Listicles vs. Narratives: The Interplay between Mood, Message Type, and Disclosure on Native-Advertising Effectiveness

Two studies examine the interplay between mood and native-advertising type (listicle and narrative) on attitudinal and behavioral response. Study 1 found that listicles elicited more item-specific processing thoughts than narratives while narratives induced more relational processing thoughts than listicles. Results also suggest that people in a negative mood find native ads presented in a listicle format more appealing while people in a positive mood prefer native ads presented as narratives. Study 2 added disclosure language as a potential moderator; however, the results showed consistent findings as Study 1 and suggested disclosure language did not influence the effectiveness of native advertising. Furthermore, Study 2 also identified manipulativeness as an underlying mechanism that explains the interaction between mood and native-ad type.