03/11/2014 Consumers' Attitudes toward Unsolicited Commercial E-mail and Postal Direct Mail Marketing Methods: Intrusiveness, Perceived

Loss of Control, and

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Vol 7 No 1 Fall 2006

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Consumers' Attitudes toward Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

and Postal Direct Mail Marketing Methods: Intrusiveness,
Perceived Loss of Control, and Irritation
Mariko Morimoto
University of Georgia

Susan Chang
University of Miami

Abstract
Using Psychological Reactance as the framework, this study sought to understand consumer attitudes towards two major direct
marketing techniques: unsolicited commercial e-mail and postal direct mail. In particular, audience perceptions of advertising
intrusiveness, perceived loss of control (as conceptualized by Psychological Reactance), and irritation regarding the direct marketing
techniques were investigated. The results of this survey study (N=119) indicated that recipients perceived unsolicited e-mails as more
intrusive and irritating than postal direct mail. This study contributed to the theory of Psychological Reactance by indicating that
recipients did not feel a loss of control regarding spam, thus Psychological Reactance was not fully supported in the context of these
marketing communication techniques. Suggestions for direct marketing practitioners conclude the paper.

Introduction
In 2005, marketers spent over $52.2 million on direct marketing efforts (Advertising Age 2006). In comparison to other media, more
than $26.7 million was spent on network television and approximately $29 million on newspapers (Advertising Age 2006). Direct
marketing, particularly traditional postal direct mail and telemarketing, has been a popular technique for advertisers. The introduction
of communication technologies, especially the Internet, has dramatically changed the communication strategies of direct marketers.
In particular, the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail ("spam") is becoming extremely popular due to its cost effectiveness (Verity et
al. 1994) and its high potential for interactivity with target consumers (Mehta and Sivadas 1995).
According to Spam Filter Review (2003), among the 31 billion e-mail messages that are sent daily, 40% is spam. In fact, 66% of
direct marketers indicated that their e-mail frequency has increased (Direct Marketing Association 2005). Still, the more important
question lies in the audience's reaction to this type of marketing communication. The Pew Internet and American Life Project
reported that approximately 52% of their participants considered spam a big problem (Pew Research Center 2005). In comparison,
45% named pop-up ads and 31% listed computer viruses as being an issue. Furthermore, 67% said that spam has made their online
experience more unpleasant or annoying (Pew Research Center 2005).
These statistics seem to suggest that the number of spam messages will continue to grow in the future. Unsolicited commercial email has potentially become a significant problem in direct marketing that can negatively influence consumers' attitudes and
potentially create the type of backlash predicted by Psychological Reactance. Thus, to avoid this reaction, it is important that direct
marketers carefully consider their use of the Internet when communicating to potential customers.
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Although it may appear that the continuous growth of spam has the potential to replace traditional direct marketing communication
channels such as postal direct mail ("direct mail"), this does not indicate that marketers should neglect traditional direct marketing
communication methods such as postal direct mail. A survey conducted by The Direct Marketing Association in 2005 indicated that
59% of direct marketers have increased their postal mailing quantities in 2003; a 43% increase from 2002. Furthermore, 42% of
practitioners reported that between 2003 and 2004, their use of direct mail has risen (Direct Marketing Association 2005). Although
many marketers consider using new technologies to reach wider audiences in a more cost efficient manner, traditional direct mail is
still regarded as an efficient way to reach consumers. As these examples demonstrate, the decision to be made by marketers is not
between the two methods, but to determine the most effective and efficient mix of direct marketing communication methods to
reach the target groups.
To identify the most cost efficient mix of direct marketing communication channels to effectively reach its target audiences, it is
essential for marketers to understand the potential effects of each communication method. This is especially important for consumer
evaluations because consumer attitudes towards advertised brands and purchase intentions are believed to be influenced by their
advertising evaluations (Batra and Ray 1986; MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1986). Although both direct mail and spam have been a
major force in recent direct marketing practices, there have been very few quantitative studies that compare the effects of both direct
mail and spam on consumer attitudes toward these direct marketing communication channels. Because it seems that traditional
direct mail and spam are likely to remain the predominant communication methods for direct marketers, studies that investigate and
compare consumers' attitudes towards these two popular direct marketing communication methods are called for. This study
compares audience perceptions of advertising intrusiveness, loss of control, and irritation for direct marketing and spam that could
lead to the backlash predicted by Psychological Reactance.

