Running Head: INFLUENCER ON 1

Disclosing or Disguising

Influencer Marketing on Instagram?

The Impact of Disclosures, Cues and Influencer Types on Users’ Ad Recognition and

Responses towards the Persuasive Message, the Influencer and the Advertised

Research Master’s Thesis

Céline Marie Müller (11802502)

Supervisor: Dr. Sophie C. Boerman

June 28, 2019

Graduate School of Communication

Research Master Communication Science

University of Amsterdam

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Abstract

Influencer marketing blurs the lines between editorial content and commercial Instagram posts, creating difficulties for consumers to recognize . Although regulatory parties recommend the use of unambiguous disclosures, ‘Instagrammers’ frequently refrain from clearly disclosing their brand partnerships and merely include vague cues in their posts, such as brand tags. With a 4 (disclosure: ‘Paid partnership’-label, #ad, #paidad, none) x 4

(cue: brand tag in picture, #brand, @brand, brand mention in caption) within-subjects eye- tracking experiment (N = 60), this study first aimed to clarify whether users recognize advertising and which elements they use to do so. For further insights, we conducted an online experiment (N = 433) with a 4 (disclosure/cue type: ‘Paid partnership’-label, #paidad, brand tag in picture, no disclosure) x 2 (influencer type: macro-influencer, nano-influencer) between-subjects design. This second study intended to detect whether influencer types function as a cue for ad recognition and, whether the elements found to increase ad recognition in the first study affect users’ reactions towards the post, the influencer and the advertised brand. The findings demonstrate that both disclosures and cues increase users’ ad recognition. While there is merely tentative support for a moderation effect of Instagrammer type on this effect, posts by macro-influencers compared to nano-influencers are more likely to be recognized as an advertisement. Furthermore, increased recognition of advertising due to disclosures or cues leads to increased brand recall and to higher skepticism towards the post, with the latter resulting in lower influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes and purchase intention.

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Introduction

With 895 million monthly-active users worldwide (Kemp, 2019), Instagram has become highly relevant for to reach young audiences, who are difficult to approach via traditional advertising (Domingues Aguiar & Van Reijmersdal, 2018). The platform facilitates targeted access to consumers via influencers – Instagram users with an established followership and trustworthiness (De Veirman, Cauberghe, & Hudders, 2017).

Influencers “typically receive products for free […] or are being paid […] to include and recommend brands on their social media profiles and, in this way, shape their followers’ opinions” (De Veirman & Hudders, 2019, p. 3). This marketing strategy – influencer marketing – seems less obtrusive than traditional advertising since commercial content is incorporated into editorial posts (Wojdynski & Evans, 2016). Therefore, users may be fooled into thinking that the influencers’ posts reflect personal opinions instead of being attributable to paid partnerships with brands (Evans, Phua, Lim, & Jun, 2017a; Coursaris, Van Osch, &

Kourganoff, 2018). Hereby, advertisers overcome consumers’ resistance towards persuasive messages, as they may not recognize this type of advertising (Boerman & Van Reijmersdal,

2016).

Consequently, regulatory parties, such as The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), recommend sponsorship disclosures, which clearly indicate posts’ commercial purpose. The few studies that explored Instagram users’ responses to disclosures focused on hashtags, such as #ad, or Instagram’s platform-specific ‘Paid partnership with [brand]’-label and found that explicit disclosures increase consumers’ ad recognition (Evans et al., 2017a; Coursaris et al.,

2018). However, merely 25% of Instagram influencers disclose commercial posts with clear disclosures, that comply with FTC regulations (“The state of disclosure,” 2018). Instead, brand mentions and (hash-)tags in posts’ captions or brand tags in the pictures often indicate influencers’ collaboration with brands (InfluencerDB, 2017). Although these cues do not clearly disclose ads, consumers may have learned to use them to identify advertising. This

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 4 thesis unprecedently adapts to reality by considering both the effectiveness of explicit disclosures and ambiguous, but widely-used, cues on users’ ad recognition. With an eye- tracking experiment, this study first aims to clarify whether Instagram users recognize influencer marketing and which disclosures or cues they use to do so. Eye-tracking is highly beneficial in this context, since it reveals which elements attract users’ attention and, thus, suggest which visual information they use to identify influencer marketing.

Besides helpful elements in the post, Coursaris et al. (2018) found that consumers are more likely to recognize ads by ‘Instagrammers’ with many followers, supposedly because they are aware that celebrities or popular influencers are often paid to endorse a product or brand. Hence, there is reason to believe that influencer types impose boundary conditions on disclosures’ necessity, depending on whether users expect influencer marketing by an

‘Instagrammer’, regardless of any disclosures. Such boundaries may be detected by comparing an increasingly demanded small-scale group of ‘Instagrammers’, called nano- influencers, who have not been considered in academia before, to their exact opposite, internationally known macro-influencers.

Further, ad recognition – whether activated by disclosures or other cues – is known to affect consumers’ responses towards the persuasive message, the influencer and the advertised brand (i.e. De Veirman & Hudders, 2019; Evans et al., 2017a). Thus, the second aim of this study is to detect whether influencer types function as a cue for ad recognition and whether the elements found to be helpful in the first study – be it explicit disclosures or vague cues – entail the above-mentioned consequences on users’ reactions.

Concluding, by conducting an eye-tracking study and a subsequent online experiment, the present thesis intends to answer the following overall research question:

To what extent do elements in an Instagram post and the type of influencer affect users’ ad recognition and further cognitive and evaluative responses towards the persuasive message, the influencer and the advertised brand?

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Ad Recognition in the Context of Influencer Marketing on Instagram

According to the Persuasion Knowledge (PKM), consumers develop so-called persuasion knowledge (PK), which refers to their understanding of marketers’ goals and tactics in persuasive attempts, their evaluation of these tactics and their beliefs about effective coping mechanisms in such situations (Friestad & Wright, 1994). This knowledge is constituted of a cognitive and an affective dimension, respectively conceptual and attitudinal

PK (Rozendaal, Lapierre, Van Reijmersdal, & Buijzen, 2011; Boerman, Van Reijmersdal &

Neijens, 2012). Ad recognition, a fundamental dimension of conceptual PK, is of particular importance in this study. Only when consumers recognize persuasive attempts, their PK is activated to construe, assess and react to such attempts (Boerman, Van Reijmersdal, &

Neijens, 2015; Muñoz-Leiva, Hernández-Méndez, & Gómez-Carmona, 2019).

Since ‘Instagrammers’ frequently share commercial content without adequate disclosures, users may face difficulties in discerning the persuasive intent behind such posts

(Evans et al., 2017a; Coursaris et al., 2018). Simultaneously, due to the growing amount of influencer marketing on Instagram (De Veirman & Hudders, 2019), avid users may have developed sufficient PK to identify influencer marketing without needing a disclosure – for instance, based on a post’s strong emphasis on a product. Indeed, studies in the social media context found ad recognition rates as high as 97% for Instagram ads (Johnson, Potocki, &

Veldhuis, 2019), 82% for native ads (Jung & Heo, 2019) and 84% for sponsored user-generated tweets (Kim & Song, 2018). However, in contrast to these studies, the present experiment takes into account ambiguous cues next to clear disclosures, which may lower consumers’ ad recognition. Hence, this thesis first seeks to answer the question:

RQ1: Do users recognize influencer marketing on Instagram?

Fogg’s (2003) prominence-interpretation theory suggests that individuals need to notice and understand an object before they can evaluate it. The first component, prominence, refers to a person’s likelihood of noticing and paying attention to an element. In the context

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 6 of the present study, eye-tracking allows for an accurate measurement of individuals’ attention to specific elements in an Instagram post and, thus, grants insights into the disclosures or cues that attract the most visual attention (Boerman et al., 2015).

There are several ways to disclose influencer marketing. Instagram introduced the standardized disclosure ‘Paid partnership with [brand]’ in 2017, which is located in-between the name of the ‘Instagrammer’ and the post. This appears as a more prominent position than hashtags such as #sponsored, which are placed underneath the post and may go unnoticed alongside further text in the caption. Yet, the FTC assumes that Instagram’s standardized disclosure is insufficient because it may not attract users’ attention (FTC 2017a, 2017b).

Hence, the present study analyses this disclosure to assess whether it can effectively increase ad recognition, or whether the FTC is rightly suggesting that it is inadequate.

Furthermore, ‘Instagrammers’ commonly disclose influencer marketing by adding hashtags to their captions. The most-frequently used hashtag to declare commercial posts is

#ad (Hellenkemper, 2017). However, #ad is not the most effective disclosure hashtag in terms of increasing ad recognition. Evans et al. (2017a) found #paidad to be the most powerful hashtag to activate persuasion knowledge. Due to #ad’s practical relevance and

#paidad’s reported efficiency, both these hashtags are examined in this study.

Besides these unambiguous disclosures, ‘Instagrammers’ often rely on vague cues that do not clearly reveal a post’s commercial purpose (InfluencerDB, 2017). Due to the frequent application of such cues, consumers may have learned to use them to identify influencer marketing. These cues mostly contain the brand name and, thus, immediately reveal the advertised brand. Brands may be mentioned (brand), tagged (@brand) or hashtagged (#brand) in the caption. Additionally, brands may be tagged in the post itself.

Despite their frequent appearance, such cues have been neglected in prior research. The present study considers these four cues to examine their effectivity in raising ad recognition.

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Brand (hash-)tags are colored blue in the caption or displayed in a black box in the picture and redirect the user to the branded hashtag or the brand account upon clicking on them. In contrast, simple mentions appear exactly like back, regular text in the caption and do not contain a link to the brand’s Instagram page or the like. Hence, this cue type may be characterized as the least salient and dynamic cue. Importantly, studies have found that elements’ position, color and size affect viewers’ visual attention (e.g. Wojdynski et al.,

2017; Wojdynski & Evans, 2016; Boerman et al., 2015). This suggests that the plain brand mention may attract less attention than the (hash-)tags.

Results on the effect of attention on ad recognition are mixed. While Boerman and colleagues (2015) observed that visual attention to a disclosure mediates the effect of disclosure type on ad recognition, other studies found that merely seeing a disclosure does not guarantee increased ad recognition (Wojdynski et al., 2017; Smink, Van Reijmersdal, &

Boerman, 2017). Due to inconsistent findings, the second research question asks:

RQ2: Which disclosures or cues in an Instagram post do users attend to most and do these elements help them recognize influencer marketing?

Using eye-tracking allows to literally see whether specific disclosures or cues catch users’ attention longer than others. The gathered data are particularly useful since they grant insights into what consumers pay attention to as they scroll through an Instagram feed. By directly observing eye movements, we can unobtrusively measure, which disclosure or cue attracts attention most effectively (Boerman et al., 2015; Josephson & Miller, 2015).

