Künstlich, aber wirkungsvoll? Eine empirische Analyse zur Kennzeichnungspflicht von KI-generierten Bildern und ihren Konsequenzen auf die Werbewirkung

Abstract

This study examined the effects of the labelling requirement for AI-generated image content, introduced by Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, on advertising effectiveness in commercial tourism marketing. The aim was to investigate whether the legally mandated transparency disclosure in an advertisement negatively influences key advertising effectiveness dimensions. The variables examined included recall, perceived credibility, attitude toward the ad, trust, and purchase intention. Using a quantitative online survey with an experimental A/B design (N = 144), consumer responses to an advertisement featuring a real photograph were compared with those to a visually equivalent advertisement labelled as AI-generated. The results revealed no significant differences between the groups, indicating that the transparency disclosure did not reduce advertising effectiveness for the visually high-quality stimulus used here. Companies may therefore be able to leverage the efficiency potential of generative AI without necessarily suffering losses in advertising effectiveness. However, the absence of significant differences does not constitute evidence of equivalence, and the transferability of these findings to other industries, motifs, and target groups requires further empirical investigation.