In the context of visual social media, consumers are exposed to a considerable amount of brand-related user-generated content (Br-UGC) shared by their peers, which may frequently go unnoticed as being branded. Previous research showed that these Br-UGC posts employ various persuasive strategies, and the motivations of creators for posting this content are perceived differently. This study suggests that this approach affects the recognition of persuasive attempts, which is essential for consumers to cope with persuasive messages. Specifically, this study examines the impact of different persuasive strategies (emotional vs. functional), through perceived motivations (personal branding and inspire others) on the recognition of persuasive attempts in visual Br-UGC. A between-subject experimental design revealed that functional strategies (compared vs. emotional strategies) in Br-UGC are associated with stronger perceived motivations for both personal branding and inspire others, leading to heightened recognition of persuasive attempts. Conversely, emotional strategies decrease the perceived motivation to inspire others, which contrary to expectations, leads to heightened recognition of persuasive attempts. These findings provide marketers with actionable insights regarding the strategic management and curation of Br-UGC. Moreover, our findings highlight the necessity of consumer protection measures to empower consumers to safeguard themselves from unwanted persuasive influences and provide recommendations for regulatory bodies.
Parasocial relationships represent a key mechanism in influencer marketing success. Beyond their direct positive effects on persuasion outcomes, they may mitigate potential negative effects, such as incongruence between the influencer and the advertised brand. Yet prior findings are somewhat unclear regarding the conditions under which parasocial relationships exert this mitigating role. This study examined the moderating effect of self-disclosure, defined as the sharing of intimate personal information. A total of 304 respondents (58.3% women, Mage = 25.3 years, SDage = 9.36) participated in a between-subject online field experiment conducted in collaboration with a fitness micro-influencer on Instagram. A moderated mediation model was tested. Results showed that including self-disclosure in the post enhanced the mitigating role of parasocial relationships: respondents with stronger parasocial relationships did not perceive the influencer as less trustworthy when influencer-brand congruence was lower, whereas respondents with weaker parasocial relationships did. Moreover, when self-disclosure was absent, no interaction effect between parasocial relationships and influencer-brand congruence was found. Theoretical and practical implications for influencer marketing are discussed.
AI is widespread in advertising, but its use in creative work remains controversial. How consumers process AI disclosures in social media advertising remains under-examined, especially for AI-generated creative. This study explores the attitudinal effects of disclosing AI involvement in ad copy and visuals on Instagram through a 2 & times; 2 experiment (Copy: disclosure vs. none & times; Visual: disclosure vs. none). In Study 1, AI disclosure for ad copy reduced ad and brand attitudes through perceived transparency, while visual disclosure effects were limited. In Study 2 AI disclosure for ad visuals reduced attitudes when controlling for general AI attitudes, whereas transparency continued to mediate effects of AI disclosure for ad copy.
Short-form video advertisements, characterized by their brevity and nontraditional promotional approaches, have become a distinctive tool for encouraging active consumer participation and word-of-mouth engagement in digital marketing. This study investigates the unique characteristics of short-form video advertisements on major platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. To elucidate consumer perceptions of these advertisements, comment data collected via web crawling were systematically analyzed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling. The analysis of extensive consumer commentaries resulted in the identification of four principal topics: Interactive Engagement, Consumer Utilization as a Key Marketing Tool, Uniquely Created Content, and Anticipated Value and Curiosity. Among these, Uniquely Created Content emerged as the most prominent theme, followed by Anticipated Value and Curiosity, Interactive Engagement, and Consumer Utilization as a Key Marketing Tool. The findings of this research offer a theoretical basis for understanding short-form video advertising and provide practical insights for marketers in crafting effective strategies for consumer engagement and brand communication.
