Yes, the internet is a prime area for malware infection, either in this type of thing social engineering trying to take advantage of seasonal searches and you visit a site that in a search engine result appears to be what you want only to find it is trying to run some sort of driveby download or exploit, etc.
However, nowadays one of the biggest threats is from hacked sites, so sites that are legit and have been previously visited so you feel safe have code/scripts inserted to rty and infect your system.
Fortunately avast's web shield is very hot on these types of attack.
