Reducing Resistance to Sponsorship Disclosure: The Role of Experiential Versus Material Posts

Despite the growing relevance of influencer marketing, recent research suggests that consumers have negative reactions to social media ads. Our research investigates how different types of disclosure (paid partnership vs. in-text disclosure) and post content (experiential vs. material) mitigate consumers’ negative reactions to social media advertisements. Four preregistered studies, drawing on the social exchange theory, reveal how the post content shapes the sponsorship disclosure effects. In particular, we show that a paid partnership (vs. in-text) disclosure has a positive impact on consumers’ responses (engagement and purchase intent) and that persuasion resistance mediates the effects. Furthermore, Study 3 reveals that the type of content (experiential vs. material) moderates the effect, such that consumers’ negative reactions to sponsorship disclosure are mitigated with experiential (vs. material) content. Overall, our results provide actionable implications for tourism marketers on how to create advertisements in social media, minimizing negative reactions to sponsorship disclosure.