Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Louise Benjamin / The video news release (VNR) has been a source of controversy since its first inclusion into newscasts in the early 1980s. This third-party (not produced by a news station) public relations and marketing-friendly content, when included alongside normally produced news stories, can make it difficult for the public to discern what is news and what is not. Problems specifically arise when news operations fail to disclose to their audience the source or provider of VNR content, and prevent news consumers from evaluating the legitimacy or intent of a VNR. A 4 (source disclosure cue: audio, video, combination of the two, and none) x 2 (source agent type: biased or neutral) experiment was implemented within this study to better understand audience evaluations, post exposure to a source disclosure cue, of the credibility of a news operation that implements VNRs within their broadcast. Disclosure cues were also evaluated for their effectiveness in raising awareness to the persuasive aspects of a VNR, and the impact of differing source agent types on participants' credibility assessment of a news operation. Results demonstrated 75% of participants (n=238) failed to correctly identify the source of the VNR when a disclosure cue was given. However, the audio and video combination condition was found to instigate the most awareness to the use of VNR. Overall, disclosure of a VNR's source could not be linked to changes in participants' evaluation of a news operation's credibility, with results demonstrating uniformly average means throughout. In addition, source disclosure could not be associated to a change in participants' awareness to the persuasive context of the VNR, with similar means exhibited. Because of the lack of an overall effect concerning credibility or knowledge of persuasive content within the study, greater media transparency is needed as are more media literacy opportunities for the public to best understand and navigate today’s complicated broadcast media reality.

Past research repeatedly suggests consumer’s defensive response to persuasive attempts is a key challenge for advertisers. Given the explosive growth of social media, this study aims to understand if consumer response to ads placed in a social network site could be influenced by ad location and the path through which the ad is delivered. Findings from an experiment suggest that consumers’ attention to ads in SNSs is remarkably low. Furthermore, the interaction between ad location and the path significantly influences consumers’ attitudes toward the ad, attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intention. Specifically, it appears that an ad placed inside users’ timeline and sent through via known others, the indirect path, yielded favorable consumer response. On the other hand, consumers responded more favorably to an ad sent by the advertiser, the direct path, than that sent by known others if the ad is placed outside users’ timeline. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided. / text

Online product reviews have become an important and influential source of information for consumers. Firms often manipulate online product reviews to influence consumer perceptions about the product, making it a research topic of urgent need for theory development and empirical investigation. In this thesis, we examine how consumers perceive and respond to the three commonly used manipulation tactics. Firstly, an exploratory pre-study via in-depth interviews with online shoppers indicates that consumers commonly have the knowledge for online review manipulations as well as for detecting them. In the first study, a survey was used to investigate the three popular manipulation tactics in terms of ethicality and deceptiveness. They rated hiding/deleting unfavorable messages as the most deceptive and unethical, followed by anonymously adding positive messages, and then offering incentives for posting favorable messages. In study 2, in a simulated field experiment, we introduce persuasion knowledge to further examine the negative influence of review manipulations on consumers’ attitudes. The results suggest that review manipulation increases suspicion of manipulations but can hardly reduce purchase intention of focal products. We also find that consumers’ persuasion knowledge enhances suspicion of manipulation, but lessens the negative impact of suspicion on purchase intention. The third study uses secondary data of a branded e-retailer and its third party website to cross-validate the effect of manipulations on product sales. The results confirm our hypotheses that review manipulation are effective in promoting sales; however, this influence would decrease over time. This research contributes to the online marketing literature by augmenting the Information Manipulation Theory and Persuasion Knowledge Model to examine the deceptive persuasion in the online context and its impact on consumer behavior. Furthermore, we also contribute to the literature of online WOM by empirically examining the influence of review manipulations on sales. Our findings provide valuable insights to practitioners and policy makers on the pitfalls of online manipulation activities and the need to ensure the healthy development of e-commerce.

