Barrie Gunter

Psychographics have been developed in the field of market research as a way to relate consumer behaviour to market choice. This book, originally published in 1992, introduces the essential elements of psychographics. It shows how researchers go about defining consumer profiles and designing successful research programmes. It looks at the way they are applied in various consumer groups and uses case study material to focus on some specific products from cameras to pet food.

Originally published in 2003. This book examines the growth of news provision on the internet and its implications for news presentation, journalism practice, news consumers, and the business of running news organizations. Much of the focus is placed on the migration of newspapers onto the internet, but references are also made to the establishment of news websites by other organizations. The book examines the growth of online technology as a source of information and entertainment and considers how this development can be framed within models of communication and comments, on the apparent shortage of new models to explain the use, role, effectiveness, and impact of online communications.

Corporate Assessment, first published in 1993, looks at four types of company audit and provides a pragmatic, readable guide for managers. The authors show how assessment of a company in terms of its culture, climate, communications and customers can enhance management vision and lead to recommendations designed to improve employee satisfaction, motivation, loyalty and performance. Insight is provided into the kinds of measurement tools and assessment techniques that are available, and the authors offer recommendations for the use of these instruments, and how best to utilize the information they can produce. This book will not only be of interest to managers who need to assess their companies, but to students of business, organizational psychology, and human resource management.

Psychographics have been developed in the field of market research as a way to relate consumer behaviour to market choice. This book, originally published in 1992, introduces the essential elements of psychographics. It shows how researchers go about defining consumer profiles and designing successful research programmes. It looks at the way they are applied in various consumer groups and uses case study material to focus on some specific products from cameras to pet food.

Originally published in 1989 this is a unique reference source to the social attitudes of British adolescents of the time. The authors, both experienced researchers, draw on a sample of over 2,000 adolescents from all over the British Isles, including Northern Ireland and the north of Scotland as well as the south of England and Wales. They provide one of the most comprehensive reviews of the 1980s, with the results summarized in tables supported by clear commentaries.The contents range widely over key issues of the time, covering attitudes to politics and government, crime and law enforcement, sex roles and race, religion and the paranormal, health and the environment, school, work and unemployment, and home entertainment media. Some of the book’s findings are unexpected: young people are surprisingly conservative about the role of men and women, for instance, yet they have radical ideas about certain institutions, like the monarchy. Altogether the book gives a clear and revealing snapshot of the attitudes of young Britons of the time.

Celebrities attract the attention of commercial interests and other public figures. They receive payments from sponsors to endorse brands. They are sought out to appear with politicians during election campaigns. They are used to promote health messages. In other words, celebrities are often perceived to possess qualities that give them special value or what we will refer to here as 'celebrity capital'. This means that celebrities are regarded as being able to add premium value to specific objects, events, and issues and hence render these items more valuable or effective. Employing an interesting and new approach to the growing scholarly interest in celebrity culture, Barrie Gunter uses the idea of value as expressed through the term 'capital'. Capital usually refers to the monetary worth of something. Celebrity capital however can be measured in economic terms but also in social, political and psychological terms. Research from around the world has been collated to provide an evidence-based analysis of the value of celebrity in the 21st century and how it can be systematically assessed. Including further reading for students, key points and end of chapter discussion questions, Gunter creates the first methodology to assess the value of fame.

Celebrities attract the attention of commercial interests and other public figures. They receive payments from sponsors to endorse brands. They are sought out to appear with politicians during election campaigns. They are used to promote health messages. In other words, celebrities are often perceived to possess qualities that give them special value or what we will refer to here as 'celebrity capital'. This means that celebrities are regarded as being able to add premium value to specific objects, events, and issues and hence render these items more valuable or effective. Employing an interesting and new approach to the growing scholarly interest in celebrity culture, Barrie Gunter uses the idea of value as expressed through the term 'capital'. Capital usually refers to the monetary worth of something. Celebrity capital however can be measured in economic terms but also in social, political and psychological terms. Research from around the world has been collated to provide an evidence-based analysis of the value of celebrity in the 21st century and how it can be systematically assessed. Including further reading for students, key points and end of chapter discussion questions, Gunter creates the first methodology to assess the value of fame.

Media and the Sexualization of Childhood examines the on-going debates surrounding the prominence of sexual themes in children’s lives, from clothes and accessories, toys and games, to music, entertainment media, advertising, and new media platforms. Parents, educators and politicians around the developed world have raised concerns about the effects all these experiences can have on the socialisation and psychological development of children and the extent to which the premature introduction of sexuality into their lives can place them at risk of unwanted attention. This book explores these issues using an evidence based approach that draws on research findings from around the world, representing the most comprehensive single account of the field. The book will be invaluable to students studying topics surrounding children and the media and childhood studies, as well as students of communication, media, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and health science.

Media and the Sexualization of Childhood examines the on-going debates surrounding the prominence of sexual themes in children’s lives, from clothes and accessories, toys and games, to music, entertainment media, advertising, and new media platforms. Parents, educators and politicians around the developed world have raised concerns about the effects all these experiences can have on the socialisation and psychological development of children and the extent to which the premature introduction of sexuality into their lives can place them at risk of unwanted attention. This book explores these issues using an evidence based approach that draws on research findings from around the world, representing the most comprehensive single account of the field. The book will be invaluable to students studying topics surrounding children and the media and childhood studies, as well as students of communication, media, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and health science.

Originally published in 1989, this is a unique reference source to the social attitudes of British adolescents of the time. The authors, both experienced researchers, draw on a sample of over 2,000 adolescents from all over the British Isles, including Northern Ireland and the north of Scotland as well as the south of England and Wales. They provide one of the most comprehensive reviews of the 1980s, with the results summarized in tables supported by clear commentaries.The contents range widely over key issues of the time, covering attitudes to politics and government, crime and law enforcement, sex roles and race, religion and the paranormal, health and the environment, school, work and unemployment, and home entertainment media. Some of the book’s findings are unexpected: young people are surprisingly conservative about the role of men and women, for instance, yet they have radical ideas about certain institutions, like the monarchy. Altogether the book gives a clear and revealing snapshot of the attitudes of young Britons of the time.

Concern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. The current rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, sattelite, and cable formats will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercialization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.

This book is concerned with the provision of health information remotely via the latest communications technologies. The rapidly aging population has led governments to seek more effective methods of maintaining high standards of public health through the cultivation of healthy living, as well as improved and more efficiently delivered health advice and diagnostic services. Experiments with remote provision of health information and transactional services have been piloted to assess in this context the efficacy of new communications technologies, such as personal computers linked to the Internet, interactive digital television in the home, and electronically networked touch-screen kiosks in public locations. Such developments represent part of a wider agenda--through electronic government--to cultivate more dynamic democracies and involve citizens of a time of growing political alienation. The impact of such developments can only properly be established through systematic empirical research. This book examines what has been learned from research-based evaluations of digital health projects.It draws upon research from different parts of the world and offers an up-to-date review of the literature in this field. It also presents a detailed account of recent research carried out in Britain on the effectiveness of government-sponsored pilot health information, advice and transactional services provided via kiosks, the Internet, and interactive digital television. It considers the effectiveness of these communications technologies in relation to a range of distinct applications, their use by the public and perceived usefulness and authority, and the potential of remote health delivery to support or supplant more traditional and direct forms of health diagnosis and treatment.The book will be of interest to those involved in the academic study of digital media developments, e-government and remote health, as well as to policy-makers and practitioners working in these rapidly growing fields of endeavor.

This book is concerned with the provision of health information remotely via the latest communications technologies. The rapidly aging population has led governments to seek more effective methods of maintaining high standards of public health through the cultivation of healthy living, as well as improved and more efficiently delivered health advice and diagnostic services. Experiments with remote provision of health information and transactional services have been piloted to assess in this context the efficacy of new communications technologies, such as personal computers linked to the Internet, interactive digital television in the home, and electronically networked touch-screen kiosks in public locations. Such developments represent part of a wider agenda--through electronic government--to cultivate more dynamic democracies and involve citizens of a time of growing political alienation. The impact of such developments can only properly be established through systematic empirical research. This book examines what has been learned from research-based evaluations of digital health projects.It draws upon research from different parts of the world and offers an up-to-date review of the literature in this field. It also presents a detailed account of recent research carried out in Britain on the effectiveness of government-sponsored pilot health information, advice and transactional services provided via kiosks, the Internet, and interactive digital television. It considers the effectiveness of these communications technologies in relation to a range of distinct applications, their use by the public and perceived usefulness and authority, and the potential of remote health delivery to support or supplant more traditional and direct forms of health diagnosis and treatment.The book will be of interest to those involved in the academic study of digital media developments, e-government and remote health, as well as to policy-makers and practitioners working in these rapidly growing fields of endeavor.

