Impact of Advertising on Consumer Behavior & Business Performance: M&S

This report investigates the impact of advertising on consumer behavior and business performance, focusing on Marks & Spencer. The research employs secondary data and a qualitative approach, utilizing thematic analysis to explore the relationship between advertising strategies and consumer behavior. The report aims to understand the basic concepts of marketing and consumer behavior, identify the different types of marketing advertisements used by Marks & Spencer, and analyze their impact on consumers. It uses secondary sources such as books, articles, journals, and publications to gather relevant information and address existing gaps in the topic, providing a comprehensive analysis of advertising's role in shaping consumer preferences and improving business outcomes for Marks & Spencer.

Secondary Data collection Only
University of West London Research Ethics
You are required to complete an ethics application BEFORE you
embark on the data collection exercise of the research project
Please complete all the following sections:
- Section A: Ethics Form
- Section B: Data management and storage form
RESEARCH ETHICS AND INTEGRITY

RISK ASSESSMENT FORM
Section A: FORM A
For all Undergraduate/Postgraduate Dissertations and Research
Projects
Please fill in this form, then SAVE IT AS A PDF and submit as instructed by your supervisor
with your project proposal
Your name: (first) ……………………… (last) ………………………
Student number: …………… Your email address: ……………@

PROJECT DESCRIPTON
Please answer the following questions:
1. Do you intend to involve human participants in the conduct of your research?
If no, please skip questions 2 & 3.
☐ Yes ☐No
2. Does your research involve vulnerable adults or under-18s?
☐ Yes ☐No
3. Could your research potentially expose you, anyone assisting you, or
participants to emotional harm?
☐ Yes ☐No
4. Will your research involve travelling to geo-politically unstable
regions/countries (e.g. areas affected by war, civil unrest, natural disasters, or
listed as unadvisable to travel by the UK government?
☐ Yes ☐No
5. Will your research involve access to security-sensitive material? If yes, you
must include a data management statement.
☐ Yes ☐No
This proposal must be completed with the assistance of your supervisor. You
can change the size of the boxes (below) by typing or deleting as necessary.
It is very important to convey with clarity:
• Your research questions/the problem/the theme or topic you are investigating
(what you are proposing to do and to find out or to create)
• The methodology or technical approach (for projects comprising in whole or
in part the creation of an artefact) you will adopt – methods, number of
participants, who the participants (if any) will be, survey instruments used
technology and equipment employed etc.; and what questions you are
planning to ask your respondents (if applicable); how you will deal with
technical challenges.
Title of project
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“To analyse the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour and improving the business
performance”. A study on Marks & Spencer
____________________________________________________________________________
Name of researcher(s)
_____________________________________Email:[e-mail]
Name of supervisor _____________________________Date:________________________
WHERE APPROPRIATE TO YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC/RESEARCH: YES NO N/A
1 Will you describe in writing the main procedures to participants in
advance, so that they are informed about what to expect? A copy of
this must be attached to this application
✓
2 Will you tell participants that their participation is voluntary? ✓
3 Will you obtain written consent for participation and include within this
that they have a right to withdraw at any point? A copy of this must be
attached to this application
✓
4 If the research is observational, will you ask participants for their
consent to being observed? ✓
5 With questionnaires, will you give participants the option of omitting
questions they do not want to answer? ✓
6 Will you tell participants that their data will be treated with full
confidentiality and that, if published, it will not be identifiable as
theirs? This should be evidenced in the consent form and with a
signed copy of UWL’s data management form, attached to this
application.
✓
7 Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e. give
them a brief explanation of the study)? A copy of this must be
attached to this application
✓
If you have ticked No to any of Q1-7, but have ticked box A overleaf, please give an
explanation on a separate sheet.
[Note: N/A = not applicable]
YES NO N/A

8 Will your project involve deliberately misleading participants in any
way? ✓
9 Is there any realistic risk of any participants experiencing either
physical or psychological distress or discomfort? If Yes, give details
on a separate sheet and state what you will tell them to do if they
should experience any problems (e.g. who they can contact for help).
✓
If you have ticked Yes to 8 or 9, you should normally tick box B overleaf; if not, please
give a full explanation on a separate sheet
YES NO N/A
10 Does your project involve work with animals? If yes, please tick
box B overleaf. ✓
11 Do participants fall into any of
the following vulnerable
groups? If they do, please and
tick box B overleaf.
Note that you may also need
to obtain satisfactory DBS
clearance (or equivalent for
overseas students).
Schoolchildren (under 18 years of
age)
✓
People with learning or
communication difficulties
✓
Patients ✓
People in custody ✓
People engaged in illegal
activities (e.g. drug-taking)
✓
Any other groups who could be
reasonably argued as
representing any form of
vulnerability – please specify
✓
12 Will you be accessing materials which may be considered security-
sensitive under the Counter Terrorism Act (2015)? ✓
There is an obligation on the researcher to bring to the attention of the School Ethics Panel any
issues with ethical implications not clearly covered by the above checklist.
PLEASE TICK EITHER BOX A OR BOX B BELOW AND PROVIDE THE DETAILS REQUIRED
IN SUPPORT OF YOUR APPLICATION. THEN SIGN THE FORM.
Please tick
A. I consider that this project has no significant ethical implications to be brought
before the School Ethics Panel. ✓
B. I consider that this project may have ethical implications that should be brought
before the School Ethics Panel, and/or it will be carried out with children or other
vulnerable populations.
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I have received guidance on ethical research practices relevant to my subject as part of
my preparation for this module.
Signed ___________________________ Print Name ______________________ Date
_______________
(UG Researcher(s))
Signed ___________________________ Print Name ______________________ Date
_______________
(Supervisor)

PART 2
SPECIFICATIONS OF PROJECT
Please answer the following question:
1. Do you intend to use only secondary data in the conduct of your research?
☐ Yes ☐No
Introduction to the research
Background to research topic area (with references where applicable). 200 words approx.
Include Aims and Hypothesis, Research Question(s) of the dissertation/project.
Research Topic: The power of “marketing” on consumer behaviour
Introduction
Advertising refers to the process through which businesses create awareness about their
products and services. It has the power to convey about products and services to right
people, to power to influence and suggest and to persuade people (Royne Stafford and
Pounders, 2021). Advertising plays major role in changing consumer behaviour because it
attracts consumers to buy particular product or service from specific brand or company.
Consumer behaviour refers to the study how group of customers or individuals use,
purchase; dispose goods, services and ideas for satisfying their wants, needs and
requirements (Jiang and et. al.,2020). Advertising attracts the attention of people towards
the products so that they could purchase and become company’s permanent customers.
With the assistance of current research, investigator has aimed to analyse the impact of
advertising on consumer behaviour and business performance. The chosen organisation
for the present research is Marks & Spencer.
Research Aim:
To analyse the impact of “marketing” on consumer behaviour and improving the
business performance. A study on Marks & Spencer
Research Objectives:
To understand the basic concept of marketing and consumer behaviour
To determine the different types of marketing advertisement used by Marks & Spencer to
attract consumers and improve business performance
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To identify the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour within Marks & Spencer
Research Questions:
Define the basic concept of marketing and consumer behaviour?
What are the different types of marketing advertisement used by Marks & Spencer to
attract consumers and improve business performance?
What is the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour within Marks & Spencer?
Method
Outline all methodological issues - e.g. Design, participants, questionnaires, tests,
method of data collection. Who are you working with? How? What Measures? What
interventions/manipulations? What controls? If your research entails exclusively the
consultation of published documents, books, articles or other work in the public domain
please state this under the heading ‘materials’.
Research design
Research design is defined as the framework of techniques and research methods selected
by a researcher. In the present research, investigator has selected exploratory research
design. Exploratory research design refers to the research used for investigating in-depth
information about the topic.
Research Choice:
Research choice is described as process that clearly tell investigator what kind of data to
be collected for attaining the pre-defined objectives of research project. The two kinds of
research choice are: Qualitative and quantitative research choice. Investigator has chosen
qualitative research choice because it assists in gathering information that is not present in
number format. This type focuses on information that is in the form of text or descriptive
format so that information that is been trying to give could be fulfilled.
Data Collection:
Data collection is defined as one of the greatest research methodologies that assist in
gathering valid information to meet objectives in proper way. Data collection is divided
into two kinds that are: primary and secondary sources. With the motive of attaining aim
and objectives of present research, investigator has chosen secondary data collection.
Secondary data collection is effective and efficient in gathering information from
secondary sources like articles, publications, books, journals, magazines, publications,
websites etc. These resources are easily available to investigator for attaining the
objectives in required manner. With the help of these sources, researcher could easily

