Eunjin (Anna) Kim, University of Southern California

Robert Kozinets, University of Southern California

With AI and other tools supercharging nonspecialists' abilities to create and communicate narratives, we are in the midst of an unprecedented growth in advertising storytelling—perhaps with a corresponding rise in the need to understand the human, the cultural, and the narrative. Emotional brandings and advertising storytelling function as a powerful cultural resource in their own right. Influencers construct and circulate brand-related stories by weaving them into personal experiences, ensuring that stories seeded in campaigns live on through retellings, remixes, and conversations. These retellings are also increasingly shaped by algorithmic tools such as AI-generated reviews, comments, or testimonials that circulate alongside human imaginaries and narratives.

In this environment, advertising storytelling can be understood as an adaptive process produced and recombined across humans, AI systems, and media channels. Generative AI scripts dialogue, personalizes arcs, and generates countless variations, while algorithms determine which story fragments audiences encounter. Campaigns function less as bounded arcs and more as adaptive or transmedia flows, raising questions about authorship, coherence, authenticity, and credibility in advertising storytelling. Yet, as AI-driven narratives proliferate, we must not lose sight of the human craft of advertising storytelling built on relationships.

Experimental research shows that narrative ads enhance attention, recall, credibility, and persuasion through empathetic processing, transportation, mental simulation, and identification. Yet these mechanisms, while well established, are increasingly tested in environments where narrative forms are short, fragmented, and fleeting.

Beyond these psychological mechanisms, a deeper cultural understanding of brand meaning can be found through the allegorical power of brand stories, the embrace of brand paradox, and the intertwining of cultural imagination, archetypes, and imaginaries. With important exceptions, critical approaches and cultural methods like ethnography and netnography are under-utilized. We still know relatively little about what makes an advertising story compelling whether structure, character, or brand integration. We lack sufficient understanding about how algorithmic and human-authored narratives interact to create or fracture meaning for consumers, or how new media formats such as podcasts function.

Our understanding is still growing about storytelling that transpires in digital platforms that demand coherence and immersion in seconds. TikTok skits, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts highlight storytelling's entertainment value, but entertainment alone does not ensure persuasion. Audiences might remember the attention-grabbing elements of an advertising story but not the product or brand, a challenge known as the 'vampire effect'. While entertainment is increasingly fundamental for sustaining attention, its relationship to persuasion and meaning-making remains undertheorized. The forms, structures, and impacts of influencer storytelling around the globe are still poorly understood. Regardless of technology, the deep-seated cultural template, myths and human relationships continue to be powerful, and under-explored, aspects of the human advertising experience.

This Special Issue invites scholarship that explores and perhaps redefines storytelling in advertising. We seek contributions that chart new ground as well as those that revisit foundational historical and narrative theories in light of contemporary cultural and technological contexts. We welcome conceptual and empirical work across advertising and marketing, consumer culture theory, history, sociology, anthropology, media psychology, communication and health communication, and cultural/media studies. Methods may include controlled or field experiments, ethnography and netnography, archival and historical analysis, semiotic and discourse analysis, neuroscientific measures, and computational approaches from computer science, HCI, and information science. All submissions must place advertising or brand storytelling at the center of inquiry.

Potential topics

• (Re-)Conceptualizing what advertising storytelling is in contemporary contexts
• Exploring AI-generated content that circulates alongside human imaginaries and narratives
• Moving beyond 'do narratives work in advertising?' toward 'how do they work in contemporary media environments?'
• Investigating the current craft of advertising storytelling from the creator's perspective
• Revisiting narrative advertising persuasion mechanisms such as transportation, empathy, identification, and mental simulation in fragmented and multi-platform environments
• Comparing when and why narrative advertising is more, or less, effective than non-narrative approaches
• Investigating questions about authorship, coherence, authenticity, and credibility in advertising storytelling when campaigns function as adaptive or transmedia flows
• Examining how algorithmic and human-authored narratives interact to create or fracture meanings for consumers
• Analyses of brand storytelling strategies, where advertising narratives are designed to act as cultural resources
• Researching the human craft of advertising storytelling built on relationships
• The role of retro-narratives, nostalgia, and other human and cultural elements in advertising
• Micro-narratives in TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts: narrative advertising strategies for persuasion in seconds
• Examining the forms, structures, and/or impacts of influencer storytelling around the globe
• Cross-device coherence in narrative advertising: how audiences integrate story arcs across TV, mobile, and digital formats
• Algorithmic sequencing and recombination of story fragments, and implications for narrative coherence and persuasion in advertising
• Brand integration challenges in short-form storytelling advertising and risks of the 'vampire effect'
• Revisiting persuasion mechanisms (empathetic processing, transportation, mental simulation, and identification) in contemporary environments
• Tensions between advertising messages and social and political issues (e.g., environmentalism, self-esteem, social justice)
• Exploring the dialectical relationship between brand storytelling and consumer resistance, skepticism, or counter-narratives (e.g., 'culture jamming')
• Story fatigue and manipulation: As every campaign now 'tells a story,' are consumers experiencing overexposure, leading to cynicism or narrative distrust?
• Dark narratives: How should advertising research address the risks of narratives that normalize harmful stereotypes, dramatize false conflicts, or glamorize risky behaviors?
• Ethics of AI-augmented storytelling: how does AI-generated or deepfake narratives alter the ethics of persuasion?
• Too-good stories vs. brand reality: When narratives overpromise, should narrative effectiveness also be judged on truthfulness and accountability?
• How storytelling in advertising creates context for identities, authenticity, and the quest for the 'real'?

