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Pre‐existing data on the personality characteristics of a sample of 392 people and how these individuals rated persons who communicated to them a fictitious comparative claim were related to changes in subjects’ evaluations of two businesses before and after the transmission of the false statement. Results suggest that personality factors and the esteem in which the message communicator is held may affect customer responsiveness to comparative advertising. However, asymmetric reactions were observed: respondents were more likely to increase their ratings of the business alleged to be superior in the comparative claim than they were to reduce their evaluations of the other enterprise. The results are consistent with earlier studies which concluded that comparative advertising exerts significant effects on consumer behaviour and that comparative claims can influence consumer evaluations of competing businesses or brands, even when there are no objective differences between them.

It is undoubtedly the case that advertising plays a significant part in modern economic life in most societies and many view it as an essential part of the operation of a free market system. Yet it is also the case that our knowledge of how exactly it works and whether the vast amounts spent on it are justified is still uncertain. Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Lever Brothers, is credited with the famous aphorism — ‘one half of advertising does not work but nobody knows which half’ and that perhaps sums up the situation very well. One thing that is generally accepted is that some protection must be provided both to consumers and trade competitors from false or misleading advertising which can lead to market distortions and economic loss to purchasers. Increasingly controversial, however, is the scope and extent of legal and voluntary controls on advertising. In the advertising industry fears are rising about the volume of both national and EEC proposals to restrict or limit advertising and as we move from the '80s, a decade of conspicuous consumption in which advertising flourished, to the caring '90s where environmental issues are to the fore, the advertising industry faces major challenges. Advertising as a whole is facing severe economic and legal challenges after the massive expansion of the 1980's — it is estimated that there was a 4% fall in real terms in UK advertising expenditure in the first quarter of 1990 and an estimated 5% fall in the second quarter. Clients are becoming more demanding and the cosy cartel arrangement whereby advertising agencies made a 15% standard commission on a client's expenditure has gone — commissions are down to 12%‐13% or being replaced by fixed fees. It has been estimated by the Advertising Association that proposed legal restrictions could lead to a loss of £1 bn in revenue for the industry. Multi‐farious pressure groups are campaigning against drink advertising, cigarette advertising and sexism in adverts. The advertising industry's concerns are reflected in a recent report by the Advertising Association — ‘A Freedom Under Threat — Advertising in the EC’. The report indicates a number of areas where legislative controls have been introduced or are proposed to be introduced over the next few years and expresses the fear that controls may be going too far in limiting freedom of ‘commercial speech’. Martin Boase, chairman of the Advertising Association writes in his introduction to the report:

The purpose of this study is to describe the trends and practices of comparative prescription drug advertising by examining the types of comparative claims made in direct-to-consumer (DTC) and direct-to-physician (DTP) print advertisements.

The authors conducted a content analysis of 54 DTC and DTP print prescription drug advertisements (published between 1997 and 2014) with comparative claims.

Efficacy-based comparisons appeared in 64 per cent of advertisements, and attribute-based comparisons appeared in 37 per cent of advertisements. Most advertisements made direct (vs indirect) references to competitors (85 per cent), compared the advertised drug to a single (vs multiple) competitor (78 per cent), focused exclusively on one type of comparison claim (i.e. efficacy-, risk- or attribute-based) (70 per cent) and did not contain data-driven visual aids (82 per cent). Some differences between DTC and DTP advertisements emerged. More DTP than DTC advertisements included data-driven visual aids (82 per cent vs 0 per cent, respectively), included numerical data (88 per cent vs 53 per cent) and conveyed statistical significance (52 per cent vs 12 per cent).

The study used a convenience sample rather than a random sample of advertisements; thus, the findings might not be generalizable to all pharmaceutical DTC and DTP advertisements. Examining the tactics that advertisers use to educate and influence consumers and physicians sets the foundation for future studies that examine the effects of their exposure to comparative claims. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study is the first to examine and statistically compare the comparative advertising tactics used in both consumer and physician prescription drug advertisements.

Until the late 19th century, the controls on advertising in Britain and the US depended on complying with laws relating to defamation and on the ethical values of advertisers and media proprietors. During the 20th century, concerns about public safety from dangerous products or services, recognition of the need to safeguard people from misleading or untrue claims, and attempts to strike a balance in the interests of fair trading have led to movements for both self‐regulation, as well as some legal restrictions on marketing and advertising practices. Differences in British and American practices have arisen from the nature of the legal systems and the cultural mores of the respective societies.

