CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study.
Advertising has come a long way, expanding its coast in principles and practice. It is gaining more recognition, increasing its application and usage. Since the advent of technology and within the different forms of information communication technology, it has become a toast of in the life of manufacturers, products and services, consumers advertising agencies and the media. In short advertising means a lot to different people. It has given many people something to think about. In one way, it could be what the people do with advertising and in another way, what advertising do with the people and for the people. The people here are the manufacturers or advertisers who, through advertising, are creating awareness for their goods and services. Another set of people are the public, the consumers, who are desperately in need for certain goods and services. The advertising agencies are not left out. They are willing to create the enabling ground for the advertisers for their products and services and the target audience through a medium or media of communication. Advertising helps the advertising agencies to showcase their creativity. The media cannot do without advertising. Apart from the revenue they get from placing such advertisements; it attracts more viewership, readership or fellowship of the channel. And of course the teachers and students of advertising are part of this component. The teachers are busy expanding the scope and application of advertising, adjusting the old form to adapt to the new technologies, the students are left with the issue of coping, understanding and assimilation and later application.
Nevertheless, Bovee and Arens (1992:309), say advertising is a “non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products, services, or ideas by identified sponsors through various media”. Along the line, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) in Ozoh (1998:1) posits “advertising as a form of communication through media about products, services, or ideas, paid for by an identified sponsor”.
Advertising as a business competitive strategy is aimed at creating awareness of the existence of a product through the communication media. Television advertising has effect on buyers and potential buyers.
Television advertising has earned an excellent, consistent and successful track record of promoting product and services. Television advertising has many advantages for local, regional and national business. In urban area like Enugu, television provides the most spectacular way in which an advertiser can reach the greatest number of people at a time as they posses television sets.
Television advertising is an exciting, dynamic and challenging enterprise. Its often pervasive, fascinating and materialistic nature makes it an object of criticism and misunderstanding. It is a form of communication through the media about product, services, ideas, personalities or organizations paid for by an identified sponsor. If advertisements have no effect, companies would not spend so much money on them. Advertising help us to discover much about what appeals to us as consumers and investigate how advertisers manipulate this to their benefit.
According to Rouse and Rouse, (2002), building a strong image or brand requires high impact advertising that has high visibility. Television has such characteristics. It is a highly prestigious form of advertising.
Sybil and Obah (1987), say this form of advertising play on the emotions of consumers and exploit their desire with intensive persuasion .Advertising aim at promoting goods and services like relaxer. Benson Eluwa (2005:3) Advertising does more than sell product. It makes mass marketing possible by making prospective customers aware of the availability and unique qualities of specific goods and services. It shapes our attitude and our attitudes shape our behavior, Ahunaya (2004:70).
According to Benson Eluwa (2005:44) the influence of advertising does not stop at the economy but also influence the youths greatly by way of sensitization, social interaction, modification, for example, caritas students. Advertising has influenced female undergraduates by making them to be materialistic, it affects their value system, makes them think that life is just acquisition of more things. Advertising creates opportunities and brings changes in the attitudes of undergraduates by making them change products not minding the effect of those products, shapes students tastes and habit.
A researcher ,Alvan (2004) in his write up said that „‟Advertisements like our age are hedonistic image management, and fashion driven, they glorify the individual, idealize, consumption as the route to personal fulfillment and affirm technological progress as the motive force of destiny” there must be various brands of hair relaxer in the shops, market stall and in hawkers barrows, the ability for each to sell depends on the brands exposure to and persuasive power of advertising messages on the buyer as well as the quality of such brand and finally the availability of the brand.
Some of the brand had long established their names while others are still coming up into the market example, Ozone, Dallas, Ebony and La-sheen cream relaxer. This is why the purpose of advertising hair relaxer seems to be geared towards not only informing its prospective buyers about its arrival but also persuading on efficiency and efficacy.
Television seems to be the best media used to advertise these products. Television has this partial monopoly, perhaps because of its power to positive music of the advertisement and the color. Music can heighten the emotional or dramatic impact of the commercial. The idea of positioning music as unique selling point is to reinforce the recognition of advertisement. Advertising is a very small aspect of marketing mix one cannot ignore.
Most people in advertising try to ask whether advertisement really work by influencing consumers choices of product. Although, researchers and data on advertising have added over the years, the evidence of its success has not been conclusive. The effectiveness of advertising and how it generates sales does not mean that progress has not been made on the product.
Researchers have come up with principles that test the relationship in advertising exposure and its effectiveness. These principles in advertising which are base on product selection by consumers were evaluated in this research and it is hoped this will provide insight into the study of whether advertisement does influence consumers‟ preference of competitive products. There are a whole lot of ideas on what advertising is and works. It can be seen as a promotional instrument that persistently creates awareness of goods and services with the objective of persuading this target audience to patronize or take action.