Soap Opera Viewers May Want Soap Opera Lives
Recent research indicates that regular soap opera viewers share several characteristics that may be interesting to consumer researchers: Specifically, these viewers show evidence of perceiving television reality as “normal,” aspiring to have the possessions and lives of the characters on the shows, and parasocial substitution of soap opera relationships for real life relationships. This study was conducted with 300 regular U.S. viewers of The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, All My Children, or Days of Our Lives. The researchers, led by Barbara Stern of Rutgers Business School, recruited these participants from a consumer database.
Reference: Stern, B. B., Russell, C. A., Russell, D. W. (2007). Hidden persuasions in soap operas: Damaged heroines and negative consumer effects. International Journal of Advertising, 26(1), pages 9–36.
