Comparative Advertising Research Articles

Consumer Psychology and Memory Recall Effect: An Analytical Study on Comparative Advertising

Advertising is all about competing with brands and proving its superiority over other brands. Competition through comparison is a creative form of advertising profession and offers leading edge for a brand, adds to its value, and positions it as a unique brand in the product category. It is advertising and especially the comparative advertising that makes a detergent whiter, a soft drink stronger and a toothpaste healthier than just the rival brands. Comparative advertising has its genesis in a way that it compares two brands and highlights only the most powerful features of one brand over the other. The entire communication process remains favourable for the advertised brand and leaves rival brand in poor light without stating its worth. The purpose of this study is to test its hypothesis whether consumers recall comparative advertisements better than regular forms of advertisements. It also explores the factors responsible for the memory effects of comparative advertisements. The study is based on a survey indicating the growing acceptance among the consumers to be more receptive towards comparative advertisements and why brands are claiming to be better, safer and cheaper than their competitors. Results evince that the design of comparative advertising that includes the content and manner of presentation greatly charms the consumers and affects their buying behaviour. The study also shows that advertisements which have a greater number of cues are easier to recall than those with lesser cues.

Comparative Advertising: A Paradox of Burning Less Money with Competition

We develop an aggregate response model to study the financial impact of comparative advertising on brands individually and collectively. Three unique features of our model are: incorporating advertising expenditure as a strategic decision variable nested on the decision on ad format - comparative versus self-promotional, modeling differences in consumers processing of comparative versus self-promotional ads, and differences in how consumers perceive or misperceive different ad formats. We show that comparative advertising Pareto dominates the self-promotional strategy, i.e., it can lower optimal costs of advertising and other benefits that are at least as large as those derived from other competitive ad formats. We also demonstrate the advantages of comparative advertising as a strategic tool for asymmetric competition in an incumbent-entrant scenario.We test the external validity of our model assumptions through an experiment and provide evidence for its main result from prior data.

Trademark law and comparative advertisement in India

Trademark law and comparative advertisement in India

Effects of perceived product similarity and ad claims on brand responses in comparative advertising

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of perceived product similarity and comparative ad claims on brand responses. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a two (similarity between the target product and the comparison product: relatively similar vs dissimilar) by three (product attributes of the target product: common to the comparison product, distinct from the comparison product, and a combination of common and distinct attributes) between-subjects factorial design with 300 Thai undergraduate students. Findings – It finds that when perceived similarity between the products is high, a combination of superiority (distinct) and parity (common) ad claims lead to the best brand responses. When perceived similarity is low, superiority claims bring about the best brand responses. Research limitations/implications – It extends comparative advertising and category-substitution research by addressing the research gaps in perceived similarity and claim type. Practical implications – Companies should emphasize a product’s superior attributes in general but a combination of common and superior attributes when the product is relatively similar to other products in comparative advertising. Originality/value – This study provides new evidence that perceived product similarity moderates the effect of comparative ad claims on brand responses.

The Effectiveness of Comparative Versus Non-Comparative Advertising

ABSTRACT U.S. service-brand marketers have a long history of going head to head using “strictly” comparative advertising. But how effective are such tactics? What are the outcomes that can occur when prominent non-professional brands directly target one another by name? Acknowledging a dearth of research on this topic, this study investigated the effectiveness of comparative advertising for a prominent service brand. Results revealed a significant interaction between age and advertisement type: Whereas younger consumers responded similarly to non-comparative and comparative treatments, the results showed that older consumers less likely would purchase or recommend the service after viewing a comparative print advertisement.

