Research Ini Vanwesenbeeck

Abstract

For the past three decades, scientific and public debates have been held on the influence of advertising on children and adolescents. Today, this remains an important subject of scientific research. However, the research conducted so far focuses almost exclusively on mass-media advertising. With children spending increasing amounts of time online, there is a clear need for empirical research on children/teens and their ability to understand the persuasive intent of commercial messages on the internet. Many of the previous research on children's and teens' understanding of (traditional) advertising has primarily focused on age. We will therefore investigate the ability of children and adolescents at different ages to recognize and understand the persuasive intent of two different forms of Internet advertising. Moreover, this project extends prior studies, by also taking several other influences into account. To do so, we will develop a website with different banners and different advergames. By using an experimental design, we will be able to measure whether children's and adolescents' recognition and understanding of Internet advertising depend on and/or is associated with (a) the type of Internet advertisement, (b) the child's involvement with the advertised product, and (c) different characteristics of the child and its environment.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Walrave Michel
• Co-promoter: Ponnet Koen
• Fellow: Vanwesenbeeck Ini

Research team(s)

• Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

For the past three decades, scientific and public debates have been held on the influence of advertising on children and adolescents. Today, this remains an important subject of scientific research. However, the research conducted so far focuses almost exclusively on mass-media advertising. With children spending increasing amounts of time online, there is a clear need for empirical research on children/teens and their ability to understand the persuasive intent of commercial messages on the internet. Many of the previous research on children's and teens' understanding of (traditional) advertising has primarily focused on age. We will therefore investigate the ability of children and adolescents at different ages to recognize and understand the persuasive intent of two different forms of Internet advertising. Moreover, this project extends prior studies, by also taking several other influences into account. To do so, we will develop a website with different banners and different advergames. By using an experimental design, we will be able to measure whether children's and adolescents' recognition and understanding of Internet advertising depend on and/or is associated with (a) the type of Internet advertisement, (b) the child's involvement with the advertised product, and (c) different characteristics of the child and its environment.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Walrave Michel
• Co-promoter: Ponnet Koen
• Fellow: Vanwesenbeeck Ini

Research team(s)

• Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS)

Project type(s)

• Research Project