The mediating effects of message agreement on millennials’ response to advocacy advertising

ABSTRACT

Marketers’ use of advocacy advertising has become more noticeable. This may be attributed to a rise in corporate social responsibility as well as a growing millennial cohort demanding ethical business and marketing practices. This study applies established research on issue involvement, attitude towards the brand, and persuasion to advocacy advertising and extends it with the goal of understanding message agreement’s influence on millennials’ brand response and behavioral intention. This is done through a two-condition between-subjects experiment of 288 millennials. The analysis reveals that message agreement mediates the effects of high issue involvement on attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the ad, and intention to support the behavior advocated in the advocacy advertisement. Furthermore, message agreement is an important determinant of attitude towards the brand and attitude towards the ad.

KEYWORDS:

• Advocacy advertising
• issue involvement
• message agreement
• brand attitude
• issue support behavior
• purchase intention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olivia Stacie-Ann C. Bravo

Olivia Stacie-Ann C. Bravo is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University. She obtained her MA in Marketing Communications from Bournemouth University and a BA in Mass Communications from the University of the West Indies. Her research interests include strategic communication, consumer behavior, corporate social responsibility, as well as brand and consumer activism.

Jaejin Lee

Jaejin Lee is an Assistant Professor in the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University. Her research interests include consumer behavior, branding, socially/ethically responsible consumption, corporate social responsibility, cause-related marketing, social marketing, new media and health communication. Her research has appeared in such publications as Journal of Interactive Advertising, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Marketing Communications, Journal of Business Research, and International Journal of Business and Management.