Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/294484 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Cogent Business & Management [ISSN:] 2331-1975 [Volume:] 10 [Issue:] 2 [Article No.:] 2220199 [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] 1-18
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis, Abingdon
Abstract: 
The serendipitous emergence of social media at the turn of this century created new uncensored avenues for the advertising industry. This created conditions conducive to peddling controversial ads or shockvertising. Controversial ads came as a result of the need to breakthrough the advertising clutter. The pervasiveness of controversial ads created mixed feelings among the audience. In order to avoid offending some target markets, advertisers are now faced with a daunting task of channeling their controversial ads to the target market groups that are likely to respond favorably. This study therefore seeks to determine the differential effects of controversial advertisements across various demographic groups. A sample of 1200 respondents was surveyed from one of the leading fast-food restaurants that regularly flight controversial ads laced with sexual humor in Zimbabwe. The data were analyzed using factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that in general shockvertising was well appreciated across all demographic groups studied. There were some differential effects of age and marital status on the ad evaluation. However, there were no differential effects on gender, religion, and levels of education on ad evaluation. The study recommended the use of controversial ads as they can manage to cut through the information clutter. Advertisers, however, should emphasize more on the youth and the single consumers since they appreciate controversial ads more than other demographic groups.
Subjects: 
emerging markets
consumer erotophilia
controversial ads
fast-food brands
information clutter
shockvertising
social media
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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