This study constructs a model to predict ad attitude when AI influencers act as ad endorsers. In the results, search products and rational ad appeal have more positive ad attitude, perceived empathy and perceived expertise as mediator. These three variables can be reinforced by the consistency of ad appeals and product categories.

The study investigates the effects of influencer on advertising effectiveness compared to traditional celebrity endorser. Results of an experiment shows that the use of influencer have a better fit with hard-sell appeal and well-known brand to have more favorable brand attitude and higher intention to purchase. The findings provide ample contribution to theory and practice.

Employing national consumer panels in the US and Korea (N = 767), this research examined how consumer evaluations of graphic sexual ads on social media differ from those of non-sexual ads, and to what extent such evaluations are influenced by different cultural backgrounds (Individualism vs. Confucianism) and sexual self-schema (SSS) levels.

Introduction As one of the visual elements in advertising, typeface elicits psychological associations that might have an impact on ad effects and can convey a significant meaning with cognitive and emotional responses. Previous studies illustrate that typeface influences consumers’ perceptions of advertised products, has an impact on readability and memorability of ads (Childers & Jass, 2002), and generates brand personality (Grohmann, Giese, & Parkman, 2013). Therefore, typeface has the potentiality to change the effect of advertising, and could be one of the critical elements to enhance the ad effectiveness by matching with other elements in advertising (McCarthy & Mothersbaugh, 2002). The purpose of the current study is to examine how representative type styles (e.g., Sans-serif, Handwriting, and Serif) can influence consumers’ psychological perception (i.e., warmth and competence), to explore what underlying mechanism exists between typefaces and the ad effectiveness, and to investigate the impact of typeface in ads considering congruence of typeface with the communicator’s perceived power for more effective communications. Theoretical Development The findings of related research support that fonts evoke specific consumer’s perceptions and emotion (Grohmann et al., 2013). Serif typefaces such as Times New Roman were perceived as elegant, charming, emotional, and interesting and Sans-serif typefaces such as Helvetica or Arial were considered manly, powerful, smart, upper-class, and high readability (Grohmann et al., 2013). In terms of the features of typefaces, handwriting typefaces have a curved appearance and they are irregular, unplanned, and characterized by slanted and curved strokes, while Sans-serif typefaces are usually planned and drawn by straight and angular strokes. According to the studies on font in psychology (Jiang, Gorn, Galli, & Chattopadhyay, 2016) and design (Bartram, 1982), circular shapes activate a softness association such as love, warmth, and harmony and angular shapes activate a hardness association such as coldness, aggressiveness, and conflict associations. The research on the transference of some impressions from typefaces illustrates that psychological associations related to type font in ads are transferred to the advertised product or brand (Grohmann et al., 2013). Previous research, based on the Construal Level Theory (Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak, 2007), demonstrated that psychological distance influences individuals’ perceptions and engagement. According to each stream of prior literature on typefaces’ association and Construal Level theory, we predict that handwriting typefaces are associated with closer psychological distance and it reduces the social distance between consumers and the message in marketing activities. In contrast, Sans-serif typefaces are angular and typically associated with professionalism, justice, competence, and power and it may increase the social distance. The current study deals with warmth and competence in consumers’ perceptions. Based on the preceding discussion and research questions, a hypothesis leads to the following. H1: Sans-serif typeface would be more likely to provoke competence perception, whereas handwriting typeface arouses much warmer and more friendly feeling. Variables influenced by typeface Based on the findings of Study 1, the following research question and hypotheses could be built up on the potential variables that influence the effectiveness of typeface: RQ 1. How many reliable and interpretable factors are there among the following variables: Handwriting and Sans-serif typefaces, the perceived power, engagement, and attitude toward typeface? In addition, how much variance in the set of variables is explained by the factors? what kind of underlying mechanism between typefaces