shayan looser

8/6/2019 Shayan LoOser

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/shayan-looser 1/59

Perception of advertising on teen agers

i

Influence of advertisements on teen perceptions: A focus on network operators ads

of Pakistan

BY

Shayan Elahi

A Thesis Submitted To Lahore School of Economics in Partial Fulfillment of

the Requirements for Bachelors in Business Administration in

Finance & Marketing

Lahore School Of Economics

YEAR 2011



CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

I certify that I have read “Perceptions of teenagers and influence of advertisements

of network operators in Pakistan” by Shayan Elahi, and that in my opinion this

work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the Bachelor in Business Administration at the Lahore School of

Economics.

______________________________________

Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry (Rector)

______________________________________

Mr. Abdul Rehman (Course Instructor)

______________________________________

Mr. Abdul Rehman (Research Supervisor)

Page

ii



© [2011] [Shayan Elahi]

Shayan Elahi

Lahore School of Economics [2011]

Page

iii



Influence of advertisements on teen perceptions: A focus on network operators ads

of Pakistan

Page

iv



ABSTRACT

The topic for this research is ‘Influence of advertisements on teen perceptions: A focus

on network operator’s ads of Pakistan’. The main reason for choosing this topic was to

find out the advertisers tactics and how they use them to influence the adolescent’s

minds. There are many variables that affect the teenager’s mind directly and indirectly.

The variables that were chosen for the research, out of many, were six. These were,

product knowledge, product importance, brand loyalty, teenage financial resources,

celebrity influence and skepticism. A questionnaire was designed in order to gauge these

variables. The results showed that customers are not brand loyal when it comes to being

loyal to network operators. Teenage financial resources had no relation with the

perceptions of teenagers. Customer skepticism, product knowledge, product importance

and celebrity influence significantly affect the perceptions of teenagers. Majority of the

people liked U-fone advertisements because of the fact that they were funny.

Page

v



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I would like to thank Al-Mighty Allah for giving me the strength to

complete this thesis. Without the grace of Allah, this work could never have been

completed. Then I would like to thank my parents for everything that they have done for

me. I would also like to thank Aaima Sarwar for helping me throughout the making and

completion of this thesis i couldn’t have done it without her. My heartiest gratitude to

Aaima for making this thesis look a little simple than it was. Lastly I would like to thank

Major and Omair for helping me run the regression. I could not have done this without

any one of you.

Page

vi



Table of Contents

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL .......................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................vi

Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii

Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 6

1.1: An overview of the topic .......................................................................................... 61.2: Managerial Concerns ................................................................................................ 71.3: Student Concerns ...................................................................................................... 71.4: Research question .....................................................................................................8

1.5: Study objectives ........................................................................................................ 81.6: Related definitions .................................................................................................... 8Chapter 2: Literature Review .............................................................................................12

Chapter 3: Methodology & Analytical choice ................................................................... 27

3.1: Research Type .........................................................................................................273.2: Data type & Research Period ..................................................................................283.3: Research hypothesis ................................................................................................283.4: Theoretical Framework & Variable under consideration .......................................29

3.4.1: Reference List of variable under Consideration ..............................................313.4.2: Theoretical Justification ...................................................................................32

3.5: Information Gathering &Sampling Procedure ........................................................333.5.1: Survey design ...................................................................................................333.5.2: Population, Working Population & Planned Sample .......................................333.5.3: Sample size Consideration ...............................................................................343.5.4: Choice of Sampling Techniques ......................................................................343.5.5: Field Work & Respondents Profile ..................................................................35

3.6: Data Analysis Tools & Techniques ........................................................................ 353.6.1: Multiple Linear Regressions ............................................................................353.6.2: Parametric Tests of Significance .....................................................................35

Chapter 4: Estimation, Analysis & Conclusion ................................................................. 36

4.1: Estimation Result ....................................................................................................364.1.1: Regression Summary .......................................................................................364.1.2: Results of Parameter Tests of Significance .....................................................36

4.2: Limitations of the Study ......................................................................................... 404.3: Conclusion ..............................................................................................................414.4: Direction for further research ................................................................................42

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................43

Page

vii



APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................45

APPENDIX B: Graphs of variables ..................................................................................51

Page

viii




6

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1: An overview of the topic

The topic I chose for my research is “perceptions of teens and influence of

advertising of network operators in Pakistan”. I have researched a lot of articles that have

researched in the influence and perception changes of teenagers. In Pakistan a lot of

advertisements are now targeting the youth because advertisers have realized that the

youth is a major decision maker in the households. Youth influences the children as role

models, what adolescents do, the children follow it. So realizing this from what i have

learnt and realized is that the youth would go on to become adults and the children would

become adolescents which would thereby increase the likely hood that the new youth,

who were influenced by the old youth, would be using the same brands. So by

influencing the teenagers now would not only cause a brand loyalty within them alone

but also a brand loyalty in the soon to be teenagers. There is a boom of network operators

in Pakistan. One can see a lot of competitive advertising on the television, billboards,

radio and newspapers etc. By looking at this competitive advertising more often i have

decided to limit my research to the advertising done by network operators in Pakistan. I

have limited myself to this industry because it has boomed over the years and the

advertising done by them is the most. The number of advertisements for network

operators is so huge that one would find pretty interesting things which includes, how the

new network operators try to change the perceptions of brand loyal consumers, how the

network operators compete against each other to the extent of being unethical and things

like that. There are only a few network operators in the country which are mobilink,




7

ufone, warid, zong and telenor. Jazz enjoys the status of being the first operator in the

market and has the largest share while zong is the newest network operator and some way

or the other has snatched some market share from the others. This is through their

effective marketing strategies, how they have targeted the teenagers and given them what

they wanted. They have changed the perceptions of teenagers, convinced them that this

product is just as efficient and much more, and made them switch to their network.

