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Author
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Michelle Ciccone, Cecilia Yuxi Zhou, Thomas Underwood, Alina Ali Durrani, Brendan McCauley, Larrisa Miller & Erica Scharrer
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Year
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2026
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Publisher
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Routledge
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Abstract
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This study explores early adolescents’ understanding of and perceptions about the digital
advertising system and the types of responses they feel are available as they engage with digital advertising, particularly personalized online ads and influencer marketing, two forms
of digital advertising that introduce unique challenges as users must navigate platform
dynamics and processes of datafication. To answer these questions, we facilitated an advertising literacy program for 11- and 12-year-old students. We designed the program using
what we call the EASY (Ethics of Actors in SYstems) approach, which engages students in role-play activities and reflective discussion, whereby creating an opportunity for students to grapple with the range of actors and the ethical dilemmas that are introduced by and embedded within the multiple components of the digital advertising system. Here we present findings from this program, including how participating students articulated their understandings of and strategies for negotiating the digital advertising system, as well as their ideas for how the system could work more ethically. This research can inform the further development of advertising literacy education that helps adolescents explore how various actors might work toward a transformed digital advertising system.
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Language
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English