• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 8, 2010

35% of Americans say that they have chosen not to purchase a certain brand because they find the ads distasteful and an additional 22% say they not done this, but have thought of doing so. 43% say they have never done this.

Why People Choose Not To Purchase Certain Brands (Base: All U.S. Adults; % Of Respondents)
Have you chosen NOT to purchase?...	Yes (net)	Yes, in the past year	Yes, more than one year ago	No, but I have thought of doing so	No, I have never done so
I found the advertisements distasteful.	35%	22%	14%	22%	43%
I didn't like the spokesperson it used.	28	17	11	22	50
I did not like a program or event sponsored by the brand	27	15	12	20	52
Source: Harris Poll, March 2010

28% of Americans say they have chosen to not purchase a brand because they did not like the spokesperson it used, while 22% say they have not done so, but thought of doing it, and 50% say they have never done so. While 52% say they have not done so, 27% of Americans say they did not purchase a certain brand because they did not like a program or event sponsored by the brand and 20% have thought of doing so.

Why People Choose NOT To Purchase Certain Brands (Gender and Age; % of Category saying "Ever Done So" )
		Gender		Age
Reason for Not Purchasing	Total	Men	Women	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
I found the advertisements distasteful.	35%	35%	36%	37%	34%	32%	37%
I didn't like the spokesperson it used.	28	32	25	29	24	27	30
I did not like a program or event sponsored by the brand.	27	29	22	26	26	26	30
Source: Harris Poll, March 2010

The more education one had, the more likely they are to say they have not purchased something. 43% of college graduates have not purchased a brand because they found the advertisements distasteful compared to 29% of those with a high school education or less. 33% of college grads say they have not purchased a brand because they didn't like the spokesperson compared to 23% of those with a high school education or less.

The spokesperson makes a difference for those at different income levels. One-quarter of those with a household income of under $50,000 a year say they did not purchase a certain brand because they did not like the spokesperson used compared to 28% of those with a household income of between $50,000 and $74,999 a year and one-third of those with a household income of $75,000 a year or more.

Why People Choose NOT To Purchase Certain Brands (Education and Income; % of Category Saying "Ever Done So)
		Education			Household Income
	Total	HS orless	Some college	College grad	< $35k	$35k-$49.9k	$50k-$74.9k	$75k+
I found the advertisements distasteful.	35	29	37	43	36	30	35	39
I didn't like the spokesperson it used.	28	23	31	33	25	25	28	33
I did not like a program or event sponsored by the brand.	27	24	27	33	28	22	26	30
Source: Harris Poll, March 2010

The report concludes by noting that certain things, whether it is the voiceover in an ad, the concert or sporting event the brand sponsors or even the general tone of the advertisement, consumers can be turned off to a brand. These reasons have nothing to do with the actual brand, product or service, but are things that advertisers and marketers must consider each and every time they are pulling together storyboards for their next campaign. What is also difficult is when a long-time spokesperson becomes involved in something scandalous. Each brand they endorse must make the difficult decision of whether to "break-up" with the spokesperson over that scandal or attempt to ride it out and not have consumers flee the brand.

For additional information from Harris Interactive, please visit this site.

This Adweek Media/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States February 2 and 4, 2010 among 2,194 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Where appropriate, this data were also weighted to reflect the composition of the adult online population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.