A study of the advertising of controversial product in Singapore.

Abstract

This research paper studies the attitudes of Singaporeans toward the advertising of the rite of passage controversial products, pregnancy test kits and funeral services. Singaporeans were segmented according to the demographic variables Age and Race to determine if there was statistical difference between the different demographic groups. An Analysis of Variance done revealed unexpected results: attitudes toward the advertising of both controversial products do not differ significantly across the age and race demographic groups. However, results also showed a general trend of acceptance across all demographic groups. This highlights the advertising potential that controversial products have that marketers can harvest. Forays into the nature of the controversy surrounding the two products have also been made in this research paper to better understand to whom advertisers should focus advertising on so as to minimize controversy. Qualitative analysis of data obtained also provided insights into consumer preferences for the type of advertising message to be used for each of the two products. The study concludes with overall marketing implications gained from insights of the research paper, as well as recommendations for areas of further study on this topic.