| dc.description.abstract | The main objective of this study was to investigate the attitude held by consumers towards
advertising and its relative importance as a source of consumer information. The significance of such
a study lies in realising the link between attitudes and behaviour. A negative attitude, for example,
will be taken to imply a possible negative action tendency and vice versa. In this case this means the
efficacy of advertising to achieve the goal of convincing consumers to make a purchase hinges on
the opinion the audience has on advertising as a source of consumer information in the first place.
Owing partly to time and financial constraints, but mainly to unavailability of adequate
consumer sampling frame, this survey study was carried out on the middle class consumers in
Nairobi. Primary data was collected via a self-adminstered questionnaire delivered by 'drop and pick'
method.
Analysis of the data revealed that the aspects of advertising investigated drew a mixed
reception- some eliciting positive and others negative attitudes. However when the attitude toward
advertising in general is measured, a simple majority of 53.3 % of those surveyed were found to be
negatively predisposed towards advertising. As for its relative importance as a source of consumer
information, advertising came second to experiential and personal sources of information. Salesmen
were rated lowest in terms of importance.
The findings of this study should however be interpretated with due consideration to the
limitations of the study, principally the fact that it is narrowly based on the middle class consumers
in Nairobi beyond which the findings should not be generalized. | en |