Timeline

• November 11, 2026: Manuscript submission deadline
• November 11, 2026: Submissions window

Kacy Kim, Bryant University

Junghoon Moon, Seoul National University

Lamberto Zollo, University of Milan

Riccardo Rialti, University of Siena

Food and beverage advertising has long emphasized nourishment, affordability, and convenience. Yet this perspective no longer captures contemporary consumption trends or the complex role of advertising. Many consumers adopt dietary regimes—even without medical necessity—as expressions of identity and self-esteem. Advertising reflects this shift by positioning consumption of "healthier" options such as gluten-free snacks, keto-friendly products, vegan substitutes, or diet beverages as lifestyle choices tied to self-image. Campaigns for plant-based milk, for example, highlight wellness and modernity, appealing to aspirational goals beyond nutrition. Beyond individual identity, advertising also conveys cultural and social values: halal- and kosher-certified products underscore cultural continuity, while fine wines, gourmet chocolates, and craft spirits are framed as markers of refinement and status. Increasingly, campaigns link food to place-based identity, such as agritourism promotions that emphasize heritage, authenticity, and local cuisine.

Shifting consumer priorities—driven by health, sustainability, and ethics—are reshaping advertising strategies. Nutrition-conscious messages highlight claims such as sugar-free, zero calories, or high protein. Simultaneously, there has been an increase in lawsuits being filed against food companies over health claims and regulatory scrutiny has increased. In this environment, more research on consumer response to health claims and the regulation of such claims is needed. In addition, updated research on the long line of work of health information on nutritional labeling is needed.

Indeed, research suggests that promoting healthier choices remains challenging: studies on default nudges in snack consumption show that while unhealthy defaults strongly influence decisions, healthy defaults often fail to shift behavior. Sustainability-oriented campaigns highlight packaging innovations such as reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable materials, while brands increasingly emphasize organic, natural, and farm-to-table authenticity. Initiatives addressing food waste, such as "ugly produce" subscription boxes, are also gaining traction. At the same time, brands showcase investments in robotic greenhouses and AI-controlled agriculture to signal innovation and environmental responsibility. Against this backdrop, ethical consumption is now seen through a critical lens. Consumers scrutinize health and sustainability claims while questioning whether advertising fosters transparency or risks "greenwashing" and "health-washing," raising concerns about how persuasion and responsibility should be balanced.

Parallel to these developments, advertising touchpoints are undergoing profound transformation. Traditional media are ceding ground to digital ecosystems that enable hyper-personalized, interactive campaigns. Food and beverage advertisers now engage audiences through TikTok and Instagram reels, AI-generated recipe content, AR/VR tastings, and phygital in-store experiences. Influencer marketing has become central, from Mukbang videos that offer vicarious eating satisfaction to celebrity chefs who shape trust and credibility. Campaigns increasingly feature AI–human collaboration, blending algorithmic efficiency with cultural sensitivity, while sensory strategies such as ASMR eating sounds and sizzling visuals immerse consumers in food experiences.

Beyond soundscapes and playfulness, visual symbols and anthropomorphic cues also shape perceptions; for instance, smiley faces in restaurant logos can trigger fast-food associations and reduce perceived healthfulness. More broadly, fun and playfulness remain central to engagement, with recent research conceptualizing "fun advertising" as predictable, creative, or wild, blending reality and fantasy in ways that resonate with consumers.

In this fragmented and ethically sensitive environment, one-size-fits-all campaigns are no longer sufficient. This special issue invites contributions that examine the evolving role of advertising, promotion, and communication in food and beverage marketing. We especially welcome work that addresses underexplored cultural and societal perspectives, as well as the role of advertising in stimulating pro-social behaviors such as reducing food waste, encouraging plant-based diets, and supporting sustainable agriculture.

Potential topics

• Sustainability and pro-social appeals in food advertising (e.g., eco-friendly packaging, plant-based diets, food waste reduction)
• AI and digitalization in food advertising (e.g., personalization, predictive analytics for targeting, generative AI in creative production, AI–human collaboration)
• Virtual influencers and AI-driven brand ambassadors
• Algorithmic bias, fairness, and inclusivity in AI-powered targeting
• Data privacy, trust, and consumer acceptance of AI-driven food advertising
• Influencer and social media advertising (e.g., Mukbang, celebrity chefs, and co-creation, live-stream commerce)
• Immersive and experiential food advertising (e.g., AR/VR tasting, hybrid in-store activations, branded pop-ups)
• Sensory and symbolic persuasion (e.g., ASMR, soundscapes, anthropomorphism, emojis, playful cues)
• Consumer behavior and psychology in food advertising
• Consumer identity, culture, and lifestyle in food advertising (e.g., dietary regimes, cultural and religious values)
• Aspirational and status signaling in food advertising (e.g., luxury foods, fine wines, gourmet products)
• Consumer response to nutritional labeling (e.g., interpretation of health claims, wellness framing, and persuasive effects)
• Ethics, responsibility, and transparency in food advertising (e.g., trust, greenwashing, health-washing, targeting vulnerable consumers)
• Regulatory issues in food advertising (e.g., advertising to children, health and sustainability claims)
• Advertising strategy and effectiveness
• Cross-cultural and global perspectives in food advertising

Timeline

• July 1, 2026: Direct submission window opens
• August 31, 2026: Full paper submission deadline