Alcohol Advertisements on Social Media
My honors thesis research sought to explore alcohol-related social media advertisements across a variety of alcohol types, alcohol brands, and social media platforms accomplished by a content analysis of the most popular alcohol brands’ advertisements on the Internet that examined the strategies used to appeal to consumers and the overall content patterns and characteristics of online alcohol advertisements. Most common themes included “taste,” “seasonal,” “holiday,” “recipe,” and “joke/humor.”
This research received complete funding, placed third in the business division of the University’s Research Week poster competition, received the highest distinction from my defense, and received “Top Paper Award” at the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication (SWECJMC) Symposium. This research will be published in the spring edition of the Southwestern Mass Communication Journal.
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Additional Research:
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A second part to my honors thesis evaluating the most popular strategies identified in alcohol advertisements on social media. To expand upon these findings, this research examines the impact of these themes on drinking behavior and the interplay between personal factors and message strategies to determine the most impactful advertising strategies.
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A Content Analysis of U.S. and Korean Women’s Fashion Magazines’ Instagram Assessing the Representation of Sexually Explicit Content
The objective of this study is to analyze contents and advertisements of Instagram posts from popular fashion magazines (Elle, Vogue, and Cosmopolitan) published in the U.S. and Korea. Analyzation will assess the frequency of sexuality, type of sexuality, and the objectification of women, by examining specific physical features of the subjects in the advertisements. A content analysis of 994 Instagram postings suggests that sex appeals are frequently used in postings and advertisements on fashion magazines’ Instagram accounts, but the advertising strategies from global fashion brands vary between two countries. Many of the fashion ads where higher levels of objectification occur are among Korean magazines, while U.S. magazines send out more information about fashion trends (organic content) in their Instagram postings.
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An Empirical Study of the Effects of Instagram on Disordered Eating Habits Among Young Adults
The goal of this paper is to examine the potential effects of Instagram usage on online behavior and self-esteem/eating disorders. The latter may include cognitive eating disorders, disordered eating behaviors, physical appearance comparison with others, and body dissatisfaction among young women. While studies have examined the relationship between body dissatisfaction/eating disorders and social media use, many have focused solely on the amount of media consumed. The current study instead attempts to identify specific activities and behaviors associated with feelings of low self-esteem or poor body image. It is important to determine exactly what behaviors and social media engagements contribute to disordered relationships with food. The study assesses a user’s pre-existing weight/body concerns in relation to the amount and type of media they consume. The online survey among 387 young women shows that cognitive eating disorders and physical appearance comparison are impacted by Instagram usage.