Shock Advertising: A New Conceptual Model Illustrated Through Condoms and Cookies

Abstract

Advertisers struggle to fight their way through today’s saturated communications market. This challenge is further compounded by a decreasing ability of brands to appeal to increasingly desensitized consumers. Therefore, advertisers are often tempted to engage consumers’ feelings and emotions through shock advertising. Shock advertising is a marketing strategy that deliberately violates norms, and research has proved shock advertising to be very effective in capturing consumers' attention. However, the trade off in capturing that attention is the controversy that shock advertising can generate. Furthermore, research investigating the impact of shock advertising on purchase intention and brand attitude have been largely inconclusive. Although shock advertising is widely implemented in practice, there has not been any extensive academic research conceptualising shock advertising and exploring the concepts that may influence shock advertising. This thesis undertakes quantitative research to examine shock advertising. Specifically, it uses two products/brands: one considered an unmentionable product (Durex condoms), and the other a socially accepted product (Oreo cookies), this research then uses two different advertisements (offensive or non-offensive) to examine the level of perceived offensiveness. It also assesses whether brand familiarity of the product and consumers’ religious belief influences the level of offensiveness. In addition, subsequent outcomes such as the likelihood to purchase, likelihood to boycott, likelihood to complain, and likelihood to discuss were also investigated. The research finds that consumers perceive higher levels of offensiveness when unmentionable products are advertised in an offensive advertisement execution rather than a non-offensive advertisement execution. Specifically, the nature of the product drives perceived offensiveness, rather than the execution of the advertisement itself. The unsupported hypotheses were also justified using congruency theory. The findings also indicate consumers with religious beliefs are more likely to find offensive advertisements offensive, compared to non-religious consumers. Brand familiarity with the brands/products also influences how consumers will perceive a shock advertisement. Overall, the findings from this research provide both theoretical and practical implications for marketers and marketing academics, specifically for how to market unmentionable and socially accepted products.