Advertising Trends in Weight-Control Issues:
A 10-Year Analysis of Essence and Ladies' Home Journal
Cornelius B. Pratt,1 Charlotte A. Pratt,2 Scarlett N. Montague,1
and Juliane C. Salazar1
1 Department of Advertising, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI 48824-1212.
2 Department of Human, Environmental, and Consumer Resources,
Ypsilanti, MI 48197.
Advertising Trends in Weight-Control Issues:
A 10-Year Analysis of Essence and Ladies' Home Journal
ABSTRACT
(Seventy-five words)
Weight-control advertisements in Essence, whose readership
is primarily African-American females, and in Ladies' Home
Journal (LHJ), whose readership is primarily white females, are
investigated over a 10-year period. LHJ had significantly higher
frequencies of ads on weight-control products, whereas Essence
had significantly higher proportions of weight-control messages
in such ads. Implications of these results for the health risks
associated with the prevalence of obesity among African-American
females are discussed.
Advertising Trends in Weight-Control Issues:
A 10-Year Analysis of Essence and Ladies' Home Journal
ABSTRACT
(Two hundred words)
Trends in advertisements on weight-control issues in Essence
and Ladies' Home Journal (LHJ) are investigated during two
five-year periods: 1984-1988, 1989-1993. The readership of LHJ
is primarily white females; that of Essence primarily
African-American females. The general health status of
African-American women has reached a crisis stage, and obesity is
more prevalent among African-American than among white women.
Over the two five-year periods, LHJ had significantly higher
frequencies of ads on weight-control products, whereas Essence
had significantly higher proportions of weight-control messages
in such ads. Implications of these results for the health risks
associated with the prevalence of obesity among African-American
females are discussed.
Comparing Advertising Trends in Weight-Control Issues:
A 10-Year Analysis of Essence and Ladies' Home Journal
The bleak state of the health of African-Americans and its
growing disparity with that of their white counterparts suggest
that more attention be focused on and more understanding be made
of the issue. It is, therefore, the purpose of this study to
investigate weight-control advertisements and message emphases of
such ads in two popular women's magazines: Essence and Ladies'
Home Journal (LHJ).
During the past decade, there has been an increase in
documented evidence that excessive body weight is an independent
risk factor for coronary heart disease, hypertension, some types
of cancer, diabetes mellitus, and gall bladder disease.1 Yet
obesity and overweight are still major health problems in the
United States: 34 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 74
are overweight, that is, their weight is equal to or greater than
that at the 85th percentile for men and women of ages 20 to 29;
13 million are obese, that is, have weights at or above the 95th
percentile.2 Women tend to have greater overall weight gains and
are prone to patterns of greater weight variability than men.3
But such tendencies are exacerbated by the significant ethnic
differences in the prevalence of overweight: 45.1% in black,
41.5% in Mexican, 39.8% in Puerto Rican, and 31.9% in Cuban women
compared with 24.6% in white women.4
The general health status of African-American women has
reached a crisis stage,5 and obesity is more prevalent among
African-American than among white women.6 For example, more than
44% of adult black women are overweight, compared with 27% of
white women.7 One study reported that the proportion of
African-American women who are overweight is about twice that of
white women or of either that of African-American or white men.8
And yet another study found that such obesity exists regardless
of the large proportion of African-American women who reported
that they were dieting.9
When women are compared within categories of relative
weight, proportionately fewer black women than either white or
Hispanic women consider themselves overweight because they do not
evaluate their weight in relation to a health-based ideal, but
rather in comparison only with those of other black women, who
are heavier on the average than white women.10
The incidence of overweight and obesity among adult black
women, for example, suggests the dissemination of information
that highlights the links among weight, nutrition and health.
Among the major U.S. media for disseminating this information is
advertising. And print media, particularly advertisements, are
the primary sources of information on the food choices of U.S.
adults and affect consumer decision-making.11
Hickman, Gates and Dowdy12 reported a steady increase in
nutritional claims by food and beverage advertisements in four
women's magazines throughout the 1980s. Many of those claims
highlighted links between a certain dietary habit such as the
intake of cholesterol and the development of diseases like
cancer. This present research examines trends in advertisements
of weight-control issues over a 10-year period (1984 to 1993) in
two women's magazines: Essence and LHJ.
The significance of weight-control advertisements in popular
consumer magazines can be explained by the mere-exposure theory,
which holds that mere repeated exposure of individuals to a
stimulus enhances their attitudes toward it.13 Understandably,
individuals' responses to such stimuli are determined by a host
of psychosocial variables.
Research Questions
The exploratory nature of this study suggests that research
questions rather than hypotheses guide data collection and
analysis. Its overriding purpose was to determine the types and
amount of weight-control-specific advertisements published in two
magazines. Thus, this study provides that information by
answering the following research questions:
1. What types and amount of weight-control
advertisements did Essence and LHJ publish during a
10-year period?
2. What are the product categories and promotional
messages in advertisements on weight-control in
Essence and LHJ during a 10-year period?
3. What are the implications of product emphasis and
promotional messages of the advertisements in Essence
and LHJ for the health risks of their readerships?
Method
Sample. All health-related, weight-control advertisements
that appeared in two consumer magazinesyyEssence and LHJyyfrom
1984 through 1993 were identified and content analyzed. The
rationale for selecting this period was to identify any changes
in weight-control advertisements and associated messages during
that time. The five-year split was justified in that 1990
signified a transition in the food industry and regulatory
developments by the U.S. government. In 1989, for example, the
National Research Council issued its report on diet and health.14
In 1990, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of
Health and Human Services revised their Dietary Guidelines for
Americans.15 Both reports recommended maintaining appropriate
body weight, increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables and
grains, and limiting the intake of fat, cholesterol, sodium and
sugar. Further, in 1990, the Food and Drug Administration issued
a call to the food industry to be more socially responsible and
to use accurate health messages on food labels and in promotional
messages in advertisements. Even so, there have been instances
of false and misleading ads on weight-management programs.16
Rationale for magazine selection. Magazines were selected
because informational cuesyythat is, information potentially
useful to the consumeryyare substantially higher for magazine
than for television advertisements.17 Each magazine investigated
in this present study was selected because of the homogeneous
racial characteristic of its readership (Table 1). Kumanyika18
notes that to understand the special needs of minorities they are
often compared with whites or with non-Hispanic whites, but that
differences between minority and white populations in age
distribution, socioeconomic status and regional and urban/rural
residence patterns have varying implications for policy and
intervention.
_______________________
Table 1 about here
_______________________
More than 90% of LHJ's readership is white, whereas about
90% of that of Essence is black. Another obvious difference in
readership is in marital status: While about 65% of that of LHJ
is married, about 35% of that of Essence is in that category.
Also, more younger people tend to read Essence than read LHJ.
Essence was established in 1970. Its editorial profile
states that it is a magazine for today's black women. It is
edited for career-minded, sophisticated, and independent
achievers. It publishes editorial content on health and fitness.
Its monthly circulation is more than one million.
LHJ was launched in 1883 as one of the "Big Six" magazines
directed at women.19 It publishes features and articles on
health and medicine. It circulates more than 5.2 million copies
monthly.
Content analysis. For the purposes of this study, a
health-related, weight-control advertisement, the unit of
analysis, was defined from the point of view of the consumer as
any form of non-editorial information on weight control used to
sell a product or service. This included general ads, tear-out
coupons with ads, free-standing inserts, and recipe booklets with
ads.
Two senior advertising students at Michigan State University
were trained in coding techniques by the senior authors. The
students independently identified and coded advertisements on
weight control in 120 issues of Essence and of LHJ. Each
advertisement was analyzed and coded into two categories: product
advertised and promotional messages used. These categories were
largely based on those developed and validated by Barr.20 Only
product categories with weight-control-specific messages such as
low-calorie breads and cereals and low-fat or light milk and
dairy products were coded. The categories for product
advertised consisted of 13 items: diet pills, beverages (e.g.,
special supplements), beverages (e.g., diet colas), milk and
dairy products, breads and cereals, vegetables, protein-rich
foods, desserts and snacks, prepared dishes and meals, frozen
foods, ingredients and condiments, weight-loss equipment and
services, and a miscellaneous category that included
weight-related food items that could not be coded into the other
categories.
The second category coded was the promotional message,
operationally defined as the explicit, weight-control-specific
message in an advertisement. There were 10 such categories:
quick weight loss, low calorie, fat free, sugar free, cholesterol
free, light, easy to follow, health professional's
recommendation, low salt or salt free, and "other category."
The Holti21 formula was used to assess intercoder
reliability, which was .89, indicating a high index of
consistency. Chi-square was the statistical method used to
identify any statistically significant differences between the
two five-year periods for each magazine and between the two
magazines over a 10-year period. The acceptable statistically
significant level was established at p <.05 level.
