Abstract
Everyday in our contemporary world our perceptual systems are bombarded by advertising
messages which claim something that goes the gamut of the sublime to the ridiculous. These
messages are not purposeless. Advertising messages are purpose-oriented communication
which seeks, in the main, to persuade consumers and make them to be favourably disposed to
a product, service, idea or cause. That such messages achieve their goals depends on the
perception of the target audience exposed to them. Adverts perceived as credible, convince the
audience and achieve the major advertising goal of "closing sales"; advertising perceived as
"hullabaloo" by the audience achieves nothing but mere "show." This paper discusses the
consumer perceptual process against the backdrop of the dynamics of advertising, and attempts
to establish the part played by the perceptual process in eliciting a favourable or unfavourable
response to advertising messages