Any complaints? A review of the framework of self-regulation in the Australian advertising industry

Prior to 1996, the Australian system of advertising self-regulation was regarded as a world model and many Asia-Pacific systems included components adapted from the Australian system. The recent changes to this system, encouraged by the abolition of the media accreditation system, consumer association pressure, criticism from the national advertisers association and the lack of a strong advertising agency presence, present an interesting framework in which to review the foundation concepts of self-regulation in advertising. This paper compares the new code of ethics with its predecessor and an international standard. It examines the performance of the code in terms of the number of complaints upheld and complaint by medium and product type and the voluntary response of advertisers. The findings suggest a weakening in the standard of advertising self-regulation in Australia, with fewer provisions in the Code of Ethics, a significantly fewer number of complaints upheld and no real power of enforcement. Although the case is Australian, it raises universal questions such as the vested interest of advertisers in controlling the process and roles of the consumer association, the media and the advertising agencies in guaranteeing the privilege of self-regulation.     

Congruency of humour and cultural values in print ads

International advertisers routinely struggle to adapt humorous ads for the domestic markets of different countries. In order to provide them with better guidelines, we conduct a content analysis of humorous print ads from China, the United States and France. We found that the cultural values deemed important in a given country are rarely portrayed in humorous ads. This suggests that advertisers may be using humour to promote their products and services with cultural values not endorsed by the general population. Alternatively, advertisers may be ridiculing values that are less important, to attract attention while not offending audiences. Finally, we found that the type of humour used when a given human value is made salient is usually not the same in different countries.     

Usefulness of Economics in Explaining Consumer Complaints

Based on an economic model of consumer demand, a multinomial logit model is estimated to predict the probability of a consumer falling into one of four categories of complaint action: no action, private, public, or both private and public complaints. Automobile repair and medical services are used as examples of more and less competitive industries. There are differences across industries with regard to variables that explain variation in complaints. Once variables representing the cost/benefit, learning, restraints, and personality models are accounted for, most of the variation in complaint behavior for both industries is explained by the learning and restraints models. Characteristics of individuals are important in explaining complaint behavior for both auto repair and medical services, while supply side characteristics are important in explaining variation in complaint behavior for auto repair services.     

Complaints and Disenrollment at a Health Maintenance Organization

Two options for dissatisfied customers are to voice their grievances or to stop doing business with the offending organization. The choice may be influenced by buyer loyalty. Data for a major Health Maintenance Organization are used to explore the empirical relationship among complaint (voice), disenrollment (exit), and time-in-plan (loyalty). Voice and exit are often used together. Compared to non-complainers, those who register medical complaints are four and one-half times more likely to leave the plan voluntarily. Time-in-plan reduces the likelihood of both voluntary and involuntary disenrollment.     

Consumer complaints and redress: an important mechanism for protecting and empowering consumers1

This paper explores a consumer complaint programme as a tool for empowering consumers, using the consumer complaint programme of a United States federal agency as a case study. After describing the structure and role of the Federal Reserve System (the central bank of the United States) in handling complaints, the paper follows a complaint through the System, looks at trends in complaints and provides a profile of consumers who complain. The paper concludes with information on the economic impact of complaint resolution and consumer satisfaction with third‐party complaint investigation.     

Antecedents to complaint behaviour in the context of restaurant goers

Abstract

This article deals with the process by which consumer complaint behaviour is formed. The general aim is to analyse the nature of this type of response to dissatisfaction, describing its development in terms of how it is influenced by a combination of several factors already researched in the literature. The most relevant contributions from the related theoretical work indicate that public and private responses (complaint behaviour) are the most common reactions of consumers when faced with a dissatisfactory experience. A group of determinants which influence these responses in different ways has also been identified. The main objective of this study is to analyse the relationship between the different determinants of complaint behaviour with the aim of identifying the variables which exert the greatest influence.     

The Prevalence of Sexual Imagery in Ads Targeted to Young Adults

To determine if advertisers use sexual imagery to appeal to youth, 2,863 ads in magazines read by young and mature adults were compared. Results indicate that ads targeted to young adults were 65% more likely to contain provocatively dressed models and 128% more likely to contain sexual behavior than those for mature adults. In the ads for young adults, female models were 3.7 times more likely to be portrayed sexually than were male models. The findings suggest that advertisers use sexual imagery, primarily by means of female models, to appeal to young audiences. Education and consumer action implications are discussed.     