Literature Review
Definitions of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (Spam) and Postal Direct Mail (Direct Mail)
Before the discussion of potential links between constructs is presented, it is necessary to define spam and direct mail for the current
study. Direct mail is identified as an unsolicited postal mail piece in which the sender has the intent of selling products and/or services
to the recipient (Chang and Morimoto 2003). Solicited direct mail pieces, such as catalogues, that are sent to consumers who
knowingly agreed to be added to mailing lists are not considered direct mail for the purpose of this study because audience
perceptions between marketing communications that are sought differ in comparison to those that are not welcomed.
Spam is characterized as any commercial electronic communication from marketers that consumers did not ask for (Chang and
Morimoto 2003). Similar to the definition of direct mail, commercial e-mail messages sent by marketers with the prior consent from
consumers are not considered spam in this study. This study will use these definitions to refer to the two methods of direct marketing
communication channels.
Factors Influencing Consumer Attitudes toward Direct Marketing Channels
This study outlines three factors that may predict consumer attitudes toward direct marketing communication channels regarding the
use of direct mail and spam: (1) perceived advertising intrusiveness; (2) perceived loss of control as a function of Psychological
Reactance; and (3) irritation caused by these marketing communication techniques.
Perceived Advertising Intrusiveness. One construct that could influence consumer attitudes is perceived ad intrusiveness. Previous
studies have indicated that perceived ad intrusiveness consists of the following dimensions: interference with one's privacy (Sipior and
Ward 1995; Teeter and Loving 2001), cognitive process and/or task performance (Li, Edwards, and Lee 2002), and/or media content
(Ha 1996). Based on these dimensions, perceived ad intrusiveness can be defined as the degree to which an unwanted marketing
communication interferes with an individual's cognitive process and tasks, as well as the interference with media contents including
offensive materials.
From the perspective of consumer privacy, intrusion can be defined as invading an individual's solitude, including intrusion of one's
private affairs (Sipior and Ward 1995; Teeter and Loving 2001). Sturges (2002) defines solitude as a space around an individual that
is "to be left alone" (p. 211). While these definitions suggest a more legal aspect of consumer privacy, they are applicable to
advertising since ads may intrude upon one's personal space (the mailbox, computer hard drives) and the time that it takes to answer
phone calls from telemarketers.
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Milne and Rohm (2004) extended this view about consumer privacy to promotion activities by emphasizing that intrusiveness is
caused by unwanted marketer-initiated communications such as telemarketing, unwanted direct mail, and spam. In promotional
situations, consumers have either low or no control over receiving unwanted commercial information (Milne and Rohm 2004), which
may result in irritation. Consumers tend to find ads intrusive if they are unfamiliar with the advertisers or do not expect to receive
ads. Sheehan and Hoy (1999) discovered that consumers do not tend to regard ads as being intrusive if they themselves have
contacted the advertiser previously. Since the current study defines both direct mail and spam as unwanted ads from direct
marketers, consumers may consider unwanted ads as an intrusion to their own privacy.
Another aspect of ad intrusiveness is represented by the disturbance of one's task performance including one's cognitive processing
such as thinking. Based on the definition of Ha (1996) and Li, Edwards, and Lee (2002), ad intrusiveness is regarded as an
individual's cognitive process in which he/she may perceive ads to be disruptive of their thought process or activity. More specifically,
such disturbance on the Internet can be an interruption of not only editorial content, but also task performance (Li et al. 2002). For
example, individuals use the Internet for specific tasks, such as researching various issues or topics and e-mail corresponding.
Because such endeavors involve more than pure enjoyment of the entertainment content and individuals tend to be more taskoriented when online, they may perceive online ads as being even more intrusive (Li, Edwards, and Lee 2002) than ads on other
types of media. As a result, individuals may feel negatively towards the ads in general, perceive the advertised brands more
negatively, and thus build unfavorable attitudes toward purchasing the advertised brands (Batra and Ray 1986; MacKenzie, Lutz, and
Belch 1986). On the other hand, ads may be avoided altogether to perform their own tasks. A Pew Research Center (2003) survey
showed that more than 86% of the 1,400 respondents deleted spam without even opening the messages.
In terms of direct marketing communication channels, findings from focus groups conducted by Chang and Morimoto (2003) suggest
that participants generally found spam more intrusive than postal direct mail because spam can occupy a considerable amount of
limited space in their electronic mailbox. This causes e-mail users to spend additional time to locate messages that actually matter,
since spam creates the need to screen all messages (including spam) to decide which messages are safe. Pew Research Center (2003)
indicated that approximately 10% of the respondents reported that they spend more than 30 minutes dealing with spam, and more
than 50% of the participants say that they found it extremely difficult to get legitimate messages in their work-related mailbox due to
spam. On the other hand, in the case of direct mail, consumers tend to find discarding unwanted pieces not as time consuming as
deleting unsolicited commercial e-mail (Chang and Morimoto 2003). Thus, consumers are likely to find spam more intrusive than
postal direct mail.
Moreover, ad intrusiveness can be related to the access of the editorial content in media products. Studying the effect of advertising
clutter in consumer magazines, Ha (1996) defined ad intrusiveness as "the degree to which advertisements in a media vehicle
interrupt the flow of an editorial unit" (p. 77). In general, an individual consumes different media formats for various types of editorial
content. Advertisements in various forms, including print, television commercials, and Internet advertising such as spam and pop-up
ads, are often in the way of the audience consuming editorial content. Although audiences generally expect advertising in consumer
magazines and newspapers, marketing messages in media vehicles such as television or radio prevent individuals from accessing the
editorial or entertainment content. This may lead audiences to feel irritated and react by engaging in zapping commercials on radio
programs (Abernethy 1991) or TV shows, and/or flipping through print ads quickly to avoid these messages to get to the actual
content of the media. In particular, spam can be more intrusive because new technologies allow e-mail messages to automatically
direct the viewer to web sites (Chang and Morimoto 2003); while direct mail pieces can be easily discarded from mailboxes and
facilitate receivers' access to the actual media content.
Another potential element of perceived ad intrusiveness for spam is its content. According to research conducted by Brightmail Inc., a
solution provider to spam, approximately 14.5% of spam is considered to include adult content (Greenspan 2003). Furthermore, Pew
Research Center (2003) indicated that among 2,200 adults, 76% of respondents are bothered by offensive or obscene spam
contents. These kinds of spam often automatically direct readers to another pornographic web site, and thus may be perceived as
even more intrusive as they are likely to interfere with tasks in which individuals are engaged, which may result in a negative
attitude toward the ad. Based on the issues regarding spam described above, the first two hypotheses for this study are drawn:
H1: Consumers are likely to find spam more intrusive than direct mail.
H2a-b: Ad intrusiveness caused by a) spam; b) postal direct mail negatively correlates with attitudes toward the advertising
technique.
Psychological Reactance. Unwanted direct marketing communication messages may enhance the sense of loss of control in
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consumers' mind. Perceived ad intrusiveness deals with both physical intrusion of time and space by ads, and consumers' ability to
