Effects of Television Advertisements on FMCG Products with Special Reference to Dharmapuri District – A Study on Rural Audience Behaviour

Advertising is communicating the necessary information to influence the prospective customers to take a decision to buy the advertised product / brand. Communicating the products manufactured is inevitable for any organisation. Advertising products to rural audience and influencing them to purchase the products is further challenging. By overcoming the rural challenges like low literacy rate, poor infrastructure the products and brands have to reach them. It takes enormous efforts to carry the marketing messages to the rural areas. Many research studies have proved that advertisements have an influence on purchase behaviour of the prospective customers. Experts of various media have highlighted the contribution of advertisements as a reinforcement factors to influence the opinions, attitudes and behaviour of audience. Advertisements are potent tools used to promote the products, services, image and goodwill of the company and helps the marketers to occupy a place in the minds of the customers. One of the simplest way to define advertising is, it is an art and form of telling and selling. Effective telling leads to effective selling. Deciding the effectiveness is in the hands of audience. Television advertising is considered as the most influencing form of communication to send the messages to the rural audience. The audio-visual effect is advantageous to reach all types of audience in spite of their literacy level. Television is also considered as king of all media. Even in the internet era television dominates the reach in rural areas of India. In future also television continue to dominate and will become a digital medium, but it will not vanish. Rural areas have television sets at home and the percentage of television ownership population is increasing every year. Dish TV services have also increased and confirmed the liking of television viewing in rural areas. The advertisement industry is a vibrant industry in the world as the process of buying is a frequent action and the choice making of buyers is in a state of constant fluidity. Therefore continuous reminders through advertisements by breaking the clutter will keep the buyers informed about the products and enable them to take a decision on brands. Influencing customer’s decision through advertisements has become mandatory for the advertisers and big portion of budget is allotted for the purpose of communicating the messages. A desire for the products has to be created by the advertisers through advertisements. However good the product or brand is, without informing about it, customers’ decision making to buy the product is not possible. Therefore advertisements are necessary to influence decision making