Children’s responses to advergames: the role of game and child characteristics

This study examined the effects of three factors typically associated with advergames: brand prominence, game involvement, and children’s (limited) persuasion knowledge on cognitive and affective responses. An experiment among 7 to 12 year old children (N = 104) showed that brand prominence led to increased brand recall and recognition, whereas game involvement led to more positive brand attitudes. The effect of game involvement was mediated by game attitude. Finally, our study revealed that persuasion knowledge (i.e. knowledge of the commercial source of the game and its persuasive intent) did not influence cognitive or affective responses to the brand or game.