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American Association for Public Opinion Research

Americans and Advertising: Thirty Years of Public OpinionAuthor(s): Stephen A. Greyser and Raymond A. BauerSource: The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring, 1966), pp. 69-78Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public

Opinion ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747371Accessed: 09/10/2009 03:18

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AMERICANS AND ADVERTISING:THIRTY YEARS OF PUBLIC

OPINION*BY STEPHEN A. GREYSER AND RAYMOND A. BAUER

This historical analysis of American public opinion toward advertising asan institution in our society reveals remarkable stability in basic feelingsabout advertising and its major institutional elements over the past thirtyyears. Although there is a general paucity of data from which to generalize,opinions are examined in perspective on issues such as the public's generalfavorability toward advertising, advertising and the economy, advertising asa persuader, truth and standards of advertising, and advertising's effect onprices.

Stephen A. Greyser is Assistant Editor and Research Director, HarvardBusiness Review; Raymond A. Bauer is Professor of Business Administration,Harvard Business School and President of the American Association forPublic Opinion Research.

REATHES there an American so unopinionated that he hasnever expressed an opinion about advertising? Probably not,for advertising is a subject that has consistently elicited praiseand criticism from the American public. In conjunction with

our study of what Americans think about advertising as an institutionin our society, we made an historical review of advertising criticism,particularly in twentieth-century America, including an examinationof a series of public opinion studies with questions on advertising,

dating from the 1930's. Our hope was to learn not only what thepublic has said it thinks about advertising over this period, butwhether the public's opinions have changed over the past three decades.

STREAMS OF CRITICISM

Criticism of advertising is no doubt as old as advertising itself. Iforal selling is considered a legitimate precursor of today's advertising,then surely he who first objected to the babbling barker of the Baby-lonian tradesman was the unknowing progenitor of a long line of

critics. Or perhaps, if we consider only written advertising, some

* This article grows from research on attitudes toward advertising held by busi-nessmen and the public, especially the American Association of Advertising Agen-cies' Study of the Consumer Judgment of Advertising, to be published by theHarvard Business School Division of Research. In the original gathering of thishistorical material, the support of the Sperry & Hutchinson Company is gratefullyacknowledged.


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70 STEPHEN A. GREYSER AND RAYMOND A. BAUER

articulate Pompeiian goes unheralded as advertising's first critic whenhe commented on the walls painted with announcements for sport or

theater.In twentieth-century United States, advertising has reached ever-higher peaks with respect both to the volume directed at consumersand its commercial necessity for business. In the wake of the increas-ing amount and pervasiveness of advertising has come consistentcriticism of it. This criticism has comprised three major streams.

The first stream attacks advertising's basic economic function andits business role. This particular stream was at a high tide during theDepression years, and linked the idea of advertising as an economic

waste and a cost that the American public could not afford to moregeneral ideological condemnation of business, branded goods, andso on. Criticism of the social goals of society, particularly intellectualcriticism of the way in which the social order operates, is a separatebut related aspect of criticism of our economic system as a whole andits predominant values.

A second stream relates to the techniques of advertising as an ex-tension of selling, incorporating both displeasure over any partisanadvocacy of a product and concern over possible manipulation of con-sumers by propagandists and persuaders. Disdain for selling and dis-approval of manipulation are both segments of a social criticism ofadvertising. (Some of the intellectual criticism belongs here too.)

The third stream is criticism of advertising content and the amountof advertising. This criticism has been among the most persistent ofall, focusing on both advertising's ethical aspects (the truth issue) andits aesthetic aspects (the taste issue).

