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Consumers are increasingly exposed to marketing messages, with estimates ranging from 1500 per day in 1984 (Jhally 1998) to 3600 per day in 1996 (Kotler 2003). These figures are likely to be out-dated due to further saturation of traditional media outlets, as well as the proliferation of alternative media vehicles, including mobile, digital, social media, stealth, viral, guerrilla and ambient advertising. For any medium, the level of advertising and promotional messages surrounding consumers comprises advertising clutter (Speck & Elliott 1997, Elliott & Speck 1998, Rosengren 2008). Further to this description, researchers differentiate perceived ad clutter as an individual consumer judges that the advertising levels in a particular medium are excessive (Speck & Elliott 1997) and irritating (Elliott & Speck 1998) or intrusive (Ha 1996).

Within the last few decades, studies into attitudes to advertising have revealed a generally increasing negative sentiment among consumers (e.g. Zanot 1984, Pollay et al 1990, Mittal 1994, Yoon et al 1996, Ashill & Yavas 2005). Findings from these studies indicate that these negative consumer attitudes are not limited by geographic region, nor medium, although studies have centred around either television advertising or advertising in general. Furthermore, Goldman and Papson (1994, 1996) discover that consumers harbour feelings of scepticism, cynicism, resentment and hostility towards advertising. Elliott and Speck (1998) produce results to indicate that consumers’ attitudes to advertising are affected by excessive advertising, as well as disruptive advertising. With marketers strengthening their efforts to reach consumers through larger volumes of advertising, as well as through alternative strategies, consumers are increasingly bombarded by advertising, and these negative attitudes are likely to continue growing.

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Although research on advertising clutter primarily focuses on television advertising, perceived ad clutter exists within every media outlet, although the levels vary across each. In their study, Elliott and Speck (1998) investigate the perceived ad clutter levels across various media, with results indicating that media with higher ad content may not necessarily be perceived to constitute excessive advertising, or clutter, as compared to those with lower levels of ad content. As such, television, comprised of approximately 25% advertising, has been found to exhibit the highest levels of clutter, and Yellow Pages the least cluttered, despite the latter being virtually entirely composed of advertisements. These findings suggest that consumers may be tolerant of higher advertising levels without perceiving clutter, which Elliott and Speck (1998) propose is due to frequency of exposure to the medium, as well as whether consumers are forcefully exposed to advertising. Further to this suggestion, Bogart (1990) proffers that advertising is seen to be more intrusive when the consumer is more highly involved with the medium being used. In this way, when engaged in a television programme, advertising via this medium is seen to be more intrusive than if a consumer were leafing through a magazine while waiting for an appointment. While these ads are viewed as disruptive to a consumer’s activity, ambient ads are viewed as integrated into a consumer’s environment and activities, and therefore non-interruptive (Gambetti 2010, Biraghi et al 2015, Rosengren et al 2015). Perceived intrusiveness for traditional disruptive advertising cannot be extrapolated to a non-interruptive medium. It is thus unclear as to how consumers perceive these ads as contributing to clutter and the perceived intrusion of these ads, suggesting an area for further research.

In addition to negative attitudes amongst consumers towards advertising, ad clutter also proves problematic for marketers. As suggested by Taylor et al (2006), when consumers are bombarded with advertising messages, they control their processing of this information through selective perception. Burgoon et al (1994) conceptualise this process as comprising four stages: selective exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention. Through selective exposure, consumers limit their awareness to advertising messages relevant to their behaviours and attitudes, with attention occurring when consumers actively attend to the

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advertisement subsequent to exposure. Consumers may then engage in comprehension, where they assimilate these messages with reference to pre- existing beliefs, before retention occurs, whereby consumers tend to remember salient advertising messages. All four stages must be fulfilled for an advertising message to effectively reach a consumer.

Selective perception thus results in a limited number of advertising messages being processed by consumers, while the vast majority are ignored. Supporting this premise, studies show that clutter results in consumers adopting advertising avoidance strategies in order to lessen their exposure to marketing messages (Speck & Elliott 1997, Elliott & Speck 1998). Furthermore, Rosengren’s (2008) findings indicate that this avoidance is not restricted to advertising messages, but also occurs for publicity, due to the prevalence of what she terms ‘editorial clutter’. Therefore, even when advertising campaigns are executed to garner PR, the resulting publicity may not be effective in breaking through clutter to reach consumers. Additional research is required to understand how consumers’ avoidance strategies might extend to ambient messages and the engagement that marketers hope to achieve through these ads.

Advertising clutter also results in lowered brand recall among consumers, which is moderated by several factors, such as length of the exposure (Mord & Gilson 1985), involvement (Cobb 1985), intrusiveness (Ha 1996), brand familiarity (Kent & Allen 1994, Rosengren 2008) and speed of cognition (Johnson & Cobb-Walgren 1994). Excessive advertising is found to produce negative consumer attitudes (Ha 1996, Elliott & Speck 1998). As conventional advertising media are becoming increasingly saturated, it is important to understand how clutter is pervading non-traditional media, including ambient marketing, and whether the latter produces the same results among consumers as traditional advertising vehicles.

Rumbo (2002) and Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) note that marketers are increasingly adopting alternative advertising media in order to break through clutter, as well as incorporating shock appeals into advertisements. Ambient marketing, which integrates advertising features used to break through clutter, such as use of alternative media vehicles and unavoidable placements, thus

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presents marketers with a viable advertising vehicle with which to effectively reach consumers, in theory. It is therefore necessary to investigate if these results are attained in real-world settings, and how consumers perceive and respond to these types of marketing efforts within an increasingly cluttered advertising landscape.