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Purpose Among various factors which help in shaping the attitude of consumers, religion and religiosity too play a vital role. This paper aims to inquire into the impact of religion and religiosity on the attitudes of Hindu and Muslim consumers of Northern India toward offensive advertising and the reasons which make the advertising offensive. Design/methodology/approach Responses regarding advertising of 11 controversial products and 7 reasons which make the advertising offensive were taken by distributing a questionnaire to a convenience sample of 250 university students of Northern India (comprising respondents from two major religions of India). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test. Findings The findings confirmed that there is a significant difference in the attitude of consumers on the basis of religion and religiosity. Research limitations/implications As the study is conducted only in Northern India, findings generated through this may lack generalizability. Other limitations include small sample size and use of convenience sampling. Different sects under religion must be particularly studied. Practical implications Advertisers should consider religious sentiments of consumers into account to make advertisements more appealing to consumers. Originality/value The studies on religion and its relation with attitude toward advertising are even less frequent in Indian context. Hence, this study is a pioneering work which will open new doors for the marketers in India. It will help the marketers in properly targeting consumers based on their religious beliefs.

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