PUBLIC OPINION STUDIES OF ADVERTISING'S

INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS

While countless studies have been undertaken of consumer reac-tions to the advertisements of specific products and firms, a search ofthe literature and of the Roper Public Opinion Research Center's filesin Williamstown reveals only a small number of studies focusing onthe public's attitudes toward advertising as an institution. Of thesestudies still fewer have dealt systematically with a variety of aspectsof advertising's image or posed these issues to broad segments of the

public. Among these are:

The 1938-1939Alpha Delta Sigma study directed by Professor Neil H. Bordenin conjunction with his massive study of The Economic Effects of Ad-vertisingl

1 Chicago, Irwin, 1942; see especially Chap. 26.


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AMERICANS AND ADVERTISING 71

George Gallup's "Studies of Consumer Agitation" (1939, 1940)2Consumer Attitudes toward Distribution (1946-1947)3Professor Kenneth Dameron's Ohio State Consumer Study (1950)4The Wage Earner Forum's "How the Public Looks at Advertising" (1951)5Field California Poll's "The Public Looks at Advertising" (1953, 1961)6Gallup's Redbook "Study of Public Attitudes toward Advertising"7Universal Marketing Research's study of attitudes toward advertisements

(1960)8

American Association of Advertising Agencies' (AAAA) Study of ConsumerJudgment of Advertising (1964)9

Having reviewed many of the opinion studies made over the pastthree decades, are there specific institutional facets of advertising that

we can examine in perspective, over time? Further, have the public'sattitudes toward particular aspects of advertising changed over thepast thirty years? And, has the public expressed great concern overparticular aspects of advertising?

Unfortunately, despite the accumulation of a number of studies,there is a paucity of good data. Variations in the samples selected, inthe wordings of specific questions, and in the general thrust of par-ticular questionnaires all affect our ability to make, and the utility ofmaking, a solid analysis of trends in public attitudes toward adver-tising.

Nonetheless, there are a few areas in which such an effort can beundertaken. The following discussion treats each of these institutionalissues in turn, presenting chronologically data both from the studiesmentioned above and, in certain instances, from other isolated effortsto probe individual institutional aspects of advertising.

General favorability toward advertising. The data presented inTable i indicate that Americans are generally favorable toward ad-vertising. While they may have specific criticisms of advertising, andneed only an invitation or opportunity to express them, over all thepublic is quite favorable to advertising as part of American life.

Advertising and our economy. Unfortunately, relevant data onhow the public reacts to advertising as an essential part of our econ-omy dates only from after World War II. It would be enlightening tohave information comparable to that outlined below from the 1930's,when advertising was under considerable economic attack.

2

Advertising Research Foundation, New York, 1939-1940.3 Committee on Consumer Relations in Advertising, Inc., New York, 1947.4 Reported in Printers' Ink, Mar. 7, 1952.5 Macfadden Publications, May 9, 1951 .6 FRC Footnotes, October 1961.7 Redbook, 1959.8"An Experimental Study of Public Attitudes toward Advertising," 1960.9 "An Analysis of the Principal Findings," AAAA, 1965.


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TABLE 1GENERAL FAVORABILITY TOWARD ADVERTISING

(in per cent)Have you any criticisms of advertising? (Gallup, 1939, 1940)*

1939 1940

Yes, or some criticisms 42 40

In general, do you like or dislike advertising? (Gallup, Redbook, 1959)Like 75Dislike 15Can't say 10

General attitude toward advertising (self-coded). (Universal Marketing

Research, 1961) Generally favorable 54Half and half 25Generally unfavorable 17Don't know 3

Attitude toward advertising (coded independently). (AAAA, 1964)Favorable 41Mixed 34Indifferent 8Unfavorable 14Unclassifiable 3

* Note that question wording invites a high proportion of criticism.

TABLE 2ADVERTISING AND THE ECONOMY

Per CentStatement Agreeing

Advertising tends to stimulate consumers toimprove their standard of living (ConsumerAttitudes oward Distribution, 1946) 75

Advertising is a necessary part of our economicsystem. (Consumer Attitudes oward Distribution,1946) 75

Advertising has played a large part in creatinga high standard of living in America. (WageEarner Forum, 1951) 90

Advertising helps keep the country prosperous

because it creates sales. (Gallup, Redbook, 1959) 81Advertising is essential. (AAAA, 1964)* 89

Advertising raises our standard of living.(AAAA, 1964) 71

* Statements were put in alternate forms to split halves of thesample. Results here are responses to this statement only.