The right to be heard and to be understood: a conceptual framework for consumer protection in emerging economies

In many emerging economies and developing countries, comprising consumers from different cultures and with varying degrees of sophistication (knowledge and skill) concerning consumer protection, the promotion of consumers' rights to develop a consumer‐oriented culture remains a very big challenge. One way of protecting the consumer, especially the consumer that has not been fully socialized to execute informed decisions when purchasing expensive durables, is by establishing a redress environment that would ensure fair redress as well as an understanding and appreciation of the consumer. Manufacturers and retailers are often not aware of the performance failures that consumers experience concerning their products because many people do not communicate their dissatisfactions to them. However, unless and until manufacturers and retailers fully comprehend their customers' complaint behaviour, their reasons for engaging in specific complaint behaviour and the reasoning (cognitive processes) and emotional processes behind their behaviour, they will not recognize the link between complaint handling and customer loyalty and profits. The purpose of this paper was to develop a theoretical conceptual framework that would enable consumer scientists, consumer consultants, consumer behaviour researchers and those with the responsibility of handling consumer complaints to explore and understand consumer complaint behaviour in its entirety. We argue that, to be able to establish and manage a redress environment that is characterized by an understanding of the specific consumer as well as by effective complaint behaviour handling, it is of the utmost importance that the manufacturer, retailer, consumer consultant and all those that work with consumers' complaints understand the entire complaint process, including the underlying cognitive and emotional processes as well as the consumer's post‐complaint perception of justice and his/her satisfaction with the complaint handling. It is also important to understand the role that consumer‐, product‐ and redress environment‐related variables play in consumer complaint behaviour. The consumer who blames the retailer for the problem and who probably feels angry about the situation and decides to complain will expect redress. From a consumer's viewpoint, complaint‐related justice is, however, not only a matter of economic calculus but also a matter of procedure and interaction. We therefore argue for a holistic approach where consumer complaint behaviour is addressed in its entirety. Practical suggestions that could enhance customer satisfaction are given for manufacturers, retailers and those who deal with consumers' complaints.     

Policies and practice in Denmark and Sweden

Abstract: Danish laws regulating banking and financial services organizations have no consumer protection provisions, although there is one law regulating a particular kind of payment instrument, the Payment Cards Act. However, general consumer protection law applies to banks and other financial services organizations, as well as other kinds of business. In particular, the Marketing Practices and Price Marking and Price Display Acts give responsibilities to the consumer ombudsman. This legal framework is complemented by guidelines issued – after consultation – by the consumer ombudsman, for example on conduct of business in bank advice, mortgage business and distance selling involving payment cards. The Danish system may be summarized as providing for standards of business behaviour laid down in general terms by law, backed by a supervisory authority with little power of coercion but playing an important role in influencing businesses to adopt high consumer protection standards and in negotiating solutions to problems as they emerge. The Swedish system is generally similar, but less advanced in the use of guidelines for the conduct of business. Both countries provide consumers who have unresolved complaints with easy access to alternative dispute resolution systems and the courts are rarely used to establish case law.     

The role of human interaction in complaint handling

While it is widely accepted that managing customer complaints is crucial for companies, the question of how best to manage these complaints is still a matter of debate. A growing number of studies highlight the effectiveness of digital complaint channels on customer behaviour and satisfaction, suggesting that direct human interaction is no longer necessary in the recovery process. Building on this observation, our research questions the interest of maintaining or not direct human interactions in the management of customer complaints. We carry a quantitative study on 427 respondents, which shows that when the recovery process involves human interaction, customers have a better perception of justice and of the company's relational efforts and are more satisfied with the resolution process. Customers are responsive to human interaction in the service recovery process. Thus, from a managerial point of view, complaint management should be part of a consumer centric approach that includes verbal exchanges (face to face or by phone). As tempting as it may seem to companies to completely digitize complaint management, we believe that maintaining direct human interactions is beneficial to customer relationships.     

The HASSLE Scale

Abstract

Retailers can respond to consumer complaints of perceived problems in many different ways. The response chosen by the retailer, as well as the time and effort exerted by the consumer, can influence consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (S/D) with the complaint resolution process. Results suggest that consumer S/D with the complaint resolution process has four critical dimensions. The two consumer input dimensions are consumer time and consumer effort expended in an attempt to resolve the problem. The two outcome dimensions are compensation received and attributes of the retailer's representative.     

The importance of understanding different complaint themes' impact on commitment

The research establishes that different complaint themes do not impact commitment with the same intensity. In other words, managers should not give the same amount of attention to all of the complaints received by the company. Thirty‐five complaints were recorded and eventually categorized into four groups. These groups were: (1) high price; (2) lacking a sense of community; (3) firm procedures; and (4) other. The fourth theme was labelled ‘other’ because of the heterogeneity that existed among the complaints that did not fit with the other three themes. These four themes were compared with each other concerning their effect on commitment. Because of the small sample size, a Kruskal‐Wallis test was used to analyse the data. Next, a post hoc test was conducted using a series of Mann‐Whitney tests. The results show that the theme with the most complaints (high price) did not have the biggest impact on commitment. Rather, another complaint (lacking a sense of community) demonstrated the largest impact on commitment. This research highlights the importance of analysing complaint groups with other relationship variables, and not just choosing the most frequently stated complaint as the area to improve an organization.     

