Advertising Project

Effect of Religious Ethnicity on advertisements of

controversial Packaged foods and beverages

SUBMITTED TO:
Sir Naveed
(SUPERVISIOR)

SUBMITTED BY:
Maryam Javed
Syeda Ayesha Husnain
Mohammad Mustaqeem
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“To Him belongs the dimension of the Heavens and the earth, it is He who gives, Life and
death and He has power over all things.”

(Al Quran)

The report in hand is not a hard copy of activities during the working of final year project
rather it is a container of many soft feeling of gratitude, responsibility and affection that
were having during final year.

All the gratitude to the most beneficent, ALLAH, WHO made me smart enough to study and
enabled me to accomplish the research project successfully and helps in every problem
during the project.

I would like to express my sincere and humble gratitude to My PARENTS whose blessings,
help and guidance has been a real source of all our achievements in our life.

I definitely thanks our Institute “PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and

Technology”, our all TEACHERS especially our supervisor Sir Naveed, who contribute jointly
in this experience, guiding us and teaching us with all his heart and soul mentoring our
course work and facilitating us with relevant understanding of the research and its
requirements.

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Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction and background: ................................................................................... 5
Background of study: 6
1.2. Problem statement: 7
1.3. Knowledge Gap: 7
1.4.Research Objectives: 8
1.5.Research Questions: 8
What are the ethnical factors that affect advertisement on religious controversial product? 8
What are the factors that are responsible for religious offensive attitude of customers? 8
What is the level of offensiveness towards religious controversial advertisement is affected by
ethnical perception of consumers? 8
1.6.Hypothesis Development: 8
1.7. Significance: 9
1.8. Scope: 9
1.9. Limitation of the study: 10
1.10. Delimitation of the study: 10
1.11: Conceptual Frame Work: .................................................................................................10
1.12. Structure of study: 12
1.13. Theoretical Frame Work: 12
Chapter 2 Literature Review: ...................................................................................................13
Chapter 3. Methodology: ........................................................................................................18
3.2.Sample Frame: 18
3.3 Sample frame and target population: 18
3.4. Sampling Formula: 19
3.5. Sample size: 19
Research Onion: .....................................................................................................................21
3.6. Sampling Technique: 21
3.7. Geographical Area of Research: 21
Chapter 4. Research Approach: ................................................................................................22
4.2 Research Techniques and Method 22
4.3 Research Paradigms: 22
4.4 Research Strategies: 23
4.5 Choices: 23
4.6. Time horizon: 23

3
4.7 Data Collection: 23
1.Data collection: 23
2.Data Analysis tool: 23
3. Frequencies 24

4. Main Findings 26

5. Conclusion 28

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 Chapter 1: Introduction and background:

In today’s competitive world, success of any organization much depends on the

effectiveness of its advertising practices. That’s why local as well as multinational
organizations heavily invest in advertising campaigns to promote their products. Advertising
agencies use various kinds of attractive advertising appeals such as sexist images,
adventures, romantic language etc. to lure the consumers and capture maximum market
share. In doing so, they often make use of advertising appeals that may not conform to
the norms and cultural values of a particular country. Such advertisements are
considered controversial as general public cannot freely and openly discuss them.
This creates a sense of offensiveness in the eyes of consumers towards that particular
advertisement and associated Product. Ethnicity in advertisement mainly captures certain
group or communities of different cultural backgrounds International marketers and
advertisers excessively attempt to use psychological or emotional appeals in their
advertisements to attract customers who actually have no need to purchase their products.
This study explores the importance of Ethnicity and Ethnical issues in the contemporary
advertisement of some of the controversial products of Pakistan. The study aims to see the
offensive behavior of consumers towards advertisements of some selected controversial
products and how it is affected by the cultural perceptions of consumers, their gender
differences and the nature of advertising appeals used in the advertisements of
controversial products. At the end, it draws some, important managerial as well as
social implications from this study. (Waheed Akhter, 2011)

