Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Journal of Marketing Communications
For a Special Issue on
Deception in Marketing Communications
Manuscript deadline
Special Issue Editor(s)
Maria Petrescu,
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
[email protected]
Melanie Burleson Richards,
East Tennessee State University
[email protected]
Georgiana Craciun,
Duquesne University
[email protected]
Dana Harrison,
East Tennessee State University
[email protected]
Mihai Orzan,
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
[email protected]
Deception in Marketing Communications
Deception in marketing communications is a long-standing and evolving challenge. Classic research demonstrates that deceptive messages erode trust and trigger consumer defensiveness (Darke & Ritchie, 2007; Darke et al., 2010). Contemporary contexts, from covert native advertising and influencer endorsements to greenwashing and deceptive pricing, intensify these risks (Banerjee et al., 2023; Schmuck et al., 2018).
The rise of artificial intelligence has further complicated persuasion and deception. For example, studies in the Journal of Marketing Communications show that AI-driven communicators, such as virtual influencers, anthropomorphic agents, and chatbots, use source credibility, warmth, and authenticity to shape consumer trust and purchase intentions (Chaihanchanchai et al., 2024; David-Ignatieff et al., 2023; Phan & Bui, 2025; Sayed & Abutaleb, 2025). These findings illustrate how traditional persuasion processes (heuristic cues such as attractiveness or credibility) still apply in AI contexts, but they also underscore ethical concerns. Anthropomorphic AI agents may blur the line between human and machine, raising questions of transparency and potential misrepresentation. Similarly, chatbots that simulate warmth without genuine authenticity risk undermining trust if consumers perceive them as manipulative.
Research on deception in online consumer reviews also highlights the importance of suspicion, persuasion knowledge, and linguistic cues in shaping consumer responses (Petrescu et al., 2022; Petrescu et al., 2023). At the same time, privacy concerns in a deceptive communication framework can also represent significant issues with potential negative effcts regarding marketing practices and outcomes (Cooper et al., 2023; Gianclaudio, 2023; Cooper et al., 2023). Together, this body of work demonstrates that while AI and digital platforms introduce new persuasive possibilities, they also create novel forms of deception that require scholarly attention.
Submission Instructions
Submission window: February 1st 2026-June 30th 2026
Possible Topics
We invite conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions, including but not limited to:
- Forms of deception: false claims, omissions, puffery, greenwashing, hidden fees, and deceptive packaging/labels.
- AI and persuasion: virtual influencers, anthropomorphic chatbots, AI-generated endorsements, and ethical boundaries between personalization and misrepresentation.
- Online reviews and eWOM: deception detection frameworks, automated vs. human recognition, and consumer suspicion.
- B2B deception: inter-organizational misrepresentation, signaling theory, and sales ethics.
- Theoretical advances: applying attribution theory, persuasion knowledge, signaling theory, Interpersonal Deception Theory, or Information Manipulation Theory to marketing deception.
- Consumer coping and activism: skepticism, ad literacy, grassroots debunking, and cultural/generational differences.
- Managerial and policy implications: disclosure design, regulatory interventions, and strategies for rebuilding trust.
Submission: Please submit your manuscripts through JMC’s official submission site and consider the instructions for authors and formatting guidelines: Submit to Journal of Marketing Communications
For additional information, please contact Dr. Maria Petrescu, [email protected]
References
Banerjee, S., et al. (2023). The impact of consumer expectations and familiarity on deceptive pricing in advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 42(2), 254–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2023.2282868
Chaihanchanchai, P., Anantachart, S., & Ruangthanakorn, N. (2024). Unlocking the persuasive power of virtual influencer on brand trust and purchase intention: A parallel mediation of source credibility. Journal of Marketing Communications. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2023.2301390
Cooper, D. A., Yalcin, T., Nistor, C., Macrini, M., Pehlivan, E. 2023. Privacy considerations for online advertising: a stakeholder’s perspective to programmatic advertising. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 40 (2): 235–247. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-04-2021-4577
Darke, P. R., & Ritchie, R. J. B. (2007). The defensive consumer: Advertising deception, defensive processing, and distrust. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(1), 114–127. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.44.1.114
Darke, P. R., Ashworth, L., & Main, K.J. (2010). Great expectations and broken promises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(2), 347-362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0168-7
David-Ignatieff, A., Buzeta, C., De Pelsmacker, P., & Ben Dahmane Mouelhi, N. (2023). “This embodied conversational agent looks very human and as old as I feel!” The effect of perceived agent anthropomorphism and consumer–agent age difference on brand attitude. Journal of Marketing Communications, 30(8), 881–909. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2023.2199026
Gianclaudio, M. 2023. In/acceptable marketing and consumers' privacy expectations: four tests from EU data protection law. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 40 (2): 209–223. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-03-2021-4571
Gistri, G., Scarpi, D. & Testi, N. 2025. Transparency in mobile apps for value co-creation: how privacy notice communications shape user perception. Marketing Letters. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-025-09788-0
Petrescu, M., Kitchen, P., Dobre, C., Ben Mrad, S., Milovan-Ciuta, A., Goldring, D., & Fiedler, A. (2022). Innocent until proven guilty: Suspicion of deception in online reviews. European Journal of Marketing, 56(4), 1184–1209. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2019-0776
Petrescu, M., Ajjan, H., & Harrison, D. L. (2023). Man vs machine—Detecting deception in online reviews. Journal of Business Research, 154, 113346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113346
Phan, T. A., & Bui, V. D. (2025). AI with a heart: How perceived authenticity and warmth shape trust in healthcare chatbots. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2025.2508887
Sayed, D., & Abutaleb, S. (2025). Anthropomorphic chatbots as a catalyst for online customer experience (CX): The case of Egyptian consumers. Journal of Marketing Communications. 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2025.2453229
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Naderer, B. (2018). Misleading consumers with green advertising? Journal of Advertising, 47(2), 127–145. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48542213
Wojdynski, B. W., & Evans, N. J. (2016). Going native: Effects of disclosure position and language on recognition of online native advertising. Journal of Advertising, 45(2), 157–168. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24749803