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Advertising in disguise? How disclosure and content features influence the effects of native advertising

  • Johannes Beckert EMAIL logo , Thomas Koch , Benno Viererbl , Nora Denner and Christina Peter
From the journal Communications

Abstract

Native advertising has recently become a prominent buzzword for advertisers and publishers alike. It describes advertising formats which closely adapt their form and style to the editorial environment they appear in, intending to hide the commercial character of these ads. In two experimental studies, we test how advertising disclosures in native ads on news websites affect recipients’ attitudes towards a promoted brand in a short and long-term perspective. In addition, we explore persuasion through certain content features (i. e., message sidedness and use of exemplars) and how they affect disclosure effects. Results show that disclosures increase perceived persuasive intent but do not necessarily decrease brand attitudes. However, disclosure effects do not persist over time and remain unaffected by content features.

Acknowledgements

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Published Online: 2020-04-04
Published in Print: 2020-09-25

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