IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON THE SALES AND CONSUMPTION OF COCA-COLA

ABSTRACT

The media has been machinery for influencing consumers' choice of product in a competitive market by informing, enlightening and persuading the target audience. An advertisement is also one of the strategies used in marketing to sell products and services via mass media which can later translate such promotion into building brand loyalty among consumers. However, this research was concerned to find out the impact of advertising on the sales and consumption of Coca-Cola among Laittos University students in Delta. The research is anchored on cultivation analysis, persuasion theory and Strong and Weak Theory respectively. The study adopted survey research method with 120 respondents drawn from students of the institution using purposive sampling method (non-probability method). The main data collection instrument employed to elicit responses from the selected respondents is the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics with the use of frequency and percentage method was adopted to analyse the collected data. Findings show that majority of the respondents were exposed to Coca-Cola advert messages on mass media particularly on the television and billboard. They were influenced to buy and consume Coca-Cola to some extent.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In an increasingly competitive consumer goods market, advertising has become one of the principal tools by which manufacturers seek to inform, persuade and remind target audiences about their products, with the ultimate aim of influencing purchase decisions and building lasting brand loyalty. Several theoretical perspectives help explain how this influence is thought to operate. Cultivation theory, developed by Gerbner and Gross (1976), proposes that sustained, repeated exposure to media content, including advertising, gradually shapes audiences' perceptions and attitudes over time, suggesting that consistent exposure to a brand's advertising can cultivate favourable dispositions toward that brand. Persuasion theory, articulated in the classic work of Hovland, Janis and Kelley (1953), similarly examines how the source, content and delivery of a communication influence the extent to which it succeeds in changing an audience's beliefs or attitudes, a framework directly applicable to understanding how advertising messages are designed to move consumers toward a purchase decision.

A further useful distinction in the advertising literature is that between the strong and weak theories of advertising, most fully articulated by Vakratsas and Ambler (1999) in their comprehensive review of how advertising works. The strong theory holds that advertising can directly persuade and convert consumers, actively creating new demand and changing brand preference, whereas the weak theory, associated with the view that advertising functions primarily to reinforce existing brand awareness and loyalty among consumers who are already familiar with a product, sees advertising as nudging rather than converting. Both perspectives remain relevant to understanding how a globally recognized brand such as Coca-Cola uses advertising to sustain and grow its market position.

Recent empirical studies lend support to the continued relevance of advertising to consumer purchase behaviour in the soft drinks category specifically. Ajibade and Waseem (2024), examining the influence of social media on Nigerian millennials' purchase behaviour toward Coca-Cola and Pepsi, found that promotional tools such as social media coupons and brand-run contests had a statistically significant positive effect on purchase behaviour, underscoring that well-targeted promotional advertising continues to move consumers toward a purchase decision. Abubakar and Achuku (2023), examining the effect of advertising on consumer buying behaviour for new products in a Nigerian food manufacturing company, similarly found that television advertising had a positive and statistically significant effect on consumer buying behaviour, though the effectiveness of different media channels varied considerably. It is against this background that the present study investigates the impact of advertising on the sales and consumption of Coca-Cola among Laittos University students in Delta, drawing on cultivation analysis, persuasion theory and the strong and weak theories of advertising as its theoretical framework.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Despite the substantial sums that manufacturers such as the Coca-Cola Company invest in advertising through television, billboards and other mass media channels, the precise extent to which such advertising actually translates into increased sales and consumption, as opposed to simply reinforcing brand awareness among consumers who would have purchased the product regardless, remains a subject of ongoing debate within marketing scholarship, as reflected in the continuing discussion between strong and weak theories of advertising (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999). For a specific, well-established brand like Coca-Cola operating within a highly competitive Nigerian soft drinks market, there remains limited direct evidence, particularly among university student populations such as those at Laittos University in Delta, on how exposure to Coca-Cola's advertising across different media channels actually shapes consumers' purchase and consumption behaviour. It is this gap that the present study seeks to address.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study was the effect of advertising on sales volume of an organization, but for the successful completion of the study, the following sub-objectives were formulated:

• To examine the effect of advertising on sales volume.

• To investigate the relationship between advertising and sales.

• To investigate the role of advertising in attaining profitability.