Method – Study 1: Eye-Tracking Experiment

Design and Participants. An eye-tracking study with a 4 (disclosure: standardized disclosure, #ad, #paidad, none) x 4 (cue: brand tag in picture, #brand, @brand, brand mention in caption) within-subjects design was conducted in the university’s lab from April 23 to May

1, 2019. A total of 72 participants were recruited through the university-internal website for participant recruitment, as well as flyers that were spread in university. Subjects were

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 8 informed that they were participating in an eye-tracking study on people's reactions towards social media posts. Of this sample, 12 participants were excluded because they did not have an Instagram account, were not proficient in English or due to defective records of their eye movements, leading to a final sample of 60. The majority of participants were female

(78.33%), with an average age of 22 years (M = 22.35, SD = 4.20). More than half of them indicated high school as their highest completed level of education (56.67%), followed by

31.67%, who completed at least a Bachelor’s. This reflects the sample’s student character.

Most participants use Instagram multiple times a day (76.67%).

Procedure. Upon arrival, participants read an introductory text and signed informed consent before being asked to sit comfortably behind a 22-inch screen with the eye-tracker.

The screen was placed approximately 21 to 28 inches from the participant. After successful

9-point calibration, participants were exposed to a video scrolling through an Instagram feed

(see Appendix I, Figure 1 and 2). Binocular eye movements were registered using the SMI

RED eye-tracker with a gaze sample rate of 120 Hz per second. Participants then continued to the questionnaire, in which they indicated for each of the posts they saw in the video whether they think it contained advertising. Subsequently, participants answered questions about brand and disclosure memory as well as their PK. The questionnaire ended with control questions and demographics. Ultimately, participants were debriefed, thanked and received either 5€ or two research credits for taking part in the study.

Stimuli. The stimulus material was a 4:12 minute-long video scrolling through an

Instagram feed consisting of 50 posts. Each post was shown statically for three seconds while scrolling to the next post took 2 seconds. For posts containing brand tags in the picture, the post was briefly shown without the tag, the tag was then displayed for three seconds before disappearing again and scrolling onto the next post. Half of the posts contained advertising while the other half were non-commercial fillers. All ‘Instagrammers’, with varying degrees of popularity ranging from 1,000 to 112 million followers, were real and actually posted

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 9 these pictures. However, elements such as the captions or disclosure were adjusted. Each of the 25 commercial post contained a combination of one of the above-mentioned disclosures

(standardized disclosure, #paidad, #ad, no disclosure) and one of the cues (@brand, #brand, brand, pictorial brand tag). As the experimental design yields 16 conditions, some variations occurred twice because 25 manipulated posts were displayed (see Appendix I for video).

Measures.

Visual attention to the Disclosures and Cues. With the SMI BeGaze software, the recorded eye-tracking data were prepared and exported. For all disclosures and cues, individual areas of interest (AOIs) were created for the exact period they were visible in the video (see Appendix I, Figure 3). Visual attention was measured with fixation time in milliseconds within each AOI. A fixation was measured whenever the eyes stayed at a point for at least 80 milliseconds. Fixation time is considered a valid indicator of attention that reflects participant’s processing depth (King, Bol, Cummins, & John, 2019).

Ad recognition. Ad recognition was measured by showing participants an overview of all pictures they saw in the video and asking them to select those that they thought contained advertising (0 = No, 1 = Yes). Overall, participants correctly recognized two thirds

(68.60%) of the posts that contained advertising. Furthermore, participants indicated how they knew that a post contained advertising in an open text field (Wojdynski & Evans, 2016).

Control variables. Besides participants’ age in years and gender, frequency of

Instagram use was measured by asking participants to indicate how often they use Instagram

(1 = Never, 2 = Yearly, 3 = Monthly, 4 = Weekly, 5 = Approximately once a day, 6 = Multiple times a day; M = 5.47, SD = 1.19). Additionally, participants were asked about their opinion on Instagram, measured on a 7-point semantic differential scale composed of 3 items

(Dislike-Like, Negative-Positive, Bad-Good, Eigenvalue = 2.42, explained variance =

80.60%,  = .88, M = 5.14, SD = 1.39) and whether they already knew that some Instagram posts contain advertising before participating in this study (0 = No, 1 = Yes, 90.00% said yes).

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Results and Implications for Study 2

To answer the first research question, descriptive statistics revealed how successful participants were in identifying influencer marketing. The most-recognized post featured a combination of the standardized and a brand tag in the picture (90.00% recognized ad; see

Appendix II, Table 1 for an overview of all posts’ ad recognition). On average, participants identified 17.15 (SD = 4.44) of the 25 commercial posts and, thus, recognized two in three ads. Simultaneously, participants erroneously classified an average of 4.42 posts (SD = 3.04) of the 25 filler posts as advertising, which equates to 17.68% of the non-commercial posts.

The second research question asked which elements in a post attract users’ attention and whether these elements help them recognize ads. For answering this question, fixation times to the AOIs were grouped based on disclosure or cue type. Pairwise comparisons among the attention spent on these groups revealed that the highest scoring elements (see

Table 1 below) with respect to visual attention – brand tags in pictures and standardized disclosures – barely differed from each other, but caught significantly more attention than all other disclosures or cues (see Appendix II, Table 2 for pairwise comparisons). These two elements were followed by brand hashtags and brand tags in the caption, the disclosure

#paidad and the mere brand mention in the caption. Ranking last, participants paid significantly less attention to the disclosure #ad compared to all other disclosures.

Table 1 Fixation Time per Disclosure Type in Milliseconds Disclosure/Cue M SD Brand tag in picture 269.19a 271.50 Standardized disclosures 244.38a 176.03 #brand in caption 151.03b 121.42 @brand in caption 109.15bc 103.65

bc #paidad in caption 99.83 92.40 Brand mention in caption 85.26c 80.42 #ad in caption 44.96d 63.46 Note. a,b,c Values not sharing the same superscript are significantly different at p < .05.

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Both hashtag disclosures #paidad and #ad received slightly more attention when placed in the beginning of the caption compared to the end although these differences were not significant (#paidad: MStart = 102.22, SDStart = 129.09 vs. MEnd = 97.43, SDEnd = 119.16, p

= 1.000; #ad: MStart = 58.53, SDStart = 101.58 vs. MEnd =38.18, SDStart = 70.58, p = .963).

To clarify which disclosures and cues helped users’ to recognize ads, participants’ open answers on how they knew that posts contained advertising were evaluated.

Corresponding to the visual attention results, the standardized disclosure and brand tag in picture were mentioned most often when participants were asked how they recognized ads, both by around 45% of the sample. However, in contrast to the findings on visual attention, a third indicated the disclosure #ad as helpful. Brand mentions or tags were cited by almost every fourth person, followed by #paidad, being mentioned by one in five participants.

Interestingly, 11.67% of the sample explained that they did not recognize influencer marketing based on disclosures or brand mentions, but figured it was advertising based on the setup of the picture or because it was posted by an influencer.

Concluding, the results indicate that today’s Instagram users have developed conceptual PK to an extent that allows them to identify more than two thirds of commercial posts. This finding is slightly lower than recent studies that found high ad recognition for advertising on social media (Johnson et al., 2019; Jung & Heo, 2019; Kim & Song, 2018).

The present study’s findings suggest that Instagram users, though already able to recognize the majority of ads, still lack sufficient PK to accurately distinguish between non-commercial content and influencer marketing at all times.

Furthermore, results demonstrate that subjects bring more attention to hashtags places in the beginning of the caption compared to the end and that brand tags in the picture and the standardized disclosure catch users’ attention the longest. This is in line with previously mentioned studies, which found that a prominent position, color and size increase visual attention (e.g. Wojdynski et al., 2017).

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Moreover, Instagram’s standardized disclosure and brand tag in picture did not only catch significantly more attention than the remaining elements, but were also mentioned most often as a reason why participants recognized influencer marketing. Hence, a brand tag in the picture – a cue that is not classified as a sufficient disclosure by regulatory parties such as the

FTC – proved to be highly relevant in terms of visual attention and users’ recognition of ads.

Due to the within-subject design, in which each post contained both a disclosure and a cue, it is difficult to separate these elements and indicate which particular disclosure or cue achieved the highest ad recognition. Hence, based on the visual attention paid to the individual disclosures or cues, specific elements were selected for the subsequent online experiment. Therefore, the second study is essential to demonstrate clear effects of particular elements on consumers’ ad recognition and further responses.

Effects of Different Disclosures or Cues on Ad Recognition

Based on the findings of the first study, an online experiment was conducted to elucidate to what extent different disclosures or cues as well as influencer types affect users’

PK and responses towards the brand and the influencer. In the eye-tracking experiment,

Instagram’s standardized disclosure was found to gain most visual attention compared to the other explicit disclosures. The disclosure ‘#paidad’ proved to be the second-most visually attended disclosure, particularly when placed at the beginning of a post’s caption. #paidad’s importance was also determined in a study by Evans and colleagues (2017a). Although not an explicit disclosure, the eye-tracking experiment revealed that brand tags in picture captured users’ visual attention the longest, exceeding all explicit disclosures and other cues.

Therefore, Instagram’s standardized disclosure, #paidad in the beginning of the caption, brand tag in picture (hereafter referred to as ‘brand tag’ for the sake of simplicity) and the absence of a disclosure are compared in the second study.

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Figure 1. Example post including the disclosures or cues tested in study 2

Regarding different disclosure types, previous studies indicated that disclosure positions vary in terms of their effectiveness on recognition of advertising. Boerman, Van

Reijmersdal and Neijens (2014) found that disclosures placed above the content best activate ad recognition. Additionally, a study by Wojdynski and colleagues (2017) demonstrated that transparent and informative disclosures revealing both the commercial purpose and the advertised brand foster ad recognition. Combined with the eye-tracking results, these findings suggest that Instagram’s standardized disclosure is more effective in increasing ad recognition than #paidad, a brand tag and no disclosure.

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On the one hand, Evans and colleagues (2017a) showed that, compared to other hashtags, #paidad is most effective in stimulating ad recognition. On the other hand, brand tags caught participant’s attention significantly more than #paidad in the preceding eye- tracking study. Additionally, middle-positioned and prominent disclosures were previously identified as stimulators of ad recognition (Wojdynski et al., 2017), suggesting that brand tags may exert a stronger effect on ad recognition than #paidad. Still, #paidad is expected to result in higher ad recognition than a brand tag in the present study. Although the tag distinctly displays the brand name, it does not communicate clear information about the relationship between this brand and the influencer. Therefore, these tags may exert a lower influence on ad recognition compared to the two disclosures. Summarizing, Instagram’s standardized disclosure is expected to result in the highest recognition of advertising, followed by #paidad. A brand tag is hypothesized to lead to a lower ad recognition than

#paidad, but to a higher ad recognition than no disclosure:

H1: The type of disclosure or cue influences users’ ad recognition, with ad recognition being the highest for Instagram’s standardized disclosure, followed by #paidad, which is then followed by brand tag. Ad recognition is expected to be lowest in absence of a disclosure.

The Moderating Effect of Influencer Type on Ad Recognition

Based on their amount of followers, influencers may be classified into different types.

