ABSTRACT
In this study, an attempt was made to
evaluate the problems and prospects of mass media advertising in Nigeria. We
talk of the media mix and the multi-media approach to public relations and
advertising, but we seem to be uncertain which particular medium is more
success-oriented in carrying out advertising functions --- radio and television on the one
side and newspapers, magazines and books, on the other.
At the end of the research, this researcher
tested the four hypotheses and found out that they were all positive. Other
findings were that an advertiser judges an advertising medium according to
exposure opportunity, the number of people who might see the advertisement, and
message opportunity, which is the way in which a particular medium carries the
advertisement .
In conclusion, it can be deduced from the
findings that media characteristics govern the choice of media in advertising.
This researcher recommends that for
advertising to bring about national development, its messages should, apart
from selling goods, services and products, should be in line
with some well known development-oriented media theories such as the Social Responsibility, Democratic-Participant, and
Development Media theories.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 PREAMBLE
The mass media of communication are divided
into two--print and electronic. According to Okunna (1999:66), the electronic
media of radio and television are distinct from other electronic media because
they make use of transmission technology through which their signals are
scattered far and wide. Hence, of all the electronic media of communication
only radio and television are referred to as broadcast media.
Okunna (1999:66) goes further to say that
this technology involves the use of a transmitter which generates waves
(electromagnetic impulses) that carry voice transmissions or messages which
make up radio and television programmes. Radio waves travel through the air, carrying
the programmes to homes and other locations where they are received through
radio and television sets. There are no wires connecting the transmitter to
these receiving sets, hence communication through the broadcast media is also
known as wireless communication or wireless transmission (see appendix II of
this work).
Radio and television carry different types
of messages called programmes. One of such messages is advertising. Advertising
is defined by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) as
communication in the media paid for by an identifiable sponsor and directed “at
a target audience with the aim of imparting information about a product,
service, idea or cause.”
The thrust of this research is to find out
whether the broadcast media of radio and television are more efficient media of
advertising than other media of communication – print and electronic.
Books,
newspapers and magazines are part of the print media while the other media like
ultra-wave billboards, recordings, films, cinema, slides and telephones belong
in the electronic media.
This researcher set out to investigate,1
in an empirical way, whether the broadcast media are the best media or tools to
carry advertising in Nigeria, knowing the potentials, limitations and
characteristics of both print and electronic media of communication.
Whereas
the print media are known for their possession of certain characteristics such
as permanence and special mental demand, the broadcast media are known to possess
characteristics such as transience, limited airtime and limited mental demand.
When we write for the print media, we are
writing information that will be taken in through the eye. On the other hand,
information written for the broadcast media is taken in primarily through the
ear.
This researcher set out to find out how far
these basic differences between the print media and the electronic media would
influence consumer behavior.
1.2 THE
RESEARCH PROBLEM
Eminent scholars in the field of Mass communication
like Festinger (1957), Schramm (1976), Rosengren (1985), Tan and Tan (1986)
McQuail (1987:4), Bittner (1989:376) and Okunna (1999:176) have carried out
mass media effects studies which have come out with revelations that give us an
insight into what effects mass media messages could have on the audience.
However, studies of effects of mass media advertising on the audience are quite
different from studies of which media are best to be used for advertising
campaigns.
In Nigeria, so many media of communication
are involved in the competitive bid to advertise products, goods and services.
Little is known as to which of them is most appropriate and more rewarding to
be used as a medium or media of advertising. It is necessary to find out the
most suitable medium or media of advertising so as to know which of them is
most likely to make a more lasting impact on the mass media audience.
Advertisement rates are exorbitant and the
financial means with which to advertise goods, products and services is not
easy to come by. If the identifiable sponsors of advertisement must pay heavily
for the advertised commodities, is it not wise then that they choose the most
efficient media or tool to do the job of advertising?
A British historian and essayist, Thomas B.
Macaulay, once said, “Advertising is to business what steam is to
industry----the sole propelling force. Nothing except the mint can make money
without advertising.”
Many scholars and academics, including
professionals and proprietors in the field of broadcasting, share Macaulay’s
point of view. De Fleur and Dennis (1994:318), for instance, agree that “almost without
exception, Macaulay’s principle holds true for businesses today, and is
especially true for the mass media.”
Macaulay’s view is generally true for
advertising, but there is still a need to determine which of the media is best
for carrying advertising messages. This is particularly necessary in view of
the distinctions in the characteristics of the different media--print and
broadcast.
