A major factor contributing to the growth in the use of direct marketing IMC efforts is
A. reduced government regulation of deceptive advertising practices.
B. expanded use of personal selling.
C. a shift from objective-and-task to rule-of-thumb budgeting.
D. increased use of credit and debit cards, and online shopping by consumers.
E. the reduction in IMC noise, allowing for a decreased lagged effect.
Answer: D. increased use of credit and debit cards, and online shopping by consumers.