Millennials’ attitude toward advertising: an international exploratory study

Abstract

Purpose Researchers emphasized that only a small effort has addressed the beliefs and attitudes of millennials toward advertising. The purpose of this study is also to respond to researchers’ recognition of the dearth of cross-national advertising and globalization studies in emerging markets. To fill this theoretical gap in the literature, this study aims to assess attitudinal differences and similarities, as well as the underlying structures of the attitude toward advertising in general (AG), of millennial consumers from developed and emerging markets (USA, UK, France, Spain and Morocco). Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from millennials through self-administered survey questionnaires. It drew from findings of previous research and theoretical development by Bauer and Greyser, Pollay and Mittal, Sandage and Leckenby, Muehling, Durvasula and Netemeyer, and Andrews, Lysonski and Durvasula. Various statistical analyses were used to explore differences and similarities in AG. Findings The paper concludes that the two-factor solution framework of AG is inadequate. Research results also indicated that millennials from each of the five different countries studied did not indicate overwhelmingly favorable or unfavorable AG. This study found eight factors/constructs (i.e. promote bad things as good, product information, social role and image, hedonism/pleasure, good for the economy, materialism, falsity and “not interpretable”) as descriptors of the millennials from the five nations’ AG. Research limitations/implications The differences in advertising beliefs and attitudes among samples in the five countries studied may be because of such factors as historical values, practices and regulations. Cultural values and dimension may influence millennials’ perceived AG and need to be taken into consideration. Practical implications Academicians and practitioners in the advertising field need to appreciate the country’s cultural peculiarities. In understanding the advertising preferences of millennial consumers in these five markets, marketing and advertising executives may have localized their advertising messages for each studied market, resulting in different responses from these millennial consumers. Originality/value Millennials need not be conceptualized as a single niche market. While the focus of most of research in the determinants of AG had been within the Western business/consumer construct, the goal is to include assessment of AG in a non-Western, emerging market. This paper addresses the dearth in determinants of AG research in North Africa and other emerging markets.