Investigating the Role of Advertising on Perceived Quality of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

Abstract

The advertisement industry has experienced significant advances in recent years due to the growth and explosion of new technologies and platforms (Bolanos Melgar and Elsner, 2016). Furthermore, the sales of FMCG’s in Africa is on a steady decline and competition is greater now more than ever (Pileliene and Grigaliunaite, 2017). With this in mind, it is important to note that clutter has therefore increased significantly as brands struggle to differentiate themselves in the market and there is therefore a problem worth attending to (LepkowskaWhite, Parsons and Ceylan, 2014). Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of advertising, specifically magazine print advertising, on perceived quality of Clover FMCGs in Africa, specifically South Africa in order to determine the relevance of magazine print advertising in this day and age. This study was based on an ontological position of interpretivism and followed an exploratory approach. Primary research was collected through semi-structured interviews from three participants that were South African FMCG consumers aged 22 – 50 that are present in and around Pretoria, Gauteng and are aware of the Clover brand and have not consumed the product advertised before. The semi-structured interviews contained eight questions that were asked about a Clover advertisement shown to participants before the interview began. Thematic analyses was used to code and analyse the transcripts and the questions were constructed around the following four themes: Emotions, advertising, quality and judgements. Furthermore, the findings revealed that Clover’s advertisement provokes curiosity through promoting health and taste in order to better the lives of their consumers. Thus aligning with their mission and vision to provide premium products that are of good quality and promote healthy living (Clover, 2019).