Preattentive Processing of Web Advertising By Chan Yun Yoo

The applicability of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981a, 1981b) to Web ads was investigated by Cho (1999) and Karson and Korgaonkar (2001). Unfortunately, two studies disclosed opposite results. Cho (1999) concluded that product involvement significantly influenced the probability of click–through, whereas Karson and Korgaonkar (2001) revealed no moderating effect of involvement on attitudes toward the ad and purchase intentions. The inconsistent results on the applicability of the ELM to Web advertising suggests that the ELM needs further testing before being extensively applied to Web ad processing.

Rodgers and Thorson (2000) suggested an integrative processing model (IPM). The model begins with the functional perspective, which attempts to identify motives for using the Web. They suggested that these functions operated jointly with the consumer’s mode—ranging from goal–directed to playful—to influence the types of Web ads consumers will attend to and process. A number of mediating variables, such as skill levels, are offered as reasons to switch motives. Additionally, they incorporated a structural perspective, which seeks to identify and classify Web ads in terms of ad formats, ad types, and ad features [See Rodgers and Thorson’s (2000) figure 1].

These studies illuminate potentially generalizable effects of Web ads at varying response stages and some of the determinants of consumers’ attitudes and behaviors on exposure.