Concerns have been raised as to the potentially deleterious effects of advertising on society. We examine this issue given the recent calls to explore the societal effects of international business activities, the substantive nature of advertising spending globally, and the movement by governments to hold businesses accountable for societal harms. We build upon the general theory of competitive rationality, suggesting a positive relationship between advertising spending and happiness at the country level. We integrate an institutional economics framework into the general theory of competitive rationality to understand country effects. We explore whether institutional environments (i.e., political, regulatory, and social) are associated with happiness and/or moderate the relationship between advertising spending and happiness. We empirically examine these relationships using a 34-country, 9-year unbalanced panel dataset. Our findings indicate that advertising spending at the country level is positively associated with happiness, even when accounting for country-level institutional direct and moderating effects. We discuss our results in comparison to prior findings, highlighting implications for international marketing theory and practice, and setting forth a foundation for debate and research in the field.

人们对广告对社会的潜在有害影响提出了担忧。鉴于最近呼吁探索国际商业活动的社会影响、全球广告支出的实质性质以及政府要求企业对社会危害负责的运动，我们研究了这个问题。我们建立在竞争理性的一般理论之上，表明广告支出与国家层面的幸福感之间存在正相关关系。我们将制度经济学框架整合到竞争理性的一般理论中来理解国家效应。我们探讨制度环境（即政治、监管和社会）是否与幸福相关和/或调节广告支出与幸福之间的关系。我们使用 34 个国家的 9 年不平衡面板数据集对这些关系进行了实证检验。我们的研究结果表明，国家层面的广告支出与幸福感呈正相关，即使考虑到国家层面的制度直接和调节效应也是如此。我们将我们的结果与之前的发现进行比较，强调对国际营销理论和实践的影响，并为该领域的辩论和研究奠定基础。