To Disguise or to Disclose? The Influence of Disclosure Recognition and Brand Presence on Readers' Responses Toward Native Advertisements in Online News Media

ABSTRACT

While several studies have focused on native advertisements' disclosures, little research has been conducted on native advertisements' content. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of both disclosure recognition and brand presence on readers' persuasion knowledge (PK) and subsequent evaluations. Results of an online study (N = 290) showed that disclosure recognition resulted in higher conceptual PK, yet this had no effect on readers' attitudinal PK and evaluations. Conversely, high brand presence did not increase readers' conceptual PK, but it did increase attitudinal PK, which subsequently decreased evaluations of the ad, brand, and news medium. Implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Native advertising
• persuasion knowledge
• disclosures
• brand presence