Attitudes to advertising: a review of British and American research

Stephanie O'Donohoe

This article compares British and American literature on public attitudes to advertising in general. Overall levels of approval are examined, as is research identifying and describing attitudinal dimensions.

Attitudes to advertising: a review of British and American research

Stephanie O'Donohoe

This article compares British and American literature on public attitudes to advertising in general. Overall levels of approval are examined, as is research identifying and describing attitudinal dimensions. The review highlights the complexity and ambivalence of attitudes to advertising in both countries, and the lack of research seeking to understand rather than to measure these attitudes. Differences in attitudes also emerged between the two cultures, meriting concern at the heavy reliance on American surveys - and theories - in the general field of advertising.

INTRODUCTION

Public attitudes to...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands