Feel, think, avoid: Testing a new model of advertising avoidance

ABSTRACT

Advertising avoidance is perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing marketers today. This study investigates the impact of emotions on advertising avoidance in social media. It tests five antecedents and two types of advertising avoidance, developing a new model of advertising avoidance. Data were collected via an online survey of 849 Facebook users and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results of this study establish the important role of emotion in activating advertising avoidance. The study tests and validates two types of advertising avoidance: cognitive and behavioral (which includes mechanical). Further, the research also identifies five antecedents: attitude to social networking sites as an advertising medium, perceived clutter, negative word-of-mouth about advertising, and two new constructs of privacy concerns and control. These antecedents impact emotion and enact avoidance.

KEYWORDS:

• Advertising avoidance
• affective response
• cognitive avoidance
• behavioral avoidance
• social media
• privacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Louise Kelly

Dr Louise Kelly is a Senior Lecturer in the QUT Business School’s School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations.  Louise’s research and teaching focus is in the areas of media planning, advertising and digital marketing.  Her publications have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Communications, Journal of Marketing Management and the European Journal of Marketing.

Gayle Kerr

Dr Gayle Kerr is a Professor in Advertising, IMC and Digital at the QUT Business School in Australia. Her key research areas are consumer empowerment, advertising self-regulation, creativity, advertising avoidance and engagement and IMC. Her research informs both her leading Australian textbook and her teaching, which has been acknowledged by a national AAUT Teaching Excellence Award and the Billy I. Ross Education Award. She is a former president of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Advertising and served as an Executive member of the American Academy of Advertising.

Judy Drennan

Dr Judy Drennan is Adjunct Professor in the School of Advertising Marketing and Public Relations within the QUT Business School at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Her qualifications include a PhD from Deakin University, Australia and a Master of Education from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Judy’s research specializations are in services marketing, social marketing and m-marketing, and her publications appear in top level journals such as the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Advertising Research and Journal of Business Research.

Syed Muhammad Fazal-E-Hasan

Syed Muhammad Fazal-E-Hasan is a senior lecturer at Australian Catholic University. Syed has completed many research and entrepreneurial projects using advanced statistical and project management techniques, and he has contributed to several small to medium size projects including Devonport Digitalisation, Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) projects. Most of his projects are related to consumer choices and responses and are published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Retail, Consumer Services and Journal of Consumer Affairs.