WHAT FACTORS MAKE AN ADVERTISEMENT CONTROVERSIAL?

Abstract

This project report is based on offensive and controversial advertising. Over time, advertising has become an integral part of our lives. With the increase in products, the advertising level has increased too. In the times of social media, it has become easy to identify the likes, dislikes and patterns of a particular consumer on internet to target him with very directed advertisements. Amidst this clutter, the advertising agencies and the advertisers are trying hard to capture the attention of the consumers. This leads to them coming up with creative ways to create path-breaking advertisements. However, often, an advertisement sparks out controversies and offends the target population. This report dives deep into the factors responsible for an ad to be taken as offensive by the consumers. Based on previous literature reviews and reports, a list of 11 factors is identified. Additionally, to better understand how these factors influence the controversy, 11 controversial advertisements are discussed in how the factors played a role in the consumers taking an offense to them. A survey is administered to a sample of 63 respondents who rate various factors in how does each of them offends them in the context of an advertisement. The findings indicate that most of the predominant factors have an average rating of greater than 3, the mean score on a Likert-type scale of 1-5. These findings are useful for any agency or advertisers to better understand the consumer perception.