Research on congratulatory messages

What is the attitude of Britons towards congratulatory messages posted in the newspaper. For example,
i) Do British people see the sponsors of these messages as being sincere in expressing their feelings or being pretentious.
ii) Do the senders of congratulatory messages exploit the medium/situation to accomplish their own purposes - gain or reinforce political influence, solicitation and advertisement of products and services or just to fulfill societal expectations.
iii) Are there consequences (positive or negative) for failure to greet? This post is from a research student with interest in the field of sociolinguistics. Target audience is the British people. Kindly send me your objective opinions . Thank you!