Sponsorship Disclosures in Online Sponsored Content: Practitioners’ Considerations

ABSTRACT Many consumers fail to identify online sponsored content as advertising. This is an ethical problem because consumers need to know when they are exposed to advertising so they can raise counterarguments. To enhance transparency, guidelines have been issued that prescribe sponsorship disclosures. However, the actual use of these disclosures is limited and inconsistent. To better understand this ethical practice, the aim of the present qualitative interview study is to provide an overview of practitioners’ considerations to use disclosures (or not) for online sponsored content. We conducted a qualitative interview study, in which we interviewed 18 practitioners representing four stakeholder groups. The study reveals a diverse, complex, and conflicting set of considerations categorized as follows: moral responsibility toward consumers, own business interests, and perceptions regarding disclosure guidelines. We interpret our findings in light of previous studies in which advertising professionals talked about ethics. Implications for research and practice are discussed.