Corporate social responsability in advergames: Adjusting communication to the kids of today

Field lab: Consumer insights

This research aims to understand the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, in particular on the topic of environment, through advergames directed to children. The experiment measures the impact on the brand dimensions, and also on children’s attitude towards the environment; with brand familiarity and cause-brand fit as moderators. A total of 124 children aged 7 to 9 years participated in the experiment and were randomly assigned to one of three groups. In two of the groups children either played the game “Save the Planet” or a similar game not related to the environment. A third group did not play any game, only answered a structured questionnaire concerning all four advertised brands. Results showed no significant differences of playing a CSR advergame, except for unfamiliar brands perceived as healthy, where it can reduce the difference in scores between familiar and unfamiliar brands. Overall, playing a game, no matter the topic of the game, had a positive impact on the brand’s dimensions, which was stronger for unfamiliar brands; leading to a competitive advantage over other competing brands with no advergame.