The use of Native Advertising has sparked ethical concerns, due to its controversial nature inherent in its definition - a paid form of advertising that disguises persuasive communications as the editorial content of the publishing media outlet. The growing popularity of Native Advertising practices over the past decade in online news publishing has contributed towards the increasingly blurred lines between commercial and editorial content which in turn engenders feelings of deception in consumers and threatens to lower the trustworthiness of news publishers as an objective source. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to undertake theory testing guided by the tenets of the Persuasion Knowledge Model [PKM] (Friestad & Wright, 1994) to uncover insights on whether disclosure serves as an effective measure in publishers' efforts of mitigating the potential of consumer deception. In particular, this study investigated the relationships between: (1) effect of disclosure label positioning on advertising recognition; (2) mediating influence of visual attention on the aforementioned relationship; and (3) effect of advertising recognition on Inference of Manipulation [IMI] and perceptions of the online news publishers' credibility. The study used a quantitative multi-methodology research approach. An innovative Neuromarketing approach was undertaken through a psychophysiological-based analysis of visual attention to disclosure, measured as Fixation (ms/m) using eye-tracking technology, in addition to self-reported measures obtained via an online survey. In line with similar past studies, this study used convenience non-probability sampling and random assignment of participants to experimental groups, on a sample of 87 students between the ages of 20-29 years from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Findings showed no significant difference in the likelihood of advertising recognition, neither between the groups presented with a disclosure and those not, nor between the varying positions of disclosure. Additionally, advertising recognition had a positive influence on perceptions of credibility, contrary to theory and evidence from past studies (described in the Literature Review). Thus, it was concluded that disclosure and advertising recognition are necessary antecedents for critical processing and formation of judgement, but by themselves are not sufficient for perceived transparency and subsequent evaluations of the publisher's credibility. This study presents design implications for practitioners in the online news publishing industry and marketers: the perceived utility of the sponsored content, along with sponsorship transparency through disclosure, plays an important role in minimizing the negative influence of advertising recognition on perceived credibility.

La crise du disque se manifeste par une baisse conséquente du revenu des artistes. C’est pourquoi, les concerts apparaissent comme une source de revenu importante. Dans ce contexte, le placement de produits durant les concerts est une pratique qui tend à se développer. Ces constats nous ont conduit à formuler la problématique de recherche suivante : quelles sont les opportunités de placement de produits dans les concerts de musique (technique où le public n’a pas forcément conscience de la tentative de persuasion) et quel est l’impact du placement de produits sur l'image de marque ?La revue de la littérature présente trois processus de persuasion expliquant l’efficacité du placement : le concept de congruence entre l’artiste et la marque (Russell, 1998), l’intéressement perçu de l’artiste (Friestad et Wright, 1994) et l’endossement de personnalité (Mac Cracken, 1989). De plus, le cadre théorique de la servuction (Eglier et Langeard, 1987) a permis de mettre en lumière l’importance des interactions entre le personnel en contact et le consommateur. Il nous a permis de proposer une typologie du placement de produits (selon le niveau de participation de l’artiste et du public).La méthodologie de la recherche se décline en trois phases. La première phase est de nature qualitative par le biais d’entretiens semi-directifs. Ces entretiens menés auprès d’artistes de renoms, d’organisateurs de concerts et de responsables d’agences de communication ont permis d’analyser les pratiques de placement de produits d’une part et d’évaluer les motivations et les freins des professionnels vis-à-vis de cette technique d’autre part. La deuxième phase est de nature quantitative. L’efficacité de quatre techniques de placement sur l’image de marque a été comparée au moyen d’une expérimentation. Quatre concerts ont été organisés dans des conditions aussi proches que possibles de la réalité. Les résultats démontrent la supériorité du placement interactif (forte participation de l’artiste et du public au placement) en termes d’image de marque. Enfin, la troisième phase a consisté en une étude quantitative ad hoc durant un concert d’un groupe à forte notoriété utilisant la technique du placement interactif. Les résultats confirment l’influence du placement produits sur l’image de marque.En synthèse, cette thèse décrit les opportunités offertes par les concerts de musiques en termes de placement de produits. Le dispositif méthodologique permet d’évaluer l’efficacité de quatre techniques de placement sur l’image de marque et démontre l’intérêt du placement interactif. Enfin, elle contribue à mettre en lumière le rôle de l’attitude vis-à-vis de l’artiste et de la congruence entre la marque et l’artiste. Les limites de ce travail et les nombreuses voies de recherches offertes par ce champ encore peu étudié sont présentées en conclusion. / Product placement is becoming an increasingly significant communication tool in cultural products. Product placement is traditionally studied in the field of films, but music concerts are also an attractive medium. Indeed, the crisis of the music industry leads the artists to find another way to other sources of financing. Our research takes into account the influence of this technique in connection with congruence, personality endorsement and how the audience copes when they recognize the persuasion attempt. Moreover, we considered the effect of product placement on brand image, because it is one of the most important goals according to the firms which want to use the technique of product placement. We aim to better understand the ins and outs of product placements in music concerts thanks to three studies. The first one is qualitative. We interviewed various artists, companies which deal with product placement, concert music producers and a legwoman. The second one is quantitative, and compares 4 types of product placements thanks to an in situ study. The last one is also quantitative and is linked with the previous study. It aims to focus on interactive product placement in which the interaction between the artist and the audience becomes the medium for new forms of product placement. We are not able to demonstrate significant results of interactive product placement on brand image but there is a trend showing that interactive product placement leads to a better brand image compared with the other kinds of placements. Subsequently, we underline the complex role of congruence. Moreover when the audience identifies the persuasion attempt, it does not influence negatively the brand image contrary to what the Persuasion Knowledge Model indicates. In return, product placement efficiency on brand image is linked with endorsement. Indeed the attitude towards the artist has a positive influence on brand image. The research concerning product placements in music concerts is still in its early stages but this kind of sponsorship offers promising opportunities for brands and artists alike.

