Reactions of Social Media Users Toward Increasingly Being Exposed to Targeted Brand Advertising: A Southern Hemisphere Perspective

Although social media offers numerous benefits for advertising, it has faced growing criticism, with many claiming it has overly commercialized the platform. The purpose of this research study was to determine the impact of social media advertisement exposure on university students in South Africa. The research study followed a positivist, deductive, and quantitative approach. The findings show that excessive advertising not only risks creating feelings of intrusion and irritation but also damages a company’s online image. Similarly, poorly formulated social media advertisements result in increased consumer frustration directed at organisations who purposefully flood our social media feeds. These negative experiences lead to increases in advertisement avoidance and social media fatigue. Our study identifies key social media characteristics that can address these failures. Actions taken by key stakeholders would positively enhance the overall view of the business, the consumers’ levels of trust within the business, and feelings of being valued.