An Analysis of Information Content in Television Advertising

A Content Analysis of Hotel Advertisements in China

“…However, no major study has been conducted to study China's hotel advertisements in recent years. Resnik and Stern (1977) proposed that the degree of informativeness of an advertisement could be evaluated by the use of information content. Informative advertising was regarded as "socially good" [18], whereas the persuasive advertising was viewed as "socially bad" [19].…”

“…Resnik and Stern (1977) proposed that the degree of informativeness of an advertisement could be evaluated by the use of information content. Informative advertising was regarded as "socially good" [18], whereas the persuasive advertising was viewed as "socially bad" [19]. Researchers have revealed the positive effect of employing pictorial materials, such as illustration, picture and headline of print advertisement [20].…”

“…Most researchers employed the evaluative criteria developed by Resnik and Stern (1977) to measure the level of information content of advertising [18]. There are 14 criteria in total, namely price, quality, performance, component or content, availability, special offers, taste, nutrition, packaging, guarantees or warranties, safety, independent-sponsored research, company-sponsored research, and new ideas.…”

“…There are 14 criteria in total, namely price, quality, performance, component or content, availability, special offers, taste, nutrition, packaging, guarantees or warranties, safety, independent-sponsored research, company-sponsored research, and new ideas. Resnik and Stern (1977) proposed that an advertisement could be viewed as informative if it contains at least one information cues, and the more the information cues adopted, the more informative the advertisement is [18]. Though popular employed, the evaluative criteria were also questioned by some researchers regarding its applicability.…”

“…Though popular employed, the evaluative criteria were also questioned by some researchers regarding its applicability. Resnik and Stern's criteria were A Content Analysis of Hotel Advertisements in China Li Ying-Zhou and Han Xing originally used to examine the information content of television advertising, and most of the samples were consumer products [18]. Abernethy and Butler (1992) argues that Resnik and Stern's approach may not necessary be suitable for the advertisement of services industry, for example the hotel advertisement, may have fewer information cues than that of fast moving convenience goods [21].…”