College Student Attitudes Toward Advertising's Ethical, Economic, and Social Consequences

Little research has focused on college students' attitudes toward advertising's ethical, economic, and social consequences over the last two decades. Exploring and tracking the attitudes of college students toward advertising is important, however, for several reasons. College students represent an important segment of consumers for many marketers, negative attitudes toward advertising on the part of college students could lead to their support for restrictive regulation in the future, and there are potentially negative consequences concerning the effects of advertising that college students uniquely share with other youth markets. The results of this study – a differentiated replication of an earlier study of college students in the late 1970s – indicate the salience of various beliefs that help determine attitudes toward advertising and provide a useful benchmark for future studies. The implications of the study's findings for advertising practice and future regulation are discussed.     

Testing the Cross-National Applicability of U.S. and Russian Advertising Belief and Attitude Measures

Abstract

Examining the cross-national applicability of advertising measures is becoming increasingly important, especially in rapidly changing countries such as Russia. Therefore, our study's purpose is first to demonstrate recommended procedures for testing the cross-national equivalence of advertising belief and attitude measures. Then, we conduct an initial cross-national comparison of beliefs and attitudes toward advertising in general between student samples from both the U.S. (n=148) and from Russia (n=64). Results indicate that, while Russian respondents felt advertising is more essential, U.S. respondents felt advertising resulted in greater negative social effects. Also, U.S. respondents were more favorable toward the institution of advertising (its purpose and effects), with no differences for the instrument of advertising (its methods and practices). Russian respondents' attitudes toward advertising in general were more favorable than those of U.S. respondents.     

Architects' Attitudes Toward Advertising

This paper reports the results of a national study of architects' attitudes toward advertising their services. A mail survey was used to collect the data from a randomly selected samvle of architects. Analysis of Ule results using percentages, means; and Mul- tide Discriminant Analvsis revealed an overall consistent vattern of nigative attitudes towaid advertising by architects. ~owt:'ver, here were significant differences among respondents when sepiuated into favorablelunfavorable attitudes subgroups. Respondents with more favorable attitudes toward advertising were: (1) younger, (2) had used an advertising agency, (3) felt marketing was productive, and (4) spent larger proportions of their revenue on marketing activities.     

Consumer processing of foreign advertisements: roles of country-of-origin perceptions,consumer ethnocentrism,and country attitude

This paper reports the findings of a study that examined the impact of consumers’ three cross-national individual difference variables — country-of-origin perceptions, consumer ethnocentrism, and country attitudes — on their responses and attitudes toward foreign advertisements and advertised products. A model of consumer processing of international advertising has been proposed that consolidates a dual-element thesis comprising research on consumer processing of advertising, and several streams of research on cross-national individual difference variables. Empirical analysis of the hypothetical model through structural equation modeling yields supportive results: positive effects of consumers’ country attitudes on their responses to the creative presentation of international advertising, and positive effects of consumers’ country-of-origin perceptions on their responses to the buying proposal of international advertising. However, the hypothesized negative effects of consumer ethnocentrism on their responses to international advertising was not confirmed. The study contributes to our understanding of cross-national individual difference variables that precede and determine consumers’ attitudes toward foreign advertisements. It has practical implications for standardization versus localization of international advertising strategy.     

Attitudes Towards Advertising Among Executives in Saudi Arabia

The executives of 65 Saudi companies were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward five issues in advertising: need for advertising; economic concerns; social concerns; ethical concerns; and regulation of advertising. The findings of the study indicated that the executives generally held mixed feelings toward advertising. While concurring with the need for advertising, they showed concern for the high costs of advertising and supported the need for regulating advertising aimed at children and for harmful products.     

Why we watch others' responses to online advertising – investigating users' motivations for viewing user-generated content in the context of online advertising

The study investigates Internet users' motivations for viewing user-generated content (UGC) in the context of online advertising. In addition, it is examined whether individual motivation patterns can be traced back to users' personalities and their attitudes toward advertising in general. An online survey of 181 social media users was conducted, surveying users' motivation, personality (big five), and attitude toward advertising in general. Path analysis was employed to examine the research model. The use of UGC was motivated by needs for information, entertainment, personal identity, and social interaction. While personality did not predict users' motives, their attitudes towards advertising in general explained individual motivation patterns to a large extent. It was consequently proposed and confirmed that users' motives mediate the influence of recipients' general attitude toward advertising on UGC usage. Results indicated a strong effective potential for UGC in online advertising: users view such content expressly to be influenced by others fulfilling their needs for information, personal identity and social interaction. Firms may lose some of their ability to precisely control brand messages when advertising in social media.     

Have “Millennials” Embraced Digital Advertising as They Have Embraced Digital Media?

Consumers’ attitudes toward advertising ethics are of interest to marketers who understand that negative attitudes can be harmful to brands. Today advertisers increasingly depend on internet advertising. This study compares attitudes of Millennials (the first generation to use digital media more than traditional media) toward internet advertising with attitudes toward advertising in traditional media. Similar to previous generations who had more negative attitudes toward TV advertising, which was their most frequently used medium, Millennials’ attitudes appeared to be more negative toward internet advertising. Thus, we conclude that advertisers must work to engender positive relationships with Millennials through more ethical internet advertising and other innovative strategies.     

Accountants' Attitudes Toward Advertising and Their Use of Marketing Tools

This paper reports the results of a national study of accountants' attitudes toward advertising and heir use of various marketing tools. A mail survey was used to collect the data from a randomly selected sample of accountants. Analysis of the results using percentages and means revealed overall negative attitudes toward advertising. However, younger accountants were more favorable toward the use of advertising. This indicates that in the future there will be increased emphasis on marketing and advertising of accounting services. Seminars, yellow page ads, and brochures were ranked as the three most effective marketing tools. The major reasons respondents did not engage in more marketing activities were concerns over the costbenefits of their use.     

Perceived Third‐Person Effects and Consumer Attitudes on Prevetting and Banning DTC Advertising

This study examined consumer attitudes toward two potential direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) advertising regulatory options—prior approval of DTC ads and a total ban—and how those attitudes are influenced by perceived DTC ad effects and receiver‐specific characteristics within the context of the third‐person effect framework. Results suggest that (1) consumers support the prevetting of DTC ads, but not the banning of DTC ads, (2) their support for prior approval is unaffected by demographic, predispositional, and ad‐effect perceptual differences, but (3) their support for a ban is associated with age, attitude toward DTC advertising, and perceptions of negative effects on self and others.     

Advertising by Accountants

This paper investigates the nature of accountants' at- titudes toward advertising and the relationship of these attitudes to advertising practice. The analysis is done using a recent sample of CPAs certified and practicing in Michigan. We demonstrate that ac- countant attitudes, as expressed on this survey, can be broken down into five underlying factors. The first is a general factor related pri- marily to opinions on whether advertising helps the consumer and the accountant advertiser. The other four factors relate specifically to attitudes on the legal control issue, the perceived eflect of adver- tising on professional image, the perceived effect of advertising on prices, and, finally, concerns about the content of advertising mes- sages. From each of these factors we generate an attitude scale re- flecting favorability or optimismxgarding advertising. It is shown that favorability on four out of five scales is associated with the accountant's age; younger accountants are much more favorable to- ward advertising. Interestingly, our evidence also suggests that fe- inale accountants are less favorable toward advertising. Finally we investigate the question of whether these attitudes are related to ad- vertising practice. We find that whether or not an accountant adver- tises depends primarily on the general factor and on the image fac- tor. In common language, the accountants who advertise tend to be the ones who perceive the benefit of advertising to both the accoun- tant and the consumer and who are less concerned about its effects on the accountant's professional image.     

Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards,Challenges, and Contests

In this study, we proposed an integrated model with which we suggested that perceptions of peers and interpersonal communication with peers each mediate the influence of skinlighteningadvertisements on college women in a South Asian country – Singapore. The model is built based on the influence-of-presumed-influence model. We found that college women in Singapore tended to infer their peers’ advertising exposure and the corresponding advertising influence on peers based on their own advertising exposure. Their exposure to skin-lightening advertisements also induced their discussions about fair-skinned appearance with peers. Based on their perceptions of advertising influence on peers and interpersonal communication with peers, college women inferred their peers’ favourable attitudes towards fair-skinned appearance. Finally, they aligned their personal attitudes with their female peers’ attitudes and their attitudes predicted their intention to adopt skin-lightening regimes.     

An Investigation of Egyptian Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Ethical Issues in Advertising

This article investigates Egyptian consumers’ attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising held by a sample of 306 participants. The subjects completed a 20-item instrument originally designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward controversial issues in advertising. The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. The results revealed that Egyptian consumers have negative attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. There are significant differences between males’ and females’ perceptions of ethics in advertising. Finally, the study detects a significant difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in Egypt regarding their attitudes toward ethical issues in advertising. These results lend strong support to the adaptation hypothesis and suggest that ads produced in one country cannot be standardized or directly translated for use in another, particularly if they are different culturally.     