5
Background of study:

In building of social behaviors religion plays a vital role. Peoples belongs to different ethnic
groups have different associations, attractions and believes to follow and to act upon in
daily life. Formation of peoples Reading & Eating habits, political & social views are totally
depends on their religious Connections like Christians and Jews (Hirschman,).A solid
correlation found between religious individual and morality Concerns (Fleck and Wiebe,),
and having traditional and old fashioned attitudes and believes (Wilkes et al.), and
conservative personality (Barton and Vaughan,).Role of religion is shaping consumer
behavior is normally avoidance in allowances of specific things, like Islam doesn’t allow
alcohols and eating ham. Islam only allows halal food. Beef is not allowed in Hinduism.
Protestants are also forbidden for alcohols. Religion defines the role of different peoples in
the society as well, like gender participation and how they have to act like in Muslim
societies both males & females covers their chest and legs and females also wear hijabs
(Deng et al.). According to Michell and Al-Mossawi’s the strict Muslims from gulf countries
showed low stats to talking & recalling the controversial advertising material comparatively
to moderate Muslims. And also the levels of perception of both groups are different too.
These results also helped to figure out the value of synchronization between the creative
content, execution and the social, cultural space of society (Peebles and Ryans,). The
question is still unanswered that how a religion can impact the advertisement of
Controversial products. This study is objectively narrow due to knowledge gap of increasing
number of ethnic believes. Primarily we focused on two major religious believes Islam,
Christianity in Pakistan and how they impact the advertisement of controversial product. Is
there any relation between religion and advertisement of Controversial products and
offensive attitude for such Controversial products and is there any relation of religious
intensity to build offensive attitude towards advertisement of such Controversial products.
Answers of these sizzling questions are very important for the international marketers &
agencies to create the effective marketing strategies without isolating, offending or hurting
anybody (Arshad, 2016)

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1.2. Problem statement:

With using the fact that Pakistan is a vast market for brands a lot more factors are there to
influence the behavior and also affect their decisions. Advertisement is a basic way of
communicating with your consumers, Religious Controversial products are products which,
when advertise create a sense of offense, disgust in the eyes of customers, keeping in view
the conservative society of Pakistan launching new products that are little different than the
general norms of the society. Will face difficulty in accepting and adopting them

1.3. Knowledge Gap:

In Pakistan particularly in Karachi various researches are being conducted related to

controversial advertisements of the products, but no such research has been conducted so
far that address the importance of advertising appeal from viewers perspectives, there is a
myth in a mind of viewers, that is if advertisement is controversial it is for publicity of the
product or cheap publicity stunt. But it is really not the case, factors that made
advertisement controversial not only destroys the brand image but can destroy cultural
norms and rituals which leads the society to its end.

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1.4. Research Objectives:

 To determine the effect of ethnical advertisement on religious controversial

products.

 To identify the factor that are responsible for religious offensive attitude of
customer.

 To investigate the level of religious offensiveness towards controversial

advertisement is affected by ethnical perception of consumers.

1.5. Research Questions:

 What are the ethnical factors that affect advertisement on religious controversial
product?

 What are the factors that are responsible for religious offensive attitude of
customers?

 What is the level of offensiveness towards religious controversial advertisement is

affected by ethnical perception of consumers?

1.6. Hypothesis Development:

H: Level of religious offensiveness towards controversial advertisement of packaged foods

and beverages is dependent on these factors,

Religious perception

Nature of advertising appeal

Gender differences

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Ho1: Level of religious offensiveness towards controversial advertisement is dependent on
religious perception.

Ha1: Religious perception of viewers are positively associated with their level of
offensiveness towards controversial advertisements.

Ho2: Level of religious offensiveness towards controversial advertisements dependent on

nature of advertising appeal.

Ha2: Offensive nature of advertising appeal is positively associated with the level of
offensiveness towards controversial advertisements.

Ho3: Level of religious offensiveness towards controversial advertisements is dependant on

gender differences.

Ha3: Males, Female significantly differ in their perceptions towards level of offensiveness
towards controversial advertisements.

1.7. Significance:

This study is particularly helpful to the multinationals working in countries where strict
followers of religion and social norms are living, while launching any such controversial
product’s or service’s marketing campaign. If there is a high score of offensiveness on a
product then the company should be very careful while running the ad campaigns as this
might destroy the image and business of the company if disapproved by the consumers and
viewers. Furthermore, the study undertakes to reveal whether a religion (Islam &
Christianity) can be the judgment criteria of the people for controversial offerings and the
results can help the agencies and companies to avoid hurting any ethnic group or sector in a
country while formulating promotional strategies.

1.8. Scope:

For this very research, as this research is based on latest era and strategies it would be very
helpful for others to go through this paper for taking help. For this very era this would help
advertisers to know the mindset of consumer for buying a particular product with respect to
their ethnical and cultural believes and they would know how much people are involved in
their culture and how much people are affected through controversial advertisements.

