Effects of Disclosing Influencer Marketing in Videos: An Eye Tracking Study Among Children in Early Adolescence

This study focused on the effects of sponsorship disclosure timing on children's ability to understand that social influencer videos are sponsored. The study also investigated how sponsorship disclosure timing affects children's attitudes toward the sponsoring brand, the video, and the influencer. An experiment among 272 children in early adolescence (10–13 years of age) was conducted using eye tracking. Results show that a disclosure shown prior to the start of the videos leads to more visual attention than a disclosure shown concurrently with the start of videos. Consequently, disclosure prior to the start of videos is better processed, as indicated by disclosure memory, which then leads to a better understanding that the content is sponsored. This understanding evokes a more critical attitude toward the sponsored content in the video, and results in less positive attitudes toward the brands, the videos, and the influencers. Theoretically, this study provides insights into the mechanisms that explain disclosure timing effects among children in early adolescence. Practically, this study offers recommendations to policy makers to develop sponsorship disclosures that can increase transparency of online embedded advertising to minors.     

How audience and disclosure characteristics influence memory of sponsorship disclosures

The proliferation of sponsored content (e.g., product placement) in television programmes has been a cause of concern as it may violate the right of consumers to know that a message is sponsored. Therefore, new regulations obligate broadcasters to disclose sponsored content. To achieve its goal of informing the consumer, a sponsorship disclosure must be effectively communicated. This study explores how audience and disclosure characteristics influence memory of sponsorship disclosures. Results show that a disclosure at the beginning of a programme results in less disclosure memory compared to a disclosure in the middle or at the end of a programme. The duration of the disclosure does not directly influence disclosure memory, but a disclosure is best remembered when it is displayed longer and viewers are familiar with the programme. Additionally, viewers' programme and disclosure familiarity increase the chance that a disclosure is remembered, while programme involvement decreases disclosure memory. These results contribute to advertising theory and may be useful in the development of effective sponsorship disclosures, as they indicate several conditions under which disclosures are more likely to be remembered.     

“This Post Is Sponsored”: Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure on Persuasion Knowledge and Electronic Word of Mouth in the Context of Facebook

Social media, such as Facebook, offer brands the opportunity to reach their target audience in a less obtrusive way than traditional media, through sponsored posts. Regulations require marketers to explicitly inform consumers about the commercial nature of these posts. This study addresses the effects of sponsorship disclosures by means of a 2 (no disclosure vs. the sponsorship disclosure ‘Sponsored’) × 2 (source: celebrity endorser vs. brand) experiment. Results suggest that a sponsorship disclosure only influences the use of persuasion knowledge when the post is disseminated by a celebrity. Moreover, a disclosure starts a process in which the recognition of advertising (i.e., the activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge) causes consumers to develop distrusting beliefs about the post (i.e., higher attitudinal persuasion knowledge), and in turn, decreases their intention to engage in electronic word of mouth.     

Going Native: Effects of Disclosure Position and Language on the Recognition and Evaluation of Online Native Advertising

Despite recent industry attention, questions remain about how native advertising is perceived and processed by consumers. Two experiments examined effects of language and positioning in native advertising disclosures on recognition of the content as advertising, effects of recognition on brand and publisher evaluations, and whether disclosure position affects visual attention. Findings show that middle or bottom positioning and wording using “advertising” or “sponsored” increased advertising recognition compared to other conditions, and ad recognition generally led to more negative evaluations. Visual attention mediated the relationship between disclosure position and advertising recognition. Theoretical, practical, and regulatory implications for disclosures in native advertising are discussed.     

Using Eye Tracking to Understand the Effects of Brand Placement Disclosure Types in Television Programs

This eye tracking experiment (N = 149) investigates the influence of different ways of disclosing brand placement on viewers’ visual attention, the use of persuasion knowledge, and brand responses. The results showed that (1) a combination of text (“This program contains product placement”) and a product placement (PP) logo was most effective in enhancing the recognition of advertising and that a logo alone was least effective; (2) this effect was mediated by viewers’ visual attention to the disclosure and brand placement; and (3) the recognition of advertising consequently increased brand memory and led to more negative brand attitudes.     

