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Journal ArticleDOI

Comparative Advertising in India: A Content Analysis of English Print Advertisements

TL;DR: The authors conducted a content analysis on 203 comparative print advertisements in India and found that direct comparative advertisements were used more (vis-a-vis indirect ones), differentiative claims are used more, maximal claims were higher than minimal claims, multibrand comparisons were greater in number, positive valence is preferred to negative valence, and underdog brands used more comparative advertisements than top-dog brands Contrary to expectations, hedonic and utilitarian products used comparative advertisements equally.
Abstract: We conducted a content analysis on 203 comparative print advertisements in India We found that as hypothesized, direct comparative advertisements were used more (vis-a-vis indirect ones), differentiative claims were used more (vis-a-vis associative ones), maximal claims were higher than minimal claims, multibrand comparisons were greater in number (vis-a-vis single-brand comparisons), positive valence is preferred to negative valence, and underdog brands used more comparative advertisements than top-dog brands Contrary to expectations, we found that hedonic and utilitarian products used comparative advertisements equally We offer a snapshot of the state of comparative advertisements in India that would be useful to managers and researchers
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a systematic content analysis of Indian English green print advertisements for the years 2010 and 2011 to verify if greenwashing is prevalent was performed, and the results indicated that 51.7% of the claims were greenwashed and most of them were vague or ambiguous.
Abstract: This study performs a systematic content analysis of Indian English green print advertisements for the years 2010 and 2011 to verify if greenwashing is prevalent. Green advertisements were analysed based on four dimensions – (1) claim specificity, (2) greenwashing category, (3) incidence of associative claims and (4) presence of certifications. The results indicate that 51.7% of the claims were greenwashed and most of them were vague or ambiguous (37.7%). Most claims lacked specificity (67.0%) and image claims (60.0%) were widely used. Very few advertisements (3.3%) employed certifications to substantiate their claims. Interestingly, we also found that more than half of the image-related claims (55.8%) were categorized as misleading and highly specific claims were considered acceptable. We suggest that either the self-regulatory body – the Advertising Standards Council of India – or the legal regulatory framework accommodate well-defined provisions for regulating green claims in advertisements to curb gre...

26 citations


Cites background from "Comparative Advertising in India: A..."

  • ...These include studies on media portrayals of older adults (Raman, Harwood, Weis, Anderson, & Miller, 2008), comparative advertising (Kalro et al., 2010), consumer promotions (Joseph & Sivakumaran, 2011) and gender portrayal (Das, 2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper showed that direct comparative advertisements are more effective in reducing perceived manipulative intent, enhancing attitude toward the advertisement, and increasing the perceived differences between the brands for consumers using analytical (imagery) information processing modes.
Abstract: Comparative advertising is widely used as a persuasion tool. Contemporary advertisers employ both direct (e.g. “Total Corn Flakes have more nutritional ingredients than Kellogg Corn Flakes”) and indirect comparative advertisements (e.g. “Total Corn Flakes have more nutritional ingredients than other corn flakes”) in their campaigns. Consumers process ads predominantly either through analytical (using reason and semantics) or imagery (using nonverbal, sensory representation of perceptual information) modes of processing. Drawing on extant research in advertising and information processing, we posit that direct comparisons are better suited for analytical processing while indirect ones are more amenable for imagery processing. Using a 2*2 factorial design (comparison format—direct/indirect; mode of information processing—analytical/imagery), we show that direct (indirect) comparative advertisements are more effective in reducing perceived manipulative intent, enhancing attitude toward the advertisement, and increasing the perceived differences between the brands for consumers using analytical (imagery) information processing modes. We add to the comparative advertising literature by identifying a moderator (mode of information processing) that influences the effectiveness of direct and indirect comparisons. Further, we study indirect comparisons when most extant research considers direct comparisons. Managerially, our work suggests that advertisers using comparative advertising should use direct comparisons under analytical processing conditions and use indirect comparisons under imagery processing conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

