The mobile environment of the 2020s is experiencing a vertical video revolution. The portrait, or vertical, screen format is replacing the traditional landscape, or horizontal, format to become the default for mobile video production and consumption. With the increasing use of vertical videos, an important, yet unanswered, question is how mobile users respond to this format. Therefore, we examine the effectiveness of mobile vertical versus horizontal video advertisements in terms of consumer interest, engagement, and processing fluency, as well as the underlying mechanism of the effort of watching the video ad on a smartphone in three studies. In a large-scale field study, we demonstrate that mobile vertical video ads increase consumer interest and engagement compared to horizontal video ads. In two experimental studies, we further show that mobile users process vertical video ads more fluently than horizontal video ads. Exploring the underlying mechanism for this effect, we find that mobile users experience less effort when watching a video ad vertically (vs. horizontally) on the smartphone in full-screen, as watching a vertical video does not require turning the phone. Importantly, we find that mobile users’ age moderates this indirect effect, as younger mobile users (Generation Z) process mobile vertical video ads more fluently than older Generations X and Y. This article closes with implications for theory and suggestions for mobile marketers.

With increasing obesity rates and the daily overload of unhealthy food appeals, an important objective for advertising today is to promote healthy food consumption. According to previous research, sensory food advertisements referring to multiple senses-a combination of visual (sight), tactile (touch) and olfactory (smell) cues-evoke more positive sensory thoughts and, therefore, higher taste perceptions than advertisements referring to a single sense (e.g., only taste cues). However, this research only focused on sensory advertising for unhealthy food. The current research investigates how sensory advertising can promote healthy food. While multiple-sense ads for unhealthy food were shown to be more effective than single-sense ads, we find that, for healthy food, single-sense ads increase taste perceptions and advertising effectiveness compared to multiple-sense ads. In two laboratory experiments, we show a different underlying process for this effect-that is, single-sense ads evoke fewer negative thoughts than multiple-sense ads, which mediates the effect of single-sense versus multiple-sense ads on taste perceptions and advertising effectiveness. Moreover, we show that these effects occur not only for verbal ads but, importantly, also for visual ads, which are omnipresent today. This article closes with implications for theory and suggestions for food marketers, ad executives, and public policy.Foods 2020, 9, 51 2 of 22 especially those at risk of obesity [10,11]. It is, therefore, crucial to upgrade the image of healthy food in the minds of consumers to further attempt to counter the obesity epidemic. Research on the motivational processes underlying the conflict between healthiness and taste is still scarce [5]. A common assumption in existing food research is that consumers want to make healthy food choices, but, in reality, many consumers rather consider taste than the prospective health benefits of the food [12]. As such, a potential effective means to promote healthy food is using food advertising that appeals to consumers and enhances their taste perceptions of healthy food.Recent research on advertising effectiveness has focused on sensory marketing as an efficient way to engage consumers [13][14][15][16]. Sensory marketing engages the consumers' senses and affects their perception, judgment and behavior [15]. Applied to food, sensory food advertisements are used to create sensory triggers that affect the perceived quality of an abstract food attribute like its taste, smell, or shape [15]. According to Elder and Krishna [17], multisensory advertising for food can enhance taste perceptions of the food. These authors argue that ads referring to multiple senses (multiple-sense ads) for indulgent foods evoke more positive sensory thoughts about the food (e.g., "I like the crunchy texture of potato chips") compared to ads mentioning taste only (single-sense ads), and hence these positive sensory thoughts optimize perceived taste of the food.However, this previous research only investigated the effects of se...

To tackle obesity, upgrading the image of healthy food is increasingly relevant. Rather than focusing on long-term benefits, an effective way to promote healthy food consumption through visual advertising is to increase its pleasure perception. We investigate whether implied motion, a popular trend in food pictures, affects food perceptions through anticipated consumption pleasure. Prior research shows that motion affects food perceptions, but these studies focused on limited food categories, using experiments with a single food stimulus, and mainly showing unhealthy food effects. Therefore, we aim to (1) replicate prior findings on the effects of food in motion on appeal, tastiness, healthiness, and freshness perceptions; (2) examine whether these effects differ for healthy and unhealthy food; and (3) investigate whether anticipated pleasure of consumption drives the effects of implied motion on food perceptions. Three between-subjects experiments (N = 626) reveal no evidence for the effectiveness of motion (vs. no motion) across a large variety of food products. We further show no differential effects for healthy versus unhealthy foods. Moreover, implied motion does not increase appeal or taste perceptions through anticipated pleasure. Considering the current replication crisis, these findings provide more nuanced insights into the effectiveness of motion in visual food advertising.