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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the source of brand-related user-generated content (UGC) (a close friend vs a celebrity) interacts with content sponsorship (organic UGC vs sponsored UGC) to influence consumer causal attributions, brand attitude, and intention to comply with the recommendation. Design/methodology/approach In all, 285 college students participated in a two (source: a close friend vs a celebrity) by two (content sponsorship: organic vs sponsored) between-subjects online experimental design. Findings Results showed that recommendation from a close friend generated more information-sharing attributions and less monetary-gain attributions than did recommendation from a celebrity when the brand-related UGC was organic. In contrast, source type did not influence causal attributions differently when the UGC was sponsored. Further, this study demonstrated that both information-sharing and monetary-gain attributions mediated the effects of source type and content sponsorship on brand attitude and intention to comply with the recommendation. Originality/value This study is one of the first to examine the effectiveness of celebrities as a source of brand-related UGC. Also, this research extends the existing knowledge about source effects by examining the relative effectiveness of two sources of product information, close friends and celebrities, who have both been found to be individually effective in the traditional marketing context. Additionally, the findings of this study that the relative effectiveness of source type depends on whether brand-related UGC is sponsored or not add a further insight into how source type influences the effectiveness of brand-related UGC.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content of food advergames and the nutritional quality of foods promoted in those advergames with the presence of child visitors. Design/methodology/approach – This study integrates three different sources of data, first, characteristics of the audience from internet audience measurement metrics; second, an analysis of food advergame content; and third, an analysis of the dietary quality of the foods in advergames. Findings – The results show that 83.2 percent of the total 143 advergames are sponsored by CFBAI participating companies and 79.5 percent of the total 44 advergames reaching children are sponsored by those companies. About 87 percent of the advergames reaching children do not include age limit specification. By contrast, about 71 percent of the advergames reaching children include ad breaks and about half of the advergames reaching children include healthy lifestyle information. Compared to the total, advergames reaching children seem to have a higher level of brand integration. Moreover, most foods that the advergames promote are classified as unhealthy. Finally, the results show that ad breaks and number of brand identifiers are the two significant predictors of food advergames with child unique visitors. Originality/value – Despite the increased attention to and scrutiny of innovative and interactive food marketing targeting children, little is known about the extent to which such techniques actually reach children, nor about the content and nutritional quality of foods they promote. This study attempts to fill in the gap by focussing on food advergames.

Drawing on the impression management theory, this study examined the effect of online media platforms, social network sites (SNSs) versus non-SNSs, on the intention to join a cause. The online experimental study discovered that the SNS was more effective in increasing the intention to join a cause than the non-SNS. The findings also demonstrated the mediating role of the perceived visibility of joining the cause and the moderating role of public self-consciousness on this effect. Further, self-cause image congruence positively influenced the intention to join the cause, while it did not moderate the effect of online media platforms.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the facial expression of the reviewer's avatar interacts with the valence of the consumer review to influence consumer purchase decisions.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (facial expression of the reviewer's avatar)× 2 (valence of the consumer review) between‐subjects online experimental design was used.FindingsIt was found that when the consumer review was positive, participants exposed to the reviewer's angry‐looking avatar were more likely to attribute the review to the product's performance than those exposed to the happy‐looking avatar. The causal attribution toward product performance, in turn, influenced the strength of intention to purchase the brand positively. When the consumer review was negative, however, there were no differential effects between the happy‐looking and the angry‐looking avatars.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on consumer reviews by identifying an important source characteristic that consumers consider when processing consumer reviews – the facial expression of the reviewer's avatar.

Drawing on the theoretical framework of consumer inferences of marketer motives, we explore consumer responses to different types of product recommendation provided by an e-commerce website (i.e. recommendation systems, RS). The findings demonstrate that RS for alternative brands only are most likely to lead to the consumer inference of a consumer-serving motive, followed by RS for both alternative brands and additional products, and RS for additional products only. In turn, the consumer inference of a consumer-serving motive has a positive influence on attitude towards the website. However, the consumer inference of a firm-serving motive does not mediate the effect of RS type on attitude towards the website. Further, the effect of RS type on attitude towards the website occurs only for consumers low in interpersonal trust. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

What is the impact of ad parodies on the brands they spoof? This question arises from the recent confluence of heightening comedic interest in parodying advertising and the growing trend of amateurs creating their own ad parodies in social media. This article reports on a multi-phase study investigating the key dimensions of ad parodies and how they influence brand attitudes, attitudes towards the parodies, and intention to pass along the parodies. Four primary dimensions of ad parodies were discovered: humour, truth, mockery and offensiveness. Humour and truth were positively related to attitudes towards the parodies and intention to pass them along, while offensiveness was negatively related to attitudes towards the parodies. However, the dimensions of ad parodies had no impact on brand attitudes. The results demonstrate that, although advertisers should be aware of this trend, they can take comfort in consumers’ ability to distinguish between brand messages and entertainment.

