How Consumers React to Advertisements on Second-Hand Cars - Essay Example

Sur Transmittal Letter to BMW Greece November 8, Dale Wurfel Managing Director, Dale Wurfel Car DealershipDear Mr.Wurfel: I am submitting this report to raise an issue on an advert on used cars in your company that have been aired in the media. The mode of advertisement used has been television sets, magazines and internet. The advertisement has a very controversial slant since it compares used cars with non-virgins or sexually experienced women. To be precise, the copy reads, “You know you’re not the first. But do you really care?” It may be okay with used car buyers but it makes women feel objectified and offensive. I am grateful that the ad has finally been pulled out. I have however, submitted this report for your review and to further guide your future marketing decisions. The report is a comprehensive one and raises all issues with offensive advertising. Sincerely, Mark Markowitz Business Report on offensive advert on BMW Used Cars Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Purpose 3 Design/methodology/approach 3 Findings 3 Introduction 4 Problem Statement 4 Scope 4 Ethics in Advertising 5 History of Offensive Advertising 6 The Alleged Offensiveness of Advertising 6 The Dale Wurfel Second-hand Cars Advertisement 7 After reading wide on the theory of advertising and what the society considers as offensive, I set off to do a survey using Dale Wurfel Used Vehicles. Luxury German auto-maker BMWs original 2008 ad featured a female model lying on a bed, looking seductively at the camera. Both ads display the same image. This ad features a young blonde woman who is considered a non virgin as the copy reads “You know you are not really the first. But do you really care?” Well, used car owners may not care about buying a used car but I’m sure many women will care that they are being objectified in order to sell used cars. The two images are displayed below. 7 8 8 Research methodology 9 Participants 9 Measurements of constructs 9 Research Findings and Conclusion 11 Recommendations 12 Executive Summary Purpose To examine how consumers react to print advertisements on second hand cars that have been labeled as offensive. I also compare the dimensions of consumer perceptions for different respondents and how consumer perceptions are related with intentions to reject the products and the brands because of the ads. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 25 respondents aged 17 to 58 from Strathoy, Ontario where the used Dale Wurfel dealership is located. A questionnaire with two ads containing sexism and other themes was constructed. Data were collected through the neighborhood. Findings Findings on perceptions of the offensive advertisements among the respondents were mixed. Overall, as expected, older respondents were less accepting of offensive advertising, as they liked the advertisements less than younger respondents. However, they were also more likely than younger respondents to find the advertisements convincing and informative. Results showed that old respondents and young respondents had different dimensions of advertising perceptions. The two print advertisements that received the most negative perceptions both contained sexually-oriented body images. The survey also found that advertising perceptions had a significant impact on consumers’ intentions to reject the products and the brands. Introduction Various companies have been using different ways of promoting their products and increasing sales. This will enable them to fulfill the business objectives i.e. profit maximization and maximization of shareholders wealth. One way of creating this product mix is advertising. Advertising is a public promotion of some product or service with the aim of drawing attention and in the process, persuade potential consumers to buy the product or service. Offensive advertisement has been supported by some while others have elicited a lot of controversy. The supporters argue that the world needs controversial adverts because they are usually more creative and therefore easy to remember. Problem Statement This report was motivated to take an in-depth look at the adverts that have been regarded as offensive and how it affects the society. With firms increasingly using advertising as a way of boosting sales, there needs to be a way to monitor and give views on what these firms present to the society. Some adverts are educative and very informative but others are offensive and tend to be racist, degrading to women or just insulting. Scope This report will only focus on the offensive ads in the media that have elicited controversy. But the research was conducted on the used cars advert, which features a blonde woman posing seductively. The report will be aimed at establishing views on the morality and sense of such advertisement being aired and printed on papers. The rest of the report explains the history of offensive advertising and issues raised. The data collected will be analyzed and findings presented. The report ends with conclusions and recommendations. Ethics in Advertising As a collection of principles of right conduct, ethics, shape the decisions people or organizations make. Practicing ethics in advertising means deliberately applying standards of fairness and moral rights or wrong, to the advertising decision making and behavior. In a market economy, a business is expected to act in its own interest. One of the purpose of advertising as a mix of marketing is to create a competitive advantage for the firm. As our economic systems have become successful and providing for needs and wants, there has been greater focus on firms’ sticking to ethical values rather than simply providing products. This has come about because of two reasons. Firstly, when a company behaves ethically, through good advertisements, customers develop more positive attitudes about the firm, its products and its services. When these ethical practices depart from the acceptable standards, the market process becomes less efficient. Airing offensive adverts may lead to dissatisfied customers, lack of trust, bad publicity, lost business and even legal action. Secondly, violation of ethics often lead to pressure for institutions to assume responsible for their actions. It is due to this that professional associations, consumer interest groups and self-regulatory groups exert a great influence on advertising. History of Offensive Advertising Advertising that feature offensive content and images have been around for a long time now. Most of them feature racism, and sexism, and shameless lies about the healthiness of products are a rich aspect of Americas past. Some examples are illustrated below. Both advertisements portray images that would be regarded as degrading women and racist respectively. The Alleged Offensiveness of Advertising Offensiveness in advertising is considered a “social” criticism in advertising. In other words, advertising allegedly offends the consumer’s sense of good taste, usually by insulting and degrading his intelligence. Furthermore, some advertisements are said to promote low and poor quality products (for instance the BMW Used cars are not of the best quality since they have been used before) and encourages immoral and harmful behavior. Critics also assert, it promotes products like beer, cigarette and pornographic literature that have no redeeming moral value. They go on to argue