The relationship between advertising and the level of materialism among adolescents in Hong Kong

Abstract

The high level of materialism as a negative value was generated by the mass media and advertising industry on Hong Kong adolescents. The adolescents consider possessions of material goods as a way to achieve success, happiness, as well as self-fulfillment for developmental needs. This paper proposed a theoretical model of adolescents’ level of materialism, their attitude towards advertising, and the attraction to media celebrities. The relationship among all variables was tested. Quantitative research method was adopted in this study, and a questionnaire was distributed to City University of Hong Kong undergraduate students. The findings revealed that attraction to media celebrities was positively related to adolescents’ materialism. Meanwhile, adolescents’ attitudes towards advertising were also a positive predictor of attraction to media celebrities. Yet adolescents’ attitudes towards advertising did not lead to a high level of materialism directly. In addition, the limitation and recommendations for further research were also discussed.