Most brands are represented visually in print advertisements, and these visual representations must consistently identify the brand to the consumers who encounter it. At the same time, some of the particular visual elements used to represent the brand must change over time, because it is not acceptable to run the same ad year after year without refreshing its visual content. To explore these issues, a qualitative exploration was conducted with ad agency art directors and ordinary consumers. The focus was the criteria used by each group to determine when changes in the visual representation of the brand succeed, by staying consistent with the brand's identity, or fail, by violating expectations. Professionals, with their greater aesthetic sensitivity, had a more narrow latitude of acceptance for changes. A follow‐up experiment with consumers showed that aesthetically aware consumers were likewise more sensitive to alterations in visual brand identity than consumers for whom aesthetics were not central. Results are interpreted in terms of assimilation effects and degree of incongruity along with the moderating effect of aesthetic skill.

Advertising and public relations graduates often question their preparedness for employment. For its part, the two industies are often vocal in their assertion that educators are somehow failing to train effective, job-ready communicators. Many critics point to a growing practice in the advertising industry -integrated marketing communications (IMC) -as the solution for bringing current advertising and public relations curricula up-to-date. According to practitioners sold on IMC, what is good for business is good for the classroom. Conceptually, IMC suggests that advertising and public relations efforts achieve their greatest impact when coupled together and with other marketing elements such as direct marketing and sales promotion to communicate with consumers through multiple channels. In practice, IMC rejects past mass-media strategies by citing the increasingly segmented audiences of today (Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn, 1993).As more advertising and public relations educators examine IMC and evaluate its applicability in reshaping curricula, the need for attitudinal research among this population becomes vital. Although some insist that IMC is the new framework by which course sequences should be redrawn and developed, others charge that an IMCbased curriculum will undermine the educator's ability to provide in-depth instruction, thus leaving students ill-prepared for their careers. To date, IMC in education has been addressed using a macro perspective, relying primarily on anecdotal information, on general studies of communication teachers, and on testimonials of IMC advocates. While helpful in providing insights on IMC's role in instruction, these perspectives provide no specific examination of attitudes held by advertising and public relations educators. The present study is meant to supplement the contemporary literature on IMC. We report on a survey designed to ascertain the perceptions and opinions of advertising and public relations faculty members with regard to IMC and its impact on current curricula.

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A ad ), attitude toward the product (A p ) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A ad and A p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.The green movement, centered on global health, ecology and human rights, is a virtually ubiquitous phenomenon and part of the marketing strategies employed by profit and nonprofit organizations. Companies invest significant financial and human resources in green product development and marketing to strengthen their reputation among consumers and increase sales. Non-profit groups encourage people to use green products and to behave in an environmentally friendly manner by saving energy and recycling. This pro-environmental movement in the market has been visible for several decades. To illustrate this point, the share of total new product introductions with green claims in the U.S. grew by just 0.5% in 2006, compared to 20.2% in 2013 (Mitchell 2014). In addition, the number of consumers willing to pay more for green products and services in the U.S. increased from 31.2 million in 2010 to 33.12 million in 2014 (Statista 2015).Advertising scholars have studied the effect of various appeals in advertising on consumer attitude change. Among these, fear appeals are known to create immediate behavioral changes in consumers (Witte and Allen 2000). For this reason, advertising aimed at the prevention of negative future events has often used this type of appeal (e.g. quitting smoking, condom use). In terms of environmental issues, humans' negative impact on the environment is well established (e.g. global warming, desertification, air pollution, etc.

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