A study investigated the impact of a one-time persuasive message presented to subjects across two media--audio and audiovisual. A second variable, distraction, was also examined for its induced impact on conferring resistance to the message. Subjects were 170 college undergraduates, 46 of whom were assigned to a control group that did not see or hear the experimental message. The remaining 124 subjects were assigned either to audio or audiovisual modes of presentation and then to one of three distracter groups: positive argument critical response set, negative argument critical response set, or no critical response set. Results showed that verbally induced distraction, when induced as negative arguments, increased resistance to the persuasive message. In addition, subjects viewing the presentation were more susceptable to the message and viewed the message source as more credible and attractive than did those who merely listened to it. (FL)