How sponsorship transparency mitigates negative effects of advertising recognition

The proliferation of covert online advertising formats such as advergames has raised concerns about consumers’ ability to recognize such content as advertising and about how recognition affects evaluative outcomes. The present research utilized an online experiment (N?=?179) to examine differences between covertness of advertising format (advergame vs. online video commercials) on advertising recognition, and whether sponsorship transparency mediates – and mitigates – the negative effects of advertising recognition on attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intent. The results show that covertness of advertising format, recognition, and sponsorship transparency all shape consumers’ responses to online ads. Specifically, the predicted negative indirect effect of covertness of advertising format on attitudes and behavioral intention via advertising recognition reversed valance when sponsorship transparency was included in the serial mediation model.     

The impact of message appeal and message source on Gen Y consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions toward American Apparel

A 3 × 2 experimental design was used to examine the impact of message appeal (fair labor, sex, or a combination of fair labor and sex) and message source (company advertisements or third-party publicity) upon Gen Y consumers' (N = 258) intent to patronize the retailer, American Apparel. Results supported models of hierarchical effects of advertising on patronage intention as well as the inclusion of external variables in the theory of reasoned action. Findings revealed that Gen Y consumers' attitudes toward ad, attitudes toward brand, and purchase intentions toward American Apparel varied by exposure to message appeal in advertisements viewed. Participants' evaluations of source credibility, attitudes toward brand, and purchase intentions toward American Apparel were influenced by message source. Additionally, purchase intentions toward American Apparel were directly predicted by attitudes toward American Apparel and indirectly by perceptions of source credibility. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The effects of an advertising retrieval cue on young children's memory and brand evaluations

Young children's memory for television advertising is important in order for children to recognize brands in stores and/or to recall the brand name in making a purchase request. Two experiments showed that the use of visual advertising retrieval cue (a green frog as the brand character) improved memory performance and brand evaluations. Study 1 (n = 40) showed promise in the cue's assistance in children's recalling the brand name (cued recall) from the ad memory trace. Study 2 (n = 40) contained multiple exposures to the ad, which resulted in greater free recall and in support for the cue's assistance in better access of the brand name from the ad memory trace (cued recall). Affected ad memory resulted in more favorable brand evaluations and intent to request the brand's purchase. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Disclosing brand placement to young children

In spite of the EU's prohibition on brand placement in children's programmes, it is argued that children may still be exposed to this advertising format in many occasions. Consequently, and as children may have even more difficulties than adults to distinguish the commercial content from the editorial media content in which it is embedded, an advertising disclosure may be necessary to enable them to cope with brand placement. Entailing two one-factorial between-subjects experiments, the current article examined how different types of brand placement warning cues influenced cognitive advertising literacy and the attitude toward the placed brand, among children between 8 and 10 years old.

In a first study, it was investigated how these outcomes were influenced by warning cues with different perceptual modalities (no vs. auditory vs. visual cue, N = 98). The results showed that a visual warning cue was more effective than an auditory warning cue (vs. no warning cue) in addressing cognitive advertising literacy. However, this higher cognitive advertising literacy could not account for the effect of the visual warning cue on brand attitude.

In a second study, it was examined whether the effectiveness of this visual warning cue was influenced by the timing of disclosure (cue prior to vs. during media containing brand placement, N = 142). Additionally, it was tested whether the effect of the cue on brand attitude could be explained by cognitive advertising literacy if children's sceptical attitude toward the brand placement format was taken into account. The results showed that cognitive advertising literacy was higher when the cue was shown prior to than during the media content. This cue-influenced cognitive advertising literacy resulted in a more positive brand attitude, but only among children who were less sceptical toward brand placement. This positive relation disappeared among moderately and highly sceptical children.

These findings have significant theoretical, practical and social implications.     

Processes and effects of targeted online advertising among children

Increasingly, information from children's profile pages on social network sites is being used to target online advertising, a phenomenon known as profile targeting. This practice has raised concerns in society and academia; however, its effects among children remain unstudied. Therefore, we investigated the effects of profile targeting on children's brand responses (i.e., brand attitude and purchase intention). We examined two types of targeting: targeting of product and of form (i.e., color). In addition, we tested three underlying mechanisms: liking the advertisement, perceived personal relevance of the advertisement, and recognizing the targeting aspect of the advertisement (targeting recognition). A between-subjects experiment among 231 children aged 9–13 years showed that targeting the product leads to more positive brand attitudes and purchase intentions. In addition, the effects were explained by ad liking and not by perceived personal relevance or targeting recognition. These findings suggest that, unlike adults, children do not process profile targeting on an elaborate critical level. Rather, the processing seems to be less elaborate.     

The effects of audio-visual and visual-only cues on consumers' responses to co-branded advertising

Co-branded advertising (two brands featured in the same ad) is a relatively new and under-researched area of advertising that offers advertisers the opportunity to share advertising costs and leverage brand equity. Despite its growing popularity, few research studies have examined the potential benefits and/or limitations of this executional strategy, and particularly a strategy in which one brand (a focal brand) is paired with another, but less emphasized (peripheral) brand. This study reports the results of an empirical investigation that examines how modifying reference to the peripheral brand (visual-only versus simultaneous visual and audio references) influences consumers' perceived associations of the advertised brands, as well as their attitudes toward the advertisement and intentions to purchase either brand. Employing a convenience sample of undergraduate students on a university campus in the United States, the results of this study indicate that audio-visual cues enhance brand association and purchase intentions. However, additional analyses reveal that attitude toward a co-branded advertisement mediates the brand association effect on purchase intentions toward the focal brand, whereas brand association has a direct effect on purchase intentions toward the peripheral brand.     

The Effects of Playing an Advergame on Young Children's Perceptions,Preferences, and Requests

A sample (n = 295) of five- to eight-year-old children participated in an experiment, which included a control group, where the treatment group played a Froot Loops cereal advergame that made a superiority claim for the cereal compared to fresh fruit. Measures of their responses to the brand featured, as well as their level of persuasion knowledge, were collected. Although the treatment group failed to believe Froot Loops were healthier than fruit, the older children in the group reported significantly higher preference for the brand over other cereals and other food types. No differences in intentions to request the cereal were found. Children's preferences for the Froot Loops brand were not associated with their persuasion knowledge about the advergame.     

Children’s Responses to Traditional Versus Hybrid Advertising Formats: The Moderating Role of Persuasion Knowledge

Research on the impact of advertising on children has failed to keep pace with the rapidly changing media environment. Using an experimental approach, children’s responses towards traditional (television advertisement) versus new, hybrid advertising techniques (trailer, advergame, and their combination), and the moderating role of persuasion knowledge, are investigated. Results show that children who played an advergame have more difficulty recalling the advertised brand than children who saw a traditional television advertisement. When confronted with integrated marketing communications (a trailer followed by an advergame), children without knowledge of persuasive intent developed a more positive brand attitude than children with persuasion knowledge. The implications of these results are discussed.     

How advertising literacy training affect children's responses to television commercials versus advergames

This study examined children's advertising literacy level for traditional versus embedded advertising formats by comparing their cognitive and affective advertising literacy level for television commercials vs. advergames. The study also explored how cognitive and affective advertising literacy further attenuate advertising effects by investigating the mediation impact of cognitive and affective advertising literacy on the relation between the ad's format and the purchase request. Third, the study investigated how an advertising literacy training session moderates these effects.

The results of this experimental study showed that advergames lead to a higher purchase request rate among children than television commercials. However, only affective but not cognitive advertising literacy mediated the effect of the advertising format on purchase request. In addition, a training session was shown to accelerate children's cognitive (but not their affective) advertising literacy for advergames, but not for television commercials.     

Television advertising and childrens' attitudes toward proprietary medicine

The effect of exposure to television drug advertising on children's attitudes toward proprietary medicines and medicine use was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment presented the commercials in a realistic program context fashion. The second experiment presented the commercials in a more direct and controlled manner. Using drug questionnaires, the subjects were assessed for their attitudes regarding the use of proprietary drugs. The results of both studies indicated that exposure to drug advertising had little influence on children's attitudes. Furthermore, children preferred not to watch drug commercials in comparison to a TV program or other types of commercials.     

The Effects of Ad Irritation on Brand Attitudes

Abstract

Brand attitude has been proposed to be an antecedent to purchase intentions. However, very few studies have specifically focused on ad irritation as an antecedent to attitude towards the brand. This paper examines the effect of ad irritation on brand attitudes and if the effect of ad irritation is independent of ad credibility, attitude towards the advertiser, attitude towards advertising, and ad-induced feelings. The results indicated that ad irritation was not significant in predicting brand attitudes. Respondents' prior brand attitude, ad credibility, ad-induced feelings and attitude towards the advertiser were significant predictors of brand attitudes. Based on the results, several managerial implications were derived regarding the usefulness of ad irritation in changing brand attitudes.     

Ethics in Food Advertising to Children in India—A Parental Perspective

Marketers are seen to bombard children with advertisements for unhealthy foods using sophisticated promotion techniques that have serious negative effects on health and overall well-being of children. So parents try to mediate children’s exposure to media content and call for governmental regulations in an attempt to shield them. The extent to which they mediate further determines whether they contemplate food advertisements as being ethical or unethical. Therefore, the present study tries to uncover the antecedents to ethical versus unethical perceptions of Indian parents about food advertisements directed at children. No study, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, has been conducted so far in India in this regard. Using binary logistic regression with mothers, it is found that the mothers who view food advertisements as unethical report their children to watch fewer hours of TV during weekdays and hold negative attitudes toward advertising to children. These mothers, however, do not feel that the government needs to impose restrictions on food advertisements aired on TV since they themselves indulge in mediation of TV advertising as a general parenting responsibility. The implications of the article are finally discussed.     

Development and validation of an emic scale to measure ad-evoked nostalgia in France

The practice of imbuing marketing communications with nostalgic reverie is prevalent in numerous countries. However, scholarly research investigating consumer response to such communication across cultures is lacking. This inquiry follows an emic approach examining and measuring ad-evoked personal nostalgia in France. Findings from five studies (N = 699) reveal significant differences in consumer reactions in France, as compared to earlier research based on American samples. Among the French, nostalgic advertising evokes personal memories and cultural nostalgia, contrasted to reports of past imagery, physiological and positive and negative emotional reactions in the United States. Furthermore, while cultural nostalgia is an important component of the French personal nostalgic experience, it is the personal memories that are the key to the creation of positive impressions about the ad and brand (brand heritage, brand bonds, and attitudes), and driving behavioral intentions. The emic French scale was found to be superior to an etic ad-nostalgia measure, in terms of fit and variance explained of the endogenous variables. The findings contribute to cross-cultural advertising and marketing research, and can be instructive for advertisers targeting the French market.     

Disclosure of Vlog Advertising Targeted to Children

Influencers can disclose vlog advertising by implementing a platform-generated disclosure or by generating their own disclosure. This study aims to investigate whether and how these two types of disclosures differentially affect children's responses toward the sponsored content and the influencer. To do so, a two (platform-generated [PG] disclosure: no PG disclosure versus PG disclosure) by three (influencer-generated [IG] disclosure: no IG disclosure versus no commercial interference disclosure versus commercial interference disclosure) between-subjects experimental study was conducted among 190 children (aged ten to twelve). The results show that both types of disclosures increased children's recognition of vlog advertising; however, children's advertising literacy (i.e. their understanding of influencer marketing and skepticism toward the ad) was less activated when the influencer specifically indicated that there was no commercial interference of the brand. In addition, besides being more beneficial for influencers (by not negatively affecting children's evaluations of the influencer), an IG disclosure also showed to be more favorable for brands, as it increased brand effects among children, whereas a PG disclosure decreased these brand effects.     

Children's Responses to Advertising in Social Games

This study explored children's (ages 9 through 12) level of persuasion knowledge and peer influence susceptibility concerning advertising in social games and investigated how these variables affect children's desire for the brands advertised in these games. Results showed that (1) children have a fairly good knowledge of the advertising in social games yet hold uncritical attitudes toward it and claim to be not very susceptible to peer influence; (2) the most important predictors of children's desire for the advertised brands are a low critical attitude and high peer influence susceptibility; and (3) recognition and understanding of advertising in social games is effective in reducing advertised brand desire only for children who are familiar with social games.     

Consumers’ responses to native vs. banner advertising: moderation of persuasion knowledge on interaction effects of ad type and placement type

Applying advertising contextual theory, we examined the conditions under which native advertising embedded in a news website was more effective. With the use of college students (n = 189), a 2 (type of ad: native vs. banner) × 2 (type of ad placement: solo vs. duo) × 2 (persuasion knowledge: high vs. low) online experimental design was employed. In the solo condition, native advertising was evaluated more favorably than banner advertising in perceived fit, ad credibility, brand attitudes and click intention. Significant interaction effects between ad type and placement type were found on all dependent variables, with native advertising showing a significant decrease in duo (vs. solo) placement. These interaction effects appeared to be more pronounced for consumers with high persuasion knowledge, confirming its moderating role. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed regarding the strategic placement of native advertising in news websites.     

Branding over Internet and TV Advertising

This study examined the effect of cross-channel integration of an advertiser's television spot and website that featured additional advertising messages specifically designed for the ad campaign on consumer responses. The results revealed that cross-channel integration of advertising enhanced consumers’ attitudes toward the television spot, perceived media engagement, and brand attitudes. Implications for advertisers and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Children's advertising: the ethics of economic socialisation

There is focus upon advertising and children for two broad reasons. First, it is because children are children, and are considered separately. Second, it is because children will become adults. Advertising therefore effects behaviour during childhood and continues to do so into adulthood. Advertising to children rarely receives a good press, and it remains a controversial topic in the wider domain. Is it responsible for poor diet? Does it make children pester their parents? Is there too much of it? And does Christmas have to start in September? Subsequently the issue has evolved to question whether there should be advertising to children, and if so whether it should be regulated. This discussion paper examines arguments for and against children's advertising, and concludes that whilst there are compelling arguments on both sides, advertising to children remains an economic necessity in need of adjustment and regulation.     

Children's understanding of television advertising: a qualitative approach

In this paper children's understanding of television advertising was explored using focus groups in a qualitative approach. None of the 6 year olds, a minority of the 8 year olds and by no means all of the 10 year olds were able to articulate an understanding of the persuasive nature of advertising. It was concluded that children's understanding of the persuasive intent of television advertising is less well developed than previously thought, challenging current marketing perspectives. These findings raise questions for European legislation, UK broadcasting practices and for advertisers and manufacturers who target children.     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.