This study focused on the effects of sponsorship disclosure timing on children's ability to understand that social influencer videos are sponsored. The study also investigated how sponsorship disclosure timing affects children's attitudes toward the sponsoring brand, the video, and the influencer. An experiment among 272 children in early adolescence (10-13 years of age) was conducted using eye tracking. Results show that a disclosure shown prior to the start of the videos leads to more visual attention than a disclosure shown concurrently with the start of videos. Consequently, disclosure prior to the start of videos is better processed, as indicated by disclosure memory, which then leads to a better understanding that the content is sponsored. This understanding evokes a more critical attitude toward the sponsored content in the video, and results in less positive attitudes toward the brands, the videos, and the influencers. Theoretically, this study provides insights into the mechanisms that explain disclosure timing effects among children in early adolescence. Practically, this study offers recommendations to policy makers to develop sponsorship disclosures that can increase transparency of online embedded advertising to minors.

Advergames are generally believed to be an effective advertising format due to their gamified and engaging nature. The empirical evidence for this, however, is inconclusive, with several studies reporting nonsignificant or contradicting results. The current study aimed to address this research gap by providing a meta-analysis of five advergame effects (i.e., ad attitude, memory, persuasion, choice behavior, persuasion knowledge). A systematic search procedure was used and 38 relevant data sets were identified. The results indicate that, generally, (1) consumers have a more positive attitude toward advergames than other types of advertising; (2) brand and product information seems less likely to be remembered by consumers when it is communicated via an advergame versus different types of advertising; (3) advergames seem to be persuasive and (4) drivers of choice behavior; and (5) compared to other types of advertising, advergames are less likely to be recognized as advertising; finally, a metaregression model showed that (6) consumers' age mitigates the persuasiveness of advergames, meaning that younger consumers seem more susceptible to the persuasive effect of advergames than older consumers are.

No abstract

Many adolescents are inseparable from their smartphones on which they are often confronted with covert advertising‐like mobile advergames. This study explores the roles of brand familiarity and smartphone attachment in adolescents’ abilities to recognize the commercial intent of advergames. Moreover, it considers the potential indirect effects of brand familiarity and smartphone attachment on the susceptibility of young consumers to mobile advergames. An experiment (N = 98) was conducted, which showed that brand familiarity moderates the effect of playing advergames on the recognition of the commercial intent of advergames. Furthermore, smartphone attachment was found to facilitate the recognition of the commercial intent of advergames, such that adolescents who experienced higher levels of smartphone attachment (when compared to lower levels) were better able to differentiate between advergames and non‐commercial games (games without advertising). Interestingly, no association between smartphone attachment and brand responses were found—suggesting that smartphone attachment did not affect adolescents’ compliance with the advertised message.

Virtual reality (VR) has become a new playground for brands and advertisers. However, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of VR branded content is still scarce. The aim of this study is therefore to examine the effectiveness of branded content in virtual space and the role of presence in the processing of brand information when playing a branded VR game. An experiment (N = 81) was conducted (using HTC Vive hardware) and showed that playing branded VR games can improve (implicit) brand memory. Moreover, the study showed that the increase in immersion experienced from playing a branded VR game strengthens players' brand memory.