Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Influencer marketing and paid promotions are increasingly important in companies’ social media marketing strategies, as especially younger consumers rely on social media channels for communication, information, and commerce. This thesis investigates the role of influencer marketing and sponsored content on younger consumers’ buying behaviour. It explores how influencer content and sponsorship disclosures affect consumer trust, perceptions of authenticity, and buying decisions, with a particular focus on the beauty industry. The empirical research is conducted with a quantitative online survey, based on a review of existing literature on the topic. A structured survey was distributed to a sample group of young consumers, gaining a total of 102 valid responses from consumers aged 15–35 from nine different countries. It measures social media platform preferences, perceptions of genuineness in product reviews, influencer characteristics that drive trust, and consumer attitudes toward sponsorship disclosures. Survey data analysis was conducted on Excel, as most survey questions provided measurable results. The few open-ended questions were analysed individually, finding common themes in the responses. Findings highlight how Instagram and TikTok emerge as the best platforms for reaching younger consumers, especially Gen Z consumers, and influencing buying decisions. In addition to these platforms, YouTube and Facebook should be utilized in marketing efforts toward Millennial consumers. From different influencer types, micro influencers are viewed as most relatable and authentic due to close ties to community and peer-like perceptions. Additionally, micro influencers gain around 5–25% higher engagement rates on their posts. Consumers’ attitudes towards sponsorship disclosures commonly lean from neutral or negative, as sponsored product reviews are less trustworthy to consumers as non-sponsored reviews. Overall, this study provides insights to influencer marketing, effective sponsored promotions, and factors that impact younger consumers’ buying decisions. It provides valuable insights for rands and marketers on influencer marketing, for content creators on viewers perceptions, and lays a foundation for academics for possible future research.

Scholars from across the world continue to discuss and debate the psychological, ethical and regulatory issues associated with advertising to children. Despite this, research that explores children’s understanding of advertising more holistically (i.e. from more than just a cognitive developmental perspective) is largely absent from this area. Research must consider dimensions of children’s advertising literacy, that is, their ability to recognise, process and understand advertising and marketing messages besides their age and cognitive ability. Thus, this PhD presents an exploration of children’s advertising literacy, which draws upon an interdisciplinary framework encompassing conceptual and empirical research from two key disciplines: marketing and sociology. This research uses a combination of creative workshops and semi-structured peer interviews with children aged 9-11 years in the UK. This thesis intervenes in established debates about the commercialisation of childhood and children’s culture. It explores children's advertising literacy in the contemporary media environment, forging a dialogue between research on children’s understanding of advertising and consumption behaviour in light of increasingly digital lifestyles. Findings support the suggestion that children need to recognise commercial intent, be that an advertiser’s intention to sell or persuade, in order to identify something as an advertisement. However, in contrast to this assumption, findings also indicate that the ability to identify something as an advertisement is perhaps just one element of a child’s overall advertising literacy. It is also important to consider the application of literacy, the process of interpretation and understand that recognition of underlying commercial intent is not the only factor that may influence the way advertising is interpreted, evaluated and understood by children. In addition to enhancing existing bodies of knowledge, this research highlights six issues for policymakers where the efficacy of current advertising regulations could be improved and proposes a number of recommendations for socially-responsible advertising to children in the UK.

In view of the burgeoning innovation in marketing practices on social media, the need to understand how consumers react to these practices is also on the rise. Drawing on the persuasion knowledge model and literature of sponsorship disclosure and advertising literacy, this study explicates the interaction effect of sponsorship disclosure and advertising literacy intervention on the activation of consumer persuasion knowledge. The results suggest that, among the participants who have viewed the advertising literacy intervention, sponsored influencer posts with a sponsorship disclosure (vs. no disclosure) are more likely to activate participants’ conceptual persuasion knowledge, which in turn, leads to serial reactions, including greater attitudinal persuasion knowledge, decreased electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), and attenuated purchase intentions toward the promoted product. Conversely, among participants who did not view the advertising literacy intervention, sponsorship disclosures did not trigger these serial responses.

Most political parties use advertising to persuade voters in the election. For that reason, the party’s advertisings focus on how to make the good branding for political party’s image by making political marketing approach. This research aims to develop political advertising as a socialization media as well as to educate beginner voters about political knowledge. Based on the reception analysis to the beginner voters, beginner voters make the different interpretation to the party’s advertising in the election. Using participatory action research, the beginner voters involve to create new forms of party’s advertising based in their interpretation. Due to their involvement on the party’s advertising production, they make it by using political literacy approach for strengthening their own political knowledge. For beginner voters, political advertising could be developed as the creative instrument as campaign forms to increase the understanding of political party. Political advertising also become effective political learning tools to literate the public about politics.

This study examines the critical role of media in shaping political communication and voter behavior amid digital information disruption, with the objective of understanding its impact on democratic processes and proposing strategies for effective political communication. Utilizing a qualitative approach, the research employs a literature review method, systematically analyzing data extracted from credible sources, including peer-reviewed scholarly articles and public media, through content analysis to generate novel insights. The findings reveal that conventional and digital media significantly influence voter preferences through agenda setting and framing, directing public attention to specific issues and shaping perceptions of political candidates. Socialmedia platforms, while enhancing political participation, particularly among younger demographics, exacerbate polarization and disinformation due to algorithmic biases that reinforce echo chambers and the activities of political buzzers disseminating tailored narratives. The study underscores the urgent need for enhanced media literacy to equip the public with critical skills to navigate information, alongside responsible media practices and ethical political campaigns. It concludes that robust collaboration among media, politicians, academics, and civil society is vital to uphold journalistic integrity, implement transparent regulations, and strengthen digital literacy, fostering a healthy democratic ecosystem. By addressing these challenges, political communication can empower informed voter decisions, ensuring the resilience of democracy in the digital era.

Political advertising in the United States is regulated differently from commercial advertising, and regulations vary by media. The relative lack of regulations on social media has led to the dissemination of false information, often without source disclosure, which is harmful to democracy. In response, in a self-regulatory capacity, Twitter stopped accepting political advertising in 2019, launching a debate over political advertising regulation. We explore voters’ support for regulation of political advertising on social media (as a social or societal outcome of persuasion knowledge), with a focus on how persuasion knowledge of political advertising is related to such support. Our quota sample survey of 208 U.S. voters revealed that political interest in the topic serves as a key moderator in understanding how political information seeking and persuasion knowledge relate to support for regulations. Gender differences in political interest, information seeking, and persuasion knowledge were also found. Men were more likely than women to score higher on these constructs. Considering the role of interest in and information seeking on the topic (i.e., politics) is important for understanding how persuasion knowledge operates.

Data-driven political advertising (DDPA) is a manifestation of data-driven campaigning and isincreasingly used by European political parties. Political actors can collect vast amounts of personaldata to show voters targeted ads. Therefore, DDPA has received much attention from scholars.However, we lack insights into what voters know about DDPA, and how this knowledge affects(dis-)engagement with personalized ads. We approach this problem by examining (a) which votercharacteristics enhance understanding of DDPA tactics and implications, and (b) to what extentDDPA knowledge plays a role for engaging with or avoiding of political ads. In a two-wave panelsurvey study (NW1 = 1264, NW2 = 1011), conducted during the 2021 Dutch General Elections, weshow that (a) male, younger, higher educated and politically interested respondents were mostknowledgeable. Yet, (b) the predictors vary when examining different types of DDPA knowledge,and (c) DDPA knowledge neither affects ad engagement nor ad avoidance, but we find thatpolitical interest and self-efficacy are crucial for ad engagement and ad avoidance, respectively.These findings discuss the relevance of DDPA knowledge in the context of data-driven campaigns,and add to the debate on how to best empower voters in a changed political advertisinglandscape.

Efforts to investigate the role of political microtargeting (PMT) and any plans for regulation should consider certain context- and country-specific factors that may influence the impacts of PMT. In an attempt to understand which drivers influence the information environment around elections, we outlined five factors that are particularly relevant for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): 1. General education, digital skills, and critical media literacy 2. Societal cleavages, inequalities, and polarization 3. Connectivity and access to information 4. Legal and regulatory frameworks 5. Strength and resilience of democratic institutions

In this research, the hypothesis is explored using the perception of people about social media as a campaign system with regard to the efficiency and moral consequences of the targeted advertising. By applying the qualitative methods, the study examines the user reaction towards emotive political advertisements and the effects of emotive political advertisements on political system trust. The results indicate that although targeted advertising serves as an effective way to make the voters interested in the immediate future, it frequently results in long-term disengagement and distrust. The respondents also raised serious concerns regarding any breach of privacy and the control of emotions appeals pointing out that there should be more regulation and transparency in political advertising. The study is relevant to the existing literature because it gives insights into the emotional and ethical aspects of digital political campaigning, the need to encourage actual political participation in the digital age.

This article critically examines the need for regulating political microtargeting in India to uphold democratic accountability and protect voter data privacy. It argues that the current legal framework, including emerging data protection laws, insufficiently addresses the unique challenges posed by microtargeted political campaigns. Unregulated microtargeting allows political actors to disseminate tailored, and sometimes misleading, messages to narrow audiences without broader public scrutiny, undermining the transparency and fairness of the electoral process. At the same time, the mass collection and profiling of personal data for political advertising occurs largely outside robust privacy safeguards, putting citizens’ informational autonomy at risk. The article analyzes gaps in existing election law and data privacy regimes, highlighting the absence of clear accountability mechanisms and privacy protections for microtargeting practices. It proposes legal reforms, such as stricter data protection obligations for political parties, transparency requirements for online political advertising, and oversight by election authorities, to mitigate these risks. Such measures are imperative to reinforce democratic integrity and individual privacy in India’s digital political landscape.

This study investigates the effect of online political ads on party preference, and whether this effect is more pronounced for newer political parties and voters who are less politically knowledgeable and literate regarding online privacy. A mixed-method approach, combining Facebook browser tracking data and a four-wave panel survey, was adopted during the 2021 Dutch General Election campaign. The results showed that the number of political ads received from a specific party has a positive effect on both the propensity and choice to vote for that party. In addition, people with less political knowledge and online privacy literacy are more likely to be persuaded by online political ads. However, at the party level, there is no evidence indicating that the effect of political ads on party preference is stronger for new parties than for established parties. Overall, this study shows that voters can be persuaded via the frequency of exposure to online political ads, but the extent to which they are affected can vary.

Political microtargeting has been widely debated as a potential threat to democratic societies. However, after more than a decade of research on its implementation in political campaigns and effects on the electorate, questions about its actual impact remain unanswered. This article examines the current state of research on political microtargeting, with a focus on content personalisation as a defining feature. First, the term microtargeting is defined based on previous studies to also consider adequate operationalisations. Further, empirical findings on its use by political actors and findings of the potential impact on voters are summarised, highlighting content personalisation as a crucial element of microtargeting. A theoretical frame work is proposed to explain the mechanisms of content personalisation in political social media campaigns. This framework considers the role of political and personal predispositions in shaping the effectiveness of personalised political communication. Distinguishing relevant factors of personalisation and their respective influence contributes to future research and the ongoing discussion on the impact of content personalisation on democratic societies

Media literacy has become an essential tool for addressing the growing challenges of misinformation, disinformation, and political propaganda in the digital age. This study explores the theoretical, pedagogical, and policy dimensions of media literacy as a framework for strengthening democratic integrity and civic engagement. It begins by examining historical patterns of propaganda, the role of social media in amplifying false information, and case studies of misinformation during elections and crises. The analysis then turns to education, highlighting curriculum design, pedagogical strategies for critical thinking and fact-checking, and the roles of teachers, librarians, and civic organizations in fostering informed citizenship. At the policy level, federal and state initiatives, regulatory practices, and the delicate balance between free speech and information integrity are critically assessed. Furthermore, the study investigates instructional design models, technology-enhanced learning tools such as games and AI, and evaluation metrics for program effectiveness. Finally, it emphasizes integrating media literacy into national education standards, advancing policy recommendations, and applying design thinking innovations to counter misinformation. Overall, the paper underscores the importance of a multidimensional approach that blends education, policy, and technology to safeguard democratic values in an era of information disorder.

Online political advertising and its implications for liberal democracies has become a topic of considerable scholarly and regulatory interest in recent years. The report is guided by the question of how online political advertising is regulated in Europe, especially in the context of elections but also more generally. Its aim is to map the existing, and to some extent upcoming, regulatory framework of online political advertising in the EU and in selected Member States of Germany, France, Spain, Ireland and Poland. After a brief analysis of key concepts, the report maps the EU regulation of data protection and electronic commerce, and other complementary regulation within the Union’s competence. Lastly, the report contains the five case studies of Member State election and online media law. While the relevant EU law is in flux with new regulatory initiatives being processed in the fields of data protection, e-commerce and artificial intelligence, uncertainties also remain concerning the interpretation of existing laws, for instance, on data protection obligations and intermediary liability. In turn, the addressed Member States currently a lack proper electoral and media law framework that would systematically take into account the deployment of online services in the dissemination of election propaganda. However, there is increasing attention paid to online services by national regulators that focuses primarily on information disseminated via the largest online services.

This study reviews the literature on online political advertising literacy, sorting concepts and evidence. Through reflexive thematic analysis of 39 articles, we identify key concepts, interventions, and reported effects of online political advertising literacy. Based on this analysis, we propose a definition that includes conceptual understanding, evaluation, ethical considerations, and skills as components necessary for interpreting political ads and messages across online contexts. We find only few prior studies have empirically tested interventions in the context of targeting, mainly through two dominant approaches: educational interventions and targeting disclosures, most focusing on the latter. Lastly, we propose four starting points for future research: broadening the scope of interventions, tailoring them to specific audiences, exploring effective formats and long-term impacts, and conducting more qualitative research on how individuals process (targeted) political ads. This review underscores the need for further research to enhance interventions and empower citizens in an increasingly online political world.

For over half a century art directors within the advertising industry have been adapting to the changes occurring in media, culture and the corporate sector, toward enhancing professional performance and competitiveness. These professionals seldom offer explicit justification about the role images play in effective communication. It is uncertain how this situation affects advertising performance, because advertising has, nevertheless, evolved in parallel to this as an industry able to fabricate new opportunities for itself. However, uncertainties in the formalization of art direction knowledge restrict the possibilities of knowledge transfer in higher education. The theoretical knowledge supporting advertising art direction has been adapted spontaneously from disciplines that rarely focus on specific aspects related to the production of advertising content, like, for example: marketing communication, design, visual communication, or visual art. Meanwhile, in scholarly research, vast empirical knowledge has been generated about advertising images, but often with limited insight into production expertise. Because art direction is understood as an industry practice and not as an academic discipline, an art direction perspective in scholarly contributions is rare. Scholarly research that is relevant to art direction seldom offers viewpoints to help understand how it is that research outputs may specifically contribute to art direction practices. This thesis is dedicated to formally understanding the knowledge underlying art direction and using it to explore models for visual analysis and knowledge transfer in higher education. The first three chapters of this thesis offer, firstly, a review of practical and contextual aspects that help define art direction, as a profession and as a component in higher education; secondly, a discussion about visual knowledge; and thirdly, a literature review of theoretical and analytic aspects relevant to art direction knowledge. Drawing on these three chapters, this thesis establishes explicit structures to help in the development of an art direction curriculum in higher education programs. Following these chapters, this thesis explores a theoretical combination of the terms ‘aesthetics’ and ‘strategy’ as foundational notions for the study of art direction. The theoretical exploration of the term ‘strategic aesthetics’ unveils the potential for furthering knowledge in visual commercial practices in general. The empirical part of this research explores ways in which strategic aesthetics notions can extend to methodologies of visual analysis. Using a combination of content analysis and of structures of interpretive analysis offered in visual anthropology, this research discusses issues of methodological appropriation as it shifts aspects of conventional methodologies to take into consideration paradigms of research that are producer-centred. Sampled out of 2759 still ads from the online databases of Cannes Lions Festival, this study uses an instrumental case study of love-related advertising to facilitate the analysis of content. This part of the research helps understand the limitations and functionality of the theoretical and methodological framework explored in the thesis. In light of the findings and discussions produced throughout the thesis, this project aims to provide directions for higher education in relation to art direction and highlights potential pathways for further investigation of strategic aesthetics.

Continuous research and study of technological advances in media communication is a modern requirement that is dictated by scientific needs. Technological possibilities are changing daily and being supplemented by new tools and mobile services, making it important to define the audience of the media communication. This article presents the results of survey that aimed to identify media literacy issues and identify gender and geo-regional characteristics of digital media users. The social status of the audience was also analyzed, as well as the coefficient of network usage. The purpose of the scientific article was to evaluate the activity of social networking channels and personal information portals of major media companies in the country. To determine the scientific and practical relevance of the research, the level of news distribution in social networks and information portals was studied, and the impact of fake news on the audience was discussed. The most common formats in social networks, such as podcasts and infographics, were also tracked. Methods such as survey, comparative content analysis, and monitoring were used to identify the main problems of the study. As a result, the audience of digital media in recent years was analyzed, and new data was provided on the users of the video hosting of the most viewed YouTube channels. It was determined that literacy in the use of open databases still needs to be developed. The study found that media audiences are not yet capable of developing technological capabilities at this stage. The difference between independent and state-owned media was cited using specific examples. Ways to create competent content in the media space were evaluated, and solutions to audience problems in digital media were proposed based on scientific papers and expert opinions.

Reception analysis takes into consideration not only individual differences but also cultural differences. On the other hand, there are diverse factors determining audience’s reception and active participation. Education, age, sex, economical status, family background, ethnicity, world –view and similar factors affect the reception process. Besides that, being media literate and fostering a critical approach towards media texts also determines reception. Taking into account all these factors, this research is designed as a comparative reception analysis. We will be comparing the reception of a global product by youngsters (Survivor Show) within the scope of media literacy education and cultural differences. For that purpose we realized focus group discussions with communication faculty students from Spain and Turkey. The research was realized in the framework of literature review including the above mentioned topics.

The exchange of information, discourse and meaning across a bewildering array of cultural, geographic and political barriers has become a central concern for a broad range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. As such, there is a growing body of empirical work in academic journals and doctoral theses that addresses particular instances of transnational reception. It is nonetheless fair to say that as a field of study, our knowledge of transnational audiences remains highly fragmented and lacks a common conceptual or comparative framework. In the main, overarching theories of global media flows and markets continue to rest upon theoretical understandings of media reception that are largely derived from a previous epoch where media mobility and intercultural communication was not a primary focus. As a consequence, contemporary studies of transnational media reception still require a coherent geography capable of addressing the unique demands of this kind of work. There is a pressing need, therefore, to articulate the theoretical work on the transnational itself with a technologically and politically updated configuration of media reception in the twenty-first century. Ambitious as this proposition might sound, defining this terrain in a comprehensive and accessible fashion has become a necessary step in furthering critical debates in this exciting and important field. This article will not achieve this goal, naturally, but will instead seek to lay out some of the conceptual terrain from which we might proceed

The use of social media saturates the everyday lives of young people, offering complex, rich challenges and opportunities for cultivating their skills with and disposition toward online participatory politics in “a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world ” (National Council for the Social Studies). While attempts to define digital civic engagement are still in a formative stage (Kligler-Vilenchik & Thorson, 2016), National Council for the Social Studies suggests drawing upon youth’s informal personal use of social media and seeking to transfer these experiences into formal civic and academic settings so as to enable students to become civically engaged in digital spaces. The following are reasons to do so, supported with recommendations on ways to aid in that transformation, and with resources to enable us as social studies educators to turn those recommendations into civic realities.

This research investigates the shift of citizen journalism during the 21st century with special attention to how new technologies affected the whole process of news production, distribution, and public participation. With the help of online platforms and the internet, a great deal of society has been given the opportunity to speak up and has started to participate in the news-making and distribution through social media and other internet channels. This change of events has made it difficult for the previously existing power of gatekeeping to be held by professional journalists who determined the credibility and impartiality of the news, besides having an impact on public opinion and the entire mass media world. In order to investigate the mentioned issues, a quantitative approach was employed. The research data were collected through an online survey where the participants were self-reported and were 486 in number who usually participate in citizen journalism. The replies of the participants were evaluated using descriptive statistics, and reliability analyses were performed to assess the consistency of the measures. To investigate people’s beliefs about the credibility, bias, and their impact on the audience, latent construct modelling was applied with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) included. The survey results reveal that citizen reporting gives rise to speedy, unpretentious, and public-influencing news; albeit, it struggles against a major trustworthiness issue caused by misinformation and bias. The corresponding results stress the necessity of equipping people with media literacy skills, conducting verification practices, and adhering to moral standards so that the trust in citizen journalism is maintained and its democratizing potential is unlocked. These revelations are a great source of information for decision makers, media, and well-informed citizens.