The impact of association strength between background image and the product in a visual comparative advertising on perception of divergence, relevance and creativity

본 연구는 시각적 은유광고에서 원형의 개념과 보조개념 간의 연상강도에 따라 소비자의 확산성 및 관련성 인식에 미치는 영향력을 실증적으로 검증하는 실험을 실시하였다. 여기서 연상강도는 소비자의 연상이 가장 먼저 쉽게 빠르게 떠오르는 것을 강한 연상연결, 그 이후에 나중에 떠오르는 것을 약한 연상연결이라고 조작적으로 정의하였다. 각각에 해당하는 광고물을 조작하여, 광고물에 대한 확산성 인식과 관련성 인식정도를 살펴보았다. 또한, 광고된 제품의 유형을 쾌락재와 실용재로 나누고 제품의 유형에 따른 확산성, 관련성 그리고 창의성 인식은 어떻게 달라지는지도 함께 살펴보았다. 그 결과, 전체적으로 약한 연상연결조건에서 확산성과 창의성이 강한 연상연결조건에서보다 높게 인식되는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 이러한 현상은 실용재에서 쾌락재에 비해 약한 연결이 확산성 인식에 긍정적 영향을 주었고, 쾌락재에서는 실용재에 비해 약한 연상연결이 관련성 인식에 긍정적으로 영향을 준 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구결과를 통해 광고 제작과정에서 시각적 은유를 활용한 광고의 효과성을 높이는 시사점을 논의하였다.

Salience and Health Campaigns.

Motivated by current topics in health economics, we apply the theory of salience to consumer policy. If a government intends to encourage healthier diets without harming consumers by raising taxes, it could initiate information campaigns which focus consumers' attention either on the healthiness of one item or the unhealthiness of the other item. According to our approach, both campaigns work, but it is more efficient to proclaim the unhealthiness of one product in order to present it as a " bad." Our findings imply that comparative advertisement is particularly efficient for entrant firms into established markets.

The Influence of Comparative Advertising on Consumer Ethnocentrism in the American Automobile Market

This study explores the ability of comparative advertising featuring foreign and domestic automobile brands to influence consumer ethnocentric reactions as the advertisement is being processed. Consumer ethnocentrism is inherently comparative (e.g., American automobiles versus those imported from Japan), so lack of published research testing this influence on consumer decision making is surprising. Two major findings resulted: (1) theoretically, Shimp and Sharma’s (1987) CETSCALE can be modeled as one component of a Hierarchy-of-Effects dependent vector score using MANOVA, and (2) practically, advertising where a foreign sponsor names a domestic brand can result in an ethnocentric stimulus significantly influencing automobile brand Purchase Intentions.

Consumers’ Evaluation of Ad-Brand Congruity in Comparative Advertising

ABSTRACTThe present study examines if ad-brand congruity among different ad formats has the potential of breaking through the competitive advertising clutter in India. We examine a specific type of information incongruity, namely that between an advertisement and established associations for the advertised brand, referred to as ad-brand incongruity. Two factors were used as the independent factors, namely type of ad and ad-brand congruity. The type of advertisements had three levels—direct comparative ad, indirect comparative ad, and no comparison ad. The ad-brand congruity variable also had two levels—ad-brand congruity and ad-brand incongruity. Results of the GLM MANOVA reveal that the six groups are significantly different in their attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and intention to purchase. As predicted, the incongruent-direct comparative ads generated more positive attitude than the indirect or no comparison formats. Also, congruent ad formats did not affect the attitudes to a large extent.