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.     

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 Tri-Mediation Model of persuasion

In this paper, the effects of positive versus negative (political) advertising are modelled. The findings show that positive as well as two different types of negative advertising will lead viewers to formulate specific attitudes towards the brand (sponsor). However, the manner in which these attitudes are formed will be affected by ad type and argument strength. It was found that under strong message argument conditions, negative attack ads may lead to more positive evaluations of the sponsoring candidate, whereas under weak message argument conditions, direct comparison ads may be superior.

In developing this model to include the effects of negative appeals, the traditional Dual Mediation Model of persuasion is redefined. The author demonstrates that a peripheral cue (attitude towards the ad) can have an impact on the central route to persuasion by fostering message acceptance not only in regard to the sponsor of the advertisement but also in regard to a competitor. The resultant Tri-Mediation Model of persuasion provides significant insights into the nature of cognitive processing resulting from exposure to negative advertising.     

More than meets the eye

A growing research literature suggests that visual brand placements need not be recalled in order to have an impact on brand attitudes. In an experimental study working with an authentic television broadcast, the authors investigated the influence of frequency of placement exposure, viewers’ involvement and viewers’ persuasion knowledge on the attitudes towards the brand and brand recall. Results clearly indicate a mere exposure effect. A frequently presented brand placement can have a positive effect on brand evaluations although viewers do not recall the brand. However, this effect can only be found when there is a high involvement in the programme and low persuasion knowledge. In contrast, when persuasion knowledge is high and involvement is low, frequently presented placements lead to a deterioration of brand attitudes.     

The Interplay of Mood and Regulatory Focus in Influencing Altruistic Behavior

Using the context of print advertising, this research examines how the effects of mood on altruistic behavior vary as a function of whether a promotion or prevention focus is involved in messaging for child sponsorship. The findings reveal that when an ad message is framed in promotion focus, a happy mood fosters more favorable attitude toward child sponsorship and willingness to sponsor than a sad mood. In contrast, the effects of mood on attitude toward child sponsorship and willingness to sponsor are attenuated when an ad message is framed in prevention focus. Further, the results shed light on the process underlying the interactive impact of mood and regulatory focus by demonstrating the mediating role of perceived elaboration and goal commitment in advertising persuasion.     

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.     

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.     

Today’s practice of brand placement and the industry behind it

This article presents a content analysis of brand placement on Dutch television, followed by 24 interviews with the parties involved. By combining a content analysis and a practitioners’ perspective, this article offers unique insights into the increasingly popular phenomenon of integrating advertising into television content. Analysis of one week’s television programming showed that programmes with brand placement are growing into a significant part of Dutch television. A fifth of these sponsored programmes can be classified as brand-integrated programmes in which brands are an intrinsic part of the programme. The practitioner interviews showed that these brand-integrated programmes were considered as the future of advertising. Moreover, the interviews gave insights into the mutual relationships between the different parties, showing that practitioners use the law restrictions to estimate the acceptance levels of the audience with respect to television sponsoring.     

The effects of television advertising execution on recall,comprehension, and persuasion

The present study fills a gap in the advertising effects literature for a large-sample comprehensive study of the impact of general message factors on recall and persuasion measures of advertising performance. An analysis of executional factors in 1059 television commercials revealed that the presence of a brand differentiating message accounted for more variance in persuasion than other executional factors. Recall and persuasion performance were more closely related for new products than for established products. A brand differentiating claim in the commercial was the most important single executional factor affecting advertising effectiveness.     

Is Publicity Always Better than Advertising? The Role of Brand Reputation in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility

Previous studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication suggest that firms’ social initiatives should be communicated through third-party, non-corporate sources because they are perceived as unbiased and therefore reduce consumer skepticism. In this article, we extend existing research by showing that source effects in the communication of social sponsorships are contingent on the brand’s pre-existing reputation. We argue that the congruence between the credibility and trustworthiness of the message source and the brand helps predict consumer responses to a social sponsorship. The results show that a non-corporate source (publicity) generates more positive brand evaluations than a corporate source (advertising) when the sponsor has a positive reputation. However, the converse effect occurs when brand reputation is low: when the sponsor has a poor reputation, a corporate source generates more positive brand evaluations than a non-corporate source. Mediation analyses show that the interaction effect between CSR information source and brand reputation can be explained by sponsorship attitude, persuasion knowledge, and perceived fit between the brand and the cause.     

