Duplicity in Alternative Marketing Communications

Abstract

In the past couple of decades, following the advancements in communication technologies, alternative marketing communications such as consumer generated content, influencer marketing and native advertising, have emerged as a viable and gainful tactic. These alternative marketing communications blur the boundaries between the roles of consumer and marketer. The possibility of duplicity and deception in marketing relationships is fueled by the ambiguity of these roles and the lack of clarity in persuasion knowledge when alternative marketing communications are utilized. In this paper, we illustrate the various types of duplicity in marketing relationships that use alternative marketing communications. We adopt a conceptual framework previously developed in this budding literature stream by Pehlivan et al. (2015), and use it to suggest that the notion of 'unidirectional deception' (i.e. marketer deceives consumer) needs to be updated to 'omni-directional deception' , in order to better explain duplicity in current marketing relationships. We use examples encountered in contemporary marketing practices to derive managerial implications and best practices as well as ethical implications or questionable practices for these types of communications. More importantly, this paper suggests that future research should examine duplicity in marketing by minding the new omni-directional dynamic of marketing relationships.

A Critical Genre Analysis of Covert Advertising Through Short-Videos in Douyin: The Chinese Version of Tik-Tok

“…It is widely believed that covert advertising is an unethical marketing practice because it deceives consumers (Campbell & Evans, 2018; Campbell & Grimm, 2019; Choi et al, 2018) and controls consumers’ engagement into the commercial content (Skiba et al, 2019). Ethical concerns regarding the duplicitous strategies of covert advertising have been constantly discussed (e.g., Nistor et al, 2018).…”

“…Therefore, covert advertising deceives consumers to their detriment, which is an unfair marketing practice (Campbell & Evans, 2018; Campbell & Grimm, 2019; Choi et al, 2018). Consumers should be reminded about the cues and hints of covert advertising to process and understand the real intent of the masked commercials (Amazeen & Wojdynski, 2019; Nistor et al, 2018). Research of bottom-up features and strategies of covert short-video advertising gives consumers more insights into the persuasive intent (Wojdynski & Evans, 2020).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Alternative Imaginings

“…In their article, the authors take an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of marketing, ethics, journalism, and law. Nistor, Yalcin and Pehlivan (2018) question the ethical use of Alternative Marketing Communications (AMC) strategies which include consumergenerated content, native advertising, and influencer marketing. They explore duplicity in AMC through a conceptual framework previously created by Pehlivan et al (2015).…”

“…For example, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal of March 2018, as well as the European Union's recent fines against Google (in the Android antitrust case) and then Facebook (over disclosures in their WhatsApp deal) exemplify the ethical magnitude of these debates. Nistor, Yalcin and Pehlivan's (2018) alternative imaginings call attention to both the dearth and depth of our knowledge gap on these pressing, contemporary concerns.…”