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Dog Movie Stars and Dog Breed Popularity: A Case Study in Media Influence on Choice

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  • Stefano Ghirlanda
  • Alberto Acerbi
  • Harold Herzog

Abstract

Fashions and fads are important phenomena that influence many individual choices. They are ubiquitous in human societies, and have recently been used as a source of data to test models of cultural dynamics. Although a few statistical regularities have been observed in fashion cycles, their empirical characterization is still incomplete. Here we consider the impact of mass media on popular culture, showing that the release of movies featuring dogs is often associated with an increase in the popularity of featured breeds, for up to 10 years after movie release. We also find that a movie's impact on breed popularity correlates with the estimated number of viewers during the movie's opening weekend—a proxy of the movie's reach among the general public. Movies' influence on breed popularity was strongest in the early 20th century, and has declined since. We reach these conclusions through a new, widely applicable method to measure the cultural impact of events, capable of disentangling the event's effect from ongoing cultural trends.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Ghirlanda & Alberto Acerbi & Harold Herzog, 2014. "Dog Movie Stars and Dog Breed Popularity: A Case Study in Media Influence on Choice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-5, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0106565
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106565
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonah Berger & Alan T. Sorensen & Scott J. Rasmussen, 2010. "Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 815-827, 09-10.
    2. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    3. Caulkins, Jonathan P. & Hartl, Richard F. & Kort, Peter M. & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2007. "Explaining fashion cycles: Imitators chasing innovators in product space," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1535-1556, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Folgert Karsdorp & Lauren Fonteyn, 2019. "Cultural entrenchment of folktales is encoded in language," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Sarah Weir & Sharon E Kessler, 2022. "The making of a (dog) movie star: The effect of the portrayal of dogs in movies on breed registrations in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, January.

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