Examining Affect, Relevance, and Creepiness as Underlying Mechanisms of Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Synced Ads in Valenced Contexts

Synced advertising is a new form of personalized advertising in which ads are synchronized across media and devices in real time. However, ads may not only be synced to positive but also negative contexts such as positive and negative food reviews. This study examines how positive, negative, and neutral contexts influence consumers’ ad attitudes toward a synced ad via affect, perceived relevance, and perceived creepiness. We conducted an online experiment (N = 120) and found that ad attitudes are more positive when consumers are in a positive affective state or when they perceive the synced ad to be relevant. Moreover, ad attitudes are less positive when consumers are in a negative affective state or perceive the synced ad to be creepy. The findings offer valuable implications for advertisers because consumers’ affective states, perceived relevance, and perceived creepiness can influence their attitudes toward synced ads.