Effects of mutual fund advertising disclosures on investor information processing and decision-making

Purpose – This research aims to examine the effects of financial services advertising disclosures by pairing a content analysis documenting how mandatory financial disclosures are presented in mutual fund advertisements with a between-subjects experiment assessing whether inclusion of the disclosures influences consumer responses to advertisement, brand and company evaluations. Design/methodology/approach – This research examines the effects of financial services advertising disclosures by pairing a content analysis documenting how mandatory financial disclosures are presented in mutual fund advertisements with a between-subjects experiment assessing whether the inclusion of the disclosures influences consumer responses to the ad, brand and company. Findings – The findings show more positive consumer responses for perceived advertising responsibility, recall, and cognitive response as well as higher risk perception when consumers are exposed to the financial disclosures in mutual fund advertisements. Also...