The Theory and Practice of Advertising: Counting the Cost to the Customer

Pierre Berthon, Karen Robson and Leyland Pitt

This paper argues that advertising is frequently intrusive, causing consumers to try to avoid it. It urges marketers to consider their advertising in terms of cost to the consumer (in attention, time and emotional response), and to consider the way in which this diminishes the marketers' message.

The Theory and Practice of Advertising: Counting the Cost to the Customer

Pierre Berthon

Bentley University

Karen Robson and Leyland Pitt

Simon Fraser University

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to a new forum in the Journal of Advertising Research: the Speaker’s Box. This is a place where marketing academics and practitioners alike can express a point of view on a topic of their choice (within the remit of advertising practice, theory, and management).

Any academic publication of standing demands the rigor of review. And, as valuable as this process is, it can take time. In a marketing ecosystem that...

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