The Phenomenon of Creepiness in a Digital Marketing World

ABSTRACT Creepiness is a potential negative emotional response by consumers toward the digital data‐driven personalization of marketing efforts. This phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent with the rise of advanced (AI) technologies and inexpensive data collection. Across four studies, we conceptualize creepiness as a consumer‐level emotional response. We demonstrate that creepiness emerges when personalized ads are appraised as ambiguous and intrusively surveilling, which elicits uneasiness and, subsequently, reactance. We further show that creepiness is amplified by two consumer characteristics: skepticism and technological paranoia, and that it has negative consequences for brands, reducing purchase intention. Importantly, we extend prior research by empirically testing a set of managerial interventions to evaluate their effectiveness in mitigating creepiness once elicited. Overall, our research provides researchers and marketers with a deeper understanding of both the emergence of creepiness and effective strategies to address it.