Impact of advertising puffery on purchase intention and brand loyalty of young adults

This research study proposes a model to test the impact of advertising puffery on purchase intention and brand loyalty involving the mediating role of ad-related factors—likability of the advertisement and attitude toward the ad- and brand-related factors—brand familiarity, attitude toward the brand, and brand credibility. The inclusion of brand loyalty as an exogenous construct is an attempt to extend the existing research in the ad puffery domain. Further, a combination of ad-related and brand-related factors as mediators is a novel approach in the field of ad puffery. It provides insightful findings for researchers as well as practitioners. The cross-sectional approach used in this study involved gathering data from young adult respondents (age group between 18 and 24 years) over a specific period. Results based on 330 young adult respondents revealed significant direct and mediating effects. All the ad-related and brand-related factors mediated the direct relationship of ad puffery with purchase intention and brand loyalty. Additionally, gender significantly moderated the direct relationship of ad puffery with purchase intention. Further, theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed.