Abstract: Advertising value is defined as a subjective evaluation of the relative worth or utility of advertising to consumers. This study investigated how Chinese adolescents assess advertising value, and the subsequent effect of this assessment on their purchase intentions. Based on empirical observations and the existing literature, we used advertising informativeness, entertainment, social motivation, and advertising persuasion tactics as the four antecedents of advertising value, with purchase intention as the consequence of advertising value. We chose to study adolescents as they accounted for 28.1% (equivalent to about 350 million people) of the Chinese population in 2004. Further, given the country’s one-child policy, their influence on their parents’ purchase decisions on family-related products is fairly substantial.
We collected data from 412 adolescents who were studying in seven high schools in Beijing. Due to some incomplete responses, the final usable sample amounted to 366 students. The measures for the constructs were adapted from the existing literature, and were translated into Chinese and then back-translated into English to ensure accuracy and equivalence. All the items indicated acceptable levels of reliability and validity. We used structural equation modeling (AMOS 4.0) to test our framework, and the results indicated an acceptable level of fit.
The results supported our hypotheses. Specifically, our findings were as follows:
(1) Advertising informativeness, entertainment, and social motivation were all positively related to advertising value. In other words, advertising that is informative and entertaining is likely to lead to positive advertising value. Similarly, advertising that enhances social motivation is positively related to advertising value.
(2) Advertising persuasion tactics were negatively related to advertising value. In other words, when Chinese adolescents believe that the advertisers have used advertising to manipulate their behavior, it will negatively affect their perceived advertising value.
(3) Advertising value had a positive effect on purchase intention. Chinese adolescents who are positively influenced by advertising value are likely to have stronger purchase intentions.
Our study has several theoretical implications. First, to the best of our knowledge, our study represents the first empirical examination of advertising value in China, as previous studies were conducted in Western countries. Second, while previous works on advertising value investigated advertising informativeness and entertainment as antecedents of advertising value, in our study, we also incorporated social motivation and advertising persuasion tactics as two other important antecedents.
The practical implications of our results are as follows. Advertisers targeting Chinese adolescents should engage in advertising that is informative, entertaining, and socially motivated. Further, advertisers should avoid being overly persuasive, as this is likely to turn off Chinese adolescents, leading to lower advertising value and purchase intentions

Key words: Advertising Value, Informativeness, Entertainment, Persuasion Tactics, Social Motivation, Purchase Intention