The interplay of persuasion inference and flow experience in an entertaining food advergame

Abstract

Increasingly, unhealthy food is being advertised through online games known as advergames. The advergame is designed for entertaining fun to promote the brand featured in the game. But what happens if the food advertised is healthy or the source of the game is non‐commercial? This study examines how people's entertainment (flow experience) interacts with their inference about the persuasion impact of food brands featured in an advergame, which vary according to their persuasion knowledge about the source (e.g., non‐commercial versus commercial) and the perceived persuasion effect on self (e.g., beneficial versus harmful). Results of an experiment show that flow is positively associated with persuasion effects of the advergame. Brand attitudes and purchase intentions were the most favorable for non‐commercial brands with perceived benefits (healthy food) followed by commercial brands (healthy food) and commercial brands with harmful effects (less healthy food). However, persuasion effects for purchase intention were mitigated when participants were immersed in a flow state. Ramifications for persuasion and health promotions are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How Does Serious M‐Game Technology Encourage Low‐Income Households To Perform Socially Responsible Behaviors?

“…Marketing research has found games can persuade player's preferences toward brands (Kuo & Rice, ; Waiguny, Nelson, & Terlutter, ) and increase intentions to perform behaviors (Ham, Yoon, & Nelson, ). One recent study by Ham and colleagues () found that advergames (a game which incorporates a product or brand) can encourage players to purchase healthy food brands and products. It, therefore, appears that there is both support in the gaming and marketing literature for games to have a persuasive role in creating socially responsible behaviors.…”

Perceived informative intention in advertising and its attenuating effect on persuasion attribution among children

“…Multiple studies have set to determine the specific age thresholds when children start processing advertisements critically, supposedly becoming less susceptible to persuasive messages (Boush, Friestad, & Rose, ; P. J. Kelly, ; McAlister & Cornwell, ; Robertson & Rossiter, ; Rozendaal, Buijzen, & Valkenburg, ). This branch of research was later followed by studies about children's application of their advertising knowledge (see Ham, Nelson, & Das, ; Ham, Yoon, & Nelson, ; Vanwesenbeeck, Ponnet, & Walrave, ; Vanwesenbeeck, Walrave, & Ponnet, ).…”

Do you take credit cards? The attitudinal and behavioral effects of advergames targeted at children

“…The observed attitudinal (Rifon et al ., ; van Reijmersdal et al ., , ) and behavioral brand outcomes (Dias and Agante, ; Harris et al ., ; Hernandez and Chapa, ; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski, ; Rifon et al ., ; van Reijmersdal et al ., ) are in line with the existing literature on advergame effects. However, the existing studies on advergame effects on children have predominantly focused on electronic games promoting food or beverages (Ham et al ., ; Dias and Agante, ; Harris et al ., ; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski, ; Rifon et al ., ). Hence, they mostly focused on the outcomes of embedded advertising techniques on child‐specific or child‐relevant products.…”

“…One relatively new form of reaching out to children in a very playful and entertaining manner is the so‐called “advergame” (Terlutter and Capella, ). The existing studies on advergame effects on children have predominantly focused on electronic games promoting food or beverages (Choi et al ., ; Dias and Agante, ; Ham et al ., ; Harris et al ., ; Hudders et al ., ; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski, ; Rifon et al ., ). These studies primarily investigated the evaluation of brands or products that are used and consumed by children in their daily life.…”