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The purpose of this paper is to examine the interesting but largely unexamined impact of self-uncertainty on the persuasiveness of self-deprecating advertisement.

In the present research, the experimental design and survey methods are used to collect data. Furthermore, the ANOVA and bootstrap analysis methods are adopted to verify whether a self-deprecating advertisement is more persuasive for consumers experiencing self-uncertainty and explore the mediating role of self-verification.

Study 1 indicates that people experiencing self-uncertainty are more likely to engage in actual self-verification. Study 2 demonstrates that consumers experiencing self-uncertainty are more likely to purchase products in a self-deprecating advertisement (vs. self-enhancing advertisement), and actual self-verification motive underlies this effect. In Study 3, a novel boundary condition for the main effect–product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) is found, and it further reveals that the impact of self-uncertainty on the persuasiveness of self-deprecating advertisement will attenuate when the advertised product is utilitarian.

This research reveals that self-deprecating advertising is more desirable for consumers who experience self-uncertainty. Based on the conclusions in this paper, the self-deprecating advertising is more attractive and desirable for consumers who are reminded about their personal uncertainties. Thus, marketers could employ self-deprecating (vs. self-enhancing) advertisement to promote products. For example, in order to promote the waterproof function of iPhone 12, Apple China released a self-deprecating advertisement of “Splash proof and water resistant. Don't worry, iPhone.”

First, this research not only sheds new light on the relationship between self-uncertainty and the persuasiveness of self-deprecating advertisement but also verifies the mediating role of self-verification motive in this relationship. Moreover, this research reveals that self-uncertainty is a significant factor in how people react to the self-deprecating advertisement. It is noteworthy that the self-uncertainty effect is more likely to be found when the advertised product is related to hedonic or experiential consumption as opposed to utilitarian consumption.

This study aims to examine how young consumers perceive the advertising effectiveness of endorsements by virtual idols and how endorsements by virtual idols differ from endorsements by real human celebrities such as traditional celebrities and online influencers.

An experimental study was conducted with 400 randomly selected young respondents in China in December 2022. A 3 × 2 factorial design was used to test how the type of celebrity endorser and level of product involvement influence the persuasiveness of advertising aimed at young adults. Among 400 respondents, the average age was 21.5 years. A total of 193 male and 207 female respondents participated in the experiment.

Young consumers find virtual idols, online influencers and traditional celebrities attractive. Although virtual idols are the least credible among the three types of celebrity endorsers, young consumers tend to be more convinced by their endorsements of products with low levels of consumer involvement than those with high levels of involvement. Among the three types of celebrity endorsements, young consumers find traditional celebrities the most effective. In addition, young consumers’ attitudes toward celebrity endorsers mediate the impact of celebrity endorsers’ attractiveness and credibility on their attitudes toward the advertisements. The perceived level of product involvement moderates the transfer of meaning from the attitude toward the celebrity endorsers to the attitude toward the advertisement.

First, when choosing celebrity endorsers to advertise products targeting young consumers, marketing communication practitioners should give priority to the endorsers’ perceived credibility, as young consumers have a variety of views about them that can significantly affect their attitudes toward the advertisement. Second, real human celebrity endorsers are more effective than virtual idols in celebrity endorsements. However, virtual idols may be suited for use in advertisements to promote products with low involvement levels, such as soft drinks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first experimental study to attempt to analyze the effectiveness of virtual idols in advertising aimed at young consumers. This is also the first comparative study to introduce virtual idols as celebrity endorsers in product advertising and to compare their effectiveness with that of the two other types of commonly discussed celebrity endorsers, traditional celebrities and online influencers.

Even with the evidence that participation in home-sharing is highly ecologically sustainable, the existing consumer communication studies in the hospitality sector have predominantly focussed on the social and economic benefits. This study aims to examine how the environmental sustainability benefits of home-sharing services can be effectively communicated to consumers.

Two scenario-based experiments (Study 1: n = 377 and Study 2: n = 290) examined the effects of consumers’ consumption orientations, and the appeal of environmental sustainability benefits emphasised advertising on their home-sharing adoption intentions.

Study 1 demonstrated that when consumers with either a hedonic or utilitarian consumption orientation book travel accommodation, their home-sharing adoption intentions increase depending on whether advertisements are designed as hard- or soft-sell appeal, respectively. Study 2 showed that the influence of an environmental sustainability benefits emphasised advertisement that has considered consumers’ consumption orientation and applied the corresponding advertising appeal design is as effective as a home-sharing service that offers economic benefits and is even better than an advertisement that emphasises social benefits, particularly for utilitarian-oriented consumers.

This study is the first in the lodging sector examining the ways in which the environmental sustainability benefits of home-sharing services can be effectively communicated to consumers. The findings shed light on corporate practices pertaining to information that home-sharing service marketers can control and provide an essential basis for further advertising, consumer differences, environmental sustainability awareness and collaborative consumption studies.

This paper aims to investigate advertising effectiveness in Instagram and Facebook, the two most important social media platforms. It helps to understand which should be chosen depending on the target audience of the campaign.

