Rodney G Duffett

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a difference in the development of shopping lists and use of advertisements as pre-store food-buying practices in terms of planned shopping by South African consumers who dwell in different socio-economic status (SES) areas. The paper also considers the influence of shopper and socio-demographic characteristics on pre-store food-buying practices in a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 1 200 consumers in retail stores in low, middle and high SES areas in South Africa. A generalised linear model was employed for the statistical analysis of pre-store food-buying practices within the SES area groups in a developing country.
Findings – South African consumers that reside in high SES area displayed the largest of shopping list development, while consumers who dwell in low SES areas showed the highest incidence of advertisement usage. Several shopper and socio-demographic characteristics were also found to have an influence on pre-store food-buying practices in different SES areas in South Africa.
Research limitations/implications – A qualitative approach would offer a deeper understanding of consumers’ pre-store food shopping predispositions as opposed to the quantitative approach, which was adopted for this study. A longitudinal design would also provide a more extensive representation of pre-store food shopping practices over a longer time frame than cross-sectional research. The survey was conducted on Saturdays, whereas consumers who shop during the week may have different shopping and socio-demographic characteristics.
Practical implications – Astute food brands, marketers and grocery stores could use the findings of this study to assist with their marketing efforts that they direct at consumers in different SES areas in South Africa and other developing countries.
Social implications – The findings of this study may assist consumers in developing countries, especially those who reside in low SES areas, with food-buying strategies to reduce food costs, make wiser purchase decisions and reduce shopping.
Originality/value – No study (to the best of the researchers’ knowledge) has considered shopping list development and use of advertisements’ pre-store food-buying practices in different SES areas in a developing country. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research analysing shopper and socio-demographic characteristics in relation to pre-store food-buying practices among different SES areas in developing and developed countries.

The purpose of this paper is to determine consumer perceptions toward sugar content of fruit juice (FJ) products in South Africa amid the current sugar tax debate. The paper also ascertains how and if consumption patterns and socio-demographic factors are associated with consumer perceptions toward FJ sugar content. A cross-sectional study was conducted via structured self-administered questionnaires, which were disseminated on a face-to-face basis. Over 7600 consumers aged 16–66+ years in suburbs, townships, and informal settlements were surveyed in South Africa. The data were analyzed through the application of a generalized linear model. Half of the respondents agreed that FJ products were high in sugar. Furthermore, several consumption and sociodemographic factors had a varied influence on consumers’ perceptions toward FJ products. This study provides marketers and retailers with new insight regarding the marketing of FJ
products in a developing country amid the sugar tax debate.

Objectives: The study ascertained consumer perceptions of differences between fruit juice classifications regarding their respective health benefits and sugar content. The research also considered the influence of consumption patterns and demographic factors.
Design: A cross-sectional quantitative study design was used via a structured self-administered questionnaire.
Setting: Fruit juice consumers (aged 16 – 66+; male and females; adolescent and adults; Black, Coloured, White, Indian and Asian) who resided in the Western Cape in the City of Cape Town and Cape Winelands municipal districts.
Subjects: A sample of 7 640 fruit juice consumers.
Outcome measures: Fruit juice consumer consumption patterns, fruit juice classifications perceptions and demographic factors were evaluated by means of a generalised linear model (GLM).
Results: The majority of respondents agreed that there was a difference between fruit juice classifications. Respondents who consumed fruit juice with higher regularity; drank more fruit juice; bottled and tap water; wanted a decrease in prices and
increase in information on fruit juice nutrition/health benefits had favourable perceptions. Black or Coloured respondents and those who were single; female consumers; had higher education levels; and, had a household income volunteered the most favourable perceptions.
Conclusions: Based on the results, it can be concluded that consumers are erudite about the differences, health benefits and sugar content of fruit juice classifications. A number of consumption patterns and demographic factors also had an influence on
consumer perceptions; hence, increased information should be disseminated to encourage South African consumers to pursue
healthy balanced diets.

The tremendous proliferation of social media (such as Facebook) has provided digital
information and communications technology (ICT) platforms that enable Generation Z to instantaneously and uninterruptedly interactive one another and the rest of the globe. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the influence of Facebook commercial communications (FCC) on the hierarchy-of-effects model attitude stages amongst Generation Z, and to establish whether several usage (access, usage length, log-on rate, log-on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) factors had an effect on the attitudinal responses. A survey was used to sample over 6 200 teenagers through structured self-administered questionnaires in South Africa (SA). A generalised linear model was utilised for the data analysis. This paper determined that FCC had a positive effect on cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes amid South African adolescents, which is in correlation with the communications effects pyramid model. This study also makes a notable contribution to attitudinal discourse in emerging nations, where there is a paucity of research on FCC. South African organisations should consider implementing and/or adapting their FCC strategies based on the varying impact of usage and demographic factors, which were disclosed in this study, when targeting the increasingly profitable and technologically savvy, but unpredictable Generation Z.

