Publication: The Impact of Disclosing Sponsored Marketing to Children: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Issued Date
2025
Resource Type
Resource Version
Accepted Manuscript
Language
eng
File Type
application/pdf
ISSN
0125-3611 (Print)
2651-0561 (Online)
2651-0561 (Online)
Journal Title
Ramathibodi Medical Journal
Volume
48
Issue
1
Start Page
e271581
Access Rights
open access
Rights
ผลงานนี้เป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของมหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล ขอสงวนไว้สำหรับเพื่อการศึกษาเท่านั้น ต้องอ้างอิงแหล่งที่มา ห้ามดัดแปลงเนื้อหา และห้ามนำไปใช้เพื่อการค้า
Rights Holder(s)
Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University,
Bibliographic Citation
Ramathibodi Medical Journal. Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jan - Mar 2025), e271581
Suggested Citation
Prakasit Wannapaschaiyong, Kamolchanok Saleepatcharaporn, Pat Rojmahamongkol The Impact of Disclosing Sponsored Marketing to Children: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Ramathibodi Medical Journal. Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jan - Mar 2025), e271581. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/110063
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Authors
Journal Issue
Thesis
Title
The Impact of Disclosing Sponsored Marketing to Children: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Author's Affiliation
Abstract
Background:Early primary school children (ages 6-8 years) often struggle to recognize advertising content and understand its persuasive intent, particularly in digital media. With increasing exposure to sponsored content on platforms, such as YouTube, there is a critical need for effective methods to enhance children’s advertising literacy.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of child-specific advertising disclosure on advertising literacy among children aged 6 to 8 years.
Methods: This pilot randomized controlled trial, 43 primary school children in Thailand were randomly assigned to control or intervention groups. The intervention group viewed a 10-second disclosure stating, “This person received money to use the product in this content,” before watching a mock YouTube unboxing video. Advertising literacy was assessed via questionnaires at baseline, immediately postintervention, and at 3-month follow-up.
Results: Among 43 participants (51.6% female, mean age 7.31 years), the control group demonstrated a significant decrease in overall advertising literacy scores from pretest to posttest (P = .049), driven by reduced brand recognition, source recognition, and understanding of selling intent. In contrast, the intervention group maintained their advertising literacy (P = .110), with a stable understanding of persuasive intent and a trend toward improved understanding of selling intent. Scores remained consistent from the posttest to 3-month follow-up in both groups.
Conclusions: Child-inspired advertising disclosure prevented a decline in advertising literacy, particularly for persuasive and selling intent components. These findings suggest that customized disclosures may enhance young children’s recognition of advertising commercial motives.