THE EFFECTS OF AD-BLOCK WALL LEVEL, AD-BLOCK WALL MESSAGE FRAME, EXPLICIT GOAL EXISTENCE AND AD TYPE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE, UNCONSCIOUS AD PROCESSING AND ONLINE NEWS BRAND EVALUATION

Abstract

Myopic loss aversion can take place when news media management and advertisers focus too much on preventing short-term losses. Although ad-bock walls may successfully block the ad-block users’ access, two studies here have shown that the ad-block wall can backfire when ad-block users perceive their freedom as being threatened. In study 1, depending on the goal type and ad-block wall level, ad-block users evaluated the ad-block walls and news media brand differently. The results showed that high-level ad-block walls and explicit goal conditions together tend to generate greater reactance than other conditions. In addition, the finding showed that loss-frame wall messages in high-reactant condition (i.e., high-level ad-block wall) can result in more negative responses than gain-frame wall messages. Study 2 found that perceived reactance from the ad-block wall processing can influence the unconscious advertised brand ratings if the ad format was perceived as a distractor. The results showed that distractor devaluation was generated in the banner ad condition but not in the native ad condition which implies that the native ad format needs to be considered as a possible future of advertising. Keywords: Ad-block, Ad-block Wall, Psychological Reactance, Distractor Devaluation, Native Advertising, Affect Transfer, Advertising Avoidance, Unconscious Ad Processing