The Typicality and Accessibility of Consumer Attitudes Toward Television Advertising: Implications for the Measurement of Attitudes Toward Advertising in General

Despite the wide array of contemporary advertising formats and media, television advertising remains the most dominant form to which typical consumers are exposed. Research on attitudes toward advertising in general (Att-AiG) implicitly assumes that the Att-AiG measure represents advertising as a whole. A major finding of the current research is that consumers tend to have a mental representation, or exemplar, of the most typical type of advertising—television advertising—when they report their Att-AiG. Therefore, in reality, Att-AiG primarily reflects attitudes toward television advertising. In addition, the results of our experiments indicate that television ad exemplars generate temporal changes in consumers’ reported Att-AiG and attitudes toward television advertising. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Consumer Attitudes toward Online Advertising: The Moderating Role of Personality

This study investigates how consumer attitudes toward advertising in general affect their attitudes toward online advertising. It also investigates the moderating role of the personality traits of introversion and extroversion in explaining this relationship. An online survey is used to collect data from a convenience sample of 244 respondents living in Canada. Results show that attitude toward advertising in general has a positive and significant impact on attitude toward online advertising. Introversion is found to have no moderating impact on the relationship between both attitudes. However, extroversion moderates this relationship.     

How Latin American Students Perceive American Advertising

The study reported here was designed to examine the attitudes of Latin American students toward American advertising. The attitudes of 188 Latin American students were investigated, and comparisons were made with a matched sample of 193 American students. The results showed that the Latin American students' attitudes toward advertising were different from those of their American counterparts. Latin American students were more likely to have stronger attitudes, both favorable and unfavorable, toward specific social and economic dimensions of advertising. Attitudes expressed by Latin American students were not related to their length of stay in the United States.     

The Effect Of Advertising Content Control On Advertising Effectiveness In The Different Forced Exposure Circumstance

With advances in new technology, various formats of online advertising (e.g., in-stream video advertising) often force e-consumers to watch the advertisement during their goal-oriented activities, and this advertising interruption often makes them feel intruded upon and irritated. To reduce such negative reactions toward involuntary advertising exposures, this study examines whether offering e-consumers the option to choose advertising content can influence ad effectiveness in different degrees of forced exposure circumstance. Using a 2 (advertising content control: customization option vs. no option) × 2 (level of forced exposure: pre-rolls vs. rich media banners) factorial experiment, the researcher noted that advertising customization features generate a greater sense of relevance and increased advertising memory, which in turn may lead to more positive attitudes toward the ad regardless of the levels of forced exposure. The findings have theoretical and practical implications on the use of involuntary advertising interruptions in the web interface.     

Marketing eco-fashion: The influence of brand name and message explicitness

This study investigated the influence of two variables – brand name and message explicitness – on attitude toward advertisement and attitude toward brand, and further, explored the impact of attitude toward advertisement, attitude toward brand, and other variables on consumer purchase intention. A questionnaire with an experimental design component was administered to 343 college students. Results revealed that respondents formed positive attitudes toward apparel brand when the advertising message contained explicit information about environmentally friendly products. Attitude toward brand, subjective norm, attitude toward advertisement, eco-fashion involvement, and environmental commitment were strong predictors of intention to purchase an environmentally friendly apparel brand. Implications are that apparel marketers may build more positive attitudes toward brands by providing explicit information about environmentally friendly products in their marketing claims. This may be one way for marketers to attract college students who are interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products, but who are not fully committed to a green lifestyle. Further, marketers may be able to reach those who are less interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products by raising awareness and knowledge of the benefits associated with their products and brands, which may help to establish a sustainable market for eco-fashion.     

Television advertising and childrens' attitudes toward proprietary medicine

The effect of exposure to television drug advertising on children's attitudes toward proprietary medicines and medicine use was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment presented the commercials in a realistic program context fashion. The second experiment presented the commercials in a more direct and controlled manner. Using drug questionnaires, the subjects were assessed for their attitudes regarding the use of proprietary drugs. The results of both studies indicated that exposure to drug advertising had little influence on children's attitudes. Furthermore, children preferred not to watch drug commercials in comparison to a TV program or other types of commercials.     

The Effects of Comparative Advertising on Young Consumers’ Perceptions: Cross-Cultural Comparison Between the United States and Taiwan

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of comparative advertising of a high involvement product in two countries, the United States and Taiwan. The results show that different types of comparative advertising moderate the relationship in the proposed model and exert different levels of influences on consumers. The United States and Taiwanese consumers are significantly different in attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the sponsored brand, and purchase intention. The results show that direct comparative advertising might be suitable for promoting a new brand in countries with individualistic cultures. However, global marketers should be cautious when employing comparative advertising formats in collectivist cultures.     

Attitudes toward Use of Advertising and Various Media Practices by Physicians

Advertising by physicians is a relatively recent phenomenon. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers’ attitudes toward advertising by physicians; (b) whether certain potential consumer demographic variables account for any significant difference in attitudes toward physicians who advertise; and (c) which media consumers feel are appropriate for physicians’ advertising. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to physicians in planning promotional strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many professionals that advertising and promotion clearly have a place in the future of health care services.