Advertising and privacy: an overview of past research and a research agenda

Abstract

By looking back at 40 years of research in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), we provide a state-of-the-art of advertising research addressing (consumer) privacy. A systematic literature review of 84 IJA publications that address privacy in their content shows an increase of attention to privacy in advertising research. The review also reveals that privacy is connected to many different advertising formats and generally discussed in three ways: in the discussion of the context of advertising (i.e. ethics and regulations), in connection to personal traits that distinguish different consumers, and to explain advertising responses and effects. Theoretically, studies often draw upon the privacy paradox, privacy calculus model, personalization(-privacy) paradox, and persuasion knowledge model. Based on this review and current developments, we develop a research agenda for future advertising research addressing privacy, focusing on personalization in the public domain, privacy cynicism, and possible future constraints to personalization.