1.3 STATEMENT
OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
As stated earlier, print media messages are
in a permanent form and so the reader of these messages has the privilege of
visiting and revisiting the message as often as he likes. If he forgets a
message or a point in a message, he could still get a copy of the message. In
the broadcast media, once a message is given, within a few seconds, the
audience forgets it. If the broadcast media have reach and glamour, do these
attributes place them at an advantage over the print media?
Constant power cuts in Nigeria is a
veritable source of worry and frustration to many a consumer of broadcast media
messages. Once there is electric power outage, media consumers are forced to
look for alternative power sources.
The audience has no such worry if he is a
print media consumer. Messages are waiting for him in a permanent, printed form
whether there is power cut or not. In the case of broadcast media, messages can
never wait. As the media audiences look for alternative power sources, the
messages keep going and very soon get to the end. Which of the mass media of
communication then is the best to be used as a tool for advertising in Nigeria?
Where do the media audience get more benefits from advertising? From which medium
or media?
It was the aim of this researcher to delve
into this area of study with the hope of coming out with empirical findings.
1.4 OBJECTIVES
OF THE STUDY
The
objectives of this research are as outlined below:
1.
To find out the various reasons given by the
mass media audience as to which medium is better in carrying quality advert
messages than the others.
2.
To determine the extent to which mass media
advertising contributes to national development.
3.
To determine whether broadcast advert messages
have more credibility than the print media advert messages.
4.
To find out whether the influence of advertising
on the audience depends on the medium carrying it.
5.
To offer useful suggestions and recommendations
in this area of study.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
This study is significant in that it aims to find out the problems and
prospects of mass media advertising in Nigeria and the suitability of various
mass media of communication for advertising. If the broadcast media, for
instance, are preferred by the audience, what are the likely reasons for the
preference?
This research will enable the researcher to
break a new ground in a relatively new field of study in mass communication. It
is envisaged that the knowledge acquired in the course of this study will help
in no small measure in encouraging other researchers who may be interested in
replicating this study.
Managers of the print and electronic media,
advertisers and advertising agencies, governments as well as private
individuals stand to gain from this study.
1.6 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
For the
purpose of this study, answers were sought to the following questions:
1.
Are the broadcast media of communication better
tools for advertising than the other media of communication or are the latter
better than the broadcast media?
2.
Which of the media of mass communication has
more credibility than others?
3.
Does advertising influence the media audience
more when carried by the broadcast media than it does when carried by the print
media?
4.
Which medium is preferred more for the purpose
of advertising?
1.7 HYPOTHESES
For the
purpose of this project, this researcher put forward four hypotheses:
HA: Television
is better in carrying quality adverts/commercials than other media.
HO: Television
is not better of carrying quality adverts/commercials than other
media.
HA: Mass
media advertising contributes to national development.
HA: Broadcast commercial messages
have more credibility than print media messages.
HO: Broadcast commercial messages
do not have more credibility than print media messages.
HA: The influence of advertising on
the audience depends on the medium carrying it.
HO: The influence of advertising on
the audience does not depend on the medium carrying it.
1.8 DEFINITION
OF VARIABLES
1.8.1 CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS
*
Mass media is
defined as media used for communicating to a mass of people simultaneously.
*
Broadcasting is defined
as the dissemination of information, ideas, opinions, messages using the
radio or television as channels.
*
Tool is defined as an
implement used in performing a task.
*
Credibility is
defined as the amount of confidence or trust reposed on something or
someone by another.
*
Advertising is the
selling of goods, products and services by creating awareness on them in
the potential consumer.
1.8.2 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
*
Mass media,
operationally, is defined as radio, television, newspaper and magazine.
*
Broadcasting for the
purpose of this research refers to the use of radio and /or television
to transmit advertising messages.
*
Tool, in this study, is used
as synonym for medium or a channel.
*
Credibility is
defined as the belief the media user has in the advertising message.
*
Advertising is that
portion of the media occupied by a message intended to sell goods,
services and products.
The assumption of this research work was
that the mass media consumers who will constitute the respondents of this
researcher are active users of the print and broadcast media of communication.
1.10 SCOPE
AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study was limited to media consumers in Enugu State. This purposeful decision
to confine the study to Enugu was made because a study such as this is
concerned with respondents who have access to the mass media; such people still
live mainly in urban areas. This study in no way attempted to study everything
that is concerned with the problems and prospects of mass media advertising in
Nigeria. This decision therefore necessitated the use of sampling as explained
in chapter three of this work.
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