This article offers a theoretically-grounded case study considering the role of Critical Media Project (CMP) as an educational initiative and intervention that sits at the juncture of media literacy and social justice. CMP fills key gaps in media literacy education by using a critical media literacy frame to foster critical consumption, critical creation, and cultural competencies around seven key social identities (race and ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+, socio-economic class, religion, ability and age). In turn, through a media-rich website, curriculum and other programs, CMP helps youth imagine a better future with the requisite tools, resources and power to challenge dominant systems and structures of power.

Social media has become a dominant force in civic life amid widespread concerns about its role in political polarisation and in the spread of misinformation. To prepare citizens to take on these challenges, we need civic education that teaches youth to be capable and responsible consumers, conveyors and producers of online information. To do so, teachers must position students as epistemic agents, fostering the skills they need to engage with online information. In this article, we present the first iteration of a design-based research project on social media and civic action. The project prepares high school students in rural, urban and suburban settings located in Northern California (USA) to engage with issues that resonate with them, to critically examine information about these issues from online sources and to use social media as a vehicle to connect with, inform and mobilise the public. We present the basic design principles that teachers have used to support apt epistemic performance, focusing on the epistemic aims (creating knowledge products that inspire civic action), ideals (taking personal responsibility for the accuracy of information when posting) and reliable processes (sourcing, fact checking and correctly representing information) embedded in their units of instruction. Drawing on teacher interviews and curriculum, we explore the affordances of the curriculum to promote civic action by leveraging student engagement in social media, while also challenging them to critically examine how knowledge is produced and disseminated on social media. We conclude with a discussion of how this work intersects with the aims and methods of social pedagogy.

Amid rising concerns about “fake news,” efforts have emerged to explain the spread and impact of misinformation on youth civic engagement. These efforts have focused primarily on the role of social media in exposing youth to factually inaccurate civic information and the factors that influence the ability to discern the accuracy of such information. A less explored aspect has been the impact of the rise of “outrage language,” defined as language that evokes strong emotional responses (e.g., fear, anger, disgust) that communications scholars have documented as playing a larger role in political discourse over the past few decades (Berry & Sobieraj, 2014). This article draws on three recent studies of digital media and youth civic engagement to discuss (a) the role of participatory media in exposing youth to outrage language in civic discourse, (b) the challenges of balancing attention to the emotional and factual elements when participating in online civic discourse, and (c) how the development of online counterpublics through high school classrooms can help students create models of productive online discourse. The article concludes with suggestions for future research and educational interventions that address the challenges associated with outrage language.

The study explores the evolving patterns of political participation among youth in the digital era, focusing on how technological advancements have redefined the ways in which young people engage with democratic processes. As digital platforms become increasingly integrated into daily life, they offer new spaces for civic expression, communication, and activism, particularly among the younger generation. This research aims to examine the current trends in youth political participation, identify key factors that drive such engagement, and assess the implications for democratic development. The study is grounded in a qualitative research methodology, employing document analysis and descriptive interpretation to explore youth behaviors, motivations, and challenges related to political participation. It highlights the importance of digital literacy, civic education, and critical thinking as foundational components in fostering informed and responsible participation. Findings reveal that while traditional forms of political engagement such as voting remain essential, there is a noticeable shift toward digital forms of participation, including online advocacy, social media activism, and participation in virtual forums and campaigns. The flexibility and immediacy of digital tools allow youth to express opinions, build networks, and organize movements more effectively than ever before. However, the study also notes that while digital engagement offers new opportunities, it also presents challenges such as misinformation, digital divides, and the potential for superficial involvement. To enhance meaningful youth political participation, it is crucial to implement strategies that combine digital empowerment with education that promotes ethical responsibility, critical inquiry, and community engagement. This study underscores the potential of youth as key actors in shaping political futures and emphasizes the need to support their active involvement through inclusive, informed, and digitally adaptive frameworks.