Green Demarketing in Advertisements: Comparing “Buy Green” and “Buy Less” Appeals in Product and Institutional Advertising Contexts

This research compares consumer response to traditional green advertising appeals to that of less conventional, “green demarketing” (GD) appeals—messages by for-profit companies encouraging reduced category consumption for the sake of the environment. Rather than encouraging greener consumption, modern environmentalism calls for decreased consumption overall, a trend reflected in recent advertising campaigns (e.g., Patagonia's “Don't Buy This Jacket”). Despite its potential impact and unconventionality, research on GD in general is sparse, and no empirical research has examined consumer response to GD appeals relative to traditional green appeals. In three experiments, we find that, in the context of product advertising, consumers' attitudes for green ads are more favorable than those for GD ads, mediated by greater inferences of genuine environmental concern. However, we find the reverse pattern in the context of institutional ads. Further, an “anti-consumption amplifier” message embedded in the ad—espousing the potential harm of overconsumption—further boosts favorable consumer attitudes for the GD institutional ad relative to its traditional green counterpart. Importantly, we assess all effects while controlling for consumers' individual levels of green consumerism, such that implications may be applied more generally rather than to a specific segment of green consumers.     

Understanding Interactive Online Advertising: Congruence and Product Involvement in Highly and Lowly Arousing,Skippable Video Ads

Interactive online media are an increasingly preferred format for users and advertisers, and skippable online video advertisements are common on social media networks such as YouTube. The specific features and influences of this interactive marketing tool demand further consideration. Focusing on effective tactics, this article investigates the influence of introducing high-arousal and low-arousal stimuli on skippable ad effectiveness (i.e., ad acceptance, ad attitude, brand attitude, and ad intrusiveness), with the potential moderation of context congruency and product involvement. A pretest and three studies confirm that high-arousal ads are watched for longer time and are more effective in congruent contexts. Users' product involvement determines the intrusiveness of high- and low-arousal skippable ads. These findings, along with their practical implications for this novel setting, provide further directions for research too.     

An Involvement Explanation for Nostalgia Advertising Effects

This study seeks to offer additional insights regarding why positive “nostalgia effects” in advertising may be observed, that is, why nostalgic ads tend to elicit more favorable consumer responses than do non-nostalgic ads. Using the personal relevance component of advertising involvement as a theoretical foundation, the study supports hypothesized expectations that nostalgic ads are capable of inducing greater levels of self-reflection and advertising involvement. Furthermore, hypothesized effects were shown to be more pronounced when a “personal” nostalgia-themed ad (eliciting “a yearning for a realized, lived past”) was used, as opposed to when an “historical” nostalgia-themed ad (eliciting “a yearning for a distant past, never experienced”) was used. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered.     

Advertising as Unfavorable Self-Presentation: The Dirty Laundry Effect

Identity appeals—marketing communications that invoke one of the target market's identities—are typically well liked by consumers. In contrast with this notion, this research examines a situation when consumers respond negatively to identity appeals in advertising. Through three studies, we find that identity appeals fail when consumers judge an identity-congruent ad as portraying information about them that they would rather not have widely broadcast. In these cases, self-presentation concerns arise, leading to ad dislike. Thus, although identity-congruent ads resonate with consumers, such ads may lead to negative responses if consumers believe the ad airs their “dirty laundry.” We discuss implications for targeted advertising and identity marketing strategies.     

The Effect of Social Identity Cues Under Incidental Ad Exposure Conditions

Abstract

This study integrates the theories of social identity and unconscious processing to investigate the potential influence of unattended ads. Recent advances in research on unconscious processing have found that unconscious processing can include a semantic analysis of ads that includes the development of deeper meanings and associations related to cues in the ad. This study capitalizes on such an analysis by investigating whether using social identity as an advertising cue has the potential to influence consumer responses to ads—even ads to which consumers claim they have never been exposed.     

Effects of game‐product congruity on in‐app interstitial advertising and the moderation of media‐context factors

Advertising has become one of the major sources of game apps revenues and interstitial ads, in particular, are the most used monetization method among the types of in‐game mobile ad formats. Interstitial ads overlaid on top of a mobile game app have more obvious advertising intent and a higher degree of forced exposure and perceived intrusiveness. This study examined how the degree of congruity (high vs. moderate vs. low) between the promoted products in interstitial ads and the mobile game app environment affects consumers’ responses. The moderating effects of media‐context factors (i.e., excited– or calm–happiness game types and game immersion) were further assessed. The results of two experiments revealed that game‐product congruity lead to better consumers’ responses toward ads and advertised products. The positive effects of game‐product congruity were more salient when consumers played calm–happiness games and were less immersed in the game. Theoretical implications on integrating perspectives across disciplines such as schema theory, happiness, and immersion within the media‐context framework, as well as practical suggestions are discussed.     

Newsfeed native advertising on Facebook: young millennials’ knowledge,pet peeves,reactance and ad avoidance

Abstract

This study explores how young millennials understand and respond to newsfeed native advertising on Facebook, rooting our focus on its covert nature of the ad format. Drawing insight from two persuasion-related theories, we conducted focus group interviews and in-depth interviews with Facebook users aged 19–29. The study revealed three major themes regarding their interactions with newsfeed ads: persuasion knowledge, positive and negative experiences and avoidant coping responses. Participants showed a high level of persuasion knowledge of how Facebook newsfeed ads work and ambivalent attitudes toward newsfeed native ads. Despite some benefits, newsfeed native ads presented strong negative responses, which were often accompanied by reactance and ad avoidance. Multiple themes regarding negative experiences emerged: ad intrusiveness, ad clutter, a lack of relevance, too personal, privacy concern, goal impediment and covertness. Participants also voiced less autonomy in controlling their exposure to newsfeed ads. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and a model for future research is provided.     

Race-Ethnic Variations in the Importance of Service Quality Issues in Neighborhood Consumer Banking

ABSTRACT

This paper makes a beginning in the comparison of real ads on source credibility in the context of the marketing of “fitness” related goods and services. While the results establish the greater credibility of celebrity endorsed ads vis à vis non-celebrity endorsed ads in the context of the test product, the authors nevertheless empirically substantiate that certain ad characteristics may have potential for use as screening items to aid in effecting choice between a celebrity and a non-celebrity endorser in other product/service contexts. Additional exploratory analyses and results are reported.     

Ethical limits to the intrusiveness of online advertising formats: A critical review of Better Ads Standards

ABSTRACT

This article argues that advertising ethics, traditionally focused on ad contents and vulnerable audiences, should be also applied to ad format intrusiveness. The increasing appearance of highly intrusive advertising formats resulted in an extraordinarily growth of ad blocking systems. To fight the economic costs of the ad blocker phenomenon, the most relevant agents of the industry have created a never seen Coalition for Better Ads including marketers, publishers, and agencies worldwide. This article analyses the experiments carried out by the Coalition to create Better Ads Standards establishing the limits of ad format intrusiveness to be implemented worldwide by means of self-regulation. Based on classical and current approaches to advertising ethics, this work explains that highly annoying ads should not only be banned for practical reasons but for overpassing ethical limits in terms of respect for the persuadee, equity of the persuasive appeal, and social responsibility for the common good. A basic exploratory replication study is presented to simulate further research on the ethical limits of intrusive advertising. Establishing which ad formats are allowed to continue and which ones should gradually disappear is such a relevant process for many stakeholders that it requires further discussion by consumers and scholars.     

Negative Consequences of Storytelling in Native Advertising

Native advertising and storytelling are both increasingly popular advertising strategies. This research explores the effectiveness of storytelling in a native advertising context on social media. While most research recommends the use of stories as a way to build trust and relationships with consumers, the current research suggests that in the form of native ads on social media, narratives may be less effective when compared to informational native ads. Two studies find that even when advertising cues such as disclosure labels and brand presence are prominently located, consumers are less likely to recognize the advertising nature of narrative native ads when compared to informational native ads. Lower levels of advertising recognition are associated with increased perceptions of manipulative intentions by the advertiser, which has a negative influence on consumers' attitudes toward the ad. The findings suggest that native ads that clearly communicate their advertising nature through cues such as an informational execution, high brand presence, and prominent disclosure labeling are more effective than a narrative execution style.     

The role of respect in the effects of perceived ad interactivity and intrusiveness on brand and site

This paper examines the interrelated effects of respect, ad intrusiveness, and ad interactivity on attitudes toward brands and the publishers that serve online advertisements. Despite widespread use of the term, respect has received almost no attention in the advertising literature. A structural equations model indicates that ad formats that are perceived as respectful to viewers result in more favorable attitudes toward both the brand and publisher site. Ad intrusiveness negatively affects respect, while interactivity has a positive influence. Respect is demonstrated to exhibit a partial mediating role in the effect of these two variables on brand and site. Results also suggest that advertisers should strive for greater interactivity in ads if their objective is branding rather than direct response, as this can minimize the negative influence of intrusiveness. Publishers can also benefit from these kinds of ads.     

The effect of ad value,ad placement and ad execution on the perceived intrusiveness of web advertisements

This study addresses factors in advertising that lead to interstitial ads being perceived as intrusive. Eight theory-driven hypotheses were derived and tested. The results indicate that the perception of intrusiveness of ads can be controlled by aspects of ad value, ad placement and ad execution.     

Customization of online advertising: The role of intrusiveness

This study examines the trade-off between tailoring an ad to an individual consumer’s needs and the demand for personal data required to do so, which is inherent in targeted online advertising. Two scenario-based studies in two different industries reveal the extent to which using personal information with greater distinctiveness affects consumers’ sense of intrusiveness and purchase intentions. We also manipulate ad fit to each consumer’s needs and the presence of a discount to investigate whether feelings of intrusiveness mitigate the potential positive effects of fit and discount. Higher degrees of personalization, such as adding personal identification or transaction information to browsing data, increase feelings of intrusiveness, and negatively affect purchase intentions. These negative effects are not compensated for by offering discounts but can be partly mitigated by presenting an ad with a high fit to consumers’ current needs. The positive effect of tailoring the ad is weakened at higher levels of intrusiveness though. Furthermore, high fit may lead to not only higher purchase intentions but also higher perceived intrusiveness levels. Presenting a consumer with a customized ad can thus be a double-edged sword, leading to higher purchase intentions but also greater perceived intrusiveness, which then negatively affects purchase intentions.     

