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This study constructs and tests a conceptual model of how and for whom political satire affects political attitudes. With an experiment, we show that young adults compared to older people are more absorbed in satirical items than in regular news. Subsequently, absorption decreased counterarguing such that the attitude toward the satirized object was affected negatively. By contrast, we show that political satire positively affects the attitude toward the satirized subject via perceived funniness; this was particularly strong among those who held views congruent with the satire or lacked background knowledge, which follows disposition theory. Investigating the underlying and conditional processes gave insight into mechanisms through which satire influences attitudes and pinpointed possible reasons for mixed effects of this infotainment genre.

The Ig heavy chain locus contains a number of binding sites for the transcriptional activator, c-Rel. In this study, we evaluated the capacity of B cells from mice made genetically deficient in the C-terminal, transactivation domain of the c-Rel protein (delta c-Rel) to undergo Ig class switching. Flow-cytometric and digestion circularization PCR analyses revealed that delta c-Rel B cells failed to switch to IgG3 in response to LPS alone, or to IgG1 or IgE in response to LPS + IL-4. This failure to switch to IgG3 or IgG1 was associated with a corresponding loss of germline CH gamma 3 or CH gamma 1 RNA. However, the defective switching to IgE in delta c-Rel B cells was associated with normal levels of germline CH epsilon RNA relative to control B cells. The ability of delta c-Rel B cells to switch to IgG1, in response to LPS + IL-4, could be restored through the action(s) of additional stimuli, and this was associated with induction of normal levels of germline CH gamma 1 RNA relative to controls. In contrast, LPS-activated B cells from delta c-Rel mice underwent normal switching to IgA in the presence of TGF-beta, relative to control B cells. This was associated with equivalent steady state levels of germline CH alpha RNA between the two B cell populations. These data are the first to demonstrate a key and selective role for c-Rel in the regulation of Ig class switching. Furthermore, distinct differences are revealed in the Ig isotype induction profiles of B cells lacking c-Rel activity vs those deficient in p50/nuclear factor-kappa B.

The humoral immune response of neonates to T cell-independent type 2 (TI-2) Ags is markedly defective. We previously demonstrated that multivalent membrane Ig cross-linking, using dextran-conjugated anti-Ig Abs (anti-Ig-dextran), is an in vitro model for membrane Ig-dependent TI-2 induction of Ig secretion. In this work, we demonstrate that highly purified neonatal B cells are intrinsically defective in IgM secretion in response to anti-Ig-dextran and cytokines in vitro, as well as other modes of B cell activation, relative to adult B cells. However, costimulation of anti-Ig-dextran-activated neonatal B cells with either CD40-ligand, a recombinant bacterial lipoprotein, or LPS restores the IgM secretory response of neonatal B cells to adult levels. Analysis of Ig isotype secretion indicates that neonatal B cells have an enhanced capacity to secrete IgE and IgA relative to other Ig isotypes. These data suggest that neonatal B cells are competent to secrete Ig in response to TI-2 Ags if adequate costimuli are provided, and thus may have particular relevance for the design of vaccine strategies in the immunodeficient host. The data also suggest that neonatal B cells are programmed to secrete relatively enhanced amounts of IgE and IgA, which may be relevant for antimicrobial resistance at mucosal surfaces.

Sort-purified resting murine B cells proliferate in response to dextran-conjugated anti-IgD Abs (alpha delta-dex) but fail to secrete significant amounts of Ig even after the addition of IL-1 + IL-2. We show that either IL-3 or granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) stimulates 10- to 50-fold enhancements in IgM secretion by sort-purified B cells treated with alpha delta-dex + IL-1 + IL-2, and that the combined actions of IL-3 and GM-CSF are typically greater than additive. Both IL-3 and GM-CSF act primarily as B cell differentiation factors, although IL-3 induces a modest enhancement in cellular outgrowth. The enhancing effects of IL-3 and GM-CSF require multivalent Ag receptor cross-linkage, mediated by alpha delta-dex, as neither cytokine induces IgM secretion in the presence of unconjugated anti-IgD Abs. Although both alpha delta-dex and IL-1 + IL-2 are required for optimal IL-3- and GM-CSF-mediated IgM secretion, both IL-3 and GM-CSF stimulate a modest IgM secretory response by cells activated with alpha delta-dex alone. In this regard, supernatant from either an activated CD4+ Th1 or Th2 clone potently induces IgM secretion by alpha delta-dex + IL-1 + IL-2-activated B cells and this is due, in large part, to the presence in these supernatants of either IL-3 and/or GM-CSF. Neither IL-3 nor GM-CSF stimulates significant IgM secretion by B cells activated through the CD40 signaling pathway alone, although the combination of CD40 and membrane Ig signaling leads to a strong enhancement of the IL-3 + GM-CSF-mediated IgM synthesis above that obtained with membrane Ig signaling alone. The demonstration that IL-3 and GM-CSF act directly as differentiation factors for B cells activated through their Ag receptor establishes a novel cytokine pathway for induction of humoral immunity.

As online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have greatly expanded people’s opportunities to communicate with each other about brands the social media phenomenon has established a new dynamic in the area of marketing communications (Dholakia and Durham, Kaplan and Haenlein,). Consumers have become a brand’s most important persuasion vehicle. Instead of passively receiving marketer-generated content consumers in social media era actively advocate (or, for that matter, thrash) brands by engaging in online activities centred around brands and brand-related content. For instance, they share the videos that other consumers have uploaded on Absolut Vodka’s YouTube channel, talk with other consumers about IKEA on Twitter, or upload pictures of their newly purchased Converse sneakers to Facebook, where their new pride is their peers to see and awe upon.

With the advance of new and highly interactive media technologies, internet users have become active seekers and producers of content (Livingstone, 2004). Social media provide internet users with unparalleled opportunities and completely different ways to interact. Myriad so-called social media platforms, popular examples of which are YouTube, Facebook and Epinions, facilitate a multitude of online activities based on communicating, interacting, expressing, sharing, creating, and publishing user-generated content about anything, including brands (Hawkes and Gibbon 2008). For instance, people watch videos on Absolut Wodka’s YouTube channel, talk about IKEA on Twitter, or upload pictures of their new Converse sneakers to Facebook.

Reach, frequency, and timing are key concepts in selecting TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, out-of-home, direct mail, Internet, and other media for advertising campaigns. We discuss these concepts and their role in media selection and media planning processes. We also describe media and audience factors that influence the impact of media. Finally, we discuss new developments in advertising media.

Propelled by highly interactive technologies, internet users are increasingly becoming active consumers, contributors and producers of content on brands. Consumer’s Online Brand-Related Activities ("COBRAs") have significant consequences for firms and brands. To effectively respond to and steer these consequences, a holistic and empirical understanding of the motivational sources driving brand-related social media use is imperative. However, such understanding to date remains absent. We therefore make a significant and unique contribution to the field by conducting 20 in-depth interviews with people engaged in COBRAs about their motivations to do so. In developing a classification of motivations for a continuum of three COBRA usage types (consuming, contributing, and creating), we provide marketers and brand managers with valuable and practical insights into consumer behavior in a social media dominated era.