Impact of False Advertising On Consumer Buying Behavior of Ust Shs Students

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL PAGE 1
IMPACT OF FALSE ADVERTISING ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR OF UST

SHS STUDENTS

A Research Proposal
Presented to the Senior High School
University of Santo Tomas
Manila, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Subject of
Inquiries, Investigation, and Immersion

by
Del Mundo, Maverick E.
Eslera, Karla Genevieve S.
Hidalgo, Gail B.
Iloseo, Kyle Nicolo D.
Pascual, Sharmaine Jaey V.
Tadeo, Bianca Cristine C.
12 ABM-8

February 2019

ABSTRACT

Advertising plays a huge role in the world of trade. With the expansion of
the business industry globally, advertising practitioners continuously search for
various ways to promote their products. It is a fact that some companies resort to
false advertising because of the growing competition in the market. Thus, this
research will focus on the impact of deceptive advertisements on consumer
buying behavior of UST SHS students. With that being said, the study aims to help
consumers in making sound and informed decisions in buying. As far as getting
concrete data is concerned, the researchers will be utilizing a mixed method
approach through questionnaires, surveys and interviews. For qualitative analysis,
a synthesis matrix is to be utilized, whereas chi-square testing, Cramer’s v, and p-
value will be used in processing the quantitative data. It is expected that the strand
of the respondents would affect their susceptibility to false advertising.
Keywords: Advertising, False Advertising, Consumers, Consumer Buying Behavior

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER Page
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem Rationale 5
1.2 Objectives of the Study 8
1.3 Significance of the Study 10
1.3.1 Academic Significance 10
1.3.2 Practical Significance 12
1.4 Statement of the Problem 14
1.5 Research Impediments 15
1.6 Definition of Terms 17

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Framework 21
2.1.1 General Theory 21
2.1.2 Specific Theory 22
2.2 Forms of Advertising and Its Effectiveness 25
2.3 Social Media Marketing: The Modern Advertising 28
2.4 Advertising Ethics: Knowledge on Ethical Issues Towards
Corporate Responsibility 32
2.5 False Advertising and Its Adverse Effect on Consumers 36
2.6 Consumer Response to Deceptive Advertisements 42
2.7 Awareness on Consumer Protection: The Evolution and
Proposition 46
2.8 Conceptual Framework 51

3.0 RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 Design 55
3.2 Population and Sampling Selection 56
3.2.1 Qualitative 56
3.2.2 Quantitative 57
3.3 Study Site 60
3.4 Instrumentation 61
3.5 Data Gathering Procedure 62
3.5.1 Primary Data 62
3.5.2 Secondary Data 64
3.6 Mode of Analysis 64
3.6.1 Qualitative 64
3.6.2 Quantitative 66
3.7 Ethical Consideration 68
4.0 ANALYSIS OF DATA

4.1 Qualitative 75
4.1.1 Prominence of Different Types of False
Advertising 77
4.1.2 Effect on Consumer Buying Behavior 80
4.1.3 Senior High School Strand and Susceptibility
to False Advertising 83
4.2 Qualitative 85
4.2.1 Prominence of Different Types of False
Advertising 87
4.2.2 Effect on Consumer Buying Behavior 89
4.2.3 Senior High School Strand and Susceptibility
to False Advertising 90

REFERENCES 96
APPENDICES
Appendix A - Interview Questionnaire 114
Appendix B - Survey Questionnaire 116
Appendix C - Interview Consent Form 120
Appendix D - Request Letter for Population Count 122
Appendix E - First Interviewee Consent Form 123
Appendix F - Second Interviewee Consent Form 124
Appendix G –Third Interviewee Consent Form 125

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem Rationale
In a time where global and technological developments are highly
prominent, commerce and business activities are resorting to new and advanced
ways of promoting their products or services. Needless to say, with the increasing
number of competitors in most industries, effectively promoting one’s products is
necessary in gaining a clear competitive advantage. Whether you are driving along
a busy highway, scrolling through your favorite social media application, or simply
taking a stroll down your neighborhood, one thing is for sure, you would
encounter an advertisement or business promotion somewhere along the way.
Consumer oriented business activities such as promotions and advertisements
have come a long way and its evolution can be traced through time. The simplicity
of the earlier times resulted in straightforward and direct advertising means. The
early twenties in the Philippines saw a rise in one-man advertising organizations
and newspaper advertisements (Lent, 1969). As our country became colonized by
foreign settlers, Filipino businessmen saw the need to invest on advertisements in
an effort to increase appreciation of local products. Eventually, radio and
television programs became actively involved in advertising during the 1950s
(Lent, 1969).
Indeed, advertising means have immensely developed through time and
continues to do so. Along with this development is the emergence of ill-mannered
advertising strategies and deceptive business activities. Nowadays, many
advertisements make explicit claims about product quality attributes such as
effectiveness, durability, origin, and so forth (Rhodes and Wilson, 2015). This led
to the creation and implementation of consumer-oriented acts in different
countries to uphold and protect the rights of the consumers. However, despite
these measures and the potential for such sanctions, there is abundant evidence
that some firms still engage in false advertising. Examples of such advertisements
in the European setting would be the firms of Nestle and Findus. These companies
are still awaiting charges for mislabeling their beef products in the European
horsemeat issue (Rhodes and Wilson, 2015). Undoubtedly, these unethical
business practices would affect consumers on a certain level. Individuals can be
easily swayed and influenced by explicit and persuasive advertisements even
when they bear false claims. Due to the strong impact of advertising, it is the moral
duty of advertisers to practice the code of ethics during the promotion of their
products (Hussain and Ullah, 2015).
Moreover, it is also necessary to identify the role of advertising in businesses
and its effect on the younger generation of consumers. In the contemporary

setting, advertising and promotions greatly impact the marketability of a business’
products. According to Terkan (2014), advertising and marketing are commercially
driven with the aims of informing the public about goods and services, persuading
people to buy, building and maintaining brands as well as maximizing profits for
the organization. Considering the given matter, businesses are now exerting
increased efforts in marketing management through creative advertising and
strengthened customer relationships. Advertising helps to speed up the
introduction of new inventions, the process of industrialization and the expansion
of businesses (Terkan, 2014). Consequently, this would affect modern day
consumers, specifically the youth, who regularly encounter advertisements on a
daily basis. According to Balgaokar and Palbakar (2014), the exposure of the youth
towards internet, television, print and other forms of media increases the effects
that these advertisements have on the minds of the younger generation. This just
shows that information and content found in media advertisements play a big role
in shaping the consumer behavior of the youth. One proof of which is the immense
change in lifestyle and tradition seen in our time. The twenty-first century
provides new means for dissemination of information and business transactions
such as e-commerce and online banking. For this, advertisements should ensure
that that the content shown is purely informational, and not beyond this
(Balgaokar and Palbakar, 2014).

The significance and relevance of consumer protection and misleading
advertisements in today’s modern setting makes it necessary and beneficial for
this research to be conducted. Furthermore, this would be advantageous to the
beneficiaries of the emerging bodies of information and findings. Aside from the
increased protection and support on the side of the consumers, the entire
business industry as a whole can work towards fostering a better producer-
consumer relationship wherein socially upright and moral business bargains and
practices are prioritized.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
This study will provide explanation and more understanding about false
advertising. This would include the definition of specific types of false advertising.
This study will help consumers, specifically students who are highly influenced by
media on their decisions in buying products in the market and assess how these
students are affected by false advertising. The more specific objectives of this
study are as follows:
1. To identify the most prominent false advertisement among the following:
false promises, visual distortion, bait-and-switch offers and small-print
qualifications.
Advertisement has different types that affects various consumers.
Some of these advertisements fall under false advertising if it does not
conform with the product standards. Through this study, the given types
of false advertising that are most prominent today will be identified in
order to make the consumers aware of the products which stay true to
their advertisements.
2. To determine the effect of false advertising on consumer behavior
Consumer behavior is related to why consumers decide to avail a
certain product or service after considering the product offerings and
product information. This is why some consumers end up buying products
which contain or provide less than what is promised or offered. For this
study, consumer behavior will be quantified using the following extents:
word of mouth intention, social media activity following the exposure to
false advertisements and exclusion of the brand/product from a
consumer’s consideration set. False advertising is closely related to
consumer behavior and this research aims to find out the relationship
between the two.

3. To discover how the strand of the respondents affect their susceptibility to
false advertising.
The senior high school strands have various needs and
specialization depending on the strand. By considering this, this research
aims to discover if the strands affect the decisions of UST SHS students in
buying products in the market.
1.3 Significance of the Study
1.3.1 Academic Significance
Advertising plays a huge role in the world of trade. It is a company’s
primary tool of communication to reach their prospect customers or target
audience (Nichifor, 2014). It is their way to make their products known and
encourage people to purchase their product or service. These customers are
considered the lifeline of their business. Without them, there would be no
interaction in the market. And if there is no interaction between suppliers and
customers, there would be no development in the economy as a whole. That
is how integral the role of advertising is in the field of business.
The study’s focal point is how false advertising affects consumer
behaviour. With the rapid growth of the business industry, may it be locally or
internationally, media practitioners and advertisers are continuously coming
up with various ways on how to communicate and deliver their messages
effectively to their target audience in order to generate profit. Unfortunately,
because of growing competition in the market, some intentionally resort to
false advertising in the name of income or revenue.
Through the results of this study, marketing and advertising practitioners
would gain further understanding on consumer buying behaviour which will
open new opportunities for them in terms of coming up with new ideas on
how to approach their prospect customers effectively. The study will also give
them a gist of what must be avoided in producing promotional activities so as
not to be considered as false advertising. Having gained knowledge about the
prominence of false advertising in the market and its effect on consumers, this
will help government regulatory bodies assigned in monitoring the operations
of various businesses in implementing rules and regulation.
This study will also pave the way for future researchers to come up with
new research studies. It is a fact that answers give birth to another set of
questions. This is true for every research study conducted. Learning is a life-
long process and so, a study about a particular subject has no limits. Having
emphasized the role of advertising alone in the world of trade, and bringing to
light the rampant false advertising occurring in the market and its effect on
consumer buying behaviour, this study, if partnered with appropriate action
by stakeholders, will improve the field of advertising, and will result in a fairer,
healthier, and well-regulated operations in the market, thus contributing
positively to the over-all state of the country’s economy.
1.3.2 Practical Significance
UST SHS Students or Consumers
This research has a great significance to the consumer behavior of the said
group as this study tackles topics such as advertising ethics, forms of
advertising, false advertising, consumer behavior, and online marketing.
Online marketing is included as it is very timely in this generation considering
that online shops are starting to gain popularity and most businesses also use
online marketing as part of their strategy. These topics will help in broadening
the understanding of basically all the consumers in the business world, helping
them to have informed choices or decisions by just simply understanding the
art and laws of advertisement in business.

Businesses
This study also has a significance to businesses, especially newly emerging
businesses as this study lays out the role of each participant in a business, the
consumer and the business itself. Good advertisement is one of the keys in the
success of a business, but it can also lead to the loss of a business. Therefore,
in creating the best possible advertisement in the most rightful way, this
research can be used as reference for that concern.
Law Makers
This study could also serve as a possible reference and supplementary
material for future laws in the world of business, specifically in the advertising
industry, as this study lays the gaps in the implementation of the laws that are
practiced now.
Technology Makers
This study could also help in paving the way for new technology to arise.
This could include technology related in filtering information specifically
advertisements for a better and progressive electronic world as the world of
electronics or technologies keeps on evolving.