Results
Product categories. There was no statistically significant
difference between the total number of weight-control ads
published in Essence during the two five-year periods
investigated in this study (y2 [1] 0.22 [Table 2]). There were
103 ads during first period (1984 to 1988), compared with 110
during the second period (1989 to 1993). Interestingly, the No.
1 weight-related ads in Essence from 1984 through 1988 were for
diet pills (32%), with the second-largest on diet colas (21.4%).
However, from 1989 through 1993, the largest number were on
special supplements, with those on breads and cereals a close
second. Ads on frozen foods and on ingredients and condiments
were minuscule. _______________________
Table 2 about here
_______________________
Between the two five-year periods, and among all 13 product
categories, significant differences were found for fewer than
one-half of the product categories for Essence, with the largest
decrease occurring for diet pills (y2 [1] 30.10, p < .001) and
the largest increase for breads and cereals (y2 [1] 15.72, p <
.001). Unlike for Essence, there was a statistically
significant difference between the total number of weight-control
ads published in LHJ during the two five-year periods
investigated in this study (y2 [1] 72.0, p <.001 [Table 2]).
There were 442 ads during first period (1984 to 1988), compared
with 733 during the second period (1989 to 1993). Also unlike
the finding for Essence, no product category had a clear-cut
edge, by frequencies, over others for 1984-1988: miscellaneous
products accounted for about 20%, while desserts and snacks
accounted for slightly more than 17%. From 1989 through 1993,
however, desserts and snacks had the highest frequency, with
about 29%.
Ads for weight-loss equipment and services decreased
significantly in Essence (y2 [1] 5.32, p <.05) and increased
significantly in LHJ (y2 [1] 5.80, p <.05).
When the total number of ads in both magazines are compared,
it is clear that Essence has significantly fewer ads on products
related to weight-control issues than does LHJ (y2 [1] 666.62, p
< .001 [Table 3]). This difference may result from differences
in both circulation sizes and the average page length of each
issue. (LHJ circulates more copies and, on the average, has more
advertising linage than Essence.) The largest frequency of ads
in Essence was on diet pills; that in LHJ was on desserts and
snacks. Both magazines differed significantly in 11 of the 13
product categories.
_____________________
Table 3 about here
_____________________
Message categories. Essence had significant increases in
message categories, from 145 between 1984 and 1988 to 210 between
1989 and 1993 (y2 [1] 11.90, p < .001 [Table 4]). The largest
significant increases in advertised messages between the two
five-year periods were observed for fat free, sugar free,
cholesterol free, and light. The largest significant decreases
occurred for quick weight loss (y2 [1] 14.52, p < .001).
_____________________
Table 4 about here
_____________________
Similarly, for LHJ, the frequencies of message categories
increased significantly between the two five-year periods.
However, significant decreases were observed for messages on
quick weight loss, low calorie, and sugar free in 1989-1993,
compared to 1984-1988. The largest significant increase occurred
for fat free (y2 [1] 172.44, p < .001).
When the total number of ads in both magazines are compared,
it is clear that, again, Essence has significantly fewer messages
on weight-control issues than does LHJ (Table 5). Again,
however, such difference may be an artifact of differences in
circulation and in advertising linage.
_____________________
Table 5 about here
_____________________
The largest message frequencies in Essence were on fat free
and cholesterol free; that in LHJ were on low calorie and fat
free. Both magazines differed significantly on all 10 message
categories, with Essence showing significantly higher frequencies
than LHJ in six of the 10 message categories. Even though LHJ
had significantly more (p < .001) cholesterol-free messages than
Essence, the percentage ratios were the same for both magazines.
Health Implications and Future Studies
Over the two five-year periods, both magazines show
increases in the number of published advertisements, by both
product and message categories. These increases reflect the
growing interest by the food industry in weight-control issues.
One striking difference between both magazines in their
advertising of weight-control products is that Essence published
significantly fewer weight-control ads than LHJ, which had
significantly higher frequencies in seven product items and
significantly lower in four. Even though there is a
preponderance of obesity among African-American women, compared
with Caucasian women,22 we find that weight-related product ads
were significantly more represented in LHJ than in Essence (Table
3). It is plausible to expect that food companies that place ads
in a consumer magazine that targets African-Americans be
explicitly sensitive to the health risks of the magazine
readership. This expectation seems important, in that
African-Americans take advertisements more literally than their
white counterparts.23 However, because of the dependence of U.S.
consumer magazines on advertising dollars, the stiff competition
among magazines for advertising sales, and the little leverage
advertising departments of magazines have in rejecting ads,
advertising agencies (as representatives of food companies) have
a fairly free rein in ad placement. Thus, the responsibility of
the media for health promotion is undermined by advertisements
that promote products that are detrimental to public health. An
example of such ads could have occurred in June 1991 when G.