Advertising Management: Its Role in Marketing. Sachs,William S. Tulsa,Oklahoma: PennWell Books, 1983

Abstract

The advertising literature contains some evidence that offensive advertising is multidimensional in nature, but little is known about the character of these dimensions. In an exploratory study of TV advertising, two different dimensions of “offensive” were identified. These dimensions were labeled Offensive Products and Offensive Execution. This distinction is important both for the study of the construct as well as for advertisers who are faced with decisions on advertising execution. The Offensive Products dimension contains those products related to consumer problems which social norms dictate should not be discussed in public. The Offensive Execution dimension, the dimension over which the advertiser has more control, consists of those ads which are perceived to be offensive by the nature of the execution or themes and/or topics of the ad and not the product itself.     

How do racial minority consumers process a model race cue in CSR advertising? A comparison of Asian and White Americans

This study proposes that model race and race of consumers play an important role in processing corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising. The aim of the study is to examine why a racial mismatch between target consumers and featured model race might work better among Asian Americans in the context of CSR ads, guided by motivated reasoning and self-referencing information processing mechanisms. Through an experiment, the study finds that people who perceive that money means social status tend to have more positive responses to CSR ads regardless of their race or ethnicity. In addition, Asian Americans who highly equate money with status are likely to evaluate CSR ads featuring a white model more positively than the ad with an Asian model. The study also reveals that Asian Americans with higher money as status perception tend to self-reference only when they view the CSR ad featuring a white model, but not an Asian model. However, White Americans do not vary in self-referencing based on model’s race when viewing the CSR ads.     

Social Criticism of Advertising: On the Role of Literary Theory and the Use of Data

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of literary theory for the social criticism of advertising. In particular, it examines what types of claims can be made simply by analyzing an ad itself and what types of social criticism require extrinsic data about how other readers understand the ad or the historical context of its creation. The author advocates a “doubly integrated” approach to social criticism that combines literary analysis with use of extrinsic empirical data and also integrates the system by which ads are produced with the way they are comprehended. This approach provides a holistic view of the advertising process and a strong basis for critique. Discussion of a demonstration study shows how qualitative data collected from readers can be used to complement traditional literary interpretations of advertisements.     

Investigating the persuasive impact and underlying processes of interactive magazine ads in a real-life setting

ABSTRACT

This study tests a theoretical framework to explain the persuasive impact of interactive magazine ads on consumers’ ad and brand attitudes. To obtain realistic (unforced) responses, a field experiment was conducted with a one-factor (interactive vs. non-interactive magazine ad) between-subjects design (N = 98). Results showed that, although they rarely used it, participants positively evaluated the presence of an interactive feature in a digital magazine ad. Furthermore, parallel-mediation analyses revealed that the interactive magazine ad was perceived as more interactive and more surprising than the non-interactive ad, which ultimately positively impacted consumers’ attitudes towards the magazine. A second real-life setting experiment (N = 121) confirmed and extended these findings by revealing that the mediation effects were even stronger when consumers had used the interactive feature (vs. only seen). In addition, the relationship between interactive magazine ads and consumers’ attitudinal responses was explained slightly better by ‘perceived surprise’ than by ‘perceived interactivity.’     

Cultural Themes in Brazilian and U.S. Auto Ads: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

Do Brazilian and U.S. advertisers employ different themes in print advertisements? If so, what can we conclude about cross-cultural differences in values? In our study of automobile ads that appeared in the business magazines of Brazil and of the U.S. during the 1970s, we found that (1) urban themes were used more frequently in Brazilian ads than in U.S. ads, (2) leisure themes were used more frequently in U.S. ads than in Brazilian ads, (3) work themes appeared as frequently in Brazilian ads as in U.S. ads, and (4) work themes appeared more frequently in U.S. ads as the 1970s progressed. Thus, our study suggests that values differ between the business subculture of Brazil and that of the United States. Importantly, our latter two findings disaffirm the theories of many historians and sociologists. Because the application of historical and sociological theories may produce erroneous advertising decisions, we advise advertisers to research carefully each national market before using a “standardized” advertising theme.     

“Unprecedented,” “extraordinary,” and “we're all in this together”: Does advertising really need to be so tedious in challenging times?

As government-mandated lockdowns and steep declines in trade set in because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a common theme became apparent in the advertising of the time: It was all the same. Regardless of the product category or brand personality, many ads were remarkably similar. They began with melancholy music, voiceovers reminding the audience that the brand is here for them, and referred to these times as “unprecedented” and “extraordinary.” Ads reassured viewers that “together, we can get through this.” In this installment of Marketing & Technology, we articulate the problem of advertising sameness and explore how and why it likely arises during a time of crisis. We then discuss why advertising uniformity is a problem and present a series of strategic, media, and creative considerations—taking into account the constraints of a crisis— to help marketing professionals produce more effective advertising in the context of a disaster.