Young adults’ recognition of native advertising disguised as news

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test hypotheses on the effects of native advertising on young media consumers. First, it aims to discover whether the young audience activates news-based schema or advertising schema when exposed to different themes of native advertising. Second, this research tests whether there is a relationship between the theme of native advertising and the credibility of the media in which it is placed and the ability of young media consumers to recognize the advertising. Third, it attempts to seek a possible relationship between the recognition of native advertising and the credibility of the advertiser. Design/methodology/approach An experimental study was carried out using 186 university students in the greater Jakarta area whose ages ranged between 18 and 22 years. Participants were randomly assigned to six groups (2 × 3 experimental design) and asked to respond to a set of questions related to their awareness of native advertising. They were also asked their opinions on the advertiser’s credibility before and after they were told that the content was native advertising. Findings Results show that most of these young media consumers could not spot native advertising and have difficulties in recognizing political native advertising. The findings also point out a more profound decline in advertiser credibility among groups exposed to political native advertising compared to nonpolitical native advertising. Research limitations/implications Results show that most of these young media consumers could not spot native advertising and have difficulties in recognizing political native advertising. The findings also point out a more profound decline in advertiser credibility among groups exposed to political native advertising compared to non-political native advertising. Originality/value This research shows that the theme of the native advertising has a significant influence on the ability of media consumers to recognize native advertising. The results indicate that non-commercial native advertising is highly deceptive. This finding is valuable for the improvement of advertising regulation, especially on non-commercial native advertising.