A Critical Review and Synthesis of Research on Advertising in a Recession

Abstract:     
Based on an extensive review of research on advertising in a recession, the authors identify over 40 related studies. Ten of these studies involve original empirical analyses of cross-sectional or time series data. The rest are theoretical discussions, reviews, cases, or opinions. The studies may be classified into four groups based on the dependent variable analyzed: 1) Sensitivity of advertising expenditures to the economy; 2) Sensitivity of brand versus private label share to economic expansions and contractions; 3) Impact of advertising in a recession to sales or market share during or after a recession; 4) Impact of advertising in a recession to profits during and after the recession. The authors critically review these studies and synthesize the major findings.

Keywords: Advertsing, recession, branding, private label, advertsing elasticity

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