We tested the effects of account identity (influencer vs. company account), verification status (verified vs. unverified), and TikTok sounds (music overlay vs. verbal product review) in TikTok influencer marketing content on purchase intention via two studies. In Study 1 (N = 251), experiential verbal reviews of beauty products were appreciated more when posted from the original influencer account, whereas influencer's visual product demonstration with generic music layover was more successful when it came from corporate brand accounts, both resulting in higher purchase intention through enhanced parasocial interaction (PSI). In Study 2 (N = 383), verbal product review (vs. music overlay) alone enhanced PSI between the user and influencer, in turn, increasing purchase intention of the promoted beauty product. In addition, the spoken product review increased influencer credibility and PSI for the verified account, but only for source-attentive users. Overall patterns suggest the effectiveness of influencers' verbal reviews of products in short video-based social media marketing, which could be aided by attention to certain source cues. Theoretical and practical implications of both study findings are synthetically discussed.
The status of sustainable consumption has emerged as a symbolic driver of demand for eco-friendly products, positioning sustainability as a marker of social distinction and moral prestige. This study examines how perceived sustainable consumption status influences consumer engagement and word-of-mouth (WOM), considering the moderating role of message framing (emotional vs. rational) in interactive digital environments. Three quantitative experiments were conducted to test the proposed relationships. The findings indicate that emotional communication strengthens the positive effects of high perceived-status sustainability on engagement and WOM, and engagement mediates the relationship between perceived status and advocacy behavior. By introducing the concept of digital sustainability signaling, this research advances understanding of interactive advertising and explains how symbolic sustainability cues gain persuasive power in online contexts characterized by heightened visibility and social reinforcement. The study provides both theoretical and managerial insights by identifying communication strategies that enhance engagement and WOM according to the symbolic positioning of sustainable consumption.
To address questions surrounding social media influencer effectiveness, this research examines how influencer type, human influencer (HIs) versus human-like virtual influencer (HVIs) versus cartoon-style virtual influencer (CVIs), and product congruence (human vs. virtually congruent) affects expectancy violation, source credibility, message credibility, and purchase intention. Across two experiments that leverage expectancy violation theory (EVT), HIs were consistently perceived as more credible than virtual influencers (VIs), with source credibility mediating message credibility and purchase intentions. Importantly, product congruence functioned as a moderator: when endorsing virtually congruent products, credibility of CVIs remained intact because expectations were not violated, whereas mismatched pairings amplified violations and weakened persuasion pathways. These findings demonstrate that the alignment between an influencer and product type can alter credibility processes. This study extends EVT by showing that influencer-product congruence moderates expectancy violations, which in turn affect purchase intention through source and message credibility. The findings also offer practical insights for strategically using VIs in advertising.
With the growing number of brands entering the metaverse, the influence of consumer interactions on brand-related attitudes and behaviors remains understudied. To address this gap, we conducted an experiment involving participants who used the Meta Quest 2 headset to interact with objects or products in a branded metaverse. Our findings revealed that presence positively impacted brand attitudes and enjoyment, whereas cybersickness had a negative effect. Importantly, enjoyment mediated the effects of presence and cybersickness on attitudes toward both the brand and the immersive experience as well as behavioral intentions. These results offer valuable insights for both theoretical understanding and practical application of interactive brand engagement in the metaverse.
Companies use social media to engage with consumers, and the content that firms create might influence consumer engagement (CE) with brands in various ways. Four studies show that function-oriented content (information that is helpful for increasing consumer knowledge about the product, brand, or company) generates more consumer comments compared with social bond-oriented content (i.e., information conveyed on a social level to create connections with customers). Social bond-oriented content instead drives consumers to forward more of this content. Brand prominence and brand-self distance serve as moderators in the relationship between content type and CE behaviors. Higher brand prominence can boost the number of comments, whereas shorter brand-self distance can increase the number of forwards. These findings offer insights into how social media tools might generate CE more effectively and shed light on the drivers of word-of-mouth through social media.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based virtual influencers (VIs) on social media are emerging as attractive marketing tools for businesses, offering lower costs and minimal risk of scandals. This study investigates the antecedents and consequences of perceived anthropomorphism of VIs from consumers' perspectives. We empirically tested a sample of 250 consumers who follow at least one VI, analyzing data using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study contributes to the ongoing debate by defining VIs in marketing terms, investigating psychological predispositions and outcomes of VI anthropomorphism across various VI types and social media platforms, and conceptually and empirically validating the role of anthropomorphism as a bridge between influential factors and customer relational outcomes. Our findings offer insights into the factors that make VIs viral, providing valuable guidance for marketers and researchers in the evolving field of AI-driven influencers. This research enhances our understanding of how consumers perceive and interact with VIs, potentially shaping future digital marketing strategies and the development of more effective VIs.
On TikTok, 'deinfluencing' videos have recently been trending, in which social media influencers (SMIs)-described as regular people who become well-known online figures-advise against buying specific products. However, the effects of this content on young people's brand- and SMI-related attitudes have so far remained underexplored. Drawing from negativity bias and attribution theory, we addressed this gap in a pre-registered between-subjects experiment among young adults in Vietnam. Although we found no differences in brand image or purchase intentions across the groups, the negative product review was considered significantly more helpful than the positive one. Additionally, perceived trustworthiness of the SMI varied as a function of review valence.
The primary purpose of this paper is to examine how emotive artificial intelligence (AI) persuasion agents shape consumer well-being in advertising and brand communication. Prior research has emphasized efficiency and personalization, yet little is known about the psychological effects of emotive AI, especially under persistent persuasion. To address this gap, we tested a moderated mediation model across four experiments. Results showed that emotive AI improves well-being via perceived enjoyment and autonomy, with autonomy as the stronger pathway. Attachment-framed emotive AI responses moderated these effects: security-oriented AI responses enhanced well-being, whereas anxiety-oriented responses reduced it. Privacy fatigue weakened both pathways, whereas mind perception strengthened outcomes but shifted the emphasis from autonomy toward enjoyment. By identifying both benefits and risks, this study advances theory on AI persuasion and offers guidance for designing emotionally adaptive, privacy-conscious, consumer-centered systems that balance influence with psychological health.
Digital ad avoidance is regarded as a significant threat to the interactive marketing industry. Limited knowledge of how each antecedent uniquely contributes to digital ad avoidance is detrimental not only to a deeper academic understanding but also to marketers controlling these factors. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to theorize how different antecedents play different roles in generating digital ad avoidance, based on constructive choice theory. We theorize that the main antecedents of digital ad avoidance play three distinct roles. Group 1 (ad skepticism and prior negative experiences) acts as the fundamental drivers governing the entire process of digital ad avoidance; Group 2 (intrusiveness, perceived goal impediment, and ad clutter) triggers complete avoidance when consumers exhibit moderate skepticism toward digital ads; and Group 3 (perceived relevance, perceived personalization, and privacy concerns) shifts the accuracy of partial avoidance and non-avoidance when consumers are less skeptical of digital ads. The proposed theory bridges interactive advertising research with cognitive psychology and behavioral decision research, providing a complementary perspective to psychological reactance theory.
To understand how social media influencers, as digital opinion leaders, communicate about consumption and sustainability, this study investigates the extent to which social media influencer content is commercial (promoting brands and stimulating purchases), and to what extent their content is sustainability-oriented (promoting a more sustainable lifestyle). Specifically, we analyzed 84,338 influencer posts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to capture the proportion of commercial and sustainability content, and their combination. Results show that commercial content far outweighs sustainability content. Additionally, we find platform differences: Instagram has most commercial content relative to sustainability content, whereas YouTube has most commercial content relative to all content. Although sustainability content is scarce on all platforms, TikTok seems to have a larger proportion of sustainability content. These findings evoke an important moral debate on whether influencers should stimulate consumption and how to encourage them to address sustainability more.
Drawing upon uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and self-determination theory (SDT), this research examined how social interaction with other users and brand engagement in metaverse stores influence consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions, with media enjoyment serving as a mediator. To assess these relationships, we employed a 2 (social interaction: present vs. absent) x 2 (brand engagement: high vs. low) factorial experiment across two studies with young consumers, utilizing a controlled video simulation of a metaverse store (Study 1) and an immersive metaverse platform (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that social interaction had a direct effect on both brand store satisfaction and purchase intentions, whereas brand engagement directly influenced only brand store satisfaction; however, both factors exerted indirect effects on outcomes through enjoyment. Study 2 confirmed the direct and indirect effects of social interaction on brand store satisfaction and purchase intentions, whereas brand engagement influenced these outcomes solely through the mediating role of media enjoyment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
