Exploratory study of viewers perceptions of television advertising

Abstract

Study of Consumers' attitude towards advertising helps the advertisers in planning their advertising campaigns. By comparative evaluation of advertisements across different elements viz. Creative strategies, appeals and execution styles, the advertisers can select appropriate 'content mix' for their campaigns. The present study attempts to explore the role and effectiveness of different elements of an advertisement (i.e. Creative Strategy, appeal and execution style) on the Viewers' attitude for it. The study was carried out for 24 television advertisements and the overall attitude of 50 viewers was evaluated by using attitude measuring scales. Advertisements were selected after a comprehensive content analysis, of a large number of advertisements which classified them under different elements. The items on the attitude scales were chosen in such a manner so as to tap all three components (viz. nitive, affective and conative) of attitude.The study concluded that there was no significant association between the single element of an advertisement and viewers' attitude for it. No association was found even when combinations of two elements at a time were evaluated against viewers' attitude. It appears that viewers do not form attitudes for advertisements on the basis of one or two elements but they perceive it as an integrated whole.