Banner Advertising Benefits

Okay, so I teach my consumer behavior class about the "mere exposure effect" which says that exposure to stimuli can lead to liking even when no attention is paid to the stimuli. Well, a recent study that is to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research soon tests the mere exposure effect in the context of banner advertising. We are constantly exposed to the content of banner ads even though we may not direct any attention towards them. This study, by Rohini Ahluwalia at the Carlson School of Management and her colleagues, suggest that banner ads may result in positive affect (liking) even when we don't pay attention to them. As a result, using click-throughs as a measure of the effectiveness of banner ads may be inappropriate. That is, banner ads may be positively influencing consumers even though you never pay enough attention to the ad to click through to the advertiser. Very interesting application of the mere exposure effect. Click here for a pdf of the full paper.