Content Analysis of Print Advertisements of Sports Utility Vehicles (Suvs) In India

Jinal Parikh 1 *
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1 Ahmedabad University, India
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 45-68. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2558
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ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to do a content analysis of print advertisements of the top five1 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) brands in today’s highly competitive Indian automobile market. Specifically, Resnik and Stern’s (1977) classification system has been used to infer a pattern of advertising practices followed by the SUV advertisers and to analyse the informational cues and creative strategies used by these advertisers. The analysis suggested the presence of informational cues in all the advertisements analysed. Quality, shape and performance emerged as the most extensively used informational cuesfor the selected SUV advertisements as compared to others. The analysis of creative strategies of the selected SUV advertisements revealed that information; reasoning and psychological appeals are used more over any other creative strategies by advertisers.This result is unlike the common notion that the target market of SUVs is brand-conscious.The results complement the fact that, in India in general, the SUVs are preferred for safety, as four of the five brands have used safety as an informational cue in their advertisement.
Keywords: content analysis, print advertisements, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), Resnik and Stern’s (1977) classification system, information cues, creative strategies

CITATION

Parikh, J. (2016). Content Analysis of Print Advertisements of Sports Utility Vehicles (Suvs) In India. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 6(3), 45-68. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2558

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