nep-mkt New Economics Papers
on Marketing
Issue of 2024‒04‒22
three papers chosen by



  1. Clearly (not) identifiable – The recognisability of gambling content marketing By Rossi, Raffaello; Nairn, Agnes
  2. Guest editorial: More supportive or more distractive? Investigating the negative effects of technology at the customer interface By Eleonora Pantano; Jamie Carlson; Konstantina Spanaki; George Christodoulides
  3. Consumer Discipline: A Safeguard to Maintain Sustainable Consumption Patterns By Fanny Reniou; Elisa Monnot

  1. By: Rossi, Raffaello; Nairn, Agnes
    Abstract: Social media marketing is evolving rapidly, with content marketing emerging as a prominent technique. It blurs the lines between content and advertising and aims to foster enduring positive relationships between brand and consumer. For gambling products, approximately 40-50% of social media ads are content marketing. International advertising codes stipulate that advertising must be obviously identifiably as such. To date, however, no one has investigated whether content marketing is identifiable – particularly to children and young adults who are vulnerable to gambling harms. Our online experiment with over 650 participants aged 11-78 investigate whether consumers of all or any age are, indeed, able to recognise content marketing as advertising. The results are striking. Firstly, children and young persons show significantly lower recognition rates for social media ads, compared to adults. Secondly, irrespective of age, content marketing is universally challenging to identify compared to conventional ads. This holds true for both gambling and insurance ads. Levels for gambling content marketing hover around chance levels for children and young persons, while only slightly above for adults. These findings underscore the deficiencies in current advertising regulations. The authors recommend a ban on gambling content marketing. They also recommend the expansions of advertising literacy education in schools and the integration of (gambling) advertising literacy skills into third sector gambling education programmes. These measures would enhance consumer protection in the ever-evolving landscape of social media marketing.
    Date: 2024–03–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:8ybgv&r=mkt
  2. By: Eleonora Pantano (University of Bristol [Bristol]); Jamie Carlson (Univ Newcastle Australia); Konstantina Spanaki (Audencia Business School); George Christodoulides (American University of Sharjah, UAE)
    Abstract: The continuous development of technology leads to stimuli-dense consumption environments for consumers. Although the literature primarily highlighted the advantages of adopting technologies to support consumers' decision-making process, these systems may also require too much attention and excessive effort to be considered always rewarding. Accordingly, this special issue addresses the interplay between technology-supported consumption experiences and the related distracting mechanisms triggered by this interaction in varied contexts. Specifically, the actual collection of papers in this special issue covers three main themes: (1) conceptualizing a Customer Smartphone Distraction (CSD) organizing framework, (2) drivers (including musical atmosphere, the context of the application, parasocial interaction and anthropomorphisms of virtual agents), and (3) consequences (cognitive, affective and behavioral responses, including sensory overload and discomfort).
    Keywords: Technology digital marketing distraction consumer behavior virtual agents metaverse, Technology, digital marketing, distraction, consumer behavior, virtual agents, metaverse
    Date: 2024–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04478502&r=mkt
  3. By: Fanny Reniou; Elisa Monnot (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA)
    Abstract: Consumer discipline (i.e., the ability to persist on tasks) is necessary to maintain sustainable consumption patterns and overcome the constraints associated with such self-determined long- term goal pursuits. Little is known, however, about how consumers sustain such patterns over time, despite their importance in people’s lives. Using a qualitative multimethod study of packaging-free product consumption as a Zero Waste sustainable consumption pattern, this research explores the way consumers exercise discipline to accomplish tasks to reach their goal of sustainability in consumption. Beyond a “psychological” ability, discipline implies a “practical” ability, which corresponds to a series of interrelated activities: frame, plan, organize, execute, and measure. By extending the micro-individual focus to a macro-social focus, this research shows the role of external factors (i.e., others, the market, and the situation) in hindering or encouraging discipline. This research provides insights for two consumer research streams: sustainable consumption and consumer control and discipline. First, the research highlights the role of an underinvested individual ability—namely, discipline—in maintaining sustainable consumption patterns. Second, the research proposes a more practical and interactional approach for consumer discipline.
    Keywords: consumer discipline, ability, sustainable consumption, packaging-free products, goal pursuit, control
    JEL: M31
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2023-19&r=mkt

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