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1.9. Limitation of the study:

There were few limitations while working on this research work because of the given time
frame and choices regarding the chosen topic.

1. The very first limit to this research is the shortage of time.

2. Since this research is conducted by university student the number of sample data is
small.
3. This research topic is limited only to Pakistan.

1.10. Delimitation of the study:

There were few delimitation while working on this research because we are a university student we
have limited access of knowledge to conduct this research, this scope is limited to specific variables
and relative products which is Packaged food and religious offensiveness through its advertisement.

1.11: Conceptual Frame Work:

Dependent Variables:

• Level of offensiveness towards religious controversial advertisement

Independent Variable:

 Religious perception
 Nature of advertising appeal
 Gender Differences

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 Nature Of
Advertising
Religious appeal Gender
perception Differences

Religious
offensiveness
towards
controvercial
Advertisement

11
1.12. Structure of study:

The research we are conducting is quantitative method of research. The sample size of
population used in this research different people being influenced by the advertising. For
analyzing

1.13. Theoretical Frame Work:

The framework shows that a relationship exists between the independent variables
(Religious offensiveness towards controversial packaged foods,) and dependent variable (
and development o taste, religious perception and Gender differences and advertising
appeal) which can be measured using the following Advertising indicators: Music, Female
orientation, Misrepresentation of religious aspects, conflict, adult humor.

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 Chapter 2 Literature Review:

Advertisement as a mode of communication:

Advertisement is a one way mode of communication directed towards an intended

audience to deliver information about a product or service In 2005 the spending done on
advertisements globally amounted at $ 300 billion. Advertisement is seen as a medium to
increase the profitability of a company and hence many times companies ignore certain
social aspects held close by the population at which the advertisement is aimed. Improving
the image is essential for each industry especially when it comes to advertising industry
since it is one of the most visible industries and also at the forefront of the marketing of a
brand. However, the vast evidence shows that the public at large is quite annoyed by the
advertisements. The audience is of the opinion that the advertisements seem to talk down
to them, the advertising managers too are concerned about such advertisements and are
trying to enhance the image and curb the abuses . In this regard, to facilitate the brains
behind the advertisements a standard has been set by the American Association of
Advertising Agencies (4A’s). In the light of the standards set by the American Association of
Advertising Agencies the advertisements are not supposed to be misleading in terms of
attributes or pricing of the product or service. No comparison is to be shown with the
competitors, taste and decency is to be the most important aspect of the advertisement. No
vulgar language is to be used or indecent scenes are to be shown in the Ads. Exaggeration is
to be avoided to attract the consumers. PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority) too has set standards of advertising; in 2009 a notification to all the concerned
bodies was issued by PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) elaborating
the standards for advertising. Few points in that notification included that no content
promoting violence, anarchy, sedation, promoting adultery, sensitive content not upholding
the criteria of decency, influencing children to force their parents to buy certain products,
content seen offensive by minorities, misleading information or price claim is to be
advertised on any media channels as such advertisements do not uphold the sanctity of the
constitution of Pakistan and Islamic principle (Khan, 2017)

Business Ethics in Islam:

The concept of ethics in business has its origin in al - Qur'an, the sayings of and business has
its origin in al - Qur'an, the sayings of and be defined as a set of moral principles that
distinguish what is right from what is wrong. It is a normative field because it prescribes
what one should do or abstain from doing the term most closely related to ethics in the al
Qur'an is Khuluq. The al-Qur'an also uses a whole array of terms to describe the concept:
Khayr (goodness), birr (righteousness), adl (justice), haqq (truth and right) taqw~ (piety) and
so on. (Waheed Akhter, 2011)

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In the case of advertising, professionalism instead was a movement by practitioners to
sanction the business’s social status and legitimize its economic advantages. Ethical codes,
as the advertising business’s most characteristic expression of professionalism, derived
historically from the business’s desire to create an ideology of public interest. The
advertising business first discussed the need for a professional code of ethics in the years
from 1900 to 1917, often called the Progressive Era. During that period individual
practitioners in the Midwest formed the first national advertising organization, the
Associated Advertising Clubs of America, for the explicit purpose of making the business a
profession (4,6,20, 28,29,30,31). Concerned with advertising’s poor public image, which
“linked its exponents . . . with the long haired fellows in big slouch hats that sell tape worm
poison on the streets,” members of the business saw the Associated Clubs as the primary
vehicle for professionalizing the craft . Emulating the success of classical professions such as
law and medicine, they believed that only a national occupational

