An Exploration of Advertising Avoidance by Audiences across Media

Abstract

This paper compares the difference in the degree of advertising avoidance between traditional media and the Internet. The study also examines customers’ beliefs, attitudes, and behavior toward advertising to build a theoretical model that explains advertising avoidance. A survey was conducted to identify the influential factors. Findings indicate that on comparison, YouTube advertisements on the Internet were more problematic than TV commercial breaks, leading to high advertising avoidance on the part of consumers. Finally, using path analysis, a general advertising avoidance model based on the belief-attitude-behavior hierarchy is tested. The model shows that certain beliefs about advertising have direct effects on advertising avoidance behavior as well as on the attitude toward advertising.