Serious games are emerging as a new medium for social change. This study investigated the influence of presentation mode afforded by different media on willingness to help in the context of humanitarianaid. Two online experiments were conducted. Thefirst experiment demonstrated that playing the Darfur is Dying game elicited greater role-taking and resulted in greater willingness to help the Darfurian people than reading a text conveying thesameinformation.Thesecondexperimentdeconstructedthevariablepresentationmode in more detail by adding a game watching condition. Similar results were found such that game playing resulted in greater role-taking and willingness to help than game watching and text reading. Implications for researchers and game developers are also discussed.

This study explores the three major consumer characteristics that underlie the use of Internet dating services: self-esteem, involvement in romantic relationships, and sociability. A significant three-way interaction effect among these factors emerged. Among sociable people, individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to use Internet dating services than are those with low self-esteem when they are highly involved in romantic relationships. The opposite pattern was revealed for sociable people, however, when they are less involved in romantic relationships. That is, individuals with low self-esteem used Internet dating services more often than did those with high self-esteem when romantic relationships were not important. The implications for academic researchers and practitioners are discussed.

This study explores whether and how different online platforms to which electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communication is posted influence consumers’ judgements of reviewed products. Additionally, this study examines the moderating role of the valence of eWOM on the platforms–consumer product judgement relationship. Our findings indicated that, other things being equal, participants exposed to the review posted on the personal blog were more likely to attribute the review to circumstances and less likely to recommend the product to friends than those who were exposed to the review either on the independent review website or the brand’s website. The effect of the eWOM platforms on consumer willingness to recommend the product to friends was found only when the review was positive. When the review was negative, however, there were detrimental effects on consumer willingness to recommend the product to friends regardless of the eWOM platform. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings were discussed.

This study explores the conditions under which product placement in an on-line game will get noticed and be remembered from a perspective of the limited-capacity model of attention. Results show that the location of brand messages in the game (referred to here as proximity), game involvement, and prior game-playing experience interact to influence brand memory. Although experienced players in the moderate-involvement condition recognize focal brands better than the peripheral brands, the recognition superiority of the focal brands over the peripheral brands disappears when experienced players' involvement is high. The interaction between proximity and game involvement does not emerge for inexperienced players, however. Findings also demonstrate that the degree of congruity between the product category of a brand and game content influences brand memory such that highly incongruent brands are better recalled than either moderately incongruent brands or highly congruent brands. Implications for researchers ...

This study compares people who play games on the Internet, people who use the Internet but not for gaming, and people who do not use the Internet. In terms of demography, there is no gender difference among the three groups. On-line gamers are the youngest group and have above-average education and income, but non-gaming Internet users enjoy the highest socioeconomic status. In terms of motivation, on-line gamers are more impulsive and more open to the Internet than either other group. On-line gamers are also highest in novelty seeking, risk-taking, and word-of-mouth communication. In terms of attitude, both online gamers and non-gaming Internet users are more liberal toward socially sensitive issues than non-Internet users, and more tolerant of advertising that contains sex or violence. Practical implications and the need for additional research are discussed.

This study explores motivations for playing games on social network sites as well as attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of those motivations. A total of 324 college students in the United States participated in an online survey. Found were the six motivations for playing social network games (SNG): social interaction, self-presentation, fantasy/role playing, passing time/escapism, entertainment, and challenge/competition. Further, the findings demonstrated that different types of motivations influenced attitudes toward playing SNG and intentions to engage in different social network gaming activities differentially.

This study examines the factors influencing consumer intention to watch online video ads, by applying the theory of reasoned action. The attitude toward watching online video ads, the subjective norm, and prior frequency of watching online video ads positively influence the intention to watch online video ads. Further, beliefs held about entertainment and information outcomes from watching online video ads and subjective norm influence attitude toward watching these ads.