RESEARCH
To date, most of my research projects have focused on advertising, marketing, new media, and health communication. My research projects have employed both qualitative and quantitative methods and are often comparative in nature. My main research areas are outlined in the following.
Main Research Areas
Advertising and Marketing
I have conducted numerous studies on advertising and marketing, with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion in advertising. Specifically, my research has delved into the representations of gender, race/ethnicity, and older people. Some of my work has explored the intersection of these representations (e.g., gender representations of older people), other work has analyzed consumers’ and practitioners’ perceptions of such representations (e.g., a survey of 185 Japanese advertising practitioners and 1,834 consumers) as well as their effects on the audience (e.g., an experiment on the effects of stereotypical gender portrayals), while most of my recent studies have addressed representational differences between cultures (e.g., the representation of gender in television advertising in 13 cultures). Additionally, I have conducted research on the role of celebrities and influencers in advertising and advertising's impact on life satisfaction.
New Media and Society
Several of my research projects have focused on the role new media plays in society and how it mirrors, changes, and shapes the world, including studies in such diverse areas as the gender digital divide, the use of social media in the workplace, the effect of social media on body image concerns, gender stereotypes in online dating sites, and how new media has changed journalism.
Health Communication
The majority of my work in the area of health communication has centered on media effects on the body image, including the effects of social media on body image concerns and a comparative study on the effects of body talk on Facebook on teenagers’ self-esteem. In addition, I have been actively engaged in various other research projects related to health communication. These include a comparative study on news selection in relation to depressive symptoms, investigating how responsible reporting of suicide news can help prevent suicides, and exploring how the media frames the issue of air pollution.
Comparative Media and Communication Studies
Many of my research projects are comparative in nature. They include comparisons between two cultures (e.g., a comparison of gender stereotypes in Spanish- and English-language television advertisements in the United States), three cultures (e.g., a comparison of the representations of older people in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea), and multiple cultures (e.g., a comparative analysis of the nudity of male and female characters in television advertising in 13 cultures).