• To investigate the cost of advertising to the organization.

1.4 Research Questions

This study seeks to provide answers to the following research questions:

• What is the effect of advertising on the sales volume of Coca-Cola?

• What is the relationship between advertising and the sales of Coca-Cola?

• What role does advertising play in attaining profitability for the organization?

• What is the cost of advertising to the organization relative to its benefits?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study is significant to marketing managers and executives at Coca-Cola and similar soft drinks manufacturers, as its findings offer evidence-based insight into which advertising channels and strategies most effectively translate into increased sales and consumption, information that can directly inform advertising budget allocation. To advertising practitioners and agencies, the study offers a concrete case study of how cultivation, persuasion and strong or weak advertising effects manifest among a specific consumer population.

For the academic community, the study extends the existing literature on advertising effectiveness in the Nigerian soft drinks sector, including the recent work of Ajibade and Waseem (2024) and Abubakar and Achuku (2023), while grounding its analysis in the established theoretical frameworks of cultivation theory (Gerbner & Gross, 1976), persuasion theory (Hovland et al., 1953) and the strong and weak theories of advertising (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999). Finally, the study will serve as a useful reference for future researchers, students and marketing practitioners interested in advertising's effect on sales and consumption in the Nigerian beverage industry.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study is focused on students of Laittos University in Delta and examines their exposure to, and the influence of, Coca-Cola advertising across mass media channels, including television and billboards, on their purchase and consumption behaviour. The scope of the study covers the effect of advertising on sales volume, the relationship between advertising and sales, the role of advertising in attaining profitability, and the cost of advertising to the organization, as perceived and reported by the surveyed student population. The study does not extend to a comprehensive financial analysis of Coca-Cola's actual advertising expenditure and revenue figures, relying instead on survey-based consumer perceptions.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

This study is subject to a number of limitations typical of survey-based consumer research. Because the study relies on a purposive, non-probability sample of 120 respondents drawn from a single institution, its findings may not be fully generalizable to the wider Nigerian consumer population. Self-reported data on advertising exposure and its influence on purchase behaviour may also be subject to recall bias or social-desirability bias, as respondents may over- or under-report the extent to which advertising actually influences their choices. The study's cross-sectional design further means that it captures attitudes and behaviour at a single point in time and cannot fully account for how advertising influence might vary over a longer period. Time and resource constraints associated with the research also limited the depth of investigation that could be undertaken. Notwithstanding these limitations, the study was designed to yield as reliable and representative a picture as possible within the given constraints.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Advertising: Any paid, non-personal form of communication about a product, service or idea, transmitted through mass media by an identified sponsor with the aim of informing, persuading or reminding a target audience.

Sales Volume: The total quantity of a product sold by an organization over a given period, often used as a key measure of market performance.

Profitability: The extent to which an organization generates financial profit relative to its expenses, revenue or investment.

Cultivation Theory: A media theory proposing that long-term, repeated exposure to media content gradually shapes and reinforces an audience's perceptions, beliefs and attitudes over time.

Persuasion Theory: A communication theory examining how the source, content and structure of a message influence its effectiveness in changing an audience's beliefs, attitudes or behaviour.

Strong Theory of Advertising: The view that advertising can directly persuade and convert consumers, actively creating new demand and shifting brand preference.

Weak Theory of Advertising: The view that advertising functions primarily to reinforce existing brand awareness and loyalty among consumers already familiar with a product, rather than actively converting new customers.

REFERENCES

Abubakar, A., & Achuku, A. (2023). Effect of advertising on the consumer buying behaviour of new products in Ajinomoto Foods Nigeria Limited, Katsina-Nigeria. Journal of Business & Management, 1(4), 274–295. https://doi.org/10.47747/jbm.v1i4.1350

Ajibade, T., & Waseem, D. (2024). Social media influence on millennials purchase behaviour of Coca-Cola and Pepsi carbonated soft drink. Open Journal of Business and Management, 12, 2135–2162. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojbm.2024.124110

Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26(2), 172–199.

Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion: Psychological studies of opinion change. Yale University Press.

Vakratsas, D., & Ambler, T. (1999). How advertising works: What do we really know? Journal of Marketing, 63(1), 26–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299906300103