and the effectiveness of typeface is such there? H2: Typeface (Sans-serif) would be more likely to provoke (a) perceived power, in turn, positively influences (b) engagement toward the typeface. H3: Typeface (Sans-serif) would be less likely to provoke (a) engagement toward the typeface, in turn, positively influences (b) attitude toward the typeface. H4: Perceived power would be more likely to provoke (a) engagement toward the typeface, in turn, positively influences (b) attitude toward the typeface. Typeface and the perceived spokesmodel’s power in ads Including typeface, as a visual imagery in an ad, a spokesmodel can generate psychological perceptions in persuasive communication. According to the agentic-communal model of power theory, the power of communicators has an influence on the persuasion process (Dubois et al., 2016) and attitudinal and behavioral responses. However, the communicators’ power would be different by individuals’ perceptions or experiences for the category of people (e.g., employee or expert). Therefore, it would be critical to consider the communicators’ power as ‘perceived power’ in communication. The previous study suggested high-power communicators, compared to low-power communicators, are more inclined to generate responses or arguments related to competence. In addition, low-power communicators are more inclined to generate responses related to warmth (Dubois et al., 2016). Based on each stream of literature of typefaces (Grohmann et al., 2013) and communicators’ power (Dubois et al., 2016), the following hypotheses occur. H5. When an ad includes a handwriting typeface in a headline copy, if consumers perceive low power from the spokesmodel’s in ads, by the matching (congruence) effects, it leads to a more favorable attitude toward the ad, ad engagement, and purchase intention than when an ad is employed by sans-serif typeface in a headline copy. H6. When an ad includes a sans-serif typeface in a headline copy, if consumers perceive high power from the spokesmodel’s in ads, by the matching (congruence) effects, it leads to a more favorable attitude toward the ad, ad engagement, and purchase intention than when an ad is employed by handwriting typeface in a headline copy. Overview of Research Design Three separated experiments were conducted to investigate all hypotheses. Study 1 was examined to test the effect of typeface across three representative typefaces such as Sans-serif, Serif, and handwriting, on psychological responses (i.e., warmth and confidence) (H1). Study 2 was conducted to explore the interrelations between the factors and the model with other strong potential effects (RQ1 & H2, H3, and H4). Study 3 was conducted to investigate the effects of typeface along with a spokesmodel in an ad on ad attitude, engagement, and behavioral intention (i.e. purchase intention) (H5 & H6). Research Design in Study 1 Participants were exposed to all 15 typefaces in each 3 font-style (i.e., sans-serif, handwriting, and serif). To test and choose an appropriate typeface in consumer’s perceptions and psychological associations (i.e., warmth and competence) among several typefaces, there were sans-serif (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, Oswald, Quarrion, etc.), handwriting (Bradley, Children, Dandelion, etc.), and serif (Time New Roman, Soria, Courier, Playfair, etc.). Results and Discussion The results of repeated ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) showed that participants perceived different level of competence (F (1.40, 54.63) = 17.23, p < .001, Partial η2 = .31) and warmth (F (1.28, 49.96) = 10.32, p < .01, Partial η2 = .21) depending on typefaces. The post-hoc analyses indicated that participants were more likely to perceive competence in Sans-Serif (M = 4.89, SD = 1.15) and Serif (M = 5.07, SD = 1.04) than in handwriting typeface (M = 4.23, SD = 1.22). On the other hand, participants perceived higher warmth in handwriting (M = 4.75, SD = 1.26) and Serif (M = 4.47, SD = .96) than in Sans-Serif typeface (M = 4.01, SD = 1.08). Model fit for competence was Wilks’ λ = .58, F (2, 38) = 13.82, p < .001, Partial η2 = .42 and model fit for warmth Wilks’ λ = .61, F (2, 38) = 12.11, p < .001, Partial η2 = .39. Study 1 examined the effects of three kinds of font-styles across each typeface on warmth and competence. The findings provide distinct evidence that Sans-serif font-style provokes more competent associations than others (i.e., serif and handwriting) and handwriting font-style generates more warm associations than others. Research Design in Study 2 Given that a certain font-style is more associated with psychological perceptions (warmth vs. competence), the next step was to ascertain whether is the relationship of the variables (i.e., attitude toward typeface, engagement, and perceived power of typeface) (RQ1, H2, H3, and H4). Participants were exposed to two