And now a word from our sponsor: Do consumers perceive advertising on traditional television and online streaming video differently?

Despite the increasing popularity of online streaming television (OTV), there is little information regarding how perceptions of the new medium differ from traditional television (TV) viewership. The research employed online interviews among young adult viewers of OTV and traditional TV to determine whether young adult consumers (aged 18–34) regard advertising viewed within online TV programming differently than they regard advertising viewed within traditional TV programming. While advertising has long been accepted by American consumers as a necessary element of most mass communication, this research suggests that viewers of OTV programming do not regard advertising as a means to subsidize the cost of online content. Rather, young adults appear to regard advertising as an intruder in the OTV environment. Furthermore, the results indicate that Ducoffe's Advertising Value model (1995) does not predict attentiveness to advertising viewed within the OTV context. Therefore, while OTV advertising may be held to a higher creative standard than traditional TV advertising, there is no indication that entertainment value contributes to an improved attitude toward advertising in the OTV environment.     

The importance of creative match in television sponsorship

It is one of the accepted wisdoms of sponsorship literature that there should be a good fit between sponsor and sponsored. This paper reports an exploratory study into the way in which programme audiences respond to television sponsors’ credits and to the sponsorships they announce. The study used a purposive sample of young television viewers and focused on the programmes they like to watch. It was found that, although the viewers expected a fit between the programme and the product or its image, they would accept a sponsor that added to the entertainment value of the programme. Clever or funny creative treatments that match the programme content apparently make up for a lack of fit elsewhere.     

Sports sponsorship effects on customer equity: an Asian market application

The authors of this study investigate sponsorship effects on customers in Korea and China, specifically to determine whether current sponsorship research applies to Asian countries and whether the model is significantly different between Korea and China. For this purpose, 251 Koreans and 309 Chinese participated in a survey. The findings suggest that appropriate fit between the sponsor and the sports event enhances brand loyalty and customer equity by positively influencing attitude toward the sponsor and brand image. However, in China, the sponsor's fit did not directly impact brand image. As expected, sporting event experience search positively affects attitudes toward the sponsoring brand, which enhances brand image. Koreans' more favourable attitude toward the sponsoring brand positively influences their brand preference, but favourable attitude does not significantly affect Chinese consumers' perceived congruency with a product. Brand image positively impacted brand preference, and therefore confirms brand personality's congruence effect in both countries. Both brand image and brand preference directly and positively enabled brand loyalty to develop more favourable customer equity. Koreans, however, showed higher effects in the relationships between brand image and brand loyalty and between brand loyalty and customer equity.     

Ad processing and persuasion: The role of brand identification

This article examines the relationship between ad learning and ad-based persuasion; it proposes that consumer identification of the advertising brand positively affects attitude toward the ad, which in turn enhances positive brand attitudes. A model integrating learning and attitudinal responses to ads was tested with aggregate readership recognition scores and attitudinal measures for different ads. Results suggested that identification of the advertiser is a crucial operation in ad processing. Ads that facilitated identification of the brand appeared credible, which contributed to enhancing their persuasive impact. Neither the degree of overall attention devoted to an ad previous to brand identification, nor subsequent extensive elaboration of the ad's copy, affected ad or brand attitudes. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Processing contradictory brand information from advertising and social media: an application of the multiple-motive heuristic-systematic model

This study tested two major theoretical assumptions of the heuristic-systematic model – (1) concurrent information processing and (2) multiple processing motives – in a common advertising situation where contradictory brand information from different sources (e.g. a positive advertising claim [a persuasive argument] vs. negative consensus information from a third-party source [a persuasion cue]) was available to consumers with varying motivation (accuracy and defense motivation). Results showed that individuals employed different information processing strategies, depending on motivation type. Accuracy-motivated individuals engaged in concurrent (both cue- and argument-based) processing when involvement was high. Defense-motivated individuals sought positive valence, regardless of the level of involvement and type of information.