Heileman Brewing Company announced plans to market a potent malt
liquor, PowerMaster, to African-Americans. Its marketing was
halted because it raised the ire of consumer and health groups,
who vigorously opposed it.
The advertising pressure to which the media are subjected
was recognized by Wallack when he wrote: " . . advertising may
well be a potent anti-health education force that serves to
minimize the potential effects of health promotion campaigns.
Advertising serves systematically to disassociate consumption
from health risks and problems."24
Particularly for magazines, pressures from advertisers are
an economic reality, as noted by Meyer: "In the magazine
industry, independence may be harder to obtain as increasing
specialization limits the range of advertisers who support a
publication."25 And for magazines that target the
African-American readership, reliance on advertising for
nutritionally questionable products such as liquor and cigarettes
is even more critical. Woods notes, for example, that "Black
magazines earn more of their revenue from cigarett ads than do
similar publications."26 Similarly, Lockhart, president of an
advertising agency in New York City, iterates the criticalness of
such a reliance on advertisements for unhealthful,
non-nutritional products: "If they kill off cigarette and alcohol
advertisements, black papers may as well stop printing."27 In
fact, advertising managers are concerned about the long-range
effects of declining advertising linage on the African-American
press.28 These realities encourage media-advocacy groups to set
the health agenda, to shape the resulting debate, and to advance
the policy that will ensure that the media focus the spotlight on
a public health point of view and create the environment which
scrutinizes media messages.29
In this present study, when the emphases of weight-related
ads are examined, however, Essence has a significantly higher
proportion of weight-related promotional messages than LHJ.
This result appears encouraging, in light of the incidence and
preponderance of obesity among its readership. Research shows
that when product information is contextual, that is, product
attributes are primed (e.g., "this product is light and
nutritious"), the advertising context may affect consumer
evaluation of the advertised brand.30
Comparisons of trends over the 10-year period show that,
while Essence has more increases than decreases in the proportion
of ads for products specifically related to weight control and
LHJ has more significant decreases than increases,
message-specific promotional ads in Essence, by frequencies, were
significantly more than those of LHJ. From a strictly
comparative standpoint, this finding is telling in light of the
failure of the white press to provide adequate information of
interest to African-Americans.31 Therefore, it suggests that
Essence's readership is more likely than not to be exposed to ads
related to its health risks.
For both magazines, results indicate decreases in ads on
diet pills and increases in some of the more healthful methods of
weight management, suggesting that the food industry is catering
to the health needs of its consumers. This may also suggest that
advertisers are increasingly becoming responsive to findings
that, even though the use of dietary pills often promote initial
weight loss, weight regain typically occurs after the drug is
withdrawn.32
Granted, exposure to advertisements is but one element in
the weight-control mix that people tend to apply toward healthful
lifestyles. The mere-exposure theory suggests that repeated
audience exposure to a stimulus may result in behaviors
consistent with the messages.33 Evidence shows that professional
black women who use a variety of methods, including
weight-control workshops and diet management, to reduce their
weight report expected improvements.34 While the present study
suggests that Essence and LHJ publish a variety of ads related to
weight control, future research could identify their effects on
weight loss and retention of participants in weight-reduction
programs. Further, the effects of such ads on the role of health
professionals (for example, physicians) in weight management
could be investigated.
