Interpreting Consumer Perceptions of Advertising: An Application of the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique

Abstract

For more than three decades, research has theorized about and investigated consumers' attitudes toward advertising. In this study, we interview fourteen U.S. consumers using the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, a method that involves semi-structured, in-depth, personal interviews centered around visual images. Our metaphor and cross-case analyses further contribute to an understanding of consumers' impressions of advertising and the meanings that they associate with it. The metaphors attributed to advertising reveal that advertising has positive value, in that it relates information (hostess, teacher, counselor, enabler, and magician), provides entertainment (performer), and stimulates growth in the economy (engine). However, the goodwill derived from these aspects of advertising is countered by several liabilities, as epitomized by the omnipresent being, nosy neighbor, con-man, seducer, and evil therapist metaphors. In addition, three groups (the ambivalents, the skeptics, and the hostiles) with varying levels of appreciation for the institution of advertising emerge from our cross-case analysis.