The Role of Public and Private Complaining in Satisfaction with Problem Resolution

The results of a two-phase panel study were used to investigate the relationships among satisfaction with complaint resolution, reports of public and private complaining, and hypothesized antecedents of complaint behavior. Path analysis of a theoretical model of complaint behavior suggested that the degree of public complaining was positively related to satisfaction with the eventual outcome of the problem while the extent of private complaining had a significant negative relationship. Analysis of the antecedents showed that only monetary cost associated with the problem was positively related to both public and private complaints, underscoring the difficulty of predicting complaining from personal characteristics.     

Advertising Ethics: The Use of Sexual Appeal in Chinese Advertising

With increasing social awareness of unethical advertisements in today's advertising, this study explores consumers' ethical judgements about the use of sexual appeals in advertising in a Chinese context by replicating LaTour and Henthorne's study. It specifically focuses upon responses on the Reidenbach-Robin multidimensional ethical scale, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. The results show that sexual appeal was evaluated as the most frequent use in Hong Kong print advertising and they were also perceived as the most attractive instrument. Similar to LeTour and Henthorne's findings, regardless of respondent's gender, the use of a strong overt sexual appeal was not well received by Chinese consumers and resulted in less favorable attitude toward the ad itself and the purchase intention than using mild sexual themes. However, the degree of sexual content used in advertising has no direct influence on brand attitudes. Due to the conservative nature of Chinese culture, the advertisers should be careful in the use of sexual appeal for Chinese consumers.     

Power and responsibility: Advertising self-regulation and consumer protection in a digital world

While advertising self-regulation is generally considered effective in a closed, largely country-based system, the digital world in which we now live is an open and global system. This raises challenges for consumer protection from national regulators trying to enforce compliance from global media platforms, advertisers, and consumers. Applying the power-responsibility equilibrium, this study explores who has the power and who has the responsibility for advertising self-regulation in a digital world. In doing so, it takes an ethnographic approach, eliciting insights from 18 key stakeholders in the self-regulatory process, across the three geographical areas of Europe, United States, and Asia-Pacific. The findings highlight the need for more collaboration and alignment of self-regulatory systems and build a framework for action through embedding responsibility, aligning standards, initiating processes, and improving outcomes. Six recommendations are offered to restore the balance of power and responsibility.     

Disbanding an Effective System for Self Regulation of Advertising: Beyond the Media Council of Australia

This paper analyses the role of government, advertisers, advertising agents, and the industry complaints body in unravelling what was once an effective self regulatory system for advertisements. It outlines the connection between the system for the accreditation of advertising agents and the system of fuzzy Codes of Practice rules for the content of advertisements that regulated Australian advertising until the end of 1996. It shows how a revamped competition policy, government review, aggrieved advertisers and an entrenched Advertising Standards Council contributed to the demise of the Media Council system of self regulated advertising. The paper describes the new self regulatory system that has been put in place and analyses both the old Media Council Code of Practice rules and the rules of the new Advertiser Code of Ethics.     

Offensiveness of Advertising with Violent Image Appeal: A Cross-Cultural Study

Violent images are often used in advertisements to gain attention and sell products, resulting in complaints to regulatory bodies and concern regarding the effects of these potentially offensive advertisements on society. This paper presents the results of a survey of 930 university students from six countries to determine which personal and attitudinal variables have a significant influence on their attitudes toward advertisements with violent images. The results indicate that gender, country, intensity of religious beliefs, economic inclination, and products (social/political groups) produced the strongest reaction. These factors should be considered when advertisers run local or global campaigns with violent images.     

Journal of Marketing Communications

The Hispanic market in the USA is a rapidly growing demographic segment that receives considerable attention from marketers. In addition, there is a considerable amount of literature on the Hispanic consumer's attitude towards advertising. Prior research has focused on the Hispanic audience's preference for English language versus Spanish language advertisements and provided normative guidelines for advertisers. This paper analyses the content from advertisements in a Spanish language magazine and dual language (English–Spanish) magazine in order to determine whether they adhere to these normative guidelines. The findings suggest that media vehicle selection does play a part in determining the language content of an advertisement as well as the amount of copy used in English language and Spanish language advertisements. The results also suggest that the amount of advertisements that use a bilingual approach remains small, with advertisers preferring an either/or approach to language selection.     

Advertisers’ perceptions regarding the ethical appropriateness of new advertising formats aimed at minors

Although they are key stakeholders, advertisers’ views on the usage of novel (integrated and/or interactive) advertising toward minors has remained largely unexplored in academic research. This study aims to fill this gap by examining advertising professionals’ opinions about the ethical appropriateness of using novel advertising formats aimed at children and teenagers, how to advance advertising literacy in minors, and their views of practices that are potentially privacy-invading, by means of both a quantitative online survey and qualitative in-depth interviews with Belgian advertising professionals. Results show that advertisers perceive that from 12 years onward, minors are capable to understand novel advertising formats and it is ethically justified to use them. Remarkably, advertisers would inform minors already from the age of 10 years onward about the commercial intention behind new advertising formats. Advertisers have strict opinions about collecting information online from minors. They advocate a combination of laws and self-regulation and governmental and educational campaigns to raise awareness and develop advertising literacy.