title: Does Product Placement Change Television Viewers' Social Behavior?
abstract: To what extent are television viewers affected by the behaviors and decisions they see modeled by characters in television soap operas? Collaborating with scriptwriters for three prime-time nationally-broadcast Spanish-language telenovelas, we embedded scenes about topics such as drunk driving or saving money at randomly assigned periods during the broadcast season. Outcomes were measured unobtrusively by aggregate city- and nation-wide time series, such as the number of Hispanic motorists arrested daily for drunk driving or the number of accounts opened in banks located in Hispanic neighborhoods. Results indicate that while two of the treatment effects are statistically significant, none are substantively large or long-lasting. Actions that could be taken during the immediate viewing session, like online searching, and those that were relatively more integrated into the telenovela storyline, specifically reducing cholesterol, were briefly affected, but not behaviors requiring sustained efforts, like opening a bank account or registering to vote.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Peretsman Scully Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Elizabeth Levy
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Paluck
authors.affiliation: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lagunes
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Donald P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science and Communication Studies, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vavreck
authors.affiliation: Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
authors.forename: Limor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peretsman Scully Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gomila
mesh_terms: D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D057386:Search Engine; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television