| This study was designed to help provide insights into attitudes toward advertising of Korean consumers and advertising practitioners. It was also planned to examine the extent to which consumers and practitioners actually perceive each other's understanding of consumers.;To achieve these aims, this research has pursued three major lines of inquiry. First, various criticisms and defenses of advertising and its consumer uses were examined, which set the fundamental framework for the research.;Second, through the use of Q-methodology, certain attitudes and characteristics of 51 consumers and 42 advertising practitioners were assessed. The Q-factor analysis of their rankings of 50 statements about advertising revealed three distinct types of consumers and two types for the practitioners.;Type I consumers were identified as "control agents" of advertising because they strongly support its regulation. Type II consumers are "rational supporters." They have strong support for advertising's economic functions, but realistically, they point out false and exaggerated claims in advertising. Type III consumers are classified as "critical realists" because they are very critical of advertising's uneconomic and anti-social effects while they are supportive of its economic functions as a tool for sales promotion and an impetus for competition.;The first type of advertising practitioners are its "advocators." They are characterized by high regard for advertising's economic and social benefits while rejecting the criticisms of advertising. Type II practitioners are "self-regulators" of advertising because their predominant concern is with the regulation of misconduct to protect the image of their profession.;Third, the coorientational analysis attempts to explore how well consumers and practitioners perceive each other's understanding of advertising. The results show that the two groups generally understand each other's cognitions or viewpoints on advertising. However, this study found a low agreement correlation between the two group's cognitions of advertising. This suggests that consumers are concerned about its regulative and anti-social aspects while advertising practitioners give much regards to its economic aspects. Thus, two groups cognize advertising differently although consumers and practitioners know well what each other thinks about it. |
