What explains peoples’ attitude towards advertisements?

Abstract

People’s attitude towards advertising in general has an influence on people’s perceptions on specific ads. People’s attitude towards specific ads has among others influence on purchase intentions and on brand attitude. Therefore general attitude towards advertising can give valuable information on how effective advertising may be. The purpose of the study was to explore the attitude of Icelandic consumers towards advertising in general and to find out what factors explain the attitude. Also, the purpose was to find out whether the attitude depended on people’s demographic profile. Total of 550 individuals participated by answering an online questionnaire on various things regarding advertising. The findings reveal that Icelandic consumers are rather positive regarding advertising in general and their attitude can mostly be explained by how informative and useful they find ads. The older the consumers are, the more negative attitude they have towards advertising.