Trademark Disparagement & Advertising Ethos-Pathos: India

This Research Paper deals with following questions of intrinsic importance qua 'trademark disparagement':1. What is 'trademark disparagement'? What acts qua trade-rivals constitute 'trademark disparagement'? 2. What is 'comparative advertising'? Can 'comparative advertising' constitute 'trademark disparagement'? Author asserts that laws qua 'comparative advertising' in India owe their existence to the following case-laws of the U.K.- a. Cable & Wireless Plc v. British Telecommunications, 1998 FSR 383 b. Barclays Bank Plc v. RBS Advanta, 1996 RPC 307, Chancery Division c. Vodafone Group Plc v. Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, 1997 FSR 34 d. British Airways Plc v. Ryanair Ltd., 2001 FSR 32To see how laws qua 'comparative advertising' are positioned in India, author compares laws prevailing in the Indian jurisdiction with laws prevailing as such in U.K. and U.S.3. What is 'generic disparagement'? Does 'generic disparagement' constitutes 'trademark disparagement'? If yes, in what cases?4. What is the difference between "Puffing" and "Trademark Disparagement"?5. What is the difference between "Passing Off" and "Trademark Disparagement"?6. What are the different tests qua ‘trademark disparagement’? How is the 'single meaning rule' different from the 'multiple meaning rule'?7. How adjudication qua ‘trademark disparagement’ has taken place in India in the light of the following case-laws:I. Reckitt & Colman of India Ltd. v. M.P. Ramachandran & Ors., 1999 PTC (19) 741II. Pepsi Co. Inc. v. Hindustan Coca-Cola Ltd., 2003 (27) PTC 305 (Del) (DB)III. Dabur India Ltd. v. Colgate Palmolive India Ltd., 2004 (29) PTC 401 (Del)IV. Karamchand Appliances (P) Ltd. v. Sh. Adhikari Brothers, 2005 (31) PTC 1 (Del)V. Dabur India Ltd. v. Wipro Limited, 2006 (32) PTC 677 (Del)VI. Unibic Biscuits India (P) Ltd. v. Britannia Industries Ltd., MANU/KA/0240/2008VII. Dabur India Ltd. v. Colortek Meghalaya (P) Ltd., (2010) 44 PTC 254 (Del) (DB)VIII. Hindustan Unilever Limited v. Cavincare Private Ltd., 2010 (44) PTC 270 (Del)

Comparative Advertising Strategies for New Product: Effects of Consumers' Prior Brand Preferences and Attribute Characteristics

Comparative Advertising Strategies for New Product: Effects of Consumers' Prior Brand Preferences and Attribute Characteristics

The Effect of Comparative Advertising by Product Involvement and Endorser

본 연구는 광고모델에 따른 비교광고의 효과를 논의하는 데 있어서 실제로 소비자들에게 영향을 미치는 제품관여도의 상황을 고려하고자 한다. 그리고 기존의 광고모델을 이용한 비교광고의 효과 연구에서는 유명인 모델과 전문인 모델만을 연구 대상으로 하였지만 본 연구는 광고모델에 따른 비교광고의 효과를 현실적으로 논의하기 위해 유명인, 전문인, 일반인, 비(非)모델 4가지 유형 중 어떤 비교광고가 정보 전달에 가장 효과적인지 탐구하고자 한다.BR 연구결과, 고관여 제품의 경우 비교광고의 광고태도, 브랜드태도, 구매의도 모두 비모델＞일반인 모델＞유명인 모델＞전문인 모델 순으로 효과적인 것으로 나타났으며, 브랜드태도를 제외한 광고태도, 구매의도는 유의미한 차이를 보이고 있었다. 하지만 저관여 제품의 경우, 광고모델 간의 광고태도, 브랜드태도, 구매의도는 유의미한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 이러한 결과는 고관여 제품은 광고모델이 없는 광고가 더 효과적이라는것을 확인하였으며, 실제 비교광고를 집행하는 데 있어 그 효과를 상승시키기 위해서 고려해야 하는 다양한 상황변인들 중에서 광고모델 자체의 효과성에 대한 연구뿐 아니라 제품관여도를 함께 고려해야 함을 시사한다.

The Effect of Comparative Advertising by Message Sidedness and Comparison Type : Moderating Role of Need-for-Cognition and Product Type

The Effect of Comparative Advertising by Message Sidedness and Comparison Type : Moderating Role of Need-for-Cognition and Product Type

The trustworthy brand: effects of conclusion explicitness and persuasion awareness on consumer judgments

Two studies examine how a consumer’s awareness of marketing tactics influences the effectiveness of conclusion explicitness advertising (implicit, open-ended or explicit, closed-ended conclusions). Study 1 shows that persuasion awareness and conclusion explicitness influence brand evaluations. Persuasion aware consumers prefer implicit conclusions in comparative advertising that allow them to decide which brand is superior, rather than explicit conclusions which state the superior brand. Persuasion unaware consumers show no difference for conclusion explicitness. Brand trust mediates the results. Study 2 demonstrates the robustness of these effects. Research contributions include persuasion awareness as a moderator of conclusion explicitness effects and the role of trust as a mediator. For managers, results show how implicit conclusions can improve the brand evaluations of persuasion aware consumers.

