Advertising? Yes Please, But Only When It’s My Choice

Abstract

This article examines the Swedish population’s perceptions of advertising in a media context. Preliminary findings show a complex picture of the relationship with advertising. A person is more positive to advertising, when the ad is consumed as a personal choice, rather than perceived as forced upon her. The media context and how the advertising is distributed play a role in how it is perceived. The result of this paper is based on a representative sample of 1,700 persons (age 15–85) who answered a national survey in Sweden during November—December 2005.

Key Words:

• audiences
• advertising
• media context