Transparency of digital native and embedded advertising: Opportunities and challenges for regulation and education

Abstract

This article elaborates on one of the main characteristics of digital native and embedded advertising: its lack of transparency. Challenges and opportunities for disclosing native advertising practices as well as how educational measures concerning this type of advertising should look are discussed. In addition, a future research agenda is presented.

Advertising Unhealthy Food to Children: on the Importance of Regulations, Parenting Styles, and Media Literacy

“…In addition to literacy measures in a private, informal context, increasing children's media literacy through official literacy trainings is a possibility to empower them to properly process the persuasive attempts of advertisers [66]. For instance, educating them about specific advertising strategies and instruments such as advergames or embedded product placements can increase children's conceptual understanding of advertising [67,68].…”

“…For instance, educating them about specific advertising strategies and instruments such as advergames or embedded product placements can increase children's conceptual understanding of advertising [67,68]. Even though media education is not yet compulsory in educational programs of many countries, this should be changed in the upcoming years [66]. To raise a generation who understands processes of media creation, how you conduct yourself in a media environment, and what persuasive strategies are employed in this context is very relevant [69].…”

“…Therefore, by including media literacy programs as a compulsory subject [70] and by including education about advertising strategies in these programs [71], a large group of children and adolescents can be educated. Children and adolescents then can work as a channel of reaching their parents and grandparents and thus facilitating knowledge to those who cannot be reached through school programs [66] and who also might have problems understanding the persuasive intent of embedded forms of advertising [65]. Consequently, implementing such literacy programs would help to reach large parts of the society and should increase advertising literacy for many different generations.…”

Editorial: Digital Child- and Adulthood—Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges

“…Because advertising contributes significantly to the financing of content and providers, it is a quasi-ubiquitous component of digital media offerings. At the same time, it puts the media literacy of children and adolescents to the test daily (van Reijmersdal & Rozendaal, 2020). In this context, the contribution of Beatriz Feijoo and Charo Sádaba (2022) reveals that adolescents recognize the persuasive intent of advertising based on three levels of processing: the liking of the advertisement; the affinity for the advertised product; and the ability to contrast the arguments with comments, forums, or opinions of influencers.…”

Niños y niñas influyentes en YouTube e Instagram: contenidos y presencia de marcas durante el confinamiento

“…Demandan formatos de carácter lúdico, lo que vuelve difusas las líneas entre lo que es entretenimiento y publicidad en los contenidos dirigidos a niños y adolescentes . Una de las principales características que se destaca de esta publicidad digital incrustada es su falta de transparencia (van Reijmersdal & Rozendaal, 2020). La capacidad de las personas menores para interpretar los mensajes publicitarios se relaja cuando el influencer indica que en sus vlogs patrocinados no existe interferencia comercial de la marca (De Jans & Hudders, 2020).…”