Evaluating Adolescents’ Responses to Internet Ads: Role of Ad Skepticism, Internet Literacy, and Parental Mediation

Abstract

In this article, we first compare adolescents’ responses to two formats (easily recognizable versus not easily recognizable) Internet ads. We find that Internet literacy and ad skepticism are necessary for adolescents to effectively apply persuasion knowledge to identify both ad formats. Second, we demonstrate that parental mediation and parents’ levels of Internet skills are critical for children’s development of Internet literacy. As a result, this article advances our understanding of adolescents’ responses to different Internet ad formats and the influential role of parental mediation in facilitating children’s development of such skills.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Les Carlson and Arunachalam Swaminathan for their feedback. Akshaya Vijayalakshmi and Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin share equal first authorship.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

A supplemental online appendix (A Note on the Ad Stimuli; Scale Items Used in the Study; Table A1: Demographic Characteristics of Parents Based on the Mediation Methods) is available on the publisher’s website.