enjoy actual media content, which is the main purpose of consuming media content. Brehm's (1966) Psychological Reactance theory
suggests that it is helpful to understand the relationship between ad intrusiveness and perceived loss of control. The theory suggests
that when individuals frequently act counter to restrictions or pressures put upon them by external sources, they are likely to react
against threats or loss of freedom and/or control by acting in the opposite way intended by the source (Brehm 1966; Brehm and
Brehm 1981). In the context of consumer evaluations of advertising, if an individual finds ads intrusive, then he or she may also feel
that the ads prevent them from accessing the editorial content, the ability to process information cognitively, and/or the performance
of certain tasks. As a result, users may feel that they have lost the freedom to be engaged in particular behaviors and/or may feel
that they have lost control of their own behaviors. Perceived loss of control can thus be defined as the degree to which a consumer
feels a loss of control in conducting their own tasks due to the exposure to intrusive ads.
This perceived loss of control concept can be extended to suggest that the level of perceived loss by consumers is likely to be higher
for spam than direct mail because of the more intrusive nature of unsolicited commercial e-mail. In fact, the Pew Research Center
(2003) study indicated that the participants felt that spam, particularly those with adult content, are uncontrollable. This may be due
to the large number of spam sent to one's mailbox which makes deletion more time consuming and difficult, and/or new technologies
that automatically redirect the audience to other commercial web sites, and/or unexpected direct marketing pieces sent without prior
consent. Thus, in conjunction with Psychological Reactance, Internet users attempt to regain their control and pursue their tasks by
deleting unsolicited commercial e-mail messages immediately without opening them (Pew Research Center 2003).
Sheehan and Hoy (2000) found that consumers tend to be more concerned about the invasion of their privacy when they become
aware that marketers have acquired their e-mail addresses without their permission to send unsolicited commercial e-mail. Since email addresses can be attained through public newsgroups and/or cookies placed on a consumer's computer, consumer information
collection is likely to be conducted without prior knowledge. Although it is still possible for marketers to collect information on
consumers' postal addresses to send direct mail communications, the ease in which personal information is collected online is likely to
cause the sense of loss of control of personal information in consumers' minds. Therefore, using Psychological Reactance as a
framework, the third hypothesis is suggested:
H3: The level of perceived loss of control by consumers will be greater for spam than direct mail.
Irritation Caused by Direct Marketing Communication. A third factor that could influence consumer attitudes towards advertising is
the degree of irritation. For this study, the construct of ad irritation is based on the definition proposed by Aaker and Bruzzone
(1985): the negative, impatient, and displeasing feeling of individual consumers caused by various forms of advertising stimuli.
Previous studies have identified several potential factors that may trigger perceived ad irritation, such as advertised products, ad
intrusiveness, and perceived loss of control in one's behavior (Aaker and Bruzzone 1985; Aaker and Norris 1982; De Pelsmacker and
Van den Bergh 1998; Edwards, Li, and Lee 2002; Fennis and Bakker 2001; Fritz 1979; Ha 1996; Li, Edwards, and Lee 2002;
Stayman and Aaker 1988). Formats of direct marketing such as over-dramatized and contrived content and executions, as well as
frequent ad placements can also be perceived as intrusive and may deprive a consumer of their sense of control and freedom to
pursue their intended tasks. Characteristics of ad stimuli that could cause irritation are represented by several notable criticisms on
advertising such as targeting the wrong audience, manipulative messages, misplacements (placing ads in inappropriate slots),
excessive repetition within a short amount of time, and forced exposures (Li, Edwards, and Lee 2002; Rotzoll, Hall, and Haefner
1996). These traits are certainly applicable to both direct mail and spam. For example, messages that are clearly intended for males
are often times sent to females, the promise made by marketers is "too good to be true," and/or communications often continue to
appear in one's e-mail inbox or post office box even after requests by the recipient to cease such commercial messages.
In the context of direct marketing communication practices, past studies have indicated that spam tends to cause a higher level of ad
irritation upon an individual than direct mail. Focus groups conducted by Chang and Morimoto (2003) revealed that the participants
tended to feel more irritated by spam because they thought that spam prevented them from performing their intended tasks such as
checking e-mail messages from professors, friends, and family members. Even though software designed to filter unwanted e-mails is
available for consumers to block spam, consumers are also concerned that these filtering devices may block important incoming email messages (Pew Research Center 2003), which may result in interference with their task performance. In other words, perceived
loss of control may mediate the relationship between ad intrusiveness and ad irritation. As a result, the following fourth hypothesis is
proposed:
H4: Perceived loss of control mediates the relationship between ad intrusiveness caused by spam and ad irritation.
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Since the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages that an individual receives on a daily basis is numerous, it is time
consuming to self-filter and delete unwanted communications. In fact, Pew Research Center (2003) indicated that more that 75% of
consumers found spam annoying due to its volume and/or repetitive nature, and that 40% spent five minutes or less to delete spam
daily. Although five minutes may not appear to be a lengthy period of time, the time spent handling spam can often create a financial
burden to end-users since consumers often subscribe to fee-based online services and/or they must pay the fee to store/send e-mail
as well as phone lines to connect to servers (Cranor and LaMacchia 1998; Samoriski 1999). Such financial costs, along with the extra
time allotted for deletion to regain freedom and control to pursue intended activities may make consumers extremely annoyed with
spam.
On the other hand, postal direct mail does not require much time and/or additional financial costs for consumers in general. That is, if
consumers find direct mail unnecessary, they can discard it immediately. Unlike spam, audiences are not required to go online to
discard or read these physical direct marketing pieces. Furthermore, end-users are generally not interrupted from their task at hand,
unlike spam. In this sense, consumers may find direct mail less annoying than spam.
Regarding the content of advertisements, previous studies have indicated that people are annoyed or bothered by spam due to their
potentially offensive materials (Chang and Morimoto 2003; Nordlinger 2002; Pew Research Center 2003). Pew Research Center
(2003) suggested that more than 75% of their 2,200 participants felt annoyed by offensive or obscene spam materials. Receivers of
such e-mail messages may be uncomfortable or embarrassed because they worry that others may think that they might have
requested the messages or visited pornographic web sites, although this is generally not the case (Nordlinger 2002). Meanwhile, the
contents of direct mail tend to be less offensive, and direct mail pieces often feature sales promotion items such as coupons that may
benefit consumers (Chang and Morimoto 2003). While spam may have coupons embedded within the text of the communication
piece, consumers are often still required to use their own resources to print them out to use in retail stores. Coupons included within
direct mail pieces do not require additional resources from the recipient for consumers to enjoy the same benefits. This characteristic
may decrease the level of ad annoyance for postal direct mail when compared with spam. Based on these assumptions, the final
hypotheses are formed:
H5: Consumers are likely to experience a higher level of advertising irritation from spam than direct mail communications.
H6a-b: The degree of advertising irritation caused by a) spam; b) postal direct mail is negatively correlated with attitudes toward the
advertising technique.

