Global Marketing and Consumer Protection Challenges in Ethical International Advertising Practices

Abstract

The increasing speed of the globalization of markets has intensified the complexity of advertising activities in international markets, in which there is a need to balance ethics along with the cultural, legal, and regulatory environments of each market. The study examines the multidimensional problems that multinationals have when they plan and implement an ethical international advertising campaign and the protection of consumers, in accordance with stakeholders’ theory and cross-cultural consumer behavior models. Quantitative survey research was applied with 400 samples, drawn from five regions of the world, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa/Middle East. Data were collected via a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, which had six well-validated constructs, including Ethical Advertising Perception (EAP), Consumer Trust (CT), Regulatory Compliance Awareness (RCA), Cultural Sensitivity Index (CSI), Brand Purchase Intention (BPI), and Digital Transparency Score (DTS).The multiple regression and one-way ANOVA methods were used for inferential analysis, and the results show that only ethical advertising perception (β = 0.412, p<.001) and cultural sensitivity (β =0.287, p<.001) have a significant influence on consumer trust and brand purchase intention. Consumers from North America and Europe are likely to possess positive expectations for consumer trust and transparency than consumers from Asia-Pacific and Latin America since regional differences are statistically significant (F-values= 5.97-7.21, p<.001) for all constructs. In addition, inadequate regulation, digital misinformation, and cultural insensitivity are considered the primary issues in international advertising. This study also contributes to the implications for the governing processes of marketing worldwide and indicates the essential role of having cultural intelligence that is integrated with online transparency and compliance with different worldwide regulations to build consumers' trust.