Does Disclosure Awareness Influence Consumer Perceptions of Product Placement in the News? An Investigation in the Indian Context

Over the years, product placement has become a better substitute for conventional forms of marketing, and news has emerged as a platform for such product placement. The current study focuses on finding the effect of the recognition of persuasive intent behind product placement in news on the deception and credibility perceptions of consumers and the moderating role of disclosure awareness on them. With the objective to study these hypotheses, the current study collected data from the city of Delhi-NCR. The final data of N = 477 were analysed through structural equation model using SmartPLS software. The study found that recognition of persuasive intent in the presence of disclosure reduces the consumers’ deception perception towards such placements. It was also found that consumers find such placements to be more credible when they recognize the persuasive intent of the advertisers, and this relationship is complementarily partially mediated by perceived deceptiveness. The study explains the reason behind such behaviour of Indian consumers, which is now projected by European consumers after almost 10 years of regulation. The study suggests that the managers use proper disclosure before product placement in the news so as to avoid criticism.