IMPACT OF FAKE DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING ON CONSUMERS PURCHASING INTENTION IN NIGERIA (CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY)

IMPACT OF FAKE DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING ON CONSUMERS PURCHASING INTENTION IN NIGERIA (CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY)                                                              

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The essence of being in business by any business outfits is to produce for sales and profits. In order to remain in business an organization must generate enough sales from its products to cover operating costs and post reasonable profits. For many organizations, sales estimate is the starting point in budgeting or profit planning. It is so because it must be determined, in most cases, before production units could be arrived at while production units will in turn affect material purchases. However, taking decision on sales is the most difficult tasks facing many business executives. This is because it is difficult to predict, estimate or determine with accuracy, potential customers’ demands as they are uncontrollable factors external to an organization. Considering, therefore, the importance of sales on business survival and the connection between customers and sales, it is expedient for organizations to engage in programmes that can influence consumers’ decision to purchase its products. This is where advertising and brand management are relevant. Advertising is a subset of promotion mix which is one of the 4ps in the marketing mix i.e product, price, place and promotion. As a promotional strategy, advertising serve as a major tool in creating product awareness and condition the mind of a potential consumer to take eventual purchase decision.

DECEPTION IN ADVERTISEMENT

Deception’ through the advertisement is a common phenomenon today. Among others some of the Advertisers published the misleading, fraudulent and deceptive advertisement through mass media such as TV, radio, bill boards, sigh boards, transportation, satellite channels and so on. Some deceptive and fraudulent products are sale for some complex diseases like Agma, cancer, diabetics, etc for which company are offering strong guarantee to cure these complex those diseases through their Advertisements within very short period of time. Sometimes they are publishing their Advertising through mass Medias not only for above diseases, but guaranteed to solve all kinds of physical and mental problems by single doges of medicines or through their (Addatik) power.

Most of the peoples of Bangladesh are illiterate and unaware of their health, it is easy to capture the targeted group by dint of these deceptive advertising. According to the experts, all these advertising are deceptive and should take necessary measure to prevent all types of mal-practice.

DEFINITION OF ADVERTISING

Advertising, sales promotion and public relations are mass-communication tools available to marketers. As its name suggests, mass communication uses the same message for everyone in an audience. The mass communication tools trade off the advantage of personal selling, the opportunity to tailor a message to each prospect, for the advantage of reaching many people at a lower cost per person (Etzel et al., 1997). Today, definitions of advertising abound. We might define it as communication process, a marketing process, an economic and social process, a public relations process or an information and persuasion process (Arens, 1996). Dunn et al. (1978) viewed advertising from its functional perspectives, hence they define it as a paid, non-personal communication through various media by business firms, non-profit organization, and individuals who are in some way identified in the advertising message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience. Morden (1991) is of the opinion that advertising is used to establish a basic awareness of the product or service in the mind of the potential customer and to build up knowledge about it. Kotler (1988) sees advertising as one of the four major tools companies use to direct persuasive communications to target buyers and public noting that “it consists of non-personal forms of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship”. According to him, the purpose of advertising is to enhance potential buyers’ responses to the organization and its offering, emphasizing that “it seeks to do this providing information, by channeling desire, and by supplying reasons for preferring a particular organization’s offer. While writing on advertising nature and scope, Etzel et al. (1997) succinctly capture all advertising as having four features: (i) A verbal and or visual message (ii) A sponsor who is identified (iii) Delivery through one or more media (iv) Payment by the sponsor to the media carrying the message. Summarizing the above, they conclude that “advertising then consist of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a nonpersonal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product or organization”. Those views of Etzel et al. (1997) coincide with the simple but all-embracing definitions of Davies (1998) and Arens (1996). For instance, while Davies states that “advertising is any paid form of non-personal media presentation promoting ideas/concepts, good s or services by an identified sponsor.

IMPACT OF FAKE DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING ON CONSUMERS PURCHASING INTENTION IN NIGERIA (CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY)