Internet Advertising: Are We Breaking Ground Or Moving Dirt?

Seeking to validate the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion for the online advertising context, a laboratory experiment utilizing 240 undergraduates was conducted at a southeastern university. The quality of banner advertisement contents--product endorser (spokesperson) and arguments (headlines)--were manipulated testing the variables\u27 effect on click-through and attitude toward the advertisement for groups with high and low levels of product category involvement. Exploring a replica of a popular music website, participants were exposed to the test banners on the site\u27s homepage. Due to the limited number of click-throughs, the relationship between the independent variables and click-through could not be established. However, as hypothesized for the low involvement condition, source liking predicted participants\u27 attitude toward the banner advertisements. In the high involvement condition, neither source liking nor argument strength was associated with attitude. Because the test product category--sport drinks--skewed low involvement, a follow-up study should select a high involvement product category to explore such condition more effectively