Predictors of advertising avoidance in print and broadcast media.

According to recent estimates, a consumer is exposed to more than 3000 commercial messages in a typical week (Moriarty 1991). The proliferation of ads has been cited as one of the reasons for the downward trend in consumers' view of advertising (Zanot 1984). Because the difference between vehicle

exposure and ad exposure can be great, it is imperative that we understand how consumers cope with advertising clutter, what factors account for differences in ad avoidance among media users, and whether those factors are similar across different media.

The limited research on ad avoidance has examined mostly television commercials. For example, Abernethy (1991c) reports that physical avoidance (leaving the room) reduces ad exposure by more than 20% and mechanical avoidance (switching channels) reduces it by 10%. Additional work has explored the profile of persons who zap commercials (Dannaher 1995; Heeter and Greenberg 1985), the relationship between attitude toward commercials and zapping behavior (Lee and Lumpkin 1992), and the impact of motive and media exposure on ad avoidance (Ferguson and Perse 1993; Wenner and Dennehy 1993). Analysis suggests that basic strategies of ad avoidance (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, and mechanical) may occur across all media, whether print or electronic. To date, no attempt has been made to compare ad avoidance across print and broadcast media or to develop a comprehensive profile of ad avoiders across media.

By using similar measures of ad avoidance, we assessed the role of demographic variables, media-related variable,;, perceptions about advertising in different media, and the communication problems caused by ads in explaining avoidance behavior in four media: two electronic (television and radio) and two print (magazines and newspapers) (see Figure 1). We profile media users most likely to avoid ads and offer suggestions about execution strategies and industry policies that might reduce the overall incidence of ad avoidance.

[Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Ad Avoidance

In our study, ad avoidance included all actions by media users that differentially reduce their exposure to ad content. People avoid ads by cognitive, behavioral, and mechanical means. They constantly evaluate their alternatives. Content preferences and processing habits are formed, including general attitudes toward advertising and patterns of ad avoidance. Ad avoidance is part of one's overall media style. People who zap television commercials also zap programs (Heeter and Greenberg 1985) and leave the room (Abernethy 1991b). Zapping television ads correlates with zapping radio ads (Heeter and Greenberg 1985), and flipping through television channels correlates with flipping through magazine and newspaper pages (Bellamy and Walker 1996).