Testing the Effects of Incidental Advertising Exposure in Online Gaming Environment

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study addresses incidental advertising exposure effects in online games by manipulating both the location (low proximity versus high proximity) and the message content (visual versus verbal) of an incidental cue while participants' primary attention is diverted by playing an online game. The results reveal that incidental exposure can be effective if the secondary stimulus appears very close to the focal attention area. The study also finds no incidental effects of text inside bars or images in address bars. Additional informationABOUT THE AUTHORAdam Acar (Ph.D Candidate, University of Connecticut) has been majoring in marketing communications and currently is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include advertising effectiveness, social network marketing and market mixed modeling.Note: The author thanks Dr. Robin Coulter and Dr. Alex Wang for their valuable contributions to this research.