CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background of the Study

Advertising is any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor.

Advertising is non-personal because its message are not aimed at a particular person but are meant for an anonymous audience.

Advertising is derived from the Latin word “Advertere” which means to turn attention of people to a specific thing.

Advertising in Nigeria is traced to one of the earliest form of mass communication namely town criers were used in disseminating of information about important ceremonies and event such as inter-tribunal, disasters, wars, birth, death, marriage.

Today, Advertising is used worldwide to sell ideas, policies and attitude as well as products, even the socialists’ countries when one condemned communication as an evil of capitalism, frequently adhered to their theories of advertising in developing in their planned economics.

Bounce (1982) defined advertising as a “non-personal communication of information usually paid for and persuasive in nature about a products, services, ideas by identified sponsor” that is to say that advertising inform prospective about goods and services, their uses and application.

1.2     Statement of the Problem 

The most visible activity of the wheel of any business in advertisement, it disseminates information about products or services in trying to reach consumers decision making process.

This is why organization including the producer of star maggi budget every year for the advertisement of their products. It is pertinent to find out whether house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban are influence by the advertising and if this advert induces them to action.

Since most people today, have access to the media which convey both sounds and visual, this study seeking to know whether this advertising really influence consumers in Ikot Ekpene Urban.

1.3     Objective of the Study

The following are the objectives of this study:

• To find out if house wives in Ikot Ekpene urban are exposed to star maggi advertising.
• To examine the influence of advertising of star maggi on house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban.
• To Access the extent of advertising of star maggi plays on house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban.

1.4     Research Questions

The following are the research questions to this study:

• Do house wives of Ikot Ekpene Urban expose to advertising?
• Do advertising of star maggi influence house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban?
• To what extent do advertising of star maggi plays on house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban?

1.5     Scope of the Study

This study on the influence of advertising on consumers brand preference of star maggi did not attempt to cover the advertising of other maggi but limited to only star maggi and targeted at house wives residents in Ikot Ekpene Urban.

1.6     Significance of the Study

This study will help house wives in Ikot Ekpene Urban in particular and society at large to appreciate the past gains of advertising.

This study will help media organization and advertising agencies to know how to produce advert copies.

This study will equally help consumers brand preference in the midst of varieties of product advertised. Also, it helps other organization that exit without advertising to adopt.

1.7     Limitation of the Study

During the process of this study the followings factors contributed as limitation. This includes the refusal of the respondents to complete the questionnaire on ground of loss of interest on anything that is political.

Also, the incorporative of attitude of the respondents to respond to the research questions in time which posed a problem on data collections. These problems were solved by explaining to the respondents that it was for academic purpose not for anything else.