|
COMPANIONSHIP IN THE CLASSIFIEDS: THE ADOPTION OF PERSONAL ADVERTISEMENTS BY DAILY NEWSPAPERS Debra L. Merskin University of Oregon Mara Huberlie Syracuse University COMPANIONSHIP IN THE CLASSIFIEDS: THE ADOPTION OF PERSONAL ADVERTISEMENTS BY DAILY NEWSPAPERS ABSTRACT This study investigates advertising for romantic partners in the daily newspaper. A telephone survey of U.S. daily newspapers shows that mate-finding is becoming a matter of mediated information, suggesting a new function for the media. Media dependency theory predicts that individuals will tend to turn to the mass media for this information. The adoption of innovation model explains the process needed to do so. COMPANIONSHIP IN THE CLASSIFIEDS: THE ADOPTION OF PERSONAL ADVERTISEMENTS BY DAILY NEWSPAPERS Finding a romantic partner is an age-old process. In modern times, finding a partner has become complicated by urbanization and social and geographic mobility. This has resulted in a loss of personal contacts for locating and identifying eligible others. Consequently, many singles have turned to less personal means of securing a partner. Today, opportunities for meeting others can be found in the daily newspaper. This medium is relied upon as a source of many kinds of important information, such as identifying employment opportunities, locating housing, and now, finding a partner. This change from traditional means of securing a partner in the United States suggests that mass media serve a new function--that of interpersonal intermediary. Few studies have looked at dependency on the mass media as a part of everyday life. This study suggests that media dependency theory predicts the use of the mass media for mate-seeking, in the absence of other more personal sources of information. A telephone survey was conducted among 67 metropolitan daily newspapers. The findings describe how daily newspapers have responded to readers needs by adding personal advertisements to their repertoire of features. BACKGROUND Clearly, whatever form courtship, betrothal and marriage take within different cultures, their function is to mark the passage from one status to another, such as from youth to maturity, outsideness to belonging, and aloneness to companionship. The importance of marriage changes as societies become increasingly industrialized, urbanized and modernized. Searching for Companionship. Methods of mate-seeking vary by culture. In many cases, parents select partners for their children. For example, in traditional Arab society, systems of infant betrothal and cross-cousin marriage are not uncommon .[1] In traditional/tribal societies, such as that of the Trobriand Islanders, partner selection is left largely to the whims of youth. According to Malinowski, young persons in this society cohabitate to find compatible partners. Among the Yanomama Indians of the Amazon, securing wives is often accomplished through acquisitions of women by force from other tribes.[2] In many societies, the role of matchmaker is important. Japan has a particularly long tradition of matchmaking, facilitated by an individual known as the nakado. The nakado is responsible for introducing prospective partners to one another, for carrying on background investigations, and for officiating at the marriage ceremony. According to Dore, the arranged marriage (miai-kekkon) means that the parties have been brought together expressly to be married on the initiative of parents, a friend of the family or by way of a go-between.[3] Evidence that this system is still in use was the 1993 marriage of Japan's Prince Naruhito to Masako Owada.[4] Another well-known example of the arranged marriage can be found in Jewish culture. Marriage is one of the most important milestones in the lives of Jewish men and women. A matchmaker (shadkan) often arranges meetings between young people. Popular portrayals, such as in the film Crossing Delancey and in plays such as Fiddler on the Roof and Hello, Dolly!, depict the duties of this individual. Throughout the world, drastic changes have been taking place in the ways in which people select mates. Some say that parental involvement is declining, or even extinct, and that individual choice is an increasingly preferred method of finding a partner. According to Murstein, factors related to the rise of self-selection are urban living, industrialization, changes in religion, declining influence of parental control, and later age at marriage.[5] The Role of the Mass Media Changes in mate-selection are related to changes in society. One of the most important changes to society in the last 200 years has been industrialization. Several 19th century theorists anticipated industrialization and predicted that this process would have a variety of effects on society. According to Comte, as specialized functions grow, and ineffective social organizations fail to provide adequate linkages between people, the individual becomes isolated from others. Social groups begin to play a lesser role, leading eventually to the notion of the "lonely crowd," which is identified by feelings of isolation, loneliness, and unhappiness. Spencer suggested that specialization is a natural, evolutionary outgrowth of industrial society and that "society undergoes continuous growth." As society grows, its parts become dissimilar. [6] T nnies' theory of social bonds portrayed a pre-industrial society existing in a state of "Gemeinschaft," of "reciprocal binding sentiment." This condition would be replaced by an industrial society called "Gesellschaft," characterized by "reciprocal binding contract." This later stage was described as featuring impersonality, anonymity, social distance, distrust and isolation.