Generation Z response toward sponsorship disclosure on Instagram: Where do they look? What do they perceive? How do they act?

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the visual attention, transparency perception and attitude of Brazilian women from generation Z toward sponsorship disclosures with a different number of text messages used in native advertisements made by a digital influencer. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative and multi-method experiment was conducted through a within-subjects experimental design with 149 women. The eye-tracker assessed visual attention and questionnaires measured transparency perception of sponsorship and attitude toward native advertisements. To analyze eye-tracking and transparency perception data, Friedman’s analysis of variance was used. Structural equations were modeled for analyzing attitude data. Findings The quantitative results indicate that disclosures with a single textual message obtain more visual attention than multiple textual messages. However, sponsorship disclosures with multiple textual messages obtain the best transparency perception and generate a better attitude toward native advertisements. Research limitations/implications This study extends the theory by investigating the relationship between visual attention to sponsorship disclosure with a different number of textual messages and the target audience's responses to them. Practical implications The analysis of Brazilian generation Z women's responses to native ads might contribute to companies, marketing professionals and digital influencers obtaining great visual attention, transparency perception and attitude toward ethical and transparent ads to this audience. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze Brazilian generation Z women's visual attention, transparency perception and attitude toward sponsorship disclosure with single and multiple textual messages in native advertisements.