Running head: ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX

The Effects of Advertising, Wine Snobs, and Sex on Beverage Tastes Josh Gonzales University of Regina

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX Abstract Advertisements are a very powerful form of persuasion. It has been shown that syntactic indeterminacy is one way in which imagery persuades. While studies have shown that wine ratings are affected by price and place of origin, little has been said about the advertising and expectation of experience as factors in beverage ratings. To determine whether these factors affect ratings a control group was compared to a group of wine connoisseurs. Water, beer, and wine drinking were all accompanied by positive, neutral, or negative imagery. Positive imagery had a positive effect on ratings while negative effects on ratings. Designations of wine

connoisseur and gender were also factors in scores. Age was ruled out as a determinant variable which was previously shown to be a large factor. Researchers determined that differences in scores had to do with expectations and syntactic indeterminacy and not necessarily age related differences. Wine connoisseurs were shown to be predicted by the average number of drinks consumed and whether or not the participant drank beer. Keywords: persuasive imagery, wine connoisseur, beer, expected outcomes

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX The Effects of Advertising, Wine Snobs, and Sex on Beverage Tastes Advertising is one of the most powerful and pervasive forms of persuasion in North American societies. According to Blair (1996) the visual component of movies, television programs and commercial and political advertising, are enormously powerful influences on attitudes and beliefs (p. 23). More than 200 billion dollars per year is spent on advertising in the United States alone (Berger, 2004). The average person is exposed to more than 3, 000 advertising messages per day (Simons, 2001) and the average American will actually spend approximately one year of his or her life watching television commercials alone (Berger, 2004). So what exactly makes advertising so persuasive? Despite the traditional emphasis on words in persuasion techniques, studies show that a picture superiority effect exists for images compared to words. Pictures are more easily recognized and recalled than words (Hockley, 2008). Pictures, unlike words, can be processed by two different modes and can be recalled by either of the modes it is processed through (Paivio, 1986, 1991). Paul Messaris (1997) conception of image roles includes three basic ways images persuade. One is iconicity, which refers to the images resemblance to that which it represents. Indexicality denotes the ability of the image to document an important event. Lastly, and most relevant to our discussion, is syntactic indeterminacy. This conception states that, unlike words, pictures cannot convey precise relationships between things. This imprecise relationship is often exploited to further a brands image.

One industry that embraces this advantage is the wine industry. However, a recent study by Chrysochou et al. (2012) found that distinctions exist between different generations. Younger generations tended to use the attributes driven by promotions and labelling while older

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX generations gave greater importance to the information given about the wine and the subjective knowledge of a wine tasting experience (Chrysochou et al., 2012). In fact, according to a meta-model done by Priilaid (2006) nearly 95% of a wines merit given by experts can be explained by the region and price of the wine, both being external cues. Price alone was able to account for nearly 85%. Put another way, only 5% of the variance in scores were related to the internal merit of each wine. A more recent study by Siegrist and

Cousin (2009) found that a bias in rating was only found when information was given before the wine tasting. If the information was given after the tasting but before giving the ratings no statistically significant difference was found. This suggests that the information about the wine does not simply affect its internal merit but affects the experience of drinking the beverage. While studies show that wine has this experiential effect, there is little empirical evidence showing how different expectations of drinking experiences might affect beverage tastes. Chrysochou et al. (2012) argued that age was the determining factor. This research argues that age is not the culprit but differing expectations of experience. This study was created intending to show that external cues could affect beverage scores differently depending on the expectations of the participant. Since wine connoisseurs are known to have specific details in mind when tasting drinks they were compared to a group without this label. The experimenter also intended to show that syntactic indeterminacy is at play when inferring beverage quality (including wine) alongside visual advertising. In the present experiment we hypothesized that ratings will be positively affected by positive imagery and negatively affected by negative imagery across all beverage types. However, we also expected to find that wine connoisseur identity will be a predictor of both

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX

wine and beer scores. We expected to find that the images will have higher effect sizes for wine connoisseurs in both directions for wine, due to intensified expectations, and negatively for beer scores in general, due to lower expectations of beer drinking experiences as compared to their preferred wine choice. Tests to see if wine connoisseurs could be predicted by age, gender and whether they drink beer, were also conducted. Method Participants A goal of 150 total participants was set out before the experiment, with 75 wine connoisseurs and 75 non-wine connoisseurs. Ads for recruiting wine connoisseurs were placed in all the top wine magazines including The All Time Grapes, In It to Wine It, All Time Best Cellars, Were Hardcork, and Brandy. Eighty-five wine connoisseurs (M = 44, SD = 11) were chosen using Joshs Not-Snobs-Just-Sophisticated Assessment (Gonzales, 2012). Nonconnoisseurs (M = 45, SD = 14) were recruited through the local newspapers The Leadersharp and The Don Herald and also included those recruited through the wine magazines that were not placed into the connoisseur group but chose to continue with the study anyway. These participants were also screened for connoisseur status but only three received the designation. Eighty-seven non-connoisseurs participated. No statistical difference was found between groups (t(76) = .14, p < .68). Participants gender, age, and connoisseur status were all noted. How often the participant drank alcohol and whether or not they drank beer were also included for further exploration.