[7] The accompanying division of labor would also increase social individuality. Durkheim suggested that society would thrive on specialization, but concurred with his peers that there would be social consequences. Suggesting that the conditions of solidarity would vary, Durkheim proposed that the division of labor that produces solidarity would increase social individuality. As a result, the individual in such a mass society becomes subject to psychological isolation, reduced effective interpersonal communication, an increase in confusion and ambivalence--a state called anomie.[8] Individuals become confused about how to interact with the world around them and close and intimate ties between people are reduced. This lessens influences from interpersonal communication and leaves the individual more vulnerable to influences from other sources such as the mass media. A theory that incorporates the mass society concept is media dependency theory.[9] This theory suggests that as a society becomes more complex and there are fewer traditional, interpersonal routes available to individuals for solving problems, they tend to turn to the mass media for that information.[10] DeFleur defines dependency as "a relationship in which the satisfaction of needs or the attainment of goals by one party is contingent upon the resources of another party."[11] Media dependency can be defined as "a relationship in which the capacity of individuals to attain their goals is contingent upon the information resources of the media system."[12] The basic propositions of the theory are that people in all societies need information to make numerous decisions about political affairs, to obtain food, shelter and transportation and to find a mate. In traditional societies, people tend to pursue similar ways of life and are linked by word-of-mouth networks of extended families, long-term neighbors and other channels from which they obtain the information they need. In urban-industrial societies, dissimilar populations are brought together, despite differences in ethnicity, occupational specialization, and economic class. Because of this social differentiation, there is a weakening of effective word-of-mouth channels based on deeply established social ties through which people can obtain the information they need in daily life. Therefore, people in these societies become dependent upon mass communications for information needed to make decisions.[13] In a modern urban-industrial society, such as in the United States, the media system is part of the social fabric. The key relationships are based on dependency, which may be with the entire media system or with a particular medium, such as television or newspapers. According to Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, as the quality of the media improve technologically, the media assume more and more unique information functions. These functions include the gathering, processing and delivery of information.[14] Lasswell wrote in 1948 that the media serve three functions within American society: (1) surveillance of the environment, (2) correlation of the parts of society responding to the environment, and (3) transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next.[15] Wright added a fourth function to this array, entertainment.[16] As changes in society have occurred along with industrialization, such as increases in social conflict and social change, individuals rely on the mass media to reduce resultant feelings of ambiguity. The media provide new methods of answering questions associated with the problems of daily life. This has occurred before in newspapers, when features such as advertising, entertainment, gossip, political analysis, comics and advice columns arose to usurp such functions previously fulfilled through interp ersonal means. Mate Finding in Modern Society A successful life in a complex society requires that individuals rely upon others to attain both personal and collective goals. Traditionally, channels of communication have been based on interpersonal relationships as is found between parent and child, neighbor and neighbor, clergy and parishioner, or teacher and student. The concept of opinion leadership is related to these interactions. Individuals tend to seek out others whom they feel are knowledgeable about particular topics. Lazarsfeld et al., suggested that ordinary people identify with people who are (1) knowledgeable, (2) trustworthy, (3) available, and (4) acceptable.