The purpose of this research is to investigate the appropriateness of using stealth marketing to advertise to Generation Y. Stealth marketing is a covert form of advertising where the target audience.is unaware that they are being marketed to. Marketers are skillful at portraying stealth marketing advertisements as very realistic, authentic, personal and conversational messages often communicated in casual settings. This research examines how members of Generation Y respond to stealth marketing attempts in terms of purchase likelihood (before and after knowledge of the attempt is introduced) and ethical perception. The research identifies four types of stealth marketing: brand pushers, celebrity spokespeople, disguised editorial content and viral marketing. Overall, before knowledge of the attempt was introduced, the stealth marketing advertisements tested were effective in inducing purchase likelihood. However, celebrity spokespeople were the most ineffective means of communicating stealth marketing attempts. Content-based stealth tactics (i.e. disguised editorial content and viral marketing) appear to be more effective in terms of generating purchase likelihood, but are also more likely to be deemed unethical after knowledge of the attempt is introduced. It can be concluded that the very stealth nature of a stealth advertisement is key to its success when targeting Generation Y. In general, members of Generation Y are responsive to stealth marketing attempts. These findings indicate that, if selected and executed properly, marketing managers can look toward stealth marketing tactics as a means of effectively targeting Generation Y with minimal fear of negative backlash.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-2040 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Creators | Rehm, Lauren |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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