The purpose of the research was to longitudinally investigate rural consumers' online shopping for food and fiber products as a function of satisfaction with local retailing and outshopping. Innovation diffusion theory was used to guide the research. Eight hundred seventy-nine rural consumers from 11 states completed surveys twice (in 2000 and 2003). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and analyses of variance. Dissatisfaction with local retailing in 2000 was a powerful driver of outshopping, beliefs about online shopping, and online shopping (both in 2000 and in 2003). Outshopping was positively related to online shopping at both points in time, suggesting that variables found to affect outshopping in the literature may affect online shopping in a similar way.
Students studying advertising can benefit from developing an historical appreciation of advertisements that were important in earlier times, as they are apt to mirror the society from which they emerged and thus will inform viewers about those eras. A classroom exercise was developed requiring students to use visual analysis as they examined slides from two Maidenform advertising campaigns. The exercise encouraged them to articulate aesthetic responses, to consider the reactions the ads must have generated among the viewers of the time, and to understand why the first campaign appealed to two decades of consumers, while the second campaign was short-lived. The project is useful because it provides a basis for understanding expectations and tastes of the past, and it helps us evaluate current advertising campaigns that provide insights to our culture.
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