Tijdschrift voor Communicatie​wetenschap

This study investigated women’s attitudes toward sexually objectified advertising and replicated the study of Zimmerman & Dahlberg (2008). An online survey among 250 female students shows that they do not find sexually objectified advertising in general to be particularly offensive. Moreover, sexually objectifying advertising does not seem to harm the company image nor general purchase intentions. However, when looking at ads with varying degrees of sexual objectification, we found that ads with high levels of sexual objectification were perceived as unethical and offensive, which translated into a negative attitude toward the ad. We were not able to confirm Zimmerman & Dahlberg’s assertion that the emergence of postfeminism relates to the more favorable attitudes of women toward sexual objectification.

This literature review was conducted in response to the current prominence of Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) campaigns. Extant empirical literature shows that CRM can have both positive and negative effects on consumers’ responses, and it is found that several identification factors appear to shape the direction of these effects. A taxonomy of these identification factors is presented, whereby the factors are divided into three categories: consumer/company identification, consumer/cause identification and consumers’ perception of company/cause identification. Based on this classification a triangular relationship between consumer, company, and cause can be assumed, which shapes the effect of CRM on consumer responses. When identification among actors is high, the effect of CRM on consumer responses is optimal whereas less optimal CRM effects result where identification between either pair of actors falls short. These identification factors may be considered by organizations when designing a CRM campaign.

Service delivery in the information society must take into account the close relationship between the digital divide on the one hand and electronic service delivery on the other hand. The supply side shows an increasing emphasis on the electronic channel. Nevertheless, the digital divide still exists and imposes a constraint on the demand side. This article examines how public organizations can develop and expand their electronic service delivery without further deepening the digital divide. Based on case studies conducted in Flemish and Dutch public organizations, we show that a multichannel management can add up to a service delivery which favors all citizens, including the target groups of the digital divide. A multichannel strategy allows for a service delivery with added value, therefore having an intrinsic incentive to benefit all citizenry and striving for a high take-up of electronic services. Multichannel management can realize a public service delivery that is transparent, cost efficient, user-centered and effective.

Sensation in the news has been a longtime cause for social and scientific debate. Sensational news is thought to substitute ‘serious’ information needed for serious citizen deliberation. A trend towards more sensationalist news has been described for television. This study analyses quality and popular newspaper photographs in terms of sensationalist content and form. Quantitative content analysis of the five major newspapers in the Netherlands shows that a slight majority of newspaper photographs shows sensational content (i.e. dramatic events such as violence, disasters, or crime). A minority of the photographs has sensational format features (e.g., emotions, close-ups, personalization). In eight out of eleven variables, popular newspapers contain more sensational photographs than quality newspapers. However, in some instances differences in sensationalism within the two groups are greater than differences between the groups.

A survey (N = 515) was conducted to investigate the relation between the reading behaviour of children and their scores on the Dutch Cito elementary-test (designed to assess their level of education). Results indicate that there is a significant correlation between the reading frequency and Cito scores, mediation analyses confirmed that the relation is mediated by reading comprehension. Frequently reading challenging books appears to be the best predictor for educational achievement.