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As can be seen in Table 2, since 1946 roughly three-quarters of theAmerican public has seen advertising as an essential economic feature

making specific economic contributions, particularly in the form ofan improved standard of living. This fact and the general similarityof the questions in this series allow us to say that attitudes in this areahave been rather stable.

Advertising as a persuader. On this issue, unfortunately, there arevery few questions from which to comprise a series. However, despitedifferences in question wording (especially in the Field CaliforniaPoll version) and in the samples, it would seem from the data inTable 3 that unfavorable attitudes toward advertising as a persuader

have been rather stable over time, much as attitudes have been stableon the favorable economic aspects.

TABLE 3ADVERTISING AS A PERSUADER

Do you think advertising leads people to buy things Per Centthey don't need or can't afford? (Gallup, 1939, 1940) Agreeing

1939 80*

1940 81*

Advertising leads people to buy things they don'tneed or can't afford. (Ohio State Study, 1950) 80

Most advertising just tries to get people to buy alot of things they don't really need. (Field CaliforniaPoll, 1953, 1961)

1953 45

1961 59Advertising often persuades people to buy things theyshouldn't buy. (AAAA, 1964)t 73

* Per cent who answered "Yes" or "In some cases."t Statements were put in alternate forms to split halves of the

sample. Results here are responses to this statement only.

Truth and standards of advertising. Numerous questions in thesurveys bear on the matters of truth in advertising and advertising'sstandards. About half the American public seems to find fault withthe truth content of advertising. Table 4 shows this to be true for

1934, 1939, 1946, and 1964. While the question wording and basic ap-proaches of the inquiries may vary, the results seem to hold steady atabout the 50 per cent mark. However, concerning the standards ofadvertising, Americans generally think that things are improving; thiswas so in 1939, 1940, 1946, and 1964. The wide optimism concerningthe trend in advertising standards is paradoxical in light of the con-


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TABLE 4TRUTH AND STANDARDS IN ADVERTISING

(in per cent)

A. Truth and Standards in General

Most advertising statements are based on reasonable facts or exaggerated claims.Which do you find most often to be the case? (Sales Management, Sept. 1, 1938)

1934 1938Reasonable 51 42Exaggerated 49 58

On the whole, do you believe advertising today is truthful? (Ladies Home fournal,May 1939)

Yes 51

How much advertising is misleading? (Consumer Attitudes toward Distribution, 1946)

Practically all 8At least half 35Less than half 35Practically none 6

Advertisements present a true picture of the product advertised. (AAAA, 1964)*

Generally or partially agree 47

B. Truth and Standards Today and Yesterday

Is advertising more or less truthful than 5 years ago? (Gallup, 1939, 1940)

1939 1940More 46 50Less 21 19

Present day advertising is much better than that of 4-6 years ago. (Consumer Atti-tudes toward Distribution, 1946)

Yes 62No 8Doubtful 20Don't know 10

Advertising today is more truthful than it was three years ago. (Ohio State Study,1950)

More truthful 41Less truthful 15

Would you say that today's standards are higher, lower, or about the same, com-pared with ten years ago? (AAAA, 1964)

Higher 58About the same 18Lower 10Don't know 14

* Statements were put in alternate forms to split halves of the sample. Resultshere are responses to this statement only.


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tinuing complaints about truth in advertising by half of the public.This is especially so when one considers the general American tend-

ency to believe that trends in other zones of life are deteriorating.10One must consequently interpret opinion data cautiously in the truthand standards areas, and examine the issues jointly rather than singly,as in Table 4.

Advertising's effect on prices. This theme has been very frequentlystudied over the years, and more relevant attitude-trend data exist onit than on any of our other topics. Unlike the situation with respectto several of the issues above, we have data on this topic from the1930's, 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, and are fortunate to have one majorsubseries where the same form of question on this issue was put to anationwide panel six times from 1938 to 1951.

At least two conclusions can be drawn from examining the datain Table 5. First, in studies in each of the four decades under scrutinyhere, a majority of the public believed that advertising costs result inincreased consumer prices, although there are exceptions. (In eachcase, in Table 5, the percentage of judgments favorable to advertisingcomes first.) This is apparently a particularly sensitive area for adver-tising; in studies where the public gives its views on a number ofissues related to advertising, they tend to be more anti-advertising onthis issue than on others."'

