Among the photos of a well -known traveling in Southeast Asia, the beauty routine recommended by the influencer Fashionable or the interesting story that has an old classmate, always slides at least one announcement when touring an Instagram wall. Ads in social networks have been besieged for users for a long time. They are not simple interruptions, as they are part of a strategy of marketing Digital carefully designed. Its objective is to capture attention, provoke an action, get a sale or to bring one more step to the user to the brand behind the ad.
And those ads may be more than we perceive. A group of scientists has discovered that people do not detect them as well as they believed. And no, it is not that people are worse capturing ads. It is that the platforms have made them integrate better, according to the new study published by the and led by. “I have nephews, and when you see how children and adolescents grow today with a phone in my hand, I noticed how early they are exposed to false news and advertising on social networks. That was the main motivation of the analysis,” says Hübner, of the University of Twente (Netherlands).
Hübner shared his concerns with other colleagues and students. To their surprise, many of them were not clear how much advertising they saw daily. Some even replied: “Well, I like to be up to date, I want to feel that I belong.” Given the difficulties that people have to distinguish between real ads and publications, this expert decided to study why it continues to occur.
The scientists invited 152 volunteers who are regular Instagram users, to visualize one of three simulated walls of the app. Each of them was composed of 29 publications: eight ads and 21 organic publications. And they were asked to imagine that the wall was yours and that they sailed for it as they would normally.
Hübner and his team recorded the eye movements and also evaluated the time of permanence in the publications. After each session, the scientists interviewed the participants about their experience. The results of the analysis, published on Wednesday, reveal that most volunteers were surprised to discover how many ads had not perceived. “They were very sure of their capacity before the experiment,” he says.
The participants were fixed in details such as the design of the logos, images in good quality or in ‘Buy now’ buttons before noticing that the information was real. The researchers discovered that the ads often went unnoticed, but that if people realized that the content was not organic, many stopped interacting with the publication. Ocular monitoring data suggests that those who paid more attention to those calls to action (such as a link to register, for example) could be using these elements as a way to identify paid messages.
This was less likely to occur with ads that were better integrated and in a typical format of organic content. If the advertising signals were not immediately noticed, they obtained levels of interaction similar to the content that is shared naturally.
The study, however, is not exempt from criticism. Jean éric Pelet, professor of marketing Advanced Digital and Author of the Book (Kogan Page, 2025), He points out that “important methodological details are missing,” such as measurement scales, to thoroughly evaluate the results. Even so, it recognizes the value of work. “It clearly shows how digital interfaces mold consumer behavior,” he emphasizes. Especially, he says, when it comes to what he calls “hidden advertising” or integrated messages that are difficult to detect, but very easy to absorb.
On that point, the authors of the new study plan to expand their research to other platforms, such as Tiktok or YouTube, where the limits between content and advertising are even more diffuse. Social networks as Instagram have abandoned the banners Traditional to mimicize with organic content because some users have learned to overlook the ads in this format. Some people have managed to develop visual or persuasive literacy, that critical ability to recognize and analyze undercover advertising messages. But it does not happen with those youngest or with whom they follow trends without questioning them.
The ads spread in the ‘feed’
The abandonment of banners as a strategy of marketing He has forced advertising to reinvent himself. Now the ads in networks may appear in the middle of the publications, mimicize with the usual content and even disguise themselves as entertainment. Users today, however, not only ignore it. They are selectively involved, attracted to aesthetic design, humor and fluid narrative. Maike Hübner says that what they observed in his analysis is nothing other than an evolution of this call “blindness to banners”.
These characteristics generate what Jean Éric Pelet describes as a “flow state”, where the user remains captivated – even for promotional content – without realizing it. “I have seen complete ads knowing exactly what they are doing,” he said, referring to about his video technology for AI, I see 3.
Hübner also compares this phenomenon with the impact of unrealistic beauty standards that circulate on social networks. The change in perception occurs gradually, almost undetectable, and is difficult to identify until it has already left their mark. It is subtle, comfortable and that is why so effective. “Perhaps the answer is in educational strategies or in specific changes in the design of the platforms,” says this researcher.
Advertisements legislation falls short
Regulations on advertising on social networks can vary among nations. In regions such as the European Union (EU) and countries such as Spain, China and the United States there are specific legal frameworks that address online advertising, focused on minors protection, political advertising and the promotion of certain products or services. Maike Hübner and Jean Éric Pelet agree that the platforms do not do enough. “They comply with the rules, the labels are there; but our study shows that they are not effective in practice,” explains Hübner.
which entered into force throughout the EU in February 2024, demands greater transparency a. They must label the ads and maintain “a repository with details about the advertising payment campaigns that are executed in their online interfaces”. The reality is that people do not ignore the labels on purpose, they simply “see them.” “Transparency should go beyond placing a label, people navigate on social networks in a relaxed state and Automatic, ”he says.
Pelet has a more sharp vision. He has taught in China and has known first -hand the digital environment of O Tiktok. “They collect as many data as they can. So not, they don’t seek to be transparent,” he says. Social networks infiltrate what he calls “leisure time” or those brief moments without structure when people check the phone in bed or in public transport. It is during these micro-manys where “advertising becomes more powerful.”
Another way to attract users and promote subtle brand messages is through celebrity charisms or influencers. , a Chinese social network promoted by footballer Kylian Mbappé, is an illustrative example. Although little known outside that country, it could soon reach global markets. For Pelet it is a case of how public figures become vehicles to attract users and position brands without the advertising message being perceived as such.
“It is not about the advertising being bad – the platforms and the creators need income – but users must be able to make an informed decision, as happened before when television clearly marked the start of an advertising block,” concludes Hübner. And now, in a rapid navigation through social networks walls, between filters and videos of 15 seconds, the thin line between content and advertising becomes increasingly diffuse.
