| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
Chapter 1
Introduction
The average American is bombarded with literally thousands of advertising messages each day. Advertisements can be found everywhere in the media world—in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, and through the mail and e-mail. The World Wide Web (Web) is not an exception. It is almost impossible for an ordinary Internet user to surf the Web without bumping into an advertising message. There are various formats that advertising can take on the Internet. These include the more traditional formats such as banner advertising or sponsorship as well as emerging formats such as paid keyword searching (a form of advertising to get an advertiser’s site listed when consumers use search engines) or advergames (Web-based computer games that incorporate advertising messages) (Faber, Lee, & Nan, 2004).
Banner advertisements, which display a graphic or text usually linked to an advertiser’s Web site, are the most common form of Internet advertising present in online newspapers.