Consumer skepticism, advertising regulation, and the internet: Questions worth exploring

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Debra Jones Ringold
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12544

COMMENTARY

Consumer skepticism, advertising regulation,

and the internet: Questions worth exploring

Debra Jones Ringold

JELD WEN Professor of Free Enterprise,

Atkinson Graduate School of

Management, Willamette University,

Salem, Oregon, USA

Correspondence

Debra Jones Ringold, JELD WEN

Professor of Free Enterprise, Atkinson

Graduate School of Management,

Willamette University, 900 State Street,

Salem, OR, USA.

Email: dringold@willamette.edu

Funding information

Atkinson Graduate School of

Management, Willamette University;

JELD WEN Foundation

Abstract

Since 1990, the US advertising, regulatory, and consumer

information landscapes have changed materially, raising

the possibility that consumers' fundamental beliefs about

advertising as an activity or institution have also changed.

Nine national polls of advertising sentiment, fielded

between 1964 and 1989 by the Roper Organization or the

Opinion Research Corporation, were replicated with panel

members matched to the US adult population. Prelimi-

nary results suggest that the internet era may have fos-

tered a trust-because-we-can-verify consumer attitude

toward advertising. The internet has changed the con-

sumer information landscape by reducing the difficulty

of assessing claims, fostering independent evaluators

who often include competitors, and providing a venue

for consumer retaliation. The implications for advertis-

ing regulation may contradict the Pertschuk view (1982)

of regulation again embraced by some at the Federal

Trade Commission. Rather than enhancing the need for

advertising regulation and enforcement, the internet

may have reduced the need for such efforts.

KEYWORDS

advertising, regulation, skepticism

1|INTRODUCTION

US consumers' skepticism of advertising as an activity, of claims made in advertising, and of adver-

tisers themselves has been demonstrated empirically (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998,2000;

Received: 2 May 2022 Revised: 22 November 2022 Accepted: 7 May 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12544

© 2023 American Council on Consumer Interests.

1000 J Consum Aff. 2023;57:1000–1014.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca