Mark Hanna • Apr 19, 2017 •
New Zealand has several layers of regulation to protect us against misleading health claims. Sometimes they all fail. My struggle against quackery over the last few years has given me some familiarity with the ways we’re protected against it, and with their shortcomings. Misleading people about their healthcare options is something that is clearly unethical. To quote the alt text … Read More
Guest Work • Mar 16, 2017 •
By David Evans Bailey, Auckland University of Technology By some estimates virtual reality (VR) will be a US$162 billion industry by 2020. Only 50% of this figure is projected to come from hardware sales; the rest will be revenue from software, content and services. It’s not just the size of the market that advertisers cannot afford to … Read More
John Kerr • Dec 18, 2016 •
As the big day approaches, there is no shortage of scientists turning their inquisitive minds to the mysteries of Christmas. In the spirit of the festive season, Sciblogs brings you a tinsel entwined ‘wrap-up’ of Noel-related research. Naughty or nice? Not so important for Santa Santa pays a visit to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. Source: BelfastLive. Read More
Guest Work • Dec 12, 2016 •
By Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Anglia Ruskin University Christmas is traditionally a time for giving. And for most of us, giving means buying – the perfect excuse for major retailers to conduct an advertising assault that pulls on our heart strings and empties our pockets. Seasonal TV adverts are usually full of signs and symbols playing on our subconscious, and … Read More
Ken Perrott • May 13, 2016 •
How often do we see ads like this promoting a product by claiming scientific support that doesn’t exist. All in the interest of profit. We are all wrong at times – usually a lot more often than we think, or are happy to acknowledge. But the only person who doesn’t make a mistake is the person who … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 21, 2015 •
Leslie Hallam, Lancaster University The Australian federal court has accused Reckitt Benckiser of misleading consumers. The UK-based company has been marketing products in their Nurofen range for specific types of pain. The truth is, they all contain the same active ingredient: an analgesic drug called ibuprofen. Ibuprofen can’t be targeted at any specific pains. No real … Read More
Mark Hanna • Dec 14, 2015 •
Nurofen provides targeted relief from pain. Or does it? For a long time now, the pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser has sold a range of their ibuprofen product Nurofen, which are marketed for four specific types of pain: Back pain Migraine pain Period pain Tension headache Since at least 2008, Nurofen has marketed these specific pain relief products saying they “ … Read More
Ken Perrott • Sep 24, 2014 •
The activist Fluoride Free NZ (FFNZ) organisation have had a bad year with the Advertising Complaint Authority (ASA). They have had half a dozen complaints against the for misleading advertising upheld. The latest complaint referred to FFNZ’s adverts for a … Continue reading → … Read More
Eric Crampton • Sep 14, 2014 •
I presented to the Ministerial Forum on Alcohol Advertising and Sponsorship a few months back with a brief submission on recent evidence on the effects of alcohol advertising on consumption behaviour.One pretty compelling recent piece of evidence is Jon Nelson's recent meta-analysis, published in 2011. The abstract:This paper presents a meta-analysis of prospective cohort (longitudinal) studies of … Read More
Paul Walker • Sep 23, 2013 •
The short answer, at least for political advertisements, seems to be yes. A recent article at VoxEU.org looks at Heterogeneous response across genders to tonal variation in messaging: Experimental evidence. The column by Vincenzo Galasso and Tommaso Nanni looks at how the perceived tone of a product or political advertisement affects public response – even holding … Read More