1.2: Managerial Concerns

This research which has been focused on the network operator advertisements on

the perceptions of teenagers is a first research done in this country. This research can be

used by other researchers to gain knowledge and an insight in to the perceptions of

adolescents, what makes or breaks their perceptions. This would also be helpful to the

marketing students because with this they would know the tactics that are used by

advertisers and what weapons do they use in order to attract attention towards their ads

and what are some of the variable that make up the perceptions of teens. This research

can be carried forward by other researchers and marketers to get a better insight and

information in to the teenage mind.

1.3: Student Concerns

As a student this has broadened my horizon. It has made me look beyond the

picture, beyond what is being shown. It has broadened my knowledge as to how do

advertisers pick and target the different tactics on the consumer. Since one of my majors

is marketing, it has lead to a better understanding of this. I am better able to apply the

concepts of marketing and made this subject even more wonderful to study and apply.




8

1.4: Research question

How do network operator advertisements influence the perceptions of teenagers?

1.5: Study objectives

How advertisers target the youth?

How the perceptions of teenagers are changed?

How are they influenced by the advertisements?

How a brand loyal teenager makes a switch to the other brand?

What attributes are targeted when advertisements are made?

And lastly how network operators fight for their market share through

advertising?

1.6: Related definitions

Advertising:

The definition of advertising is as a vehicle to enhance existing brand awareness

and at the same time also maintain and improve brand affect

VARIABLES




9

Skepticism (disbelief and mistrust)

Skepticism is defined as consumers' negatively valenced attitude toward the motives of

and claims made by advertisers (Boush, Friestad, and Rose 1994) Socializing and

adolescents' skepticism toward advertising.(Special Issue on Advertising to Children)

Journal of Advertising | September 22, 1998 | Mangleburg, Tamara F.; Bristol, Terry

The article has given four concepts in order to quantify it which are, ‘the advertiser and

consumer have different tastes, advertisers intend to persuade, persuasive messages are

biased and lastly is that biased messages require different processing strategies than do

other messages’. Gaski and Etzels models of sentiment toward advertising

For my research i will quantify this by asking the respondents that ‘consumers are

sometimes skeptic about advertisements, is it because of the discrimination between

advertisers and consumers interests’, followed up by a five point level of agreement

scales.

Product importance

Operationally the author has defined product importance as the central component

of enduring involvement, while this involvement is an antecedent of purchase

involvement or concern about the purchase. So this means that the more the teenager




10

likes or gives importance to a product, the more will be his or her involvement in its

purchase decision.

In this study the respondents were shown an item or a product and then were

asked how much important it was to them. This was followed by a five point

measurement scale from not important to most important. In my research the same

method shall be used but rather than showing the respondents the product a question will

be asked that how much is a specific network operator important to them.

Teenage financial resources

Operationally the definition given by the author has been taken from another

theory that suggest resources affect the dominance an individual has on resources. In the

article it was quantified by asking teenager a question that if he or she could put together

$300 for a purchase anytime if he needed to during the previous school year, which was

followed by a 5 point likert scale.

This will be quantified by asking the respondents how much is their monthly

income which will be followed by numeric figures where the respondent would find

himself in between. Apart from that the respondents will be asked how much do they use

on their cell phones monthly again followed by numeric values.

Product knowledge




11

Product knowledge was defined as consumers' knowledge of product as compared

to others. This study utilized the 2-item scale developed by Bloch, Ridgway, and Sherrell

(1989): "Relative to others, what do you think about your knowledge of this type of

beverage?" and "Relative to your friends, what do you think about your knowledge of

this type of beverage?" Anchors for the 7-point Likert scale ranged from "Completely no

knowledge" to "Very knowledgeable". Higher scores indicated better product knowledge.

(Relationship between Consumer Information Exposure, Product Knowledge, and

Impulse Purchasing Behaviour: An Empirical Analysis Liang, Ying-Ping, Liang, Jin-

Long, Duan, Yi-Shiang)

Brand loyalty

Strength of brand loyalty is conceptualized as the intensity of customer loyalty

toward the brand, whereas size of brand loyalty is conceptualized as the proportion of

consumers in the market loyal to the brand. (Effect of Brand Loyalty on Advertising and

Trade Promotions: A Game Theoretic Analysis with Empirical Evidence)

Celebrity Influence

Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition by a large share of certain

groups of people. Whereas attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special

skills are just examples and specific common characteristics cannot be observed, it can be

said that within a corresponding social group celebrities generally differ from the social




12

norm and enjoy a high degree of public awareness.

(http://worldlywriter.com/images/portfolio/Proposals/Celebrity_Branding.pdf)

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Boush, David, Friestad, Marian, & Rose, Gregory. (1994) focused their research

“Adolescent skepticism toward tv advertising and knowledge of advertiser tactics”, 165-

175 on two issues. One is how adolescents think and feel about television advertising and

their beliefs about the tactics that advertiser use to persuade them and lastly how all this

affects their attitude towards the advertisers. That was the first issue that was discussed.

While the secondary issue is to see and evaluate how this advertising does has an impact

on the attitudes and beliefs and relate to other individual differences like esteem and

skepticism. It was found out that very large changes occur between the ages 11 to 14 and

after that age, very little differences occur. There also has been a research that shows that

older adolescents are better able to choose and make comparisons between products and

their attributes, than the younger ones. They have an accepting of advertisers as important

agents. Five hypotheses were laid down in this research, which are:

“Knowledge about advertiser tactics will develop in the direction of adult

knowledge during early adolescents (proved)




13

Skepticism toward advertising will increase with age during early adolescence

(proved)

Advertising skepticism will be positively related to knowledge about advertisers

tactics (proved)

Self esteem will be positively associated with advertising skepticsim (proved)

Consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence will be negatively related to

advertising skepticism (had mixed views)”

Variables taken in the article

belief about advertiser tactics

knowledge about advertiser tactics


Self esteem

This article is relevant to my topic because it talks about how teenagers view

advertisements; how they know the different tactics of advertisers and how does this

affect their perceptions.

Buijzen, Moneik, & Valkenburg, Patti. (2002) in their research Appeals in

television advertising: a content analysis of commercials aimed at children and teenagers,

349-364 analyzed 601 commercials and it was found out that the stereotypical

commercials are highly directed towards teenagers and children and it showed a strong

age disparity in them. Some commercials were targeted at male teens and others were at




14

girl teens. The characteristics of male teen ads were that they targeted ‘having the best,

rivalry and attainment’ while as far as characteristics of females were concerned they

targeted romance, sexuality and belongingness. The research showed that the purchase

intent as well as the brand loyalty is determined largely by consumers’ attitudes and

perceptions towards the commercial. The research was done in Netherlands but is

applicable to almost all the western societies. With the research it was found out that the

teenagers on whom the commercial was targeted were likely to be cool and having the

best and seizing opportunities. The research showed that the gender roles of both males

and females are stereotyped and pre determined. It was also found out through the

research done that teenagers do not like to be addressed with appeals like safety and

health.

Variables: values of the teenager (social identity, sexuality etc)

The relevance of this article to my topic is that it has shown how advertisers target

the appeals of the teenage boys and girls, and how that influences teenagers to consume

their product.

Kraak, Vivica, & Pelletier, David. (1998) in their article, The influence of

commercialism on the food purchasing behavior of children and teenage youth, 11(3),

got a better insight in to the purchase intent, behaviours and the purchase pressure

when it comes to the pressure of children and teenagers by reviewing different

marketing literature. Also to examine and evaluate the power of commercialism when

it comes to food purchase. Research has found when it comes to eating the patterns

have changed over the past 20 years, within the children and adolescents. Now the




15

pattern of food consumption is that they would eat a lot of food from outside their

homes, get a larger intake of their daily nutrients in the form of snacks and have more

food deliveries from fast food joints. This is the reason why the youth is becoming fat,

they just are not following their daily nutritional diet. The youth now doesn’t meet the

nutritional plan which leads to fatness. The authors have defined commercialism as

‘the means of transport for communication that creates customer alertness and induces

the want for specific products and its mission is to increase customer order’. in this

decade it has been seen that the influence of children and teenagers over the family

purchase decisions is becoming more and more as days go by. The major reason of

this trend of the huge influence of teenagers and children over the purchasing

decisions of the family is tv advertisements and prime time programs. After the

research done it was found out that out of the whole sample, two thirds of the

teenagers had working mothers and half of their mothers work full time. It was also

found that boys are less likely to shop for groceries. One important thing to note is that

teenage youth identifies product more often by brand name rather than food category.

Results show that:

Beverages and salty snacks are one of the most requested food items but

mostly sugar dessert products are requested by teenagers

Children usually request for these things while they go for shopping while

older teenagers request for these things when they are at home.

The main reason young children ask for candy is because of its presence in

the shop but for older teenagers it was thought by their mothers that a lot of

factors contribute towards their purchase intentions.




16

Variables in the article: family, economic power, peers, ethnicity, culture, school

environment, commercialism.

The article is related to my topic because of its research on commercialism and

the impact of commercialism on the youth. For example in this paper it was said that

market research reveals that children and teenage youth identify products more frequently

by brand name rather than food category. So this gives me a good idea of how much does

commercialization affects the perceptions of youth.

Beatty, Sharon, & Talpade, Salil. (1994) in their article, Adolescent influence in

family decision making: a replication with extension, 332-341 drew their information

from previous studies which were done by E. Foxman, P. Tansuhaj, and K. Ekstrom’s

1989 study of adolescent influence, so this is an extended version of it. It has evaluated

two things, first is the affect of the status of parents on the teenagers authority and

secondly it measure the perceptions of gender based differences. Research has shown that

the economic position of the parents influences the perceptions of teens. Two theories are

used in this study i.e resource theory and relative investment theory. The methodology

used in this paper is a list of durables based on previous studies. Using “the most recent

purchase from each list, respondents answered 26 influence questions generated from the

literature to represent the three stages of the decision. Seven point response scale was

used to measure respondent’s perceived contribution. An integrative model of teenage

influence as well as measurement concerns by creating a reliable multi item, dual stage

scale that examines teens’ influence”. The research has also focused on the economic

status of the parents and how it relates to the influence of the adolescent’s decisions in the




17

family. It also shows that how does this all is affected or is related to the financial

resources of the teenager as well as the parents. So according to this, a teenager would

have more money meaning more to spend on items which would then influence the

purchase decisions of the household due to a higher resource in income. This is because

the parent would have more respect for the child viewing them as responsible members of

the family.

Variables used: product importance, teenage financial resources, single parent

households, product knowledge

This article is relevant to my research is because this tells how commercials

influence the perceptions of the youth and how does this influence further influence the

family decision making. It shows how the influence of teenagers increases as the status of

the parents increases.

George P. Moschis, Linda G. Mitchell (1986), in their article ‘television

advertising and interpersonal influences on teenagers' participation in family consumer

decisions’ Pages: 181-186, presented the result of a study purely designed to test the

effects of television advertising on the purchase intentions of teenagers. The effects of

these processes are evaluated in the context of household decision making. Specifically,

the research examines the effects of television advertising, family and peer

communications about consumption on the teenager’s participation in household decision

making.