In recent years, increasing competition in communicational network of Iran has led to attracting more attention to marketing and particularly, advertising activities. The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of TV advertising appeals of communication companies (in this study, MTN Irancell Company) on customers' attitude towards their advertising efforts and their brand.

The aim was achieved through an empirical study involving a survey. Of 400 questionnaires sent out, 384 were returned. The dataset from the sample underwent series of statistical analyses, i.e. reliability test, factor analyses (exploratory and confirmatory) and structural equation modelling (SEM).

Factor analyses extracted seven dimensions, i.e. one‐sided appeal, two‐sided appeal, humour appeal, fear appeal, comparative appeal, attitude toward advertising and brand attitude. All related indicators manifested their constructs, respectively. The results show that there is a positive, direct, and significant relationship between: advertising appeals and attitude towards advertising; advertising appeals and brand attitude; and attitude towards advertising and brand attitude.

The paper empirically justified the interrelationship among advertising appeals, attitude toward advertising and brand attitude in an integrated model. Communication companies may find this paper useful as perceptual measures can be empirically substantiated using SEM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes toward advertising regulation in local contexts.

A survey was carried out of 211 Chinese consumers and 205 US consumers.

It was found that the two samples converge in their views on free commercial speech, self‐regulation, and regulation by market forces. Yet, the Chinese are more likely than their US counterparts to support government regulation, endorse legal ban on strong sexual and indecent content, and favor rigorous advertising regulation. The females of both countries are more enthusiastic than their male counterparts about regulating strong sexual images in advertising and requiring advertising to promote positive values. Both countries witness considerable generational gaps, as the older respondents are more conservative in their views and more likely to support rigorous regulation of advertising.

The paper is the first to systematically survey consumers' attitudes toward advertising regulation.

This study addressed the advertising practices and advertising themes of a random sample of 269 US motel operations. Motel advertising practices were advertising to sales ratios, agency use, media use, satisfaction with advertising, dominant advertising themes, perceptions of advertising effectiveness, and comparative advertising levels. Data were analysed using motel operation attributes including location, number of motels in the system, number of rooms, average daily room rate, and organisational affiliation. Both chain and independent operations were included in the study.

This study aims to compile the present situation of comparative advertisement in Indian markets and the existing legal remedies by citing some factual cases from the industry and important judicial pronouncements.

It is a qualitative research based on primary and secondary source of information. Secondary sources comprise of statutory provisions of relevant act, articles/news items available in academic/trade journals and information generated from Government of India web sites. Primary research involved face-to-face interactions with practising advocates from Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India in the area of trademarks. Information was collected on parameters related to efficacy, applicability, enforceability, monitoring, and legal issues of trademarks and disparagements.

In India, comparative advertisement is relatively a new concept and the lawful remedies are not that strong as that is other countries. In the absence of the stringent laws, the practice of comparative advertisement has seen many derogatory consequences a few are mentioned here. The paper concludes by giving recommendations on the issues of legal aspects of comparative advertisement in India.

This research paper attempts to provide an overall understanding of judicial environment on comparative advertisement in India which is still at its nascent stage.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Among the most fascinating aspects of a trawl through old publications is a chance to examine the advertisements. In Victorian and Edwardian times, these were largely basic affairs designed to make people aware of goods or services. Often the claims made were extremely modest (a product or company might, for example, be “noted”). On the other hand, lack of control over advertising meant that ridiculous assertions could be made about worthless concoctions and remedies, as satirized by H.G. Wells through his Tono‐Bungay patent medicine.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that can have a broader social impact.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers' hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

This study examines the relationship between corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and firm-level sales and estimates the potentially mitigating role of advertising.

To test their hypotheses, the authors conduct an empirical investigation using a sample of 381 US firms engaging in socially irresponsible behavior.

The results of this investigation indicate that while sales are negatively impacted during the year of a CSI event, they generally recover in the year immediately following the event. In addition, advertising is shown to mitigate the negative impact of CSI on sales in both the event year and the year immediately following. The authors also consider whether differences exist between CSI firms with and without advertising. From this comparative analysis, it is observed that CSI firms which advertise tend to experience more severe declines in sales. Also, such firms tend to recover from the negative implications of CSI sooner.

This paper provides a novel and empirical approach to assessing the relationship between CSI events and firm-level sales while quantifying the mitigating effects of advertising. Furthermore, the unique contributions and practical findings of this research generate strong support for the significant role advertising can play in helping firms recover from CSI-based brand crisis events and help to establish a promising path for future research.