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Given the increased interest in the practical significance of the general attitude towards religious advertising, the purpose of this paper is to examine what influences consumers’ general attitude towards religious advertising in Malaysia.

An analytical research design was used to examine the impact of five factors (attitude towards the purpose/goal of the religious advertising [attitude institution], the quality of the message [attitude instrument], the information presented in the religious advertising about the product [product information], the social image associated with the advertised product [social image] and the hedonic pleasure owing to the advertisement of the product or service [hedonic pleasure]) on the general attitude towards religious advertising. Data were collected using an online survey (n = 210) and were analysed using structural equation modelling method.

The research found that the attitude towards the institution of advertising and the hedonic pleasure significantly influence the general attitude towards religious advertising. However, the quality of the advertisement, social image and product information were found to be insignificant predictors. Overall, this is a surprising result, where consumers place their trust in the reputation of the provider of the product or service and act based on the stimulus of good feeling the advertisement converse to them.

This paper fills the gap in the research, as there are very few studies done on religious advertising. This paper has presented ways to improve practices of religious advertising.

The 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.

Drawing 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.

Findings 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.

As 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.

The 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.

The 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.

Many professionals abhor the thought of marketing their services. Marketing is assumed to be merely advertising and it is widely believed that advertising commercialises and hence demeans professional services (Chan, 1992; Darling and Hackett, 1978). Although restrictions on advertising have been removed or relaxed in a number of countries, many professionals and their associations still regard advertising with suspicion and regulate its use. This is perhaps nowhere more so than with medical professionals. A fundamental rule set by medical professional associations in European and North American countries is that the doctor's job is not a business. More explicitly, the Medical Council in Luxembourg specifies that medicine cannot be exercised ‘as a business’. While it is perfectly acceptable for other professions to declare that profit is the enterprise's driving force, such a statement would go completely against the professional conscience of the medical profession. Medical practitioners are expected to observe a high ethical code. Respect for life should come before any other consideration. However, the medical professional's ability to survive depends as much on marketing as on his specialised technical skills. A different marketing approach from that used conventionally in the business sector may be needed, but the utility of marketing cannot be denied. Like businesspersons, medical practitioners also network with their market by being active within the community. These and other actions all contribute to make the individual a well‐known figure within the area of his practice (Gelb, Smith and Gelb, 1988). Medical practitioners in the various countries frequently belong to national medical professional associations. These often have legal standing, and are empowered to issue regulations and sanction non compliance on many aspects relating to the profession including advertising. This study first aims to position within a North American and European perspective the approach to advertising adopted by the Malta Medical Council. Secondly, it seeks to empirically investigate (1) the attitude of Maltese medical practitioners towards advertising by their profession, and (2) the attitude of the Maltese general public towards advertising by medical practitioners. In America, the general public have been found to have a more positive attitude towards advertising than medical practitioners and professionals in general (Darling and Hackett, 1978; Dyer and Shimp, 1980; Miller and Waller, 1979). Similarly, we expect that in Malta medical practitioners will exhibit a more negative attitude towards advertising than the general public.

The objective of this paper is to uncover the underlying dimensions of, and examine the similarities and differences in, personal uses of advertising, perceived socio‐economic effects of advertising, and consumer beliefs and attitudes toward advertising in Bulgaria and Romania. Moreover, it aims to identify the relative importance of the predictors of attitudes toward advertising in the two countries.

The paper draws upon findings of previous research and theoretical developments by Bauer and Greyser, Sandage and Leckenby, and Pollay and Mittal. The study uses a stratified random sample of 947 face‐to‐face interviews with adult respondents from major urban areas in Bulgaria (507) and Romania (440). Variables are measured on multi‐item scales as a typical application of the reflective indicator model.