Purpose – This article examines the influence of interactive social media marketing communications on teenagers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components in South Africa. The study also considers the impact of a number of additional factors such as usage (access, length of usage, log-on frequency, log-on duration and profile update incidence) and demographic (gender, age and population group) variables on young consumers’ attitudes towards social media marketing communications.
Design/methodology/approach - A survey was employed via three self-administered questionnaires, which were distributed to over thirteen thousand 13 – 18 years old learners (Generation Z cohort) at colleges and high schools in South Africa. A generalized linear model (GLM) was employed for the statistical data analysis.
Findings – The study ascertained that social media marketing communications had a positive on each attitude component among adolescents, but on a declining scale, which correlates to the purchase funnel. The results also revealed that teenagers who used social media for long time periods; updated their profiles frequently; and were from the Colored and Black population groups, displayed the most favorable attitudinal responses to social media marketing communications.
Research limitations/implications – Social media was collectively analyzed and did not consider the number of different social media types, which could be examined individually. This investigation only considered the Generation Z cohort, but other cohorts to attitudes towards social media marketing communications could also be assessed.
Practical implications – Companies and their brands should consider employing and/or adapting their strategies based on the declining impact of social media marketing communications on attitude components among young consumers’ and the divergent influence on usage and demographic variables when targeting the lucrative and technologically advanced, but capricious, Generation Z consumers.
Originality/value – This research established that social media marketing communications had a favorable influence on cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude components among young consumers, but on a declining scale, which is in congruence with the purchase funnel model. This investigation also makes an important contribution to attitudinal research in developing countries, where there is a lack of research in social media marketing communications.

Social media has irrevocably transformed the manner in which society communicates and has altered perceptions and attitudes. The proliferation of Facebook usage has connected consumers to each other, to marketers and to brands in a manner that is as inventive, and has altered the world as we know it. However, research on Facebook is still in its infancy in an emerging country such as South Africa. Generation Y is a significant consumer group and, consequently, their attitudes towards social media advertising are of significant importance to marketers. This has triggered the question whether the largest social medium’s marketing communications effectively reaches young adults in South Africa, and what influence it has on their cognitive attitudes, which leads to their buying behavior. The results suggest that Facebook advertising has a favorable effect on the awareness and knowledge hierarchy-of-effects model levels amongst Generation Y in South Africa. The research is beneficial to marketers who intend to make use of this powerful conduit to target this vacillating cohort.

Purpose – The primary aim of this research is to investigate the influence of behavioural attitudes towards the most popular social medium in the world, Facebook, amongst Millennials in South Africa (SA), and to determine whether various usage and demographic variables have an impact on intention-to-purchase and purchase perceptions. 
Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative research was conducted by means of a survey among a sample of over 3 500 respondents via self-administered structured questionnaires in SA. A generalised linear model was used to analyse the data.
Findings – The results confirm that advertising on Facebook has a positive influence on the behavioural attitudes (intention-to-purchase and purchase) of Millennials who reside in SA.  The usage characteristics, log-on duration and profile update incidence, as well as the demographic influence of ethnic orientation also resulted in more favourable perceptions of Facebook advertising. Research limitations/implications – Research on Facebook advertising was only conducted in SA, whereas other emerging countries warrant further investigation to establish if they share the slight positive sentiment towards intention-to-purchase and purchase. This inquiry only provides a ‘snap shot’ of behavioural attitudes, usage and demographic factors towards social media advertising, whereas future research could consider the development of cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes towards Facebook advertising by employing longitudinal and qualitative research designs.
Practical implications – Organisations and managers should consider that their existing Facebook advertising strategies may only have a limited effect on intention-to-purchase and purchase in SA. However, certain usage characteristics, namely the more time spent logged onto Facebook and the greater frequency of profile update incidence, as well as the demographic variable, namely Black and Coloured Millennials, resulted in more favourable behavioural attitudes towards Facebook advertising. Hence, organisations and managers should be prepared to alter or adapt their Facebook advertising tactics accordingly when targeting the notoriously fickle Millennials.
Originality/value – This investigation found that Facebook advertising has a nominal positive influence on behavioural attitudes among Millennials, which is in congruence with the communications of the effect pyramid model that was established through traditional advertising research. This paper also makes a noteworthy contribution to attitudinal research in emerging countries where there is a dearth of research in social media advertising.

