Reliability of advertising in the opinion of ukrainian and polish students
Authors:   Cracow Uniwersity of Economics, Wiktor, Jan W. , Sanak-Kosmowska Katarzyna ,   Cracow Uniwersity of Economics, Reshetnikova Iryna ,   Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman
Published: June 2022

The aim of the article. The article aims to assess the credibility of advertising treated as a form of communication between the company and the market. Among the many different areas of advertising analysis, the message's credibility is an important issue, although it is not in the mainstream of research. Analyses results.The credibility of advertising is the subject of analysis within the framework of business ethics or marketing ethics. It has its content and importance both in science and in everyday life. Beyond ethics, credibility is of interest to sociology and every discipline that describes human behavior and social relationships shaped by information and mutual communication. In economic sciences, it combines with the identity and image of a company, the reliability of its way of communicating marketing activities, and the assessment of financial statements' quality (credibility). Thus, the title problem of the article expresses a new and original scientific concern in advertising research. It has a significant cognitive meaning and significant practical consequences - shaping the transparency of marketing communication and business ethics. In terms of methodology, the article focuses on joint research conducted among marketing and management students at two universities: the Kyiv National University of Economics and the University of Economics in Krakow. This research is an expression of many years of scientific cooperation between the Departments of Marketing of both universities. The research has produced interesting and scientifically valuable results. They show the similarity and differentiation of students' opinions from both countries regarding the function and importance of advertising. We put these assessments into a common perspective of the credibility of the advertisement. It is a fundamental problem per se, both for the consumer and the seller, critical to assessing the effectiveness of advertising in the marketing communication system and for the formation of social behavior of e-consumers. Research shows that the eight primary forms of online advertising are rated relatively low. This observation is a common opinion of students from both countries. The views of celebrities and personalities of advertising campaigns were also considered unreliable. Research on the positive and negative functions and significance of advertising produced results that varied in detail. However, we emphasize the high convergence of opinions of both respondents on the impact of advertising on purchasing decisions and negative consequences on society and the promotion of consumerism. The conducted research shows that students from Ukraine show a more positive attitude to advertising than students from Poland, thus a slightly more significant, positive assessment of the credibility of the advertising message. In the context of the credibility of advertising, the question of the legitimacy of strict state intervention in the online advertising market was relevant. Representatives of both surveyed groups generally agree on the legality of state intervention and regulation of the advertising market, i.e., creating a modern, transparent advertising law system. This system will create a framework for legal advertising creation strategies, devoid of information asymmetry in the message and manipulation of consumer behavior. Conclusions and directions for further research. In conclusion, we emphasize the need to continue research on the multidimensional role of advertising in the modern market. The preliminary study results presented in the article are a premise for undertaking such research in the future in international teams of Polish and Ukrainian researchers.