typeface-conditions by using handwriting typeface (i.e., Tornac) and sans-serif typeface (i.e., Nimbus) with several text phrases. Factor analysis was conducted to determine what underlying structure exists for measures on the following variables: typeface, the perceived power, engagement, and attitude toward typeface and to summarize the structural equation modeling among the set of variables. Results and Discussion To check the structural equivalence of measures, reliability test, correlation analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted. Reliabilities for all measurements indicated acceptable levels: perceived power (a = .89) (Dubois et al., 2016), engagement toward the typeface (a = .95), attitude toward the typeface (a = .94). The correlations analysis showed that there is no violation of multicollinearity among the variables (r ≤ .62). A CFA was conducted to confirmed the measurement model fit. The results of CFA indicated that the measurement model had a good fit to the data, χ2 (41) = 55.38, p > .05, χ2/df = 1.35, GFI = .94, CFI (comparative fit index) = .99, TLI (Tucker-Lewis index) = .99, RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation) = .05, SRMR (root mean square error of approximation) = .04. For study model analysis, the Amos 23 with 5,000 bootstrap samples for mediation analyses was employed to analyze the proposed study model. Figure 1 indicate the result of path analysis. The results of the analysis showed that people perceived stronger power in Sans-Serif than in handwriting typeface (β = .43, p < .001, SE = .22, 95% CI [.00, .86]), but they were likely to engage in handwriting than in Sans-Serif typeface (β = -.34, p < .001, SE = .23, 95% CI [-.79, .11]). Perceived typeface power is positively associated with the typeface engagement (β = .60, p < .001, SE = .60, 95% CI [.44, .76]). Indirect effect of typeface on engagement through perceived power was significant (β = .26, p < .001, SE = .06, 95% CI [.16, .38]). Insignificant effect of typeface on engagement become significant when mediator, perceive power, was included in the model. The result shows a full mediation model. Engagement toward the typeface is a significant predictor of attitude toward the typeface (β = .62, p < .001, SE = .07, 95% CI [.48 .76]). Indirect effect of power on attitude toward typeface through engagement was significant (β = .28, p < .01, SE = .07, 95% CI [.24, .51]), but indirect effect of typeface on attitude through engagement was not significant (β = -.21, p > .05, SE = .05, 95% CI [-.15, .04]). Research Design in Study 3 An experimental study between-subjects randomized factorial design, 2 (typeface: handwriting vs. sans-serif) x 2 (perceived power of the communicator in ads: high vs. low), was used to test the proposed Hypotheses 5 and 6. Results and Discussion Regression analyses were conducted to test proposed hypotheses, controlling for the differences of communicators’ characteristics (e.g., a business woman vs. a housewife). Even though ad stimuli were developed by two conditions on communicator’s power, there are individual differences from the perceived power toward each spokesmodel in ads. Therefore, we measured and analyzed the perceived power. The results (Table 1) revealed that perceived communicators’ power positively influences ad engagement (β = .19, p < .05), attitude toward to ad (β = .41, p < .001), and purchase intention (β = .38, p < .001), but typeface does not. Different from the expectation, typeface and perceived communicator power did not interact to generate advertising effectiveness. Conclusion Study 1 obviously revealed that handwriting typefaces are associated with warmth and Sans-serif typefaces provoke competence in consumers’ perception. Study 2 illustrated that there were strong relationships between typeface and the perceived power toward typeface, between typeface and engagement through the perceived power toward typeface, and between the perceived power toward typeface and attitude toward typeface through engagement. Engagement toward the typeface is a significant predictor of attitude toward the typeface. Moreover, there were relatively relationships between typeface and engagement; between engagement and attitudes toward typefaces. The result of Study 3 shows that advertising audiences are more likely to process other visual information (e.g., photo images) than typefaces (e.g., a headline copy) in order to indicate audiences’ responses in advertising contexts and to generate advertising effectiveness. The current research has demonstrated that the strong effects come from a typeface itself might eventually dissipate when woven with other visual elements such as photo images in ads, even though the current research previously indicates that there are influential effects come from typefaces such as warmth and competence and the relationship with the perceived power.

The purpose of this study is to find out how effective native content can be and how much 1) the web site type (news vs. entertainment vs. social networking site) and 2) the native content appeal (emotional vs. informational) will influence reader’s evaluations about a) the ad/website where the ad is placed and b) reader’s persuasion knowledge. The study also included an individual’s ad skepticism as one of the independent variables, arguing that the level of ad skepticism will influence the evaluations about the ad/website and individual’s persuasion knowledge. The result of the study can be helpful for advertisers to decide where and how to present native content. An online experiment, 3 (website type: news site/entertainment site/Facebook) X 2 (native content appeal: emotional/informational) X 2 (individual’s ad skepticism: high/low) was conducted to estimate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, such as attitude towards the ad, website’s evaluation and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Introduction One of the newest ways of online advertising is ‘native ad’ or ‘native content.’ This new form of advertising provides companies the opportunity to introduce their products or services in a more natural way via online. Native ads normally match the design of other contents presented in the website and it should be perceived naturally as the rest of the content there (for example, in an online news site, the ad should be presented as news). Since native ads fit into the design of the site and people are there looking for stories to read, they provide higher rates of engagement as well as brand perception. However, there is a possibility of people feeling ‘deceived’ after realizing the story they click to read is no other but advertising. Furthermore, in the case of news websites, there have been instances of disapproval regarding native content. One of the arguments against native content presented in news sites points out that it is not ethical to present ads in the format of news. On the other hand, paid content can be seen as a useful alternative for non-intrusive online advertising which can generate more views among the users. Despite the increase of native content as a new form of advertising, academic study about native content (ads) is still difficult to find. The purpose of this study is to find out how effective native content can be and how much 1) the web site type (news vs. entertainment vs. social networking site) and 2) the native content appeal (emotional vs. informational) will influence reader’s evaluations about a) the ad/website where the ad is placed and b) reader’s persuasion knowledge. The study also included an individual’s ad skepticism as one of the independent variables, arguing that the level of ad skepticism will influence the evaluations about the ad/website and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Native content appears naturally, functioning like the rest of the content in the website. This characteristic makes it difficult for some people to tell the difference between the editorial content and paid content. By including ad skepticism as an independent variable, this study will show how people with high/low levels of ad skepticism will deal with this type of advertising. The result of the study can be helpful for advertisers to decide where and how to present native content. An online experiment, 3 (website type: news site/entertainment site/Facebook) X 2 (native content appeal: emotional/informational) X 2 (individual’s ad skepticism: high/low), was conducted to estimate the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, such as attitude towards the ad, website’s evaluation and individual’s persuasion knowledge. Literature Review Native Advertising and Evolution of Advertorials Native advertising is a method marketers use to present content in an interesting and subtle way on different websites or social media in a way that is almost camouflaging with the other content presented there. According to a IPG Media Lab survey, native advertising presented 53% more exposure than banners and it showed better performance regarding purchase intention, brand closeness and share intention. Native advertising’s origins can be found in what is defined as ‘advertorial’ (a combination of the words advertising and editorial). As we can find different arguments in native ads, we may also find discussions regarding similar topics related to advertorials. Cameron and Ju-Pak (2000)’s research supported that when stories are presented as editorial copy, they showed better credibility than those with a label of advertising. The ideas and main characteristics of advertorials appear today in native advertisements, bringing the advantages of advertorials to native ads. Marketers keep trying to make online advertising reliable and create effective sponsored content. However, as it was discussed with advertorials, when it appears difficult to tell the difference between news content and sponsored content, there is a possibility that the advertising is seen as deceptive (Pike, 2014). Since native content has become a popular online advertising format in reality, it is necessary to study it and the responses generated among the audience members of online news and different websites. Persuasion Knowledge Model & Ad Skepticism An individual’s ability to recognize and evaluate marketers’ persuasion goals and tactics is known as persuasion knowledge. Ad skepticism refers to a critical approach for consumers to evaluate and cope with advertising. Relating to the persuasion knowledge model and native content, one of the most important aspects for marketers is to determine the degree of persuasion knowledge that the target has in the different types of native content or the different website types where it is presented. This study will evaluate how an individual’s persuasion knowledge is affected after being exposed to native content. According to the persuasion knowledge model, we can assume that the more consumers know about the persuasion attempt of an agent, the lesser they are being persuaded. This study examined how the exposure to a new way of online advertising (native content) affects users’ persuasion knowledge. In the meantime, consumers with a higher level of skepticism make it harder for advertisers to find the effective format of online advertising. Consumers with a high level of skepticism may also be more aware of advertising strategies which leads to less positive responses to ads that use subtle persuasive techniques (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998, 2000). Previous research has shown that ad skepticism varies depending on advertising formats: banner advertisements present higher levels of skepticism than sponsored content. The present study differentiated persuasion knowledge from ad skepticism. Ad skepticism is regarded as a personal attribute. It is measured in order to find out how participants' level of ad skepticism (high/low) will influence the effects of native content. On the other hand, persuasion knowledge is seen as a way users will cope with advertising strategies. This research examined the effects different native advertising have on a reader’s persuasion knowledge. Research Questions & Hypotheses [RQ1]: Will the effect of native content on site evaluation be different depending on the website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [RQ2]: Will content appeal and website type influence the effects of native content on site evaluation (before/after)? [RQ3]: Will the effect of native content on persuasion knowledge be different depending on the website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [RQ4]: Will the effect of native content on attitude towards the ad (affective/cognitive/behavioral attitude and advertising credibility) differ depending on website type, native content appeal and individual’s ad skepticism? [H1]: Informational native content will show more positive cognitive attitude towards the ad than emotional content. [H2]: Emotional native content will show more positive affective attitude towards the ad than informational content. Research Method An online experiment was conducted in May 2016 in Seoul, Korea. Using a convenient and snowball sample, a total of 359 adult participants aged 18 or older took part in the online experiment. Experiment stimuli were created based on existing brands with high-involvement products (LG G5 mobile phone and CITI credit card). Experimental stimuli were created by the researchers to resemble native content and native ads in news sites, entertainment sites, and Facebook. The format of the contents was adapted from native content published in different sites (news site: /entertainment site: Huffington Post Korea, ). Participants were randomly assigned to one of the 6 cells (3 website types X 2 appeals). First, ad skepticism was measured followed by website evaluation. After each stimulus was shown, attitude towards the native ad, site evaluation and persuasion knowledge were measured. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Despite the growing popularity of native advertising in various online sites, little research has been performed regarding its effects and possible variables influencing the effects of native advertising. This study intended to contribute to find an effective way to create native content and a suitable place to place the native content. The study found significant interaction effects between content appeal and site evaluation (before/after). Also, significant interaction effects on persuasion knowledge were found between website type and content appeal. On the other hand, main effects of independent variables (native content appeal and ad skepticism) showed interesting results. Results of RQ1 showed that a lower ad skepticism and informational content appeal presented more significant effects on site evaluation. In other words, participants with lower levels of ad skepticism were more likely to positively evaluate the site. Also, when comparing the types of appeal, informational native content turned out to be more effective on site evaluation than emotional appeal. However, the online experiment failed to detect a meaningful connection between website type and site evaluation. Significant differences were found in terms of participants’ website evaluation before and after presenting experimental stimuli, native content (RQ2). Contrary to what was expected, emotional appeal presented a bigger mean difference between site evaluation before and site evaluation after. This may be due to participants’ feeling of deception from native content with emotional appeal that leads a lower website evaluation among research participants (Howe & Teufel, 2014). According to Moore and Rodgers (2005), due to high levels of skepticism, online ads are perceived as the least reliable source of credibility. This can explain why content with informational appeal showed more favorable website evaluation over content with emotional appeal. The interaction effect between content appeal and website type on persuasion knowledge was significant. That is, informational appeal showed higher persuasion knowledge for both Facebook and news sites, whereas emotional appeal showed higher persuasion knowledge for entertainment sites. This result is consistent with the literature review presented above regarding website context and online advertising. Meanwhile, the fact that informational appeal increases persuasion knowledge on Facebook can be a subject for further research. Main effects of content appeal and ad skepticism were also found in increasing persuasion knowledge (RQ3). Ad skepticism showed significant main effects on attitude towards the ad over all four categories (affective, cognitive, behavioral attitudes and ad credibility). In other words, participants with lower ad skepticism showed more positive affective/cognitive/behavioral attitudes towards the native content and believed the ad was better. This finding supported previous research on ad skepticism where consumers with low levels of skepticism had more positive responses to advertising (Obermiller & Spangenberg; 1998, 2000). In conclusion, this study showed that participants with a lower level of ad skepticism show more positive reactions to native content than those who tend to be more skeptical about advertising in general. Also, informational appeal appeared to be more effective when compared to emotional content: informational appeal native ads resulted in more positive cognitive/behavioral attitudes towards the native ad and more ad credibility (RQ4).

