WHAT DOES GENERATION Z SAY ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA ADS? A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE DETERMINANTS OF ADVERTISING AVOIDANCE AND ACCEPTANCE

Abstract

Advertisement must first be accepted by the consumers, regardless of its target. In the absence of advertisement acceptance, it is not possible to achieve the expected effect. Therefore, it is very important for what reasons consumers avoid advertisements. This study, which investigates the reasons for the acceptance and avoidance behaviors of generation Z, which is the most intense consumer of social media, aims to guide both academicians and practitioners with its findings. Because the Z generation will be involved in business life in the near future and will play a dominant role in the consumption decisions of societies. In this context, the attitudes of the relevant generation towards advertisements were obtained by the interview technique, which is a qualitative data collection method. Social media usage, social media advertisements, shopping in e-commerce platforms main themes, and the expressions obtained from the interview questions structured within the framework of ten different sub-themes detailing these main themes were analyzed with the MAXQDA package program. In addition, the demographic data of the participants were analyzed and the gender-specific discourse rates were determined. As a result of the qualitative analysis, (1) the quality of the advertisement; (2) that the product or presentation in the advertisement is within the interests and needs of the audience; (3) the frequency of display of the advertisement and the obligation to watch; (4) the effectiveness and persuasiveness of the promotions were determined as the most important factors determining the behavior of ad acceptance or ad avoidance. In the transformation of advertisement acceptance into purchasing behavior, (1) the positive or negative comments made on the social media accounts of the advertiser's products and services, and the number of comments; (2) the reliability of the advertiser's social media accounts; (3) the content and interaction success of the advertiser's social media accounts were determined as prominent factors.