Effect of Gender and Celebrity Status of Models in Printed Advertisements Promoting Physical Activity.

Public health organizations have embarked on various campaigns to increase the level of physical activity in the population. The aim of this study is to examine whether printed advertisements promoting physical activity can be made more effective by manipulating the model used in advertisements. Two experiments were conducted. The aim of the first experiment was to examine whether the gender of the model affects the effectiveness of the advertisement. Seventy-five respondents were randomly split into a control group featuring no model, experimental group 1 featuring a female model, and experimental group 2 featuring a male model. The study found that while respondents spend more time looking at advertisements with models, male respondents in the male model group reported an intent to participate in higher levels of physical activity compared with the other 2 groups. The aim of the second experiment was to examine whether the celebrity status of the model affects the effectiveness of the advertisement. Fifty-nine respondents were randomly split either into a group featuring a sports celebrity or an unknown athlete. The results show that while the sports celebrity was more attractive, it was respondents in the noncelebrity group that reported an intent to participate in higher levels of physical activity. The findings from this study suggest that noncelebrity male models in printed advertisements promoting physical activity are more effective.

Differences between Gamblers and Non-Gamblers on Sports Betting Websites.

Online sports gambling is a popular recreational activity. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour as the theoretical foundation, the aim of this study was to examine for differences between gamblers and non-gamblers in terms of their attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards online sports gambling. 173 male students from a tertiary educational institution were recruited for this study of which 56 respondents (32%) were gamblers. A series of regression analysis revealed differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. While subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were significant predictors of gambling intentions for the gamblers group, only attitude was a significant predictor for the non-gamblers group. Further analysis showed that subjective norms had a larger effect on the gamblers group in comparison to the non-gamblers group. Physiological data from an eye tracker provided further empirical evidence that there were differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. Gamblers, perhaps because they are more familiar with gambling websites, take less time to process information. The findings from this study suggests that there are differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. To prevent problem gambling, there is a need to develop different communication messages for gamblers and non-gamblers.