Attitude Toward the Ad (Deceptive)

What it measures

A three-item, nine-point semantic differential scale measuring the extent to which a person perceives an advertisement to be unbelievable, untruthful, and deceptive. The scale captures consumers' skeptical evaluation of advertising honesty and transparency. Assumed to have been developed by Kirmani and Zhu for use in a study examining how regulatory focus affects consumers' activation of persuasion knowledge in response to potentially manipulative advertising. The scale was subsequently used by Aguirre-Rodriguez (2013) in a Journal of Advertising study of scarcity appeals, where it demonstrated stronger reliability, providing cross-study validation of the instrument. The handbook notes the items may also be suitable for evaluating the perceived deceptiveness of people or other stimuli beyond advertising.

Response format

9-point semantic differential (anchors: believable/unbelievable; truthful/not truthful; nondeceptive/deceptive)

Scale items

• believable (1) / unbelievable (9)
• truthful (1) / not truthful (9)
• nondeceptive (1) / deceptive (9)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The scale is conceptually related to but more specifically deception-focused than ID 1974 (Attitude Toward the Ad (Believability), Chang), which measures positive believability attributes (believable, trustworthy, credible, reasonable, convincing, unbiased). The Kirmani & Zhu scale frames items from the unbelievable/deceptive end and uses a 9-point rather than Likert format. The 9-point semantic differential format is unusual; researchers may wish to adapt to a 7-point format, though reliability should be re-assessed. Alpha values improved substantially across studies (.83 to .94), suggesting the scale may perform better with more engaged or scrutinising samples. Also used by Aguirre-Rodriguez, A. (2013). The effect of consumer persuasion knowledge on scarcity appeal persuasiveness. Journal of Advertising, 42(4), 371-379.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Kirmani, A., & Zhu, R. (2007). Vigilant against manipulation: The effect of regulatory focus on the use of persuasion knowledge. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(4), 688-701.

Keywords