Second, the proportion of consumers holding this attitude has in-creased somewhat in recent years, although it is still below the levelof the 1930's. This is perhaps most clearly revealed in the trends shownin the Psychological Corporation and Field California Poll series.Furthermore, the AAAA study, which in 1964 used two forms of thequestion on split halves of the sample ("advertising results in lower

prices"; "advertising results in higher prices") shows a slightly higherpercentage of the public saying that advertising results in higher pricesthan saying lower prices. This dual-statement formulation is perhapsthe best barometer of opinion on the topic to date.

CONCLUSIlON

It would seem clear from the above that even professional re-searchers can have problems in developing questions to yield mean-ingful data, especially data that will be comparable and readily inter-

pretable in view of previous research. However, despite variations in10 See, for example, Hazel Gaudet Erskine, "The Polls: Some Thoughts about

Life and People," Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 28, 1964, pp. 517 ff.11 That it is anti-advertising to agree that advertising increases prices has long

been assumed. It is possible that many people might agree that advertising raisesprices, but might simultaneously agree that benefits such as national brands areworth the added cost.


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TABLE 5ADVERTISING'S FFECT ON PRICES

(in per cent)Stores could sell for less money if they didn't advertise so much. (University ofToledo, 1935)*

No 46Yes 39Uncertain or don't know 15

Do you believe that you are paying a premium for widely advertised goods, becauseof the large amount of money spent for advertising by the manufacturer of thesegoods? (Advertising Age, 1936)*

No 49Yes 51

One pays more for advertised articles than for those distributed without advertising.(Sales Management, 1936)*

No 22Yes 53Uncertain 25

Do you think products that are advertised widely cost more than products that arenot advertised? (Ladies Home Journal, 1939)*

No 49Yes 51

Do you believe that widely advertised mass production articles cost more becausethey are advertised? (Sales Management, 1939)*

No 64Yes 36

Manufacturers could sell their products for less if they did not spend so much onadvertising. (Borden, 1938-1939)*

No 50Yes 37Uncertain 14

Do you think that advertising increases or decreases the cost of things you buy?(Gallup, 1939, 1940)

1939 1940

Decreases 15 17Increases 72 69Don't know 13 14

Advertising may cause the consumer to pay less for a product than if it were notadvertised because it increases sales and makes it possible to cut the cost of pro-duction and marketing.t (Consumer Attitudes toward Distribution, 1946)

Yes 52No 18Doubtful 20No answer 10


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question wording and samples, there seems to be no reason to believethat Americans are particularly more, or less, critical of advertisingtoday than they have been in the past. The general stability of opinionover time is marked, with respect to both favorable and unfavorableattitudes. This stability is reinforced by the general findings of theAAAA study, showing that Americans make distinctions betweenthose aspects of advertising they endorse and those they disparage:few say they are basically opposed to advertising, and few give adver-tising across-the-board approval.

When we examine these data in conjunction with other historicalresearch, we find that sentiment toward advertising as a basic economic

institution in our society seems to reflect the prevailing economic con-text of the times. During the Depression and immediate post-Depres-sion eras, economic issues were salient, and the costs of advertisingwere among those clarioned as "excessive" during the heyday of theso-called "consumer movement." When war came, winning the strug-gle became the supreme objective; in addition, the unavailability ofmany products resulted in a greatly reduced volume of product orbrand advertising. Both these factors tended to diminish wartime anti-advertising sentiment. The postwar era saw not only an end to price

controls but the advent of television: economic matters again loomedrelatively important to the public, and television became the mostintrusive advertising medium ever. Both these factors tended to in-crease consciousness of, and negative sentiment toward, advertising.

Yet, in spite of all these general tendencies, the public's basicfeelings toward advertising and its major institutional elements haveremained remarkably stable over the years. While consumers willcriticize individual aspects of advertising, they accept it as part ofAmerican life and are on the whole favorable toward it.

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