Search results

Few studies illustrate how contextual effects (e.g. assimilation and contrast) in pay-per-click ad design may impact consumers' attitudes and purchase intention. To fill this research gap, the authors provide theoretical predictions and empirical evidence on how ad design may prompt an assimilation and/or a contrast effect that may influence consumers' attitudes toward the ad and the brand and purchase intention. They also investigate whether the impact of contextual effects on consumers' decisions depends on the level of vividness in the ad.

A 2 (vividness: dynamic motion vs. static page) × 2 (information design: assimilation vs. contrast) × 2 (aesthetic design: assimilation vs. contrast) between-subjects experimental design is used to examine the effects of vividness, information design and aesthetic design. Conditional process analysis is used to assess the mediating role of attitudes toward the ad and the brand in the relationship between contextual effects and purchase intention.

For dynamic ads (i.e. high vividness) but not for static ads (i.e. low vividness), combined information contrast and aesthetic contrast designs generate a more favorable attitude toward the brand and a higher purchase intention than do combined information assimilation and aesthetic assimilation designs. Notably, combined information contrast and aesthetic contrast designs have the strongest effects than any other combination of assimilation and contrast designs of information and aesthetics. Attitudes toward the ad and the brand are significant mediators between contextual factors and intention to purchase.

The study examines the effectiveness of online ads from a new theoretical angle based on the attributes of pay-per-click ads.

The results suggest that when advertisers decide to use dynamic ads, they should adopt a contrast design for both the ad information and its aesthetics.

This study fills a research gap in the contextual effects literature, including providing evidence of an underlying process in the relationship between certain contextual effects and purchase intent. It also extends previous findings of assimilation/contrast in information design to aesthetics design and advances the literature on vividness by examining a moderation effect of vividness.

Online advertising becomes an essential tool to reach the target audience. One of the most widely used strategies is re-targeting. Firstly, this study explores the impact of ethics, privacy and ads' perceived benefits (ad effectiveness and ad relevance) on consumers' attitudes toward online advertising. Secondly, the study investigates the mediating effect of attitudes toward re-targeting online advertising on consumers' purchase intentions. Finally, the study investigates the moderating effect of the perceived ethicality of re-targeting online advertising on consumers' purchase intentions.

Participants (n = 307) were recruited through an online survey platform (MTurk) in the USA. The sample consisted of 65% male and 35% female respondents. The majority are aged 25–34 years, followed by 35–44 years (20%), 45–54 years (14%), 18–24 years (8%) and 55 years and older (6%).

The results show that ad effectiveness and ad relevance influenced consumers' attitudes toward re-targeting. This study shows that consumers are willing to trade their privacy for better search quality. Moreover, perceptions toward the ethicality of re-targeting ads moderated the relationship between consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions.

This study will make several contributions. First, the study will extend the consequential theory in the context of online advertising. Second, the study will assist companies in using re-targeting strategies. The results will reveal which factor is the most important factor impacting consumers' attitudes toward re-targeting strategies.

This is one of the first few papers investigating consumers' perceptions of the ethicality of re-targeting online advertising.

This paper aims to analyze the visual attention, transparency perception and attitude of Brazilian women from generation Z toward sponsorship disclosures with a different number of text messages used in native advertisements made by a digital influencer.

A quantitative and multi-method experiment was conducted through a within-subjects experimental design with 149 women. The eye-tracker assessed visual attention and questionnaires measured transparency perception of sponsorship and attitude toward native advertisements. To analyze eye-tracking and transparency perception data, Friedman’s analysis of variance was used. Structural equations were modeled for analyzing attitude data.

The quantitative results indicate that disclosures with a single textual message obtain more visual attention than multiple textual messages. However, sponsorship disclosures with multiple textual messages obtain the best transparency perception and generate a better attitude toward native advertisements.

This study extends the theory by investigating the relationship between visual attention to sponsorship disclosure with a different number of textual messages and the target audience's responses to them.

The analysis of Brazilian generation Z women's responses to native ads might contribute to companies, marketing professionals and digital influencers obtaining great visual attention, transparency perception and attitude toward ethical and transparent ads to this audience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze Brazilian generation Z women's visual attention, transparency perception and attitude toward sponsorship disclosure with single and multiple textual messages in native advertisements.

E-commerce live streaming is a new influencer advertising method that allows influencers to interact directly with consumers on e-commerce platforms. Although evidence suggests that influencer live-streaming advertisements (ads) on social media can increase consumers’ buying impulses, little research examined how this similar but new advertising method on e-commerce platforms may influence consumers’ urge to buy impulsively. This study explores the role of influencer credibility, celebrity effect, perceived entertainment, trust and perceived usefulness on consumers’ attitudes toward influencer ads and their urge to buy impulsively.