Blaming the media for reproducing and extolling unrealistic female bodies has almost become a popular truism. Even medical opinion notes that the media can influence young women to starve themselves and therefore act as a possible causal factor of disordered eating. Yet surprisingly, little work has addressed either the nature of media representations of the body, or the ways in which audiences interpret and use such images in our contemporary cultural context. The Media and Body Image addresses this lack and: - Draws together literature from sociology, gender studies and psychology - Brings together new empirical work on both media representations and audience responses - Offers a broad discussion of this topic in the context of socio-cultural change, gender politics, and self-identity.

Blaming the media for reproducing and extolling unrealistic female bodies has almost become a popular truism. Even medical opinion notes that the media can influence young women to starve themselves and therefore act as a possible causal factor of disordered eating. Yet surprisingly, little work has addressed either the nature of media representations of the body, or the ways in which audiences interpret and use such images in our contemporary cultural context. The Media and Body Image addresses this lack and: - Draws together literature from sociology, gender studies and psychology - Brings together new empirical work on both media representations and audience responses - Offers a broad discussion of this topic in the context of socio-cultural change, gender politics, and self-identity.

Concern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. The current rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, sattelite, and cable formats will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercialization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.

Concern about violence on television has been publicly debated for the past 50 years. TV violence has repeatedly been identified as a significant causal agent in relation to the prevalence of crime and violence in society. Critics have accused the medium of presenting excessive quantities of violence, to the point where it is virtually impossible for viewers to avoid it. This book presents the findings of the largest British study of violence on TV ever undertaken, funded by the broadcasting industry. The study was carried out at the same time as similar industry-sponsored research was being conducted in the United States, and one chapter compares findings from Britain and the U.S.A. The book concludes that it is misleading to accuse all broadcasters of presenting excessive quantities of violence in their schedules. This does not deny that problematic portrayals were found. But the most gory, horrific and graphic scenes of violence were generally contained within broadcasts available on a subscription basis or in programs shown at times when few children were expected to be watching. This factual analysis proves that broadcasters were meeting their obligations under their national regulatory codes of practice.

Concern about violence on television has been publicly debated for the past 50 years. TV violence has repeatedly been identified as a significant causal agent in relation to the prevalence of crime and violence in society. Critics have accused the medium of presenting excessive quantities of violence, to the point where it is virtually impossible for viewers to avoid it. This book presents the findings of the largest British study of violence on TV ever undertaken, funded by the broadcasting industry. The study was carried out at the same time as similar industry-sponsored research was being conducted in the United States, and one chapter compares findings from Britain and the U.S.A. The book concludes that it is misleading to accuse all broadcasters of presenting excessive quantities of violence in their schedules. This does not deny that problematic portrayals were found. But the most gory, horrific and graphic scenes of violence were generally contained within broadcasts available on a subscription basis or in programs shown at times when few children were expected to be watching. This factual analysis proves that broadcasters were meeting their obligations under their national regulatory codes of practice.

This book examines the representation, impact, and issues relating to the control and regulation of sex in the media. It covers work that has been conducted around the world on the depiction of sex in the mainstream mass media, especially the audio-visual media of film, television, and video, and the alleged effects that such content may have upon media consumers. In addition to reviewing the research on the effects of media sex, the book also examines what is known about public opinion concerning sex in the media. A key theme running through the book is whether the evidence about media sex can be taken at face value. Are the methodologies used by researchers to investigate media sex problematic? Have they yielded data that can be questioned in terms of validity and reliability? Media Sex questions whether media sex poses a serious problem for most viewers of mainstream media. It acknowledges that there may be serious issues relating to the causation of public offense and the cultivation of anti-women attitudes and beliefs that need to be addressed in productions where more extreme forms of sexual conduct are combined with violent and sadistic behavior. With the unrelenting growth of media, media consumers demand and are given greater personal control over the reception of media content. The notion of freedom of speech conflicts with the view that media content needs to be centrally regulated and controlled. This conflict creates problems for regulatory organizations and the legislators in nation states in which freedom of the press is legally protected. The book examines the debate surrounding this conflict.

This book is about the identification, measurement and assessment of business potential among possible future or existing employees. It examines research on using biographical information about individuals to determine their potential in a specific organisational environment. Such biodata can be used by managers when recruiting new staff, and when selecting staff for promotion. This is a valuable source book for managers and students who need to gain a better understanding of the prediction of business performance at the level of the employee.