Balancing hype and credibility: the impact of advertising puffery and popularity on clicks in short-video platform

Purpose The increasing popularity of short-video platforms has led to an increased prevalence of advertising puffery, yet the effect of advertising puffery is still unclear. Grounded in congruity theory, this study investigates how varying levels of advertising puffery influence click-through intention, mediated by consumer interest and trust. Additionally, we explore the moderating influence of the intensity of popularity cues based on signaling theory. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based experiment was conducted using a 3 (levels of advertising puffery: no, low and high) × 3 (intensity of popularity cues: low, medium and high) between-subject design, collecting data from 412 respondents. Findings The results reveal that: (1) a nonlinear relationship between puffery and click-through intention, with low puffery outperforming both no and high puffery; (2) Consumer interest and trust mediate the relationship between puffery and click-through intention and (3) The intensity of popularity cues moderates the relationship between puffery and click-through intention as well as the mediation effects of consumer interest and trust. Originality/value This study extends advertising research by redefining puffery as a three-level construct rather than a binary construct, uncovering its nonlinear impact in short-video contexts. It uniquely integrates social information (popularity cues) as a moderator, extending signaling theory into short-video advertising and introduces a dual-path mediation model (consumer interest and trust) absent in existing puffery literature. It highlights the importance of balancing puffery levels with popularity cues to optimize consumer responses.