Exploring the Construct of Organization as Source: Consumers' Understandings of Organizational Sponsorship of Advocacy Advertising

TLDR

Advocacy advertising has become a staple of corporate strategy, yet little research has examined what makes an organization a credible sponsor for issue advocacy. The study investigates how consumers interpret organizational sponsorship of advocacy advertising. Based on 97 qualitative interviews, the authors identify criteria consumers use to evaluate organizational sponsors and how they apply these criteria to assess advocacy messages. The study’s findings are compared with existing credibility and advocacy advertising literature, revealing commonalities and divergences.

Abstract

Abstract Abstract Advocacy advertising is now a mainstay of corporate advertising strategy. Though much research has been done on source credibility in general and single persona sponsor credibility, little attention has been given to what makes an organization a credible sponsor for issues/advocacy advertising. On the basis of 97 qualitative interviews with consumers, the article profiles how consumers make sense of organizational sponsorship of advocacy messages. In the analysis, the criteria consumers use to evaluate organizational sponsors are identified, and how consumers use those criteria to describe effective/ineffective advocacy messages is discussed. The article concludes with a comparison of the study results with those reported in the credibility and advocacy advertising literature, highlighting points of commonality and divergence. Suggestions for future research are offered.