Instituto de Investigación y Transferencia (ITEI), Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), Avenida de la Paz, 137, 26006 Logroño, Spain.
Faculty of Education, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), Avenida de la Paz, 137, 26006 Logroño, Spain.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2024 Sep;249:104476. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104476. Epub 2024 Sep 5.
The use of loot boxes has been compared to gambling due to its random nature, with the consequent risk of being conceived as an ordinary activity implemented in the daily routine. One of the factors contributing to these gambling behaviors is exposure to gambling advertisements. It is essential to protect children and adolescents from prejudicial advertising, since due to their psycho-evolutionary development, advertising makes them impressionable and suggestible. Currently, there is scarcely any research on the influence of advertising on underage buyers of loot boxes. Knowledge in this regard is important to adequately address efforts to protect minors from the potential impact of gambling and its advertising. Thus, this study aims to examine how understanding advertising intent in loot box advertising moderates the relationship between the recognition of loot box advertising and the problematic usage of loot boxes in a sample of adolescents. The present study used a cross-sectional design, and the sample is composed by 451 adolescents (85.8 % male) that played videogames and purchased loot boxes in the last 12 months. Results indicated that understanding advertising intent played a moderating role in the relationship between advertising recognition and Problematic Use of Loot Boxes, strengthening it positively. The findings showed that when there was a low degree of understanding advertising intent, the former relationship was not significant. However, with a high level of understanding advertising intent the relationship between advertising recognition and Problematic Use of Loot Boxes was significant and strengthened. This means that knowing how ads try persuading the player affects how adverts are linked to PULB. Specifically, if adolescents understand that ads are trying to sell them loot boxes, this knowledge makes the relationship between seeing ads and having PULB stronger. These results are of interest for advertising literacy strategies.
由于其随机性，战利品箱的使用已被比作赌博，随之而来的风险是被视为日常生活中实施的普通活动。导致这些赌博行为的因素之一是接触赌博广告。保护儿童和青少年免受有害广告的影响至关重要，因为由于他们的心理-进化发展，广告使他们容易受到影响和暗示。目前，几乎没有任何关于广告对未成年战利品箱购买者影响的研究。了解这方面的知识对于充分努力保护未成年人免受赌博及其广告的潜在影响非常重要。因此，本研究旨在研究在一个青少年样本中，理解战利品箱广告中的广告意图如何调节广告识别与战利品箱问题性使用之间的关系。本研究采用了横断面设计，样本由 451 名青少年（85.8%为男性）组成，这些青少年在过去 12 个月中玩过电子游戏并购买过战利品箱。结果表明，理解广告意图在广告识别与问题性使用战利品箱之间的关系中起到了调节作用，正向强化了这种关系。研究结果表明，当理解广告意图的程度较低时，上述关系并不显著。然而，当理解广告意图的程度较高时，广告识别与问题性使用战利品箱之间的关系是显著的，并且得到了加强。这意味着，了解广告如何试图说服玩家会影响到玩家如何将广告与 PULB 联系起来。具体来说，如果青少年理解广告是在试图向他们推销战利品箱，那么这种知识会使看到广告和拥有 PULB 之间的关系更加紧密。这些结果对广告素养策略具有重要意义。
