Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in out-of-home (OOH) advertising

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Journal Title

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Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2024

Department

Markkinoinnin laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Marketing

Language

en

Pages

78 + 17

Series

Abstract

In big cities, people are constantly surrounded by many outdoor advertisements and are not able to choose which advertisements they see. This raises questions about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Out-of-home (OOH) advertising. The study aims to investigate how consumers perceive CSR and ethical issues in OOH advertising, which is also the main research question of the thesis. To answer the research question, the thesis first reviews existing literature on CSR and OOH advertising to explore what is already known about consumers’ attitudes and perceptions toward these topics. To understand how consumers perceive CSR and ethical issues specifically in OOH advertising, a qualitative study is organized. Qualitative in-depth interviews were chosen as the research method, and a total of eight consumers living in large cities were selected for the interviewees. The existing literature revealed that consumers typically hold a favorable view of companies’ CSR initiatives and often expect businesses to behave responsibly towards society. Nevertheless, consumers expressed some doubt regarding the genuineness of companies’ CSR efforts, particularly because there have been previous cases of CSR- and greenwashing. The empirical part of the study also supported these claims, as all interviewees positively viewed companies’ CSR actions. However, they viewed that businesses’ CSR efforts must be genuine, as there is a risk of appearing to engage in greenwashing when promoting them through OOH advertising. Therefore, the interviewees recommended that companies should either promote socially significant issues, such as equality or communicate their values in their OOH advertisements. In turn, based on the existing literature, consumers tend to perceive OOH advertising and advertising in general more negatively. However, the study revealed that consumers were neutral towards OOH advertising and did not find it as intrusive as other forms of advertising, such as social media advertising. Nevertheless, OOH advertising was also seen to have positive effects, such as sharing information and making the environment livelier. Additionally, consumers’ attitudes and experiences with a brand were found to influence how they perceive OOH advertisements. The most significant issues associated with OOH advertising were seen as challenges in targeting, promoting harmful content, encouraging overconsumption, and worsening addictions. According to previous literature, one of the significant drawbacks of OOH advertising is visual pollution but contrary to expectations, most of the interviewees had not experienced visual pollution caused by OOH advertising. The most significant harmful products and issues consumers believed should be banned in OOH advertising were products that are harmful to health (e.g. alcohol), products that are unsuitable for children (e.g. dating services), generally inappropriate products (e.g. violence), and content that offends human rights (e.g. content that offends minorities). The interviewees saw regulating OOH advertising mostly positively and mentioned laws, regulatory authorities, and in-centives such as tax breaks as the most significant means of regulation. The small number and consistent demographics of the interviewees, along with limited literature on OOH advertising can be seen as limitations of the study. On the other hand, these factors provide a good foundation for future research.

Description

Thesis advisor

Kajalo, Sami

Keywords

corporate social responsibility, out-of-home advertising, CSR, OOH advertising, consumer perceptions

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202409016096

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[gradu] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