Korean children's understanding of social media advergames: An exploratory study of ad recognition and skeptical attitudes toward advertising

Abstract

This study explored Korean children's understanding of social media advergames. In particular, we investigated the effects of ad recognition and skeptical attitudes toward advertising on children's susceptibility to commercial influences. The results of a survey of 556 children, ranging in age from 7 to 11, showed that half of the children could correctly identify the social media advergame as a type of advertising, whereas the other half could not. Comparisons revealed that older students were better at recognizing commercial influences. In terms of children's intention to visit sites featured in advergames, students who were in a lower grade, female, or had high Internet usage were more likely to want to visit the store advertised. After controlling for demographics and media usage, children's ad recognition and skeptical attitudes, as well as the interaction term, were all statistically significant. The results underscore the importance of combining both cognitive and attitudinal advertising literacy.