Examining Shock Advertising in a South African context

Abstract

This study is concerned with the phenomenon of shock advertising as it operates and functions in society. Shock advertising is characterised by content that deliberately startles its target audience. This marketing strategy will be investigated by means of qualitative research methodologies to discern how it may impact upon consumer behaviour. The study aims specifically to determine whether shock advertising could function effectively as a marketing strategy in South Africa and whether consumers would have a positive reaction to controversial advertising. This study will be useful as it may provide marketers with new data, which could be used for creating and crafting campaigns. Shock advertising has proven to be an effective mechanism in order to heighten public awareness of social issues and therefore has the potential to be implemented by marketers in South Africa to educate civilians. It is therefore worthy of investigation as it could be beneficial to the South African population if it is found that this strategy has positive outcomes. The results from the study prove that although brands implementing shock advertisements succeed in reaching and attaining the attention of their target demographic, it may be risky to implement branding of this nature and there is a possibility of creating a disassociation with the brand. Consumers are alarmed when confronted with this type of advertising thus these mechanisms may not yield the desired results. It has been demonstrated that this technique would not presently yield the desired results. Further research may consider the question of whether shock appeals are ethically justifiable in a South African context and whether there is a difference between how the various cultural groups perceive these types of advertisements.