Antecedents and Consequences of Social Issue Advertising Believability

Abstract

Advertising of social issues has become an important element of social marketing. However, little assessment of social advertising believability has been undertaken. This is further compounded by a lack of attention to the antecedents and consequences of how believable the target audience see the advertised messages. This study focused on examining social advertising by gathering data on two social issues being advertised. The results indicate that social issue involvement influenced social advertising believability, and believability and involvement influenced attitudes toward social issues. In addition, attitude influenced intention to comply with the social issue message.