Hybridization and Change in Commercial Discourse: Students’ Attitudes Towards the Blurring of Aims and Functions in Media Hybrid Content

The aim of the article is to identify the perception of hybrid commercial messages (HM) understood as a marketing technique. The study focuses on determining the level of recognition of various forms of HM in traditional and digital media by students from two different fields of study. Additionally, the goal is to examine their opinions on these marketing practices and the perceived credibility of the media in which HM are published. Based on the Persuasion Knowledge Model and the Media Literacy Skills scale the following research questions were formulated: What do interviewees know about HMs? How does media literacy affect the recognition of HMs’ persuasive intent? Can they identify the advertising nature of these messages? What strategies do they use to cope with HMs, and what are their opinions? The study involves qualitative interviews with 68 journalism and engineering students. Findings reveal that students often struggle to recognize the persuasive nature of HMs, indicating a need for better media literacy. Attitudes toward native advertising are categorized into three groups: opponents (critical of native ads), indifferent individuals (seeing them as necessary), and understanding participants (viewing them as legitimate).