Does explicit comparative advertising affect Indian consumers’ attitudes towards low and high-involvement product?

Purpose – With increasing use of explicit comparative advertisement to get share of consumers’ mind and influence their purchase decision in western context, the same is now used extensively in emerging markets like India. However, there has not been sufficient research to understand the effectiveness of explicit comparative advertisement in low and high-involvement product categories. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to understand the effectiveness of explicit comparative advertising on consumers’ attitude and purchase intention (PI) towards high and low-involvement products. Design/methodology/approach – The study carried out experimental treatments with 2 × 2 factorial design among 200 Indian young consumers who were in the age group 18-25. The independent variables were product categories and type of advertising (comparative and non-comparative) and dependent variables were consumer attitude and PIs. Findings – It was found that the comparative form of advertisement developed favourable response towards the advertisement, rather than towards the brand or PI. Research limitations/implications – The study found that comparative advertising is effective for high as well as low-involvement product category in changing the consumer’s attitude towards the advertisement. The research has used print media for conducting the experiment. Practical implications – It can be inferred that comparisons should be supplemented with additional information in the form of the unique features and associated emotions and feeling of the product in order to develop favourable attitude towards the brand and PI. Originality/value – Comparative advertising is a growing domain and there has been very little contribution by the researchers specially on high and low-involvement product categories.

Push-Me Pull-You: Comparative Advertising in the OTC Analgesics Industry

We model comparative advertising as brands pushing up own brand perception and pulling down the brand image of targeted rivals. We watched all TV advertisements for OTC analgesics 2001-2005 to construct matrices of rival targeting and estimate the structural model. These attack matrices identify diversion ratios and hence comparative advertising damage measures. We find that outgoing comparative advertising attacks are half as powerful as self-promotion in raising own perceived quality and cause more damage to the targeted rival than benefit to the advertiser. Comparative advertising causes most damage through the pull-down effect and has substantial benefits to other rivals.

A Study On Comparative Advertising In Social Media: Example Of Turkey And Poland

Developments on globalization and communication technologies has effected advertisement as well as many other areas. New advertisement channels has come out by the Improvement in communication technologies. Social media is gaining more importance day by day in whole world and in our country, and the market share is increasing in whole advertisement channels. Consequently, social media is turning into an important advertisement channel. One of the methods used in advertisement is comparative advertisement. In comparative advertisement, both the advertiser submits his product's good quality compared to competitors and the consumer can have a chance to compare the products and make a better choice. Conversely, if the comparison in the advertisement is not objective, misleading and false informative, the advertiser exploitation and consumer misleading can occur; if the comparative advertisement is banned this can prevent the positive effects that should be reflected to competition and the consumer. At that point, the limits of the comparative advertisement must be determined. Depending on this, to see the effects of social media and globalization easily, the study purposes to observe the comparative advertisements used on social media in Turkey and Poland by content analysis method.

