Brand Message Authenticity

What it measures

A five-item sentence-completion scale measuring the degree to which a consumer perceives a specific brand communication or social media post as authentic, truthful, and genuinely caring. Items assess authenticity, truthfulness, genuineness, and demonstrated care — both for a specific cause or issue and for consumers generally. A blank in item 4 allows specification of the topic or cause the brand is communicating about. The scale captures perceived communicative authenticity as distinct from overall brand authenticity or brand credibility.

Representative items

• ...was authentic.
• ...seemed genuine.
• ...demonstrated that the brand cares about its consumers.

Citation

Shoenberger, Heather, Eunjin (Anna) Kim, and Yiyi Sun (2021). Journal of Advertising, 50(3), 249–263.