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本研究旨在了解消費者如何運用說服知識，來判讀線上口碑訊息之真偽。說服知識一詞，最早於1994年，由Friestad以及Wright在其著作「說服知識模型：人們如何回應他人的說服意圖」一文中所提出。該模型在當時線上口碑尚未流行的年代，是完全以線下情境為研究主題開發而成。也因此，本研究希冀打造適用於線上口碑環境所使用的線上說服知識模型，藉由深度訪談八位受訪者，了解他們使用線上口碑的情形，進而深入探討，他們如何在今日線上口碑充斥著置入性行銷口碑的環境中，運用自身的說服知識，來辨認線上口碑訊息之真偽。在受訪者分享如何辨別偽口碑的經驗談時，本研究也因此了解人們是如何運用自身對產品、議題、品牌等主題知識(topic knowledge)，如何運用說服知識(persuasion knowledge)，如何應用說服者知識(agent knowledge)等由Friestad以及Wright所歸納而成的三大知識體系，來辨別線上口碑的真實性。本研究更進一步指認出台灣線上環境所特有的”鄉民”知識，並將之融入到線上說服知識模型之中。本研究結果顯示，人們對線上口碑環境的熟悉程度(是否經常瀏覽特定網站)，以及個人涉入口碑的深淺程度(觀看線上口碑的頻繁程度)，都影響到個人線上說服知識模型之架構。本研究是線上口碑文獻中，首度建構線上說服知識模型之研究。 / This research explores consumers’ use of persuasion knowledge in judging the credibility of eWOM. Persuasion Knowledge is a concept first coined by Friestad and Wright (1994) in their work of The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How people cope with persuasion attempts. The Persuasion Knowledge Model, however, was designed specifically for the offline context. This research aims to build an online Persuasion Knowledge Model by conducting in-depth interviews to eight participants in identifying their perceived dubious eWOM triggers. Throughout the process of participants’ reasoning with these triggers, we were able to see how consumers judge the credibility of eWOM by using their persuasion knowledge, topic knowledge, and agent knowledge in the online context. The findings also suggest a fourth knowledge base—villager knowledge—in the online WOM context. Furthermore, this study shows that one’s familiarity with an online WOM environment and one’s level of involvement with online WOM all influence the construction of one’s online Persuasion Knowledge Model. This study is a first in constructing the online Persuasion Knowledge Model in the eWOM literature.