Method
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of postal direct mail and unsolicited commercial e-mail on ad irritation perceived
by consumers. Three constructs, ad intrusiveness, perceived loss of control as suggested by Psychological Reactance, and ad irritation,
were measured to assess how these variables may influence one another, as well as the level of ad irritation based on the different
types of direct marketing communication channels.
Participants
Undergraduate students from a large Midwestern university were recruited to voluntarily participate in a survey for this study. After
conducting a pilot study (N=43) to check reliabilities of the measures, participants for the main survey (N=119) were randomly
assigned to either the direct mail (n=62) or spam survey (n=57). The surveys were different only when the items pertained
specifically to their attitudes about the intrusiveness and irritations of either direct mail or spam.
The final sample size contained 34.5% male and 65.5% female participants. The mean age of the sample was 20.1 years. With
regard to education level, the sample consisted of undergraduates who were sophomores (65%), juniors (44%), and seniors (10%).
In addition, a majority of the participants have at least one major credit card in their own name (95%), have purchased goods
through mail order (53.8%), have purchased goods through the Internet (91.6%), and have an e-mail account other than the
university's (85.7%). These characteristics are important because they are likely to increase the chances of these participants having
some experience with both direct mail and spam.
Measures
Items were modified from previous studies to measure five constructs (including potential covariates for this study): (1) perceived loss
of control; (2) ad intrusiveness of either postal direct mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail; and (3) ad irritation of either postal direct
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mail or solicited commercial e-mail; as well as (4) attitudes towards the advertising medium (spam or postal direct mail); and (5)
attitudes toward direct marketing as a practice in general (measured as a potential covariate).
Psychological Reactance (perceived loss of control). Modifying items from the scale created by Dowd, Milne, and Wise (1991),
Psychological Reactance was measured using a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) with items such as "I have a
strong desire to maintain my personal freedom," "I resent authority figures who try to tell me what to do," and "I enjoy debates with
other people." (a=.83).
Ad intrusiveness. Using the advertising intrusiveness scale from Li, Edwards, and Lee (2002), participants were asked if they strongly
agreed (1) or strongly disagreed (7) that spam or postal direct mail was distracting, disturbing, forceful, interfering, intrusive, invasive,
and obtrusive (a=.97).
Ad irritation. Using a seven-point semantic differential scale anchored with 12 items such as "appealing/unappealing,"
"positive/negative," and "pleasant/unpleasant" (Fritz 1979), ad irritation caused by either postal direct mail or unsolicited commercial
e-mail was measured (a=.97). Positive adjectives received a score of 7 and negative adjectives received a score of 1. The average
score of these 12 items was used to represent the "ad irritation" variable (1=most irritating; 7=least irritating).
Attitudes toward the Advertising Medium. MacKenzie and Lutz's (1986) six-item semantic differential scale with items such as
"good/bad," "favorable/unfavorable," "pleasant/unpleasant," and "convincing/unconvincing" was used to measure attitudes toward
either postal direct mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail (a=.92). Positive adjectives received a score of 7 and negative adjectives
received a score of 1. The average score of these 6 items was used as the "attitudes toward the advertising medium" variable
(1=least favorable; 7=most favorable).
Direct marketing attitudes. A total of eleven items (Table 1) were used to measure general attitudes towards direct marketing
practices. Six items from Akhter and Durvasula (1991) such as "Direct marketers sell high quality merchandise" and "Direct
marketers are trustworthy" and five items derived from the focus groups conducted by Chang and Morimoto (2003) such as "Direct
marketers provide useful products/services" and "Direct marketers do not offer product/services targeted toward me" were used
(a=.82).
Table 1.
Items used to measure attitude towards direct marketing methods in general (alpha=.82) (1=Strongly Disagree and
7=Strongly Agree)

