Using the FCB grid to understand privacy concerns in social media advertising

Online behavioral advertising (OBA) is now the norm for social media advertising campaigns. Brands use detailed consumer data points to customize product placement, but extant research has found mixed results about the efficacy of OBA given increasing consumer privacy concerns. This research attempts to address this conflict by using the FCB grid to investigate how different product types (high vs. low involvement, thinking vs. feeling) might influence perceptions of privacy and subsequent ad attitudes. Using the Affect Infusion Model (AIM) and accessibility-diagnosticity framework, the authors demonstrate how low involvement 'feeling' products generate the highest ad attitudes. Participants in two studies respond more favorably to targeted ads for these products, and diagnosticity of affect-as-information is shown to be the mechanism for this effect. However, this effect only occurred when privacy concerns were low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.