Prankvertising Phenomenon: The Effects on Consumer Buying Decision

Abstract: Prankvertising is a phenomenon that is gaining significant exposure in marketing world, attracting both small and large companies to implement it as a new advertising strategy. Its success has been proven by millions of views and shares within a few days, reflecting an effective tool of viral marketing. Despite its success in gaining rapid audience reach, the argument relating to its true success, whether prankvertising can affect consumer buying decision, is also increasing. This thesis, thus, aims to explore this new phenomenon impact on consumer behavior by connecting theories of word-of-mouth, viral marketing, advertising and consumption theories such as BDT and CCT. Examples of prankvertising videos produced by different industries were used to delve into consumer reactions towards prank videos. From the study, prankvertising was found to be an effective advertising tool that can affect consumer buying decision. The findings revealed three aspects effecting on consumer buying decision; emotion, engagement, and memorability. Prankvertising was activated through a number of emotions appeared from the prank content, which ‘Caring’ emotional category proves to be the most encouraging consumer buying decision. The higher the engagement of the consumer to the prank video, the more it affects their buying decision. Finally, consumer’s memorability of the name of the product advertised also had effects on consumer’s buying implementation.