When warnings fail and ads feel good: How advertising disclosures affect children’s understanding and feelings about narrative product placements

Abstract Product placements (PP) with plot connection (i.e., narrative PP) are prevalent in children’s media landscapes, and concerns arise about young audiences’ ability to recognize and critically process such embedded advertising formats. Using a 2×2 experimental design ( N = 234; M age = 8.10), we tested two conceptual models: (1) the prevalent PK-activation model, assessing whether exposure to disclosures reduces brand evaluation via situational persuasion knowledge (PK); and (2) the exploratory affective-disruption model, examining how exposure to narrative PP and disclosures indirectly affect brand evaluation via emotional reactions. Results showed that disclosures did not increase PK, but higher PK was associated with lower brand evaluation. Exposure to narrative PP increased both children’s pleasure feelings and brand evaluation directly. Moreover, disclosures diminished the pleasure response triggered by narrative PP. Findings revealed no mediation via emotional reactions. These findings suggest that while disclosures may reduce children’s enjoyment of branded content, they fall short in activating critical processing.