Results
Prior to testing the hypotheses, several t-tests were conducted to assure that there would be no difference between the two groups
other than the effects from the research induction (postal direct mail and unsolicited commercial e-mail). The first independent
sample t-test examined differences between unsolicited commercial e-mail and postal direct mail in terms of attitudes toward general
direct marketing practices. The results indicated that there was no statistical significance in terms of attitudes toward general direct
marketing practices between direct mail (mean=3.45) and spam (mean=3.49).
Because of the skewed sample between male and female participants in this study, four independent sample t-tests were conducted
for the variables: ad irritation, ad intrusiveness, perceived loss of control (Psychological Reactance), and attitudes toward direct
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marketing in general to see if there was any gender effect. Focus group research by Chang and Morimoto (2003) found that women
may be more susceptible to direct marketing communications that have to do with shopping than men. However, the results
indicated that there was no statistical significance in the mean differences of all of the measures in terms of gender (Table 2).
Table 2. Independent Sample T-test Results on Gender Difference

To test the potential confounding effect of direct marketing attitudes on the dependent measures, bivariate correlations were
conducted. The results showed that direct marketing attitudes correlated with ad intrusiveness (r=.27, p<.01) and ad irritation
(r=.31, p<.01) but no correlation was found between direct marketing attitudes and perceived loss of control. Thus, direct marketing
attitude was treated as a covariate when testing H1 and H5.
Testing the Hypotheses
H1: Consumers are likely to find spam more intrusive than direct mail.
An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed (Table 3), controlling for attitudes toward direct marketing. The results indicated
that unsolicited commercial e-mail was perceived as more intrusive (mean=1.93) than postal direct mail (mean=4.24; F=116.40,
df=2, 97, p<.01). H1 was consistent with the data.
Table 3. ANCOVA/ANOVA Results (H1, H3 & H5)

