Mitigating the effects of advergames on children: Do advertising breaks work?

Abstract

This study tested one currently used advertising break for an advergame to see whether its presence helped children recognize the promotional nature of the advergame and mitigated the effects of advertising within the game. With the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) as the theoretical frame, the experiment required that 112 children, aged 8 to 11, play an advergame in which visual and/or audio formats of the ad break were present or absent. Results showed that none of the ad breaks helped children to clearly detect the commercial nature of the game. Also, the presence of the ad break was not linked to children's correct identification of the persuasive agent. The ad break did mitigate advertising effects on children, however, evidenced by decreased desire for and memory of the advertised product. © 2011 American Academy of Advertising. All rights reserved.