• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.231-238
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• 2010

The anthropomorphism of brands, defined as seeing human beings in brands (Puzakova, Kwak, and Rosereto, 2008) is the focus of this study. Specifically, the research objective is to understand the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike. By analyzing consumer readings of stories found on food product packages we intend to show how marketers and consumers humanize a spectrum of brands and create meanings. Our research question considers the possibility that a single brand may host multiple or single meanings, associations, and personalities for different consumers. We start by highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of our research, explain why we turn our attention to packages as vehicles of brand meaning transfer, then describe our qualitative methodology, discuss findings, and conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future studies. The study was designed to directly expose consumers to potential vehicles of brand meaning transfer and then engage these consumers in free verbal reflections on their perceived meanings. Specifically, we asked participants to read non-nutritional stories on selected branded food packages, in order to elicit data about received meanings. Packaging has yet to receive due attention in consumer research (Hine, 1995). Until now, attention has focused solely on its utilitarian function and has generated a body of research that has explored the impact of nutritional information and claims on consumer perceptions of products (e.g., Loureiro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). An exception is a recent study that turns its attention to non-nutritional packaging narratives and treats them as cultural productions and vehicles for mythologizing the brand (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). The next step in this stream of research is to explore how such mythologizing activity affects brand personality perception and how these perceptions relate to consumers. These are the questions that our study aimed to address. We used in-depth interviews to help overcome the limitations of quantitative studies. Our convenience sample was formed with the objective of providing demographic and psychographic diversity in order to elicit variations in consumer reflections to food packaging stories. Our informants represent middle-class residents of the US and do not exhibit extreme alternative lifestyles described by Thompson as "cultural creatives" (2004). Nine people were individually interviewed on their food consumption preferences and behavior. Participants were asked to have a look at the twelve displayed food product packages and read all the textual information on the package, after which we continued with questions that focused on the consumer interpretations of the reading material (Scott and Batra, 2003). On average, each participant reflected on 4-5 packages. Our in-depth interviews lasted one to one and a half hours each. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed, providing 140 pages of text. The products came from local grocery stores on the West Coast of the US and represented a basic range of food product categories, including snacks, canned foods, cereals, baby foods, and tea. The data were analyzed using procedures for developing grounded theory delineated by Strauss and Corbin (1998). As a result, our study does not support the notion of one brand/one personality as assumed by prior work. Thus, we reveal multiple brand personalities peacefully cohabiting in the same brand as seen by different consumers, despite marketer attempts to create more singular brand personalities. We extend Fournier's (1998) proposition, that one's life projects shape the intensity and nature of brand relationships. We find that these life projects also affect perceived brand personifications and meanings. While Fournier provides a conceptual framework that links together consumers’ life themes (Mick and Buhl, 1992) and relational roles assigned to anthropomorphized brands, we find that consumer life projects mold both the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike and the ways in which brands connect to consumers' existential concerns. We find two modes through which brands are anthropomorphized by our participants. First, brand personalities are created by seeing them through perceived demographic, psychographic, and social characteristics that are to some degree shared by consumers. Second, brands in our study further relate to consumers' existential concerns by either being blended with consumer personalities in order to connect to them (the brand as a friend, a family member, a next door neighbor) or by distancing themselves from the brand personalities and estranging them (the brand as a used car salesman, a "bunch of executives.") By focusing on food product packages, we illuminate a very specific, widely-used, but little-researched vehicle of marketing communication: brand storytelling. Recent work that has approached packages as mythmakers, finds it increasingly challenging for marketers to produce textual stories that link the personalities of products to the personalities of those consuming them, and suggests that "a multiplicity of building material for creating desired consumer myths is what a postmodern consumer arguably needs" (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). Used as vehicles for storytelling, food packages can exploit both rational and emotional approaches, offering consumers either a "lecture" or "drama" (Randazzo, 2006), myths (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007; Holt, 2004; Thompson, 2004), or meanings (McCracken, 2005) as necessary building blocks for anthropomorphizing their brands. The craft of giving birth to brand personalities is in the hands of writers/marketers and in the minds of readers/consumers who individually and sometimes idiosyncratically put a meaningful human face on a brand.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.569-583
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• 1995

