Children’s responses to online advergames: the role of persuasion knowledge, brand prominence and game involvement

This study examined the effects of three factors typically associated with advergames: brand prominence, game involvement, and (limited) persuasion knowledge on cognitive and affective responses. An experiment (N = 104, 7-12 year olds) showed that game involvement and brand prominence influenced children’s responses. 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, indicating that children are susceptible to affective mechanisms induced by the game. Crucially, our results demonstrate that brand prominence evokes cognitive responses, while game involvement leads to affective responses. Finally, our study revealed that persuasion knowledge did not influence responses to the brand or game. This implies that even if children understand the game’s commercial and persuasive nature, they do not use this knowledge as a defense against the advergame’s effects.