Abstract:

Purpose - Cosmetic products are often used to look beautiful and enjoy, and the demand for these products is increasing. Advertisements produced with this consciousness often contain exaggerated promises and images. It is believed that this situation brings doubtful attitudes towards cosmetic advertising and that doubt increases consumers’ perceptions of risk regarding their decision to purchase. There is a limited number of studies in literature that investigate the relationship between suspicion and perceived risk. However, the relationship between the suspicion of cosmetic advertising and the detected risk has not yet been investigated. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the impact of doubt on cosmetic advertising on the risk perceived in the process of purchasing cosmetic products. Method - In the research conducted on consumers in the province of Bursa, the sampling method was easily used and the research data was collected through the online survey method. The analysis of the research data was carried out by the method of structural equality modeling (YEM). The research found that doubt about cosmetic advertising has a significant and positive impact on the detected financial risk, the detected performance risk, the detected time risk, the detected physical risk and the detected social risk, and has no significant impact on the detected psychological risk. Discussions - This research contributes to marketing literature by revealing that consumers' financial, performance, time, physical and social risk perceptions are influenced by suspicion towards cosmetic products advertising. On the other hand, it is believed that the findings obtained will benefit and advertisers operating in the cosmetic industry in order to prevent doubts and reduce consumers’ doubts of risk perceptions.

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