1.4 Statement of the Problem
There have been several existing studies regarding awareness on consumer
rights and false or misleading advertisements. However, there seems to be a gap
in the existing body of knowledge regarding the correlation between demographic
age groups and their responses to false advertisements, specifically among the
youth. This study aims to fill that gap by studying how selected senior high school
students are affected by misleading advertisements. Along with the identification
of the main problem, further sub-problems were identified in order to clearly
define the questions to be covered in this study.
Main Problem:
How is the consumer buying behavior of UST SHS students affected by false
advertising?
Sub-Problems:
1. What types of false advertising are most prominent today?
2. What is the effect of false advertising on consumer behavior?
3. How does the strand of the respondents affect their susceptibility to
false advertising?

1.5 Research Impediments
This research focuses on how the consumer buying behavior of UST SHS
students are affected by false advertisements. The researchers will focus on the
following types of false advertisements: False Promises, Visual Distortion, Bait-
and-switch offers and Small-print qualifications only (Nevřalová, 2010). Its impact
on the consumer buying behavior will be quantified using the Post-purchase
Behavior in the Consumer Buying Process model – word of mouth intention, social
media activity following the exposure to false advertisements, and exclusion of
the brand/product from a consumer’s consideration set (So and Torres, 2016, p.
45-46). This research will not cover the subjectivity of the respondents regarding
the topic. As far as the research is concerned, the objective description of the
different types of false advertising will be defined only to the extent provided by
second hand journals. The subjective classification of each type of false advertising
is left to the discretion of the respondents.
Parameter - Variable: Grade 12 Senior High School Students
Students particularly in Senior High School post a big role in the business
industry as they begin to behave more like critical consumers while approaching
the maturity stage. With that being said, the researchers chose them to be the
target respondents to know how young adults absorb information and act
differently from the advertisements they encounter in their everyday lives. The
chosen students are from the 12th Grade because they are taking up highly
specialized courses which could potentially influence their susceptibility to false
advertising, especially for ABM students.
Parameter - Locus: University of Santo Tomas, Manila
This study may only be applicable for SHS students within the Thomasian
community. UST being one of the top 4 universities in the Philippines, has a huge
number of senior high school students coming from 6 strands (STEM, ABM,
HUMMS, HA, MAD, and PES) where many came from different cities and provinces
around the country having distinct cultures and values. With that, there will be a
variety of approaches in terms of consumer behavior with regard to false
advertising. The researchers also chose the said location mainly due to its
convenience and accessibility.
Parameter - Design
Having a total of 363 survey respondents and 3 interviewees, the
researchers will conduct a mixed method approach through questionnaires,
surveys and interviews to easily and clearly measure the results of the research.

Parameter - Argument
The researchers aim to find the effects of false advertising on consumer
buying behavior of UST SHS students with regard to the strands in which they
belong. Considering the expansion of advertising industry in today’s generation,
many forms of false advertisements are in need to be discovered in order to
protect consumers against these types of advertisements.
1.6 Definition of Terms
Advertisement
In both its technical and operational meaning, an advertisement is a paid
message by a specific brand which is delivered and broadcasted through a mass-
mediated channel (Sheehan 2014).
Advertising
Advertising is a marketing tool used by several brands which persuade and
manipulate their customers to patronize their products (Shilovskaya 2013).
Bait-and-switch offers
A bait-and-switch offer is a form of false advertisement wherein brands
would deceitfully offer cheap quality products to customers, but once they inquire
about it, the product is suddenly out of stock and customers are then, offered to
buy a similar product for a higher price (Nevřalová, 2010).
Buying behavior
Buying behavior is a consumer’s preference, intention, attitude and decision
when it comes to purchasing products or services. Furthermore, it includes what
they decide on buying, where and when they choose to purchase and how much
money they are willing to spend or have already spent.
Consideration Set
This refers to a consumer’s list of possible brands or products he/she is
planning to purchase (So and Torres, 2016, p. 45-46).
Consumer
A consumer is a person that utilizes economic goods or services for personal
use. For the purposes of this study, consumers will be defined as senior high school
students in the University of Santo Tomas.

False/deceptive advertising
This refers to a manufacturer's use of confounding, misleading, fallacious or
blatantly untrue statements when promoting a product. Manufacturers’ integrate
these falsities in their advertisements in order to persuade and manipulate
customers into buying their products or services.
False promises
This refers to a form of a false advertisement wherein advertisers pledge
something fraudulent to consumers (Nevřalová, 2010). An example of this is when
a brand would suggest that its product can make the customer’s skin look forever
young. Advertisers willingly give the customers the guarantee that they will be
able to achieve their desired outcome once they use the advertised product,
which is actually untrue.
Marketing
According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the process
of creating, communicating, delivering and trading offers that are valuable to
customers. To continue further, it can also be defined as a technique used by many
companies to promote, sell and distribute their products or services.

Small-print qualifications
Small-print qualifications is a form of false advertisement which refers to
print advertisements wherein large print statements are utilized so that
consumers will not be able to see the underlying messages written in much
smaller print (Nevřalová, 2010). For instance, a brand would state that all items
are being sole for over 75% off, but it actually only applies to the kid’s section.
Visual distortion
Visual distortion is a form of false advertisement, pertaining to advertisers
who contort and falsify images and visuals of their product to make them more
appealing to consumers (Nevřalová, 2010).
Word of mouth intention
In its technical meaning, this refers to a person’s intent of verbally expressing
feelings or an experience of something. For the purposes of this study, word of
mouth intention pertains to the consumer’s intent to convey either a positive or
a negative opinion regarding his or her experience with the advertisement.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Framework
2.1.1 General Theory
The study is anchored on the DAGMAR Theory (Defining Advertising Goals
for Measured Advertising Results Theory), which was created by Russell Colley.
This theory is centered on the different processes which can measure the results
of an advertising campaign and the degree of understanding that consumers must
have for the product features and the organization itself (Karlsson, 2007).

Figure 1. DAGMAR Theory/Defining Advertising Goals for Measured
Advertising Results Theory
(Source: Russell Colley, 2007)

According to Karlsson (2007), the consumer must first be aware or well-
informed of the existence of a brand or organization. Every consumer should then,

be knowledgeable enough on what entirely the product is and the benefits that it
can possibly provide. After careful deliberation, the prospect must now arrive at a
conclusion whether or not to buy the product. The decision from here would
determine his/her next actions.
Aligned with false advertising, the DAGMAR model serves as a guiding tool
to consumers as it promotes the need of awareness and comprehension before
purchasing a product. This model seeks to guide consumers in different levels of
understanding within the features of a product and the organization itself. It
directs consumers to acquire well-informed decisions when making an action, for
it may prevent misleading representations toward products through deceptive
advertising.
2.1.2 Specific Theory
The study is founded on the Consumer Buying Process model of Real C. So
and Oscar G. Torres. It indicates the different steps a consumer goes through
before making a decision. This model is important for businesses to know what
approach they should take in terms of selling or promoting their products or
services.
Need/Problem
Information Alternatives
recognition
search evaluation
Post-purchase Purchase
behavior decision

Figure 2. Consumer Buying Process
(Source: So and Torres, 2016, p.45-46)

Step 1. Problem/Need recognition
The initial step is to recognize a need or problem which may be in the form
of internal stimuli or external stimuli. Internal stimuli involve feelings of hunger,
thirst, weariness, sleepiness, fatigue, etc. External stimuli, on the other hand,
involve seeing advertisements or products displays, etc.
Step 2. Information Search
After recognizing the need or problem, the consumer will then find ways in
order to address it. The consumer will search for various products or services to
satisfy his/her needs using internal and external information. Internal information
may be in the form of one’s personal experience or perception on a product or
service. External information includes comments or recommendations from
family, friends, etc., or advertisements seen on different media platforms.

Step 3. Alternatives Evaluation
After searching for various products and services, the consumer will
compare and evaluate them according to selling price, features and attributes.
This evaluation will be supported by the consumer’s personal perceptions which
will lead to the creation of the consideration set or the list of brands/products one
is planning to purchase or avail.
Step 4: Purchase Decision
After deliberation, the consumer will now proceed to make the purchase.
However, this decision can still be changed by external circumstances like negative
feedbacks from other customers, poor customer service, long waiting lines, etc.
Step 5: Post-purchase behavior
After the purchase, the consumer will make a judgment whether the
product or service satisfied the need or problem. If the consumer is satisfied,
he/she may be a loyal customer of the brand and purchase again for the next time.
But if the consumer is dissatisfied, he/she may exclude the brand or product from
his/her consideration set. Other possible actions of the consumer may be
communicating his/her experience to other potential costumers (e.g. friend,

colleague, family member) through word-of-mouth or through social networking
sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
2.2 Forms of Advertising and Its Effectiveness

Advertising is a marketing strategy used by a business to successfully
introduce a product or service to its consumers, is prominent nowadays.
Businesses can advertise their product or service through various forms of
advertisement which appeal to their customers’ needs and wants. The following
review of literature discusses the different types of advertising, its effectiveness
and its impact.
Advertising is a term that people would often hear as consumers. Advertising
is a broad term defined as any paid message designed to promote the intended
ideas, goods, or services which aims to inform, evoke emotions, and trigger
actions to consumers (Brennan, Crawford, Mitchwell, Moriarty, Spence-stone, &
Wells, 2015; Müller, Alt, & Michelis, 2013). It is ubiquitous and a powerful force
that entices consumers into buying wanted and sometimes unwanted products
and services, voting for political candidates, and changing people’s health-related
lifestyles for better or worse (Fennis & Stroebe, 2016).

Advertising comes in different forms with various approaches toward
consumers. In 2015, Brennan et al. considered all the different advertising
situations and were able to identify the major types of advertising. These are the
following: brand advertising, retail advertising, institutional advertising or
corporate advertising, political advertising, direct advertising, and business-to-
business advertising. Brand advertising is the most visible type of advertising while
retail advertising focuses on the retailers or manufacturers that sell their
merchandise in a certain geographical area. Institutional corporate advertising is
oriented on establishing a corporate identity. Social advertising aims to encourage
a more positive behavior while political advertising intends to help either a party
or a candidate. According to Müller et al. (2013), there is another form of
advertising called pervasive advertising which is defined as the use of pervasive
computing technologies for advertising purposes. The use of pervasive advertising
presents huge opportunities and challenges for the future. As a whole, this
provides more engaging experiences than traditional advertising. In another
article, Frolova (2014) stated that companies need not only to produce good
quality products, but also to inform consumers about their benefits hence the
need to use different means of promotion.

The effectiveness of an advertisement depends on how it appeals to the
consumers. Advertising strategies aid entrepreneurs to entice their desired target
consumers. It consists of two major elements which create a good advertising
message that communicates the product or service to gain the attention of the
consumer, and selecting an appropriate advertising media that would be able to
reach the consumers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012). Metrics such as advertisement
awareness, advertisement attitude, brand awareness, brand attitude, and
purchase willingness were used to assess the effectiveness of an advertisement.
This led to the discovery that advertisements that appeal to reason produce better
advertisement awareness in consumers than those that appeal to emotion (Hsu &
Cheng, 2014). Using a series of pre-test and experimentation, Pang et al. (2009)
were able to investigate the effects of advertising strategy. This shows that
rational advertising is more effective for utilitarian-value based products while
emotional advertising is more effective for hedonic-value based products; for
services, they found that emotional advertising is more effective for both
utilitarian and hedonic-value based services.
Advertisements that businesses use to promote their products or services
will only be effective depending on how it appeals to its consumers. The literature
reviewed in this report defined and discussed the different types of

advertisement. Some of the effects and impacts of advertisement to its consumers
were also stated in the literature review. However, further research is needed to
clearly explain the impact of false advertising on consumer behavior.
2.3 Social Media Marketing: The Modern Advertising
In this generation, social media played a key role in the daily lives of not
only the millennials but, also to almost everyone who has access to it. Nowadays,
lots of business arises from social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
According to Idid, Misman, & Wok (2012), Facebook is the most popular social
media site among youths. As a huge amount of population is considered the daily
users of this kind of medium, people are being fed with different advertisements
in which either they ignore or attend to. As a human person, it is normal to have
the basic needs and wants. As this generation continues to face rapid change in
technology or in economy, there is also a change in their basic needs and wants
as they adopt to this change for them to survive. Admit it or not, social media plays
a big role in this change as it is indeed part of globalization.
According to Idid et al. (2012), there are youths who cannot live in peace
without browsing in social media sites right after they wake up from sleep. As the
UST SHS students are still considered as youths, they are indeed guilty of this as
they are so fed up with different information that they were able to get in social
media. According to Philosophy, humans are rationale being who hungers for
information. Adding to that, Horbal et al. (2017) said that information industry
plays a great role in the global and international marketing. As internet provides
easy access to data, this has become the major source of information for possible
consumers. Now if the basic needs and wants of a person is combined with their
hunger of information or knowledge, this could lead to their possible behavior as
consumer.
Now that it is understood that social media affects the behavior of
consumers, business use this as an advantage for them to know what can make
their business to survive or to become strong. According to the study of Jokela
(2013) for the manufacturer Musch Oy, this study showed that Musch Oy’s main
marketing communication channel is social media as this provides a two-way
communication with their customer enabling them to listen to the voices of their
customer. These studies about social media and brand building which will help
Musch Oy evaluate their social media strategy in brand building. The objectives
are to find out how people generally feel about the brand and how the followers
see the actions of Musch Oy in social media. Adding to that Edosomwan et al.
(2011), said that the fastest way to grow a business entity is through social media
and networking, which is the main marketing strategy of the manufacturer Musch
Oy and is now wide spread in this generation of marketing. In 2000, many social
networking sites emerged to ease interaction with people that share common
interest in music, education, movies and so on. This also affected how businesses
conducted their transactions and advertisements, and also their products. The key
factor for the success of social media is conversation. It was used by businesses
initially to market their products and or services as this cost minimally. Social
media is the most inexpensive tool of marketing and advertising, but also offered
its brand that was reliable to the customers. Now that brand building is done,
brand loyalty comes next. According to Çiçek and Erdogmus (2012), Marketers
have utilized various means to maintain the brand loyalty of their customers. One
of the recent means is the social media marketing. Once again social media is used
to stabilize brand loyalty. Their study showed that brand loyalty of the customers
is positively affected when the brand (1) offers advantageous campaigns, (2) offers
relevant content, (3) offers popular contents, (4) appears on various platforms and
offers applications on social media. This can be considered as pioneer in this new
era of marketing, and propose several tactics for the practitioners.
As the role of social media is laid down, it is natural to have negativity in it
considering that it is made by human. According to the study of Nosrati et al.

(2013), internet marketing is a form of modern advertising. As they define
advertising as a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an
audience. Businesses began to move their advertising efforts into areas by making
wide use of social media from 2009. One of the advantages of social media
advertising is proper targeting of market yet the disadvantage is measuring
effectivity of social media advertising, whether or not the number of 'likes',
'friends' or ' follows' could convert to actual sales. Nosrati et al. states that the
growth of the internet as a medium of advertising attracts the attention of
advertisers as more productive source to bring in consumers. Research has proven
that online advertising has given results and is a growing business revenue. The
authors also indicated that the portion of advertising that is done online will
increase significantly over time as more devices such as mobile telephones and
televisions are connected to the Internet and people spend more time on these
devices. This might be good to hear but then as advertisements increase, different
businesses arise, competition will be tighter between each business. Now as the
online marketing or online advertisements continues to increase, filtering of
information will become harder. Online selling is not well handled by the
government including taxation in it and definitely their advertisements. Now with
that being said, the consumer rights will be violated as people do not know if they
were being fed with misleading information.

The social media marketing is indeed a great advantage not only for the
consumers but also for the business itself but then as it continues to grow,
negativity in it is unstoppable such as misleading information or false advertising.
Reflecting to this, the literature reviewed in this report defines the role of social
marketing and rises awareness towards misleading information inside it, truly
Media Information Literacy is very timely in this generation. Further research is
needed to be done as online advertising will increase significantly over time as
technologies continue to evolve and lots of business arises.
2.4 Advertising Ethics: Knowledge on Ethical Issues Towards Corporate
Responsibility
In today's world of the expansion of advertising industry, advertisements
are widely used to increase the sales of a company’s product. However,
companies‘ ethical responsibility has become an issue towards attaining the
ethicality of advertisements. The following review of literature confirms that
ethical issues on advertising are rising in companies and affects consumers,
discusses the importance of advertising ethics and concludes that honesty in
advertising is needed to develop the company’s confidence and to strengthen its
medium on advertising.

As advertising plays a major role for the sales of different brand products,
Aimenshafiq et al. (2016) addressed the major ethical issues of advertising in
detail. Research on this issue had found out that the companies have turned a
blind eye on the market ethics just to advertise their products without caring if
they are doing it in a right way or not. The authors also stated that ethical issues
differ from country to country as every country has its own culture and values.
They further studied the need of implementing legal outline or rules and
regulations according to law that companies should follow during the advertising
in order for a problem to be solved.
Singh (2014) explored the ethical issues and principles related to
advertising. The author described the different numbers of ethical issues in
advertising from different advertising experts, advertising agencies, researchers,
scholars and advertising promoters' point of view. The study found out that there
are numbers of prospective ethical issues, principles, code of conduct, that the
advertisers use in advertising their products and services to safeguard
advertisements and fulfill legal framework of the advertising associations. On the
other context, Munjal (2013) studied the ethical issues that arise in print and in
television advertising and the different types of unethical advertisement with
regards to ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) principles. The author

observed and discussed real life cases and collected secondary data to understand
and analyze unethical advertisements in contrast with the ASCI principles. The
research stated that several types of advertisements can lead to unethical
advertisement and that the implementation of the laws controlling advertisement
is not properly done. Hence, it is an urgent need for proper implementation of the
laws to maintain and enhance the public confidence in advertising. Nooh (2012)
presented a fresh look on the issues of advertising ethics through the theological
interpretation. The study is focused in the core of ethics in advertising ranging
from the issue of unethical advertising, deceptions, advertisements targeting
children, the exploitation of sex and gender, and the issues of subliminal
advertising. It was found out that it is evident that the current research on
advertising ethics are focused on issues. The author believed that the area of
theological approaches to advertising ethics is a new era to venture into and in
need of a thorough study.
Possessing bigger roles in the business word, Suguna (2014) examined the
views of consumers with regards to their awareness, perceptions and levels of
satisfaction towards advertisements being made through various media. The
research is focused on analyzing the consumer's perception towards the ethical
and unethical aspects of advertising. The author used survey questionnaires to

collect primary source data and secondary data collection method in order to
identify and to measure the reliability of the factors relating to perception of
customers regarding the unethical advertising. Suguna stated that the factors
pertaining to unethical aspects of advertising are considered to be reliable and
valid.
Mathenge (2013) suggested that in the business world, one must have an
ethical base that applies to conduct and as well as in the personal life morals.
Munjal (2013) implied that advertising should be designed to conform to the laws
of the country and should not offend against morality, decency, and religious
susceptibilities of the people. Sandhu and Singh (2011) stated that law and religion
when effectively combined can make advertising ethical, while self-regulation by
advertisers is suggested as the most lucrative means to ensure the ethicality of
advertisements. Aneja (2014) concluded that honesty is the foundation of
confidence, therefore, dishonesty in advertising destroys confidence and medium
in a particular advertising of any businesses.
The literature report highlights the ethical issues of advertising in detail
and offers solutions to attain a good and ethical way of advertising. The public
should be aware of the unethical practices of advertising in order to protect

themselves. On the other hand, companies should ethically and honestly use
advertisements to persuade people for their benefit and own good. As advertising
industry continuous to expand all over the world, there is lot of work or research
that can be done on this field in different countries in order to reveal more ethical
issues and possible solutions that are not yet discovered.
2.5 False Advertising and its Adverse Effects on Consumers
With the rapid growth of the business industry globally, marketing and
advertising practitioners cannot help but continuously seek various ways to
promote and increase the sales of their product. Competition is an inevitable part
in the world of trade and companies would do anything to overcome the threats
brought by their competitors. This is the reason why some resort to false
advertising. The following review of literature confirms the existence of false
advertising and its link to consumers, discusses its effects to consumers in the
marketplace, and concludes that initiatives from the government such as stricter
controls should be observed in order to eradicate this fast-growing phenomenon.
Before delving deeper into something, one must first confirm the existence
of a particular phenomenon. Supriya (2015) studies the possible relationship
between advertising claims and behavioral response of consumers. The objective

of the study is to find out if there is an existing relationship between the two and
to test if the age of consumers affects their susceptibility to false advertising. The
results proved that there is indeed an existing relationship between the said
variables. The study posits that misleading advertisements are a “major
determinant” for consumers’ purchase decision. The results of the second
hypothesis, on the other hand, show that younger age groups are more prone to
being deceived by misleading advertisements. The results of the said study are
affirmed by the studies of Shailesh and Taruna (2016) wherein the objective of
their research is to identify the factors influencing consumers’ preference for soft
drinks. The results revealed that majority of the respondents’ who preferred soft
drinks were heavily influenced by advertising materials seen specifically on
television.
The research study of Fayyaz and Lodhi (2015) also bears pertinence to the
said matter. Similar to Supriya (2015), the mentioned authors focus on
determining the link between deceptive advertising and customer response. The
authors use data gained through a survey in the form of questionnaire to
determine if deceptive advertising could affect loyalty of customers. The results
of the survey showed that dissatisfaction, loss of trust and negative word of mouth
are the most common effects of false advertising. Consumer’s negative word of
mouth intention as the aftermath of their exposure to misleading advertisements
is attested by the studies of Ullah and Hussain (2015) and Waller (2015). Ullah and
Hussain (2015) study the effects of unethical advertising in relation to word of
mouth on customer purchase intention. By conducting a structured interview to
employees of the telecom industry located in two cities in Pakistan, Rawalpindi
and Islamabad, the authors confirmed that indeed, consumers tend to be vocal
about false advertising, expressing their dissatisfaction towards the
product/service. Waller (2015), on the other hand, discusses false advertising
occurring in the cosmetics industry. It tackles the issue of “excessive
photoshopping” in the portrayal of women. The objective of the study is to analyze
people’s attitude towards the said issue. The main source of data was the
comments found in the blog. As expected, the issue earned a lot of backlash and
negative feedbacks from the audience. Although the results of the analysis show
that the bloggers pay little attention to the issue of how false advertising poses a
negative effect on women and instead focused on the celebrity involved in the
issue, this proves yet again the negative word of mouth intention of people in
general when exposed to deceptive advertisements. The research article of Saeed
et al. (2013) also recognizes the existing relationship between false advertising
and stakeholders’ interest after conducting various analysis of the results of the
questionnaire they disseminated.