The study examines advertising effectiveness in these social media in terms of ad attitude, ad intrusiveness and loyalty intentions. An online survey was conducted with 303 social media users. Age and gender are proposed as moderators.

The results indicate that Instagram Stories not only enhances consumer attitude toward ads but also increases perceived intrusiveness, compared to Facebook Wall. Millennials are more disturbed by Facebook Wall ads than non-millennial users. A triple interaction effect reveals that non-millennial men are more loyal toward Facebook Wall ads, whereas millennials of both genders and non-millennial women are more loyal to ads on Instagram Stories.

Advertisers should be aware of the differential features and segmentation possibilities in social media to better address their target audiences. More precisely, the research findings suggest that professionals should focus on Instagram Stories when targeting millennials and non-millennial women, and on Facebook Wall when targeting non-millennial men.

This study is one of the first to contribute to the literature on Instagram Stories as an advertising platform and compare its differential features with those of more established social media, such as Facebook Wall.

Esta investigación compara la efectividad publicitaria en Instagram y Facebook en función del público objetivo.

La investigación analiza las diferencias entre cada formato de red social en términos de actitud hacia el anuncio, intrusividad percibida y lealtad hacia el producto o marca anunciado. Mediante una encuesta online a 303 consumidores, se proponen efectos directos y efectos moderación de la edad y el género.

Los resultados indican que Instagram Stories mejora la actitud hacía el anuncio, pero aumenta también la intrusividad en comparación con Facebook Wall. La publicidad en Facebook Wall es más intrusiva para los millennials que para los no-millennials. Instagram Stories incrementa la lealtad entre los usuarios millennial de ambos sexos y las mujeres no-millennial; en cambio, los hombres no-millennial son más leales a la publicidad en Facebook Wall.

Los anunciantes deben aprovechar los nuevos formatos y las posibilidades de segmentación que les brindan las redes sociales para llegar a su público objetivo de manera más efectiva. Concretamente, los hallazgos de la investigación sugieren que deberían centrarse en Instagram Stories para dirigirse a un público millennial y a mujeres no-millennial; y en Facebook Wall, cuando su público objetivo sean los hombres no-millennial.

Este estudio es uno de los primeros que aborda el uso de Instagram Stories como soporte publicitario y lo compara con formatos publicitarios consolidados como Facebook Wall.

Online influencers are increasingly used by brands around the globe to establish brand communication. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of social media content in terms of presentation style and brand communication among online influencers in China. The authors identified how characteristics of social media posts influence young consumers’ engagement with the posts.

The authors analyzed 1,779 posts from the Sina Weibo accounts of ten top-ranked online influencers by combining traditional content analysis with Web data crawling of audience engagement with social media posts.

Online influencers in China more frequently used photos than videos to communicate with their social media audience. Altogether 8% and 6% of posts carried information about promotion and event, respectively. Posts with promotional incentives as well as event information were more likely to engage audiences. Altogether 22% of the sampled social media posts mentioned brands. Posts with brand information, however, were less likely to engage audiences. Furthermore, having long text is more effective than photos/images in generating likes from social media audiences.

Combining content analysis of social media posts and engagement analytics obtained via Web data crawling, this study is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, one of the first empirical studies to analyze influencer marketing and young consumers’ reactions to social media in China.

Celebrity endorsement is common in the marketing communications context, especially in the Asian market. Thanks to the popularity of online DIY celebrities, many marketing communications practitioners have started to involve such celebrities in brand and product endorsement strategies. However, few existing studies have compared the endorsement persuasiveness of online DIY celebrity endorsers with traditional celebrity endorsers, particularly in the Asian market. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill the literature gap by examining how consumers perceive and evaluate online DIY and traditional celebrity endorsers.

In-depth personal interviews were conducted with 15 interviewees with a median age of 23. They were asked to report their overall evaluations and attitudes toward online DIY celebrity endorsers and traditional celebrity endorsers, and their respective endorsement strategies.

Although the popularity of online DIY celebrities is growing in China, they received a lower level of appreciation from interviewees than traditional celebrities. The persuasiveness of online DIY celebrity endorsers was not as effective as that of traditional celebrity endorsers. Interviewees even held an overall negative attitude toward online DIY celebrities and their endorsements. Interviewees perceived traditional celebrity endorsers more positively, and their endorsements to be more effective, than online DIY celebrity endorsers.

The small sample size may constrain any generalization to be drawn from the findings. Future studies are suggested using survey and experiment methodology to further test and compare the persuasiveness of online DIY and traditional celebrity endorsement.

We suggest communications practitioners continue to use traditional celebrities to improve overall brand image and enhance the target audience’s purchase intention as the exploratory study reveals that audiences have an overall positive experience with traditional celebrities, instead of online DIY celebrities. If online DIY celebrities are preferred in communications strategies, we suggest practitioners carefully select qualified online DIY celebrity endorsers based on image congruence between such online DIY celebrities and the product category in that audiences in the exploratory study are quite cautious when exposed to product endorsement messages from online DIY celebrities. Besides this, audiences have more confidence in product endorsement if there is a fit between online DIY celebrities’ expertise and the endorsed product type.