attain aim and objectives in convenient way because there is no need to put extra efforts
for taking out new information related to the topic.
Another reason of selecting secondary source is it assists in addressing existing gap in the
topic through this research does deep analysis of the information and removes the gap by
putting appropriate theory or knowledge. Primary data collection will not be used because
it is concerned about gathering only numeric or statistical data. In the present research
there is no requirement of statistical information for attaining aim and objectives.
Participants (where applicable)
No, there are no human participants included because the present research is based upon
secondary research. In secondary research there is no need of human participants.
Materials (to include locations and resources)
The current research is dependent upon secondary information. Secondary information is
great for attaining objectives of the present research because these already have a lot of
information about the current topic. The current research has used secondary sources like
books, articles, journals, newspapers, publications, filled survey questionnaires,
magazines etc. All these sources have assisted researcher in gathering appropriate
information to attain the pre-defined objectives of research effectively and efficiently.
These sources have helped in getting reliable, relevant, valid and authentic data to attain
objectives in systematic and timely way. These sources were easily approachable by
researcher because it is already published information that is conveniently available at
public platforms. Researcher has collected this information from approaching websites of
chosen organisation and libraries where different books and journals are easily available.
Analysis
CLEARLY describe the method of analysis you are going to use. Is it qualitative or
quantitative?
The current research project is dependent over secondary sources so for analysing
gathered data thematic analysis would be used. Thematic analysis is selected because it
assists in analysing qualitative information in systematic and proper manner. It is
generally applied to a set of gathered information so that relevancy and validity of
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information could be determined for attaining the pre-determined aim and objectives. It
focuses to identify, analyse and interpret patterns of meaning in qualitative information.
This assists in better understanding about the gathered qualitative information to the
reader.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Royne Stafford, M. and Pounders, K., 2021. The power of advertising in society: does
advertising help or hinder consumer well-being?. International Journal of Advertising,
pp.1-4.
Jiang and et. al.,2020. The impact of power on destination advertising effectiveness: The
moderating role of arousal in advertising. Annals of Tourism Research. 83. p.102926.
Tsai, W.H.S., Shata, A. and Tian, S., 2021. En-gendering power and empowerment in
advertising: a content analysis. Journal of Current Issues & Research in
Advertising. 42(1). pp.19-33.
Nayak, J.K. and Singh, P., 2021. Fundamentals of Research Methodology Problems and
Prospects. SSDN Publishers & Distributors.
Bairagi, V. and Munot, M.V. eds., 2019. Research methodology: A practical and scientific
approach. CRC Press.

Section B: RESEARCH ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
DATA MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE STATEMENT
All applicants should familiarise themselves with the Data Protection Act
1998, and adhere to its principles in all aspects of their research:
sites/default/files/Departments/About-us/Web/PDF/policies/policy-on-data-
protection.pdf
Research data covers a broad range of types of information (see examples
below), and digital data can be structured and stored in a variety of file
formats.
EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH DATA
Some examples of research data:
Documents (text, Word), spreadsheets
Laboratory notebooks, field notebooks, diaries
Questionnaires, transcripts, codebooks
Audiotapes, videotapes
Photographs, films
Test responses
Slides, artefacts, specimens, samples
Collection of digital objects acquired and generated during the process of
research
Database contents (video, audio, text, images)
Models, algorithms, scripts
Contents of an application (input, output, logfiles for analysis software,
simulation software, schemas)
Methodologies and workflows
Standard operating procedures and protocols
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As a student or member of staff undertaking a research project, I
understand that I am responsible for the following:
 The security and confidentiality of all data collected
 Mitigating all risks to anonymity, privacy and confidentiality posed
by all kinds of personal information storage, processing, including
computer and paper files, e-mail records, audio and video files, and
any information that directly identifies an individual. It is
recommended that data be anonymised at the point of collection.
I will ensure that:
 Data and codes and all identifying information will be kept in
separate locked filing cabinets/files and working files will contain no
identifying information, and will only be accessed by one or two
persons
 All audiotapes will be transcribed using codes or pseudonyms for
identification of individuals and destroyed upon completion of the
research project
 Access to computer files will be available by password only
 Research data will be stored for up to 5 years after the end of the
project, after which they should be disposed of safely.
Name:
Application ID:
Project title: