KAN MAN KÖPA SIG FRI? En kvalitativ studie om två generationers attityder till riktad reklam och möjligheten att köpa sig fri från riktad reklam

Abstract

In October 2023, Meta introduced a paid service that gave users the option to pay to avoid targeted advertising in their Instagram feed. Previous research has studied how different generations perceive targeted advertising, but there are a few studies that have studied how different generations reason about buying themselves free from targeted advertising. By studying two generations’ attitudes and experiences of targeted advertising on Instagram, it can provide an insight how these attitudes lead to perceived usefulness of Meta’s payment service or not. As the payment service is relatively new, the research area is unexplored. This led to an interest in studying the attitudes of women of different generations towards targeted advertising, to see if it affected how useful they found the payment service. This study aims to compare the attitudes and experiences of Generation X and Z towards targeted advertising on Instagram, as well as the perceived usefulness of Metas payment service to avoid targeted advertising. To answer our empirical questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with women in Generation X and Z. Generation Z consists of individuals born between 1996-2012. In this study, we have focused on four women born between 1996-2002. Generation X consists of individuals born between 1965-1980, in this study we have chosen to focus on four women born between 1968-1973. In total, eight women have been interviewed. To answer the purpose of this study, two empirical questions have been posed. The first is: What are the attitudes and perceptions of the older generation (X) and the younger generation (Z) towards targeted advertising on Instagram? The second question is: How useful do the older generation (X) and younger generation (Z) perceive Meta’s payment service on Instagram to be, and how do they reason about buying their way out from the targeted advertising? Two theoretical frameworks were used to analyze and interpret the interview material. The Model of Attitudes towards Web Advertising by Ducoffe (1995) was used to interpret and understand the interviewees’ attitudes towards targeted advertising on Instagram. The Technology Acceptance Model by Davis (1989) has been applied to understand the interviewees’ perceived usefulness of Meta’s payment service. Previous studies in the research area have also been used to interpret and analyze the interviewees’ reasoning. The results showed that attitudes towards targeted advertising on Instagram were mostly positive. We also found that attitudes and perceptions of targeted advertising did not differ between the generations to the same extent as in previous research. There was a consensus that targeted advertising has increased among both generations, with Generation X and Z highlighting positive and negative aspects of it. As targeted advertising has increased in the feeds of the interviewees’, a habit of seeing the advertising all the time also developed. The habit of targeted advertising has, in turn, led to the perception that paying to avoid advertising in the feed was not perceived as relevant by the interviewees. Furthermore, the results showed that none of the women in both generations perceived Meta’s payment service as useful. This highlighted several arguments as to why the service felt useless, partly because the cost was too high, and partly because they expressed that it felt unfair that not everyone had the opportunity to pay to buy themselves free from advertising on Instagram. Other arguments raised were that advertising is part of society, even if you buy yourself free from advertising in one platform or social media, it will appear in other places around you.