Can offensive advertising strategies survive the perceptions of the millennial muslims in Egypt?

 

This study explores what Millennial (Generation Y) Muslims in Egypt perceive as

offensive in offensive advertising and the reasons behind their offence. It aims to

define religiosity from their point of view and to investigate if it has an effect on

their attitudes and purchase intentions/behaviours. Therefore, the study raised

enquiries about key concepts such as the definition of offensive advertising,

attitudes towards offensive advertising, religiosity and behaviours of Millennial

Muslims in Egypt.

The researcher explores the Millennial Muslims perceptions and attitudes towards

offence, offensive advertising and religiosity through focus group discussions, oneto-

one interviews and solicited diaries. The research design used in the study is an

interpretivistic philosophy with an exploratory purpose, inductive approach and

grounded theory strategy.

The study revealed in-depth data concerning the Shababs' profiles, characteristics,

personalities, views on religion and religiosity and their attitudes towards offensive

advertising. The research established that religiosity has no effect on the perceptions

or behaviours of the Millennial Muslims in Egypt since parental influence has the

greater effect even on their religiosity, which yielded two new behavioural models

pertinent to the Millennial Muslims in Egypt.

The Millennial Muslims in Egypt face depression caused by an identity crisis and an

inferiority complex. This depression created a new behaviour in the Millennial

Muslims in Egypt where offensive ads annoy/upset them but do not reach the

severity of offending them. Consequently, a new list of offensive advertising

themes/executions was created based on the Millennial Muslims perceptions of

provocative ads. Finally, practical implications were given with ideas for future

researchers.