THESIS
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL
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EFFECTIVENESS OF
"TRUTH IN ADVERTISING" CAMPAIGN RELATIVE TO
ETHICAL ADVERTISING ON TELEVISION
A Thesis Submitted to the
Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Santo Tomas
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Science
in Advertising
Ceres Catalina E. Guerrero
1999
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL
THESIS ABSTRACT
TITLE: Effectiveness of "Truth in Advertising" Campaign Relative to
Ethical Advertising on television
RESEARCHER : Ceres Catalina E. Guerrero
ADVISER : Professor Ernesto Apodaca
SCHOOL : University of Santo Tomas
YEAR COMPLETED : 1999
DEGREE : Master of Science in Advertising
Statement of the Problem
This study is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Truth
in Advertising" campaign in promoting ethical advertising on television.
This was determined by means of a survey to find out the public
perception on the effectiveness of the campaign.
Specifically, this study aimed to answer the following problems:
1. What is the profile of the respondents' TV ad exposure in terms
of the following:
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- how often the respondents watch television in a week?
- what hours the respondents usually watch television?
- do the respondents watch the ads shown on television?
2. Are the respondents aware of the existence of the "Truth in Advertising"
campaign?
3. How do the respondents perceive the effectiveness of the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign in promoting ethical advertising on television?
4. Is there a significant relationship in the perceptions of the respondents
on the effectiveness of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign in promoting
ethical advertising on television, when they are grouped according to their
TV ad exposure?
5. How do the respondents perceive the "Truth in Advertising" campaign
as the preferred means to promote ethical advertising on television?
6. Is there a significant relationship in the perceptions of the respondents
on the
"Truth in Advertising" campaign as the preferred means to
promote ethical advertising on television, when they are grouped
according to their TV ad exposure?
Secondary to this , a content analysis of primetime ads on
television was conducted in order to find out the most common provisions
violated by advertisers based on the AdBoard's Code of Ethics.
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Specifically, this study aimed to elicit answers to the following
problems relative to the content analysis:
1. What are the most common provisions violated by advertisers
based on the AdBoard's Code of Ethics?
2. What is the product category of these violating ads?
3. What is the profile of the erring advertiser in terms of the ff:
- PANA membership
-size of firm
- nature of the company-advertiser's operations in the country
Hypotheses
1. There is no significant relationship in the perceptions of the
respondents on the effectiveness of the “Truth in Advertising” campaign in
promoting ethical advertising on television, when they are grouped
according to their TV ad exposure.
2. There is no significant relationship in the perceptions of the
respondents on the "Truth in Advertising" campaign as the preferred
means to promote ethical advertising on television, when they are
grouped according to their TV ad exposure.
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Scope and Limitation
This study is focused on the effectiveness of the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign in promoting ethical advertising on television. The
effectiveness of the campaign was determined by means of a survey in
order to find out the public perception whether the campaign is effective or
not based on the ads shown on television. Respondents of this study are
students of the University of Santo Tomas.
Secondary to this, a content analysis of primetime ads on television
was also conducted to find out the most common provisions violated by
advertisers based on the AdBoard's Code of Ethics. The content analysis
was confined to the following areas: only product ads were analyzed and
only ten provisions from the AdBoard's Code of Ethics were used as
criteria to analyze the ads since these were the only ones applicable.
Research Method
This study used the descriptive method of research in order to
evaluate the effectiveness of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign in
promoting ethical advertising on television as perceived by respondents
who are highly and moderately exposed to TV ads.
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This method was also used to describe the most common
provisions violated by advertisers based on the AdBoard's Code of Ethics
which was carried-out by means of a content analysis of primetime ads on
television.
Research Instruments
A questionnaire and a content analysis form were the main tools for
data gathering. A questionnaire was designed based on the statement of
the problem. It was divided into four parts which asked questions about
the profile of the respondents' TV ad exposure, awareness on the
existence of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign, perceptions on the
effectiveness of the campaign and demographic characteristics of the
respondents.
Meanwhile, a content analysis form was used to record the
provision violated by the ad, if any, the product category of the violating
ad and the profile of the erring advertiser.
Population and Sampling Technique
Respondents of this study were students of the University of Santo
Tomas who were identified by means of a two-step random sampling.