Influencer marketing practiced by nano-influencers, users with less than 1000 followers, is a relatively new phenomenon, that is increasingly pursued by brands due to the characteristics of these ‘Instagrammers’. Nano-influencers have a small and specifically-niched follower base and may be perceived as more relatable and trustworthy by the ordinary user as they are close to their followers and actively engage with them (Cohn, 2019; Talbot, 2018). Micro- influencers have up to 10,000 followers and, thus, do stand out against the average user

(Hatton, 2018). Meso-influencers reach up to a million followers and often have national

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 15 visibility (Verheye, 2017). Macro-influencers are internationally-known ‘Instagrammers’ with over one million followers who often rose to fame as models, bloggers, actors or athletes

(Hatton, 2018; Pedroni, 2016). The present study focuses on nano-influencers, due to their novel importance (Cohn, 2019; Talbot, 2018) and on macro-influencers, due to their mere size and relevance. This is practical in detecting potential boundary conditions of disclosures’ necessity by contrasting two tremendously different influencer types: internationally-popular and unknown ‘Instagrammers’.

Research has shown that users are aware that Instagram is used for commercial purposes (Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2018; Chen, 2018) and, thus, may have already developed PK about influencers’ persuasive techniques. Comparable to celebrity endorsement in traditional advertising, users may have established that ‘Instagrammers’ with a large follower base are more likely to be paid for implementing products or brands in their posts (Coursaris et al., 2018). Besides number of followers, the type and title of an Instagram account also provides an insight into the status of the influencer. More specifically, verified accounts, which mostly belong to well-known ‘Instagrammers’, feature a blue check that appears next to an account's name in search and on the profile. It means Instagram has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or global brand it represents. Furthermore, famous ‘Instagrammers’ often include a label (i.e. ‘Public figure’) below their name on their account overview, indicating their celebrity status.

Supposing that an influencer’s prominence indeed functions as a cue that elicits ad recognition, boundary conditions may apply to the essentiality of sponsorship disclosures.

More specifically, even in the absence of disclosures or cues (hereafter generically referred to as ‘disclosure cues’ for the sake of simplicity), users may suspect influencer marketing by macro-influencers, thus, rendering disclosure cues less effective. Inversely, nano-influencers are more similar to the average user and, hence, may be considered less likely to advertise a brand (Coursaris et al., 2018). Therefore, when disclosure cues are absent, users might

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 16 believe that nano-influencers’ brand endorsements in posts reflect personal opinions (Evans et al., 2017a). Henceforth, an interaction effect of disclosure cue and influencer type on conceptual PK is proposed:

H2: The effect of disclosure cues, compared to their absence, on conceptual persuasion knowledge is moderated by the type of influencer: The disclosure cue has a stronger effect on conceptual persuasion knowledge when the post is sent by a nano- influencer, compared to a macro-influencer.

Consequences of Disclosure Cues and Ad Recognition

Cognitive consequences. Research suggests that sponsorship disclosures positively influence consumers’ brand recall (Boerman & Van Reijmersdal, 2016). The limited capacity model proposes that people have a limited capacity to encode, store and retrieve information

(Lang, 2000). However, a sponsorship disclosure draws attention to the commercial purpose of a message and, thus, the likelihood that an individual notices this disclosure is increased

(Boerman et al., 2014). Hence, the disclosure functions as a cue, which may increase consumers’ likelihood to remember the advertised brand. Moreover, the standardized disclosure and the brand tag display the brand name, thus, increase exposure to the name of the brand, which may make it easier for consumers to recall the brand. In line with this theoretical reasoning, studies have found that disclosures indirectly affect brand memory via ad recognition (Smink et al., 2017; Boerman et al., 2015). Therefore, the third hypothesis is:

H3: A disclosure cue in an Instagram post, compared to the absence of it, increases conceptual persuasion knowledge, which leads to a higher brand recall.

Affective consequences. In addition to the proposed cognitive route affecting brand recall, this study proposes a second, evaluative route involving attitudinal PK, influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes and purchase intention.

Besides its cognitive dimension, PK encompasses an affective side, referred to as attitudinal PK, which concerns consumers’ critical feelings towards a persuasive attempt. It is

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 17 believed that consumers’ activation of attitudinal PK is contingent on their ad recognition

(Boerman, Van Reijmersdal, Rozendaal, & Dima, 2018; Rozendaal et al. 2011). Reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) assumes that individuals tend to fear that they are being manipulated when they are subject to a persuasive attempt. Thus, when they recognize persuasive intent, they are likely to develop reactance to maintain their freedom. Correspondingly, in their study on Instagram, De Veirman and Hudders (2019) found that sponsorship disclosures increased ad recognition, which consequently stimulated ad skepticism. Ad skepticism refers to “the tendency towards disbelief of sponsored content” (Boerman et al., 2018, p. 675) and plays an important role in this study because of influencer marketing’s covert nature, which may cause users to feel mislead. Due to this impression of deception, consumers tend to react to commercial content with increased skepticism (Boerman et al., 2014).

Furthermore, the PKM proposes that, when consumers realize the persuasive intent behind a message, a change of meaning may occur, which fundamentally alters consumers’ responses and feelings towards the message (Friestad & Wright, 1994). Previous studies found that such critical feelings towards an ad also spill over to the targets’ responses towards the sender’s credibility (De Veirman & Hudders, 2019), the brand (Boerman 2012) and their intention to purchase the advertised product (Evans, Wojdynski, & Hoy, 2017b). Therefore, potential effects of persuasion knowledge on individuals’ perceived trustworthiness of the influencer, brand attitudes and purchase intentions are discussed hereinafter.

Carr and Hayes (2014) detected that, in the context of online blogs, explicit sponsorship disclosures enhance the bloggers’ trustworthiness, showing that consumers appreciate their honesty about relationships with brands. In contrast, De Veirman and

Hudders (2019) revealed that sponsorship disclosures on Instagram lower the influencer’s credibility via conceptual and attitudinal PK. This is supported by the PKM, which predicts that increased PK negatively affects consumer responses (Friestad & Wright, 1994). Thus, when users recognize the commercial purpose behind a post and realize the influencer’s true

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 18 motives, they become more critical towards the post, which causes them to perceive the influencer as less trustworthy. Similarly, various studies found that the activation of conceptual and attitudinal PK through disclosures affects consumers’ attitudes toward the advertised brand negatively (Smink et al., 2017; Van Reijmersdal et al., 2016; Meijers, Van

Reijmersdal, & Krafczyk, 2018; Boerman et al., 2012, 2014, 2015). Finally, induced by reactance and a change of meaning, a spill over to behavioral reactions may reduce the target’s intention to purchase the advertised product (Evans et al., 2017a; Lu, Chang, &

Chang; 2014; Tessitore & Geuens, 2013). Summarizing, the present study suggests that disclosure cues will stimulate an evaluative process, in which consumers’ perceptions of the influencers’ trustworthiness, their brand attitudes and purchase intentions are affected via conceptual and attitudinal PK.

H4: A disclosure cue in an Instagram post, compared to its absence, increases conceptual persuasion knowledge, which elicits a) higher attitudinal persuasion knowledge, which consequently leads to b) lower trustworthiness of the influencer, c) lower brand attitudes and d) lower purchase intention.

Based on the above-elaborated expectations, Figure 2 presents the conceptual model that forms the basis of the second study.

Figure 2. Conceptual Model of the Online Experiment (Study 2).

Method – Study 2: Online Experiment

Design and Participants. To test these hypotheses, we conducted an online experiment with a 4 (disclosure cue: standardized disclosure, #paidad, brand tag, none) x 2

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(influencer type: macro, nano) between-subjects design between May 30 and June 3, 2019. A total of 460 participants were recruited through the crowdsourcing platform Prolific based on whether they fulfilled the criteria of having an Instagram account, being of British nationality and being fluent in English. The final sample consisted of 433 people as 27 participants who either failed both attention checks or indicated they never use Instagram were excluded (MAge

= 31.67, SDAge = 10.64, 74.83% female, 39.03% completed Bachelor’s degree). Half of the participants use Instagram multiple times a day (49.88%).

Procedure. Participants were informed that they were participating in an online experiment on people's reactions towards social media posts, granted informed consent and were randomly assigned to one of the eight conditions. Initially, participants were exposed to an overview of an Instagram account, in which influencer type was manipulated, followed by a post of that ‘Instagrammer’, in which disclosure cue type was manipulated. Participants had to view both the overview and the post for 10 seconds before being able to switch to the next page. The ensuing questionnaire entailed questions about participants’ conceptual and attitudinal PK, responses to the advertised brand as well as brand and disclosure memory, followed by control questions, manipulation checks and demographic questions. Upon completion, participants were debriefed, thanked and received a compensation (£1).

Stimuli. The stimulus materials consisted of an overview of the account of an

‘Instagrammer’ and one post by that Instagrammer. In both conditions, the post contained the same picture taken from a Dutch influencer’s account (@dee), which was selected because it could be used for both conditions and because it displayed a brand. More specifically, the picture showed a blonde woman whose face was not identifiable since she turned her back to the camera, trailing a suitcase by the brand Suit Suit. In both conditions, the alleged accounts of two real ‘Instagrammers’ were displayed who had the same biography and highlights on their profile but were manipulated by number of followers, account type and ‘Instagrammer’ title. The macro-influencer condition showed the profile of model and actress Doutzen Kroes

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 20 with six million followers, a verified account, meaning it featured a blue check that communicates her authenticity and the title ‘public figure’ underneath Kroes’ name. The nano-influencer condition displayed the profile of ‘Instagrammer’ Melissa Bell with 715 followers, a non-verified account, meaning no blue check was visible, and the title ‘blogger’ underneath Bell’s name. Participants were first exposed to an overview of one of the accounts and instructed to take their time to look at it since they would be asked questions about it afterwards. Above the account overview, a text introduced each ‘Instagrammer’ differently, drawing participants’ attention to the number of followers and whether the account is verified or not.

Figure 3. Account overview of macro-influencer (left) and nano-influencer (right)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 21

Subsequent to the overview, participants were exposed to an Instagram post by the respective influencer, equal with regard to the post’s caption and the amount of likes in both conditions.

The disclosure was manipulated by either placing the standardized label ‘Paid partnership with suitsuit_’ above the picture, mentioning #paidad in the caption, tagging the brand in the picture or not disclosing the advertisement (see Figure 3 for account overview of macro- and nano-influencer and Appendix I, Figure 4 to 11 for stimuli of all conditions).