This is the first qualitative study on consumers’ perception of product endorsement at the level of online DIY and traditional celebrity endorsers.

There is always a matching effect in advertising persuasion – the information that matches product characteristics or target consumer characteristics is considered to be relatively more persuasive. Based on the accessibility-diagnosability theory, this paper discusses the influence of the matching degree between the information presentation (vague description and precise description) and product attribute (vertical attribute and horizontal attribute) on people's attitudes toward advertising.

Study 1 aims to explore the impact of the matching effect of different information presentation methods (precise presentation vs vague presentation) and product attribute (horizontal attribute vs vertical attribute) on consumers' attitudes toward advertising; secondary data was used to support this research. Study 2 mainly used the situational simulated experiment to examine the results of study 1, and further explored the mediating mechanism of its matching effect.

The authors found that the matching degree between the information presentation method and product attribute will positively affect the fluency of advertising information processing, that is, the use of vague description of product vertical attribute can positively affect consumers' extraction fluency; while the use of precise description of product horizontal attribute can positively affect consumers' processing fluency, and both extraction fluency and processing fluency will positively affect consumers' attitude toward the advertisement.

An essential enlightenment of the research is that it sheds light on the interaction between product attribute (vertical attribute vs horizontal attribute) with the information presentation method (vague description vs precise description) from the perspective of accessibility-diagnosability theory, which explains consumers' information processing mechanisms in dealing with different advertising information.

YouTube's vast and engaged user base makes it central to firms' digital marketing effort. With extant studies focusing on viewers' post-view engagement behavior, however, research into what motivates viewers to click on and watch YouTube videos is scarce. This study investigates the implications of marketers' video optimization practices for video views on YouTube.

The study employed a data set of videos (N = 4,398) gathered by scraping YouTube's trending list. Using a combination of text and sentiment analysis, the study measured four video optimization practices: information content of video titles, emotional intensity of video titles, information content of video descriptions and volume of video tags. It then analyzed the effect of these video optimization practices on video views.

The study finds that greater availability of information in video titles is negatively associated with video views, whereas intensity of negative emotional sentiment in video titles is positively associated with video views. Further, greater availability of information in video descriptions is positively associated with video views. Finally, an inverted U-shaped relationship is found between volume of video tags and video views. Up to 17 video tags can contribute to more video views; however, beyond 17 tags, the relationship turns negative.

This study investigates the effect of marketers' video optimization practices on video views. While extant studies mainly focus on viewers' post-view engagement behavior, such as liking, commenting on and sharing videos, this study examines video views. Similarly, extant studies investigate videos' internal content, while this study investigates elements of the video metadata.

This study aims to investigate the effects associated with the strategic use of vague, as opposed to precise, advertised brand slogans on various consumer responses.

A content analysis study was conducted to explore the pattern of vagueness in advertising slogans from 1,441 consumer-oriented brands. Based on the resultant delineation/definition of vagueness, two experimental studies followed. Vignette advertising slogans were manipulated to achieve different level of vagueness. The initial 2 × 2 factorial between subjects design engaged vagueness level of brand slogans and consumers’ need for cognition as factors. Brand recall functioned as the dependent variable. The second experiment featured another 2 × 2 factorial design that used vagueness level and length of brand slogan as factors. Brand attitude, persuasiveness and purchase intention functioned as dependent variables.

Vagueness level of advertising/branding slogans did not significantly affect brand recall. Interactions between vagueness level and length of advertisement slogans exercised significant effects on evoked thought, brand attitude and persuasiveness but not on purchase intention. At net, this study generated original theoretical and managerial insights about how and why desirable branding outcomes can be generated by managing the vagueness and word count of brand slogans, and a platform from which future research on this topic could be based.

First, the sample was limited to the southwestern USA. Second, in the slogan vignettes that were used, other cues were deliberately eliminated. A brand slogan essentially devoid of other cues may have been perceived as less realistic by respondents, thus reducing the relevance of their responses. However, a similar tradeoff always exists between more realistic states and controlled conditions.

This study produces original theoretical and managerial insights about how and why several desirable branding outcomes are likely to result when vague, rather than precise, advertising slogans are deployed under certain manageable conditions. Each insight just referenced ensues from a study that itself was grounded in an extensive content analysis of contemporary print advertising slogans. This content analysis generated a substantial amount of practical and actionable insight about the treatment and use and management of slogans. This study demonstrates that the vagueness, precision and/or word count of slogans can be manipulated in ways that yield three communication outcomes that redound directly to the marketing interests of brand and advertising managers.

The findings provide unique insight into how vagueness level of advertising slogans can be managed and how such a level can affect consumers’ perceptions.

The primary question motivating this study is how message characteristics influence the persuasiveness of celebrity athlete endorsements as used in print advertising for a sports drink. In particular, this study examines the extent to which celebrity endorsement of a product influences the effectiveness of advertising under varying degrees of perceived fit between the celebrity and the product image. The findings indicate that the process of integrating endorsement strength with given endorsers and products can substantially enhance the effectiveness of celebrity advertising. It is found that the interactive effect of endorsement strength and celebrity-product match is more pronounced among consumers with high product involvement than among those with low involvement.