[17] A person interested in finding a mate might analyze where they could find the necessary information to meet someone. He or she may ask a neighbor; his or her mother or father may invite someone to dinner; two people might meet in church. Up until recently, such informal methods have been sufficient. However, several changes in society have led to the break-up of traditional patterns: (1) families have become disrupted, (2) people have become increasingly geographically mobile, (3) society has become increasingly racially and ethnically diverse, and (4) society has become increasingly specialized in its occupational roles and social status. Therefore, it has become more difficult to breach barriers to interpersonal interaction. According to Schudson, relationships with people who helped socialize the individual have become weakened. The rules, norms, attitudes, and behaviors that to the child seemed natural, seem foreign to the adult who has moved away. What was internalized is now seen as external, arbitrary, even alien. The individual is separated from the past. Therefore, they tend to rely more and more on the mass media to serve these needs and a dependency develops.[18] Some methods for locating romantic partners, such as singles bars, have become unacceptable to many. This is due, at least in part, to rising concerns over sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, limits on free time, and decreasing acceptance of social drinking. For many years advertising for companionship carried a similar stigma--"a discrediting attribute" that suggested desperate and even deviate behavior.[19]. Personal ads have historically had a seedy image, mainly due to their association with the alternative press such as the Village Voice and the Berkeley Barb. According to the Chicago Tribune: The increased volume [of personal ads] is in part a measure of the increasing respectability of finding a date through ads or services. No longer reserved for seedy types looking for one ([or] two or three) kindred spirits for some kinky fun, everyone from church-going single mothers to university professors are signing up.[20] Even today some stigma remains. Several recent movies and television dramas have stressed that finding companions through ads is dangerous. For example, in the film Sea of Love, Al Pacino portrays a police officer investigating the murders of men who advertised in the personal ads.[21] A 1993 made-for-television movie (Dying to Love You) describes the story of a woman who uses personal ads to lure wealthy male companions whom she would murder for their money.[22] THE RESEARCH PROBLEM This study investigates the presence of media dependency in everyday life. Media dependency theory predicts that as traditional systems of mate-finding became inadequate in a mass society, the media will take on that role as it becomes socially acceptable. Previous studies on media dependency theory have focused primarily on quasi-experimental situations in which dependence on the media was measured under circumstances of natural disasters. For example, Hirshburg, et al.., found that the media were the primary information source used by persons at the 1980 Mount Saint Helens volcano eruption and that individuals continued to rely on the media to reduce feelings of ambiguity associated with the experience.[23] Donlon and Roush studied the tendency for people to turn to the media during the 1986 U.S. attack on Libya.[24] A dependency theory framework was used by Nigg to describe the seeking of earthquake forecasting information from the media. In their study of the mass media in earthquake warnings, Turner and Paz found low reliance on interpersonal channels consistent with media dependency theory.[25] In the Great American Values Test, Ball-Rokeach, et al.., found that television was implicated in all of the dependency types and that watching even a small amount of television could alter beliefs, related attitudes and behavior.[26] Grant, et al.. discovered that genre dependency plays a central role in television shopping behavior.[27] Becker and Whitney demonstrated that individuals can become dependent on a particular medium for information and that people who are dependent upon different media tend to have different views of the world.[28] Champaigne-Alman discovered that foreign-born individuals who immigrate to the U.S. tend to rely on the mass media of the host culture, particularly television, and tend to use that media before arrival.[29] Other researchers have also drawn upon media dependency theory under experimental conditions. Miller and Reese found that the more an individual depends on a particular medium, the more likely it is that a message contained within that medium will have its intended effect.[30] Gaziano's study of dependency stressed that individuals are located in specific social environments. The researcher found evidence that people depend on media other than television and that dependence might be more a factor of lifestyles and social roles.[31] To date, little research has focused on the presence of media dependence in everyday life. Previous studies have focused on media dependency in the context of natural disasters, under conditions of migration, or under specific conditions such as concerns over politics or health. This study examines media dependency as a naturally occurring phenomenon under the conditions present in industrial society. Adoption of Personals Media dependency theory stresses the tripartite relationship of media, audience and society. Media dependency is bi-directional. Just as individuals become increasingly reliant on the media, the media also rely on society. The media, therefore, have to adapt to perceived needs and interests of their audience. Rogers' adoption of innovation model suggests that ideas, practices or objects which are perceived as new are selected and used as the best option available.