Abstract: Electronic cigarette brands are increasingly using social media to advertise their products. This study examined effects of advertising message claim type (reduced risk [“Healthier than regular cigarettes”], cessation [“Quit smoking using e-cigarettes”] versus no message claim) and health warning labels (presence versus absence) in celebrity-endorsed Instagram e-cigarette brand advertisements. A 3×2 between-subjects experiment was conducted through an online questionnaire, with participants (N = 275) randomly assigned to 1 of 6 experimental conditions. Presence of a health warning label exerted significant main effects on attitude towards the ad, intention to use e-cigarettes, and brand attitude, and interacted with message claim type to affect these dependent measures. Health consciousness, perceived information value and celebrity identification also significantly moderated between presence of a health warning label and attitude towards the ad, intention to use e-cigarettes and brand attitude. Presence of health warning labels in social media-based e-cigarette ads may therefore mitigate potential effects of positive advertising claims in these ads. Implications for regulatory agencies and future research are discussed.
Topic: advertising messages
The Role of Engagement in Travel Influencer Marketing: The Perspectives of Dual Process Theory and the Source Credibility Model.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the relative effects of travel social influencers (TSI)’ total number of follower and engagement level on consumers’ intention to travel to advertised destination and purchase the advertised product as well as their perceived credibility, expertise, and attractiveness. The results suggest that engagement becomes an important characteristic of TSI in determining the effectiveness of advertising messages delivered by them and their perceived attractiveness especially when consumers are skeptical about influencer messages. Meanwhile, TSIs’ total number of followers better predict the effectiveness of advertising messages delivered by them and their perceived expertise when consumers are not skeptical about influencer messages.