PUBLIC-ATTITUDES TOWARD ADVERTISING - MORE FAVORABLE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

Previous research has suggested that Americans hold a strongly negativ e view of advertising. Our national telephone survey of over 1,000 adu lt consumers assessed the general public's current attitudes toward an d confidence in advertising. Questions focused on perceptions and eval uations of advertising at a concrete and personalized level. Results i ndicate a more favorable evaluation of advertising than previous data would suggest. More Americans say that they like rather than dislike a dvertising overall. They tend to report that they enjoy the advertisem ents they see, and they tend to find advertising generally informative and useful in guiding their own decision making. Also, although Ameri cans report that they do not generally trust advertising, they tend to feel more confidence in advertising claims when focused on their actu al purchase decisions. Males, younger consumers, persons with less edu cation and income, and nonwhites generally report more favorable adver tising attitudes than others do. People's feelings of enjoyment and in dignity elicited by advertisements played the strongest role in accoun ting for their overall attitudes toward advertising.