Abstract Due to increasing consumer skepticism towards promotional messages, companies are looking for new ways to communicate with their target audiences in a less obtrusive way than traditional advertising. Sponsored content disseminated on the online portals of newspapers (i. e., online advertorials) is regarded as a promising way to promote products and brands. Regulations require communicators to inform consumers about the commercial nature of this ‘masked’ persuasion attempt by including an explicit sponsorship disclosure (i. e., a ‘Sponsored’ label). This study demonstrates that such an explicit advertising cue may not be enough to alert recipients. Furthermore, this study investigates the effects of promotional messages by means of a 2 (no disclosure vs. disclosure) x 2 (no forewarning vs. forewarning) experiment. Results show that both (i) foregoing instructions aimed at activating consumers’ persuasion knowledge (i. e., an additional forewarning message) and (ii) recipients’ prior media literacy can foster the effect of sponsorship disclosures in triggering situational distrust towards brand-related content, and in turn, increasing consumers’ reactance.

中文翻译：

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调查赞助的影响并预警披露对收件人的反应

摘要由于消费者对促销信息越来越持怀疑态度，公司正在寻找一种新的方式与目标受众进行交流，而不是传统广告那样。在报纸的在线门户（即在线广告）上传播的赞助内容被认为是推广产品和品牌的有前途的方式。法规要求传播者通过包括明确的赞助商披露（即，“赞助”标签）来告知消费者这种“隐蔽”说服尝试的商业性质。这项研究表明，这样一个明确的广告提示可能不足以提醒收件人。此外，本研究通过2（无披露与披露）x 2（无预警与预警）实验研究了促销信息的效果。