Attitudes toward advertising as an institution remain an important research topic in developing countries. Even in the West, the issue is currently being revisited to update for various online media contexts. This paper examines attitudes toward advertising among college students in Egypt. There was little difference in attitudes depending on whether they were thinking of traditional TV advertising or advertising on social media, although they use SM much more frequently. Generally the respondents agreed with a range of issues related to the beneficial aspects of advertising, and only slightly agreed or were roughly neutral on most issues related to detrimental effects. There is strong support for laws about ‘truth-in-advertising’ and legal responsibility for claims, but only weak support for direct government control of advertising.

This research examines the concepts of customer brand engagement (CBE) and perceived social presence (PSP) in a corporate Facebook context, and tests whether CBE and PSP have an impact on brand trust. CBE has well-defined sub-dimensions that are about behavioral, emotional and cognitive, and motivational aspects. The sample (n=461) is from Kuwait, and asks about use of corporate Facebook pages for smart phones. All three of the CBE sub-dimensions have a significant impact on brand trust. PSP influences the CBE sub-dimensions, and it also influences brand trust directly. Brand trust does impact brand loyalty in the corporate Facebook context.