Understanding cross-cultural student perceptions of advertising in general: implications for advertising educators and practitioners.

The purpose of our study is to present a cross-cultural comparison of student perceptions toward advertising in general. While there exists considerable reserach on U.S. students' responses to predetermined statements about advertising in general, a decided lack of research exists regarding international students' thoughts about advertising in general. Therefore, 553 undergraduate students from the United States, New Zealand, Denmark, Greece, and India were sampled for their thoughts about advertising in general. Results indicate significant differences across countries on self-generated thoughts regarding advertising's functions, practices, affective responses, the industry, and advertising users. Implications of findings for advertising educators and practitioners are provided.

The Issues

Recently, advertising and marketing educators have recommended a better understanding of student attitudes toward advertising in general in order to improve pedagogical skills for dealing with student criticisms and praise regarding advertising (cf. Andrews 1989, Dubinsky and Hensel 1984). Identifying student perceptions may point out areas of advertising (e.g., social, economic, legal, ethical, managerial) requiring further discussion and elaboration in class. In fact, some educators advocate confronting students with arguments and assertions about advertising so as to raise levels of consciousness regarding their roles in society (Frazer 1979). Alternatively, others argue for understanding student advertising perceptions because students (especially advertising and marketing students) represent an attractive source of future advertising personnel (Dubinsky and Hensel 1984; Petroshius 1986). Moreover, students represent a very substantial, yet elusive, target market for advertisers (Haller 1974).

Therefore, considerable research has been conducted to help understand U.S. students' perceptions of advertising in general (cf. Andrews 1989; Dubinsky and Hensel 1984; Haller 1974; Larkin 1977; Petroshuis 1986; Sandage and Leckenby 1980). The findings show substantial student criticism regarding advertising's social impact, while the economic effects are viewed more favorably (Andrews 1989). These findings parallel those on the general public's attitudes on advertising's social and economic effects (Bauer and Greyser 1968) and the role of advertising in society (Pollay 1986).