In today's digital landscape, amidst silentvideo advertisements, incorporating text such as subtitles is crucial for effectivecommunication. This study focuses on how text readability, influenced by visualdesign, impacts consumer responses, particularly in terms of brand familiarity.Applying information processing fluency and incongruity theories, itinvestigates the intricate relationship between visual text design and itseffects on consumer cognitive and emotional responses. Utilizing online experiments, the studycontrasted different readability levels in muted video advertisements. Theresults revealed that higher readability improves text recognition and message recall,but surprisingly, doesn't significantly change attitudes towards the ad orbrand. However, for those well-acquainted with the brand, lower readabilityprompts more positive attitudes towards the ad or brand. While higher readability bolsters informationprocessing fluency, affecting cognitive responses, it's insufficient forattitude change. Furthermore, the research suggests that people familiar withthe brand gravitate towards content that challenges their cognitive abilities,finding pleasure in the effort and satisfaction in the resolution, aligningwith the principles of incongruity theory.This research presents valuable insightsfor marketers, emphasizing the significance of information readability inenhancing consumer recall of messages and brand awareness. It's particularlyeffective for new or lesser-known brands, as high readability ensures thatpotential customers grasp the brand message during initial exposure. The studyalso stresses the need to customize ad content based on audience brandfamiliarity. Advertisements demanding more cognitive effort, like those withless readable text, may be more engaging for consumers familiar with the brand.Furthermore, the research highlights the societal impact of accessiblemessaging, benefiting diverse groups, including those with visual or readingimpairments, and fostering an inclusive society. This work elucidates theintricate balance between readability and cognitive engagement in videoadvertisements, aiding in the development of more nuanced, brand-sensitive, andinclusive advertising strategies for today's digital landscape.

User-generated content (UGC) is increasingly used for product promotion on social media, but the impact of subtitles on consumer engagement with UGC videos related to products has not been thoroughly examined. This study aims to investigate this impact based on analysis of the online free descriptions from 480 participants. Firstly, the role of subtitles in information accessibility was discussed. Subtitles complement audio, aid in understanding foreign languages, and support cognitive resources, making them an essential tool in online communication activities, especially for those with hearing impairments or in noisy environments. Secondly, the study reveals that subtitles have a positive impact on the motivation to watch video content and can promote favorable effects on the video content and brand. They improve comprehension, retention, entertainment value, aesthetics, persuasiveness, and attitudes toward the creator. Finally, certain considerations need to be made in editing and displaying subtitles to ensure their positive impact on marketing, such as displaying only keywords, using creative colors and fonts, and avoiding the design of subtitles used in television shows. The findings of this study provide insights for digital marketers and UGC creators to enhance engagement and effectively utilize subtitles in UGC marketing.

Withthe development of the internet, global brands' advertising campaigns can nowreach customers all over the world who use social media. To help more viewersunderstand the content, more and more video ads are being added that are notonly local language subtitled but also English subtitled. However, little isknown about how foreign-language subtitles influence consumer behavior in adigital context. The purpose of this research is to find out how non-nativelanguage consumers react to foreign-language subtitles on video advertisements.Three subtitle conditions are used in this study to compare consumer reactionsto subtitled video ads in Japan (Japanese subtitled group, English subtitledgroup, and both languages subtitled group) with a sample of college students(n=370). The findings revealed that there isno significant difference in attitudes toward the advertisement and the brandamong the three groups. However, when it came to ad entertainment, the Japanesesubtitled group had more positive attitudes than the English subtitled group. Thefindings predict the presence of subtitles in themother tongue produced a more entertaining feeling from the content in certain condition,when consumers are with a low level of the English proficiency.

In Japan, more and more video ads with same-language subtitles onwebsites and social media are viewed by not only native speakers but also non-nativespeakers. So many studies have revealed the same-language subtitles effects ineducational contexts, however, little is known about the effects of thesame-language subtitles in advertising contexts. This study reveals theperspective of non-native Japanese speakers toward the subtitled video ads inJapanese. Depth interviews were conducted among Chinese participants in Japan, whosemother language is not Japanese, but with advanced level of Japanese. Accordingto the results, it turned out same-language subtitles can be expected to enhancead content comprehension and the engagement of the video ads. When the ads withsame-language subtitles are highly relevant to viewers, the attitudes toward thead and the brand could be positively influenced. Moreover, adding subtitlescould draw viewers’ attention to the video ads which are low relevant to theviewers themselves. During this situation, the quality of the visual aspect ofthe subtitles (such as font, size, the display position) and how easilysubtitles could be decoded can influence the attitudes toward the ad and thebrand. However, when the ad content is difficult to understand or the visualquality of subtitles is low, it is difficult to keep viewers’ attention.This study contributes to the advertisers who are making video adstargeting not only local people but also non-native speakers.