H2a-b: Ad intrusiveness caused by a) spam; b) postal direct mail negatively correlates with attitudes toward the advertising
technique.
A bivariate correlation was conducted only on data from the group that answered questions on unsolicited commercial e-mail (n=45).
The results indicated as the degree of ad intrusiveness increased (1=most intrusive; 7=least intrusive; in this case, the mean score
becomes smaller), participants tended to find the advertising medium less favorable (r=.32, p<.05). Another correlation performed on
data from the group that answered questions on postal direct mail (n=41), indicated that when the participants found postal direct
mail less intrusive (1= most intrusive, 7= least intrusive; in this case, the mean score becomes larger), they found the advertising
medium more favorable (r=.42, p<.01).Therefore, the data supported the second hypothesis: as the degree of ad intrusiveness
increases, the favorability of the advertising medium (spam/direct mail) decreases.
H3: The level of perceived loss of control by consumers will be greater for spam than direct mail.
A one-way ANOVA was administrated with the advertising type (direct mail or spam) as an independent variable, perceived loss of
control as a dependent variable (1=loss of control, more reactance; 7=less reactance), and attitudes toward direct marketing as a
covariate. The results (Table 3) showed that that there was no statistically significant difference (F=1.13, df=1, 104, p>.01) between
the postal direct mail group (mean=4.50) and the unsolicited commercial e-mail group (mean=4.31) in terms of perceived loss of
control.
Furthermore, when conducting a correlation analysis, the correlation between advertising intrusiveness and perceived loss of control
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was not significant for unsolicited commercial e-mail (r= -.155, p=.309) or direct postal mail (r= -.012, p>.01). Therefore, the data
did not support H3.
H4: Perceived loss of control mediates the relationship between ad intrusiveness caused by spam and ad irritation.
To test the mediation effect of perceived loss of control, the method originally proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) was used.
According to the researchers, the following three conditions must exist if a variable serves as a mediator: 1) the independent variable
affects the mediating variable; 2) the independent variable also affects the dependent variable; and 3) the mediating variable affects
the dependent variable. Additionally, when adding the mediator to the relationship between the independent and dependent
variables, the effect of the independent variable should be reduced (Baron and Kenny 1986). Three sets of regression analyses were
conducted to test this hypothesis. The result of the first regression with ad intrusiveness as an independent variable and ad irritation
as a dependent variable suggest that ad intrusiveness had a significant effect on ad irritation (Y=1.41+.55X+e, R=.17, p<.01).
However, the second regression with ad intrusiveness as an independent variable and perceived loss of control as a dependent
variable indicated that ad intrusiveness did not have a significant effect on perceived loss of control (Y=4.59-.16X+e, R=.02, p>.05).
In addition, a multiple regression was performed with both ad intrusiveness and perceived loss of control as independent variables and
ad irritation as a dependent variable (Table 4). The results suggest that while ad intrusiveness (X1) remains as a significant predictor
of ad irritation, perceived loss of control (X2) does not have an effect on ad irritation (Y=.272+.63X+.23X+e, R=.23, p<.01[ad
intrusiveness], p>.05 [perceived loss of control]). Since perceived loss of control did not have an effect on the dependent variable, ad
irritation, the data do not support H4. Thus, perceived loss of control did not mediate the relationship between ad intrusiveness and
ad irritation.
Table 4. Tests of Perceived Loss of Control as a Mediator

