| The purpose of this study is to examine both concepts and research in media advertising credibility from an audience-oriented perspective and to discuss how such an approach helps to explain the audience's evaluation of media. This study analyzed the credibility of advertising in four media and the audience evaluation of each medium's credibility. Such an analysis of media advertising credibility is equally important to both media scholars and advertising practitioners, especially when it takes an audience-oriented approach by applying mass communication theory, such as source credibility theory. This research applies the theoretic concepts of source credibility perspective in a non-Western culture, Kuwait.;Telephone interviews were conducted on a random sample of 529 Kuwaiti nationals to test the hypotheses and research questions. The study reveals that there is a relationship between the source of news and the source of advertising. Although this relationship is significant, the strength of it was weak. In contrast, the relationship between the source of news and source of advertising was strong between magazines and radio.;The study found that there is a strong relationship between advertising functions and credibility dimensions in four media. Advertising on television was found to be more informative, persuasive, and entertaining for advertising functions, and coincidentally, advertising on television was found to be more believable, influential, and of higher quality. Newspapers followed television in the same direction for both advertising functions and credibility dimensions. On the other hand, radio and magazines were perceived to some degree as not stable.;The overall relationship between media advertising credibility dimensions and Kuwaiti demographic characteristics was found significant only for age and income. For education and gender there were no statistically significant results found. Also, the relationship between Kuwaiti demographic characteristics and respondents' attitudes toward advertising credibility in four media revealed that only the gender factor was significant in this relationship. This study finds that demographic characteristics are not predictors of media advertising credibility except with gender and income. The study did not find any relationship between buying a product or service and the source of the credibility influence. |