Results show that there are significant differences between Romanian and Bulgarian respondents in terms of their attitudes toward advertising. Romanians are more positive about advertising as an institution than the instruments of advertising. Romanians seem to accept the role of advertising in a free market economy, but have less confidence in advertising claims and techniques. Bulgarian respondents seem more sceptical toward advertising in general and are less enthusiastic about embracing the role of advertising as an institution. Moreover, Bulgarians are highly negative towards the instruments advertising uses to convey its messages to consumers.

The research findings reflect the views of urban dwellers and may not be generalisable to the wider population of the two countries. Interviewer bias was reduced by eliminating verbal or non‐verbal cues to the respondents, and by the use of stratified random sampling.

The paper suggests that the regulatory role of codes of advertising practice and industry regulating bodies should be enhanced, and their ability to protect consumers enforced. Marketing campaigns should be more inclusive to involve diverse social groups and reflect generally‐accepted social norms.

This study reveals that, while general attitudes toward advertising may be similar, attitudes toward the institution and instruments of advertising may differ even in countries with geographic proximity and low cultural distance.

The purpose of this investigation is to add to the body of knowledge regarding consumer skepticism toward advertising in general, and toward pharmaceutical advertising in particular. The study was conducted in the U.S. and in Germany. Skepticism toward advertising for both prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals was analyzed. Additional variables explored include: health consciousness, product involvement with pharmaceuticals, satisfaction with information in pharmaceutical advertising, and the importance of pharmaceutical advertising as a source of information. Furthermore, differences in the cultural value of uncertainty avoidance between U.S. and German consumers were examined and related to skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising. Three hundred and forty-one Americans and 447 Germans were surveyed. A significant finding of this research revealed that skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising is lower than skepticism toward advertising in general. Results also indicated that consumers showed no difference in their level of skepticism toward advertising for prescription versus non-prescription drugs. This is a particularly relevant finding as it relates directly to the ongoing discussion in Europe regarding whether or not to lift the ban on advertising for prescription drugs. Skepticism toward pharmaceutical advertising was found to be significantly negatively related to involvement with pharmaceuticals, to satisfaction with the informational content of the advertisements, to satisfaction with the comprehensibility of the advertisements, and to the importance placed on advertising as a source of health information. Regarding cultural differences, U.S. consumers appear to be less skeptical toward advertising in general, and toward advertising for prescription and non-prescription drugs in particular, than German consumers. This may be due to the lower degree of uncertainty avoidance in the U.S. Differences between the two countries related to the additional variables examined in the study are addressed as well. Implications for consumer protection policies are discussed, and recommendations for advertisers of pharmaceutical products are provided. The authors provide a cultural explanation for differences in the degree of skepticism between U.S. and German audiences.

This paper examines the effects of virtual advertising in a sports broadcast setting. We analyse the conspicuousness of virtual advertising and match the results with explanatory variables like brand awareness, duration of exposure and frequency of exposure. Furthermore, we measure the role of attitudes towards advertising in general and its impact on attitudes towards virtual advertising of the respondents. Our results indicate that most respondents recognise virtual advertising as such. Advertising effectiveness is driven to a large degree by the frequency of exposure. A positive attitude towards advertising in general leads to a positive attitude towards virtual advertising of the participants.

Researchers emphasized that only a small effort has addressed the beliefs and attitudes of millennials toward advertising. The purpose of this study is also to respond to researchers’ recognition of the dearth of cross-national advertising and globalization studies in emerging markets. To fill this theoretical gap in the literature, this study aims to assess attitudinal differences and similarities, as well as the underlying structures of the attitude toward advertising in general (AG), of millennial consumers from developed and emerging markets (USA, UK, France, Spain and Morocco).

Data were obtained from millennials through self-administered survey questionnaires. It drew from findings of previous research and theoretical development by Bauer and Greyser, Pollay and Mittal, Sandage and Leckenby, Muehling, Durvasula and Netemeyer, and Andrews, Lysonski and Durvasula. Various statistical analyses were used to explore differences and similarities in AG.

