Abstract

Religiosity has largely been ignored by consumer research as a factor in the negotiation of meaning from magazine advertisements containing lifestyle messages. A meaning based study was undertaken to seek to identify its presence and emergence within a religious audience. A qualitative methodology employing in-depth, phenomenological interviewing was designed. Six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, three men and three women, were invited to give their interpretations, thoughts, and feelings towards four magazine advertisements. A second in-depth phenomenological interview was conducted with each participant to provide individual lifeworld contexts. Analysis employed a previously tested conceptual construct, Life Themes, to identify a paramount, existential motivator unique to each participant. Life Themes were consequently examined for influences of personal and institutional religiosity. Expressions of religiosity were found to be influenced by individual Life Themes. Though findings indicate conflicts with personal values derived from religiosity, interpretive consensus was not found in particular incidences or on particular values. Findings also suggest that proximity to Christian lifestyle values, rather than to simply “Mormon” lifestyle values, more fully suggest incidence of shared interpretive strategy in evaluating lifestyle appeals within advertising messages. The study indicates that aligning a product with messages containing values that promote lifestyle conflict is not serving the best interests of the product, nor its intended market.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Fine Arts and Communications; Communications

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etdm78

Keywords

Mormons, Research, Social life, customs

Language

English

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