Made with… AI? The Impact of AI Disclosure on Ad Attitudes

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in the advertising industry, enabling brands to generate content more efficiently. To ensure transparency, many companies include AI disclosure labels that act as cues signaling to consumers that an advertisement is AI-generated. This thesis aims to investigate how these labels influence consumer attitudes toward advertising, using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework as a theoretical foundation. An experimental design with 269 Swedish university students was conducted to explore the impact of AI disclosure on consumer attitudes with two mediators, source credibility and emotional engagement. The results reveal that AI disclosure does not directly influence ad attitudes, but does so indirectly. When tested individually, both source credibility and emotional engagement mediated the relationship between AI disclosure and ad attitudes, indicating a full mediation. However, in the joint mediation model, only source credibility was a significant mediator, suggesting that it plays a more significant role in shaping consumer responses toward AI-generated advertising. These findings contribute to the growing literature on consumer responses to the use of AI in advertising and offer practical insights for marketers trying to balance authenticity with transparency in modern advertising strategies.