The ubiquitous role of technology in the lives of Generation (Gen) Y consumers is commonly recognized in scholarly circles, as well as the pervasive use of interactive and social media among younger consumers, which is significant for marketers from an advertising perspective. Widespread usage of social media such as Facebook is generating billions of dollars in advertising revenue, however, little is known about the attitudes of consumers towards advertising on this conduit in developing countries, especially in terms of the effect of various usage characteristics and demographic factors. This study investigates the influence of Facebook advertising on affective attitudes amongst Gen Y in South Africa (SA). The findings of the inquiry revealed a generally positive predisposition towards Facebook advertising vis-à-vis affective attitudes, which makes a noteworthy contribution to the limited social media research on hierarchy response theory in developing countries. This investigation should also assist companies and their brands to understand what makes Gen Y like and develop a preference for their products that are promoted on Facebook, as well as the impact of various usage and demographics variables, thereby abetting the development and implementation of more effective marketing communications on this vast digital interactive medium in South Africa.

The rapid growth of social media has resulted in digital information and communications technology (ICT) channels for individuals, especially the youth, to connect with each other and the rest of their world. Consequently, instant messaging (IM), social network sites (SNS) and other mobile applications have become an integral part of life, as well as a daily destination for billions of young individuals, offering them a novel and instant means of communication in this interactive ICT space. The increase of social media adoption has captured the attention of marketers and consumers alike on a global scale, and with the fast changing communication environments, marketers now confront new challenges in terms of understanding consumer behavior, attitudinal responses and consumption patterns in the new millennium. However, there is a lack of research into young consumers’ attitudes towards advertising on IM platforms in emerging nations. Mxit is the largest locally founded IM channel in South Africa (SA) and, hence, this inquiry examines the effect of IM (Mxit) advertising on the hierarchy-of-effect model attitude stages among teenagers in SA. The results of the investigations found favorable attitudes towards IM advertising among teenagers, which makes an important contribution to the deficiency of IM inquiry in developing economies. This study should also aid organizations and their brands to comprehend what makes teenagers develop positive attitudes as a result of IM advertising, thereby assisting with the improvement of promotion strategies on this expansive and predominantly mobile IM platform landscape in SA.

The social media have grown at an exponential rate in recent years, especially among the youth (known as Millennials) in South Africa, who access social media primarily via mobile devices; these have served as an additional catalyst to fuel this growth. The rapid advancement of social media is also attributed to the Millennials’ desires for social interaction connectedness, information, entertainment and convenience. Millennials portray a difficult market to reach with advertising due to the large fragmentation of media, diverse range of interests and demographical differences, but this lucrative market cannot be ignored owing to their huge purchasing power. Mxit is a popular social medium in South Africa and provides numerous advertising opportunities for organisations and their brands. The purpose of this study was to examine Millennials’ cognitive attitudes towards advertising on Mxit, and assess the influence of certain usage and demographic factors. The research surveyed 1858 young adults in the Western Cape who were between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Millennials maintained favorable cognitive responses towards Mxit advertising. All of the usage elements and a demographic factor, gender, were also found to have a significant influence. The results provide both academia and organisations with fresh insights and a greater understanding of social network advertising.

The advent of digital and social media has resulted in noteworthy changes in the advertising and marketing environment, which have required companies to approach young consumers in a different manner. Gen Y (young adults) consumers are dependent on the Internet, social network sites, instant messaging and mobile devices to search, organize and transmit information, as well as for entertainment purposes. Marketers are, therefore, compelled to communicate with these digital savvy consumers on social platforms, which they frequent on a regular basis. While organisations have constructed social network profiles and buy online advertising space to promote their brands, many still do not fully comprehend how to successfully integrate social media into their marketing communication strategies. Research on social media marketing communications and the perceptions of users are somewhat limited in a developing country such as South Africa. Mxit is a large social network site in South Africa that mainly uses a mobile platform for users to text each other at a low cost. The inquiry’s main aim was to ascertain Gen Y’s affective attitudinal responses to Mxit marketing communications. The survey design was utilised to sample 1 185 Gen Y participants. These Gen Y respondents demonstrated positive perceptions to Mxit marketing communications in terms of liking and preference hierarchy response levels with several usage and demographic characteristics also having a noteworthy impact. This research serves as a clear indication that marketers should commence or continue to use Mxit as an effective online marketing communication channel, and makes contributions in terms of the application of cohort and attitude theories in the context of Gen Y respondents’ attitudes towards SNA in a developing nation.

