How playable ads influence

consumer attitude: exploring the

mediation effects of perceived
control and freedom threat

Playable ads influence consumer attitude

Xiaohan Hu and Kevin Wise (2021)
PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE
THEORY
• It follows the assumption that humans place a high value on choice and control
(Quick et al., 2013).
• The theory consists of four components, namely, freedom, threat to freedom,
reactance and restoration of freedom (Quick et al., 2013).
• Freedom threat is one of the components of psychological reactance theory (Quick
et al., 2013).
• Individuals’ perceptions of freedom threat are elicited after their freedom to choose
an option is threatened or removed (Dillard and Shen, 2005)
• One recent survey on Facebook marketing also demonstrated that consumers’
feelings of autonomy to control Facebook ads were negatively associated with their
perceptions of freedom threat (Youn and Kim, 2019). If consumers felt they had a
sense of autonomy in controlling ads, they perceived less threat to freedom
Example
• For example, browsing websites can be seen as a freedom because viewers
can freely choose what to pay attention to and determine their viewing
flow. A pop-up ad can impose a threat to such freedom because the forced
exposure of the ad interrupts the flow of browsing (Li and Meeds, 2007).
• Scholars have found several effective methods to help individuals restore
freedom. For example, when a persuasive message elicits the feeling of
freedom loss, people may enact behavior opposed by the message, express
a negative attitude, derogate the message source, etc. (Dillard and Shen,
2005).
• Freedom may also be reestablished indirectly by exercising a different
freedom to gain a feeling of control and choice (Wicklund, 1974)
Purpose of Research
• The current research focuses on consumers’ perceived control that is
triggered by playing and interacting with playable ads. We also seek to
extend our understanding of digital advertising and psychological
reactance by exploring how control can influence consumers’
perceptions of freedom threat and reactance
HYPOTHESIS
Study 1
• H1. Playable ads will elicit greater self-
reported perceived control than video ads.
• H2. Perceived control will mediate the effect
of playable ads on attitude toward the
product.
• H3. Perceived control will mediate the effect
of playable ads on (a) anger and (b) negative
cognitions: relative to video ads, playable ads
will lead to greater perceived control, which
will result in less (a) anger and (b) negative
cognitions.
Study 2
• H4. There will be a serial mediation wherein
the effect of ad interactivity on reactance will
be serially mediated by perceived control and
perceived freedom threat as follows: relative
to video ads, playable ads will lead to greater
perceived control, which will reduce
perceived freedom threat. Reduced freedom
threat will further result in less (a) anger and
(b) negative cognitions.
Conceptual Model
Procedure

All participants were randomly assigned to one of the two ad interactivity (playable/video) conditions.
Participants were instructed to carefully read an article on a webpage. The ads, either playable or video, would
then pop-up during reading.
For the playable ad condition, we included instructions on the ad page about how to interact/play with the ad.
For the video ad condition, participants were told that they were going to watch a video ad. The ad popped up
on screen 45 s after they started reading. During the display of the ad, the article was invisible.
When each one of the ads ended, participants were asked to write down as many thoughts as they had toward
the ad and answered a questionnaire measuring their perceived control, reactance and product attitude. When
participants finished answering all questions, the article webpage reappeared. This process repeated for three
times. Upon completion of the three trials, demographic information was collected, and participants were
thanked and dismissed.
Study 1

Experiment Research
A total of 78 undergraduates from a Midwestern university participated in this
study for course credit. Among these participants, 71.79% (N= 56) were
female and 26.92% (N= 21) were male (there is one missing datum). Most
participants were White/Caucasian (67.95%,N= 53), with 3.85% Black/African
American (N= 3), 20.51% Asian (N =16), 6.41% Hispanic/Latino (N= 5) and
1.28% other ethnicity (N= 1). The average age was 19.85 (SD = 1.09)
The study is a 2 (ad interactivity: playable/video) x 3 (repetition) mixed design,
with ad interactivity manipulated between-subjects and repetition manipulated
within-subjects. In the playable condition, a playable ad enabling interaction with
ad content was displayed.
For example, in one of the playable ads, participants were asked to match different
image pieces to a targeted ice-cream image. Participants interacted with the ad by
clicking buttons to swipe the image pieces and find the target ones.
The playable ads were made using an online service named Branded Mini-Games.
In the video ad condition, the interaction process of the same playable ad was pre-
recorded and displayed as a video. Participants in the video condition watched the
same video that was non-interactive.
Results

• A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test

the hypotheses, with ad interactivity as the between subject factor and
responses on the three different ads as within-subject variable
• H1 predicted that participants’ perceived control would be higher when
exposed to playable ads than video ads.
• Study 1 discussion
Study 1 Results
Study 2 discussion

• The primary goals of Study 2 included modifying the study context and
replicating findings from Study 1; adding the measurement of perceived
freedom threat to gain a better understanding of the effect of playable ads
on psychological reactance; and exploring the moderating role of task
interesting level.
• Consistent with our findings in Study 1, we found that in the context of
video viewing, consumers’ perceived control was higher when they were
exposed to playable ads as compared to video ads
Study 2 (Results)
Theoretical implications

• This study sheds light on the effectiveness of a new type of ad-game integration
playable ads. Prior research in gamification of advertising primarily focuses on
in-game advertising, referring to the inclusion of brands in digital games and
advergames, referring to digital games specifically created to promote a brand,
product or service (Terlutter and Capella, 2013)
• The current research, on the other hand, studied playable ads in an information
processing context in which the ads were not the primary task to focus on. As
interactivity and gamification become more widely applied in digital marketing,
The studies contribute to understanding of the effectiveness of gamification of
advertising, and especially playable ads as a new form of advertising, in
interactive marketing.
Managerial Implications
• A playable ad is an effective way to advertise a product/service and can
benefit advertisers by enhancing consumers’ attitude and reducing their
reactance.
• Advertisers should more widely apply playable ads in interactive
marketing, particularly in digital media platforms such as websites and
social media.
• Control afforded by playable features in advertising is found to reduce
consumers’ reactance toward ads. Advertising is typically not likable to
consumers, especially when they are engaging in other activities.
Therefore, to reduce consumers’ negative reactions to advertising has
become an important but difficult task for advertisers.