In addition to the aforementioned, going back to the objective of Fayyaz
and Lodhi (2015), particularly the one about determining the effect of deceptive
advertisements on consumer loyalty, Njomo (2014) depicted a concrete example.
The said author discusses the effect of deceptive advertising on students in Private
Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in Cameroon. A questionnaire survey was
used to gather data from 201 students who were selected randomly from eight
private institutions, age ranging from 21-24. They were asked to answer questions
regarding the causes and nature of deceptive advertising (false or misleading
statements, inaccurate testimonials, exaggerated claims, and misleading fee
claims), how false advertising affects them, and their insights about how it can be
prevented. The results show that majority of the students blamed it on the
inability of the Ministry of Higher Education to impose standards and protocol
against false advertising by schools. In terms of the nature of deceptive
advertising, “exaggerated claims” was labelled as the most prominent form of
false advertising in Cameroon. It has been concluded as well that more than half
of the students (53%) are affected by false advertising, resulting to them changing
study programs. The loyalty of those students is tainted because of those empty
promises their respective schools feed them. When asked about how this could
be prevented, majority of them called for the government to close unauthorized
schools.
From another point of view, Miluwi (2011) sheds some light on the effect
of false advertising to consumer recall. It discusses consumers’ recall of true and
false claims when exposed to different advertising materials. The aim of this study
is to find out if false claims are recalled more often than true claims. The findings
of the study reveal that the use of deceptive advertisements does not lead to a
greater recall. Contrary to the claims of the aforementioned authors, the results
indicate that false advertisements do not improve consumer recall which is one of
the factors for consumer buying intention.
On that note, Chaouachi and Rached (2012) propose a scale to measure
perceived deception in advertising. Their aim is to produce and validate a scale to
measure objectively the judgment of an individual to deceptive advertising
materials. This research focuses on creating a way to define the extent of the
respondents’ perceptions and reactions to deceptive advertisement. The results
of the study are the concepts of “perceived veracity”, the degree of truthfulness
perceived by a person upon being exposed to an advertisement, “ethic,” and the
degree of deception judged by a person. This proposed measurement scale is a
helpful tool from the point of view of marketing and advertising practitioners. It
allows the management to take corrective actions should there be a negative
reaction from the consumers. It would also be of help in preventing practices of

deceptive advertising now that this scale serves as a precautionary measure. But,
it is important to note that this scale is still susceptible to errors and its stability
and accuracy is still questionable.
Beyond this scale, the studies of Huq and Aktar (2016) and Njomo (2014)
emphasize on a different subject matter. The two studies share the same
perspective. Huq and Aktar (2016) discuss ways on how to increase the level of
awareness of consumers regarding deceptive advertising to protect them against
it. Their objective is to inform and be informed of the current status of advertising
in Bangladesh, increase consumers’ level of awareness and provide solutions and
recommendations to put an end to deceptive advertising. The recommendation
centered on the author’s call for action for the government to implement a self-
regulatory organization which will be responsible in upholding ethical practices
and monitoring companies’ operations. The study of Njomo (2014), on the other
hand, implies that the Ministry of Higher Education should devote their time and
effort in creating standards and policies in order to avoid and eradicate these
things.
Indeed, false advertising is rampant, especially today that the business
industry continues to grow and expand. Competition becomes more and more
intense and therefore becomes the driving force of companies to rely on
deception in order to receive a decent amount of sales or revenue. The literature
report highlighted the effects of false advertising on consumers and provided
solutions and recommendations to put an end to it. Above all, it put emphasis on
the duty of the government or any government regulatory bodies to aid in this
phenomenon and implement stricter regulations to supervise and control
business companies. However, it is important to note as well, that this growing
phenomenon is not just the responsibility of the government alone but the
community as a whole. Deception will only end if it first ends within us.
2.6 Consumer Response to Deceptive Advertisements
In the modern world of advertising, marketers and advertisers use many
different ways to promote and pitch their products to their target consumers, but
some of these advertisers also create deceptions in various forms in order to sell
their products. This is called false or misleading advertising. The following related
literature discuss the effect of these false advertisements to consumers and how
they react to it.
In the Philippines, misleading advertisements are found to be the most
prevalent unfair trade practice and concluded to be moderately to highly

widespread (Abad et al. 2012). Robust and healthy competition in the country can
only emerge if the government provides a regulatory framework where concepts
such as price fixing and monopoly power are identified. The authors stated that
the disadvantageous impacts of unfair trade practices are passed on as
heightened prices to customers. This is one reason why business and consumer
associations seem to be more functional in opposing these unfair trade practices.
Furthermore, Popovenuic and Cucu (2008), conducted a study and found
that 67% of Filipinos believe and trust advertisements, but the authors stated that
many brands consider the intellectual level of the masses to be quite low due to
the use of endless reiteration and repetition of the same slogans, images and
besetting rhythmic sounds in numerous advertisements. They expressed that
advertisements which are based solely on emotions exercise what is called a
‘psychological rape’ upon the masses and with the belief that the intellectual level
of the masses is quite low, they take in this information very easily. On the other
hand, a different study states that the human brain firstly identifies the potential
dangers and risks when they are the recipient of deceptive information (Craig et
al., 2012). They also discussed how people are attentive and vigilant to possible
deception in advertising claims and are motivated to search for deceptive
information, but still, confoundingly expect to observe truthful claims. In

accordance with this statement, Percy and Elliot (2009), found that roughly 70%
of consumers feel that advertising is often truthful yet, find it as a useful source of
information.
According to Schudson (2013), advertising directly affects consumer
preference but indirectly affects his/her buying decision. Advertisements only
lead a person’s subconscious to think a certain way about the product being
advertised, but still, consumers are often not swayed because they have so many
other sources of information aside from advertisements which can help them
make a more informed decision. Sheehan (2014), on the other hand, states the
very opposite of Schudson’s statement and expounds on how advertising directs
the decisions consumers make, but before this happens, the advertisement must
be able to create a propensity to consume, giving the illusion that the advertised
product will satisfy the conscious or unconscious desires of the consumer. From
there, consumers will create meaning from the messages that advertisers provide
and with that information, consumers will balance its meaning with their own
interests and will only then, make a decision.
Moreover, Latour and Latour (2009) considered the effects of a person’s
mood when exposed to misleading advertisements and it was found that mood
had both explicit and implicit effects on consumer reactions to the advertisement.
It was concluded that consumers in a positive mood are more able to scrutinize
and analyze false advertisements. Mialon and Rubin (2014), on the other hand,
discuss how false advertising leads to a negative consumer response and when
consumers are misled by an advertisement due to falsehood, consumers would
heavily rely on their own olfactory senses and not on advertising claims.
Consumers also have the right to sue brands that use false advertising but
according to the authors, they choose not to.
In 2016, a new form of advertising is introduced to us, called, green
advertising. According to Kelley (2016), consumers consider the products that
they purchase and its effects on the environment. The author states that truly
going green implies honesty and transparency, which can gain the loyalty of
customers. Consumers can also be empowered by brands that go green to also be
aware of the current environmental crises that the world is experiencing. Aside
from green advertising, the term greenwashing is also introduced. Greenwashing
is a form of advertisement which involves claims about products that are difficult
to measure, verify, and litigate over if they are found to be dishonest.

The use of advertisements is inevitable (Kelley 2016). Brands use various
forms of advertisements in order to give out information regarding their product
creatively, yet, almost three-fourths of the consumer population find advertising
to be dishonest (Percy & Elliott 2009). People see the possible threats in false
information and they are motivated to look for these misleading claims (Craig et
al., 2012). Still, more than two-thirds of Filipinos still put their trust in these
advertisements (Popovenuic and Cucu 2008). And these advertisements can
directly affect the consumers’ buying decision by giving them the delusion that
the advertised products will satisfy their desires (Sheehan 2014). These
advertisements make the subconscious think a certain way about the product
(Schudson 2013). And when done in the wrong way, by using false advertisements,
it leads to a negative consumer response (Mialon and Rubin 2014). In order to
deviate from this practice of using deceptive advertisements, the government has
to provide a regulatory framework so that robust competition in the country can
emerge (Abad et al., 2012).
2.7 Awareness on Consumer Protection: The Evolution and Proposition
In a time where technological advancements have ushered new emerging
forms and means of advertising and businesses, the matter of consumer rights and
protection should be brought to light. The diversity of businesses and different

marketing strategies consequently means that consumers get more involved and
entangled in the business industry. The following review of related literature
confirms that there is a need to protect consumers and their rights, studies and
evaluates established and existing consumer-oriented acts, and proposes that
education and media play a vital role in increasing the awareness on consumer
rights.
In order to have more understanding regarding the topic of consumer
protection, it would be beneficial to start with defining what consumer protection
is. This topic has been discussed in some journals and books. One of which was
the research conducted by Chatterjee and Sahoo (2011) who argued that the
concept of consumer protection centers on the problems of having excessive
buyers in a world of sellers. They found out that technological developments have
increased the need of consumers and have changed our living and bargaining
traditions. This was supported by Howells et al. (2018) on their book which
provided an entry point into the study of a wide variety of consumer topics. They
promoted awareness of the options for protecting consumers through legal
means. According to the authors, consumer law is a relatively international
discipline and there are underlying policy choices that need to be made,
evaluated, and implemented.

Now that consumer protection has been discussed, it is important to delve
deeper into the problem within the subject. Some businesses have the tendency
to be inward looking and solely focus on their organizational goals, without taking
their consumers or customers into consideration. Debnath and Mazumdar (2015)
studied consumer protection through the eyes or perception of a business. The
authors found out that even though businesses exert conscious efforts to
prioritize the rights of their consumers, there are still inevitable instances wherein
consumer rights are violated. According to them, there is a necessity to develop
better campaigns and more publicity regarding consumer rights. However, due to
this research’s inclination in defining consumer protection in the perspective of
businesses, it lacked context regarding the consumer’s perspective.
There have been several researches on existing consumer-oriented acts and
their effectiveness in protecting consumers which give more insight and input
regarding the perspective of consumers. Auxilian et al. (2018) emphasized that the
Consumer Protection Act has been implemented in 1986 and there is a need to
assess the development of consumer awareness on consumer rights through the
years. The authors measured the level of awareness on consumer rights among
their respondents. Interaction with friends and relatives, and print media were the
primary emerging factors which played a vital role in creating awareness on

consumer rights. This study was replicated by Patidar (2013) in the Indian context
by studying the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, as well. Patidar discovered that
the main problem with the act is that only educated and urbanized people are
able to take full advantage of their rights as consumers. Furthermore, Patidar
suggested that the act should incorporate some provisions which would better
cater the needs of consumers. In support to the finding that only educated and
urbanized consumers are able to practice their rights, Kumar and Rambabu (2017)
studied the rural consumer awareness towards consumer protection measures.
They found out that almost half of their rural respondents were unaware of their
rights as consumers which is very alarming. The researchers suggested that
consumer awareness programs should be conducted specifically in rural areas.
Now that educated, urbanized, and rural consumers have been discussed
and brought up, it would be useful to take into consideration the factor of
education. Several researches have proposed that the role of education has an
impact on consumer awareness and is essential to empowering consumers.
Chaudhury (2017) examined the Consumer Protection Act in 1986 by finding out
the effects of including the act only on the curriculum of the commerce stream in
their university. The level of awareness among the students was unsatisfactory.
Chaudhury suggested that it is necessary to include the Consumer Protection Act

in the curriculum of all courses, even those which are not directly related to
commerce. This was supported by Devi and Rao (2016) as they compared the level
of awareness between educated and uneducated consumers in order to
determine the effect of education on consumer awareness, on consumer rights.
Education did not turn out to be a big factor as both educated and uneducated
respondents did not have knowledge on their rights as consumers. Once more,
they proposed that consumer rights and protection should be implemented in the
educational curriculum and should be taught in school. This is similar to Indirani
and Kumar’s (2016) study which focused on the role of education in raising
awareness on consumer protection as well. Demographic factors such as age,
gender, and even co-curricular activities did not play a vital role in the possession
of awareness on consumer rights among undergraduate students. These
researches all agree on one thing: educational curriculum should include
awareness on consumer rights and protection.
Aside from education being the solution to increase consumer awareness on
their rights, Vanisree (2013) approached the issue from a different perspective by
examining the role that media plays when it comes to propagating and increasing
consumer awareness on consumer protection. Television turned out to be the
most influential media form which greatly affects consumer buying behavior.
Although there are several websites and articles regarding consumer rights and
protection, it was found out that only a few of the respondents actually opt to
read these kinds of articles. Vanisree suggested that media should evolve
positively towards increasing consumer awareness by encouraging different
media forms in using their content as platforms in creating better relationship
between consumers and providers.
The evolution of media and technology will continuously provide new
platforms for businesses in promoting and advertising their products. Along with
this evolution is the need to uphold the rights and protection of consumers. The
reviewed literature critically discusses the problem regarding consumer
awareness and suggests that education and media are crucial in establishing the
rights of consumers. However, further research would be needed to determine
how exactly education and media could promote consumer awareness through its
curriculum and respectively.
2.8 Conceptual Framework
The very foundation of this research lies heavily on the initial variables
included in the study such as false advertising and consumer behavior. By further
identifying and specifying the variables, several supporting variables like forms of
false advertising, advertising in different media outlets, and strand or track of
respondents were formed. These inputs will be further processed and studied
through quantitative and qualitative means. In order to ensure a holistic and
comprehensive approach in collecting and processing the data, both
questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview would be used. The
quantitative design will be conducted through a questionnaire survey which will
be given to 363 grade 12 UST SHS students. The respondents will be further
classified into ABM and non-ABM students. The qualitative design, on the other
hand, will be used to substantiate the findings in the quantitative design. The
research team would conduct semi-structured key informant interviews to three
interviewees to serve as supplementary knowledge in the research study.