Background: The expression of the adhesion molecules on the cell surface is important in the movement of cells and the modulation of immune response. DILD starts as an alveolitis and progresses to pulmonary fibrosis. So adhesion molecules in these patients is expected to be increased. There are several reports about adhesion molecules in DILD in terms of the percentage of positive cells in immuno-stain, in which the interpretation is subjective and the data were variable. Methods: So we measured the relative median fluorescence intensity(RMFI) which is the ratio of the FI emitted by bound primary monoclonal antibody to FI emitted by isotypic control antibody of the cells in BALF of 28 patients with DILD(IPF:10, collagen disease:7, sarcoidosis:9, hypersensitivity pneumonitis:2) and 9 healthy control. Results: RMFI of the ICAM-1 on AM($3.30{\pm}1.16$) and lymphocyte($5.39{\pm}.70$) of DILD were increased significantly than normal control($0.93{\pm}0.18$, $1.06{\pm}0.21$, respectively, p=0.001, P=0.003). RMFI of the CD18 on lymphocyte was also higher($24.9{\pm}14.9$) than normal($4.59{\pm}3.77$, p=0.0023). And there was a correlation between RMFI of ICAM on AM and the % of AM(r=-0.66, p=0.0001) and lymphocyte(r=0.447, p=0.0116) in BALF. Also RMFI of ICAM on lymphocyte had a significant (r=0.593, p=0.075) correlation with the % of IL-2R(+) lymphocyte in BALF. The soluble ICAM(sICAM) in serum was also significantly elevated in DILD($499.7{\pm}222.2\;ng/ml$) compred to normal($199.0{\pm}38.9$) (p=0.00097) and sICAM in BAL fluid was also significantly higher than normal control group($41.8{\pm}23.0\;ng/ml$ vs $20.1{\pm}13.6\;ng/ml$). There was a Significant correlation between sICAM level in serum and the expression of ICAM-l on AM(r=0.554, p=0.0259).Conclusion: These data suggest that in DILD the expression of adhesion molecules is increased in the AM and BAL lymphocytes with elevated serum sICAM, and these parameter may be useful in determining disease activity.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2011

Nuclear medicine images (SPECT, PET) were widely used tool for assessment of myocardial viability and perfusion. However it had difficult to define accurate myocardial infarct region. The purpose of this study was to investigate methodological approach for automatic measurement of rat myocardial infarct size using polar map with adaptive threshold. Rat myocardial infarction model was induced by ligation of the left circumflex artery. PET images were obtained after intravenous injection of 37 MBq $^{18}F$-FDG. After 60 min uptake, each animal was scanned for 20 min with ECG gating. PET data were reconstructed using ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) 2D. To automatically make the myocardial contour and generate polar map, we used QGS software (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center). The reference infarct size was defined by infarction area percentage of the total left myocardium using TTC staining. We used three threshold methods (predefined threshold, Otsu and Multi Gaussian mixture model; MGMM). Predefined threshold method was commonly used in other studies. We applied threshold value form 10% to 90% in step of 10%. Otsu algorithm calculated threshold with the maximum between class variance. MGMM method estimated the distribution of image intensity using multiple Gaussian mixture models (MGMM2, ${\cdots}$ MGMM5) and calculated adaptive threshold. The infarct size in polar map was calculated as the percentage of lower threshold area in polar map from the total polar map area. The measured infarct size using different threshold methods was evaluated by comparison with reference infarct size. The mean difference between with polar map defect size by predefined thresholds (20%, 30%, and 40%) and reference infarct size were $7.04{\pm}3.44%$, $3.87{\pm}2.09%$ and $2.15{\pm}2.07%$, respectively. Otsu verse reference infarct size was $3.56{\pm}4.16%$. MGMM methods verse reference infarct size was $2.29{\pm}1.94%$. The predefined threshold (30%) showed the smallest mean difference with reference infarct size. However, MGMM was more accurate than predefined threshold in under 10% reference infarct size case (MGMM: 0.006%, predefined threshold: 0.59%). In this study, we was to evaluate myocardial infarct size in polar map using multiple Gaussian mixture model. MGMM method was provide adaptive threshold in each subject and will be a useful for automatic measurement of infarct size.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.433-438
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• 2008

Background: Measurement of the maximum oxygen uptake in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been used to determine the intensity of exercise and to estimate the patient's response to treatment during pulmonary rehabilitation. However, cardiopulmonary exercise testing is not widely available in Korea. The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is a simple method of measuring the exercise capacity of a patient. It also provides high reliability data and it reflects the fluctuation in one' s exercise capacity relatively well with using the standardized protocol. The prime objective of the present study is to develop a regression equation for estimating the peak oxygen uptake ($VO_2$) for men with moderate to very severe COPD from the results of a 6MWT. Methods: A total of 33 male patients with moderate to very severe COPD agreed to participate in this study. Pulmonary function testing, cardiopulmonary exercise testing and a 6MWT were performed on their first visits. The index of work ($6M_{work}$, 6-minute walk distance [6MWD]${\times}$body weight) was calculated for each patient. Those variables that were closely related to the peak $VO_2$ were identified through correlation analysis. With including such variables, the equation to predict the peak $VO_2$ was generated by the multiple linear regression method. Results: The peak $VO_2$ averaged $1,015{\pm}392ml/min$, and the mean 6MWD was $516{\pm}195$ meters. The $6M_{work}$ (r=.597) was better correlated to the peak $VO_2$ than the 6MWD (r=.415). The other variables highly correlated with the peak $VO_2$ were the $FEV_1$ (r=.742), DLco (r=.734) and FVC (r=.679). The derived prediction equation was $VO_2$ (ml/min)=($274.306{\times}FEV_1$)+($36.242{\times}DLco$)+($0.007{\times}6M_{work}$)-84.867. Conclusion: Under the circumstances when measurement of the peak $VO_2$ is not possible, we consider the 6MWT to be a simple alternative to measuring the peak $VO_2$. Of course, it is necessary to perform a trial on much larger scale to validate our prediction equation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1296-1307
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• 1997

Background : Erdosteine is a thiol derivative developed for the treatement of chronic obstructive bronchitis, including acute infective exacerbation of chronic bronchitis. Erdosteine has mucomodulating and antioxidant properties and especially exhibits excellent gastrointestinal tolerability. Methods : The study was conducted as a prospective evaluation, with 2 comparative groups orally treated with erdosteine 300mg (bid.) or ambroxol 30mg (b.i.d.) for 7 days and the design of trial was double-blind. The treatments have been assigned randomly to patients (n=80) with acute or chronic bronchitis. The primary end-point used to determine efficacy in this study was subjective symptoms including expectorating frequence, expectoration volume, expectorating difficulty, expectoration viscosity, cough intensity and dyspnea. The secondary end-points of efficacy was the result of arterial blood gas analysis and pulmonary function test. Safety was evaluated with adverse drug reactions and laboratory tests monitoring. 61 patients was included in the efficacy analysis, due to the fact that 19 patients drop-out for different reasons. The obtained values have been analyzed with paired Hest., ANOVA test., multivariate $t^2$-test, repeated measures analysis of covariance, two sample t-test, loglinear-logit model analysis, Fisher's exact test. Results : 1) There was no significant difference on demographic data and vital signs between erdosteine and ambroxol treated groups. 2) The comparison between erdosteine and ambroxol treated groups showed no significant difference in improvement of each symptom in spite of the more favorable efficacy obtained with erdosteine. No difference on the contrary was observed for arterial blood gas analysis and pulmonary function test. 3) As safety is concerned, no clinical significant changes in laboratory test and symptom were induced in erdosteine and ambroxol treated group and two patients in ambroxol treated group drop-out for adverse reactions in symptom. 4) In the evaluation of final clinical efficacy, erdosteine improved more effectively patient's overall symptoms {very good effect (11/31), good effect (12/31), moderate effect (6/31), no effect (2/31), aggravation (0/31)} than ambroxol {very good effect (6/30), good effect (14/30), moderate effect (5/30), no effect (4/30), aggravation (2/30)}. And the probability of symptomatic improvement by erdosteine compared to ambroxol was 2.5 times. (p<0.05). Conclusion : This study showed that erdosteine was clinically effective and safe drug for treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis.