Media Generations and Their Advertising Attitudes and Avoidance: A Six-Country Comparison

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Abstract

The present study, a cross-national survey (N = 5766), examined generational differences in media use, advertising attitudes and avoidance for five media (newspapers, television, websites, social media, and mobile devices) in six countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France). The survey revealed that the Net Generation and the Newspaper Generation clearly distinguished themselves in terms of their media use, in all six countries. For advertising attitudes, the Net Generation was the most positive generation regarding advertising on social media (US, UK, and the Netherlands) and mobile (UK and the Netherlands). The Newspaper generation, in the UK, was the most positive generation regarding advertising in newspapers and on television, whereas they were the most negative group regarding advertising in the newer media. In the US, they were the most negative generation regarding advertising in all five media. For advertising avoidance, there were no generational differences.

Authors

• Margot van der Goot, University of Amsterdam

• Esther Rozendaal, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Paul Ketelaar, Radboud U

• Edith Gloria Smit, U of Amsterdam