Measures. See Table 2 for a detailed overview of all measures. Table 2 Measures: items and descriptive statistics Items Measurement Source Descriptives Ad recognition Please indicate the extent to which you 7-point scale Boerman et Eigenvalue = 3.07, agree or disagree with the following (1 = strongly al., 2018; explained variance = statements. disagree, 7 = Van 76.69%, The post I just saw contained advertising, strongly agree) Reijmersdal  = .90; The post I just saw showed or mentioned et al., 2016 M = 4.04, brands, SD = 1.59 The post I just saw was commercial, The post I just saw was paid by a brand

Ad skepticism Brands sometimes pay people on 7-point Boerman et Eigenvalue = 3.96, Instagram to mention or show the brand semantic al., 2018 explained variance = in their Instagram posts. What is your differential 79.27%, opinion about this? scale,  = .93; I think that showing the brand Suit Suit in reverse coded M = 4.14, the Instagram post is... SD = 1.23 dishonest/honest not trustworthy/trustworthy incredible/credible not truthful/truthful insincere/sincere

Brand recall Do you recall seeing any brands in the Coded as 0 Boerman et 54.5% recalled Instagram post? when recalled al., 2012, correctly, No incorrectly or 2015; Smink M = .54, Yes, namely [text entry] not at all and 1, et al., 2017 SD = .50 when recalled correctly

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Items Measurement Source Descriptives Influencer trustworthiness What is your opinion of the woman 7-point Ohanian, Eigenvalue = 3.72, posting the Instagram post? semantic 1990 explained variance = undependable/dependable differential 74.35%, dishonest/honest, scale  = .91; unreliable/reliable, M = 4.01, insincere/sincere, SD = 1.00 untrustworthy/trustworthy

Brand attitudes What is your opinion of the brand Suit 7-point Spears & Eigenvalue =4.14, Suit? semantic Singh, 2004 explained variance = bad/good, differential 82.71%, negative/positive, scale  = .95; dislike/like, M = 4.33, unpleasant/pleasant, SD = .87 unfavorable/favorable

Purchase intention Imagine you need a suitcase. 7-point scale (1 Bergkvist & M = 2.85, How likely are you to buy a suitcase of = very unlikely, Rossiter, SD = 1.51 the brand Suit Suit? 7 = very likely) 2009

Manipulation Check Influencer 1 Some people on Instagram have a 0 = No, the 7.4% failed, verified account. These accounts have a Instagram user M = .93, blue check that appears next to an did not have a SD = .26 Instagram account's name in search and verified on the profile. It means Instagram has account, 1 = confirmed that an account is the Yes, the authentic presence of the public figure, Instagram user celebrity or global brand it represents. had a verified Do you recall whether the Instagram user account you just saw had a verified account?

Manipulation Check Influencer 2 How many follower do you think the Instagram user you just saw has? Depending on 25.5% failed, 0 – 1,000 condition, M = .74, 1,001 – 10,000 recoded to 1 = SD = .44 10,001 – 50,000 correct answer, 50,001 – 250,000 0 = incorrect 250,001 – 1,000,000 answer More than 1,000,000

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Items Measurement Source Descriptives Manipulation Check Disclosure Do you recall seeing one of the following Depending on hashtags or statements disclosing that the condition, 29.8% failed, post contains advertising? You can only recoded to 1 = M = .70, choose one option. correct answer, SD = .46 #ad, 0 = incorrect #paidad, answer #sponsored, Paid partnership with [brand], Sponsored content, Advertising, None of the above

Control variables Age What is your age (in years)? [open answer] M = 31.67, SD = 10.64 Gender Are you… 0 = male, 74.8% female, no 1 = female, one chose ‘other’, 2 = other M = .75, SD = .44

Education level What is the highest level of education 1 = Less than Majority (39%) that you have completed? high school, completed a 2 = High Bachelor’s degree; school, M = 4.05, 3 = Some SD = 1.43 college but no degree, 4 = Associate degree, 5 = Bachelor’s degree, 6 = Master’s degree, 7 = Doctorate Degree (PhD)

Frequency of Instagram use On average, how often do you use 1 = Never, Majority (49.9%) Instagram? 2 = Yearly, uses Instagram 3 = Monthly, multiple times a day 4 = Weekly, M = 5.17, 5 = Approx. SD = 1.00 once a day, 6 = Multiple times a day

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Items Measurement Source Descriptives Attitude towards Instagram What is your opinion of the social media 7-point Eigenvalue = 2.63, platform Instagram? differential explained variance = dislike/like, semantic scale 87.63%, negative/positive,  = .93; bad/good M = 5.37, SD = 1.33

Brand familiarity Before participating in this study, did you 0 = No, 1.8% familiar with already know the brand Suit Suit? 1 = Yes brand, M = .02, SD = .14

Product Interest Please indicate the extent to which you 7-point scale (1 Eigenvalue =2.51, agree or disagree with the following = very unlikely, explained variance = statements. 7 = very likely) 62.90%, I like buying suitcases and bags  = .80; I like seeing something about suitcases M = 3.87, and bags on social media SD = 1.41 I am interested in suitcases and bags

Results

Manipulation Checks

For the first manipulation check on influencer type, 92.09% in the macro-influencer conditions said they did see a verified badge while 93.12% in the nano-influencer conditions indicated they did not see a verified badge. This difference was significant, χ2(1) = 314.47, p

< .001. Additionally, 66.51% in the macro-influencer condition correctly remembered the

‘Instagrammer’ having more than 1 million followers while 82.11% in the nano-influencer condition accurately stated that the ‘Instagrammer’ had less than 1.000 followers. This difference was significant, χ2(5) = 370.24, p < .001.

In the no disclosure conditions 90.91%, in the brand tag conditions 90.99% and in the

#paidad conditions 55.24% correctly passed the manipulation check. Of those exposed to

Instagram’s standardized disclosure, only 42.06% recognized the disclosure. Although the disclosure was not correctly recognized by all participants, the manipulation was successful with a significant difference among groups, F(3, 429) = 74.66, p < .001.

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Randomization Checks

The eight experimental groups did not differ with respect to sex, χ2(7) = 3.92, p

= .789, age, F(7,425) = .77, p = .613, education level, F(7, 425) = .55, p = .794, frequency of

Instagram use F(7, 425) = .53, p = .816, brand familiarity, χ2(7) = 4.15, p = .762, attitude towards Instagram F(7,425) = .29, p = .958, and product interest, F(7,425) = .53, p = .810.

Effects of Disclosure or Cue and Influencer Type

To test H1 and H2, a factorial two-way ANOVA was conducted to assess the main effect of disclosure type and the interaction effect between disclosure cue and influencer type on ad recognition. The main effect for disclosure cue on ad recognition was significant, F(3,

425) = 38.66, p < .001 (see Table 3 for ad recognition means per disclosure cue condition).

Post hoc pairwise comparisons using the Bonferroni correction demonstrated that ad recognition was significantly higher with Instagram’s standardized disclosure (Mstandardized =

6.02, SDstandardized = 1.31) compared to both disclosure cue types (M#paidad = 5.06, SD#paidad =

1.47, p = .000; Mbrand tag = 5.12, SDbrand tag = 1.45, p = .000) and the absence of a disclosure

(Mno disclosure = 3.98, SDbrand tag = 1.42, p = .000). Additionally, posts without any disclosure cue yielded a significantly lower ad recognition compared to both #paidad (p = .000) and brand tag (p = .000). Ad recognition was second highest for posts with a brand tag but not significantly different from the slightly lower ad recognition in the #paidad condition (p =

1.000). These results partly supported H1. Instagram’s standardized disclosure indeed lead to the highest ad recognition while the absence of a disclosure cue yielded the lowest ad recognition. However, in contrast to the expectations, a brand tag resulted in a higher ad recognition than #paidad, although this difference was not statistically significant.

Table 3 Ad Recognition Means per Disclosure Cue Type. Standardized #paidad Brand tag No disclosure or cue Disclosure Ad recognition 6.02 a 5.06b 5.12b 3.98c Note. a,b,c Values not sharing the same superscript are significantly different at p < .05.

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Moreover, the ANOVA revealed that there was merely tentative support for a moderation of influencer type on the effect of disclosure cue type on ad recognition with a marginal significance level, F(3, 425) = 2.46, p = .062. Hence, H2 is not fully supported and moderation analyses were neglected in all subsequent analyses. Moreover, the results indicated a main effect of influencer type on ad recognition, F(1, 425) = 12.22, p = .001, with significantly higher ad recognition for participants exposed to a macro-influencer (M = 5.29,

SD = 1.59) compared to those exposed to a nano-influencer (M = 4.79, SD = 1.60). While influencer type did have a direct effect on ad recognition, it did not influence ad skepticism, influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes or purchase intentions (see Appendix II, Table 3).

Cognitive Consequences

Using PROCESS (Hayes, 2018), a logistic regression with disclosure cue type as a predictor, ad recognition as a mediator and brand recall as a dependent variable was conducted to test H3 (see Figure 4 for mediation model and Table 4 for corresponding results).

Figure 4. Tested Mediation Model: Effect of Disclosure Cue Type on Brand Recall via the Recognition of Influencer Marketing as Advertising.

The results in Table 4 show significant effects on ad recognition for all disclosure cue comparisons except for when #paidad was shown in the caption compared to a brand tag (ba

= -.06, p = .756). This corresponds to the results found in the ANOVA previously conducted to test H1. Furthermore, the extent to which participants recognized the post as influencer marketing significantly increased brand recall (bb = .77, p = .000). Additionally, the analyses revealed that there was no direct effect of a disclosure cue on brand recall, except for when

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#paidad was shown in the capture (compared to brand tag; bc = -.88, p = .005). Moreover, bootstrapping indicated significant indirect effects via the mediator ad recognition for all disclosure cues (indirect effectStandardized (No disclosure) 1.57, SE = .24, 95% BCI [1.18, 2.13]; indirect effectBrand tag (No disclosure) .88, SE = .18, 95% BCI [.57, 1.29]; indirect effect#paidad (No disclosure) .83, SE = .19, 95% BCI [.52, 1.26]; indirect effect#brand tag (standardized) -.69, SE = .17,

95% BCI [-1.08, -.40]; indirect effect#paidad (standardized) -.74, SE = .17, 95% BCI [-1.14, -.43]) except for when #paidad was present in the caption (compared to brand tag; indirect effect -

.05, SE = .16, 95% BCI [-.35, .26]).

Table 4 Effect of Disclosure Cue Type on Brand Recall via Recognition of Advertising. Disclosure/Cue Indirect effect (SE) a b c’ (Reference) [95% BCI] Standardized 1.57 (.24) [1.18, 2.13] 2.04 (.19)*** .77 (.09)*** -.17 (.36) (no disclosure) Brand tag .88 (.18) [.57, 1.29] 1.14 (.19)*** . . . .16 (.32) (no disclosure) #paidad .83 (.19) [.52, 1.26] 1.08 (.19)*** . . . -.72 (.33) (no disclosure) Brand tag -.69 (.17) [-1.08, -.40] -.09 (.19)*** . . . .32 (.33) (standardized) #paidad (standardized -.74 (.18) [-1.14, -.43] -.96 (.19)*** . . . -.56 (.33) disclosure) #paidad -.05 (.16) [-.35, .26] -.06 (.13) . . . -.88 (.31)*** (brand tag) Note. Unstandardized b-coefficients (with boot SE); BCI= bootstrap confidence interval using 5,000 bootstrap samples; significant indirect effects are bold; ...= scores are the same as the scores above; standardized = Instagram’s standardized disclosure; N=433. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, †p < .10.