“The myth that ‘honest advertising is ethical advertising’ haa limited the universe of
discourse in which our society apprehends and analyzes advertising ethics.” (Schultze)

Consumer power and new media traditionally, advertising has been directed to consumers
via mass media whereby prospective customers and the broader community are exposed to
a message that may or may not be offensive. Advertisements can be judged offensive
because they feature products that are controversial or the creative execution itself is
controversial. If an advertisement is judged to be offensive in a traditional media
environment, several responses can result. The complainant (the person offended) can
complain by communicating directly to the advertiser, the media or to the regulatory body,
whether it be a government body or an industry self-regulatory body. They can also act
individually by ignoring the message, choosing to not purchase the product, boycotting the
product, or telling others about their negative feelings. Possible collateral damage is
illustrated by well-known advertisers Hardees (using un ethical, adult content in a
campaign/ print ads) and Slice by Pepsi (using young-looking models in sexual poses) whose
controversial advertising campaigns in the advertisement of Hardees backfired resulting in
damage to the company and brand image in Pakistan. Certainly, fundamental marketing
theory suggests that consumers have always had power over manufacturers in terms of
their demand for goods or services, as consumers can ignore, resist, adapt and control their
own choices and this choice alone is a form of empowerment. How then have consumers
and the general public who deem an advertisement to be offensive (or inoffensive) become
empowered in a new media environment? It has been generally recognized that the
internet empowers consumers due to the amount of information it provides at the touch of
a button, enabling consumers to make informed choices and reduce risk. However the
internet is increasingly being used for more than just information. New media provides an
opportunity for computer-mediated communication, which exponentially grows the impact
of a response, and as such, creates empowerment opportunities in terms of communication

14
and interaction, enabling constant electronic updates and fast communication with multiple
individuals concurrently. (Kerr, 2012)

Offensive Advertisement and its Impact:

You could spend a lot of money flying to Thailand and shooting a million-dollar commercial
that would probably get a lot of abuse and acclaim (more abuse, given how advertising is
mostly irritating and intrusive here). Or you could do something very simple, but something
that would start debates, scathing arguments, earn scorn, and might just earn a ban or two
for good measure.

Hardees's did just that. We’ve all heard the clichés about liking it or hating it, but it being
impossible to ignore? You couldn’t ignore their “Fresh Buns” campaign. A lot of people
spoke up against it: it’s offensive, it’s tasteless, it’s trite. But they spoke. And they spoke a
lot. And they posted. And they shared. And then the press spoke too.

In advertising, you’ve usually hit gold when the newspapers themselves do your job of
publicizing — when your work becomes the topic of headlines. Free media is worth many
times more than the ones you pay to display the otherwise safe and usually bland stuff.

It perplexed me that this came in for so much criticism. A Pakistani brand was being bold for
a change. Sure, it might be close to the line or even crossing it, but at least they had
imagination. Sure, it might not be the most creative execution in the world, but they have
cheek, so to say. Sure, it might be inappropriate for a country where sexual innuendos are
taboo, but this is also a country that consistently ranks amongst the top, in the world, for
porn searches. And secretly, of course, we know that more than half the people who
criticized it went home and thought about buns. All kinds, of course.

Media Influence:

The creation of Pakistan’s electronic media industry, its nascent days and its evolution, and
its impact on the sociopolitical, cultural, and economic landscape in Pakistan elicits a wide
range of opinions and discussions. This discourse is certainly worth having and must be
appreciated, albeit greater emphasis on informed dialogue and practical outcomes would
certainly be welcome. In the young history of Pakistan’s electronic media industry, the odd
television channel or network has had high profile entanglements with PEMRA and its web
of regulations designed to shepherd and monitor the operations of the industry. These
instances have sometimes been triggered by, or experienced intervention from, the
judiciary. Unfortunately, these rare instances are about the only time when public attention
and focus was invested in PEMRA’s regulations and their practical implementation. An oft-
neglected segment of the media and communications chatter is the nature, scope, and role
of advertising in Pakistan’s budding electronic media industry. We all seen advertisements

