What Components Should Be Included in Advertising Literacy Education? Effect of Component Types and the Moderating Role of Age

Abstract

Advertising literacy education can be developed based on three literacy components: content, grammar, and structure literacy. Content literacy refers to an understanding of the content of ads (e.g., themes and ideas), grammar literacy concerns an understanding of the grammar of ads (e.g., visual techniques) used for persuasion, and structure literacy refers to an understanding of the social and economic structure of the media industry that affects production of ads (e.g., ownership and revenue models). This study tested the immediate and delayed effects of different literacy education components in an ad literacy program on children’s advertising knowledge and criticism, and the moderating role of age in these effects. To do so, we conducted an experiment based on a 3 literacy component (content literacy, content + grammar literacy, and content + grammar + structure literacy) × 2 age (third versus fifth graders) × 2 time (immediate test versus one-year delayed test) design. Results showed that adding the structure literacy component resulted in greater knowledge for fifth graders (ages 10 and 11) but not for third graders (ages eight and nine). In addition, adding the structure literacy component resulted in lower criticism. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.