An experimental study on the effect of ad placement, product involvement and motives on Facebook ad avoidance

Facebook users do not visit the social networking site to see advertising. They are either just surfing the platform or searching for information. Therefore, advertising content is vulnerable to ad avoidance. In this study, the effect of two Facebook ad placements, sidebar ads and message stream ads, on ad avoidance intention was investigated through an online experiment. Sidebar placements are put next to the content stream, while message stream advertising is interwoven with the original Facebook content. 253 Respondents (Mage = 39.4, SD = 8.7, 50.2% female) were given either a searching or surfing task. The intention of respondents to avoid ads placed in the message stream was significantly higher than to avoid ads placed in the sidebar. Through multiple moderation analysis, we found that Facebook motivations and product involvement were significant moderators of the effect of ad placement on ad avoidance intent. Our results point to the crucial role of the degree of product involvement when targeting Facebook ads to the right audience and choosing the appropriate ad placement. We discussed implications for research and the professional field.