“This is not sponsored content” – The effects of impartiality disclosure and e-commerce landing pages on consumer responses to social media influencer posts

Abstract

Social media influencers are on a daily basis conveying their opinion regarding products and brands through social media postings. Many of these posts are sponsored by a brand, while others are in the form of genuine advice. Influencers might choose to add a disclosure (“this is not sponsored content”) in non-sponsored product posts that highlight their impartiality. This information ought to affect how consumers respond to the post. In two experiments, we examine how emphasizing impartiality in influencer product posts affect consumers' response by applying a 3 (disclosure type: impartial vs. explicit sponsorship vs. no disclosure) factorial-design. In the second experiment, we further examine how disclosure type and landing page type (e-commerce product page vs. start page) from brand hyperlinks in the influencer post, interact to form consumer brand attitudes and purchase intentions. The findings reveal that impartiality product posts are less likely to be perceived as advertising compared to sponsored product posts or posts without sponsorship information, and therefore generate higher source and message credibility. Additionally, participants’ brand attitude and purchase intention are reduced when they are directed to a product page instead of a start page when being simultaneously exposed to an impartiality disclosure.