Figure 3. Conceptual Framework Flowchart

To further aid the need to compare and integrate the research from a
theoretical perspective, the Dagmar Theory and Consumer Buying Process Model
would be utilized in interpreting the results. These theories are to be used as a
skeletal basis in facilitating the understanding of the different stages of consumer
perception. All these processes would eventually yield to a better understanding
regarding the effect of false advertising on consumer buying behavior.
Furthermore, it specifically sheds light on the possible impact and changes on
consumer’s susceptibility and awareness on consumer rights and protection. In
relation to societal contribution, this would also determine possible gaps or lacks
in the system of today’s generation in terms of consumer protection.
Figure 3 explains how the two theories will be integrated and utilized in the
methodology of the study. Despite having different stages, the two theories
complement each other because of the great resemblance in the stages involved.
Both theories established information and awareness as the primary inputs in
affecting consumer decision and behavior. The formulation of the questions
included in the interview and questionnaire of the study will follow the same
nature and structure of the said theories. Initially, most of the questions to be
asked would be related to different media outlets used by the respondents as
sources of information. A sequential and logical order of questions would
eventually follow the initial questions. These questions would focus on awareness
on consumer protection and factors affecting their susceptibility to false

advertising. Simply put, the content of the materials for data collection will follow
the natural flow of stages stated in the theories.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 Design
The researchers will be using a mixed method form of research to administer
the methodology of the study since its results are more accurate than using
quantitative or qualitative research alone. The use of triangulation form of mixed
method research will be utilized as the researchers will collect qualitative and
quantitative data concurrently. The researchers will also be interviewing key
informant interviewees in gathering the qualitative data. Using the interview to
gather such data will provide veracity as the researchers will personally interact
with the KII by utilizing a semi-structured type of interview. Aside from the
interview, the researches will also conduct an online survey which will be
answered by grade 12 UST-SHS students from different strands, wherein every
strand will be represented. The results from the aforementioned designs will be
analyzed to trace possible similarities and differences. This is appropriate to
provide accuracy and veracity of the results of this study.

3.2 Population and Sampling Selection
3.2.1 Qualitative
With the study’s aim to find the effects of false advertising on consumer
buying behavior, the researchers chose the senior high school students of UST
to be the target respondents as they play a big role in the business industry,
behaving more like critical consumers while approaching the maturity stage.
Being young adults in today’s generation wherein the advertising industry is
expanding, the researchers want to know how they absorb information and
act differently from the different advertisements they encounter in their
everyday lives. In addition to that, another reason for choosing the said
respondents would be mainly due to its convenience and accessibility for the
researchers themselves.
Achieving a wider perspective and field of knowledge with regard to the
research topic, the researchers considered another set of respondents who
will be asked separately with an interview to get more relevant information.
They are experts chosen from the SHS department in UST as they possess
qualities in having specialized knowledge for better understanding and to fill
in possible gaps that may occur likely within the results. Specifying the said
experts, three professors will be interviewed coming from different courses

related to advertising and consumer behavior. Two interviewees will be from
the field of Marketing, while the other will be from Media and Information
Literacy. Two marketing professors will be taken as KIIs in this study for having
the knowledge and the ability to criticize such strategies and techniques
specifically advertisements that may affect the consumer buying behavior in a
particular business. A professional media practitioner will also be one of the
KIIs in this study because he/she is knowledgeable enough to understand and
explain how an individual should act and absorb media and information that
he/she may encounter in his/her everyday lives leading to a well decision
making.
3.2.2 Quantitative
On the other hand, a more systematic method will be applied for
quantitative purposes. In determining the population size for the survey to be
conducted, a formal letter to the Senior High School office would be issued,
requesting for the necessary information regarding the entire UST Grade 12
Senior High School population with the corresponding number of students per
strand. Once the population size has been identified, the Slovin’s formula
would be used to validate the sample size needed for the study. Slovin’s
formula is computed using the following:
!
n =
"#!$ %
whereas:
n = no. of samples
N = total population
e = error margin / margin of error
After finding the sample size, stratified random sampling would be
conducted to ensure proportional distribution of respondents. The
respondents will be classified into two: ABM and non-ABM students. The non-
ABM strands were grouped as one because they all have one thing in common:
the lack of business oriented courses such as business enterprise simulation,
marketing, and business ethics and social responsibility. Stratified random
sampling is necessary to represent the two groups (ABM and non-ABM
students) in a fair and impartial manner.
The formula for gathering the sample size per strand would be:
Sample size of strata = size of entire sample/population size * layer size

Given a population size of 3,694 for the grade 12 senior high school
students and a .05 margin of error, the computation for the sample size using
Slovin’s formula would be the following:
"&,&&&
n =
"#(),*+,)(&.&/)%
"&,&&&
363 =
"#(),*+,)(&.&/)%
The following table shows the proportional distribution of respondents
from the ABM and non-ABM group:
STRAND NUMBER OF NUMBER OF
STUDENTS RESPONDENTS
ABM 764 70
NON-ABM 3,200 293
(STEAM, HA,
HUMSS, MAD, PES)
TOTAL 3,964 363
Table 1. Proportional Distribution of Respondents

3.3 Study Site

BGPOP Building
All Grade 12 Strands

Figure 4. University of Santo Tomas Map

The University of Santo Tomas Manila is located in España Blvd., Sampaloc,
Manila, Philippines 1008. The study is to be conducted at the university and the
respondents who will be gathered for this research are students within the four
corners of the university. The respondents will be coming from the senior high
school level only.
Figure 4 shows the map of the whole university. Most of the senior high
school students from all the strands of the university are located in the Blessed
Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building which is indicated by the purple
arrow. Different grade 12 strands occasionally have classes in this building.
However, the dissemination of the questionnaires will not just focus on one area
of the university. The researchers will disseminate it in the different buildings
related for each strand of grade 12 students. The Main Building and San Martin de
Porres Building which are indicated by the green arrows, are occupied by grade 12
Health Allied students. The UST-AMV College of Accountancy which is indicated
by a red arrow is occupied by grade 12 ABM students. For grade 12 HUMSS
students, their building is the St. Raymund Peñafort Building which is indicated by
a blue arrow. Meanwhile, the Beato Angelico Building, indicated by the orange
arrow is the place of the grade 12 MAD students. For grade 12 STEM students,
their building is the Albertus Magnus Building which is indicated by a yellow arrow.
Lastly, the Quadricentennial Pavillion which is indicated by a black arrow is the
building of grade 12 PES students.
3.4 Instrumentation
Having a mixed method approach, this study will be utilizing two sets of
questionnaires to comprehensively and clearly find the effects of false advertising
on consumer buying behavior of UST SHS students. The first set will come in the
form of an interview questionnaire. On the other hand, a survey questionnaire
would be used for the second set. The interview questionnaire (refer to Appendix
A) which consists of 9 questions is aimed at drawing out relevant and clearly
defined information from experts that will be asked separately. The set of
questions developed by the researchers will cover different factors and scenarios
related to consumer buying behavior, and types of advertisements, as derived
from the statement of the problem. A survey questionnaire (refer to Appendix B)
which has a total of 7 questions will be distributed to UST SHS students to easily
and economically gather data.
Respondents will be instructed to respond using several methods such as a
yes/no question, multiple response set, and a four-point scale (or a Likert scale)
for them to easily understand and for the researchers to specifically interpret the
results. Using a multiple response set, respondents are allowed to choose more
than one answer option for a given question. On a four-point scale or Likert scale
on the other hand, four answers will be included ranging from “strongly agree”
(SA), through “agree” (A), “disagree” (D) to “strongly disagree” (SD).
3.5 Data Gathering Procedure
3.5.1 Primary Data
The researchers will first determine the statement of the problem in
order to create questions for the online survey which will be aligned with the
topic. There will be a total of 363 respondents, all of which are coming from
the University of Santo Tomas Senior High School and stratified random
sampling is to be used in determining the sample. One researcher will be
tasked per strand (ABM, STEM, HUMSS, MAD, HA and PES) to distribute the
consent forms and handle the results of the online survey.
Firsthand information relevant to the topic will also be gathered by
interviewing two experts on the subject of study. Prior to the interview, the
researchers will have to schedule an appointment with said KIIs. The KIIs will
be experts on media advertising and marketing. A semi-structured form of
interview shall be utilized by the researchers. This type of interview will allow
the researcher to truly acquire the data needed in the study. Moreover, it will
allow the interviewee to fully expound and explain further their answers to
the questions prepared by the researchers.
Once all pertinent data have been collected, the researchers, with the
aid of a statistician, will tabulate and tally the results of the online survey. The
quantitative data will then be evaluated and synthesized. Content and
framework analyses would be used in analyzing the qualitative information
gathered from the interview.