[32] The adoption of innovations in modern society suggests choices which help to solve the problems of daily life for individuals and organizations. Previous studies have shown that the adoption of an innovation follows an S-shaped cumulative curve. The reason for the normal S-shaped curve is based upon the role of information and uncertainty reduction. Adopter categories can be set forth as ideal types on an innovativeness continuum. The types are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. In all of these categories, opinion leadership plays an important role. Although discussion of the adoption of innovations tends to focus primarily on the individual, organizations also adopt. Examples include computerization of government offices, computerized photographic feeds of newspapers, and technology in schools. As well as being a sign of changing lifestyles, personal advertisements that use voice mail also represent the adoption of a technological innovation for the newspaper industry. These ads are a new function for the daily press, evolving out of people's basic information needs. As individuals in a mass society come to rely on the media for the information they need, the media will respond by redefining themselves through the adoption of new communications technologies. The adoption of personal advertisements to the repertoire of products featured in the evolving daily press, newspapers have had to face questions about the proper role of the newspaper in a changing society. Just as the conditions of industrial society suggest that individuals will turn to the mass media for information, adoption of innovation provides an explanation of how this takes place in the newspaper industry. Few studies have investigated personal advertisements from a mass communications or theory-oriented perspective. Previous research has come primarily from the disciplines of family studies, sociology, and, to a lesser extent, marketing. Studies have focused on physical appearance of advertisers and partners,[33] age,[34] deviance,[35] psychological balancing,[36] gender differences,[37] stereotyping,[38] a marketing perspective,[39] and the bargaining processes involved.[40] This study is not a formal test of either dependency or adoption theory. Rather, these theories serve as general frameworks suggesting that: (1) the use of personal advertisements will spread because of the dependency function, and (2) newspapers' adoption of personal advertisements will follow an s-shaped curve similar to the diffusion of many other innovations. Two research questions were posited with respect to each theoretical perspective: (1) To what extent have newspapers actually begun to provide personal advertisements? and (2) What pattern did the adoptions follow over time? Additional information was sought about the reasons newspapers have added the ads, methods of responding to the ads, and the physical characteristics of this section of the newspaper. METHOD A telephone survey was conducted to measure the extent of the adoption of personal advertisements by daily newspapers. The sampling frame consisted of 268 newspapers with circulations of 50,000 or more as listed in Editor & Publisher Yearbook, 1991. A random sample of 67 newspapers was drawn using the systematic skip interval method. From November 1992 to May 1993, classified managers were interviewed at each of the 67 newspapers. A 100 percent response rate was achieved. The newspaper managers were called during regular business hours, typically in mid-afternoon when pressure from deadlines was less likely to interfere. Occasionally, reaching the right person to interview was difficult. At a California paper, the interviewer was connected with seven different people before finally reaching the appropriate person. Approximately two to three calls were necessary to complete each interview. Two newspapers refused to answer the questions by phone but did reply via fax. These representatives were asked questions, following a ten-item questionnaire, about whether or not the newspaper was running voice personals and if so, the year of adoption. Additional questions addressed any criteria used in accepting or rejecting ads, such as those from gays/lesbians or "alternative lifestyle" ads. Other questions concerned the mechanics of the ads, the days of the week the ads were run, how responses were made to the ads, what costs were involved and how responses were made. A tearsheet was requested from each paper to verify these replies. FINDINGS Nearly four out of five (55) of the newspapers were carrying personal advertisements, as Table 1 shows. An additional 11 percent of the dailies said they had plans to add the personals within the next few months. Five newspapers were not carrying dating ads, nor did they indicate having any plans for doing so. Table 1 NEWSPAPER ADOPTION OF THE PERSONALS Frequency Percent Carries 55 82.1 Plans to add 7 10.4 No plans to carry 5 7.5 67 100.0 Table 2 shows nearly two-thirds of the newspapers