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Reports on a study into the company turnaround process in the Australian heavy engineering industry. Provides insights into the company regeneration phenomenon with particular emphasis on the marketing approaches taken by turnaround companies. The methodology employed in the study is qualitative in nature, which is appropriate in terms of the aims of the research, and the number of companies actively engaged in turnaround at any one time. Successfully turned around firms appear to engage in a process of “market manipulation”, as they fight to survive, give new meaning to their world, and develop their destiny in a very competitive marketplace.

Advertising expenditure has risen globally and in Australia there has been a 2.7‐fold increase in the last ten years. It is suggested that some advertisements may be “unacceptable”, that is, unfair, misleading, deceptive, offensive, false or socially irresponsible. This research is concerned with consumer behaviour and consumer complaint behaviour specifically in the area of advertising in Australia. The findings indicate that complainants are significantly different from the population at large. This research will afford the regulatory bodies a better understanding of the complaining public as well as educating marketing communications strategists in effectively reaching their target markets.

The purpose of this article is to bring together established research in the field of consumer complaint responses: to contextualise this research into the area of complaints about advertising in Australia; and to empirically test the proposition that it is possible to construct a profile of complainants about advertising in Australia.

Postcodes obtained from the Advertising Standards Board complaints database were entered into Pacific Micromarketing's MOSAIC software, which uses data at the postcode level to cluster individuals into homogeneous groups.

Characteristics shared among consumers who engage in “amplified voicing” include above average income levels, above average disposable income levels, higher than average education levels, professional and associate professional occupations, middle‐ to late‐middle‐aged household heads and above average representation of working women. Their interests tend towards culture, technology, entertaining, sport, food and fashion.

Complainants seem to be unrepresentative of those most likely to be disadvantaged by “unacceptable” advertising. It is suggested that it now falls to advertising professionals and marketing academics to encourage greater involvement of all members of Australian society in the current complaints process and build wider understanding of practices that contravene the regulatory system.

This study investigates the effects of advertising on consumers and hence on society in general, and examines the changing nature and structure of the advertising self‐regulatory system in Australia. Though based on fieldwork in Australia, it provides an international perspective, and is potentially transferable to other societies.

Risky and high‐risk alcohol consumption is prevalent amongst young females and university students. Relatively little research in Australia has focused on these groups. This study aims to use social marketing and consumer behavior principles to examine the attitudinal, normative and demographic factors which influence alcohol consumption amongst 18‐24‐year‐old, female university students.

A total of 230 female students in this age group were surveyed utilizing a personally administered, self‐report questionnaire. These participants were categorized as either low risk alcohol consumers (n=122) or high‐risk alcohol consumers (n=108).

The findings from this research indicate that a mixture of attitudinal, normative and demographic factors influence alcohol consumption amongst young, female university students.

This study aids in the development of targeted interventions to mitigate risky and high‐risk alcohol consumption amongst this cohort.

The pharmaceutical industry is a leader in research and development investment. New treatments need to be communicated to the market, and consumers are increasingly interested in learning about new drugs. Direct to consumer advertising of prescription medicines (DTCA) is a controversial practice where many of the arguments for and against are not supported by strong evidence. This paper aims to contribute to a research agenda that is forming in this area.

The paper reports on a systematic review that was conducted and applies accepted theoretical models to the DTCA context. The systematic review methodology is widely accepted in the medical sector and is successfully applied here in the marketing field.

The hierarchy of effects model is specifically applied to DTCA with a clear emphasis on consumer rights, empowerment, protection and knowledge.

This paper provides healthcare practitioners with insight into how consumers process DTCA messages and provides guidance into how to assist in this message processing.