Visibility – Overcoming Selective Perception

Outdoor advertising is viewed in a less cluttered environment than other media. While Ephron and Philport argue that outdoor ads are shown in a crowded field of view, outdoor ads are actually viewed in a situation where there is less competition for people’s attention (e.g, ability to zip or zap; ignore print ads to move on to other articles; get distracted by other stimuli at home). Outdoor ads cannot be “turned off” and are visible 24 hours a day. In fact, users of billboards rate outdoor advertising very high on the visibility dimensions. In their survey of Taylor, Franke and Bang (2006) found visibility, as measured by the items “easily seen and noticed,” “make a powerful visual impression,” and “visible 24 hours today” to be the single highest rated reason for using billboards, with a global mean of 5.77 on a 7 point scale.

Although short exposure time and relatively low involvement in the medium (vs. television or newspapers) do mandate that high frequency for outdoor advertising to make it’s impact, (Murray and Jenkins 1992; Cannon and Riordan 1994), the ability to cut through clutter and deliver very high frequency provides outdoor with an advantage over other media. While Ephron’s observation that the “message is the medium” is accurate as applied to outdoor, the context in which consumers view billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising actually allows them to be noticed relatively easily. It is not possible to “zip” or “zap” a billboard, and consumers cannot simply skip a “section” or group of articles as in a print medium.

We live in an era when the consumer is bombarded by a huge volume of advertising messages. To manage the very high volume of ads they are exposed to, consumers control their information processing by engaging in selective perception. Selective perception is a four part process consisting of selective exposure, attention, comprehension and retention. Selective exposure refers to limiting the messages one is exposed to hear those that conform to one’s pre-existing views. Selective attention refers to paying attention to the ad when exposed to it. Selective comprehension and retention refer to reconciling ad content with prior beliefs, and remembering those messages that are more consistent with one’s beliefs, respectively. For an ad to reach the consumer, at a minimum, selective exposure and attention must take place. Because billboards cannot be turned off and are visible 24 hours, they have the advantage of being less prone to be “screened out” by consumers in comparison to other types of ads.

In short, the visibility and ability to generate repeat exposures help billboards to be noticed and read by consumers rather than being screened out by selective perception processes, thereby increasing the value of the exposures.