Abstract:

Historically, advertising was not well appreciated by the general public in Saudi Arabia, but now things are changing. The Kingdom is one of the fastest-growing advertising markets in the world. With Saudi Vision 2030, it is expected that advertising will grow further. This study will establish a baseline for further research on the subject area. This exploratory research aims to examine the public opinion towards advertising in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was developed with the help of earlier studies on public perceptions towards advertising. From earlier studies, sixty items were selected to measure the public opinion towards advertising in Saudi Arabia. Survey methodology was used to solicit the responses from respondents (N = 410). Exploratory factor analyses were used to examine the responses. A six-factor solution was extracted and finalized. This six-factor solution includes Skeptic, Information, Entertainment, Utilitarian, Influenced, and Irritated. These six factors were analyzed using second-order factor analysis resulting in two factors, namely Optimistic and Pessimistic. Pessimistic views towards advertising in Saudi Arabia were relatively stronger than Optimistic views, and this difference is statistically significant.