Advertising as a factor of (un)happiness: can advertising be an indicator for measuring happiness?

Sreča je čustvo, cilj oziroma sredstvo, ki mu poskušamo slediti, tako na individualni kot na makro ravni. Sreča je eden izmed najbolj izmuzljivih konceptov, kadar jo želimo opredeliti, zato ni oprijemljivosti in zanesljivosti v iskanju znanstvene opredelitve. Vsakemu predstavlja nekaj svojega, zato fenomen sreče raziskujejo vse družbene vede - vsaka v okviru svojega konteksta. Raziskovanje sreče se v ekonomiji pomembno začne s kontradiktorno tezo Richarda Easterlina (1973), ki ugotovi, da dolgoročno denar ne prinaša sreče, tj. višja stopnja BDP po nekem obdobju ni več povezana z višjo stopnjo subjektivnega blagostanja oziroma sreče, kar je danes znano kot Easterlinov paradoks. Magistrska raziskava v prvem delu tako poskuša potrditi oziroma ovreči Easterlinov paradoks tudi za Slovenijo. Teoretični del se osredotoča na podrobno razlago fenomena sreče skozi različne družbene vede, oriše problematiko raziskovanja sreče ter obravnava determinante in kazalnike sreče. Za lažje razumevanje empirične raziskave v teoretičnem delu sledi tudi analiza oglaševanja. Empirični del se osredotoča na iskanje (statistično pomembne) korelacije med srečo in oglaševanjem oziroma poskuša ugotoviti koliko je oglaševanje dejavnik sreče za pet izbranih držav Evropske unije. Analiza je pokazala, da lahko tudi za Slovenijo trdimo, da po nekem obdobju med srečo in BDP ni več vzročno-posledičnega razmerja, kar potrjuje Easterlinov paradoks. Ugotavljamo tudi, da med oglaševanjem in srečo obstaja statistično pomembna korelacija.Happiness is an emotion, a goal and an asset we try to pursue both on individual and macro level. Happiness is one of the most elusive concepts to define. Therefore, there is no tangibility and reliability in finding a proper scientific definition. As it represents something different to everyone, the phenomen of happiness is explored by all social sciences – each within their context. Researching the happiness in the Economy started with the contradictory thesis of Richard Easterlin (2003), i.e. that money on the long-term does not have an influence on the happiness, which means that GDP is not related with a higher level of subjective well-being or happiness after a certain period. It is known as Easterlin paradox. In the first part, the Master thesis focuses on proving the (non)existence of Easterlin paradox in Slovenia. The theoretic part is focused on the detailed explanation of happiness through the knowledge of various social sciences, outlines the problems of researching the happiness and discusses the determinants and indicators of happiness. To facilitate the understanding of empirical research, the theoretical part also covers an analysis of advertising. The empirical part focuses on finding a (statistically significant) correlation between happiness and advertising and tries to determine if and in which amount advertising is a factor of happiness for the five selected countries of the European Union. The analysis of the Easterlin paradox for Slovenia proved the validity of it, meaning that after a certain period there is no cause-effect relationship between happiness and GDP. In the empirical part, we have also come to the clear conclusions that there is a statistically significant correlation between advertising and happiness