To summarize, the results support H3: compared to no disclosure, a disclosure cue always enhanced the recognition of advertising, which consequently increased brand recall.

Comparing the disclosure cues to each other, brand tag and #paidad had a negative significant indirect effect compared to Instagram’s standardized disclosure, while #paidad (compared to brand tag) did not have a significant indirect effect. Hence, Instagram’s standardized disclosure is significantly more effective in increasing brand recall via ad recognition than any other disclosure or cue while brand tag and #paidad do not differ among each other.

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Evaluative Consequences

To test H4, three serial mediator models with disclosure cue type as the independent variable, ad recognition as first mediator, skepticism towards the ad as second mediator and either perceived influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes or purchase intention as the dependent variable were tested using PROCESS (Hayes, 2018; see Figure 5 for model and

Table 5 for corresponding results). The c-path in the model includes the direct effect of disclosure cue type on the respective dependent variable, independent of the effect of the mediators (c′), and the total effect of disclosure cue type on the dependent variable (c), which is the sum of the direct effect and the indirect effect via the mediators (Hayes, 2018). Results for path a1 are identical to the results for path a in Table 4 and are, thus, not further discussed.

Figure 5. Tested Serial Mediation Model: Effect of Disclosure Cue Type on Perceived Influencer Trustworthiness, Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intention via Recognition of Influencer Marketing as Advertising and Skepticism towards Advertising.

In line with H4a, the results demonstrate that the extent to which participants recognized a post as advertising significantly increased skepticism towards the commercial content (ba3 = .09, p = .028). In addition, ad skepticism had a significant negative effect on perceived influencer trustworthiness (bb2 = -.33, p = .000), brand attitudes (bb2 = -.30, p =

.000) and purchase intention (bb2 = -.48, p = .000), in support of H4b, H4c and H4d.

Moreover, the findings indicate that both the total (c) and the direct effect (c’) were not significant for any of the disclosure cues, respectively any of the dependent variables.

Hence, there was no direct effect of any disclosure cue on perceived influencer

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 29 trustworthiness, brand attitudes or purchase intention. Additionally, bootstrapping revealed significant indirect effects via the two mediators for all disclosure cues compared to the absence of a disclosure cue on influencer trustworthiness (indirect effectStandardized (No disclosure) -

.06, SE = .03, 95% BCI [-.12, -.01]; indirect effectBrand tag (No disclosure) -.03, SE = .02, 95% BCI

[-07, -.004]; indirect effect#paidad (No disclosure) -.03, SE = .02, 95% BCI [-.07, -.004]), brand attitude (indirect effectStandardized (No disclosure) -.06, SE = .03, 95% BCI [-.11, -.01]; indirect effectBrand tag (No disclosure) -.03, SE = .02, 95% BCI [-.06, -.003]; indirect effect#paidad (No disclosure) -

.03, SE = .01, 95% BCI [-.06, -.003]) and purchase intention (indirect effectStandardized (No disclosure) -.09, SE = .04, 95% BCI [-.17, -.01]; indirect effectBrand tag (No disclosure) -.05, SE = .02,

95% BCI [-.10, -.01]; indirect effect#paidad (No disclosure) -.05, SE = .02, 95% BCI [-.09, -.01]).

Thus, the presence of a disclosure cue always increased ad recognition compared to its absence. Consequently, participants were more skeptical towards the ad, which resulted in lower perceptions of the influencer’s trustworthiness, less favorable brand attitudes and a lower likelihood to purchase the advertised product. Analyses comparing the different types of disclosure cues showed a significant indirect effect of brand tag and #paidad compared to

Instagram’s standardized disclosure on influencer trustworthiness (indirect effectBrand tag

(standardized) .03, SE = .01, 95% BCI [.004, .06]; indirect effect#paidad (standardized) .03, SE = .01,

95% BCI [.003, .06]), brand attitudes (indirect effectBrand tag (standardized) .02, SE = .01, 95% BCI

[.003, .05]; indirect effect#paidad (standardized) .03, SE = .01, 95% BCI [.003, .06]) and purchase intention (indirect effectBrand tag (standardized) .04, SE = .02, 95% BCI [.01, .08]; indirect effect#paidad (standardized) .04, SE = .02, 95% BCI [.005, .09]). However, there was no serial mediation for #paidad compared to brand tag on influencer trustworthiness (indirect effect#paidad (brand tag) .002, SE = .01, 95% BCI [-.01, .02]), brand attitudes (indirect effect#paidad

(brand tag) .002, SE = .01, 95% BCI [-.01, .02]) and purchase (intention indirect effect#paidad (brand tag) .003, SE = .01, 95% BCI [-.02, .02]).

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Table 5 Effect of Disclosure Cue Type on Influencer Trustworthiness, Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intention via Recognition of Advertising and Skepticism Towards the Ad. Dependent Variable: Influencer Trustworthiness Disclosure cue Indirect effect c c’ a1 a2 a3 b1 b2 (Reference) (SE) [95% BCI] (total) (direct) Standardized -.06 (.03) 2.04 .32 .09 -.03 -.33 .07 .09 (no disclosure) [-.12, -.01] (.19)*** (.19)† (.04)* (.03) (.04)*** (.14) (.14) Brand tag -.03 (.02) 1.14 .09 -.10 -.06 ...... (no disclosure) [-.07, -.004] (.19)*** (.17) (.13) (.13) #paidad -.03 (.02) 1.08 .35 .01 -.04 ...... (no disclosure) [-.07, -.004] (.19)*** (.17)* (.14) (.13) Brand tag .03 (.01) -.90 -.23 -.17 -.15 ...... (standardized) [.004, .06] (.19)*** (.17) (.14) (.13) #paidad .03 (.02) -.96 .03 -.06 -.13 ...... (standardized) [.003, .06] (.19)*** (.17) (.14) (.13) #paidad .002 (.01) -.06 .26 .11 .02 ...... (brand tag) [-.01, .02] (.19) (.17) (.14) (.12) Dependent Variable: Brand Attitudes Standardized -.06 (.03) 2.04 .32 .09 -.03 -.30 -.14 -.13 (no disclosure) [-.11, -.01] (.19)*** (.19)† (.04)* (.03) (.03)*** (.12) (.12) Brand tag -.03 (.02) 1.14 .09 -.13 -.10 ...... (no disclosure) [-.06, -.003] (.19)*** (.17) (.12) (.11) #paidad -.03 (.01) 1.08 .35 .02 -.07 ...... (no disclosure) [-.06, -.003] (.19)*** (.17)* (.12) (.11) Brand tag .02 (.01) -.90 -.23 .01 .03 ...... (standardized) [.003, .05] (.19)*** (.17) (.12) (.11) #paidad .03 (.01) -.96 .03 .12 .06 ...... (standardized) [.003, .06] (.19)*** (.17) (.12) (.11) #paidad .002 (.01) -.06 .26 .11 .03 ...... (brand tag) [-.01, .02] (.19) (.17) (.12) (.11) Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention Standardized -.09 (.04) 2.04 .32 .09 -.03 -.48 -.003 -.03 (no disclosure) [-.17, -.01] (.19)*** (.19)† (.04)* (.03) (.06)*** (.21) (.21) Brand tag -.05 (.02) 1.14 .09 -.13 -.10 ...... (no disclosure) [-.10, -.01] (.19)*** (.17) (.20) (.20) #paidad -.05 (.02) 1.08 .35 -.02 -.11 ...... (no disclosure) [-.09, -.01] (.19)*** (.17)* (.21) (.20) Brand tag .04 (.02) -.90 -.23 -.12 -.07 ...... (standardized) [.01, .08] (.19)*** (.17) (.21) (.20) #paidad .04 (.02) -.96 .03 .01 -.09 ...... (standardized) [.005, .09] (.19)*** (.17) (.21) (.20) #paidad .003 (.01) -.06 .26 .11 -.02 ...... (brand tag) [-.02, .02] (.19) (.17) (.21) (.19) Note. Unstandardized b-coefficients (with boot SE); BCI= bootstrap confidence interval using 5,000 bootstrap samples; significant indirect effects are bold; …= scores are the same as the scores above; standardized = Instagram’s standardized disclosure; N=433. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, †p < .10.

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Summarizing, the results support H3a, H3b, H3c, and H3d: compared to no sponsorship disclosure or cue, a disclosure cue can increase the recognition of advertising, which evokes skepticism towards the commercial post, and eventually results in a negative indirect effect on influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes and purchase intention. Relating the disclosure cues to each other, only #paidad did not have a significant indirect effect compared to a brand tag. Instagram’s standardized disclosure, however, was significantly more effective than any other disclosure cue.

General Discussion and Conclusion

The present thesis investigated to what extent disclosure cues in an Instagram post and different types of influencers affect users’ ad recognition, their brand recall and attitudinal reactions by conducting two experiments. More specifically, an eye-tracking study explored whether Instagram users recognize influencer marketing on Instagram and which disclosures or cues they use to do so. A subsequent online experiment examined to what extent the disclosure cues identified as helpful in the first study, affect participants’ recognition of advertising and further cognitive and evaluative responses towards the persuasive message, the influencer and the advertised brand. Additionally, it was assessed whether influencer type functions as a moderator in the effect of disclosure cues on ad recognition.

First, the eye-tracking findings grant practical insights by showing that individuals are able to recognize particularly those posts who feature Instagram’s standardized disclosure or were posted by internationally known ‘Instagrammers’. However, the results also suggest that one in three commercial posts remained unrecognized, a finding that differs from previous studies on social media advertising that detected ad recognition rates of more than 80%

(Johnson et al., 2019, Jung & Heo, 2019, Kim & Song, 2018). This discrepancy may be arise due to the present study’s more realistic experimental design, in which participants were exposed to a video showing 50 posts, instead of displaying only one post, which is the case in

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 32 most other studies. It may also be attributable to the present study’s consideration of vague cues, such as a plain brand tag, that were neglected in prior research. These cues are less explicit than sponsorship disclosures and, may, thus results in lower ad recognition. Including such cues in studies on sponsorship disclosures on social media is crucial since it is common practice among influencers to ‘disclose’ commercial posts with such ambiguous cues although they are not considered as sufficient disclosures by regulatory parties. Hence, this study adapts to today’s reality by including diverse disclosure cues and reveals that users lack sufficient persuasion knowledge to recognize influencer marketing without difficulty.