23 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the presence of nostalgic advertising in Indian television and its execution with reference to extent of information disclosure, level of involvement, type of products and stages in product life cycle (PLC).
Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of nostalgic advertising in Indian television and its execution with reference to extent of information disclosure, level of involvement, type of products and stages in product life cycle (PLC). Design/methodology/approach This research uses a content analysis of 700 TV advertisements aired between January-December 2013 from top five Indian TV channels based on their rank according to Gross Viewership in Thousands. Findings Humour/happiness was the most commonly used emotional appeal and nostalgic ads constituted 12 per cent of the emotional ads in Indian television. “References to past family experiences” was the most commonly used nostalgic element. As hypothesised, nostalgic ads use low information disclosure strategy (vis-a-vis high/medium information disclosure strategy) and are more commonly used for low involvement products (vis-a-vis high involvement products), experience products (vis-a-vis search products), and non-durables (vis-a-vis durables). Also, nostalgic appeals are more commonly used at maturity stage of PLC (vis-a-vis introduction stage). Originality/value This is the first research to analyse the content and execution of nostalgic advertising in India. This study is also one of the first to provide a comprehensive framework on nostalgic advertising. The interrelationships among variables such as product category, process of emotional appeal, degree of information disclosure and stage in PLC has not been investigated earlier, in the context of nostalgic advertising. Moreover, this study is the first attempt to present a snapshot of TV ads in India.

17 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the interplay between comparison ad strategy (market leader/multi-brand comparisons) and comparison ad format (direct/indirect comparisons) on the effectiveness of comparative advertising.
Abstract: Purpose Extant research on comparative advertising has focused only on “market leader” comparisons (a brand targeting the market leader), whereas in the marketplace, “multi-brand” comparisons are more prevalent (Kalro et al., 2010). Moreover, most research focuses on direct comparisons only. Hence, this research aims to investigate the interplay between comparison ad strategy (“market leader”/“multi-brand” comparisons) and comparison ad format (direct/indirect comparisons) on the effectiveness of comparative advertising. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses four 2 × 2 fully crossed factorial designs (comparison ad format: direct vs indirect and comparison ad strategy: market leader vs multi brand) with established and new brands in two categories: powdered detergents and smart phones. All studies were conducted in metropolitan cities of India. Findings By and large, the experiments indicated that direct (indirect) comparisons lowered (heightened) perceived manipulative intent and enhanced (reduced) attitude-toward-the-ad for multi-brand (market leader) comparisons. Practical implications Findings suggest that when advertisers use comparative advertising, they may use direct ads when using multi-brand comparisons and use indirect ones when using market leader comparisons. It could also be argued that when advertisers use multi-brand comparisons because of fragmentation in the marketplace, they may directly compare against these multiple brands. When advertisers need to compare against a market leader, they may do so indirectly. Originality/value This research is among the first to investigate multi-brand comparisons that are widely used in the industry and that too in the context of both direct and indirect comparison formats.

16 citations


Cites background or result from "Comparative Advertising in India: A..."

  • ...Whether new or established, most underdog brands prefer to use comparative advertising (Hoch and Deighton, 1989; Kalro et al., 2010), as most underdog brands are not as well-known as top-dog ones (Hoch and Deighton, 1989)....

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  • ...Kalro et al. (2010) however reveal in their content analysis that comparative advertising is used equally for both utilitarian and hedonic products....

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  • ...Consistent with this report, Kalro et al. (2010) find that 68 per cent of all comparative ads in India are direct, whereas 32 per cent are indirect....

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  • ...According to Kalro et al. (2010), a possible use for the wide prevalence of “multi-brand” comparisons could be fragmented product markets....

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  • ...First, most prior research in this genre has focused on market leader comparisons alone (Ang and Leong, 1994; Chattopadhyay, 1998; Gorn and Weinberg, 1984; Gotlieb and Sarel, 1991, 1992; Pechmann and Stewart, 1990, 1991), while ignoring multi-brand comparisons, when market reality shows that multi-brand comparisons are the norm, rather than an exception (Kalro et al., 2010)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine positive and negative effects of concrete versus non-concrete comparative advertising and the impact of claim substantiation in such comparative advertising on purchase intentions, and analyze the moderating role of consumers' predisposition to show reactance.

16 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative effectiveness of comparative and non-comparative advertising was evaluated for fast food chains in a simulated magazine mode and the results revealed that non-comparing advertising was demonstrably more effective than comparative advertising.
Abstract: An experimental test of the relative effectiveness of comparative and non-comparative advertising was performed. Mock print ads for fast food chains were constructed and presented to respondents in a simulated magazine mode. The market position of the sponsoring brand was manipulated in both comparative and non-comparative formats. Multiple criterion variables were operationalized corresponding to all stages of the hierarchy-of-effects paradigm. On balance, for the nine hypotheses tested, results revealed that non-comparative advertising was demonstrably more effective than comparative advertising.

