Perceived informative intention in advertising and its attenuating effect on persuasion attribution among children

Abstract

Although substantial research has been dedicated to children's understanding of advertising, the role of more diverse marketing purposes (attention capturing, product liking, and informative intentions) still has not been examined in relation to the activation of persuasion attribution among young consumers. Previous research has focused on one perceived advertising intention at a time, disregarding the complex nature of advertisements’ purposes and how these different perceived intentions relate to persuasion attribution. It is still unclear whether viewing advertising as a source of information reduces persuasion attribution and mitigates the attention capturing and product liking evaluations when children are exposed to commercial messages. This study shows that children's comprehension of attention capturing and product liking intentions relate to higher persuasion attribution. However, perceiving advertisements as a source of information attenuates the effects of product liking and attention capturing intentions on persuasion attribution in older children (10-11 and 12-13 years) who were expected to be more critical of advertising. No such effects were observed among younger children (8–9 years). The study highlights that advertisements are evaluated in a more complex manner by children than has been previously thought.