How Advertising Works on the WWW: Modified Elaboration Likelihood Model

Abstract

This paper develops a model called Modified Elaboration Likelihood Model to understand how people process advertising on the Internet. An empirical study verifies the new model by examining several variables influencing voluntary exposure or clicking of banner ads. These variables include (a) level of personal and product involvement, (b) the size of a banner ad, (c) relevancy between the content of a vehicle and the product category of a banner ad, (d) attitude toward the vehicle, and (e) overall attitude toward Web advertising. The findings document significant relationships between these variables and clicking of banner ads and support the hypothesized model.