89 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the question of whether comparative advertisements actually contain more objective information cues than their non-comparative counterparts and found that comparative ads did indeed have greater information content than non-comparing ads.
Abstract: The existing research on comparative vs. noncomparative advertising has resulted in a great deal of conflict and confusion concerning its effectiveness. However, little attention has been directed toward examining the informational nature of the ads themselves. The current investigation examines the question of whether comparative advertisements actually contain more objective information cues than their noncomparative counterparts. The results indicated that comparative ads did indeed have greater information content than noncomparative ads. Additional informational dimensions of comparative ads are explored.

82 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined the consequences of regulatory focus on exposure to two types of comparative advertising frames (a maximal claim (brand A is superior to brand B) and a minimal claim (label A is equivalent or similar to label B) in three experiments.
Abstract: We examined the consequences of regulatory focus on exposure to two types of comparative advertising frames—a maximal claim (“brand A is superior to brand B”) and a minimal claim (“brand A is equivalent or similar to brand B”)—in three experiments. In experiment 1, we manipulated these frames, basing the sponsor brand's claim on comparison with an existing brand. In experiment 2, we operationalized the frames using a comparison featuring a sponsor brand targeting an established standard (Food and Drug Administration guidelines). A third experiment provided convergent evidence for the process underlying these effects. Consistent with theoretical reasoning, we found that promotion-focused individuals were more persuaded by maximal comparisons while prevention-focused individuals were either equally persuaded by the two frames or more persuaded by minimal frames. For prevention-focused individuals, maximal frames represented either a “no loss” or a “deviation from the norm.” The no loss representation led to maximal and minimal frames being equally persuasive. The deviation from the norm representation led to greater negative elaboration on maximal frames, making them less persuasive than minimal frames. For promotion-focused people, a maximal frame simply represented a gain over a minimal frame, and hence it induced more favorable elaboration and greater persuasion.

80 citations


"Comparative Advertising in India: A..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Minimal claims are demonstrated by Nissan Altima’s claim that it has the same trunk space as a BMW (Jain et al. 2006)....

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  • ...There are two types of comparative advertising frames: a maximal claim, where the advertised brand claims superiority over the competitor brand, and a minimal claim, wherein the advertised brand claims parity/similarity with the competitor (Jain, Agrawal, and Maheswaran 2006)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results show that, based on the need to establish a social context in computermediated negotiations, users from high-context cultures exchange significantly more messages and offers during negotiations than users from low- context cultures.
Abstract: In this article, we apply an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore whether national culture influences a user's perception and use of Internet-based negotiation support systems (NSS) In particular, we are interested in whether different preferences for communication patterns, as we find them for low-context and high-context cultures, influence the use and perception of different NSS support tools The Web-based system Inspire, which provided data for our analysis has been used by over 2000 entities worldwide in experimental negotiations Our results show that, based on the need to establish a social context in computermediated negotiations, users from high-context cultures exchange significantly more messages and offers during negotiations than users from low-context cultures Analytical negotiation support is valued significantly higher by users from low-context cultures than by users from highcontext cultures as this problem-solving approach is more compatible with their preference for direct and task-oriented communication

71 citations


"Comparative Advertising in India: A..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Therefore, in high-context cultures a low, rather than high, amount of information needs to be stated explicitly for communication to be effective (Köszegi, Vetschera, and Kersten 2003)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that although recall of comparative ads was high, consumer attitudes toward comparative ads were not very positive, especially in countries where comparative ads are not widely used or are used rarely.
Abstract: The author reports the results of an exploratory study of cross-country differences in recall of and attitude toward comparative advertising. As American companies are increasingly advertising their products in other countries, the issue of cross-country differences in comparative advertising effectiveness is very important. The study found that although recall of comparative ads was high, consumer attitudes toward comparative ads was not very positive, especially in countries where comparative ads are not widely used or are used rarely. Therefore, comparative ads should be targeted at other countries with caution.

71 citations


"Comparative Advertising in India: A..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Given the pace of internationalization of multinational companies and the fast-growing trend toward building global brands (Donthu 1998), our findings would also be useful to new and potential entrants in emerging markets like India....

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