Determinants and antecedents of general attitudes towards advertising

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between determinants and primary antecedents of advertising and attitudes to advertising in the context of European Union accession countries.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on data from consumer surveys conducted in the major urban areas of Bulgaria and Romania the study conceptualises an extended version of Pollay and Mittal's model of beliefs and attitudes toward advertising. It tests a comprehensive range of attitudes toward the institution of advertising and its instruments in each country to identify similarities and differences in consumer perceptions.FindingsFindings confirm that consumers in the two countries are more positive about advertising as an institution than the instruments used to promote advertising. While product information acquisition is the main personal use of advertising which influences general attitudes to advertising in Bulgaria, the entertaining value of advertising was found the strongest personal use in Romania. No significant differences were found in the attitudes toward the institution and instruments of advertising in the two countries.Research limitations/implicationsAs data used in this study come from major urban areas in Bulgaria and Romania this might account for small research bias if the overall population of the two countries is considered. Interview bias were reduced by eliminating the verbal or non‐verbal cues to the respondents. The diverse composition of the two samples and the random selection of respondents have limited the research bias which is often a problem with other studies in Central and Eastern Europe that use predominantly convenience student samples.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that managers should focus on and exploit the overall positive general attitudes toward advertising in Romania and Bulgaria. Marketers should prioritise the informative power of advertising and use it cautiously in view of its perceived manipulative role especially to children. Advertisers need to devote more specific attention to re‐enforce the credibility of the institution of advertising in both countries.Originality/valueThe paper is a result of an original research that has extended theoretical concepts and compared their applicability to comparable EU accession contexts. Its findings suggest that advertising should be adapted to the personal uses and attitudes to advertising in the researched contexts by putting more emphasis on image building in order to increase its persuasive power and raise public trust in the institution and instruments of advertising.

Hvað skýrir viðhorf fólks til auglýsinga?

“…Niðurstöður hennar veita fraeðimönnum og fagfólki á sviðinu upplýsingar um almennt viðhorf íslenskra neytenda, en mikill áhugi hefur verið meðal fraeðimanna á að kanna viðhorf ólíkra þjóða til auglýsinga (sjá t.d. Ashill og Yavas, 2005;Bush, Smith og Martin, 1999;Petroviki og Marinov, 2007;Shah, Chen og Chauhan, 2011;Usman, Ilyas, Hussain og Quareshi, 2010). Þó þarf að hafa í huga að um hentugleikaúrtak er að raeða og því ber að líta á niðurstöðurnar sem ákveðna vísbendingu um viðhorfið, en ekki er haegt að fullyrða að viðhorf úrtaksins endurspegli viðhorf íslenskra neytenda almennt.…”

“…nálaegt þremur á fimm punkta kvarða), en yfirleitt hallast viðhorfið fremur í jákvaeða átt en neikvaeða (sjá t.d. Beard, 2003;Petroviki og Marinov, 2007), þótt vissulega séu daemi um rannsóknir sem sýna að viðhorfið hallist fremur í átt að neikvaeðni (sjá t.d. Bush o.fl., 1999).…”

“…eftir kyni (sjá t.d. Mehta, 2000;Shavitt, Lowery og Haefner, 1998;Wolin og Korgaonkar, 2003), en einnig þegar kemur að aldri þar sem yngra fólk reynist alla jafna jákvaeðara í garð auglýsinga en það eldra (Petroviki og Marinov, 2007;Shavitt o.fl., 1998). Líkt og Shavitt o.fl.…”

“…Þrátt fyrir fremur jákvaett viðhorf til auglýsinga hafa rannsóknir yfirleitt sýnt að fólk er tortryggið í garð þess sem þar kemur fram (Ford, Smith og Swasy, 1990;Petroviki og Marinov, 2007;Shah o.fl., 2011). Fólki finnst auglýsingar oft blekkja með því að sýna ekki réttu myndina af þeirri vöru eða þjónustu sem verið er að auglýsa (Mehta, 2000;Muehling, 1987) og lítur því almennt svo á að auglýsingar gefi ekki áreiðanlegar upplýsingar um vöru og þjónustu (Beard, 2003;Prendergast o.fl., 2009).…”

“…Andrews, 1989;Ashill og Yavas, 2005;Beard, 2003;Mehta, 2000;Muehling, 1987;Petroviki og Marinov, 2007;Shah o.fl., 2011;Usman o.fl., 2010). Almennt viðhorf til auglýsinga var maelt með spurningunni: "Almennt séð, líkar þér auglýsingar illa eða vel?"…”