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX Design Participants viewed a total of nine mock advertisements over three sessions. In each advertisement there was one of three products: a brand of beer, Brain Death, a brand of wine, Dangleberry, or a brand of water, Puritan. Nine different advertisements were created for this experiment. The differences between negative, positive, and neutral adverts were pre-tested to assure similar ratings of stimulation. An example of a negative advert would be a man covered

in blood carrying a shotgun, laughing hysterically with a dead bunny corpse lying beside him. A neutral ad might have shown someone in a white room faced away from the camera, rocking a rocking chair with a wood table beside them. A positive ad could have displayed sexy, sophisticated men and women enjoying themselves at a classy party. A full description of each advertisement can be found in Appendix Never. None of the drinks were accompanied by their brand name and details such as price and region of beverage origin were withheld. Participants rated each drink after the advertisement on a scale ranging from -100 (I would avoid this like the plague) through 0 (neutral) to 100 (I would probably have sex with it if it were a human being). The order of the conditions was randomly assigned by a computer algorithm to counterbalance order effects as were the pairing of ads with drink conditions. From here on in, conditions will be shortened with the following abbreviations to ease discussion: wine (Wi), beer (B), water (Wa), negative (Gross), neutral (Neut), and positive (Sexy). As an example, the positive wine condition will be referred to as the SexyWi condition. Procedure Prior to the beverage tasting experience, participants were asked to read and sign a consent form and brief questionnaire. They were then seated in a room that contained a

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX

cushioned chair facing a television placed directly ten feet in front of them. Drinks were stripped of their labels before the participants arrived. Participants were told before the experiment began that each ad was run to increase sales for the beverage they were about to drink. Beverages were poured into a glass chosen by the participant (so as not to offend the wine connoisseurs) by a trained cohort, and were presented alongside negative, neutral, or positive imagery that lasted for thirty seconds. A choice of palette cleansers was given (e.g. celery, parsley, sorbet, or plain crackers) to be eaten after each drink and a fifteen minute break was taken after three conditions had been presented. Results Out of the initial 172 participants, data for 156 were analyzed. One participant refused to continue after finding out they could not chose to drink the beverage of their choice for all the conditions. A dozen female participants left after seeing a condition containing the bunny corpse. Three participants showed up completely plastered and had to be removed from the premises due to their over-intoxicated state. Effects of Imagery Repeated measures ANOVA were done for each beverage to see if imagery had an effect on ratings of the beverage. To the dismay of all those involved, only beer, p > .32, passed Mauchlys test of sphericity. Therefore, all reported measures are Huyn-Feldt scores to more aggressively correct for sphericity. All the ANOVAs had an observed power at or close to one. Statistically significant differences were found for wine (F(1.14 , 176.74) = 509.55, p < .001), beer (F(2, 309.412 277.62 = 912.987, p < .001), and water (F(1.811, 280.66) = 162.88, p < .001). There was a statistically significant difference between all three imagery conditions for

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX each drink at the p < .001 level with negative conditions scoring the lowest scores and positive imagery conditions receiving the highest scores. Image presentation accounted for 86% of the variance in beer ratings, 77% of wine ratings, and 51% of water ratings. Ratings Score Predictors Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted on all nine conditions to see if predictors of scores could be assessed. Block one included gender, wine and age while the

second block added the average number of alcoholic beverages consumed and whether or not the participant drank beer. The variances of the residuals for all models were constant. Residuals also lay along a straight line and were normally distributed. Zero-order correlations were comparable to their corresponding standardized beta coefficients for all statistically significant predictors. VIF were all well below ten and tolerances were above .10. None of water models were statistically significant. Beer and wine conditions, on the other hand, produced interesting results. GrossB (F(3, 152) = 81.44, p < .001, R = .62), NeutB (F(3, 152) = 116.83, p < .001, R = .70), and SexyB (F(3, 152) = 85.91, p < .001, R = .63), all produced statistically significant results for the first block. F values for the second blocks were not statistically significant. Gender and wine connoisseur status were statistically significant predictors in the first blocks for GrossB ( = -.45, = -.57), NeutB (-.42, = -.55), and SexyB ( = -.65, = -.35) respectively at the p < .001 level. GrossWi (F(3, 152) = 174.21, p < .001, R = .77), NeutWi (F(3, 152) = 134.944, p < .001, R = .73), and SexyWi (F(3, 152) = 491.99, p < .001, R = .91), all produced statistically

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX significant results for the first block of the wine conditions. Again, as in all the beer conditions, F values for the second blocks were not statistically significant. Gender and wine connoisseur status were statistically significant predictors in the first blocks for GrossWi ( = -.45, = -.82), NeutWi ( =.30, = .84), and SexyWi ( = .26, = .90) respectively at the p < .001 level. Wine Connoisseur Predictors

