A Study on Korean Readers' Attitude to The Newspaper Advertisement of Foreign Companies

Young Ku Kwon

The objectives of this study are to survey and to analyze Korean readers' attitudes to newspaper advertisement of foreign companies and their goods. Subsequently to explicate the influence of the advertisement upon Korean economy is significant.

The following questions are set up to do the study systematically .

1. Are the readers interested in reading the advertisements of foreign companies on the daily newspapers?

2. What do readers think of import advertising as incentives of consumers' preference to foreign goods ?

3. What do readers think of the effects and functions of import advertising as incentives of purchasing foreign goods?

4. What do readers think of import advertising as devices of market expansion for foreign companies in Korea?

5.What do readers think of import advertising as devices of economic subordination by foreign companies?

6. How much do readers recognize import advertising as media of informative usefulness ?

In this study the random sampling method is used. The scale of sampling was determined as 300 persons consisted of 100 university students, 100 business clerks, and 100 housewives in Seoul area. And the survey was made by means of hand delivery of self administered questionnaire from Nov. 14, 1988 to Dec. 8, 1988.

The collected and analyzed questionnaires are 277 sheets and the results of the analyses are summarized as follows.

1. The degree of readers' interest in the newspaper advertisement of foreign companies is a little low.

2. The response to the degree of consumers' preference to foreign goods that the advertisement brings about is a little high.

3. The response to the influence upon foreign goods purchase that comes from the advertisement is relatively high. But the subject himself or herself does not receive much influence of the advertisement of foreign companies . Women was influenced by the advertisement more than men. In occupation housewives was more than both business clerks and students .

4. The response that the advertisement of foreign companies functions as means of the expansion of domestic market is considerably high. Man subjects' response is higher than that of woman subjects. Student subjects' response is highest among those of business clerks and housewives .

5. The response that the advertisements of foreign companies function as factors that domestic economy is dominated by foreign companies is a little high. Youths' response is higher than

those of the adults and the older. Students' response is higher than those of business clerks and housewives . In educational background university students' response is higher

than those of high school graduates and university graduates.

6. The response that the advertisement of foreign companies is helpful by giving information of purchase and life to consumers is a little high. Adults in age, housewives in occupation,

and university graduates in education most recognize and use the acquired information in the advertisements. On the contrary the responses of youth in age, of students in occupation, and of university students in education are the lowest.

Judging from the above analyses the newspaper advertisement of foreign companies do not much influence on our economic life yet. But we should pay our attention to the fact that the general responses of the readers to each question for this study are affirmative and high.

This study comes to the conclusion that the advertisement of foreign companies is one of the factors which form consumers preference to foreign goods, and purchase incentive of foreign

goods. The advertisement also influence on the market economy as means of the expansion of domestic market for foreign companies and as factor of economic subordination .