Consumption in Soap Operas From Brazil, New Zealand, and the U.S.: Production, Products, and Process

Consumption in Soap Operas from Brazil, New Zealand, and the U.S.: Production, Products, and Process

Session Chairs: Barbara Stern and Cristel Antonia Russell

Soap Operas in New Zealand and the U.S.: Product Placement Strategy and Consumption Imagery

Simon J. Pervan, Deakin University

and Brett A. S. Martin, University of Auckland

A study of consumption imagery is presented using data collected in a content analysis of the New Zealand soap Shortland Street (SS) and the U.S. soap The Young and the Restless (YR). Production and regulatory factors determine product placements, for whereas SS was co-produced by the public and private broadcasting industry, YR is a strictly commercial venture. Findings indicate a high level of consumption imagery in each country's soaps, but significant differences in product types and emotional outcomes of product use. Each country's soap displays the relationship between the identity and culture of the country of origin.

Product Placement in Brazilian Telenovelas: Selling Soaps and Social Causes

Antonio C. La Pastina, Texas A&M University

Brazilian television producers have expanded the commercial potential of televisual texts, particularly popular prime time serial telenovelas, which are funded by product placement and advertising revenues as well as by the government. As a result, Brazilian telenovelas feature both a consumption scenario and a social welfare-oriented plot. A study of audience reception is presented using ethnographic participant-observation to analyze soap opera consumption in a rural area. Findings about the reception of placed products highlight issues of interpretation and appropriation of the consumption ideology as springboards for viewers' discussion of political and gendered life in their communities.

Aspirational Consumption in U.S. Soap Operas: The Influence of Parasocial Attachment on Consumers

Cristel Antonia Russell, San Diego State University

and Barbara Stern, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Citation:

Session Chair: Barbara Stern and Discussion Leader: Marilyn Lavin (2006) ,"Consumption in Soap Operas From Brazil, New Zealand, and the U.S.: Production, Products, and Process", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 33, eds. Connie Pechmann and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 134-137.