition; vulnerability; diversity, equity, and inclusion; nutrition labeling; addiction, cannabis, and anti-drug research; tobacco warning labeling and education; and privacy and technology) and share ideas for developing research that contributes to the marketing and public policy discipline and in making a positive difference in society and people's lives.

EXPRESS: The Role of Implicit Theories in Motivating Donations in Response to Threat-based Awe

The present research investigates how charitable giving in response to threat-based awe, an emotional experience that typically accompanies disaster-relief campaigns, is likely to depend on consumers' implicit theories. While consumers want to behave prosocially when experiencing threat-based awe, due to the presence of threats, such behavior depends upon whether they believe that their donations have sufficient efficacy. Consequently, in response to threat-based awe, consumers holding to an incremental (vs. entity) theory perceive greater efficacy for their donations which, subsequently, increases their charitable giving. These predictions are tested across five experimental studies. The findings of this research contribute to the literature on implicit theories, the emotion of awe, and also offers a more nuanced approach to how different consumers may be motivated to engage in charitable giving in the context of natural disasters.

EXPRESS: Treatment Effect Heterogeneity in Randomized Field Experiments: A Methodological Comparison and Public Policy Implications

Many public-policy studies (Martin and Scott 2020) use randomized field experiments for drawing causal conclusions (e.g., Chen et al. 2020). A typical randomized field experiment involves a control group and a treatment group to which individual units (e.g., consumers, patients) are randomly assigned, after which an intervention is implemented in the treatment group. An intervention could be a marketing program to which only units in the treatment group are exposed. To assess the intervention's efficacy, researchers typically estimate the average treatment effect computed as the mean difference in the outcome between the units in the treatment group and the control group. When applying the results of a randomized experiment, it is assumed that the treatment effect within the manipulated condition is the same for all the units assigned to the treatment condition. This may not always be the case, as the effect may differ for subgroups within a treatment (subgroup differences).