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Further, they must possess the following criteria which were deemed
necessary in order to obtain reliable responses from the respondents: 1)
they must be either highly or moderately exposed to TV ads; 2) they must
be aware of the existence of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign and; 3)
they must watch the ads shown on television.
Statistical Treatment of Data
The data gathered were subjected to statistical tests for their
analysis and interpretation. The statistical tests used were as follows: 1)
Frequency Distribution; 2) Percentage Distribution; 3) Weighted Mean; 4)
Smallest Quotient System; 5) Pearson Correlation Coefficient in order to
test the first hypothesis and; 6) Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient in
order to test the second hypothesis.
Findings
A. Perceptions on the effectiveness of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign
in promoting ethical advertising on television.
1. What is the profile of the respondents' TV ad exposure?
Most of the respondents (70.00%) are highly exposed to TV ads as
manifested in their daily viewing of television. Only 23.00% of them are
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moderately exposed. Meanwhile, it is during the primetime hours (7:00 to
10:00 in the evening) that most of the respondents (58.00%) watch
television. Lastly, all of the respondents (100.00%) watched the ads
shown on television.
2. Are the respondents aware of the existence of the "Truth in Advertising"
campaign?
Majority of the respondents or 71.00% are aware of the existence of
the "Truth in Advertising" campaign.
3. How do the respondents perceive the effectiveness of the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign in promoting ethical advertising on television?
The highly exposed respondents perceived the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign as EFFECTIVE in minimizing puffery or
exaggerated words in TV ads, improving the roles portrayed by women in
TV ads, encouraging the reflection of Filipino values, encouraging full
disclosure of product information, promoting wholesome ads for children,
minimizing false demonstrations/simulation in TV ads, ensuring that the
exposure of bodily parts on TV are done in good taste and ensuring that
all TV ads are not offensive of any person, race or religion. However, they
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perceived that the "Truth in Advertising" campaign is LEAST EFFECTIVE
in minimizing the depiction of liquor and cigarette products as essential to
social success.
The moderately exposed respondents also perceived the campaign
as LEAST EFFECTIVE in minimizing the depiction of liquor and cigarette
products as essential to social success with the inclusion of not being able
to ensure that exposure of bodily parts on television are done in good
taste. The rest of the statements were rated as EFFECTIVE by the group.
As a whole, both groups rated the "Truth in Advertising" campaign
as EFFECTIVE in promoting ethical advertising on television.
4. Is there a significant relationship in the perceptions of the respondents
on the effectiveness of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign in promoting
ethical advertising on television, when they are grouped according to their
TV ad exposure?
There is a significant relationship in the perceptions of the highly
exposed and moderately exposed respondents on the effectiveness of the
"Truth in Advertising" campaign in promoting ethical advertising on
television because upon computation of the Pearson Correlation
Coefficient (rxy), the result was .97 indicating almost perfect correlation
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of perceptions of the two groups.
5. How do the respondents perceive the "Truth in Advertising" campaign
as the preferred means to promote ethical advertising on television?
The highly and moderately exposed respondents ranked the "Truth
in Advertising" campaign as the first rank among ten other activities
presented making it as the preferred means to promote ethical advertising
on television.
6. Is there a significant relationship in the perceptions of the respondents
on the "Truth in Advertising" campaign as the preferred means to promote
ethical advertising on television, when they are grouped according to their
TV ad exposure?
There is a significant relationship in the perceptions of the highly
exposed and moderately exposed respondents on the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign as the preferred means to promote ethical
advertising on television because, the Spearman Rank Correlation
Coefficient's computed value of .96 is larger than the minimum significant
value required which is .63 which indicates correlation of perceptions.
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B. Content Analysis of Primetime ads on Television
1. What are the most common provisions violated by advertisers from the
AdBoard's Code of Ethics?
Presentation is the most common provision violated by
advertisers from the AdBoard's Code of Ethics (f=4) This was followed by
the provision on Cigarette and Tobacco Products (f=3) and lastly, the
provision on Scientific Claims(f=1).
2. What is the product category of these violating ads?
Most violating ads belong to the Cigarette and Tobacco product
category (f=3). Then, followed by non-prescription drugs, devices and
treatment (f=2). Detergent, liquor and motor oil categories share one
violating ad each.