Second, participants’ eye movements reveal that Instagram’s standardized disclosure as well as brand tags in the picture catch users’ attention longer than all other tested disclosure cues and help almost half of the participants to identify ads. Additionally, the online experiment shows that Instagram’s standardized disclosure increased ad recognition more effectively than the other tested disclosure cues. These results support the notion that, when a disclosure conveys both the paid relationship and the sponsor in a clear and direct manner, consumers are provided with information that allows them to accurately interpret the commercial nature of the post (Evans et al., 2017; Hyman et al., 2017; Wojdynski et al.,

2017). Furthermore, a brand tag ranks second in increasing ad recognition, even slightly but not significantly more effective than #paidad. Thus, a cue that is not acknowledged by FTC as a sufficient disclosure (FTC, 2017a, 2017b), appears to be a highly noticed and helpful element for Instagram users to identify ads. These finding suggest that not only disclosures but also cues are highly effective in activating persuasion knowledge and, consequently, affecting consumers’ cognitive and evaluative responses. This presents consumers with a problem: Such cues are not necessarily used only when posts are commercial. Hence, people might misidentify non-commercial posts that tag or mention brands as advertising. In line with this notion, the eye-tracking results indicated that almost one in five non-commercial posts is erroneously assumed to be advertising. However, this issue does not only affect

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 33 consumers. Brands that are tagged in posts without paying the ‘Instagrammer’ to do so might dissent this ostensible affiliation. For instance, brands might rather not be associated with particular ‘Instagrammers’, who do not fit their brand.

Furthermore, this study’s results demonstrated that influencer marketing with brand tags can harm a brand since it lowers consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intention.

Hence, brands may disapprove of ‘Instagrammers’ tagging the brand when there is no paid partnership because they apprehend that users may perceive the brand tag as a persuasive attempt and, thus, react negatively. Similarly, ‘Instagrammers’ should consider that tagging a brand – even without having a commercial relationship with that brand – may result in lower perceptions of the influencers’ trustworthiness.

Third, influencer type directly influences ad recognition, with a significantly higher recognition for posts by macro-influencers compared to nano-influencers. While the prominence of an ‘Instagrammer’ functions as a cue that stimulates persuasion knowledge, there is merely a tentative support for a moderating effect of influencer type on the impact of disclosure or cue on ad recognition. Influencer type does not directly affect ad skepticism, influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes and purchase intention, albeit these responses are slightly but not significantly more positive when a post is sent by a nano- compared to a macro-influencer.

Fourth, the tested disclosure cues were found to elicit a cognitive process, in which brand recall is improved via ad recognition. Any type of disclosure cue resulted in a higher brand recall compared to the absence of it, with Instagram’s standardized disclosure being the most effective disclosure followed by a brand tag. This suggests that a disclosure emphasizes the advertised brand and is, thus, more likely to be noticed by consumers since they use their limited capacity to process it (Boerman et al., 2014; Lang, 2000). Among the disclosures,

#paidad had the lowest effect on brand recall, suggesting that it is easier for users to recall the brand when disclosure cues mention it, as with the standardized disclosure and brand tag.

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Fifth, the disclosure cues were also found to evoke an evaluative process. Consistent with the PKM, the results demonstrate that the presence of a disclosure and the resulting increase of ad recognition and skepticism elicit a more critical reaction towards the post, the influencer and the advertised brand. While the indirect negative effects of disclosures on influencer trustworthiness and brand attitudes replicate previous findings by De Veirman and

Hudders (2019), this study is the first to demonstrate disclosure cues’ negative influence on purchase intention via ad recognition and skepticism in the context of Instagram. Hence, disclosure cues do not only affect consumers’ evaluative reactions but also their behavioral intentions. Moreover, the present thesis adds to current knowledge by revealing that this

‘change of meaning’ does not only occur when a disclosure is displayed but also when an

Instagram post features a brand tag. Henceforth, merely using a brand tag is similarly harmful for the influencer’s trustworthiness and the brand as explicitly disclosing influencer marketing and, thus, does not yield potentially supposed advantages for ‘Instagrammers’ or brands.

These findings have implications for various stakeholders. Regulatory parties, such as the FTC previously denied Instagram’s standardized disclosure’s sufficiency (FTC, 2017b) and, thus, understated its utility. In contrast, the present studies suggest that Instagram’s standardized disclosure is considerably more attention-grabbing and effective in activating persuasion knowledge than other disclosures, including the FTC-respected #paidad.

Additionally, even brand tags, which are not accepted as a disclosure by regulatory parties, increase ad recognition slightly, although not significantly, more than the seemingly clearer

#paidad. Therefore, regulatory parties may need to rethink their classification of adequate sponsorship disclosures.

The fact that consumers have developed sufficient PK to not only understand unambiguous disclosures but to also interpret cues as disclosures initially appears to be beneficial. However, unquestioningly assuming that cues such as a brand tag always reveal a

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 35 paid relationship between ‘Instagrammer’ and brand may frequently lead to an erroneous classification of non-commercial posts as advertising. This demonstrates the blurred lines of advertising on Instagram and reveals grey areas in which posts are perceived as advertising, even though they are not and vice versa. Therefore, the results of the present study call for clearer recommendations on behalf of the FTC on what influencers should use as disclosures, but also which elements they should relinquish.

For advertisers, the results demonstrate that their choice to partner up with macro- or nano-influencers does not have a direct effect on consumers’ brand attitudes and purchase intentions. However, posts sent by macro- compared to nano-influencers do increase ad recognition, which in turn affects evaluative brand responses negatively via ad skepticism.

Thus, advertisers should carefully consider whether positive effects of working with macro- influencers, such as their reach, outweigh the negative consequences that emerge when consumers realize that a post is advertising. In contrast, when brands partner up with nano- influencers, users are less likely to recognize the ad and, thus, less likely to provoke negative reactions.

Moreover, ‘Instagrammers’ should carefully decide if or how extensively they engage in influencer marketing since sponsorship disclosures were found to have a negative impact on users’ perceptions of their trustworthiness via ad recognition and ad skepticism. This affects macro-influencers more strongly than nano-influencers cause consumers are more likely to recognize advertising when it is posted by popular ‘Instagrammers’.

To conclude, some limitations of the current thesis, that may provide further guidance for future research, are discussed. First, the data conducted in the eye-tracking experiment did not allow for an analysis of the effect of disclosure cue type on ad recognition, potentially mediated by visual attention, due to its design. More specifically, each post contained a combination of a disclosure and a cue and there were few posts featuring the same combination of elements. Hence, it was unreasonable to assess effects of particular elements

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 36 on consumers’ ad recognition since each posts’ ad recognition was attributable to more than one element. This limitation was rendered unproblematic by conducting a subsequent online experiment that facilitated a deeper understanding into the underlying mechanisms of these effects. However, future eye-tracking studies may attempt to draw more insightful conclusions on the effect of visual attention to disclosure cues on users’ ad recognition on

Instagram.

Second, the fact that many participants failed to remember the disclosure indicates that they either failed to recognize the disclosure they were exposed to or forgot about it due to the time that passed between exposure and the disclosure recognition question, that was placed towards the end of the questionnaire. However, this confirms prior studies (e.g.

Boerman et al., 2012) and since the previous eye-tracking study demonstrated that the disclosure cues tested in the online experiment received a considerable amount of attention and were, thus, presumably noticed, participants who failed the manipulation checks were not excluded from the final sample in this study.

Third, the majority of participants in both the eye-tracking and the online experiment were highly educated, mostly female adults. As persuasion knowledge is believed to continue to develop throughout life and to advance with experience and education, future studies may conduct experiments with a more diverse sample to reveal whether lower educated individuals, males and minors respond differently to disclosure cues.

Fourth, the online experiment compared macro- to nano-influencers, ‘Instagrammers’ that remarkably differ in terms of popularity, and found differential effects on ad recognition.

Prospective studies may attempt to find which point of influencer prominence marks the threshold for this effect by comparing multiple types of ‘Instagrammers’ instead of contrasting two types that could not differ more.

Given the scarcity of prior research on the effect of disclosure cues and influencer types on individuals persuasion knowledge, cognitive and affective responses, the present

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 37 study provides novel and meaningful insights into a complex and largely unexplored academic field. The experiments demonstrate that both disclosures and cues on Instagram may achieve the goal of activating consumers’ persuasion knowledge and negatively affecting responses towards the influencer and the brand. While this effect is only tentatively moderated by influencer type, the prominence of the ‘Instagrammer’ does exert a direct effect on users’ ad recognition.

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 38

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Appendix I Eye-Tracking Stimuli Link to Video

Figure 1. Eye-Tracking 9-Point Calibration (own photo)

Figure 2. Eye-Tracking Setup in the Lab with Stimulus Material (own photo)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 44

Figure 3. Colored Areas of Interest (AOIs) in Stimulus Material

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Online Experiment Stimuli

Figure 4. Macro-influencer x stand. disclosure Figure 5. Nano-influencer x stand. disclosure

Figure 6. Macro-influencer x #paidad Figure 7. Nano-influencer x #paidad

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 46

Figure 8. Macro-influencer x brand tag Figure 9. Nano-influencer x brand tag

Figure 10. Macro-influencer x no disclosure Figure 11. Nano-influencer x no disclosure

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 47

Appendix II Table 1 Percentage of participants who recognized ad per post (excluding filler posts) Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

Standardized Brand tag 90.00 30.25 disclosure in picture

88.33 32.37 No disclosure #brand

Standardized 85.00 36.01 @brand disclosure

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 48

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

Brand 85.00 36.01 #paidad mention

83.33 37.58 #paidad @brand

81.67 39.02 No disclosure #brand

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 49

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

81.67 39.02 No disclosure @brand

Standardized Brand 80.00 40.34 disclosure mention

Brand 75.00 43.67 #ad mention

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Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

Brand 73.33 44.60 #paidad mention

Brand tag 71.67 45.44 #ad in picture

71.67 45.44 #ad @brand

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 51

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

Standardized 68.33 46.91 #brand disclosure

68.33 46.91 #ad @brand

Standardized Brand 68.33 46.91 disclosure mention

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 52

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

63.33 48.60 #paidad #brand

Standardized 61.67 49.03 @brand disclosure

61.67 49.03 #ad @brand

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 53

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

58.33 49.72 No disclosure @brand

Brand tag 58.33 49.72 No disclosure in picture

Brand 55.00 50.17 No disclosure mention

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 54

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

Brand tag 53.33 50.31 #paidad in picture

Standardized Brand 46.67 50.31 disclosure mention

46.67 50.31 #ad #brand

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 55

Post M (in %) SD (in %) Disclosure Cue

38.33 49.03 #paidad #brand

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Table 2 Pairwise comparisons of fixation time per disclosure or cue Mean Difference Disclosure/Cue (Reference) SE p (Disclosure/Cue - Reference) Brand tag (standardized disclosure) 24.808 37.846 1.000 Brand tag (#brand) 118.155 35.825 .035 Brand tag (@brand) 160.040 30.516 .000 Brand tag (#paidad) 169.362 32.594 .000 Brand tag (brand mention) 183.933 32.666 .000 Brand tag (#ad) 224.226 34.181 .000 Standardized disclosure (#brand) 93.346 24.215 .006 Standardized disclosure (@brand) 135.232 24.650 .000 Standardized disclosure (#paidad) 144.554 25.081 .000 Standardized disclosure (brand mention) 159.125 24.784 .000 Standardized disclosure (#ad) 199.418 23.762 .000 #brand (@brand) 41.886 17.200 .376 #brand (#paidad) 51.207 18.019 .129 #brand (brand mention) 65.778 15.529 .002 #brand (#ad) 106.071 16.884 .000 @brand (#paidad) 9.322 12.576 1.000 @brand (brand mention) 23.893 10.753 .633 @brand (#ad) 64.186 14.671 .001 #paidad (brand mention) 14.571 12.106 1.000 #paidad (#ad) 54.864 13.348 .003 Brand mention (#ad) 40.293 11.343 .016

Table 3 T-Test results for the effect of influencer type on ad skepticism, influencer trustworthiness, brand attitudes and purchase intention Macro Nano M SD M SD t df p Ad skepticism 4.22 1.21 4.07 1.26 1.26 431 .209 Influencer trustworthiness 3.95 1.07 4.07 .93 -1.25 421 .214 Brand attitudes 4.25 .88 4.41 .86 -1.87 431 .063 Purchase intention 2.78 1.52 2.91 1.50 -.87 431 .384

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Appendix III

Eye-Tracking Study: Questionnaire

Start of Block: P NUMBER

Q1 What is your participant number?

