Ad Relevance vs. Skepticism: Explaining Avoidance and Purchase Intention

Abstract

Personalized digital ads cut both ways. Relevance can pull consumers in; intrusiveness and perceived manipulation can push them away. This study proposes and tests an integrated model linking perceived ad relevance, advertising skepticism, and intrusiveness to ad avoidance and purchase intention, and examines whether brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) softens defensive reactions. We surveyed 550 Vietnamese consumers and analyzed the data with PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 4). Results show that relevance lifts purchase intention and reduces avoidance, while intrusiveness and skepticism undermine persuasion. BESC buffers the skepticism forward avoidance link, indicating identity-based protection for favored brands. Mediation tests reveal that skepticism, relevance, and avoidance channel the harm from intrusiveness to purchase outcomes. The validated model exhibits strong explanatory and predictive performance and clarifies how constructive (relevance) and defensive (skepticism, avoidance) mechanisms operate simultaneously in digital advertising.

Keywords

advertising relevance skepticism intrusiveness avoidance purchase intention

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aguirre

Mahr

Grewal

de Ruyter

Wetzels

(2015). Unraveling the personalization paradox: The effect of information collection and trust-building strategies on online advertisement effectiveness. Journal of Retailing, 91(1), 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2014.09.005

Baek

T. H.

Morimoto

(2012). Stay away from me: Examining the determinants of consumer avoidance of personalized advertising. Journal of Advertising, 41(1), 59–76. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367410105

Bleier

Eisenbeiss

(2015a). Personalized online advertising effectiveness: The interplay of what, when, and where. Marketing Science, 34(5), 669–688. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2015.0930

Bleier

Eisenbeiss

(2015b). The importance of trust for personalized online advertising. Journal of Retailing, 91(3), 390–409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2015.04.001

Boerman

S. C.

Smit

E. G.

(2023a). Advertising and privacy: An overview of past research and a research agenda. International Journal of Advertising, 42(1), 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2122251

Boerman

S. C.

Smit

E. G.

(2023b). Understanding personalized online advertising: The role of privacy concern and intrusiveness. Journal of Advertising, 52(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2022.2143565

Brehm

J. W.

(1966). A theory of psychological reactance. Academic Press.

Chen

Deng

Zhi

(2023). How does ad relevance affect consumers’ attitudes toward personalized advertisements and social media platforms? The role of information co-ownership, vulnerability, and privacy cynicism. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 73, 103336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103336

Cho

C. H.

Cheon

H. J.

(2004). Why do people avoid advertising on the Internet? Journal of Advertising, 33(4), 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2004.10639175

10.

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

11.

De Keyzer

Dens

De Pelsmacker

(2015). Is this for me? How consumers respond to personalized advertising on social network sites. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 15(2), 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2015.1082450

12.

De Keyzer

Dens

De Pelsmacker

(2024). The role of well-being in consumers’ responses to personalized advertising on social media: A dual-path approach via perceived relevance and creepiness. Psychology and Marketing, 41(X), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21977

13.

Dinana

Fakhreddin

Marvi

Massi

, et al. (2025). Sustainable advertising and brand engagement: the role of consumer minimalism and scepticism. International Journal of Advertising, 44(8), 1582–1618. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2025.2530914

14.

T. T. M. D.

Pereira

L. N.

(2023). Understanding Vietnamese consumers’ perception and word-of-mouth intentions towards Airbnb. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 14(2), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-12-2020-0321

15.

Dwivedi

Y. K.

Ismagilova

Hughes

D. L.

Carlson

Filieri

Jacobson

Jain

Karjaluoto

Kefi

Krishen

A. S.

Kumar

Rahman

M. M.

Raman

Rauschnabel

P. A.

Rowley

Salo

Tran

G. A.

Wang

(2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168

16.

Edwards

S. M.

Lee

J. H.

(2002). Forced exposure and psychological reactance: Antecedents and consequences of the perceived intrusiveness of pop-up ads. Journal of Advertising, 31(3), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2002.10673678

17.

Friestad

Wright

(1994). The persuasion knowledge model: How people cope with persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1086/209380

18.

Hair

J. F.

Risher

J. J.

Sarstedt

Ringle

C. M.

(2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203

19.

Ham

C.-D.

Nelson

M. R.

Das

(2015). How to measure persuasion knowledge. International Journal of Advertising, 34(1), 17–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2014.994730

20.

Henseler

Ringle

C. M.

Sarstedt

(2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8

21.

Hue

T. T.

(2024). Uncovering green brand equity and word-of-mouth intentions in Vietnam. Asian Journal of Business Research, 14(2), 81–100. https://doi.org/10.14707/ajbr.240174

22.

Kelly

Kerr

Drennan

(2010). Avoidance of advertising in social networking sites: The teenage perspective. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10(2), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2010.10722167

23.

Khanh Giao

H. N.

Vuong

B. N.

(2020). Vietnamese consumer attitudes towards smartphone advertising. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(5), 195–204. https://doi.org/10.13106/JAFEB.2020.VOL7.NO5.195

24.

Kim

Huh

(2017). Perceived relevance and privacy concern regarding online behavioral advertising (OBA) and their role in consumer responses. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 38(1), 92–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2016.1233157

25.

Kock

(2015). Common method bias in PLS-SEM: A full collinearity assessment approach. International Journal of e-Collaboration, 11(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEC.2015100101

26.

Kock

Hadaya

(2018). Minimum sample size estimation in PLS-SEM: The inverse square root and gamma-exponential methods. Information Systems Journal, 28(1), 227–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12131

27.

Lambrecht

Tucker

(2013). When does retargeting work? Information specificity in online advertising. Journal of Marketing Research, 50(5), 561–576. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.11.0503

28.

Edwards

S. M.

Lee

J. H.

(2002). Measuring the intrusiveness of advertisements: Scale development and validation. Journal of Advertising, 31(2), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2002.10673665

29.

Liu

R. L.

Sprott

D. E.

Spangenberg

E. R.

Czellar

Voss

K. E.

(2018). Consumer preference for national vs. private brands: The influence of brand engagement and self-concept threat. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 41(1), 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.11.010

30.

McCoy

Everard

Galletta

D. F.

Polak

(2007). The effects of online advertising. Communications of the ACM, 50(3), 84–88. https://doi.org/10.1145/1226736.1226769

31.

Mehrabian

Russell

J. A.

(1974). An approach to environmental psychology. MIT Press.

32.

Ngo

T. T. A.

Bui

C. T.

Chau

H. K. L.

Tran

N. P. N.

(2024). Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on social networking sites (SNS): Roles of information credibility in shaping online purchase intention. Heliyon, 10(11), Article e32168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32168

33.

Nguyen-Viet

Nguyen

Y. T. H.

T. H.

S. B.

(2022). Factors driving consumers’ attitudes towards Facebook advertisements in an emerging market: A case study of Vietnam. Asian Journal of Business and Accounting, 15(1), 243–279. https://doi.org/10.22452/AJBA.VOL15NO1.8

34.

Niu

Wang

Liu

(2021). When I feel invaded, I will avoid it: The effect of advertising invasiveness on consumers’ avoidance of social media advertising. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58(2), 102320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102320

35.

Obermiller

Spangenberg

E. R.

(1998). Development of a scale to measure consumer skepticism toward advertising. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 7(2), 159–186. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp0702_03

36.

Petty

R. E.

Cacioppo

J. T.

(1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. Springer.

37.

Ringle

C. M.

Sarstedt

(2016). Gain more insight from your PLS-SEM results: The importance–performance map analysis. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 116(9), 1865–1886. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-10-2015-0449

38.

Shmueli

Sarstedt

Hair

J. F.

Cheah

J.-H.

Ting

Vaithilingam

Ringle

C. M.

(2019). Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM: Guidelines for using PLSpredict. European Journal of Marketing, 53(11), 2322–2347. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-02-2019-0189

39.

Spears

Singh

S. N.

(2004). Measuring attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 26(2), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2004.10505164

40.

Sprott

Czellar

Spangenberg

(2009). The importance of a general measure of brand engagement on market behavior: Development and validation of a scale. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(1), 92–104. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.46.1.92

41.

Tajfel

Turner

J. C.

(1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Austin

W. G.

Worchel

(Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.

42.

Yeo

T. E. D.

Chu

T. H.

(2025). How persuasive is personalized advertising? A meta-analytic review of experimental evidence of the effects of personalization on ad effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218499.2025.2467763