H5: Consumers are likely to experience a higher level of advertising irritation from spam than direct mail communications.
The results of an ANCOVA with ad irritation as a dependent variable and attitudes toward direct marketing as a covariate (Table 3)
suggest that consumers find unsolicited commercial e-mail more irritating (mean=2.46, on a scale from 1=irritating and 7=least
irritating) than postal direct mail (mean=3.87, F=46.31, df=2, 93, p<0.01). Therefore, H5 was supported by the data.
H6a-b: The degree of advertising irritation caused by a) spam; b) postal direct mail is negatively correlated with attitudes toward the
advertising technique.
A bivariate correlation between ad irritation (1=most irritating, 7=least irritating) and attitudes toward the advertising medium
(unsolicited commercial e-mail; 1=least favorable, 7=most favorable) was conduced with the data from participants answering
questions on spam (n=49). The results indicate that the more participants felt that spam was irritating, the less favorable their
attitudes toward spam became (r=.84, p<.01). The result of another correlation using respondents who answered questions on
postal direct mail suggest a similar outcome (r=.89, p<.01). Therefore, the data support H6.

Discussion
As a result of the continued use and increasing popularity of direct marketing methods among marketers, this study sought to
understand consumer perceptions of traditional direct marketing methods such as postal direct mail in comparison to new techniques
such as commercial e-mails. Based on focus groups conducted by Chang and Morimoto (2003), several possible factors were identified
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as reasons for the perceived differences between the two types of direct marketing communication channels. Three of those factors
were explored in this study: the intrusiveness of a direct marketing effort, a perceived loss of control in consumers over their own
postal mail and e-mail accounts as predicted by Psychological Reactance, and levels of irritability caused by advertisements.
The statistical analyses indicted that there was a significant difference in how intrusive consumers perceived postal direct mail and
unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam). Specifically, participants felt that spam was much more intrusive than postal direct mail. It was
expected that participants would feel spam was more intrusive than direct mail because of the nature of spam, such as inappropriate
content and an excessive amount of spam that consumers receive in their mailbox everyday. Furthermore, while many e-mail
marketing efforts are cost efficient, many of them are untargeted and thus useless to recipients. On the other hand, direct mail
requires a financial investment upfront, such as the designing of the communication, printing, and mailing costs, which indicates that
investing in the contact information for potential audiences could make the message more effective and efficient.
It was hypothesized that feelings regarding the intrusiveness of direct marketing could be related to the loss of control that
consumers feel. According to Psychological Reactance, audiences are likely to reject communication efforts because they perceive a
loss of control over the type of material they are receiving through the mail and Internet. Thus, in addition to untargeted
communications including spam, Spyware loaded onto users' computers and the cookies functions on websites to track Internet
usage may make consumers feel as if they do not have the control over the amount of direct marketing activities targeted to their
mailboxes.
Surprisingly, there was no significant relationship between direct mail methods and Psychological Reactance. It is possible that the
results indicated no correlation between direct marketing intrusiveness and loss of control because the participants tested are part of
an audience that is continuing to grow accustomed and tolerant of online communications. Thus, while spam may be considered
intrusive, it is not perceived as a loss of control on the audience's part because it has become an inherent characteristic of the
technology that this study's sample population has grown accustomed to. Particularly because the respondents were all
undergraduate students, the use of commercial e-mail accounts (Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc.) and/or their university assigned e-mail
account is a necessity for them to communicate with professors, friends, and family. Thus, it is expected that they will receive spam
each time they log into an account, and therefore not perceived as a loss of control. These rationales and hypotheses should be
further explored in future studies.
This research study sought to predict how irritating postal direct mail was in comparison to unsolicited commercial e-mail. The results
indicted that the participants perceived spam to be more annoying than postal direct mail. If users of electronic mail are logging onto
their account, they are not checking to see the interesting spam that they have received. Rather, users are logging on because they
have a specific purpose or task that they are attempting to achieve. The addition of spam forces the users to filter unwanted
messages so that they may utilize their e-mail accounts. Regardless if they are hoping to have received a response from a friend,
send an e-mail to their parent, receive confirmation that their online purchase has been shipped, or exam scores from a professor,
there is a direct and personal purpose to the action of logging onto their account. Thus, if this purpose is interrupted and takes away
from the time that they will have to do what is necessary, then it is inconvenient and considered irritating.