began running the ads between 1991 and May of 1993. Table 2 YEAR OF ADOPTION OF THE PERSONALS Year Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent 1993 6 10.9 100 1992 21 38.1 89.1 1991 17 30.9 50.9 1990 6 10.9 20.0 1989 1 1.8 9.1 1988 1 1.8 7.3 1987 3 5.5 5.5 Total 55 100.0 Figure 1 shows that the cumulative diffusion curve follows a classic S-shaped pattern. Figure 1 CUMULATIVE ADOPTION OF PERSONAL ADVERTISEMENTS BY NEWSPAPERS 1987 - 1993 Percent of sample Year More than one third of personal ads sections (36 percent) occupied one-half to one page of space. Another third of the papers filled 1 to 2 pages. Two newspapers (3 percent) had personal ads sections of three pages or larger while the remainder of the papers had sections of one-half a page or less. Nearly two-thirds of the newspapers ran the personals in a full-sized section of the newspaper while a smaller percentage presented the personals in tabloid inserts. More than a third of the dailies (36 percent) ran the ads on Fridays, Saturdays and/or Sundays. Approximately 27 percent of the papers ran the ads on some combination of weekdays and about a quarter of the papers ran the ads seven days per week. A few papers had other arrangements. Newspapers also varied in the types of advertisements they would accept. As Table 3 reveals, more than half (59.7 percent) would not accept gay ads. Most (80.6 percent) would not accept "alternative lifestyle" ads, such as those seeking multiple partners or more exotic variations. More than two-thirds of the newspapers applied their own criteria to screening the language of the ads while 22 percent relied on a voice mail service to perform this task. Table 3 ACCEPTANCE POLICY Frequency Percent Accepts gay ads 27 40.3* Does not accept gay ads 40 59.7 Accepts alternative lifestyle ads 13 19.4 Does not accept alternative lifestyle 54 80.6 * Newspapers may have a combination of these policies, totals therefore do not equal 100%. Voice mail was found to be the most common method of responding to personals (79 percent). Only nine papers offered the more traditional way of responding, which is by letter only (13.4 percent). Frequently, the daily newspaper was not the only local publication carrying the personals. Two-thirds of the papers surveyed had competition from another local paper for personal advertisers (66 percent). Although most of the newspapers surveyed would not reveal detailed financial information, almost half of the papers indicated that the ads had been a financial success. According to one manager, the paper receives approximately 300 ads per month and that the average time spent responding is 3 minutes at a cost of $1.95 per minute. Even if the advertiser's ad is free, each ad generates approximately $108. This would result in revenues of over $30,000 per month or roughly $400,000 per year. Another paper indicated that their take was over $500,000 during the same period. The amount of revenue generated is likely to vary with market size, promotional efforts, and amount of repeat business. Many papers have invested in their own voice mail hardware. Others rely on vendors. The financial success of the personals has been a selling point for the many voice mail vendors involved in the personal ads business. Although this study did not specifically investigate the involvement of vendors, many representatives mentioned that the work load (and the revenue) are shared with a vendor. Often, these companies manage the advertising placement, response retrieval, and reply process. Most vendors represent more than one newspaper. Compensation arrangements vary. For example, one newspaper representative indicated her paper takes 90 percent of the revenue generated from the ads and the vendor retains 10 percent. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS The findings suggest that the increasing trend of personal ad use by both newspapers and individuals is a result of changing social and cultural conditions in modern society. As traditional ways in which people can find and locate others who can fulfill their social and sexual needs decline, the media--and especially the classified section of the daily newspaper--take on this important function. According to Adelman and Aaron, the aim of personal advertising is to expand the number of eligible others, whether in print, by computer, or through dating services. As a result, individuals frequently use the mass media to position the single's search as a consumer activity.[41] Daily newspapers' adoption of these ads begins with, but goes beyond, the need to raise revenue. At an increasing rate, daily newspapers are carrying these "self"-advertisements in the classified section of the paper as a response to the perceived needs of their subscribers at a time when targeting sections of the paper to appeal to the interests of an increasingly fragmented audience is mandatory for financial survival. Among the newspapers surveyed, three primary reasons were given for adding personal ads: (1) revenue, (2) readership, and (3) service. Voice personal advertisements also represent newspaper industry experiments with innovations. Also, the public's information needs are changing. Newspapers face stiff competition from television, particularly for the attention of young people. Many of the newspapers surveyed have adopted the personals to attract this younger audience. This has not been the case--the most frequent users of personal ads are women over the age of 35. Yet the inclusion of personals in the daily paper has appealed to a wider group of users--those who simply enjoy reading the ads for entertainment. These folks aren't necessarily seeking a dating partner but enjoy reading this part of the paper as "breakfast table voyeurs." This study demonstrates that daily newspapers have adopted the personals widely, recently and rapidly. Among the dailies studied, 82 percent were carrying the ads and most had adopted them within the last three years. The adoption followed the s-shaped diffusion curve, as predicted by Rogers.[42] Not all of the dailies surveyed (8 percent) were carrying the personals. Representatives of these newspapers provided several reasons for this decision. One individual indicated that since the newspaper had undergone a recent ownership change, the new owners had discontinued them, thinking the personals were not "in good taste". He further stated that the paper's image "is that of a small family newspaper and the newspaper owners felt the information in those ads did not mesh with their image." Another paper worried about "protecting the reader" from "this kind of thing". One individual felt that meeting others is a "private matter," inappropriate for the press. This same individual did point out that her paper is starting to recognize that "lifestyles have changed and it (personal ads) is a valuable service, but we are responsible first to our readers, then to our advertisers." This study explored the adoption of personal advertisements by daily newspapers. The use of personal advertisements by individuals for dating is predicted by media dependency theory. As society continues to become more complex, and individuals become more isolated, methods of finding partners will further become the responsibility of the individual and off less concern to the family. Therefore, as traditional mechanisms for partner selection continue to drift away, men and women will turn to the mass media to seek eligible others. Faced with real financial threats, the daily press will respond in kind by providing this service to readers as well as creating a new revenue base for itself. The pattern of adoption of the ads by daily newspapers can be predicted by the adoption of innovation model. As societies become more urbanized, modernized, and industrialized ( i.e., more complex), the individual is less able to rely on sources of information for assistance in answering important questions and making life decisions. With many roots to the past essentially severed, people become more dependent on those around them. If these other people are unfamiliar or unapproachable, the individual is more likely to identify with that which is familiar: the media. Together this information provides evidence for proposing a fifth function of the media--a dependency function of interpersonal intermediary. In this role the media act as agents between individuals in the absence of traditional informal sources of information. Severin and Tankard suggest that the media dependency model may provide a synthesizing framework within which other theories can be understood, including cultivation and agenda-setting.[43] Research has also indicated that dependency on the media may depend upon that individual's location in the social system. Future studies could explore this possibility. Research could also explore the changing role of the daily press, the organizational adoption of innovation process, the legal implications of advertising acceptance criteria and the gay community, how the media respond to social change, and the relationship of the media to the audience. In addition, survey research could be conducted with those that place personal ads. This study suggests that personal advertisements are a rich source of information about people and what they are looking for in a partner as well as offering a source of documentation of social change. [1] NOTES AND REFERENCES Unni Wikan, Behind the Veil in Arabia (Ch icago: The University of Chicago Press, 1982). [2] Joh n F. Peters, "Yanomama Mate Selection and Marriage," Journal of Comparativ e Family Studies 18 (Spring 1987), 79-98. [3] Ronald P . Dore, City Life in Japan (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958), 167. [4] Murray Sayle, "How to Marry a Mikado," The New Yorker, 10 May, 1993 , 43-52. [5] Bernard I. Murstein, Love, Sex and Marriage Through the A ges (New York: Springer, 1974), 412. [6] Herbert Spen cer, The Principles of Sociology (New York: D. Appleton, 1898); in Melvin L. DeFleur and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Theories of Mass Commun ication, 5th ed., (New York: Longman, 1989): 152. [7] Ferdinand T"nnies, Community and Society (Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft); trans. and ed. Charles P. Loomis (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1957): 47. First published in German in 1887; quote d in DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach, 152-155. [8] Emile Durkheim, The Divis ion of Labor in Society; trans. George Simpson (New York: F ree Press