Jo Ann L. Asquith’s research while affiliated with St. Cloud State University and other places

Only limited research has addressed advertiser re- sponse to electronic avoidance of television commercials. The current research was undertaken in order to further extend that work by sur- veying advertising agency pemnnel to determine their perspectives concerning electronic zipping (fast forwarding through television commercials when viewing previously recorded programs). This pa; per presents a comparison of advertisers' and agency professionals attitudes regarding electronic zipping. Both groups expressed an over- all concern regarding the practice of zipping, but advertisers indicated a signif~cantly higher level of concern than agency respondents. Both groups agreed that zipping behavior is not any worse (or more damag- ing) than other forms of commacial avoidance. While advertisers and agency respondents indicated that longer, more entertaining commer- cials may offer potential for limiting viewer zipping, few have taken proactive steps to counter zipping behaviors.