Materialistic values, brand knowledge and the mass media: Hours spent on the Internet predicts materialistic values and brand knowledge

Materialism can be seen as the importance people attached to material goods, as well as the belief in the desirable symbolic importance goods have (e.g., to status, human happiness etc.). And the media has often been associated with materialistic values. The current study investigates the relationship between some traditional forms of mass media (television, newspapers and magazines), and a newer form of mass media: the Internet. Using self-report measures, 195 participants indicated how many hours a day they spent watching television, reading newspapers/magazines, and using the Internet. It was found that hours spent using the Internet was positively associated with materialistic values as measured by the Aspiration Index. Using a more concrete task, hours spent using the Internet and materialistic values were significantly predictors of participants’ ability to identify brand logos. This provides evidence that materialistic values, as well as specific knowledge of brands, can be associated to Internet usage. Perhaps surprisingly, however, television viewing was negatively associated with materialistic values. In the current research, the Internet (a newer form of mass media) was more strongly associated with greater materialistic values and the ability to identify brand logos than older forms of mass media.