When Old Is Not Gold: The Interactive Effect of Brand Age and AI Disclosure on Ad-Clicking Interest

Artificial intelligence (AI) disclosure in advertising is increasingly common, yet prior research reports mixed findings, with evidence of both favorable and unfavorable consumer responses. Drawing on schema congruity theory, this research proposes that brand age represents an important but overlooked boundary condition of consumer responses to AI disclosure. Three experiments demonstrate that AI disclosure reduces consumers’ interest in clicking advertisements for old brands, whereas this negative effect does n…