Provision of brand information and critical reasoning predict advertising literacy

This study investigated students’ critical reasoning about commercials, as an aspect of advertising literacy. Critical reasoning was examined under two different experimental conditions. That is, students were tasked with watching four different commercials with 1) brand information provided or not, and 2) asked to engage in critical reasoning or not. The commercials chosen used various production techniques (e.g., socially conscious marketing) to mask their persuasive message. Students provided with brand information within commercials had significantly higher critical reasoning scores when viewing two, out of the four, commercials, and significantly higher overall Analysis of Persuasive Intent (API) scores and brand recall. Students asked to engage in critical reasoning during viewing had lower brand recall, with no other differences identified. Conclusions from this study include that the provision of brand information within commercials activated students’ advertising schema, supporting their recognition of persuasive intent.