Influence on the audiences' Attitudes toward the advertisement by Criticism on the advertisement-Based on the evaluation of Advertising Preference and Advertising Reliability

Kim Byoung-Hee(Major in Advertising The Graduate School of Mass Communication Yonsei University)

The purpose of this study is to define how Criticism on the advertisement (CRad) influence the audience's Attitudes toward the advertisement(Aad). In this study, Aad means Advertising Preference(AP) and Advertising Reliability (AR) of the audience. To accomplish the purpose of this study, 5 pairs of advertisements(total 10 pieces) which focus on the rational and emotional appeal on the same product were selected among the ad. That ran from January 1996 to June 1997 before research, and 2 pairs of ad(total 4 pieces) which had big difference between the two types of appeals were selected again through the pre-test. Hypotheses for this study are as follows:

<Hypothesis 1> Associative criticism on the advertisement will exert positive(+) influence on the audiences' advertising preference.

<Hypothesis 2> Dissociative criticism on the advertisement will exert negative(-) influence on the audiences' advertising preference.

<Hypothesis 3> Associative criticism on the advertisement will exert positive(+) influence on the audiences' advertising reliability.

<Hypothesis 4> Dissociative criticism on the advertisement will exert negative(-) influence on the audiences' advertising reliability.

<Hypothesis 5> The extent of influence on the audiences' advertising preference and advertising reliability by advertising criticism will vary with the type of advertising appeal.

The results of testing the above-mentioned 5Hs are stated below.

For H1, in order to know the influence on the AP by the associative CRad, the ratings of the AP before and after being exposed to associative CRad were compared. The result of analysis showed that the rating(M=4.8085) of the AP before exposed to associative CRad was higher than the rating(M=4.8670) of the AP after exposed to associative CRad, while paired t-test was carried to find the t-value .93(p=.356, p>.05), which showed statistically insignificant. So, H1 was rejected.

For H2, in order to know the influence on the AP by the dissociative CRad, the ratings of the AP before and after being exposed to dissociative CRad were compared. The result of analysis showed that the rating(M=4.8182) of the AP before exposed to dissociative CRad was higher than the rating(M=4.3977) of the AP after exposed to dissociative CRad, while paired t-test was carried to find the t-value 3.90(p<.01), which showed statistically significant. So, H2 was accepted.

For H3, in order to know the influence on the AR by the associative CRad, the ratings of the AR before and after being exposed to associative CRad were compared. The result of analysis showed that the rating(M=4.3511) of the AR before exposed to associative CRad was higher than the rating(M=4.5532) of the AR after exposed to associative CRad, while paired t-test was carried to find the t-value 2.94(p<.01), which showed statistically insignificant. So, H3 was accepted.

For H4, in order to know the influence on the Ar by the dissociative CRad, the ratings of the AR before and after being exposed to dissociative CRad were compared. The result of analysis showed that the rating(M=4.5682) of the AR before exposed to dissociative CRad was higher than the rating(M=4.0852) of the AR after exposed to dissociative CRad, while paired t-test was carried to find the t-value 5.71(p<.01), which showed statistically significant. So H4 was accepted.

For H5, the ratings of the AP and AR before and after being exposed to CRad with rational and emotional appeal were compared. First, analysis for influence on the AP by associative CRad, the rating(M=.6064) of the group of ad, with rational appeal was higher than the rating(M=.4681) of the group of ad, with emotional appeal, while paired t-test was carried to find t-value 1.51, p-value .134(p>.01) which showed statistically insignificant. Next, analysis for influence on the AP by dissociative CRad, the rating(M=.6932) of the group of ad, with rational appeal was higher than the rating(M=.8068) of the group of ad. with emotional appeal, while paired t-test was carried to find t-value .96, p-value .339(p>.01) which showed statistically insignificant. Third, analysis for influence on the AR by associative CRad showed that the rating (M=.7872) of the group of ad, with rational appeal was higher than the rating (M=.5106) of the group of ad. with emotional appeal, and t-value 2.78(p<.01) showed statistically significant. Fourth, the influence on the AR by dissociative CRad did not vary with the type of ad. appeal. The rating(M=.8046) of the group of ad with rational appeal was higher than the rating(M=.7356) of the group of ad. with emotional appeal, and t-value .55(p=.584, p>.01) showed statistically insignificant.

Through this study, it could be identified to a certain extent, how the CRad exert influence to the audiences' Aad. However, this study has its own limitations that the result of only 1 time exposure to the advertisement was counted as the rating of the audience, and that extraneous variables such as the frequency of prior exposure of the audiences to the selected advertisements could not be controlled. Accordingly, the result of the study for the CRad's influence on the Aad could be elaborated by controlling to overcome such limitations and by more inputs of diverse variables in the next study.

Key Worlds: Criticism on the advertisement(CRad), associative CRad, dissociative CRad, Attitudes toward the advertisement(Aad), Advertising Preference(AP), Advertising Reliability(AR)