that, since it promotes immoral and harmful products and encourages immoral behavior, then advertising is in itself immoral. In its early stages, the criticism does not attribute the power of physical force to advertising. According to Kirkpatrick, an advertising expert, because of their underlying intrinsicism, the critics frequently equate their tastes to moral val­ues and their moral values to alleged rights deserving legal protec­tion from the “coercive” power of advertising (84). He further states that in its final stages, the “offensiveness” charge collapses to one or both forms of the first “social” criticism (84) The Dale Wurfel Second-hand Cars Advertisement After reading wide on the theory of advertising and what the society considers as offensive, I set off to do a survey using Dale Wurfel Used Vehicles. Luxury German auto-maker BMWs original 2008 ad featured a female model lying on a bed, looking seductively at the camera. Both ads display the same image. This ad features a young blonde woman who is considered a non virgin as the copy reads “You know you are not really the first. But do you really care?” Well, used car owners may not care about buying a used car but I’m sure many women will care that they are being objectified in order to sell used cars. The two images are displayed below. Figure 1 This survey was conducted on the targeted consumers in the United States. The ad has been run by Dale Wurfel Used Car Dealership and the BMW car dealership in the United States in print media and the television. Research methodology Participants A survey study was conducted to investigate consumers’ perceptions and reactions toward the potentially offensive advertisements. A total of 30 respondents participated in the survey. Data were collected during the day in the neighborhoods of Strathroy. One questionnaire was used to collect views. A working class sample was adopted mainly for their accessibility and homogeneity as a group (Calder et al., 1981). They were also more likely to afford buy vehicles as compared to students. Measurements of constructs The English adjectives in this survey were used for indicative purposes only. The set of adjectives used were as shown in table 1 below: Negative Positive Offensive Ridiculous Irritating Impolite Disgusting Creative Interesting Lively Clever Informative Convincing Two print advertisements were shown in the questionnaire (see the two ads in Figure 1 above) Only those advertisements were included which the participants of the focus group considered as offensive. The visuals were sourced from Web sites and magazines. Following each ad, respondents were asked to ensure that the twelve adjectives that they found appropriate to explain the advertisement. They could check all or none of the adjectives listed. Six of the adjectives were negative (i.e., offensive, uncomfortable, irritating, disgusting, ridiculous and impolite). The other six positive adjective were creative, lively, informative, convincing, lively, interesting and clever. Positive adjectives were included to avoid probing respondents with negative adjectives only. Respondents were then asked to point out their intentions in rejecting the product and brand because of the advertisement using a five-point scale (1 = very unlikely, 5 = very likely). Demographic data were also collected. Method of analysis and results of the survey Profiles were compiled for each of the tested ads by counting the percentage of respondents who checked each of the twelve adjectives. The negative adjectives most commonly used by respondents to illustrate the advertisements were “uncomfortable”, “offensive” and “ridiculous”. The positive adjectives most frequently used were “creative” and “interesting.” However, only a small proportion of respondents considered these advertisements “convincing” or “informative”. On average, 16.6 percent of the respondents selected at least one of the negative adjectives and 15.6 percent of the respondents selected at least one of the positive adjective. Table 2 below shows the results. Adjectives % of the respondents Negative Uncomfortable 19.8 Offensive 18.3 Ridiculous 17.9 Irritating 17.8 Impolite 15.8 Disgusting 9.8 Positive Creative 29.0 Interesting 21.1 Lively 15.1 Clever 13.4 Informative 9.8 Convincing 5.5 Negative adjectives 16.6 Positive adjectives 15.6 Research Findings and Conclusion The survey looked at the effects of offensive advertising featured by Dale Wurfel Used vehicles on the consumers. The results of the study were mixed. It was expected that the respondents would perceive the advertisements more negatively this was only partly the case. Some considered the ads more often offensive, uncomfortable, disgusting and impolite while others judged them to be more irritating and ridiculous. It seems, however to suggest that consumers are more likely to appreciate the creative elements in the potentially offensive advertisements. Other consumers, however, are likely to appreciate the informative elements in the potentially offensive advertisements. The survey also demonstrates that advertisers in have to be careful when using potentially offensive advertisements. Results indicate that the more negative the ads are perceived, the higher the likelihood of rejecting the products and the brands. This was especially true for some respondents, who showed a significant higher tendency to reject the products and the brands. The less creative/appealing the ad was the higher the likelihood of rejecting the products and the brands. The “creative/appealing” factor was the most important factor to explain and predict the rejection of the products and the brands. To conclude, the survey provides evidence that different consumers in the two cultures react differently to offensive print advertising of a limited type of offensiveness. As advertisements were shown to the respondents, compared to other studies about offensive advertising, the study further provides useful advice for marketers and advertisers to understand how far they can stretch the line for these particular types of controversial advertising. When using presenting such content, advertisers have to check in advance whether the selected images are accepted within their target group. Recommendations As society becomes more composite, as we become more conscious of the harmful effects of some products and as advertising agencies try to become more creative to “cut through the clutter” to gain awareness, there have been advertisements which the general public perceives as “offensive”. This report analyzes the responses to a survey of attitudes towards the advertising of particular products and reasons for being offensive. The attitudes are examined by means of a survey which presents a series of potentially controversial/offensive products. The study can be used by advertising agencies to develop an understanding of which advertising is perceived by some people as offensive, and a list of potentially controversial clients. Works Cited Aaker, D.A. and Bruzzone, D.E. “Viewer perceptions of prime-time television advertising”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 15-23. 1981. Print. Aaker, D.A. and Bruzzone, D.E. “Causes of irritation in advertising”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 47-57. 1985.Print. Boddewyn, J.J.“Controlling sex and decency in advertising around the world”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 25-36. 1991. Print. Read More