3.5.2 Secondary Data
Secondary information will be gathered from various journal articles,
books and other scholarly references. These facts and data will compose the
review of related literature which is the backbone of the entire study. It will
be focused on the forms of advertising, advertising ethics, false advertising,
consumer behavior, consumer protection and social media marketing. The
data collected will be integrated throughout the study.
3.6 Mode of analysis
3.6.1 Qualitative
Considering that three interviews with experts on certain fields of media
advertising and marketing are to be conducted, an integration of content
analysis and framework analysis would be utilized in analyzing the qualitative
data that would be gathered. Content analysis would be applied first in order
to identify the presence of key words or concepts within the responses of each
interviewee. At this stage, the interviews are to be analyzed separately and
the analysis would be highly conceptual as it focuses more on the frequency
of themes and concepts. Since the interviews would be focusing on marketing,
advertising, and consumer behavior, key words related to the importance of
advertising to businesses and UST SHS consumer behavior are expected to

emerge and will be used for an orderly interpretation of the results. Once the
recurring themes have been established through content analysis, relational
comparison of results between the two interviews would be conducted
through framework analysis. This process would involve a more systematic
process of coding and grouping the qualitative data. The framework analysis
includes a five-step process:
1. familiarization;
2. identifying a thematic framework;
3. indexing;
4. charting; and
5. mapping and interpretation (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994).
Familiarization with data and identification of a thematic framework
would be supported by the earlier identified themes and concepts from
content analysis. Furthermore, a synthesis matrix would be utilized in the
charting and mapping processes. Conducting a synthesis matrix provides a
more comprehensive and intelligible mean of organizing the data because this
would allow the researchers to classify the similarities and differences evident
in each of the concepts. Once both content and framework analysis have been
applied, the findings would be integrated and synthesized by creating a
conclusion for the qualitative results.
3.6.2 Quantitative
As far as quantitative data is concerned, the data gathered from the
administered surveys would be tabulated through the use of Microsoft Excel.
With the aid of a statistician, excel software would be used in processing the
needed variables, numerical codes, and inputs. For easier interpretation of
results, the auto-generated graphs and tables from the google survey results
would be used as reference and supplementary materials in encoding the
results in Microsoft excel. In addition to this, several formulas and codes are
to be used in computing and comparing the results.
Once the tabulation process has been completed, chi-square testing,
Cramer’s V, and p-test analysis would follow. Chi-square testing would be used
to test the level of dependence between two variables. Through this, the
researchers would be able to identify whether two variables are independent
or dependent of one another. This process would involve the identification of
a null and alternative hypothesis. A sample set of hypotheses which could be
applied in this research would be the following:

𝑯𝒐 = SHS strand and susceptibility to false advertising are independent
𝑯𝒂 = SHS strand and susceptibility to false advertising are not independent
The test statistic is a chi-square random variable (𝑥 4 ) defined by the following
equation:
Χ2 = Σ [ (Or,c - Er,c)2 / Er,c ]
To further validate the results, Cramer’s V formula and p-test would be
applied. Together, the two supplementary tests would give a much more
substantial result which would help identify the specific extent of the
relationship between the two variables. The p-test would be performed
through the chitest excel function while the Cramer’s V value would be
obtained using the following formula:

3.7 Ethical Consideration
Research Ethics is a set of principles guiding and governing the interaction
between the researcher and the other subjects involved in the study (“Ethics,”
n.d.). The Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching emphasized that ethical
behavior is needed to build a sense of accountability, trust and respect among
researchers. Indeed, research will lose its very essence – the pursuit of knowledge
and truth – if these guidelines and principles are neglected. Listed below are some
of the ethical considerations cited from Akaranga and Makau’s Ethical
Considerations and their Applications to Research: A Case of University of Nairobi
from the Journal of Educational Policy and Entrepreneurial Research. As seen in
the participant consent forms (refer to Appendix C and Appendix D), the following
measures will be observed in the making of the research study:
Anonymity, Confidentiality and Privacy
Anonymity implies that the prospect audience of the research study cannot
“identify a given response with a specific respondent” while confidentiality
acknowledges the fact that the researcher can identify who’s who, but promises
not to disclose the respondent/subject’s identity (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 138).
This will be strictly observed in the study for the identities of the respondents
coming from the University of Santo Tomas’ senior high school students shall be
protected with utmost care and no name of them shall be exposed and mentioned
in the paper. Personal information, such as but not limited to one’s family
background, shall not be delved into during the conduct of the interview or survey.
This shall be guaranteed in the agreement form which will be later on signed by
every research group member and the prospect respondent.
Voluntary and Informed Consent
It is but right to obtain consent first before conducting the methodology. A
consent form shall be signed during the time when the participants are oriented
about the study and prior to the actual conduct of the survey and/or interview.
The mentioned form is one that acknowledges the freedom of the participants to
participate or withdraw. (Bhattacherjee, 2012, p. 138) Rest assured, the research
group will respect the decision of the prospect respondents to participate or not
to participate. And the research group shall not take the decisions of the
respondents against them – no harm, may it be verbally or physically, shall be
inflicted upon them. Free will shall be strictly observed and no one is to be
coerced. The Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees also highlight two
important things – the consent shall be informed, and shall be documented. The
participants, before signing the form, must be given adequate information
regarding the study. The research group shall explain the purpose of the study,
what their participation will consist of, etc., to the respondents prior to the actual
conduct of the survey and/or interview. The research group shall also keep a copy
of the consent form for documentation purposes to protect the rights of both the
researchers and the respondents.
Beneficence
Akaranga and Makau (2016) state that the primary purpose of adhering to
research ethics is to “serve and promote the welfare of people”. The research
study shall be of significance to a certain field of study or to a general/special
audience. In the case of the study, it shall aim to educate consumers and help
them make more informed decisions in buying, give supplementary knowledge to
media, marketing and advertising practitioners so as to improve their craft, bring
the issue of rampant false advertising to the attention of government regulatory
bodies and encourage them to implement stricter controls – all these to have a
fairer, healthier and well-regulated economy in the country.
Non-maleficence
Akaranga and Makau (2016) assert that non-maleficence is the act of
preventing any harm or minimizing any potential harm, may it be physically or
psychologically, which may affect the subjects involved in the study. In the case of
the study, the research group shall be careful in conducting the interview and/or
survey. First and foremost, free will shall be strictly observed. No one is to be
coerced to participate. The respondents shall be given a choice whether or not to
join and their decision shall not be held against them. The research group must
respect their decision and no act of retaliation will be made. Questions considered
too personal shall be avoided by the research group so as not to make the
respondents uncomfortable and embarrassed. The research group shall ensure
that the transaction that will transpire between the two parties will remain formal,
professional and imbued with respect. The research group shall also protect the
identities of the respondents in order to prevent them from being subjects of
retaliation.
Fabrication and Falsification or Fraud
According to Zietman (2013), fabrication is the act of “making up data or
results” while falsification is the practice of manipulating research data such as
intentionally changing or omitting data resulting in the study not being accurately
presented. The research group shall commit themselves in delivering nothing but
the truth only. The results from the survey shall not be over-estimated or
otherwise. This shall be done through seeking the guidance of a statistician to
ensure the accuracy of the results. The results of the interview, like the latter, shall
not be over-stated or otherwise. The group shall not resort to any form of cheating
or manipulation, and will record the data as it is, nothing less, nothing more.
Plagiarism
Respect for intellectual property must be observed in all of life’s endeavors.
Claiming the work of someone as your own is a crime. As they say, give credit
where credit is due. With this being said, the research group will ensure that all
sources are properly cited using the American Psychological Association (APA)
format. In-text citations will be utilized and will be seen from time to time in
between lines and paragraphs. A bibliography will also be presented at the end,
containing all the sources the research group indulged in, in alphabetical order.

CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter presents the analysis of data, followed by a discussion of the
reserach findings. The findings relate to the research questions and objectives that
guided the study:
1. Is there a relationship between false advertising and consumer behavior?
2. Which of the following types of false advertising are most prominent
today:
⁃ False promises
⁃ Visual distortion
⁃ Bait-and-Switch offers
⁃ Small-print qualifications
3. Does the strand of the respondents affect their susceptibility to false
advertising?
Data were analyzed to identify the relationship between strand and
susceptibility to false advertisements. As the study utilized a mixed method form
of research, data were obtained through the process of interviewing three KIIs and
dissemination of surveys. The KIIs are professors in the University of Santo Tomas
Senior High School Department and are experts on certain fields of media
advertising and marketing. The qualitative data were analyzed through content
and framework analyses and synthesis matrix. On the other hand, the survey was
distributed through an online platform wherein the researchers garnered a total
of 363 respondents who were classified into two: ABM and non-ABM students.
The quantitative data were interpreted through descriptive statistics.
The study found that 86.5% of the population have experienced false
advertising while the remaining 13.5% stated that they have not. Visual distortion
was found to be the most prominent type of false advertisement encountered by
the population, followed by false promises, small print qualifications and lastly,
bait and switch offers. It was also found that false advertising affects consumer
behavior. 73.6% of the respondents chose to stop patronizing the product, 60.2%
spoke about their experience to other people and 25.2% shared their experience
on social media, while only 14.3% stated that they were not affected by the
advertisement. Lastly, there was a predominant number of respondents who
agreed that there is an effect of one’s strand to his or her susceptibility to false
advertising.

4.1 Qualitative
Aligned with the research objective to know the effects of false advertising
on consumer behavior, the researchers deemed it substantial to interview three
key informant interviewees who are experts in the fields of marketing and
advertising. This part discusses what went on with the discourses the group had
with the interviewees.
Interviewee 1 Interviewee 2 Interviewee 3

False “…telling some of “... advertisements “...like fake news,
Advertising the features and that don’t necessarily giving you false
the qualities of advertise anything. information, false
those product So, it doesn’t lead you claims… it is
which are not anywhere… notable in food
actually present, advertising a bogus industries …”
which are not product…
actually part of
their product”
Effect of False “... consumers will “I really don’t know “...it can be very
Advertising no longer trust the answer because I fatal for the
on Consumer them, will no don’t observe buying product because
Behavior longer trust their behavior of senior customers will be
brand…I think no high school mad at the
one will buy it.” students…I don’t product.”
think there’s a
negative effect on me.
Only that it leads me
to the actual brands
that I like.”
Susceptibility “you’ll be more “I don’t think there is. “Yeah I think so
sensitive on how I think everyone’s on considering that
you will deal with an equal playing field. you (ABM
It’s just that there are students) are
irate other people who are more aware

consumers…” more intelligible than because of the
others...” subjects you are
taking…”
Government “… not actually “I don’t know… Well, “... consumer
Policies/Laws familiar with the sa work naming protector laws in
laws being tinatawag namin na our country isn’t
implemented, Ad Standards that strong, it is
with the codes Council.” light and
but there is... if shallow.”
you like to check
on the
businesses… you
go directly to
Department of
Trade and
Industry (DTI).”
Prominence
in UST SHS
students Refer to Table 2 Refer to Table 3 Refer to Table 4
Table 1. Data Findings
The interviewees were asked on how they would define false advertising.
The second interviewee answered, “advertising a bogus product,” (marketing
major) which affirmed what the first interviewee stated. According to the first
interviewee, it is the act of “telling some of the features and the qualities of those
products which are not actually present” (former medical representative). The
third interviewee defined it as “false claims” (former digital advertiser). Given
their definition about the topic, they have added information on how consumers
would know if such advertisements are misleading. According to the third
interviewee, consumers will not know if such advertisements are false
advertisements just by looking or watching. With these being said, the second
interviewee said that the consumers should “really read properly and double
check fine prints”.
The second interviewee wasn’t able to observe an effect on the buying
behavior of Senior High School students as the interviewee is not really aware with
the brands which the students are exposed to or the shopping routines they do.
On the other hand, the first and third interviewees have the same perception that
it will negatively affect the business as the customers, according to the third
interviewee, will be mad and therefore, according to the first interviewee, will
cause them (consumers) to no longer trust their brand. In addition to that, the
third interviewee stated that even without all the advertising schemes, if there
was non-disclosure of certain things, the consumers will still get irate.
4.1.1 Prominence of Different Types of False Advertising
Aligned with the research objective to identify which type of false
advertisements is prominently experienced by the Senior High School students of

University of Santo Tomas, the group decided to confer with the interviewees
regarding this matter.

False Advertising
Ranked according to the UST SHS
perspective of: Students

False promises 2

Visual distortion 1

Bait-and-switch 4
qualifications
Small print 3

qualifications

Table 2. First interviewee’s ranking on Prominence of False Advertising

False Advertising

False promises 1 (everyday)

Visual distortion 1
(everyday)
Bait-and-switch Not so much

qualifications

Small print Not so much
qualifications
Table 3. Second interviewee’s ranking on Prominence of False Advertising

False Advertising


False promises 2
Visual distortion 1

Bait-and-switch 4
qualifications
Small print qualifications 3
Table 4. Third interviewee’s ranking on Prominence of False Advertising
All interviewees selected visual distortion as the most prominent type of
false advertisement among the UST SHS students. All of them reiterated that the
food industry is the most common avenue for senior high school students to
experience visual distortions. The first and third interviewees ranked the types of
false advertising in the same sequence. After visual distortions, they placed false
promises in the second. The third interviewee cited an example of the mentioned
false advertising. According to this interviewee, false promises happen when
instructions are not clearly and properly labelled and communicated. The third in
their ranking is small-print qualifications. The first interviewee stated that this kind
of false advertisement is very prominent among online stores and its victims are
mostly girls. According to the third interviewee, “falling in to this kind of trap
depends on your social class, for example, if you’re from the lower class, you
follow a budget as you have limited buying power, making you not buy stuff that
are expensive or over your paying capabilities.” Last in their list is the bait-and-
switch offers. The first interviewee believes that the UST SHS students experience
this the least as of the moment but will later experience this when they age as
they tend to be a “practical consumer” and “by being practical, you tend to look
for lower prices.” How the second interviewee ranked the given types of false
advertising is different from the prior ranking of the other two. False promises and
visual distortion both ranked first. Bait-and-switch offers and small-print
qualifications, according to him, are not encountered so much unlike the first two.
4.1.2 Effect on Consumer Buying Behavior
Another objective of the study is to investigate further on the effects of
false advertising on consumer buying behavior of students. The effect on
consumers behavior would be identified using the following behaviors: word of
mouth intention, social media activity, and exclusion of brand. The following series
of tables shows how the interviewees ranked the said behaviors according to
which is more observed and applicable to senior high school students.

Consumer Behavior
Ranked according to the perspective of: UST SHS Students

Word of mouth intention 1 or 2
Social media activity following the exposure 2 or 1

to false advertisements
Exclusion of the brand or product from a 3

consumer's consideration set

Table 5. Second interviewee’s ranking on the most observed consumer behavior
Consumer Behavior
Ranked according to the perspective of: UST SHS Students

Word of mouth intention 2
Social media activity following the exposure 1

to false advertisements
Exclusion of the brand or product from a 3

consumer's consideration set

Table 6. Third interviewee’s ranking on the most observed consumer behavior
Regarding consumer behavior mostly experienced by the students, the
second and third interviewees had the same sequence – exclusion of the brand or
product from a consumer’s consideration set comes last. Simply put, this is the
tendency of consumers to not buy the product anymore. This comes last because
according to the second interviewee, the students have the tendency to still give
people another chance. Word of mouth intention and social media activity are
both placed first, because, as stated by the second interviewee, since the students
are most often with friends, their initial reaction would be to relay the story to
another friend. The third interviewee, on the other hand, emphasized that since
students are very techy, social media becomes a venue for their rants and such.
When asked whether their profession or specialization affected their
susceptibility towards false advertisements, all of them answered that their field
of work indeed helped them in terms of awareness, cautiousness and sensitivity,
making them less impulsive and more meticulous when it comes to purchasing
products. They encouraged consumers to be extra cautious and to “always take
advertisements with a grain of salt.” One must not be fooled hastily by physical
appearance. Indeed, looks can be deceiving. They advocated careful deliberation
or evaluation by doing research or searching for reliable sources that could give
them an idea about the product. This may be in the form of reviews, posts or blogs
found online.

4.1.3 Senior High School Strand and Susceptibility to False Advertising
One of the research objectives of the study is to know whether senior high
school strands have a bearing towards an individual’s vulnerability to false
advertisements. This is rooted from the proponents’ observation that the subjects
taken by students are now specialized per strand. For the first and third
interviewee, the presence of business subjects in the curriculum positively affects
a student in the sense that they become more aware and sensitive to
advertisements. The second interviewee, however, have a different take on the
issue, and reiterates that susceptibility is not strand-specific and will remain
dependent on the individual regardless.
Both first and second interviewee are not aware of the existing
government policies/laws regarding consumer protection but all three of them are
sure that there are existing laws. The second interviewee shared that in his
previous work, there’s an existence of a council that regulates false
advertisements which is called Ad Standard Council. Its function is to handle cases
and complaints filed against competitor brand/s regarding unethical practices. If
they win the lawsuit, they are able to get money from it. The third interviewee
criticized the local consumer protection laws existing in the Philippines, saying that
it is “not that strong”, and that it is “light and shallow”. The interviewee proceeded
to talk about the anti-trust law. According to the interviewee, even though this is
not particularly made for customers, this law is made to make sure that there is
an existing competition to all markets. The interviewee went on to compare local
and international laws. According to the interviewee, international laws pertinent
to consumer protection are “too strong” to the point that it already becomes
abusive. The interviewee also added that stores found here in the Philippines are
influenced by their laws. The interviewee named a prominent clothing brand
which, according to him/her, implements and adapts international laws.
In summary, the impact of the given false advertisements was explored by
experts of the field. Each one of them gave their inputs regarding their perceptions
on the given false advertisements and consumer behavior. Data findings were
organized through tabulation. In the next chapter, the implications of the findings
shall be discussed.

4.2 Quantitative
Given the quantitative approach that was utilized in the study, the data
was gathered through an Online Google Survey. The survey questionnaires were
disseminated to 363 respondents among the UST SHS Grade 12 students. On the
other hand, the results were then organized with the use of charts particularly
through Pie charts and Bar graphs. The representation of the results would be
given in the following series of graphs and charts.

Which strand do you belong to?

1.7%

6.1%

22.3%

30.6%

19.3%
20.1%

STEM ABM HUMSS HA MAD PES

Chart 1. Strand of the Respondents
With the given data, the respondents were chosen according to their
different strands which they belong. Such strands include STEM, ABM, HUMSS,
HA, MAD, and PES. However, for the data analysis, the researchers grouped the
strands according to ABM and Non-ABM considering the specialized courses that
ABM strand have. Furthermore, the Non-ABM strands will only be taken as one.

Do you encounter false advertisements?

13.5%

86.5%
Yes No
Chart 2. Experience of Respondents Towards False Advertisements
With the results that have been gathered in Chart 2, 86.5% of the total
respondents have experienced false advertisements. while 13.5% of the total
respondents have no experience with false advertisements which may seem small
but significant to be noted.

4.2.1 Prominence of Different Types of False Advertising

Which of the following types of false advertisements do you
usually encounter? (Select all that applies)

Small Print Qualifications
57.60%

Types of False Advertisement
Bait and Switch Offers

46.20%

Visual Distortion
83.40%

False Promises
70.10%
Graph 1. Types of False Advertisements Encountered by Respondents
Based on Graph 1, it is very clear that the most common type of false
advertisement encountered by UST SHS Grade 12 students is Visual Distortion,
comprising 83.4% of the total responses, followed closely by False Promises which
is equal to 70.1%, then Small Print Qualifications with 57.6% and lastly which came
the least, Bait and Switch Offers with 46.2%.

Where do you usually encounter false or misleading

advertisements? (Select all that applies)
Television 74.50%
Radio 10.80%
Newspaper/Magazine 35.40%
Billboards 47.80%

Online 94.90%

Direct Mail, Catalogue, & Leaflets 20.70%

Others 3.90%

Graph 2. Different Platforms where Respondents Encounter False Advertising
On the other hand, with the technology development, the results based
on the Graph 2 have shown that most of the UST SHS Students encounter
misleading advertisements on social networking sites, making up a high
percentage of 94.9% of the total responses, followed by Television with 74.5%,
Billboards at 47.8% then followed by Newspaper or Magazines, Direct Mail,
Catalogue, and Leaflets and Radio. Furthermore, other respondents answered
malls and stores aside from the given choices. It can be said that advertisements
which are visual in nature are more prone to false advertising.

4.2.2 Effect on Consumer Buying Behavior

What are the effects of false advertising to you? (Select all that
applies)

No Effect
14.30%
Social Media Activity

25.20%

Word of Mouth Intention
60.20%

Exclusion of the Brand or Product from a
Consumer's Consideration Set 73.60%

Others
1.80%
Graph 3. Effects of False Advertising to Respondents
Graph 3 shows the effect of false advertising to the consumer buying
behavior of the respondents. The most common effect as evident on the results is
that consumers did not purchase the product again. This is followed by word of
mouth intention by telling colleagues/family not to purchase the product. Venting
through social media by telling their experience in relation to false advertising
comes third. Lastly, 45 respondents also claim that they are not affected at all.
However, there were also some other responses such as reporting the said
product and becoming more cautious as a consumer.

4.2.3 Senior High School Strand and Susceptibility to False Advertising

*FOR ABM STUDENTS ONLY* "The specialized courses on marketing,
business ethics, and business enterprise in the ABM strand has
lessened my susceptibility to false advertising."
11.90%
11.90%
6%

70.10%

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Chart 3. ABM Student’s Perceived Susceptibility to False Advertising
Chart 3 shows the response of ABM students when asked if their
specialized courses on marketing, business enterprise and business ethics lessens
their susceptibility to false advertising. 82% answered strongly agree or agree
while only while only 18% believes that the specialized business courses do not
affect their susceptibility to false advertising.


*FOR NON - ABM STUDENTS ONLY* "The lack of specialized
courses on marketing, business ethics, and business enterprise in

my strand has increased my susceptibility to false advertising."
6.10%
13%
41.30%
39.70%

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Chart 4. Non-ABM Students’ Perceived Susceptibility to False Advertising
Chart 4 shows the response of Non - ABM students when asked if the lack
of specialized business courses in their strand increases their susceptibility to false
advertising. 47.4% of the respondents agreed while 52.6% disagreed. Their
responses are more evenly scattered compared to the responses of ABM students.
The relationship between senior high school strand and susceptibility to
false advertising was also examined through chi-square testing, Cramer’s V
formula, and p-value. The Chi Square statistics is commonly used for testing
relationships between categorical variables. The Chi-square is a significance
statistic, and should be followed with a strength statistic. Thus, Cramer’s V formula
is used. It is the most common strength test used to test the data when a
significant Chi-square result has been obtained. Meanwhile, a p-value measures
the strength of evidence in support of a null hypothesis. If the p-value is less than
the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected.
In this study, the null and alternative hypothesis regarding the SHS strands and
susceptibility to false advertising are as follows:
Ho = Senior high school strand and susceptibility to false advertising are
independent.
Ha = Senior high school strand and susceptibility to false advertising are
dependent.
Strand Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Grand Total

Agree Disagree
ABM 8 47 4 8 67
Non-ABM 15 102 98 32 247
Grand Total 23 149 102 40 314
Table 7. Observed Susceptibility

Strand Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly Grand Total

Agree Disagree
ABM 4.91 31.79 21.76 8.54 67
Non-ABM 18.09 117.21 80.24 31.46 247
Grand Total 23 149 102 40 314
Table 8. Expected Susceptibility
Table 7 shows the actual and observed frequency of responses recorded
in the survey when respondents were asked if they believe that their senior high
school strands affected their susceptibility to false advertising. Table 8, on the
other hand, shows the expected frequency of responses on the assumption that
the two categorical variables have no relation to each other.
Strand Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
ABM 1.95 7.27 14.50 0.03
Non-ABM 0.53 1.97 3.93 0.01
Table 9. Individual Chi Square Values
The following formula has been used to calculate the values given on the
third table:
Table 9 would be necessary since it would be the basis of the final Chi-
square variable which would determine if there is a relationship between SHS
strand and susceptibility to false advertising.

