Original title: From entertainment to persuasion: how attitudes toward advertising shape responses to brand placement and television advertising
Researchers showed adults full sitcom episodes with a brand placed in the programme, a 30-second ad, both, or neither. They measured how people felt about advertising, the brands, and buying the products. Among people with less favorable attitudes toward advertising, brand placementA brand shown within the programme itself rather than in a separate commercial. led to more favorable brand attitudes than a TV ad. For people with average or more favorable attitudes, the study found no clear difference between the two formats. Seeing both formats did not show a clear benefit over seeing just one.
Imagine choosing between putting a dish on the table during dinner or handing out a flyer about it. Some guests dislike flyers, while others do not mind them. In this paper, the dish on the table stands for a brand shown inside a programme, and the flyer stands for a separate TV ad; the placement worked better for people less receptive to advertising, while showing both did not clearly add a benefit.
Advertisers choosing between a commercial and a brand shown within a programme may get different results depending on how viewers feel about advertising. The study suggests that embedded placement may be more persuasive for people who are less receptive to conventional ads, while combining both formats did not show a clear extra benefit.
The study tested two familiar brands with adults recruited from a United States consumer panel while they watched sitcoms online. It does not establish that the same pattern holds for other brands, audiences, or media. No clear format difference at average or high AttADV does not prove the formats are equivalent, and the study could not rule out small added benefits from combined exposure.
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From entertainment to persuasion: how attitudes toward advertising shape responses to brand placement and television advertising — Linshang Li — Frontiers in Psychology — doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1963379
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.