My Memorable Experiences as a Marketing Academic at the Federal Trade Commission

Notre Dame (e-mail: wwilkie@nd.edu). The Background1 I was fortunate to be the first marketing academic to be able to go in-house as a consultant to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) in June 1972. As I will relate, it was a memorable experience involving a host of activities, one of which was to help start a new FTC Marketing Academic Consultancy program, “Project MAC.” During the ensuing ten years, some 30 marketing academics participated in this program, with considerable impact on both FTC operations and marketing academic thought itself. The program was briefly revived in the early 1990s, giving several more academics the opportunity to move in-house as well. The impetus for marketing academics to join the staff of the FTC can be traced to a sharp change in the political context enveloping the agency in the late 1960s. In accord with general societal unrest accompanying the unpopular war in Vietnam, there was increased questioning of both big business and big government institutions. In addition, there was an impetus for more active regulation of marketers, which originated from a diverse set of institutions and represented a strong set of forces. Prominently, a report by the “Nader’s Raiders” consumerist group harshly criticized the FTC’s low profile during the 1960s (Cox, Fellmeth, and Shultz 1969). Among its allegations, the group pointed out that at this point the FTC was issuing fewer than 70 complaints a year against deceptive promotional practices in the entire country. Cast against the massive promotional activity of the American economy, it was obvious that the chance of detection and prosecution was extremely slim (Pitofsky 1977). President Richard Nixon then requested the prestigious American Bar Association (ABA) to appoint a blueribbon task force to investigate these charges.2 Its detailed report (ABA 1969) provided findings similar to those of Nader’s group, concluding that drastic changes within the agency were needed. If such changes were not made, moreover, the ABA report called for disbanding the entire FTC and assigning its tasks to other agencies. President Nixon and Congress decided to support these changes. The head of the ABA Report, Miles Kirkpatrick, was named FTC Chairman, new appointments were made inside the agency, and the agency’s budget was increased substantially.3 During the following decade, the FTC emphasized new powers and programs. Advertising was a major target: new proposals were advanced on topics such as advertising substantiation (Cohen 1980), corrective advertising (Wilkie, McNeill, and Mazis 1984), comparative advertising (Wilkie and Farris 1975), affirmative disclosure (Wilkie 1982), advertising to children (Mazis 1979; Ratner 1978), and advertising code barriers (e.g., opening more advertising in such areas as eyeglasses, drugs, and other professions). The net effect during the 1970s was to create a much more powerful regulatory agency, supported by a 500% budget increase throughout the decade (Murphy and Wilkie 1990). However, this increase in power and activity sparked a strong backlash from the business community, and the 1980s were marked by restrictions on FTC powers in several regulatory areas (a development I discuss subsequently).

Effects of comparative claims in prescription drug direct-to-consumer advertising on consumer perceptions and recall

Although pharmaceutical companies cannot make comparative claims in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads for prescription drugs without substantial evidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits some comparisons based on labeled attributes of the drug, such as dosing. Researchers have examined comparative advertising for packaged goods; however, scant research has examined comparative DTC advertising. We conducted two studies to determine if comparative claims in DTC ads influence consumers' perceptions and recall of drug information. In Experiment 1, participants with osteoarthritis (n = 1934) viewed a fictitious print or video DTC ad that had no comparative claim or made an efficacy comparison to a named or unnamed competitor. Participants who viewed print (but not video) ads with named competitors had greater efficacy and lower risk perceptions than participants who viewed unnamed competitor and noncomparative ads. In Experiment 2, participants with high cholesterol or high body mass index (n = 5317) viewed a fictitious print or video DTC ad that had no comparative claim or made a comparison to a named or unnamed competitor. We varied the type of comparison (of indication, dosing, or mechanism of action) and whether the comparison was accompanied by a visual depiction. Participants who viewed print and video ads with named competitors had greater efficacy perceptions than participants who viewed unnamed competitor and noncomparative ads. Unlike Experiment 1, named competitors in print ads resulted in higher risk perceptions than unnamed competitors. In video ads, participants who saw an indication comparison had greater benefit recall than participants who saw dosing or mechanism of action comparisons. In addition, visual depictions of the comparison decreased risk recall for video ads. Overall, the results suggest that comparative claims in DTC ads could mislead consumers about a drug's efficacy and risk; therefore, caution should be used when presenting comparative claims in DTC ads.

Metatags and keywords as comparative advertising

of the European Union (CJEU) classified the use of domain names and metatags as being advertising in the sense of the Directive on Misleading and Comparative Advertising while voicing considerations that permit the conclusion that such use constitutes comparative advertising. This article discusses the significance of this judgment for classifying keyword advertising as comparative advertising, and analyzes this viewpoint in light of the classification of keyword advertising by the CJEU under trade mark law. The trade mark function doctrine with additional trade mark functions, such as the advertising function and the investment function, introduced by the CJEU into the double identity protection, conflicts with the understanding of keyword advertising as comparative advertising under unfair competition law. This conflict must be resolved.