The hypothesis in this study is that the extent of the teenager’s influence on the

household decision process and the Hypothesis taken in this are




18

“H1: Television advertising viewing is positively related to the youth's propensity

to play a more influential role than his/her parents in: (a) mentioning the need for

products, (b) discussing purchase of products, (c) deciding what should be purchased, and

(d) actually buying products. (little support)

H2: Concept-orientated family communication structure is positively related to

the youth's propensity to play a more influential role than his/her parents in: (a)

mentioning the need for products, (b) seeking information, (c) deciding what should be

purchased, and (d) actually purchasing products. (no support)

H3: Socio-oriented family communication structure is negatively related to the

youth's propensity to play a more influential role than his/her parents in: (a) mentioning

the need for products, (b) seeking information, (c) deciding what should be purchased,

and (d) actually purchasing products. (supported)

H4: The youth's frequency of communication with peers about consumption will

be associated with greater influence in the family decision making process by increasing

his/her likelihood of ( a) mentioning the need for products, (b) discussing products with

parents, (c) deciding to purchase products, and (d) actually Purchasing products. (no

support)

H5: Age is positively related to the adolescent's propensity to play a more

influential role than his/her parents in (a) mentioning the need for products, ( b)

discussing consumption with parents, (c) deciding whether to buy certain products, and

(t) independently purchasing products. (supported)

H6: With increasing money earned outside the home, young people are less likely

than their parents to (a) mention the need for products, (b) discuss the purchase of




19

products, (c) decide whether to buy certain products, and (d) independently purchase

products for individual or family use. (supported)

H7: Female adolescents are more likely than their male counterparts to have

influence over his/her parents in (a) mentioning the need for products, (b) discussing

purchase of products, (c) deciding what should be purchased, and (t) actually buying

products. (offers support)”

Variables: family, television, peers. the dependent variables are (a) the extent to

which the child mentions the need, (b) discusses buying, (c) decides, and (d) actually

purchases products for child's and family's use in relation to other family members.

This is relevant to my topic because this talks about how television makes a

change in the perceptions of teenagers and how this influences their decision making

process.

Roshan, Ahuja, Michels, Tara, Walker, Mary, & Weissbuch, Mike. (2004) in

‘Teen perceptions of disclosure in buzz’, 151-159, focused their study to investigate

teenagers’ perceptions about buzz marketing and the issue of disclosure. As far as the

definition for buzz marketing is concerned, there is no fixed, it varies from person to

person. Hazily speaking buzz is something catchy, a word of mouth that is going around

the society. Commercializing word of mouth or the buzz is known as buzz marketing.

The method used for this study was a structured focus group methodology. The

main objectives of this research was to use a qualitative methodology, focus groups, to

examine teens perceptions on buzz marketing in general and obtain teens opinions on the

issue of disclosure. In total there were 24 teens who took part in one of the four

Focus groups as follows:




20

“1 Group 1: girls 13 and 14: six participants.

2 Group 2: boys 13 and 14: seven participants.

3 Group 3: girls 15 and 16: six participants.

4 Group 4: boys 15 and 16: five participants.”

The paper finds that teenagers like being buzz agents. They like doing this job and

usually stay secretive when doing their jobs. They also don’t see anything unethical when

it comes to not revealing their status.

This is relevant to my topic as it tries to identify the role of teenagers in buzz

marketing.

J. Bush, Alan, Martin, Craig, & D. Bush, Victoria (2004), in the article, Sports

celebrity influence on the behavioural intentions of generation Y, found that adolescents

spend around 153 billion dollars on everything. In order to seek the latest products and

fashion labels, every trend conscious teenager makes use of media and advertising. Now

advertisers have greatly realized the importance of understanding the role model

influences and they effectively target and communicate to the market. In this paper the

effect of athlete role models on teenagers purchase intentions and behavior is examined.

In this study a survey total of 218 adolescents are discussed..

In the paper the definition of role models was given which said, “Role models can

be anyone the individual consumer comes in contact with who can potentially influence

the consumer’s consumption decision”. It has been seen that the fastest growing industry

in the country today is Sports and entertainment industry. Since this is the fastest growing

industry, it has been seen that major advertising agencies are expanding their services to




21

include sports marketing and sponsorship opportunities to their clients. In this study the

Gen Y was selected as a sample. There has been a great deal of variation

The hypothesis used in this paper is:

“H1: Teenagers’ athlete role model influence is positively related to product

switching and complaint behavior. (not supported)

H2: Teenagers’ athlete role model influence is positively related to favorable or

positive word-of mouth behavior. (supported)

H3: Teenagers’ athlete role model influence is positively related to brand loyalty.

(proved)

H4: Female teenagers’ athlete role model influence is more positively related to

(a) product switching and complaint behavior, (b) favorable word-of-mouth behavior, and

(c) brand loyalty than male teenagers. (H4a not supported, H4b proved)

It was found that females agreed more than males that athlete role models

influence them to buy certain brands.”

Variables: occupational goals, career aspirations, role of model influence,

behavior and brand loyalty

This is relevant to my topic as it focuses its research on how much does the

celebrity endorsement attracts consumers buying pattern and how their perceptions about

the sports celebrity influences it.

Bun Lee, E, & Browne, Louise. (1995) in their article ‘Effects of television

advertising on African American teenagers’, 523-536 did a research w h i c h s h o w e d

t h a t television advertising greatly influences the minds of consumers, especially




22

children and adolescents. The use of African Americans actors is increasing with the

increase in the population of African. With the previous researches done, it has been quite

evident that African American teenagers watch more television than the White teens and

are most likely to watch and evaluate television ads as being more realistic and

believable. The research done in this is mainly to find out the rate at which African

American teenagers respond to ads which show African American athletes, the effect of

these athletes on the perception of people and how does this create awareness and lastly

how does this affect the minds of children and youth to desire te product. The measures

used in this paper were questionnaires and the alternative media preferences that were

examined. One part of the questionnaire has focused on athletic shoes and athletic shoe

commercials. The respondents were asked if they were wearing athletic shoes. If they

were, the second question was what were the brand name and its price. It was found out

that when It comes to selection of shoe brand, celebrity endorsements are highly

influential. “The perceived influence of African American sports figures in the ads was

measured by asking, "How much influence do you think African American sports

celebrities have on your decision to buy a particular brand of athletic shoes?”. In order to

measure the perceptions of influence of African American celebrities endorsing the ads

people were asked, "How much influence do you think African American sports

celebrities have on your decision to buy a particular brand of athletic shoes?"