of Glencoe, 1964); quoted in DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach, 157. [9 ] Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin L. DeFleur, "A Dependency Model of Mass Media Effects," Communication Research 3 (1976): 3-21. [ 10] Ibid. [11] Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 6. [12] Ibid, 3-21. [13] Melvin L. DeFleur and Everette Dennis, Understanding Mass Communica tion, 5th ed., (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), 18-19. [14] Melvin L. DeFleur and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Theories of Mass Communic ation, 5th ed., (New York: Longman, 1988), 302-304. [15] Harold Lass well, "The Structure and Function of Communication in Society," quoted in L. Bryson (ed.) The Communication of Ideas (New York: Inst itute for Religious and Social Studies, 1948). [16] Ch arles Wright, Mass Communication, 2d ed., (New York: Random House, 1959), 9. [17] Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet, The People 's Choice (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948), quoted in Shearon A. Lowery and Melvin L. DeFleur, Milestones in Mass Commun ication Research, 2nd ed., (New York: Longman, 1988), 79-103. [18] Mi chael Schudson, Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion (New York: Basic Books , 1984), 153. [19] Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on th e Management of Spoiled Identity (New York: Simon & Schus ter, Inc., 1963), 3. [20] "The Dating Game Boomer Style," Chicago Trib une, 15 August 1992, 4. [21] Suzanne Moore, New Statesman and Societ y 23 February 1990, 46. Quoted in Film Review Annual ed. Je rome S. Ozer (Englewood, New Jersey: Jerome S. Ozer Publisher, 1990), 1129. [22] N.F. Mendoza, "Demure Actress Revels in Crafty, Manipulative Role," The Oregonian, 14 March 1993, 39. Joe Treen, Art Le vine and Johnny Dodd, "Lethal White Female," People, 7 September 1992, 65 -68. [23] Peter L. Hirshburg, Don A. Dillman and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeac h, "Media System Dependency Theory: Responses to the Erupt ion of Mount St. Helens," in Media, Audience and Social Structure, Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach and Murial G. Cantor, eds. (Newbury, CA: Sage, 1986), 117-126. [24] B. Donlon and M. Roush, "News to Libya draws viewers to their TV's," USA TODAY, 17 April 1986, 1 D. [25] Ralph H. Turner an d Denise H. Paz, "The Mass Media in Earthquake Warning," in Media, Audience and Social Structure, Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach and Murial G. Cantor, eds. (Newbury, CA: Sage, 1986), 108. [26] S andra Ball-Rokeach, Milton Rokeach and Joel Grube, The Great American Value s Test (New York: The Free Press, 1984). [27] August E. Grant, K. Kendall Guthrie and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach, "Television Sho pping: A Media System Dependency Perspective," Communication Research 18 ( December 1991): 773-798. [28] L. B. Becker and D.C. Wh itney, "Effects of Media Dependencies: Audience Assessment of Government ," Communication Research 7: 95-120. [29] Karen Champagnie Alman, "T he Role of Television Advertising in Acculturation: A Medi a System Dependency Approach," (Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, 199 3). [30] M. Mark Miller and S. D. Reese, "Media Dependency as Interact ion: Effects of Exposure and Reliance on Political Activit y and Efficacy," Communications Research 9: 227-248. [3 1] Cecilie Gaziano, "Media Dependence for News: Some Neglected Groups," Mass Communication Review (1990): 2-13. [32] Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovation, 3rd ed., (New York: The Free Press,1983), 21. [33] Jane E. Smith, V. Ann Waldorf and David L. Trembath, "Single White Male Looking for Thin, Very Att ractive . . . ," Sex Roles 23 (1990): 675-685. [34] Karen Vice Irey, "Interpersonal Communication Through the Mass Media: Char acteristics of Personal Advertisers," (Ph.D. diss., University of Oklahoma , 1985). [35] Donna K. Darden and Patricia R. Koski, "Using the Person al Ads: A Deviant Activity?" Deviant Behavior 9 (1988): 383-400. [36] Theresa Montini and Beverly Ovrebro, "Personal Relations hip Ads: An Informal Balancing Act," Sociological Perspect ives 33 (1990): 333-334. [37] Sarah Sitton and Edward T. Rippee, "Wo men Still Want Marriage: Sex Differences in Lonely Hearts Advertisements," Psychological Reports 58 (1986): 257-258. and Simon Davis, "Men as Success Objects and Women as Sex Objects: A Stu dy of Personal Advertisements," Sex Roles 23 (1990): 43-5 0. [38] Kay Deaux and Randel Hanna, "Courtship in the Personals Column : The Influence of Gender and Sexual Orientation," Sex Ro les 11 (1984): 363-375. [39] Elizabeth C. Hirschman, "People as Prod ucts: Analysis of a Complex Marketing Exchange," Journal o f Marketing 51 (January 1987): 98-108. [40] Catherine Cameron, Stuart Oskamp and William Sparks, "Courtship American Style: New spaper Ads," The Family Coordinator 26 (1977): 27-30. [41] M.B. Adelm an and A.C. Aaron, "Mediated Channels for Mate Seeking: A Solution to Involuntary Singlehood," Critical Studies in Mass Communicatio n 8 (1991): 281. [42] Rogers, 243-245. [43] Werner J. Severin an d James W. Tankard, Jr. Communication Theories, 2d ed., (New York: Longman), 324-328.
|