Regulating Online Buzz Marketing: Untangling a Web of Deceit

Sprague, Robert; Wells, Mary

doi:10.1111/j.1744-1714.2010.01100.x

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…The established results warn practitioners and regulatory bodies of the risks associated with viral advertising in the trivialization of taboo behaviors and imagery. The findings reinforce the debate on the ethical issues related to this communication medium (Byramjee et al 2013) and the need for tighter regulation (Sprague and Wells 2010).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Our findings document the harmfulness of controversial taboo ads embedded in a viral context, compared to a print medium, and their role in reducing tabooness perceptions of some behaviors and imagery. These results may substantiate the need for more regulation of online buzz communication (Sprague and Wells 2010) and encourage regulatory bodies to extend policies of viral advertising regulation.…”

Section: Theoretical and Managerial Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 57%

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Does Viral Communication Context Increase the Harmfulness of Controversial Taboo Advertising?

Sabri

2015

J Bus Ethics

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International audienceControversial taboo appeals as an executional cue in viral advertising have commonly been used by advertisers. In this context, the study investigates the role of medium context on the effectiveness of controversial taboo ads. By implementing a tightly controlled experimentwhich deals with controversial taboo ads embedded in a press article and in a viral context, the study finds that the viral medium context does not lead to a more positive attitude toward the embedded brand or to more positive purchase intentions. In addition, a viral medium context triggers ‘unintended consequences’ that lead consumers to undermine the level of tabooness of the viral advertising and subjective norms. To increase the external validity of the research, the results were replicated for two kinds of controversial taboo appeals; one related to sexuality, and the other to death. The results provide useful implications for theory and practice. Extending viral advertising research, a different angle on controversial viral advertising has been taken, shifting from an advertiser and brand focus, to a societal and social one. The work leads to a better understanding of the ethics of controversial viral advertising, and demonstrates its role in the trivialization of taboo behaviors and imagery. The results confirm the need for more regulation of online buzz communication and encourage regulatory bodies to extend policies of viraladvertising regulation

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Theoretical and Managerial Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Does Viral Communication Context Increase the Harmfulness of Controversial Taboo Advertising?

Sabri

2015

J Bus Ethics

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“…Examples of user‐generated content include product reviews, comments on news stories, and the postings made by friends on each other's social network sites. The ability of user‐generated content to influence website viewers has not been lost on retailers and marketers alike: They see value in user‐generated content because they believe that people are more likely to seek out and view as credible the reviews of fellow consumers (Sprague & Wells, ). Viewed through the spectrum of warranting theory, information about a person, company, or organization would ostensibly have greater warranting value when generated by some third‐party, such as a fellow consumer or website viewer.…”

Section: Variability In the Warranting Value Of Third‐party Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As summarized by Malbon (), the act of masking the true source of information online has been given many labels, from the more innocuous term of online reputation management to the more direct titles of review spamming and masked marketing (Sprague & Wells, ). The term astroturfing has also been used to refer to the production of fake user‐generated content.…”

Section: Variability In the Warranting Value Of Third‐party Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing Warranting Theory

DeAndrea

2014

Commun Theor

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Since its introduction by Walther and Parks (2002), warranting has emerged in the literature as a prominent construct that offers insight for understanding how online self-presentations are produced and evaluated. This manuscript outlines limitations that exist in the literature on warranting and provides suggestions for how the construct can be advanced theoretically and tested empirically. Notably, testable theoretical propositions are derived that specify how various factors are anticipated to affect perceptions of warranting value. In addition, warranting theory is compared and contrasted to Donath's (2007) adaptation of signaling theory and previous work on impression management.It has been over a decade since Walther and Parks (2002) first outlined how the construct of warranting value could be used to understand the production and evaluation of online self-presentations. Warranting value refers to perceptions about the extent to which information is immune to manipulation by the source it describes. To date, many studies have applied the construct of warranting value to make sense of a variety of communication processes that occur through new media (see Walther, 2011). Despite the widespread application of warranting in communication research, few studies have sought to (a) conceptually clarify the construct of warranting value, (b) develop a cohesive theory that specifies how a range of antecedents affect perceptions of the construct, and (c) detail how qualities of warranting as a theory compare and contrast to other related theoretical approaches. This manuscript seeks to address these limitations by explicating the construct of warranting and deriving novel theoretical propositions that extend warranting as a theory. Explicating warrantingWalther and Parks (2002) discuss how there are often greater disconnections between the self and self-presentations online than in the physical world due to the affordances of media. For instance, it is much easier for an adult to pose as a child online where complete anonymity is afforded than in person. Although online self-presentations can be viewed as genuine, people often meet them with suspicion because they are

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“…For example, a campaign can create an event in the street by hiding, as much as possible, its commercial intent (stealth) and by practically taking over a public place (ambush) with the 66 M. Saucet and B. Cova final goal of generating buzz on the Internet (viral). This type of campaign creates problems to advertisers and agencies alike (Petty and Andrews 2008;Sprague and Wells 2010); indeed, such campaigns often break the regulations already in place. That street marketing makes transgressive use of the street (Black and Nevill 2009) and that doing so is typically a condition of its success is the fundamental problem facing the agencies and advertisers who seek to use it.…”

Section: Unconventional and Street Marketingmentioning

confidence: 97%

The secret lives of unconventional campaigns: Street marketing on the fringe

Saucet

Covà

2014

Journal of Marketing Communications

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The term unconventional marketing refers to a set of alternative approaches for organizations to carry out communications strategies. Among these approaches, street marketing is particularly suited to targeting consumers as they navigate urban areas. However, engaging in street marketing can also expose advertising agencies and their clients to the potential risk of legal entanglements concerning the utilization of common goods for matters of marketing communication. Based on a study conducted with 10 agencies and 5 advertisers, this article highlights how companies attempt to circumvent the law, revealing three major elements that agencies and advertisers mobilize while making the decision to do so, as well as details of how they get around the rules and manage the risks and costs of breaking them.

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Regulating Online Buzz Marketing: Untangling a Web of Deceit

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

Does Viral Communication Context Increase the Harmfulness of Controversial Taboo Advertising?

Does Viral Communication Context Increase the Harmfulness of Controversial Taboo Advertising?

Advancing Warranting Theory

The secret lives of unconventional campaigns: Street marketing on the fringe

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