In-Game Advertising and Advergames

This chapter reviews studies of the past 15 years on the effects of in-game brand placements: in-game advertising and advergames. Several theories and concepts applied in those studies are discussed as guideposts. In doing so, major psychological mechanisms that explain how in-game brand placements influence brand memory, attitudes, and brand choices are articulated. This chapter also describes how game players’ characteristics and strategic features of brand placements in games affect players’ processing of the brand embedded in the game. A growing number of studies with children in the advergame settings are also surveyed in response to public concerns about negative impacts of games on persuasion. A systematic understanding of previous and current work provides scholars with directions for future research and helps identify room for improvement to conduct rigorous studies theoretically and methodologically.