The impact of shock advertising on brand image : study among University students : how does shock advertising affect the students’ attitude towards United Colors of Benetton?

Abstract

Shock advertising is still a grey area in Marketing, and brand managers are aware that this form of advertising can either leave a positive or a negative effect on consumers’ attitudes towards brands. This study focused on ‘United Colors of Benetton’, a well-known international brand which is synonymous with this form of advertising; and investigated whether University students in Malta would be more open towards shock advertising after being exposed to it. More specifically, this study attempted to uncover how students’ attitudes towards the brand, and subsequently, their purchase intention, may be affected by this form of advertising, as opposed to a more conservative tactic. An experiment was conducted amongst three distinct groups of randomly selected university students, given that this was the best method to show causality. Two of these fell under experimental groups, one of which was exposed to shock advertising, and the other was shown a classic run-of-the-mill advert, along with a questionnaire. The third was a control group which was only given a questionnaire. When comparing between groups, it was found that shock advertising made no difference to the students’ perceptions of the brand. Their attittude towards the brand did not change after being shown the advert and, even though the students might be influenced by their relatives and peers, at the end of the day they would still make the purchase and remain loyal towards the brand. As for the socio-demographic factors like age, gender and religion, a significant difference resulted whereby a younger audience rely on peer-groups when making a decision, and religion is proved to be a factor of influence. The unexpected result occured in gender distinction, where males reacted more negatively than females when being exposed to the advert. Despite these differences, it was still concluded that shock adverts did not really effect the overall attitude towards the brand image. Further studies should definitely broaden the audience more than this experiment, given that this was done at the University of Malta and does not represent the whole population.