Reducing Native Advertising Deception: Revisiting the Antecedents and Consequences of Persuasion Knowledge in Digital News Contexts

Abstract

Building on the persuasion knowledge model, this study examines how audience characteristics and native advertising recognition influence the covert persuasion process. Among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 738), we examined digital news readers’ recognition of a sponsored news article as advertising. Although fewer than 1 in 10 readers recognized the article as advertising, recognition was most likely among younger, more educated consumers who engaged with news media for informational purposes. Recognition led to greater counterarguing, and higher levels of informational motivation also led to less favorable evaluations of the content among recognizers. News consumers were most receptive to native advertising in a digital news context when publishers were more transparent about its commercial nature. Beyond theoretical insights into the covert persuasion process, this study offers practical utility to the advertisers, publishers, and policymakers who wish to better understand who is more likely to be confused by this type of advertising so that they can take steps to minimize deception.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A previous version of this article was presented at the European Communication Research and Education Association/Advertising Research Temporary Working Group’s Branded Content Research Network Conference at the University of East London in November 2017. We thank the American Press Institute for their generous support of this research, Tong Li and Connor Harrison for their research assistance, and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. The corresponding author may be contacted for access to underlying research materials.

Notes

¹ The data reported herein are based on 24 conditions of a larger experiment funded by the American Press Institute in which characteristics of the advertising disclosure label on the site were manipulated between-subjects. The results of the disclosure study are published in our 2018 article in the journal Journalism (Amazeen & Wojdynski, 2018). The present article uses a distinct set of independent variables, focusing on individual differences among respondents, and introduces the role of sponsorship transparency as a perceptual mediator in shaping publisher evaluations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the American Press Institute.

Notes on contributors

Michelle A. Amazeen

Michelle A. Amazeen (Ph.D., Temple University, 2012) is an assistant professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations at Boston University. Her research interests include the cross-disciplinary intersection of advertising, journalism and political communication. She studies the impact of communication factors on persuasion, resistance, and information processing.

Bartosz W. Wojdynski

Bartosz W. Wojdynski (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011) is an assistant professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. His research interests include the role of message design characteristics on information processing and cognitive outcomes, with a focus on the role of visual attention.