Variables: perceived influence of celebrities, perceived influence of sports

celebrities

This article is relevant to my research topic because this article shows how the

ethnicity changes the buying behavior of consumers.




23

Pechmann, Cornelia, & Ratneshwar, S. (1994) in their article, ‘The effects of

antismoking and cigarette advertising on young adolescents' perceptions of peers who

smoke, 236-251, focused their research to investigate the effects of antismoking and

cigarette advertising on nonsmoking youths’ perceptions of a peer who smokes. People

were shown certain anti smoking advertisements and judged the smoker in the ad to be

relatively juvenile and unspectacular. The main focus of this was on the perceptions of

people rather than brand attitudes because it was seen with the help of old research that

there is a strong association between the perceptions of teens smokers and smoking

initiation. In this the usage intentions or behaviors were not considered. There has been

research over the past which explains that anti smoking activists consider some type of

ads to be very troublesome for example ads which show an attractive model or the ones

who are engaged in exciting stuff which might cause an association with the

impressionable youth between the desirable traits of models and people who smoke.

There are teenagers who would not be convinced straight away that smoking is cool and

one appears more glamorous because these teens have been taught that smoking is not

healthy for the body and not intelligent to smoke. The hypothesis that have been used in

the article is:

“Hl: Young adolescents who are exposed to anti-smoking ads (vs. unrelated-to-

smoking ads, i.e., control) should (a) judge a smoker more negatively, (b) produce more

negative inferences on the basis of the smoker label, and (c) generate more negatively

valence thoughts regarding trait information about the smoker.”




24

There was the same thing that was used over and over in smoking ads which

mostly were models who were depicted as sexy, cool and popular. There was a lot of

skepticism towards this type of advertising so teenagers were not affected by it much

even though the ads clearly depicted that smoking leads to desirable psychosocial

consequences. Apart from this the advertisers of smoking ads caused the youth or the

subjects to perceive the information given more positively which resulted in good

thoughts about the person. Even with this, their negative perceptions about the smoker

did not change that much and they evaluated a smoker the same way. In addition to this

those positive thoughts about the smoker did not cause a higher ratings in terms of his

appeal, glamour and maturity one of the majors reasons of the weak effects of these

advertisements was because of the fact that those ads featured familiar brands that are

more promoted by others in the category. The most important reason and explanation as

to why did the ads affect thoughts but not their judgments because these ads conflicted

with the youth’s strongly held beliefs that doing this is unhealthy and not intelligent.

This is relevant to my topic because it focuses on one major topic which is

smoking ads influence and perceptions that are changed due to those ads. My research

topic is related to this article as it seeks to determine the relation between perceptions of

teenagers and advertisements and if they are influenced by advertisements, then how?

H obbs, Renee, & Broder, Sharon. (2006) in their article ‘How adolescent girls

interpret weight-loss advertising’, 719-730, talk basically about the deceptive advertising

done throughout the world. The study is focused on weight-loss advertising done mainly

on teenage girls. In this research a diverse sample of 7 different geographic regions was

taken to get a good idea of the adolescent’s perceptions towards weight-loss advertising.




25

these days girls are more focused upon their physical appearances so they try to do

anything that would help them lose weight. It was found out the in the high income

nations this is at a boom and the sales of weight loss products has doubled over the

years. The sample from the population was shown TV advertisements and print ads and

was asked how they rate them and what they perceive about them.

The study population included 42 teenagers who were between the ages of 9 till

17 from 7 geographic regions in America. The sample was asked about their

interpretations towards the print and TV ads being shown to them. All the participants

were shown 7 ads which included print and tv ads.. the questions were open ended and

they were something like ‘What's the first thing you think about when you look at this

ad? What do you notice specifically when you look at this ad? Which elements catch

your eye? How do you feel when you look at this ad? What does this remind you of?’

This is relevant to my topic because this tells us that how much a person would

believe the false and deceptive advertising if it emotionally is related to them or targeted

towards them. This only proves the point that advertisers do actually have the power to

control and change the perceptions of teenagers.

Variable taken from this article is deceptive advertising.

o Variables from literature reviews

Knowledge about advertiser tactics,





26

Self esteem,

Values of the teenager (social identity, sexuality etc)

Family,

Economic power,

Peers,

Ethnicity,

Culture,

School environment,

Commercialism,

Product importance,

Teenage financial resources,

Single parent households,

Product knowledge,

Occupational goals,

Career aspirations,

Role of model influence,




27

Positive word of mouth,

Brand loyalty,

Perceived influence of celebrities,

Television,

Deceptive advertising.

Chapter 3: Methodology & Analytical choice

3.1: Research Type

My research is a basic research because this does not solve any problem in hand it

is rather conducted to expand knowledge, as the basic purpose of this research is to

analyze and know more about the Perceptions of teenagers and influence of

advertisements of network operators in Pakistan. This research is conducted to realize

that do advertisers actually change the perceptions of teenagers through their

advertisements.




28

3.2: Data type & Research Period

The data collected is majorly from the primary sources. Secondary sources have

helped in getting a good insight towards the advertisers tactics but for this research

primary data has to be collected. All the questions are carefully designed to avoid any

error and only structured questions have been included to quantify the data accurately.

The time period used for this research is cross sectional time period in which

various segments of the population has been sampled at a single point in time. The total

time allocated for this research is eight months. First four months are used for literature

review, theoretical framework and hypothesis development. While remaining four

months are used for formal research i.e. research methodology, data analysis and

conclusion

3.3: Research hypothesis

Ho: product knowledge has no impact on teenage perceptions

H1: product knowledge has a significant impact on teenage perceptions

Ho: product importance affects the perceptions of teenagers

H1: product importance does not affect the perceptions of teenagers

Ho: teenage financial resources do not affect their perceptions.

H1 teenage financial resources do not affect their perceptions




29

Ho: skepticism does not have an impact on the perceptions of teenagers.

H1: skepticism does have an impact on the perceptions of teenagers.

Ho: use of celebrities in network operator advertisements does not affect the

perceptions of teens

H1: use of celebrities in network operator advertisements affects the perceptions

of teens.

Ho: brand loyalty does not affect the teen perceptions

H1: brand loyalty significantly affects the teen perception

3.4: Theoretical Framework & Variable under consideration

Advertising

Teenage financial

resources

Skepticism (disbelief

and mistrust)

Perceived influenceof celebrities

Productimportance

Perceptions of

network operators of

teens

ProductKnowled e




30

Brand loyalty




31

3.4.1: Reference List of variable under Consideration

Skepticism Bous h , Dav i d , F r i e s t ad , Mar i an , & Ros e ,

Gr egor y . ( 1994) . Ado l es cen t s kep t i c i s m

t owar d t v adver t i s i ng and knowl edge o f

adver t i s e r t ac t i c s . The j ourna l o f

Consum er Research , 21 ( 1 ) , 165- 175 .

Product

Knowledge

Bea t t y , Sha r on , & Ta l pade , Sa l i l . ( 1994) .

Ado l es cen t i n f l uence i n f ami l y dec i s i on

mak i ng : a r ep l i ca t i on wi t h ex t ens i on . The

j ourna l o f Consu m er Research , 21 ( 2 ) ,

332- 341 .

Product

Importance





332- 341 .

Teenage

Financial

Resources





332- 341 .

Perceived

Influence of

Celebrities

B u n L e e , E , & B r o w n e , L o u i s e . ( 1 9 9 5 ) .

E f f e c t s o f t e l e v i s i o n a d v e r t i s i n g o n

a f r i c a n a m e r i c a n t e e n a g e r s . j o u r n a l o f

b l a c k s t u d i e s , 2 5 , 5 2 3 - 5 3 6 .

Brand Loyalty J . Bus h , A l an , Mar t i n , Cr a i g , & D . Bus h ,

Vi c t o r i a . ( 2004) . Spor t s ce l eb r i t y

i n f l uence on t he behav i our a l . j ourn al o f

adver t i s i ng re search .




32

3.4.2: Theoretical Justification

The research is about what are some of the variables that directly or indirectly

affect the perceptions of teenagers. Perceptions of teenagers theoretically are affected by

advertising. In other words advertising has a significant amount of influence on the

positive or negative development of perceptions of teens. There are a number of

intervening variables that affect the perceptions through the help of the independent

variable which is advertising. Product knowledge affects the perceptions of teenagers in a

way that the more the product knowledge, more would be the purchase intent of the

buyers. Similarly product importance is also a very important variable in the perceptions

of teenagers because more the importance given to the product more will be his or her

purchase intention about that product. Brand loyalty is another intervening variable. More

the teenager is brand loyal to the product, more positive will be the perceptions about that

product. Similarly skepticism is a major influence in the perceptions of the teenager. If a

teen is skeptic about other products, he or she will not pay attention to the advertisers.

The influence of celebrities in advertisements is also quite big because teenagers who

think positively about certain celebrities, they tend to follow them as their role models.

Teenagers with more financial resources tend to opt for products that are more expensive

or tend to make use of a product more than others. Teenagers with more financial




33

resources would theoretically be more influenced by products that are depicted as high

class.

3.5: Information Gathering &Sampling Procedure

The gathering of information and the sampling procedure is as follows:

3.5.1: Survey design

The first one foremost goal of the survey is to find out the relationship

between the dependent and independent variables. This shall be done through the

designing of a questionnaire that is going to focus on those variables. Through this we

will be able to quantify them and reach a conclusion. The goal in the end is to be able

to determine that what all affects the perceptions of teenagers. There would be no

interviews in my research design but an extensive questionnaire has been designed in

order to reach a conclusion. The sample for my questionnaire will be teenagers who

go to universities. Before giving out the questionnaires there would be a pre-test of

their effectiveness.

3.5.2: Population, Working Population & Planned Sample

The population for my research is university going teenagers who use cell phones

and use a specific network operator for those cell phones. It is very important for a

research to identify the target population carefully. The age bracket of my population is

from 15 to 19.




34

This population is quite large because there is a boom in the telecom industry. So

in order to get a clearer picture a sampling frame is designed. The sampling frame for this

research includes the

geographic area for research which is Lahore,

both males and females from various colleges and universities,

who are aware of network operator’s advertisements.

3.5.3: Sample size Consideration

Sample size is of 50 people both male and females who go to universities. The

survey will be conducted in various colleges and universities. The limited number of

sample size is due to the time constraints faced. The visit and survey to these three

universities is to get a good idea about the teenage perceptions.

3.5.4: Choice of Sampling Techniques

For the sampling technique, non probability sampling has been used in this

research survey. Under non probability sampling, convenience sampling is used.

Convenience sampling help to save time, it is less expensive and is convenient for the

researcher. Research has made sure that the selected sample is a true representative of the

characteristics of the entire population. The respondents for the survey were selected

from a broad social network, consisting of friends, family and fellow students.




35

3.5.5: Field Work & Respondents Profile

Research Method:

The questionnaire that was designed had questionnaires related to the variables

selected. In order to get the most out of the questionnaire more than one question is also

used for some of the variables. The questionnaire method was chosen due to its ability to

be easily and widely distributed, and completed in a standardized form

3.6: Data Analysis Tools & Techniques

3.6.1: Multiple Linear Regressions

Perceptions of teens = 0.28589 + 0.192038*skepticism + 0.225918* product

importance + 0.0505113*teenage resources

+ 0.31043*product knowledge + 0.0832332*brand loyalty + 0.226715*celebrity

endorsement

3.6.2: Parametric Tests of Significance

R-squared = 66.7964 percent

R-squared (adjusted for d.f.) = 62.1634 percent

Standard Error of Est. = 0.541689

Mean absolute error = 0.326821

Durbin-Watson statistic = 2.54454




36

Chapter 4: Estimation, Analysis & Conclusion

4.1: Estimation Result

Following results have been deduced:

4.1.1: Regression Summary

The R-Squared statistic indicates that the model as fitted explains 66.7964% of

the variation in the dependent variable which is perceptions of teenagers. The standard

error came out to be 0.541689 which clearly shows the standard deviation of the

residuals. The Durbin-Watson (DW) statistic tests the residuals to determine if there is

any significant correlation based on the order in which they occur in your data file. The

value of Durbin-Watson is above 1.4 which shows that there is probably not any serious

auto correlation in the residuals. The highest P-value on the independent variables is

0.4833, belonging to the variable which is teenage financial resources. Since the P-value

is greater or equal to 0.50, that term is not statistically significant at the 95% or higher

confidence level.

4.1.2: Results of Parameter Tests of Significance

Hypothesis

Product knowledge:

Ho: product knowledge has no impact on teenage perceptions




37

H1: product knowledge has a significant impact on teenage perceptions

q14 0.31043 0.106726 2.90867 0.0057

The p-value of product knowledge is 0.0057 which is less than 0.05 at 95 percent

confidence level. So we are 95 percent confident that there is a significant relationship

between product knowledge and perceptions of teenagers. We will reject the null

hypothesis because it is lower than 0.05 level of significance.

Product importance:

Ho: product importance affects the perceptions of teenagers

H1: product importance does not affect the perceptions of teenagers

q11 0.225918 0.0795858 2.83867 0.0069

The p-value of product importance is less than the level of significance which is

0.05, so we will reject the null hypothesis. It can be said that there is a significant

relationship between product importance and perceptions of teenagers. Product

importance is affected by network operators advertisements and it shapes the perceptions

of teenagers.

Teenage financial resource:




38

Ho: teenage financial resources do not affect their perceptions.

H1 teenage financial resources do not affect their perceptions

q12 0.0505113 0.0714331 0.707113 0.4833

The p-value of teenage financial resources is more than the level of significance

which is 0.05 so we will not reject thee null hypothesis. So we can say that the buying

behaviour of teens is not affected by his financial resources. Teenage financial resources

do not have any significant relation with the perceptions of teenagers according to my

research.

Skepticism:

Ho: skepticism does not have an impact on the perceptions of teenagers.

H1: skepticism does have an impact on the perceptions of teenagers.

q10 0.192038 0.0841121 2.28312 0.0274

the p-value of this variable is 0.0274 which is less than 0.05 level of significance.

This shows that it can be said with 95 percent of confidence that we will reject null

hypothesis. Perceptions of teenagers can be changed through effective advertising.

Skepticism has an impact on shaping the perceptions of teenagers. If they are skeptic




39

about any advertisement or any product then they would not perceive it well in their

minds.

Celebrities:

Ho: use of celebrities in network operator advertisements does not affect the

perceptions of teens

H1: use of celebrities in network operator advertisements affects the perceptions

of teens.

.

q9d 0.226715 0.0766403 2.95817 0.0050

The p-value of celebrity endorsement is less than the level of significance. The

level of significance is 0.05 which is more than the p-value of this variable. The p-value

of celebrity endorsement is 0.005 which clearly shows that it is less than the level of

significance. So we can say that we are 95 percent sure that the use of celebrities in

advertisements causes a rise in profits for the company and it greatly changes the

perceptions of teenagers.

Brand Loyalty:

Ho: brand loyalty does not affect the teen perceptions

H1: brand loyalty affects the teen perception.




40

q16 0.0832332 0.0931827 0.893226 0.3767

The p-value for this variable came out to be 0.3767. The level of significance is

0.05 which is greater than the p-value for brand loyalty. We will accept the null

hypothesis because the p-value came out to be lesser than the level of significance. We

can say with 95 percent confidence that brand loyalty does not affect the teenage

perceptions. On paper if we look at this from all the researches done, brand loyalty really

do affect the perceptions of teenagers but with this research conducted, the result came

out to be otherwise. This proves the when it comes to network operators, teenagers are

not brand loyal at all because most of the sample said that they would switch to other

operators if they provide them with a better offer. So in short teenagers are not brand

loyal when it comes to network operators which is a good finding for this research,

4.2: Limitations of the Study

The limitations of study have been experienced throughout the survey. Some of

the limitations are as follows:

Sample size-the number of respondents that have been used in my study has

been a limitation for my research. Note that, the sample size is too small and it

was difficult to find any important relationships from the data collected. Since

our population is Pakistan we need to have a sample size which is big enough

to represent the whole population so that the results can be generalized to the

whole population.




41

Lack of available literature- due to the lack of data that was available has

limited the scope of the analysis. Due to this reason meaningful relationships

were hard to figure out.

Lack of prior research- Due to lack of prior research done in Pakistan, the

literature regarding Pakistani people was hard to find which is why most of the

literature review was done on research carried out in foreign markets.

Time constraints- since this project had to be done during the semester so there

were a lot of time constraints involved in it which made the survey a little more

difficult in a way that time had to be juggled with studies and the research

project.

4.3: Conclusion

Through the hypothesis testing it is concluded that:

Teenagers vastly like advertisements of u-fone because of the reason that they use

a humorous appeal in their ads.

Greater product knowledge about the product leads to a better perception of that

product which makes or produces a purchase intent in the minds of teenagers

Teenagers who lay importance to a specific product, they stick to it and usually

buy that product that is important to them.

Teenagers are skeptic about some products and advertisements. This skepticism

can be changed by advertisers. Teenagers who are skeptic about some products,

they do not buy that product.




42

Through our questionnaire it was found out that there is no relation between the

purchase intent and his or her financial resources even though according to the

literature that was reviewed proved that there is a significant relation between the

two. But this study proved to be otherwise.

Celebrities that are used in advertisements greatly influence the minds of the

adolescents. They make the teenagers believe whatever they say in the

advertisements because teenagers think of them as their role models. The use of

celebrities and their endorsements increases the positive perception about the

product.

Teenagers are not brand loyal when it comes to network operators they use. One

thing that was difficult to understand is when the customers were asked if they

were brand loyal they answered ‘yes’ but when they were asked that if they get a

better offer from another operator would they switch? And mostly answered ‘yes’.

4.4: Direction for further research

The research done can be used for further research. In Pakistan researches are not

done extensively. This research may be used by a lot of advertisers and marketers to

figure out what makes or breaks the perceptions of teenagers. Through this a lot of

advertisers can target the main variables that really do affect the minds of teenagers. This

research will also open doors to further research in Pakistan because there are not many

researches in the Pakistani context. This will also help other students of marketing to gain

knowledge from the research work done.




43

REFERENCES

Boush, david, friestad, marian, & rose, gregory. (1994). Adolescent skepticism toward tv

advertising and knowledge of advertiser tactics. The journal of consumer

research, 21(1), 165-175.

Buijzen, moneik, & valkenburg, patti. (2002). Appeals in television advertising: a content

analysis of commercials aimed at children and teenagers. Communication, (27),

349-364.

Kraak, vivica, & pelletier, david. (1998). The influence of commercialism on the food

purchasing behavior of children and teenage youth. The journal of consumer

research, 11(3)

Beatty, sharon, & talpade, salil. (1994). Adolescent influence in family decision making:

a replication with extension. The journal of consumer research, 21(2), 332-341.

George p. Moschis, linda g. Mitchell (1986), "television advertising and interpersonal

influences on teenagers' participation in family consumer decisions", in advances

in consumer research volume 13, eds. Richard j. Lutz, provo, ut : association for

consumer research, pages: 181-186.

Roshan, ahuja, michels, tara, walker, mary, & weissbuch, mike. (2004). Teen perceptions

of disclosure in buzz. Journal of consumer marketing , 151-159




44

J. Bush, alan, martin, craig, & d. Bush, victoria. (2004). Sports celebrity influence on the

behavioural intentions on generation Y. Journal of advertising research.

B u n l e e , e , & b r o w n e , l o u i s e . ( 1 9 9 5 ) . E f f e c t s o f t e l e v i s i o n

a d v e r t i s i n g o n A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n t e e n a g e r s . J o u r n a l o f

b l a c k s t u d i e s , 2 5 , 5 2 3 - 5 3 6 .

Pechmann, cornelia, & ratneshwar, s. (1994). The effects of antismoking and cigarette

advertising on young adolescents' perceptions of peers who smoke. The journal of

consumer research, 21, 236-251.

Hobbs, renee, & broder, sharon. (2006). How adolescent girls interpret weight-loss

advertising . Oxford journals, (5), 719-730




45

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE

Lahore School of Economics

The questionnaire is solely for the purpose of basic research. Please read the

questionnaire carefully and give honest answers. Your answers shall be kept

confidential. If you have any questions regarding the completion of this questionnaire

please feel free to ask. Thank you for participating in the research.

Gender: _________________

Age: _______

1. How often do you watch TV?

a. Daily

b. Every other day

c. Weekly

d. Rarely

e. Never

2. What type of advertising influence you the most?




46

a. Print Advertising – Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers

b. Outdoor Advertising – Billboards, Kiosks, Tradeshows and Events

c. Broadcast advertising – Television, Radio and the Internet

d. Celebrity Advertising

3. What do you generally look for in an Ad?

a. Creativity

b. Content

c. Features of the product

d. The models used

e. Product relevance

4. did you ever buy a product because you liked its commercial

a. Yes

b. No

5. Which network operator do you use

a. Mobilink

b. Telenor

c. Ufone

d. Warid

e. Zong




47

6. Which network operator advertisements do u like more

a. Mobilink

b. Telenor

c. Ufone

d. Warid

e. Zong

7. What do TV ads generally try to achieve. Rank in the order of importance

S

trongly

disagree

disag

ree

n

eutral

Agre

e

Stron

gly agree

grab your

attention

make you

want the product

make you

like the ad

8. Reason for liking ads is because they

S

trongly

disagree

disag

ree

n

eutral

Agre

e

Stron

gly agree

show a

popular TV star

show




48

how a product

works

are funny

use

cartoons

9. When a celebrity endorses a product he/she tries to

S

trongly

disagree

disag

ree

n

eutral

Agre

e

Stron

gly agree

grab your

attention

make you

want the product

make you

like the ad

get you

believe what the

ad says

10. Why are consumers skeptic about some advertisements

a. Brand loyalty

b. Consumers interest are different

c. They generally don’t like the product

d. Negative word of mouth




49

11. How much are the operators you are using important to you

a. Not important

b. Indifferent

c. Somewhat important

d. Very important

12. How much money do you make or get per month

a. Below 5000

b. 5001-7000

c. 7001-10000

d. Above 10000

13. How much do you use monthly on recharging your credit

a. Below 1000

b. 1001-1500

c. 1501-2000




50

d. Above 2000

14. Are you familiar with all the network operators currently present

a. Yes

b. No

15. Does a positive word of mouth effect your purchase decision?

a. Strongly disagree

b. Disagree

c. Neutral

d. Agree

e. Strongly agree

16. Are you brand loyal when it comes to network operators?

a. Strongly disagree

b. Disagree

c. neutral

d. Agree




51

e. Strongly agree

17. If you get a better package by another operator, would you switch

a. Yes

b. No

APPENDIX B: Graphs of variables




52




53




54




55




56

shayan looser

Documents