CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF IRRITATION EVOKED BY ADVERTISING 103Firstly, unbelievable, exaggerated, overdramatised situations such as expert endorsements,
testimonials and slice-of-life commercials increase irritation. A good example is a housewife
confirming how white Daz makes her laundry. Secondly, unsympathetic characters in the
ad, or picturing an uncomfortable situation such as a quarrel, enhance irritation, as well
as hectic, nervous spots. Thirdly, brand comparisons in which the advertised brand always
claims to be the best, or showing the brand name too often, leads to more irritation. Fourthly,
information-oriented appeals seem to irritate more than transformational or image-
dominant appeals. Furthermore, if information cues are used, it is advisable to follow a
‘soft sell’ (e.g. availability, quality, taste, etc.) rather than a ‘hard sell’ (performance, price,
etc.) approach and stick to no more than five arguments (four arguments seem to be ideal).
Fifthly, satire, provocation and eroticism increase irritation, while music, sentimental
humour and warmth created by the use of animals or children seem to have an irritation-
reducing effect.
With respect to the product category, research results are not really surprising. Products
that seem to elicit on average more irritation are female hygiene products, female underwear,
laxatives, toothpaste, mouthwash, personal care products, detergents and cleansers.^117
Concerning repetition, consumers seem to react negatively to an ad at low exposure fre-
quency because of the newness of the stimulus. After repeated exposures the ad responses
become more and more positive, a phenomenon called wear-in. However, after a certain
number of exposures, ‘wear-out effects’ occur in the sense that negative responses show up
again^118 (see also Chapter 8). However, wear-out effects (leading to a higher level of irritation)
seem to be more prominent for some types of commercials than others. Complex messages,
minor changes in ad execution, short or slow commercials, very warm spots and non-food
ads do not seem to experience negative effects of higher exposure levels,^119 while humorous,
long, fast-paced, image-dominant and transformational commercials suffer more from high
repetition levels.^120 Ad density or the fact that consumers are exposed to many ads in a short
period can also evoke irritation. An experiment in which respondents were exposed to a
30-minute documentary on capital punishment with either 3 or 30 embedded ads indicated
significant differences in evoked irritation.^121
Consumers react differently to advertising. For instance, a study trying to define consumer
segments on the basis of the general attitude towards advertising found a segment of advertis-
ing haters as well as a segment of advertising lovers.^122 On the basis of the foregoing, it is
obvious that some consumers are more likely to be irritated by advertising than others. Some
research results suggest that men and consumers in the 34–41 age group are more irritated
by commercials, while irritation seems to increase with increasing levels of education and
income.Figure 3.9 Causes of ad-evoked irritationM03_PELS3221_05_SE_C03.indd 103 6/5/13 3:03 PM