DISTANCE EVALUATION EFFECTS IN ADVERTISING

It is argued people have learned over the course of their lives that c ues associated with a source of stress diminish with an increase in di stance from that source. This benefit should have increasing appeal to persons experiencing increasing levels of source specific stress. Two experiments, utilizing different populations of respondents, examine the effects of distance from a place of work on evaluations of adverti sed vacation resorts by persons experiencing different levels of work- related stress. In the first study, a strong linear trend in favorable attitudes toward a distant (as opposed to a close) resort was found a s a function of increasing levels of work-related stress. In the secon d study, that linear trend was eliminated (replicated) through the pre sence (absence) of a work-related retrieval cue. The results suggest t hat distant locations appear attractive because of their perceived esc ape/avoidance value. That value increases as a function of work-relate d stress, which has attitudinal consequences contingent upon the avail ability of cues reminding respondents of work. Implications of the res ults in terms of the meaning of leisure, the development of more effec tive advertising appeals, as well as reconsidering past views of dista nce barriers between people and locations, are discussed.