15
broadcast to our television screens across all television channels currently operating in the
country. However, these advertisements and the regulatory provisions that govern
television advertising in Pakistan are largely ignored, unfamiliar, and misunderstood. This
serious lacuna impoverishes the ability of the viewers, as well as watchdogs, to understand
the rights that are designed to protect and entrench public interests and rights, and
streamline the business operations of the electronic media industry

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

Before formulating an understanding of the quantity of advertising on electronic media in

Pakistan, it is important to clearly demarcate PEMRA’s guidelines on the subject. The most
directly relevant observations regarding advertising on electronic media can be found in
PEMRA’s statutory instruments. Two distinct legislative provisions/instruments help in the
contextualization and interpretation of the quantity of television advertising. First, PEMRA
Ordinance 2002, as Amended by PEMRA Act, 2007, provides the following guidance on
advertisement for those issued Licenses to operate television stations in the country:

Section 20:1

(c) ensure that all programmers and advertisements do not contain or encourage violence,
terrorism, ethnic or religious discrimination, sectarianism, extremism, militancy, hatred,
pornography, obscenity, vulgarity or other material offensive to commonly accepted
standards of decency;

(f) comply with the codes of programmers and advertisements approved by the Authority
and appoint an in-house monitoring committee, under intimation to the Authority, to
ensure compliance of Code;

(g) not broadcast or distribute any program or advertisement in violation of copyright or

other property right;

The prophet of Allah said “The sign of a hypocrite are three 1. Whenever he speaks he tells
a lie. 2. Whenever he promise, He always break it. 3. If you trust him, he proves to be
dishonest” (Al-Bukhari, 1.32) This ethical way of advertisement leads to another crucial issue
of women involvement in the advertisement. In many western influenced countries like
Pakistan, the role of women in an advertisement campaign is just to enhance the glamour
by exposing their body parts. On the contrary it is mentioned in the Quran “ Say to the
believing men that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts. That is purer for
them, And to say the believing women to restrain their looks and to guard their private
parts. (Quran, 24:31,32)

Attitude of viewers towards offensive advertisement:

It is one of the advertising purpose to create awareness and increase the level of knowledge
in consumerism, and assist young people develop the utilization skills they need to role in

16
market place, then frequent evaluation of approach of young people towards advertising
could help to make certain that these positive results can happen. Advertiser are to make
their action on the basis of various moral principles that ultimately prevails what customer
want, they are to avoid their actions based on what customer seeks and desire that may
manipulate the truth and deceive others. Controversial programming involves the viewers in
a different way unlikely dramas and comedies. The objectionable content may be highly
involving by nauseating or annoying the viewer in a negative way. Viewers make the
connections between program content and the content of their own lives would seem to be
unmusical or controversial program. The Offensive content may make angry the viewers and
start to oppose the ad's content. The angry state of viewer may distort the processing of the
commercial that a research has shown that an individual's mood can distort the way a
stimulus perceived.

Understanding ethical and cultural traditions can make or break an advertising campaign.
Knowing how to appeal to an individual or community's sense of tradition, symbolism and
beliefs about how the world functions creates effective advertising and marketing. Not
understanding themes found offensive in various faiths and cultures can makes a campaign
fail or creates backlash in those communities.

Advertising is about understanding the psychology of the audience, understanding what

people believe, why they believe it and what it means to them. Understanding ethical
cultural and religious themes helps craft advertising, whether to a specific religious
demographic or mainstream audience.

17
 Chapter 3. Methodology:

Viewers determined by motives, attitudes and emotions. It is very complex phenomenon. It

has role to determine the disposition to respond such advertisements. The study will use
data collection through surveys, from estimated sample of 20 people. A questionnaire is
made, that are filled to get filled by those respondents. Various relevant aspects will be
cover in this survey including awareness, attitude, and belief of the people while watching
controversial advertisements. People who consider, the religious offensiveness towards
controversial advertisement while buying a product. Correct identification of our findings
and factors; help us to identify the more appropriate result at the end of our survey.

3.2.Sample Frame:

A sampling frame is a list of all the items in your population. It’s a complete list of everyone
or everything you want to study. The difference between a population and a sampling frame
is that the population is general and the frame is specific. For example, the population could
be “People who live in Pakistan.” The frame would name ALL of those people. This sample
frame help in determining the sample size of our research.

