| Abstract: |
This study focused on advertising messages and people’s patronage of GSM Firms in Ebonyi State. The study emerged from the backdrop of increasing complaints about poor GSM services in Nigeria, and the assumption that advertising could help in shaping perceptions and choice of GSM networks among active users and subscribers. The study was aimed at making an empirical contribution to existing understanding of the level of influence advertising has on people behaviour in the telecommunication industry. Three specific objectives with three corresponding research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The population of study comprised 3,242,500 of adult men and women based on the 2021 Nigerian National Population census figures projection. The breakdown has: Ebonyi South 1,222,100, Ebonyi North 1,056,200, and Ebonyi Central 964,200 as at March 21, 2021). The sample size of the study comprised 400 men and women adults which were determined through Taro Yamane formula while multi-stage sampling method in which institutions were randomly selected and research instruments purposively administered to the respondents. Results were analyzed using percentage frequency and Chi-square test. Overall results show that GSM adverts are highly preferred by people, secondly, to a high extent do advertisement of message influence people preference of GSM services. Finding also shows that that people of Ebonyi State often patronize GSM firms. Based on the findings the study recommended that GSM advertisement messages should be factual, accurate and realistic since such messages affect perception and preference for GSM patronage. |
