  We present the results of a study designed to measure the impact of
interruptive advertising on consumers willingness to pay for products bearing
the advertiser's brand. Subjects participating in a controlled experiment were
exposed to ads that diverted their attention from a computer game they were
testing. We found that ads significantly lowered subjects willingness to pay
for a good associated with the advertised brand. We did not find conclusive
evidence that providing some level of user control over the appearance of ads
mitigated the negative impact of ad interruption. Our results contribute to the
research on the economic impact of advertising, and introduce a method of
measuring actual (as opposed to self-reported) willingness to pay in
experimental marketing research.