Generation Y is the first high-tech generation and is completely dependent on mobile devices and social media to complete various daily tasks, since these individuals have grown up in an epoch of rapid technological innovation and development. Social media’s escalation in popularity has been noticed by organisations who desire to find new ways to reach young online communities. Mxit is a social network site in South Africa that allows marketing managers to communicate with consumers via a number of marketing communication options. A steady flow of literature has emerged on social media as a marketing communication channel over the past five years, primarily from first-world countries; academic research has not kept pace within South Africa. Hence, the primary objective of this investigation was to establish Generation Y’s purchase intentions and purchase sentiment towards Mxit advertising. A survey method was utilized to collect 1 228 self-administered questionnaires from Generation Y respondents. Mxit advertising was confirmed to have relatively positive behavioral responses and several demographic and usage variables also had a significant effect. This study has added to the relatively small pool of data to assist academics and practitioners to understand the influence of Mxit advertising on South Africa’s youth.

Online interpersonal interaction and communication has become an important aspect of social activities, especially among Millennials (young adults). However, the African continent has the lowest Internet access across the globe, but the development and rapid adoption of mobile technology has led to a major increase in the usage of Internet and new online Information and Communications Technology (ICT) channels, which are collectively referred to as social media. Social media platforms have become an integral part of everyday life and marketing communications via these digital channels has become one of the latest trends in South Africa (SA). The most commonly used social medium in the world is Facebook, whereas Mxit is the largest locally established online ICT conduit. However, not much is known about Millennials’ attitudes towards social media as an advertising medium. Therefore, several surveys were used to investigate the effect of social media (Facebook and Mxit) marketing communications have on each of the hierarchy response model attitude stages among Millennials in SA. The results confirm that social media marketing communications have a significant influence on all of the hierarchy response model attitude stages, but on a declining degree as South African Millennials progress to the higher stages. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that several online usage and demographic characteristics have a significant influence on attitudes towards these new interactive ICT conduits.

Black economic empowerment and employment equity aims to enable black people in South Africa make a noteworthy contribution to the local economy by irreversibly altering the racial profile of management echelons and all employment levels. The advertising industry has been criticized for its slow empowerment advancement and were investigated for allegations of racism. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges, benefits and progress made by Cape Town advertising agencies while attempting to achieve broad-based black economic empowerment and marketing, advertising and communications transformation charter employment equity targets. These elements have been thoroughly examined by utilising a multiple case study approach and by interviewing the top twelve traditional full-service advertising agencies through use of a semi-structured interview guide. This study revealed that the advertising industry has employed a multitude of innovative black economic empowerment (BEE) strategies to facilitate transformation progress and to address a number of inherent problems.

Black economic empowerment (BEE) aims to enable black people in South Africa, as legislatively classified, to make a noteworthy contribution to the local economy by irreversibly altering the racial profile of ownership, management echelons and all employment levels of existing and new organisations (SA DTI 2004: 4–5). The transformation process in South Africa has been a lengthy and complex one, with the government gradually enacting enabling legislation. The advertising industry has been criticized for its slow empowerment advancement, which led to two parliamentary hearings in the early 2000s to investigate allegations of racism and poor transformation progress. The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has been the main driving force of transformation within the South African advertising industry, but there have been few studies that have effectively investigated transformation and BEE progress within this industry over recent years. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore progress made by advertising agencies towards transformation in Cape Town, as well as the challenges and benefits that result from implementing BEE measures. The aforementioned was thoroughly examined by utilizing a multiple case study approach and by interviewing the top 12 traditional full service advertising agencies in Cape Town.

The advancement of transformation has been a protracted and complex process, but the South African (SA) government has made some degree of progress with the gazetting of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation over the past decade. The SA advertising industry received criticism for its sluggish transformation progress, which led to allegations of racism in the early 2000s. Consequently, the main purpose of this study is to examine the benefits and challenges emanating from the Cape Peninsula-based advertising agencies' efforts to attain the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice (Codes) scorecard and Marketing, Advertising and Communication (MAC) transformation charter ownership targets. The multiple case study approach was applied and a semi-structured interview guide was used to extract a wealth of data from the Cape Peninsula advertising industry. The results revealed numerous problems and benefits as a consequence of the agencies deliberate attempts to achieve the targets.