______

Page Break

End of Block: P NUMBER

Start of Block: PK

adrec1 You just saw an Instagram feed with various posts. Below you see a selection of those posts.

Please select all posts that you think contained advertising or were sponsored. You can select as many as you want (including none).

[Pictures 1-10 from the video]

Page Break

adrec2 You just saw an Instagram feed with various posts. Below you see a selection of those posts.

Please select all posts that you think contained advertising or were sponsored.

You can select as many as you want (including none).

[Pictures 11-20 from the video]

Page Break

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 58

adrec3 You just saw an Instagram feed with various posts. Below you see a selection of those posts.

Please select all posts that you think contained advertising or were sponsored.

You can select as many as you want (including none).

[Pictures 21-30 from the video]

Page Break

adrec4 You just saw an Instagram feed with various posts. Below you see a selection of those posts.

Please select all posts that you think contained advertising or were sponsored.

You can select as many as you want (including none).

[Pictures 31-40 from the video]

Page Break

adrec5 You just saw an Instagram feed with various posts. Below you see a selection of those posts.

Please select all posts that you think contained advertising or were sponsored.

[Pictures 41-50 from the video]

Page Break

End of Block: PK

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 59

Start of Block: GENERAL BRAND MEMORY (RECALL)

brandrecall Do you recall seeing any brands in the Instagram posts?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

Page Break

Display This Question: If Do you recall seeing any brands in the Instagram posts? = Yes brandrecall_open You just indicated to recall seeing brands in the Instagram posts.

Please write down all brands you recall:

______

______

______

______

______

End of Block: GENERAL BRAND MEMORY (RECALL)

Start of Block: SELF-REPORTED DISCLOSURE / PK adrec_how You just selected a few posts that you think were advertising or were sponsored.How did you know it was advertising or sponsored content?

______

______

______

______

______

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 60

Page Break

End of Block: SELF-REPORTED DISCLOSURE / PK

Start of Block: DISCLOSURE RECALL / RECOGNITION

disclosurerecall When Instagram posts contain advertising or sponsored content (i.e., show or mention brands or products), sometimes these posts clearly disclose this with a hashtag or label.

Do you recall seeing any disclosures for advertising or sponsored content in the Instagram feed?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

Display This Question: If When Instagram posts contain advertising or sponsored content (i.e., show or mention brands or pr... = Yes disclosurerecall_ope You just indicated to recall seeing hashtags or labels disclosing the fact that some Instagram posts contained advertising or were sponsored.

Please write down all disclosures you recall seeing in this Instagram feed:

______

______

______

______

______

Page Break

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disclosurerecognitio Do you recall seeing any of the following disclosures for advertising or sponsored content in the Instagram feed?

You can select as many as you want.

▢ #ad (1)

▢ #adv (7)

▢ #paidad (2)

▢ #prom (3)

▢ #sp (4)

▢ #sponsored (5)

▢ #spon (6)

▢ Paid partnership with [brand] (8)

▢ Sponsored content (10)

▢ Advertising (11)

▢ Advertorial (13)

▢ None of the above (12)

Page Break

disclosure_attitude When Instagram posts contain advertising/sponsored content (i.e., show or mention brands or products), sometimes these posts clearly disclose this with a hashtag

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 62

(for instance '#ad') or a label ('Paid partnership with BRAND').

What is your opinion about these disclosures? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dislike Like o o o o o o o

Bad Good o o o o o o o

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Page Break

End of Block: DISCLOSURE RECALL / RECOGNITION

Start of Block: CON PK: INTENT, SOURCE

PKintent Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.

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The reason brands are mentioned or shown in Instagram posts is to ...

1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7) ... stimulate people to want the o o o o o o o advertised brand (1) ... encourage people to

buy the o o o o o o o brand (2) ... entertain

people (7) o o o o o o o ... sell products

(3) o o o o o o o ... make people think positively o o o o o o o about the brand (4) ... attract attention to the o o o o o o o brand (5) ... make the posts more fun o o o o o o o (8) ... make people remember

the brand o o o o o o o (6)

Page Break

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 64

PKsource Sometimes ‘Instagrammers’ mention or show a brand in their posts.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7) The Instagrammer pays for showing a

brand in an o o o o o o o Instagram post. (3) Instagram pays for showing a brand in an o o o o o o o Instagram post. (2) The brand pays for showing a brand in an o o o o o o o Instagram post. (1) Instagram users pay for being exposed to a

brand in an o o o o o o o Instagram post. (4)

Page Break

End of Block: CON PK: INTENT, SOURCE

Start of Block: ATT PK: SKEP & LIKING

PKskep Brands sometimes pay ‘Instagrammers’ to mention or show their brand in their Instagram posts.

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 65

What is your opinion about this?

I think that mentioning or showing brands (for which the brand has paid) in Instagram posts is ... 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dishonest Honest o o o o o o o

Not Trustworthy trustworthy o o o o o o o

Incredible Credible o o o o o o o

Not Truthful truthful o o o o o o o

Insincere Sincere o o o o o o o

Page Break

PKliking

Brands sometimes pay ‘Instagrammers’ to mention or show their brand in their Instagram posts.

What is your opinion about this?

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 66

I think that mentioning or showing brands (for which the brand has paid) in Instagram posts is ... 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Unattractive Attractive o o o o o o o

Boring Interesting o o o o o o o

Not Amusing amusing o o o o o o o

Irritating Pleasant o o o o o o o

Obtrusive Unobtrusive o o o o o o o

Page Break

End of Block: ATT PK: SKEP & LIKING

Start of Block: CONTROLS

Q18 Before participating in this study, did you already know that some Instagram posts contain advertising/sponsored content (i.e., they get paid to show or mention brands and products)?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

Page Break

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 67

Instagram_account Do you have an Instagram account?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

Page Break

Insta_freq On average, how often do you use Instagram?

o Never (1)

o Yearly (2)

o Monthly (3)

o Weekly (4)

o Approximately once a day (5)

o Multiple times a day (6)

Page Break

Insta_attitude What is your opinion of the social media platform Instagram? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dislike Like o o o o o o o

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Bad Good o o o o o o o

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 68

Page Break

End of Block: CONTROLS

Start of Block: DEMO

Q22 Almost done!

The last questions are about your personal information.

age What is your age (in years)?

______

gndr Are you:

o Male (1)

o Female (2)

o Other (3)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 69 edu What is the highest level of education you have completed?

o Less than High School (1)

o High School / GED (2)

o Lower Professional Education (MBO) (3)

o Higher Professional Education (HBO) (4)

o Bachelor College Degree (University) (5)

o Masters degree (6)

o Doctoral Degree (PhD) (7)

Page Break

eng_prof Please estimate your English language proficiency:

o Proficient / Native (1)

o Intermediate (2)

o Basic (3)

Page Break

Q27 Were you comfortable with filling out the questionnaire in English?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

Page Break

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 70

Q28 Thank you for your participation in our study! The objective of this research is to gain insights into people's recognition of sponsored content on Instagram. Hence, you saw an Instagram feed with various types of posts, including sponsored and non-sponsored content. Our aim is to find out whether people recognise such ads and, furthermore, which specific elements or cues help them to identify them. Should you have any questions or feedback, please let us know below.

______

______

______

______

______

End of Block: DEMO

Online Experiment: Questionnaire

Start of Block: Informed Consent

Q1 Before you start, please maximize your browser window and switch off your music, TV or anything else that might distract you.

Q2 Browser Meta Info Browser (1) Version (2) Operating System (3) Screen Resolution (4) Flash Version (5) Java Support (6) User Agent (7)

Page Break

Q3 Dear Sir or Madam,

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 71

You are invited to participate in a research project that is being carried out under the auspices of the ASCoR research institute, which forms part of the University of Amsterdam. ASCoR conducts scientific research into media and communications in society.

English speaking adults can participate in this project. The objective of the research is to examine people's responses to social media posts. The experiment will last approximately 10 minutes. As this research is being carried out under the responsibility of the ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, we can guarantee that: Your anonymity will be safeguarded, and that your answers or data will not be passed on to third parties under any conditions, unless you first give your express permission for this. You can refuse to participate in the research or cut short your participation without having to give a reason for doing so. You also have up to 7 days after participating to withdraw your permission to allow your answers or data to be used in the research. Participating in the research will not entail your being subjected to any appreciable risk or discomfort, the researchers will not deliberately mislead you, and you will not be exposed to any explicitly offensive material.

For more information about the research and the invitation to participate, you are welcome to contact the project leader at any time: dr. Sophie Boerman, ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam; +31 (0)20 525 2064; [email protected].

Should you have any complaints or comments about the course of the research and the procedures it involves as a consequence of your participation in this research, you can contact the designated member of the Ethics Committee representing ASCoR, at the following address: ASCoR Secretariat, Ethics Committee, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15793, 1001 NG Amsterdam, 020-525 3680, [email protected]. Any complaints or comments will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We hope that we have provided you with sufficient information. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your assistance with this research, which we greatly appreciate.

With kind regards, dr. Sophie Boerman & Céline Müller

consent I hereby declare that I have been informed in a clear manner about the nature and method of the research, as described above. My questions have been answered satisfactorily.

I agree, fully and voluntarily, to participate in this research study. With this, I retain the right to withdraw my consent, without having to give a reason for doing so. I am aware that I may halt my participation in the experiment at any time. If my research results are used in scientific publications or are made public in another way, this will be done such a way that my anonymity is completely safeguarded.

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 72

My personal data will not be passed on to third parties without my permission.

o I agree (1)

o I do not agree (you will be sent to the end of this survey) (0)

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End of Block: Informed Consent

Start of Block: No Consent

no_consent As you do not wish to participate in this study, please return your submission on Prolific by selecting the 'Stop without completing' button.

End of Block: No Consent

Start of Block: Prolific ID

PID Please enter your Prolific ID here:

______

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End of Block: Prolific ID

Start of Block: Post MACRO NODIS

Q4 You will now see an overview of an Instagram page and then an Instagram post, both by Doutzen Kroes.