3. What is the profile of the erring advertisers in terms of the following:
3.1 Is the erring advertiser a PANA member?
Most of the erring advertisers or five (5) of them are PANA
members namely Fortune Tobacco Corporation (with two erring ads),
International Distiller's Phils. Inc., Petron Corporation and Unilever Phils.,
Inc. The remaining three advertisers are non-PANA members; namely'
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DKT International Phils., Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutical and La Suerte
Cigar and Cigarette Factory.
3.2 What is the size of firm of the erring advertiser?
Most of the advertisers or four (4) of them are small-sized firms
namely DKT International, Inc., Fortune Tobacco Corporation (with two
erring ads) and Janssen Pharmaceutical. Meanwhile, three (3) erring
advertisers belong to large-sized firms namely La Suerte Cigar and
Cigarette factory, Petron Corporation and Unilever Phils., Inc. One (1)
erring advertiser belong to a medium-sized firm which is International
Distiller's Phils., Inc.
3.3 What is the nature of the company-advertiser's operations in the
country?
Most of the erring advertisers or five (5) of them are foreign-based
companies namely DKT International Phils., Inc., International Distiller's
Phils., Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutical, Petron Corporation and Unilever
Phils., Inc. The remaining three advertisers are locally-based namely
Fortune Tobacco Corporation (with two erring ads) and La Suerte Cigar
and Cigarette Factory.
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CONCLUSIONS:
1. The predominant profile of respondents' TV ad exposure is daily
viewing of television, watching TV during primetime hour and watching the
ads shown on television.
2. The academe is well-aware of the existence of the "Truth in
Advertising" campaign.
3. The "Truth in Advertising" campaign is deemed EFFECTIVE in
promoting ethical advertising on television.
4. The "Truth in Advertising" campaign is deemed as the most preferred
means to promote ethical advertising on television.
5. Presentation is the most common provision violated by advertisers from
the AdBoard's Code of Ethics. The ads in violation of this provision
contain themes that have sexual undertones.
6. Cigarette and Tobacco is the product category most violating ads
belong to. While other countries have banned cigarette ads, we seem to
be very lenient in enforcing the necessary guidelines.
7. Most erring advertisers are PANA members. Therefore, PANA
membership is not a guarantee of the non-violating status of the ads
produced by its members.
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8. Advertisers are capable of violating provisions in the AdBoard's Code
of Ethics regardless of the size of their company and the nature of their
company's operations in the country.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. The "Truth in Advertising" campaign must be re-launched (coinciding
with PANA's yearly anniversary) as a major project of PANA . PANA to
intensify the campaign's information drive among advertisers. Further,
PANA to encourage public participation in the incorporation of this
campaign into law by adopting the provisions embodied in the AdBoard's
Code of Ethics. In this way, the campaign would VERY EFFECTIVELY
achieve its goals and objectives in increasing public confidence in
advertising.
2. The AdBoard to be more strict in approving commercials with sexual
undertones because such offend the contemporary standards of public
decency and morals. The Robles Doctrine which contains specific
guidelines in the screening of sexually suggestive ads, to be applied
always by the AdBoard's screening committee.
3. Advertisers to avoid making ads with sexual undertones. Instead, it is
encouraged that they be more creative in conveying their advertising
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messages. Advertisers to focus on product information and product
benefits. In this way, they could contribute to the over-all objectives of the
"Truth in Advertising" campaign and at the same time, help the public
make an intelligent purchase decision.
4. PANA to strictly monitor its members by pre-screening their ads before
the AdBoard does, closely coordinate with the AdBoard and be given
police powers to legally sanction its members to ensure that they are
models and forerunners of the "Truth in Advertising" campaign.
5. Cigarette and Tobacco product commercials to be banned during
primetime unless they fully comply to the guidelines set in the AdBoard's
Code of Ethics regarding the ethical advertising of this type of product.
6. For further study, the factors that are influential to an advertiser's
decision in approving ethical advertisements to be explored. Specifically,
the nature of these factors whether internal (i.e. values, beliefs) or
external (i.e. money, policies) and the extent of influence these have on
the individual. Particularly, to find out if the internal factors are more
influential than the external factors to an advertising manager's decision in
upholding ethical advertising to be studied.
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