A questionnaire containing seven constructs was developed and distributed to participants using a convenient sample and snowball sampling approach. The constructs were measured based on validated measurement items from the literature and adjusted according to this study’s focus. A total of 236 valid responses were obtained from the survey and used for data analysis. A partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was employed for parameter estimation and model testing.

The empirical results show that all constructs influenced consumers’ urge to buy impulsively via attitude toward influencer ads. The proposed research model explains 61.7% of the variance in attitude toward influencer ads and 19.4% of the urge to buy impulsively.

This is an early study investigating the relationship between influencer advertising and impulse buying. The results provide valuable insights into improving the design of influencer ads and marketing strategies.

1. I-eIB model tests the mechanism of influencer ads on consumers’ buying impulse.

2. Consumers’ attitude towards influencer ads affects their urge to buy impulsively.

3. Influencer credibility affects consumer attitude via celebrity effect as a mediator.

4. Trust affects consumer attitude via perceived usefulness as a mediator.

5. Entertaining ads help develop favorable consumer attitude.

I-eIB model tests the mechanism of influencer ads on consumers’ buying impulse.

Consumers’ attitude towards influencer ads affects their urge to buy impulsively.

Influencer credibility affects consumer attitude via celebrity effect as a mediator.

Trust affects consumer attitude via perceived usefulness as a mediator.

Entertaining ads help develop favorable consumer attitude.

With the increasing dependence on market-based distribution of health-care resources in the USA, spending on health-care service advertisements directly targeting consumers has also increased. Previous research has shown that the ads fail to deliver information deemed essential by regulators. Nevertheless, the attitude of consumers toward health-care service advertising has been more positive than negative. The purpose of this study is to create a taxonomy of advertising information features to better describe the relationships between information features in the advertisements and consumer attitudes toward them.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 128 health-care consumers in a western state in the USA.

Factor analysis generated seven groups of information features. Among them, information features about access, cost and quality of care were rated as most helpful, whereas providers’ clinical qualifications and communication were rated least helpful. The advertising attitude measure was validated to contain two subscales, one regarding health-care service advertising and the other regarding physicians who advertise. People who highly rated the consumerism features had more positive attitudes toward health-care service advertising and people who highly rated provider clinical qualification features had more negative attitudes toward advertising physicians.

This study made methodological improvements in health-care service advertising research that would be crucial for its theoretical development. It also shed light on consumer characteristics and perceptions about information features that could influence their attitudes toward health-care service advertising.

A front-of-package label is a simple and effective way to communicate nutrition information to consumers. However, the use of the label has been limited to product packages. The purpose of this study is to explore the applicability of a front-of-package label to food print advertisements and to examine how the degree of nutrient content on the label influences consumer perceptions and behavioral intention.

Many food product manufacturers voluntarily use a front-of-package nutrition label showing specific information per serving size for calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugar. This exploratory, experimental research evaluates the thoughts, feelings and behavioral intention changes of consumers in response to a front-of-package label on a print advertisement and a product package. Two experiments were conducted online.

The presence of a front-of-package label in the ad increases ad responses involving perceived healthfulness of the product, ad attitude, brand attitude, healthy brand image and purchase intention. In addition, the healthier nutrient content listed on the label positively affects the audience’s responses. However, the front-of-package label on the product package increases only perceived healthfulness. Information about the degree of nutrient content indirectly influences intention to purchase the advertised healthy/unhealthy product sequentially via perceived healthfulness of the product, ad attitude, brand attitude and healthy brand image.

To generalize the results, various product categories should be tested with the same research design in future studies.

This study recommends that communication practitioners place a front-of-package label on their print advertisements even though the food is not healthy. However, practitioners should keep in mind that a front-of-package label does not increase sales in the long term if the product is unhealthy.

The major contribution of this study is its exploration of the applicability of a front-of-package label to the advertising context. The label plays a role as a message cue a consumer can use to evaluate the ad, brand and product.

This study aims to examine the effects of character body size, subject body size and product type on female adolescents’ attitudes toward the character. Given prior research showing that adolescents identify more strongly with those whom they view as similar to themselves, it is possible that heavy and obese adolescents will react more favorably to plus-size ad characters.

Two studies were conducted, one with females aged 12–14 and a second with females aged 15–17. Based on their body mass index, subjects were classified as of small/average size or overweight/obese. Ads featured either a thin, average-size or plus-size character, and promoted either a healthful or an unhealthful snack item.

In general, small/average size female adolescents responded more favorably toward thin characters, whereas their overweight/obese counterparts responded more favorably toward plus-size characters. Moreover, subjects’ responses were not moderated by the nutritional value (healthful vs unhealthful) of the product being advertised.

To effectively promote healthy foods to overweight/obese adolescents, it may be advantageous to incorporate plus-size characters. Additional research is needed, however, to determine whether this approach can effectively influence brand attitudes and consumption behaviors.

As obesity rates continue to rise, it has become vitally important to encourage healthier food choices among youth. To develop effective communication strategies, marketers need to better understand how young consumers respond to various advertising cues.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of character size and subject size on female adolescents’ attitudes toward the character.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which cultural differences and slogan meaning type affect the role of comprehension in attitude toward the ad (A_ad) and attitude toward the brand (A_brand) formation.

In an online experiment, a total of 256 adult participants from the USA (ranged in age from 19 to 26 years old) and 184 participants from France (ranged in age from 18 to 28) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (slogan: single meaning vs polysemous) in a between-subjects experimental design. After getting exposed to the ad, participants responded to questions related to their A_ad, A_brand, comprehension, uncertainty avoidance and demographics.

Results from this research demonstrate the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance and slogan type (single meaning vs polysemous) on the relationship between comprehension and A_ad. The authors show that for polysemous (and not single meaning) slogans, comprehension results in more favorable A_ad for low uncertainty avoidance individuals than for high uncertainty avoidance individuals. In addition, the authors demonstrate the mediating effect of A_ad in the relationship between comprehension and A_brand.

The authors used nationality as a proxy for culture. Future research should include other cultural dimensions in the development of conceptual models and analysis of data. Another limitation is that the authors used a college student sample for this research. A more representative sample should be used in future research to examine cultural differences in interpreting adverting messages. One other limitation concerns the measurement tool the authors used to measure objective versus subjective comprehension in this research. While the theoretical foundations of the two modes of comprehension are clear and robust, improved measurement tools can enhance the validity and reliability of future research. Finally, the authors suggest that future research examine the effect of such variables as figure-ground contrast, figure attractiveness, stimulus repetition, prototypicality, symmetry and semantic or visual priming that may impact the processing of brand slogans.

This study argues that the processing of brand slogans in advertising is impacted by culture. Individuals from different cultures perceive and comprehend brand slogans differently. This study contributes to the research stream that examines the influence of cultural dimensions on the effectiveness of advertising by focusing more precisely on the impact of uncertainty avoidance (one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions). In the case of single meaning slogans, advertisers might diminish the use of objective comprehension advertising strategies to influence both individuals with high and low uncertainty avoidance. In the case of polysemous slogans, advertisers should consider that consumers with high uncertainty avoidance (vs low uncertainty avoidance) are impacted more by subjective comprehension (vs objective comprehension) when forming A_ad and A_brand.

This research contributes meaningfully to the marketing literature by examining previous work on ad slogan processing through subjective vs objective comprehension and extending the analysis by incorporating culture as an important factor.

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.

This study aims to establish two aspects: first, whether green advertising through multiple media (repetition versus reversal) generates a positive purchase intention than green advertising with a single medium repeat one medium at different levels of product involvement (high versus low level). Second, whether a green advertisement presented through multiple media influences green message credibility, green advertiser credibility, green advertisement credibility, green brand credibility, green ad engagement, attitude toward the green brand and green purchase intention (GPI) than a green advertisement presented through single medium repetition under different level of product involvement, green advertising, media effects, consumer attitude, purchase intention and product involvement.

3 × 2 mixed factorial design is used to examine the audience exposure towards repetitive green ads on multiple media sources such as television, the internet and print. This has a more significant impact on environmental claims in terms of green message credibility, green advertiser credibility, green advertisement credibility, green brand credibility, green ad engagement, attitude toward the green brand and GPI compared to audiences exposed to the same ads on a single medium under high level and low level of product involvement.

The audience was exposed to several media situations, repeating green advertising, has a more significant impact on environmental claims in terms of green message credibility, green advertiser credibility, green advertisement credibility, green brand credibility, green ad engagement, attitude toward the green brand and purchase intention rather than for the audience who encounter a green ad with a high and low degree of product involvement in a single medium.

Only a few studies have measured media synergy effects, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no one has measured media effects on green advertisements. By examining different media combination effects of green ads on the audience, the knowledge of green marketing communication and its marketing strategies has been expanded.