The mediating role of advertising literacy and the moderating influence of parental mediation on how children of different ages react to brand placements

This study investigates the role of advertising literacy in how children of different ages respond to brand placement and how parental advertising mediation strategies can attenuate advertising effects. The results of a cross‐sectional study among 180 children under 12 and their parents show that older children (10 to 11 years) are better able to detect the commercial intent and the source of brand placement compared to the younger children (7 to 8 years). However, parental advertising mediation appears to increase (instead of decrease) brand attitudes for the younger children, whereas it has no significant effect on brand attitudes of the older children. Practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Can't See the Forest for the Trees? The Effect of Media Multitasking on Cognitive Processing Style

Media multitasking represents an important aspect of the recent evolution in media consumption habits. While some experimental research exists, it has primarily focused on the detrimental effects of multitasking on task performance. We go a step further by examining the impact of media multitasking on information processing style. Study I demonstrates that media multitasking, compared to sequential media consumption, leads to a more local perceptual processing style. Furthermore, the frequency of media switching predicts the level of perceptual processing. Study II extends these findings by showing that media multitasking also affects conceptual processing style. Specifically, media multitasking leads to lower-level (or more concrete) construal of behaviors in a subsequent task. It further shows that conceptual rather than visual switching between media drives the observed differences in conceptual processing. These findings suggest that, as a growing phenomenon, media multitasking behavior may substantially alter the way media viewers process media content.     

Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Individual Motives for Playing Digital Games

Individual motives for playing digital games have been studied from a variety of theoretical perspectives using different measurement instruments. However, an instrument that roots the social, rule-based narrative essence of digital games in a theory on human behavior acknowledging that not all behavior is consciously motivated has hitherto been lacking. A framework based on social cognitive theory that integrates these dimensions is proposed. After comparing the advantages of this framework to existing approaches, the development of a measurement instrument is discussed. This development concerns the generation and evaluation of an item pool and also testing the instrument for reliability and validity on different samples and different populations. Results suggest psychometric as well as theoretical soundness of the instrument.     

Direct evaluative conditioning in brand placement: The impact of scene valence and prominence on brand placement repetition effects

Whereas previous studies investigated the affect transfer from one specific affective stimulus of the brand placement context (such as an artist or the genre) to the brand, this research study investigates the effect of the valence of various scenes in which the brand is repeatedly placed on brand attitude. Direct evaluative conditioning theory suggests that pairing a brand repeatedly with various positive (negative) stimuli positively (negatively) affects brand attitude. The results of 2 experimental studies indicate that when a brand is repeatedly and prominently placed in different affective scenes of the same valence (a series of either positive or negative scenes), the affect aroused by those scenes influences explicit and implicit brand attitudes. In addition, whereas previous research found negative effects of brand prominence on brand evaluations, this study found that prominence positively moderates the affect transfer from the valence of various scenes on brand attitude. This implies that by placing the brand in various positive scenes, prominent brand placements can have a positive effect on recall and recognition and on brand attitude, which transcends the previously declared paradox of prominent placement.     

Impact of an interactive anti-speeding threat appeal: how much threat is too much?

This study investigates the impact of an interactive television public-service announcement (PSA) containing an anti-speeding threat appeal on feelings of telepresence and behavioral intention. In a 2?×?2?×?2 between-subjects factorial design with 213 participants, the level of threat evoked by a traditional PSA, by the interactive part of the PSA (dedicated advertising location or DAL) and by the preceding program context are manipulated to be either low or high. The results support the assumptions of the Extended Parallel Processing Model with regard to the effect of the level of perceived threat and perceived efficacy in an interactive media environment, and the important role of telepresence as a processing variable. The results of the three-way interaction effect of threat evoked by the program, the PSA and the DAL on telepresence show that when the threat levels of the program and the PSA are both either low or high, exposure to the threatening information in the DAL does not generate a significantly higher feeling of telepresence. However, when a low-threat program is followed by a high-threat PSA, the threat level of the DAL has a positive effect on telepresence. The same trend is found with a high-threat program and a low-threat PSA, although the effect of the threat evoked by the DAL on telepresence is not significant at conventional levels. Finally, there is a positive effect of telepresence on the behavioral intention to reduce speeding, which is partly mediated by the viewer's perceived efficacy to follow the recommended behavior.     

The impact of banners on digital television: the role of program interactivity and product involvement

In a sample of 281 respondents, the effect of a noninteractive and a medium-interactive television program on recall and brand attitudes for low- and high-involvement products advertised in banners during these programs was investigated. Medium-interactive programs resulted in less product and brand recall and recognition of brands in embedded banner advertisements, but generated more positive brand attitudes than noninteractive programs. These effects were more outspoken for a high-involvement product than for a low-involvement product. The impact of perceived program interactivity on brand attitude is fully mediated program valence and involvement for low-involvement products, but not for high-involvement products, for which perceived program interactivity had a direct impact on brand attitude.