Potential of Media Literacy on Deceptive Advertising Awareness of the Dietary Supplements in Chonburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the influence of demographic background on an awareness of deceptive advertising of the dietary supplements and to study the level of consumers’ knowledge on deceptive advertising and their media literacy. The study also explored the influence of the consumers’ knowledge on deceptive advertising and their media literacy on their awareness to the deceptive advertising. The research sample consisted of 400 consumers who had watched advertising on dietary supplements, selected by non-probability sampling. The data were analyzed with mean, standard deviation, as well as one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis, with a statistical significance level of .05. 

The research results showed that most of respondents were female (accounting for 82.20 percent), aged between 31-40 years old (accounting for 52.30 percent), graduated with bachelor’s degree (73.80 percent), had an average income of 10,001-20,000 Baht (53.50 percent).  In term of their knowledge on deceptive advertising and media literacy as well as the influence of these factors on their awareness of deceptive advertising, it was found that four independent factors including media reception skills, media understanding skills, media assessment skills, and skills in using media for benefits affected the consumers’ awareness of the deceptive advertising of the dietary supplements whereas the other factors including knowledge on deceptive advertising and media literacy of the consumers had no effect on the dependent factors with statistical significance.