Conclusion
It appears that among direct marketing practitioners, the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail will continue to be a preferred
communication tool due to its cost effectiveness and hyperactivity (Hoffman, Novak, and Chatterjee 1995; Mehta and Sivadas 1995;
Verity et al. 1994). However, upon examination of the trends and spending levels between advertising techniques, it also seems that
traditional postal direct mail continues to remain popular among marketers. Like traditional advertising and promotion campaigns in
which marketers typically employ multiple communication strategies to reach the target audience (Rotzoll, Hall, and Haefner 1996),
direct marketers also tend to use several communication channels to maximize the reach to the target audience.
For successful direct marketing campaigns, advertisers are encouraged to understand consumer perceptions of various
communication channels including direct mail and spam, and the psychological effects triggered by these communication channels.
Thus, it is important to investigate the potential causes of consumer irritation toward ads, as well as some factors that positively
affect consumer perceptions of ads since they are likely to influence consumers' purchase intention in the end (Batra and Ray 1986;
MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1996).
In this regard, this study has demonstrated that the perceptions between postal direct mail and unsolicited commercial direct mail are
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very different. Specifically, direct mail is considered intrusive and irritating to recipients. As a general guideline then, it is
recommended that all direct marketing communications at least serve some purpose for the recipient.

Limitations and Future Research

The use of college students could be a concern because they are a unique population that does not allow for this study to be
generalized to other populations. Their uses, experiences, and comfort level on the Internet might have presented some responses
that might not be true to other recipients of spam and postal direct mail. However, because these participants represent consumers
who are accustomed to both traditional forms of direct marketing and new technologies, the results obtained from this population is
valid for how direct marketing should move in the future, since these participants represent the next generation of consumers.
Another variable that could have influenced levels of irritation regarding spam could be the inconvenience that e-mail users
experience when they are accessing their accounts with the intention of receiving messages from familiar sources. Thus, the
inconvenience that consumers experience may also contribute to the levels of irritation toward unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Additional research should examine whether or not the loss of control may be perceived as highly by the participants as those
measured by Li, Edwards, Lee (2002) for Internet pop-up advertisements for spam. The use of an e-mail account creates the
expectation that one of the tasks that they will have to engage in is deleting unwanted e-mails - without even reading it. Pop-up
advertisements, on the other hand, interfere with the task at hand, thus creating the need to recognize that it is an advertisement,
and shift their physical movement to close the ad.
For future studies, it would be interesting to note how certain products, specific brands, and companies are perceived as a result of
the use of either direct mail or spam. In addition, there are trepidations regarding the security of e-commerce transactions. While
systems such as PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay, have become the "next" generation of secure online payment methods that surpass
the safety measures of credit cards, it is far from perfect and has suffered from litigation that has decreased its credibility, trust, and
reliability with e-commerce consumers (Ackerman 2006). Thus, understanding how participants who have purchased from either
postal or electronic direct mail methods perceive the safety of their financial dealings could further help marketers understand the
concerns about e-commerce and uses of unsolicited commercial e-mail.
As a contribution to Psychological Reactance theory, future studies should attempt to identify causes of the audience feeling of
advertising intrusiveness, reactance, and advertising irritation. For example, untargeted communications delivered to recipients could
cause consumers to feel higher levels of irritation. In turn, if consumers feel that they are irritated by these marketing
communications, this may cause consumers to feel that they do not have control over their own e-mail accounts. Higher levels of
irritation directed toward the advertisement could lead to an increased perception of their loss of control regarding their own e-mail
accounts.

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About the Authors

Mariko Morimoto (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Assistant Professor of Advertising in the Grady College of Journalism and
Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. Her research areas include international and cross-cultural advertising, race,
gender, and stereotypes in mass media and industries, and integrated marketing communication.
Susan Chang (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an Assistant Professor of Advertising in the School of Communication at the
University of Miami. Her research interests include branded product placement, integrated marketing communications, and strategic
communications.

An O f f ic ial O n lin e P u b lic atio n o f th e Am er ic an Ac ad em y o f Ad ver tis in g

2 0 1 3 J o u r n al o f I n ter ac tive Ad ver tis in g

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