Special Session Abstract - S Literacy and Consumption

Citation:

N/A (1999) ,"Special Session Abstract - S Literacy and Consumption", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 26, eds. Eric J. Arnould and Linda M. Scott, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 25.

Advances in Consumer Research Volume 26, 1999      Page 25

SPECIAL SESSION ABSTRACT - S

LITERACY AND CONSUMPTION

 

"FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY: THE DARK SIDE OF INFORMATION PROCESSING"

Madhubalan Viswanathan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Jim Harris, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

This presentation describes an ethnographic study of participants at a center for illiterate adults. It explores how informants with low levels of functional literacy and numeracy attempted to complete basic tasks associated with consumer behavior. Findings suggest that a lack of literacy does indeed limit a consumer’s ability to process information and perform basic tasks which left the individuals in a position of vulnerability within the market.

 

"BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY AND CONSUMER LITERACY"

Natalie Ross Adkins, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Julie L. Ozanne, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

This presentation reports the results of a mixed method study using both secondary analysis and qualitative interviews. The focus for the research is also on the degree to which functional illiteracy limits consumer behavior. Empirical examples of the kinds of market vulnerability are described. The presentation then goes on to explore the complex coping and passing strategies that the informants in the study used to surpass these limitations. The presentation concludes that functional literacy does not necessarily lead to consumer illiteracy.

 

"CONSUMER LITERACY IN THE EXTREME: THE CONCEPT OF ADVERTISING LITERACY"

Mark Ritson, University of Minnesota

Richard Elliott, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

The final presentation in the session explores how the concept of literacy can also be applied to specialized forms of consumer behavior. Using theoretical models from literacy studies the presentation introduces and explores the concept of #advertising literacy’. This concept is defined and empirical examples are used to illustrate what the advertising literate audience is capable of.

----------------------------------------