NOTES
1. The Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health:
Summary and Recommendations, DHHS Publication PHS 88-50211
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Public Health Service, 1988); Shiriki Kumanyika, "Diet and
Chronic Disease Issues for Minority Populations," Journal of
Nutrition Education 22 (March/April 1990):89-96; David A. Leaf,
"Overweight: Assessment and Management Issues," American Family
Physician 42 (September 1990): 653-660; Shiriki Kumanyika and
Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, "Obesity, Diet, and Psychosocial
Factors Contributing to Cardiovascular Disease in Blacks," in
Cardiovascular Diseases in Blacks 21, eds. Elijah Saunders and
Albert N. Brest (Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, 1991), 47-73; Aaron
R. Folsom, Gregory L. Burke, Carolyn L. Byers, Richard G.
Hutchinson, Gerardo Heiss, John M. Flack, David R. Jacobs, Jr.
and Bette Caan, "Implications of Obesity for Cardiovascular
Disease in Blacks: The CARDIA and ARIC Studies," The American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53 (June 1991,
supplement):1604S-1611S; Margaret A. Lavery and John W. Loewy,
"Identifying Predictive Variables for Long-Term Weight Change
After Participation in a Weight Loss Program," Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 93 (September 1993):1017-1024; Dale
F. Pearson, "The Black Man: Health Issues and Implications for
Clinical Practice," Journal of Black Studies 25 (September
1994):81-98.
2. Theodore B. Van Itallie, "Health Implications of
Overweight and Obesity in the United States," Annals of Internal
Medicine, Vol. 103 (December 1985, Part 2):983-988; and National
Research Council Committee on Diet and Health, Diet and Health:
Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk (Washington, DC:
Academy Press, 1989):115-116.
3. Sachiko T. St. Jeor, "The Role of Weight Management in
the Health of Women," Journal of the American Dietetic
Association 93 (September 1993):1007-1012.
4. David F. Williamson, Henry S. Kahn, Patrick L.
Remington, and Robert F. Anda, "The 10-Year Incidence of
Overweight and Major Weight Gain in US Adults," Archives of
Internal Medicine 150 (March 1990):665-672.
5. Byllye Y. Avery, "The Health Status of Black Women," in
Health Issues in the Black Community, eds. Ronald L. Braithwaite
and Sandra E. Taylor (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992), 35-51.
6. Shiriki Kumanyika, "Obesity in Black Women,"
Epidemiologic Reviews 9 (1987):31-50; and David F. Williamson,
Henry S. Kahn, and Tim Byers, "The 10-y Incidence of Obesity and
Major Weight Gain in Black and White US Women Aged 30-55 y," The
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53 (June 1991,
supplement):1515S-1518S.
7. "Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Year 200
Objectives for the Nation," (Draft for Public Review and Comment)
Washington D. C.: Public Health Service, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, September 1989.
8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Nutrition monitoring in the United
States: An Update Report on Nutrition Monitoring, DHHS
Publication No. PHS 89-1255. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1989).
9. National Center for Health Statistics, Health Promotion
and Disease Prevention, United States, 1985. (DHHS Publication
No. 88-1591) Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
10. Deborah A. Dawson, "Ethnic Differences in Female
Overweight: Data from the 1985 National Health Interview Survey,"
American Journal of Public Health 78 (October 1988):1326-1329.
11. Katherine L. Clancy and Deborah L. Helitzer, "Food
Advertising," in Nutrition Update, eds. Jean Weininger and George
M. Briggs (New York: John Wiley, 1983), 357-379; Ann A. Hertzler
and Ingolf Gr n, "Potential Nutrition Messages in Magazines Read
by College Students," Adolescence 25 (Fall 1990):717-724; Nancy
Wellman, "'The Good and the Bad': How Americans are Making Food
Choices," Nutrition News 53 (Spring 1990):1-3.
12. Beth W. Hickman, Gail E. Gates, and Richard P. Dowdy,
"Nutrition Claims in Advertising: A study of Four Women's
Magazines," Journal of Nutrition Education 25 (September-October
1993):227-234.
13. Robert B. Zajonc, "Attitudinal Effects of Mere
Exposure," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Monograph Supplement, Part 2, 9 (June 1968):1-27.
14. National Research Council, Diet and Health.
15. U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary
Guideline for Americans, 3rd ed. (Washington, D. C.: Government
Printing Office, 1990).
16. For example, Steven W. Colford, "FTC Probes Claims of 5
Diet Programs," Advertising Age (March 29, 1993), 2; Steven W.
Colford, "Weight Watchers Plans to Fight FTC Ad Charges,"
Advertising Age (October 4, 1993), 2.
17. Bruce L. Stern, Dean M.Krugman, and Alan Resnik,
"Magazine Advertising: An Analysis of Its Information Content,"
Journal of Advertising Research 21 (April 1981), 39-44
18. Shiriki K. Kumanyika, "Special Issues Regarding Obesity
in Minority Populations," in Methods for Voluntary Weight Loss
and Control (Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Health, 1992),
29.
