Document Type
Other Output
Department/Unit
Department of Communication Studies
Language
English
Abstract
Purpose: In the digital era, children were exposed to different forms of advertising embedded in media contents. The current literature based on the understanding of television advertising needs updating.
Aims: This study adopts a dual-process model titled “Processing of Commercialized Media Content” proposed by Buijzen, Reijmersdal, and Owen (2010). In this model, advertising persuasion process takes three different forms, including systematic processing, heuristic processing, and automatic process of cognitive messages.
Design: A qualitative face-to-face interview study was conducted among 30 Chinese children aged 10 to 12. Interviewees were asked to watch a one-minute unboxing YouTube video. Afterward, they were asked about the purposes of this kind of video and the perceived influences of these messages on purchase decisions.
Findings: Interviewees demonstrated all three forms of cognitive processing of the commercial messages in YouTube videos. Interviewees had different understandings of the intentions of such messages. Most of the interviewees did not consider videos with brand endorsements advertising. Their judgement was based on the narrow way of defining advertising using traditional storytelling skills in television advertising. A few interviewees demonstrated sophisticated elaboration of how YouTubers made profits through endorsing products and developing a high volume of audience traffic.
Videos with product endorsements were popular among interviewees as a source of information about new products. Interviewees learned about brands for children as well as for adults from YouTube with product endorsements. They were aware of the persuasive effects of these videos on their brand knowledge and purchase behaviors.
Research implications: There is a need to review the current policy and the investigation of compulsory disclosure of sponsored brand messages in videos and other digital social media target children.
Keywords
product placement, influencer marketing, advertising literacy, persuasive knowledge, qualitative method
Publication Date
12-3-2020
Source Publication Title
2020 Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Conference
Conference Location
The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
APA Citation
Chan, K. (2020). Children’s perception of YouTube videos with product endorsements. 2020 Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Conference. Retrieved from https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/hkbu_staff_publication/7103