Title: Deception in advertising revisited: antecedents and differences in perception across consumer groups

Authors: Doaa Fathy; Tamer H. Elsharnouby; Ehab Abou Aish

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt ' Department of Management and Marketing, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; Department of Business Administration, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt ' Department of Business Administration, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Abstract: This research aims to examine antecedents of consumers' perception of deception in advertising. It also empirically examines deception in advertising among different gender and age groups. The researchers adopt a mixed-method approach, in which both qualitative and quantitative research methods are employed. Interview data from a sample of ten university students as well as questionnaire data from a sample of 369 consumers from the Egyptian telecommunication sector were collected and analysed. The findings suggest that consumers' perception of deception in advertising is related to three predictors: perceived information reliability and usefulness, product experience, and consumer skepticism. The findings further reveal that female and young consumers are less likely to detect deception in advertising than male and older consumers. It also provides three sets of recommendations to consumers, advertisers and policy makers.

Keywords: advertising deception; perceived deception; marketing ethics; telecoms; telecommunications industry; Egypt; consumer perceptions; gender; age groups; information reliability; perceived reliability; perceived usefulness; product experience; consumer scepticism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2016.079789

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2016 Vol.8 No.4, pp.403 - 425

Received: 19 May 2015
Accepted: 07 Jan 2016

Published online: 14 Oct 2016 *

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