An evaluation of source effects in consumer generated ads

Abstract

The continuous advancement in information and communication technologies transforms the media and its audiences. The new media environment has provided the audiences with a great control power over the media consumption process. Interaction and participation are the connatural features of new media, therefore this environment offers brand new opportunities to the audience regarding content creation and distribution. This environment also reshaped the interaction between consumers and brands, and enabled active participation of consumers. Therefore, consumer-brand relationships have become more complex and interactive than ever before. The phenomenon of consumer generated ads (CGA), which is the main focus of this study, is one of the most remarkable examples of high level consumer participation to brand-related content creation. This phenomenon has attracted more and more attention from scholars in recent years. As of the second half of 2000s, the academy directed its attention to CGA and a limited number of studies have been covered since then. Most of those previous studies’ findings have shown that disclosing consumer source may lead to less favorable ad evaluations. This study is conducted in Turkey and employed both experimental design and semi-structured interviews. Unlike the previous studies, this study has shown that disclosing consumer source leads to more favorable ad evaluations. Besides, another significant finding of this study shows that consumer generated ad (CGA) is perceived to be “creative work of an amateur” rather than being a “persuasion attempt” and “communication of the brand”.