The paper concludes that the two-factor solution framework of AG is inadequate. Research results also indicated that millennials from each of the five different countries studied did not indicate overwhelmingly favorable or unfavorable AG. This study found eight factors/constructs (i.e. promote bad things as good, product information, social role and image, hedonism/pleasure, good for the economy, materialism, falsity and “not interpretable”) as descriptors of the millennials from the five nations’ AG.

The differences in advertising beliefs and attitudes among samples in the five countries studied may be because of such factors as historical values, practices and regulations. Cultural values and dimension may influence millennials’ perceived AG and need to be taken into consideration.

Academicians and practitioners in the advertising field need to appreciate the country’s cultural peculiarities. In understanding the advertising preferences of millennial consumers in these five markets, marketing and advertising executives may have localized their advertising messages for each studied market, resulting in different responses from these millennial consumers.

Millennials need not be conceptualized as a single niche market. While the focus of most of research in the determinants of AG had been within the Western business/consumer construct, the goal is to include assessment of AG in a non-Western, emerging market. This paper addresses the dearth in determinants of AG research in North Africa and other emerging markets.

This study aims to investigate emerging adults’ emotional responses to a commercial with materialistic cues, and the commercial’s perceived and actual effect on materialism – taking the role of pre-existing attitudes toward advertising into account.

The paper used a mixed-method design to gauge emotions evoked by materialistic cues both qualitatively and quantitatively. Emotions were assessed using both open-ended and close-ended questions. Perceived effectiveness was also measured using close-ended questions. To establish the commercial’s actual effect, an online experiment was conducted. In total, 179 individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 years participated.

Emerging adults’ pre-existing attitudes toward advertising predicted their emotional responses toward a commercial with materialistic cues (i.e. influencing whether they are negative, neutral or positive) as well as the perceived effectiveness of materialistic cues in advertising. A one-time exposure to a commercial with materialistic cues does not increase materialism.

Emerging adults who dislike advertising, tend to also dislike advertising with materialistic cues and perceive it as less effective. However, young consumers with an interest in advertising do appreciate the use of materialistic cues and perceive them as being effective. Although no actual effect was found, this could be a reason for advertisers to use materialistic cues.

This paper is the first to investigate consumers’ emotions toward materialistic cues, and to study their perceived and actual effect. Moreover, it is the first to examine the link between advertising exposure and materialism among emerging adults.

The purpose of this study contributes to literature on marketing communications by empirically contrasting the effectiveness of a new form of covert promotions (product placement in recipes) and an overt promotion (traditional advertisement). The mediating role of perceived believability of promotional materials and the moderating roles of advertising skepticism and brand awareness were examined based on a conceptual model.

A Web-based experiment with 2 (form of promotion: overt versus covert) × 2 (brand awareness: low versus high) between-subjects full factorial design was used. A public sample of 537 participants had participated in the study. The conceptual model was further tested on 106 participants using stimuli of a fictitious brand.

A two-stage moderated mediation analysis shows that the perceived believability of promotional materials was a significant mediator of the form of promotion and brand evaluations. Consumers showed a higher level of believability toward covert promotion, which, in turn, led to more positive evaluations of the promoted brand. Advertising skepticism and brand awareness were found to significantly moderate the relationship between form of promotion and attitudes toward the promoted brands. A similar pattern of results was obtained when stimuli of a fictitious brand were used.

This research addresses an important issue in marketing communication and extends the understanding of the perception of overt and covert promotions by examining the underlying mediating and moderating variables, which have rarely been explored before. The results guide marketers in developing effective marketing communication strategies for well-known, less well-known and even new brands. It also directs policymakers to consider whether integrated branded content in recipes should be disclosed to protect consumers from surreptitious promotions, which may help to lower consumers’ skepticism toward advertising in the long run.

The increasing of the amount of advertising activities around the world has underscored the importance of understanding advertising effectiveness in international markets. In recent years, the growth of Chinese economy has produced a significant “modern Chinese consumer”. This study examines the underlying beliefs that may account for perception of advertising among these new Chinese generations.