English name Population (2017)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 30,523,371
Punjab 110,012,442
Sindh 47,886,051
Baluchistan 12,344,408
Pakistan 214,261,409

3.3 Sample frame and target population:

An important consideration in deciding upon the appropriate frame(s) to use for household
surveys is the relationship between the survey target population and the unit of selection. It

18
is the latter that determines the frame. It should be noted also that the unit of selection is
what determines the probability of selection at the last stage.

3.4. Sampling Formula:

This calculator uses the following formula for the sample size n:

n = N/1+Nx(e)^2

N= the population

n = Sample size

e= the acceptable sample

If an Advertiser would like to estimate the proportion of their customer who bought an item
after viewing their advertisement on a certain day with a 95% confidence level and 5%
margin of error, how many customers do they have to monitor? Given that their
advertisement has on average 21,000 views per day and they are uncertain of their current
conversion rate, then they would need to sample 385 customers.

3.5. Sample size:

Sample size determination is to choose the number of observations or replicates to include

in statistical sample. The population for this research is all the online customers so the
population would be all the people living in Karachi. By using the software RAOsoft we
calculated the sample size .The sample size for this research is 385.

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20
 Research Onion:

Research Pradigms Positivism

Research Approach Deductive

Strategies Survey

Research Choices Mono-Method choice

Time horrizon Cross Section

Data Collection Liker, Survey, Questionaire

3.6. Sampling Technique:

A Convenience sampling is a non probability sampling technique where subjects are

selected because of their convenient accessibility. So we are also using the same.

3.7. Geographical Area of Research:

Pakistan has a total area of 803,940 square kilometers, But as the influence of
advertisement is more controversial in urban area as compare to rural we are going to focus
North Nazimabad area of Karachi located in Sindh province area for this research.

21
 Chapter 4. Research Approach:

The researcher will utilize the deductive research system. The key goal behind this
methodology is to test the speculations by taking out the false ones (Bari, 2013). It has been
watched that with the assistance of the deductive research technique a researcher can
direct the exploration in the compelling way and it additionally helps with taking out the
false declarations about a specific thing.

4.2 Research Techniques and Method

Polls that contain likert scale inquiries would be utilized as a part of the present
examination. It is delineated in the past examinations that the scientist should need to
choose the particular standard of the poll. It Is because of the reason that with the
assistance of the particular example the researcher of the report can pick up the most
proper reactions of the respondents.

4.3 Research Paradigms:

In the flow inquire about, the theory of positivism would be utilized. The primary reason of
actualizing this logic is to convert the reactions of the respondents in the more successful
way. Alongside this, with the assistance of these theories researcher can pick up the data in
both quantitative and subjective viewpoint. (Bari, 2013) The researcher has chosen these
methods of insight because of the reason that the researcher is decide to translate the
appropriate responses of the study inquiries in the more cleared up way and this is the
fundamental motivation behind utilizing the interpretive rationality.

22
4.4 Research Strategies:

The principle system that forces report is the review technique through which the
researcher will assemble the important information for the investigation. As indicated by
the past examinations read by the writer of the report it is discovered that the scientist
should need to choose the system of the exploration thoroughly. It is because of the reason
that with the assistance of that an individual can ready to conclude the aftereffect of the
study. Considering this as a top priority, it has been watched and flow inquire about the
study procedure is considered as the most suitable one. Thus, the researcher assembled the
information of the examination as indicated by that.

4.5 Choices:

A this research is based on Quantitative and Deductive approach and its strategies based on
Survey experienced so the research choices would be mono method.

4.6. Time horizon:

A time horizon I the length of time over which an investment is made or held before it is
liquidated, so our time horizon pattern would be Cross section.

4.7 Data Collection:

1. Data collection: Its a process of gathering and measuring information on targeted

variables and an established systematic fashion which than enable one to answer
relevant questions. Data collection would be through surveys, internet, the data
collection instrument that is used is questionnaires. To get the data questionnaires
are distributed among the sample size.

2. Data Analysis tool: That Factual bundle to those social Sciences (SPSS) is a
programming bundle utilized within Factual Investigation about information. It might
have been formed by SPSS inc. and obtained Eventually Tom's perusing IBM On
2009. Over 2014, those programming might have been authoritatively renamed IBM
SPSS facts.

