COMPREHENSION AND PERCEIVED BELIEVABILITY OF SEALS OF APPROVAL INFORMATION IN ADVERTISING

This paper reports two exploratory studies on how seal of approval sou rce, currentness, and longevity affect consumers' comprehension of sea l meaning and how seals in general impact the perceived believability of information contained within advertisements. The results indicate t hat consumers do not comprehend what seals of approval represent, and in most. cases, do not perceive the believability of ad claims to be e nhanced by the presence of seals of approval. Implications for researc hers, advertisers, and public policy makers are discussed.