Matthew A. Lapierre, PhD

Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Affiliate)

Research Overview

My general research interests’ center on the influence media has on children with a particular focus on how advertising affects children’s health and how parents make consumer decisions for their children. Projects I am currently working on (and would like to continue as an InCHIP affiliate) are a content analysis of marketing cues on food packaging, the influence of nutrition cues on parent selections of food products, and the influence of message strategies on children’s health behaviors. I would also like to continue my previous work with InCHIP member, Dr. Leslie Snyder, and to extend our collaboration in areas directly related to food marketing to children. I was a graduate student in the Communication Sciences department at UConn and worked with Dr. Snyder on a number of projects. We investigated how marketing characters (e.g., Tony the Tiger) affected children’s consumer behavior and a meta-analysis on the efficacy of fruit and vegetable public health campaigns on consumption.

Education

Ph.D., 2013, Communication, University of Pennsylvania

M.A., 2008, Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

M.A., 2006, Communication Sciences, University of Connecticut

B.S., 1998, Mathematics and Philosophy, University of Massachusetts

Recent Publications