Doutzen Kroes is a well-known model and Instagrammer with 6 million followers. She also has a verified account, recognizable by the blue check mark next to her name. It means Instagram has confirmed that her account is authentic.

Take a look at the Instagram page and the post, we will ask you some questions about it afterwards.

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Q5 → only one condition displayed in Appendix

macro_nodis1 Timing First Click (1) Last Click (2) Page Submit (3) Click Count (4)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 74

Q8 → only one condition displayed in Appendix

macro_nodis2 Timing First Click (1) Last Click (2) Page Submit (3) Click Count (4)

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End of Block: Post MACRO NODIS

Start of Block: Adrec / brandrec

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 75 behav How likely are you to do the following after seeing the Instagram post: Neither Extremely Moderately Slightly likely Slightly Moderately Extremely unlikely unlikely unlikely nor likely likely (6) likely (7) (1) (2) (3) unlikely (5) (4) I would share the post with my o o o o o o o friends (1) I would comment on the post on o o o o o o o Instagram (2) I would like the Instagram o o o o o o o post (3) I would share the post via a private message o o o o o o o on Instagram (4) I would save the post on

Instagram o o o o o o o (5)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 76 adrec Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. Neither Strongly Somewhat Disagree agree nor Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree (2) disagree agree (5) (6) agree (7) (1) (3) (4) The post I just saw contained

advertising o o o o o o o (1) The post I just saw showed or

mentioned o o o o o o o brands (2) The post I just saw was

commercial o o o o o o o (3) The post I just saw was paid

by a brand o o o o o o o (4)

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brandrecall Do you recall seeing any brands in the Instagram post?

o No (0)

o Yes, namely: (1) ______

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 77 brandrecog Did you see any of the following brands in the Instagram post? You can only choose one option.

o Adidas (2)

o Nike (3)

o Samsonite (4)

o Suit Suit (1)

o Delsey (5)

o Away (6)

o None of the above (7)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 78 cred What is your opinion of the woman posting the Instagram post? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Unattractive Attractive o o o o o o o

Not classy Classy o o o o o o o

Ugly Beautiful o o o o o o o

Plain Elegant o o o o o o o

Not sexy Sexy o o o o o o o

Undependable Dependable o o o o o o o

Dishonest Honest o o o o o o o

Unreliable Reliable o o o o o o o

Insincere Sincere o o o o o o o

Untrustworthy Trustworthy o o o o o o o

Not an expert Expert o o o o o o o

Unkowledgeable Knowledgeable o o o o o o o

Unqualified Qualified o o o o o o o

Unskilled Skilled o o o o o o o

Inexperienced Experienced o o o o o o o

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 79

End of Block: Adrec / brandrec

Start of Block: Brand responses brandatt The Instagram post you just saw showed a suitcase of the brand Suit Suit. The next questions are about the brand Suit Suit and about its placement in the post.

What is your opinion of the brand Suit Suit? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Bad Good o o o o o o o

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Dislike Like o o o o o o o

Unpleasant Pleasant o o o o o o o

Unfavorable Favorable o o o o o o o

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PI Imagine you need a suitcase. Neither Extremely Moderately Slightly likely Slightly Moderately Extremely unlikely unlikely unlikely nor likely likely (6) likely (7) (1) (2) (3) unlikely (5) (4) How likely are you to buy a suitcase

of the o o o o o o o brand Suit Suit? (1)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 80

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brandfam Before participating in this study, did you already know the brand Suit Suit?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

productuse Do you own any products of the brand Suit Suit?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

End of Block: Brand responses

Start of Block: CON PK: Intent, Source, Tactics cPKintent Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 81

The reason Suit Suit is shown in the Instagram post is to ... Neither Strongly Somewhat Disagree agree nor Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree (2) disagree agree (5) (6) agree (7) (1) (3) (4) ... stimulate people to want the o o o o o o o advertised brand (1) ... encourage people to

buy the o o o o o o o brand (2) ... entertain

people (3) o o o o o o o ... sell products

(4) o o o o o o o ... make people think positively o o o o o o o about the brand (5) ... attract attention to the o o o o o o o brand (6) ... make the post more fun o o o o o o o (7) ... make people remember

the brand o o o o o o o (8)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 82

cPKsource Sometimes people on Instagram mention or show a brand in their posts.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Neither Strongly Somewhat Disagree agree nor Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree (2) disagree agree (5) (6) agree (7) (1) (3) (4) The Instagrammer pays for showing the brand Suit o o o o o o o Suit in the Instagram post (1) Instagram pays for showing the brand in the o o o o o o o Instagram post (2) Suit Suit pays for showing the brand in the o o o o o o o Instagram post (3) Instagram users pay for being exposed to

the brand in o o o o o o o the Instagram post (4)

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cPKtactics Brands sometimes pay people on Instagram to show their brand in their Instagram posts. How do you think the brand Suit Suit is trying to influence you with this?

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 83

Please complete the following statement:

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 84

The brand Suit Suit tries to influence me by …

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 85

Neither Strongly Somewhat Disagree agree nor Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree (2) disagree agree (5) (6) agree (7) (1) (3) (4) … hiding the commercial purpose of

showing o o o o o o o the brand (1) ... making the Instagram

posts more o o o o o o o fun (2) … making sure it does not look like o o o o o o o advertising (3) … making sure I am exposed to

the brand o o o o o o o (4) ... making the Instagram

posts look o o o o o o o nicer (5) … placing the brand in a context

that I like o o o o o o o (6) … placing the brand in a context

that people o o o o o o o trust (7) ... making the Instagram posts more o o o o o o o entertaining (8)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 86

End of Block: CON PK: Intent, Source, Tactics

Start of Block: ATT PK: Skepticism & Liking aPKskep Brands sometimes pay people on Instagram to mention or show the brand in their Instagram posts.

What is your opinion about this?

I think that showing the brand Suit Suit in the Instagram post is... 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dishonest Honest o o o o o o o

Not Trustworthy trustworthy o o o o o o o

Incredible Credible o o o o o o o

Not Truthful truthful o o o o o o o

Insincere Sincere o o o o o o o

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aPKlike Brands sometimes pay people on Instagram to mention or show the brand in their Instagram posts.

What is your opinion about this?

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 87

I think that showing the brand Suit Suit in the Instagram post is... 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Unattractive Attractive o o o o o o o

Boring Interesting o o o o o o o

Not Amusing amusing o o o o o o o

Irritating Pleasant o o o o o o o

Obtrusive Unobtrusive o o o o o o o

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End of Block: ATT PK: Skepticism & Liking

Start of Block: Controls

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 88 productinterest Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. Neither Strongly Somewhat Disagree agree nor Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree (2) disagree agree (5) (6) agree (7) (1) (3) (4) I like buying suitcases

and bags o o o o o o o (1) I like seeing something about suitcases o o o o o o o and bags on social media (2) Please select answer option

'somewhat o o o o o o o agree' here (3) I am interested in suitcases o o o o o o o and bags (4)

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Q43 Before participating in this study, did you already know that some Instagram posts contain advertising or sponsored content (i.e., they get paid to show or mention brands and products)?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 89

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instaaccount Do you have an Instagram account?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

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instafreq On average, how often do you use Instagram?

o Never (1)

o Yearly (2)

o Monthly (3)

o Weekly (4)

o Approximately once a day (5)

o Multiple times a day (6)

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instaatt What is your opinion of the social media platform Instagram? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dislike Like o o o o o o o

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

Bad Good o o o o o o o

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 90

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End of Block: Controls

Start of Block: Manipulation Check / disclosure recall/recognition

recoginfluencer Which Instagram user published the Instagram post? You can only choose one option.

o @annekeemolenaar (1)

o @whitneyeveport (2)

o @doutzen (3)

o @janira_aguirre (4)

o @marissaxbell (5)

o @lara_stone (6)

o None of the above (7)

faminfluencer Did you already know the Instagram user you just saw?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 91 followinfluencer Do you follow her on Instagram?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

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Q84 Do you believe that this picture was actually posted by the Instagram user?

o No (0)

o Yes (1)

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verified Some people on Instagram have a verified account. These accounts have a blue check that appears next to an Instagram account's name in search and on the profile. It means Instagram has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or global brand it represents.

Do you recall whether the Instagram user you just saw had a verified account?

o No, the Instagram user did not have a verified account (0)

o Yes, the Instagram user had a verified account (1)

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INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 92 num_followers How many follower do you think the Instagram user you just saw has?

o 0 - 1,000 (1)

o 1,001 - 10,000 (2)

o 10,001 - 50,000 (3)

o 50,0001 - 250,000 (4)

o 250,001 - 1,000,000 (5)

o more than 1,000,000 (6)

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attentioncheck Research shows that people, when answering questions, prefer not to pay attention and minimize their effort as much as possible. If you are reading this question, please select 'none of the above'.

What was this study about?

o Managing body weight (1)

o Advertising on Instagram (2)

o Video games (3)

o None of the above (4)

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dis_recall When Instagram posts contain advertising or sponsored content (i.e. show or mention brands or products), sometimes these posts clearly disclose this with a hashtag or label.

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 93

Do you recall seeing any disclosures for advertising or sponsored content in the Instagram feed?

o No (0)

o Yes, namely: (1) ______

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dis_recog Do you recall seeing one of the following hashtags or statements disclosing that the post contains advertising? You can only choose one option.

o #ad (3)

o #paidad (2)

o #sponsored (4)

o Paid partnership with [brand] (1)

o Sponsored content (5)

o Advertising (6)

o None of the above (7)

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dis_att When Instagram posts contain advertising or sponsored content (i.e. show or mention brands or products), sometimes these posts clearly disclose this with a hashtag (for instance '#ad') or a label ('Paid partnership with [brand]').

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 94

What is your opinion about these disclosures? 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)

Dislike Like o o o o o o o

Bad Good o o o o o o o

Negative Positive o o o o o o o

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End of Block: Manipulation Check / disclosure recall/recognition

Start of Block: Demographics

Q52 Almost done!

The last questions are about your personal information.

age What is your age (in years)?

______

gndr Are you:

o Male (0)

o Female (1)

o Other (2)

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 95

edu What is the highest level of education that you have completed?

o Less than high school (1)

o High school / GED (2)

o Some college but no degree (3)

o Associate degree (4)

o Bachelor's degree (5)

o Master's degree (6)

o Doctorate Degree (PhD) (7)

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engprof Please estimate your English language proficiency:

o Proficient / Native (1)

o Intermediate (2)

o Basic (3)

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Q57 Thank you for your participation in our study! The objective of this research is to gain insights into people's recognition of and response to sponsored content on Instagram. Hence, we included various conditions that people were randomly assigned to: four different types of disclosures or cues as well as two different types of influencers. Our aim is to find out about the consequences of these disclosure or cues and influencer types on people’s persuasion knowledge and brand responses. Should you have any questions or feedback, please let us know below.

______

INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM 96

______

______

______

______

Q58 Don't forget to click on the last >> You will then be redirected to Prolific Academic.

This is a necessary step to save your response and to receive your reward.

End of Block: Demographics