The chi-square variable was then computed by getting the sum of all the
values given in Table 9. The resulting chi-square value was 30.20. In order to
analyze the results, the degrees of freedom must be calculated and the critical
value must be identified. The degrees of freedom can be derived with the
following formula:
df = (r - 1)(c – 1)
where r = total number of rows,
and c = total number of columns
The resulting value for degrees of freedom was 3. In order to determine
the critical value, the critical value distribution table for chi-square testing was
used.
Table 4. Critical Values of the Chi Square Distribution
The resulting critical value was 7.81. Considering that the chi-square
variable was larger than the critical value (30.20 > 7.81), the null hypothesis can
be rejected. Therefore, there is a relationship between SHS strand and
susceptibility to false advertising.
To further reinforce the initial findings, Cramer’s formula was utilized to
determine the strength of association between the two variables. Cramer’s V
value is denoted by the following formula:
Cramer’s V varies between 0 to 1. As the score becomes closer to 0, the
strength of association becomes weaker and as the score becomes closer to 1, the
strength of association becomes stronger. The resulting value was .31 which
means that there is a low to moderate, yet significant association between senior
high school strand and susceptibility to false advertising. The last statistical test
applied was the p-value. Through the application of the chitest function in excel,
the calculated p-value was .000001. Since it is smaller than the margin of error
which is .05, it further reinforces that the null hypothesis can be rejected and that
there is a significant relationship between the two variables.

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APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE
(Semi-structured interview)

Date: _____________________
Interviewee: _____________________
Interviewers: _____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Questions:
1. What field are you specializing in? how long? What exactly is your work?

2. Do you know of anything about false advertising practices?

3. How would you define false advertisements?

4. How do we know if such advertisements are misleading or deceptive?

5. How do you think false advertising affects consumer buying behavior?
o Word of mouth intention

o Social media activity following the exposure to false
advertisements

o Exclusion of the brand or product from a consumer’s
consideration set

6. Which of the following types of false advertising (false promises, visual
distortion, bait-and-switch offers, small print qualifications) do UST SHS students
most likely encounter?
o False promises – Promises used in advertising cannot be fulfilled,
because they are impossible: "forever youth" or "cancer is
preventable".
o Visual distortions – Making items bigger and completely looking
different in printed advertisements

APPENDIX A (CONTINUED)

o Bait-and-switch offers – Advertising a "lower" type of product, but
suddenly saying that the requested type is "out of stock" and
offering a "higher" and more expensive product
o Small- print qualifications –Making a large print statement to
entice customers while leaving out disclaimers and other details
printed in a much smaller font

7. What government policies or agencies do you know that people must consider
regarding consumer protection? And how can the government agency help the
consumer?

8. Has your experience and specialization in your field affected your susceptibility to
false advertisements? How?

9. From your experience and specialization in your field, what effective ways and
advice can you give to prevent being misled by false advertisements

*Note that this interview is semi-structured. Thus, the research team can add
follow-up question*

APPENDIX B
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE


Senior High School

Academic Year 2018-2019

Practical Research 2

Date
To whom it may concern,

We, the research group from 12ABM8 of University of Santo Tomas Senior High
school, are inviting you to take part in our study entitled “Impact of False Advertising on
Consumer Buying Behavior of UST SHS Students” for our subject, Practical Research 2.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of false advertising on
consumers, particularly on Grade 12 UST SHS students, upon exposure to deceptive
advertisements. Your participation will include filling out a survey questionnaire online.

Your participation in the said study is highly voluntary and you can therefore
withdraw anytime. No harm shall be inflicted on the respondent upon withdrawal. The
research group shall treat your decision with utmost respect. Your responses to the said
survey shall remain anonymous and rest assured that participant data shall be kept
confidential. If you decide to take part in the study, you will be asked to fill out the
conforme below. If you have further questions, you can reach us through e-mail,
gail.hidalgo.shs@ust.edu.ph. or contact us at this number, 09065721658.
We look forward to your kind consideration. Thank you.

Respectfully yours,
Del Mundo, Maverick Eslera, Karla Hidalgo, Gail
Iloseo, Kyle Pascual, Jaymee Tadeo, Bianca

APPENDIX B (CONTINUED)

SCREENING & DEMOGRAPHICS

Which strand do you belong to?
¾ STEM
¾ ABM
¾ HUMSS
¾ HA
¾ MAD
¾ PES
Section (Example Format: 12 ABM-8)
_______________
Name (Optional)
_______________
Contact No. (Optional)
_______________
Do you encounter false advertisements?
¾ Yes
¾ No
Directions: Put a check (/) on the space provided for your chosen answer/s.
Kindly answer this questionnaire with utmost honesty.

PROMINENCE OF FALSE ADVERTISING
1. Which of the following types of false advertisements do you usually

encounter? (Select all that applies)
False promises – Promises used in advertising cannot be fulfilled,

because they are impossible: "forever youth" or "cancer is
preventable"
APPENDIX B (Continued)

Visual distortions – Making items bigger and completely looking
different in printed advertisements
Bait-and-switch offers – Advertising a "lower" type of product, but
suddenly saying that the requested type is "out of stock" and
offering a "higher" and more expensive product
Small- print qualifications –Making a large print statement to
entice customers while leaving out disclaimers and other details
printed in a much smaller font

2. Where do you usually encounter false or misleading advertisements?

¾ Television
¾ Radio
¾ Newspaper/Magazine
¾ Billboards
¾ Online (e.g. social media sites)
¾ Direct Mail, Catalogue, & Leaflets
¾ Others, please specify
___________________

3. What are the effects of false advertising to you? (Select all that applies)
¾ I told my friends/colleagues/family not to buy the product.
¾ I vented my frustration about the brand/product online
(Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or posted a bad review about it.
¾ I did not purchase the product again.
¾ It did not affect me.

APPENDIX B (CONTINUED)
STRAND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO FALSE ADVERTISING
*FOR ABM STUDENTS ONLY* "The specialized courses on marketing, business

ethics, and business enterprise in the ABM strand has lessened my susceptibility
to false advertising."
¾ Strongly disagree
¾ Disagree
¾ Agree
¾ Strongly Agree
*FOR NON - ABM STUDENTS ONLY* "The lack of specialized courses on

marketing, business ethics, and business enterprise in my strand has increased
my susceptibility to false advertising."
¾ Strongly disagree
¾ Disagree
¾ Agree
¾ Strongly Agree

APPENDIX C

Senior High School
Academic Year 2018-2019
Practical Research 2

Date
Dearest *name of interviewee*,

We, the research group from 12ABM8 of University of Santo Tomas Senior High
school, are inviting you to take part in our study entitled “Impact of False Advertising on
Consumer Buying Behavior of UST SHS Students” for our subject, Practical Research 2.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of false advertising on
consumers, particularly on Grade 12 UST SHS students, upon exposure to deceptive
advertisements. We are hoping to meet with you and ask some questions regarding false
advertising so we could have supplementary knowledge about the topic. Schedule and
venue shall be settled after you have agreed.

Your participation in the said study is highly voluntary and you can therefore
withdraw anytime. No harm shall be inflicted on the respondent upon withdrawal.
Regarding anonymity and confidentiality, we leave the choice to you. You will be asked to
decide whether you want to be identified in the study or not. The decision to keep your
identity hidden or not shall depend solely on you. Rest assured the research group shall
treat your decision with utmost respect and act accordingly. If you decide to take part in
the study, you will be asked to fill out the conforme below. If you have further questions,
you can reach us through e-mail, gail.hidalgo.shs@ust.edu.ph. or contact us at this
number, 09065721658.
We look forward to your kind consideration. Thank you.

Respectfully yours,
Del Mundo, Maverick Eslera, Karla Hidalgo, Gail
Iloseo, Kyle Pascual, Jaymee Tadeo, Bianca

APPENDIX C (Continued)

CONFORME
This is to acknowledge that I, ________________, am voluntarily participating in
the research study entitled “Impact of False Advertising on Consumer Buying
Behavior of UST SHS Students” by answering questions posed by the researchers
in the form of an interview. I understand that I am given the freedom to choose
whether I want to be identified in the study or not.
Interviewee’s Signature ___________________ Date ________________
Group Representative’s Signature _________________ Date ________________

APPENDIX D
REQUEST LETTER FOR POPULATION COUNT

APPENDIX E
FIRST INTERVIEWEE CONFORME
APPENDIX F
SECOND INTERVIEWEE CONFORME

APPENDIX G
THIRD INTERVIEWEE CONFORME

Impact of False Advertising On Consumer Buying Behavior of Ust Shs Students

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL PAGE 1

IMPACT OF FALSE ADVERTISING ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR OF UST

the business industry globally, advertising practitioners continuously search for

research will focus on the impact of deceptive advertisements on consumer

consumers in making sound and informed decisions in buying. As far as getting

concrete data is concerned, the researchers will be utilizing a mixed method

approach through questionnaires, surveys and interviews. For qualitative analysis,

a synthesis matrix is to be utilized, whereas chi-square testing, Cramer’s v, and p-

of the respondents would affect their susceptibility to false advertising.

Keywords: Advertising, False Advertising, Consumers, Consumer Buying Behavior

4.0 ANALYSIS OF DATA

1.1 Problem Rationale

In a time where global and technological developments are highly

number of competitors in most industries, effectively promoting one’s products is

encounter an advertisement or business promotion somewhere along the way.

Consumer oriented business activities such as promotions and advertisements

early twenties in the Philippines saw a rise in one-man advertising organizations

and newspaper advertisements (Lent, 1969). As our country became colonized by

foreign settlers, Filipino businessmen saw the need to invest on advertisements in

an effort to increase appreciation of local products. Eventually, radio and

television programs became actively involved in advertising during the 1950s

Indeed, advertising means have immensely developed through time and

continues to do so. Along with this development is the emergence of ill-mannered

advertising strategies and deceptive business activities. Nowadays, many

advertisements make explicit claims about product quality attributes such as

to the creation and implementation of consumer-oriented acts in different

horsemeat issue (Rhodes and Wilson, 2015). Undoubtedly, these unethical

business practices would affect consumers on a certain level. Individuals can be

easily swayed and influenced by explicit and persuasive advertisements even

products (Hussain and Ullah, 2015).

Moreover, it is also necessary to identify the role of advertising in businesses

and its effect on the younger generation of consumers. In the contemporary

setting, advertising and promotions greatly impact the marketability of a business’

products. According to Terkan (2014), advertising and marketing are commercially

increased efforts in marketing management through creative advertising and

strengthened customer relationships. Advertising helps to speed up the

introduction of new inventions, the process of industrialization and the expansion

of businesses (Terkan, 2014). Consequently, this would affect modern day

consumers, specifically the youth, who regularly encounter advertisements on a

provides new means for dissemination of information and business transactions

(Balgaokar and Palbakar, 2014).

The significance and relevance of consumer protection and misleading

advertisements in today’s modern setting makes it necessary and beneficial for

this research to be conducted. Furthermore, this would be advantageous to the

business industry as a whole can work towards fostering a better producer-

practices are prioritized.

1.2 Objectives of the Study

study are as follows:

1. To identify the most prominent false advertisement among the following:

false promises, visual distortion, bait-and-switch offers and small-print

Advertisement has different types that affects various consumers.

Some of these advertisements fall under false advertising if it does not

of false advertising that are most prominent today will be identified in

2. To determine the effect of false advertising on consumer behavior

Consumer behavior is related to why consumers decide to avail a

certain product or service after considering the product offerings and

product information. This is why some consumers end up buying products

study, consumer behavior will be quantified using the following extents:

word of mouth intention, social media activity following the exposure to

false advertisements and exclusion of the brand/product from a

consumer’s consideration set. False advertising is closely related to

between the two.

3. To discover how the strand of the respondents affect their susceptibility to