19. The "Big Six" were Ladies' Home Journal (1883-present),
McCall's (1897-present), Delineator (1873-1939), Woman's Home
Companion (1873-1956), Pictorial Review (1899-1939), and Good
Housekeeping (1885-present).
20. Susan I. Barr, "Nutrition in Food Advertising: Content
Analysis of a Canadian Women's Magazine, 1928-1986," Journal of
Nutrition Education 21 (March-April 1989):64-72.
21. Ole R. Holsti, Content Analysis for the Social Sciences
and Humanities (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969).
22. Kumanyika, "Obesity in Black Women."
23. Gail B. Woods, Advertising and Marketing to the New
Majority, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1995), 42.
24. Lawrence Wallack, "Mass Media and Health Promotion:
Promise, Problem, and Challenge," in Mass Communication and
Public Health: Complexities and Conflicts, eds. Charles Atkin and
Lawrence Wallack (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1990), 47-48.
25. Philip Meyer, "News Media Responsiveness to Public
Health," in Mass Communication and Public Health: Complexities
and Conflicts, eds. Charles Atkin and Lawrence Wallack (Newbury
Park, Calif.: Sage, 1990), 56.
26. Woods, Advertising and Marketing to the New majority,
59.
27. Keith Lockhart, quoted in Marilyn Kern-Foxworth,
"Cancer is an Equal Opportunity Disease," Media & Values 54-55
(Spring/Summer 1991): 25.
28. Dennis C. Schatzman, "How the Black Press Gets
Slighted," Editor & Publisher, 8 December 1990, 46, 56.
29. Lawrence Wallack, Lori Dorfman, David Jernigan, and
Makani Themba, Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for
Prevention, (Newbury Park: Sage, 1993).
30. Youjae Yi, "The Effects of Contextual Priming in Print
Advertisements," Journal of Consumer Research 17 (September
1990), 215-222.
31. Roland E. Wolseley, The Black Press (Ames, IA: Iowa
State University Press, 1990), 10-14.
32. Janet L. Christian and Janet L. Greger, Nutrition for
Living (Redwood City, CA: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing
Company, 1994), 306.
33. Zajonc, "Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure."
34. Michael F. Burnett and Beth Reames, "Weight Management
Practices of Black Paraprofessional Women," Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 91 (July 1991):841-843.
Table 1
A Demographic Profile of Magazine Readership1
Ladies' Home
Essence Journal
(in '000s) (in '000s)
(N = 5,144) (N = 14,822)
Race
Black 90.1% 9.1%
White 9.5% 89.6%
Other 0.4% 1.2%
Age
18-24 20.0% 6.1%
25-34 31.7% 19.8%
35-44 26.2% 24.1%
45-54 12.9% 15.9%
Education
Graduated college 16.6% 18.2%
Attended college 29.2% 29.2%
Graduated high school 42.7% 39.9%
Attended high school 10.6% 9.5%
Employment Status
Employed full-time 65.2% 53.0%
Employed part-time 5.4% 9.4%
Not employed 29.4% 37.6%
Household Income
$40,000 or higher 32.8% 43.1%
$30,000-$39,999 14.1% 9.7%
$20,000-$29,999 17.9% 15.1%
$10,000-$19,999 21.1% 15.4%
Lower than $10,000 14.2% 8.8%
Marital Status
Single 46.2% 11.1%
Married 34.7% 64.6%
Divorced/separated 15.6% 13.7%
Widowed 3.5% 10.6%
1 Source: Simmons Study of Media and Markets (New York: Simmons
Market Research Bureau, Inc., 1993).
NOTE: Column totals are not necessarily 100% because of missing
data.
Table 3
Frequencies of Product Categories for Weight-Control
Advertisements in Essence and Ladies' Home Journal, by 10-Year
Period, 1984-1993
Ladies' Home
Essence Journal
Product category (N = 213) (N = 1,175) p <a
Diet pills 16.0% 3.4% n.s.
Beverages (e.g., special
supplements) 13.6% 5.0% .01
Beverages (e.g., diet colas) 15.5% 3.1% n.s.
Milk and dairy products 4.2% 10.5% .001
Breads and cereals 10.3% 11.1% .001
Vegetables 3.3% 6.0% .001
Protein-rich foods 12.2% 9.5% .001
Desserts/snacks 3.7% 24.9% .001
Prepared dishes/meals 11.3% 6.1% .001
Frozen foods 0.5% 0.7% .05
Ingredients/condiments 0.5% 8.3% .001
Weight-loss equipment/
services 5.6% 3.7% .001
Miscellaneous 3.3% 7.7% .001
a DF = 1. Significant differences were determined by chi-square
tests.
