6. Discussion
The search for new media formats for marketing and promotion − including disguised and hidden ones − is likely to continue because it is being driven by converging forces that have created a ‘perfect storm’ in the media and marketing industries. These include:(1)the “meltdown” oftraditional media business models through declining circulations, audiences and advertising revenue, which is prompting a search for new revenue streams (Pew Research Center, 2013); (2) declining impact of traditional advertising (de Pelsmacker & Neijens, 2012, p. 1; Nielsen, 2015a,b); (3) increasing consumer resistance to ‘ads’ aided by technologies such as TiVo, video on demand, and ‘ad blockers’ (Macnamara, 2014b); and (4) a search by marketers to avoid persuasion knowledge − recognition by consumers of content as intentional persuasion, which reduces the effect of persuasion (Friestad & Wright, 1994; Tutaj & van Reijmersdal, 2012). Media content that “looks natural” and “innocent” and which does not trigger persuasion knowledge has been shown to be more effective in influencing audiences in many cases (de Pelsmacker & Neijens, 2012, p. 1).