A hierarchical logistic regression was conducted to see if predictions of wine connoisseur could be made from gender and age for the first block. The second block contained the average number of drinks consumed and whether or not the participant drank beer. The first model was not statistically significant ( (2) = 1.29, p < .53, Nagelkerke R = .011), but the second model was ( (4) = 68.90, p < .001, Nagelkerke R = .48). The average number of alcoholic beverages consumed (z = 25.29, p < .001), and whether or not they drank beer (z = 33.847, p < .001) were both statistically significant predictors of wine expert status. The odds of being a wine connoisseur were 3.00 times higher the more regularly they drank. Whether they drank beer was inversely related to connoisseur status (i.e. if they drank beer they were less likely to be a connoisseur, OR = .069). The second model successfully predicted 78% of cases compared to 51% of cases for a model with no predictors. A Sobel test (z = 2.25, p < .024) also revealed that gender mediated average number of drinks consumed in predicting assumed wine authority but the effect was extremely small (b = .014) and was likely due to the relatively large sample size. Discussion Imagery results were consistent with prior research. Negative imagery affected scores negatively while positive imagery affected them positively.

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX

10

Water scores were not centred on any predictors. Both beer scores and wine scores were predicted by both gender and wine connoisseur status. That being said, the directions in which they correlated varied. The statistics showed that beer scores were generally lower when the participant was either a woman or a wine connoisseur. Wine scores were distributed differently. While the GrossWi scores were lower when the participant was a woman or wine connoisseur, NeutWi and SexyWi scores actually improved. It should also be noted that connoisseur designation was by far the largest factor in predicting wine scores. The status was only equally big as gender in the beer scores. These results confirm what had been hypothesized. The scoring of beverage tastes are determined as much, if not more, from the expectation of the experience as they are from intrinsic taste value. Woman and wine connoisseurs seem to have negative expectation of the experience of drinking beer. On the other hand, women and especially connoisseurs, have positive associations with good wine but are finicky with perceived bad wines. This research provides evidence that preference for drinks has more to do with expectations as external cues rather than intrinsic qualities found within the beverage. It would also be interesting to see if experiments involving beer tasting experts would produce a similar bias leveraged against wines. Syntactic indeterminacy was involved as no precise relationship could be made between the beverage and its price and origins. For example, the assumption was that the image of the classy party would ease an inference of refinement towards the beverage being experienced. With a lack of information on pricing and origin, participants were forced to infer intrinsic qualities from the associations made with the adverts.

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX It is noted that those who drink beer are less likely to have a connoisseur label but are

11

more likely to be labeled as connoisseurs if they drank more often. The researchers realized that household income might be a factor in whether a person is a wine connoisseur owing to the vastly different lifestyle expectations of the rich. The research was limited by the cheapness of its researchers as wine connoisseurs were only willing to come if compensated for their time while others signed up in droves for the research headlined Beer and Wine Consumption. It might also be of interest to test if there are cultural differences in further research. The advertisements used in this experiment were extreme and produced fantastic effect sizes. It was a minor miracle that the board of ethics approved these stimuli. Further experimentation by other researchers will undoubtedly produce smaller effect sizes. Less stimulating ads will have to be used by researchers who are not already sleeping with every board member. Results of this research underline a point that marketing gurus have known for a long time: mainly that you should tap into the desires of those you want to persuade rather than lump them by vague demographics. People who understand whats important to the consumers anticipations of an event can get the most desirable outcome, just like your mother hiding your vegetables in your favourite soup just to get you to eat it,. She always closed the deal, and so do these persuaders. As long as you actually want what they are hawking, its a win-win for everybody.

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX References Blair, J.A. (1996). The possibility and actuality of visual arguments. Argumentation and Advocacy, 33, 23-39. Berger, A.A. (2004). Ads, fads, and consumer culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Chrysochou, P., Krystallis, A., Mocanu, A., Lewis, R.L. (2012). Generation Y preferences for wine: An exploratory study of the US market applying the best-worst scaling. British Food Journal, 114(4), 516-528.

12

Gonzales, J. (2012). Connoisseurs: Real Experts or Crazy Aristocrats?. Journal of Dopeyness, 42(12), 879-890. Hockley, W.E. (2008). The picture superiority effect in associative recognition. Memory & Cognition, 36(7), 1351-1359. Paivio, A.(1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press. Paivio, A. (1991). Dual Coding theory: Retrospect and current status. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 45, 225-287. Messaris, P. (1997). Visual persuasion: The role of images in advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Priilaid, D. (2006). Wines placebo effect. International Journal of Wine Marketing, 18(1), 18-32

ADVERTISING SNOBS AND SEX

13

Siegrist, M., Cousin, M.E. (2009). Expectations influence sensory experience in a wine tasting. Appetite, 52, 762-765. Simons, H.W. (2001). Persuasion in society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.