Table 5
Frequencies of Message Categories for Weight-Control
Advertisements in Essence and Ladies' Home Journal, by 10-Year
Period, 1984-1993
Ladies' Home
Essence Journal
Messages (N = 355) (N = 2,019) p = <a
Quick weight loss 15.2% 6.2% .001
Low calorie 10.4% 20.1% .001
Fat free 20.3% 19.0% .001
Sugar free 14.1% 11.5% .001
Cholesterol free 18.3% 18.3% .001
Light 3.1% 11.5% .001
Easy to follow 4.2% 2.3% .001
Health professional's
recommendation 3.7% 1.5% .01
Low salt 3.4% 9.2% .001
Other 7.3% 0.4% .01
a DF = 1. Significant differences were determined by chi-square
tests.
Table 2
Frequencies of Product Categories for Weight-Control Advertisements in Essence
and Ladies' Home Journal,
by two Five-Year Periods
Essence
Ladies' Home Journal
___________________________________
___________________________________
1984-1988 1989-1993
1984-1988 1989-1993
Product category (n = 103) (n = 110) ~2 p < (n =
442) (n = 733) ~2 p <
__________________________ ___________________________________
____________________________________
Diet Pills 32.0% 0.9% 30.10 .001 5.7%
2.0% ~~ n.s.
Beverages (e.g., special
supplements) 5.8% 20.9% 9.80 .01 6.1%
4.4% ~~ n.s.
Beverages (e.g., diet colas) 21.4% 10.0% ~~ n.s. 2.5%
3.4% 5.40 .05
Milk and dairy products 6.8% 1.8% ~~ n.s. 7.0%
12.5% 30.26 .001
Breads and cereals 1.9% 18.2% 15.72 .001 12.4%
10.4% ~~ n.s.
Vegetables 4.9% 1.8% ~~ n.s. 3.6%
7.4% 20.06 .001
Protein-rich foods 8.7% 15.4% ~~ n.s. 7.9%
10.5% 15.76 .001
Desserts/snacks 1.9% 5.5% ~~ n.s. 17.4%
29.3% 65.20 .001
________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________
Table 2 continues
Table 2 (continued)
Prepared dishes/meals 4.9% 17.3% 8.16 .01
7.7% 5.2% ~~ n.s.
Frozen foods 1.0% 0% ~~ n.s.
2.0% 0 ~~ n.s.
Ingredients/condiments 0 0.9% ~~ n.s.
4.8% 10.4% 31.20 .001
Weight-loss equipment/
services 9.7% 1.8% 5.32 .05
3.2% 4.1% 5.80 .05
Miscellaneous 1.0% 5.5% ~~ n.s.
19.7% 0.4% 78.40 n.s.
Table 4
Frequencies of Message Categories for Weight-Control Advertisements in Essence
and Ladies' Home Journal,
by Two Five-Year Periods
Essence
Ladies' Home Journal
___________________________________
___________________________________
1984-1988 1989-1993
1984-1988 1989-1993
Messages (n = 145) (n = 210) ~2 p < (n =
707) (n = 1,312) ~2 p <
__________________________ ___________________________________
____________________________________
Quick weight loss 28.3% 6.2% 14.52 .001 11.0%
3.6% 7.14 .01
Low calorie 11.0% 10.0% ~~ n.s. 24.2%
18.0% 10.08 .01
Fat free 15.9% 23.3% 9.38 .01 8.9%
24.4% 172.44 .001
Sugar free 9.0% 17.6% 11.52 .001 13.3%
10.5% 8.34 .001
Cholesterol free 1.4% 30.0% 57.20 .001 15.3%
19.9% 63.44 .001
Light .68% 4.8% 7.36 .01 9.3%
12.7% 43.78 .001
Easy to follow 8.3% 1.4% 5.40 .05 4.0%
1.4% ~~ n.s.
Health professional's
recommendation 7.6% 1.0% 6.20 .05 2.1%
1.1% ~~ n.s.
________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________
Table 4 continues
Table 4 (continued)
Low salt 0 5.7% ~~ n.s.
10.6% 8.4% 6.62 .05
Other 17.9% 0% ~~ n.s.
1.3% 0 ~~ n.s.
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