23
Table 1: Offensiveness towards Controversial ADVERTISMENT (Descriptive Statistics(

Item Name N 1 2 3 4 5 Mean S.D C.V

(SD/Mean)
Packaged 168 13 24 36 36 59 3.62 1.30 0.36
Snacks
Beverages 168 10 13 27 26 92 4.05 1.25 0.31
Packaged 168 21 31 37 43 36 3.25 1.32 0.41
Dairy
products
Religious 16I8 10 11 26 25 96 4.11 1.23 0.30
Domination
Scale: 1 = not offensive at all, 5 = extremely offensive

Table 2: Advertising appeals for Controversial products (Descriptive Statistics)

Anti Social 168 13 16 33 51 62 3.75 1.26 0.34

Behavior
Indecent 168 12 24 27 50 55 3.67 1.17 0.35
Behavior
Nudity 168 10 9 28 51 70 3.96 1.16 0.29
Un ethical 168 10 7 11 24 116 4.36 1.16 0.26
Content
Certain 168 15 11 34 45 63 3.77 1.27 0.34
Discrimina
tion
Scale: 1 = not offensive at all, 5 = extremely offensive

Table 3: Religious Perception (Descriptive Statistics)

Honest 168 9 4 11 18 126 4.48 1.08 0.24

and Fair
With
other
Avoid 168 22 28 29 27 62 3.47 1.46 0.42
Humiliatin
g others
Away 168 19 23 55 44 27 3.22 1.21 0.37
from
earning
through
prohibited
mean
Avoid 168 33 48 31 26 30 2.83 1.39 0.49
hurting
others

24
Avoid 168 19 7 32 13 97 3.96 1.40 0.35
motivatin
g toward
minor&m
ajor sin
Scale: 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree,

Table 4: Correlations

Anti-Social Behavior 1.000

Indecent Language 0.330** 1.000
Un Ethical content 0.400** 0.331** 1.000
Religious Perceptions and 0.313 0.473** 0.578 1.000
level of Offensiveness
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

N=168

So these tables show that Un ethical content or Religious content which is used for gaining
attention or false publicity could destroy not only just brand image, but can damage social
norms and provoke conflicts in the society, Advertiser should take care of these sensitive
issues while advertising a product.

Main Findings of this research:

1 Descriptive statistics indicate that respondents perceive the use of indecent language as
the least offensive advertising appeal whereas they perceive un ethical images as the most
offensive ones. (Table 2)

2 Use of indecent language, unethical content as advertising appeals were found to have
significant association with the religious perceptions of the viewers.(Table 4)

3 Controversial content, indecent language, religiously unthical content as advertising

appeals were found to have significant association with the level of offensiveness of the
viewers towards controversial products.(Table 4)

4 Advertiser should know the ethical and cultural norms of the society while implimenting
their advertsing appeal in the advertisment (Table 3)

International marketers and managers need to be aware of the religious perceptions of the
viewers in their target country in order to become successful in marketing their products
and to gain public acceptance. They must be aware of some important and sensitive ethical
issues (if they exist) which may make their products controversial in the eyes of the viewers
and create offensiveness.

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 Conclusion:

This study has attempted to assess the level of offensiveness of consumers towards
advertising campaigns of some selected controversial products and their advertising
appeals. It has also seen its relationship with religious intentions of the consumers and their
gender differences. The results of this study are of great importance to the organizations
marketing their products in Pakistan as well as to the advertising agencies that prepare and
launch advertising campaigns for their clients.

The ideology of advertising perhaps found its most hid expression in what has been called
the “marketing concept,” which can be traced to the pre-World War I period.

There is no doubt that the advertising environment has changed, and with it, the process of
self-regulation has been irrevocably altered. New media has increased the power of the
general public by providing them with a world wide unregulated form of communication
and information transfer. In such an environment, one could argue that the impact of any
traditional self-regulatory controls have the opposite effect, that is, the banning of an
advertisement leads to an expansion in exposure and distribution. As long as these
advertisements are being consumed by people who chose to consume them, and removed
from the view of people who do not, then perhaps the self-regulatory system is still
operating effectively and fulfilling its remit. However, if the advertisement is creating
offence, such as degrading women or depicting racist images, then its distribution is of
concern from a societal viewpoint. Much work needs to be done to rethink the system and
recast the responsibilities of those involved. This study raises a number of interesting and
fundamental questions on the future of our existing self-regulatory systems, questions that
have not yet been considered in the academic advertising literature. It is hoped that the
study will lead to more discussion and research in the area.

26
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