Children's Advertising Literacy for Advergames: Perception of the Game as Advertising

Abstract

This study examined whether children recognized advergames as a type of advertising and the efficacy of an advertising literacy program. Results indicated that without the advertising literacy education, about three-quarters of the children did not recognize advergames as a type of advertising. However, those with advertising literacy education showed a significantly enhanced understanding. Also, a series of mediation tests showed that recognition of advertising was an indirect-only mediator between the advertising literacy and skeptical attitudes toward advertising. Only those who viewed the advergame as a type of advertising demonstrated more skeptical attitudes toward it.

Acknowledgments

Soontae An (PhD) is associate vice president for international affairs and associate professor of advertising, Division of Media Studies, Ewha Womans University.

Hyun Seung Jin (PhD) is associate professor of marketing, University of Missouri–Kansas City and an international scholar, College of Politics and Economics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.

Eun Hae Park (MA) is a PhD candidate in the School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia.