Mere Exposure Effect: True or False?

In class on Thursday, the mere exposure effect was brought up as a result of our conversation about outdoor advertising. We discussed how the mere exposure effect says that we start to view things more favorably as a result of seeing it more often. However, our professor mentioned that in some cases, seeing something frequently can cause you to tune out and get sick of it. The question is, which one of these is true?

I'd say that in my personal life, I tend to agree that the mere exposure effect is accurate. I tend to think more favorably of things when I'm constantly exposed- I definitely "warm up" to topics and ideas when I become more familiar with them. I think I touched upon this in one of my previous blogs, but I tend to think positively of brands or fads when I see them being worn often. For instance, I used to think flannels were incredibly "tom-boyish" and weird. A few of my friends were always wearing them and I slowly started to warm up to them. Here I am now, wearing a flannel as I type this blog. Seeing flannels on models in advertisements has also made a positive impression on my opinion of them. I can connect this to celebrity endorsers. When people see a celebrity wearing a brand or certain type of clothing, they may think it's "cool" or "trendy". Celebrity endorsers and the mere exposure effect seem like they can both be powerful tools to persuade consumers from a marketer-standpoint.

All of this also caused me to make a connection back to selective exposure. Doesn't the mere exposure effect contradict the selective exposure effect? If I remember correctly, the selective exposure theory says that consumers tend to favor information if it goes along with their pre-existing views or ideas. The mere exposure effect seems to prove the selective exposure theory wrong. If a consumer sees a commercial for a brand repeatedly, and it goes against a pre-existing view they had, wouldn't this be saying that the mere exposure effect wouldn't hold true, and the selective exposure theory would?

Every time I look back at an old theory we learned about in Buyer Behavior and Promotional Strategy, it seems like I can contradict it with a different theory.