Practitioner Views of Comparative Advertising

ABSTRACT A replication of a 1989 survey of senior advertising agency creative practitioners shows that their views remain quite favorable toward comparative advertising that explicitly identifies competitors. Although significant differences between the two studies show that today9s top creative people express somewhat less confidence in the relative effectiveness of comparative advertising, the findings also show that they are significantly more confident that they understand under what conditions it will be effective. Differences between the original survey and its replication suggest important directions for future research on comparative advertising.