소비자가 광고에 대해서 반응할 때, 광고 모델의 시선(응시 방향)은 가장 중요한 비언어적 단서 중 하나이다. 광 고 모델의 시선은 소비자가 모델의 사회적 특성을 어떻게 평가하는지(예, 매력도, 신뢰성)와 광고나 브랜드를 어떻 게 평가하는지(예, 광고 태도, 브랜드 태도)에 영향을 미친다. 특히, 뇌의 정서 반응 비대칭 가설에 따르면, 오른손잡 이 소비자는 모델이 좌측을 응시하는 광고를 볼 때 우측을 응시하는 광고를 볼 때보다 모델의 사회적 특성과 광고, 브랜드를 더 긍정적으로 평가한다. 본 연구는 온라인 실험을 통해서 무명 여성 광고 모델의 세 가지 시선 조건(정 면, 좌측 그리고 우측 응시 조건)이 남성 실험 참가자의 광고 반응(모델 매력도 측면, 모델 신뢰도 측면 그리고 광 고 효과성 측면)에 미치는 영향을 알아보았다. 본 연구 결과, 실험 참가자들은 광고 모델이 정면을 응시할 때가 우 측을 응시할 때보다 모델이 광고 출연료를 받았으며 광고 브랜드 판매를 위해 소비자를 설득하려고 한다고 더 강 하게 느끼지만 동시에 모델이 광고에 출연한 이유가 스스로 광고 브랜드를 진심으로 좋아하기 때문이라고 추론하 는 경향이 더 강했다. 또한 실험 참가자들은 광고 모델이 정면을 응시할 때가 우측을 응시할 때 보다 광고에 대해 서 더 긍정적인 태도를 보였다. 그러나 광고 모델의 좌측 응시 조건과 나머지 두 조건(정면 응시 조건과 우측 응시 조건) 사이에 있어서 일관성 있는 실험 참가자의 모델 특성 평가와 광고 효과성 차이는 발견하지 못 했다.

기부 광고가 기부의향을 효과적으로 촉진시키기 위해서는 목표 청중이 동정심, 공감이나 심리적 불편감 등의 정서를 느끼도록 하는 전략이 필요한 것으로 알려졌다. 선행연구들은 기부 광고에 의해서 유발되는 정서적 경험에 영향을 미칠 수 있는 요인으로 광고의 언어적 요소인 메시지의 속성(구체성과 정서가)과 그에 따른 심리적 반응(심상 유발과 주의 집중)을 제안한다. 기부 광고를 처리하는 심리적 기제를 이해하기 위해서, 본 연구는 선행 연구들을 근거로 ‘기부 광고의 메시지 속성 (메시지의 구체성과 정서가) → 심상 유발과 주의 집중 → 정서적 경 험 → 기부의향’의 개념적 모형을 제안하였다. 이와 같은 개념적 모형 중 본 연구는 메시지의 구체성과 정서가가 (1) 심상 유발과 주의 집중에 미치는 영향을 ERP로 측정하고, (2) 기부의향에 미치는 영향을 기부의향금액을 측정하여 실증적으로 검증하고자 했다. 그 결과, 구체적인 메시지는 추상적인 메시지에 비해서 심상을 더 유발시키며, 부정적인 메시지는 긍정적인 메시지에 비해서 더 많은 주의를 불러일으키는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 또한 메시지가 구체적이면서 부정적일 경우, 기부희망금액이 가장 높은 것으로 나타났다.