Is It Still a Meme? Examining Factors Influencing the Perception and Effectiveness of Marketing Memes

Mateusz Kiljańczyk; Agnieszka Kacprzak

doi:10.18290/rns2026.0019

Published : 2026-04-22

No. Online First

Is It Still a Meme? Examining Factors Influencing the Perception and Effectiveness of Marketing Memes

Mateusz Kiljańczyk

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1740-9131

Agnieszka Kacprzak

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1949-9131

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rns2026.0019

Abstract

The paper examines the consumer perception and effectiveness of internet memes in marketing communication. Two research questions are addressed: Are marketing memes perceived differently than ordinary memes? How do “meme-likeness”, consumer interest in memes, and negative attitudes toward marketing influence their effectiveness? A survey was conducted on a sample of 264 participants, using both paper-based (PAPI) and online (CAWI) methods. Their results indicate that increased company interference in original memes reduced their perceived meme-likeness. A positive relationship was found between meme-likeness and message effectiveness. Contrary to our predictions, neither consumer interest in memes nor negative attitudes toward marketing affected meme effectiveness. This suggests the effectiveness of meme marketing depends more on the authenticity of the message itself rather than on audience characteristics. For marketing practitioners, these findings highlight the importance of maintaining meme authenticity and moderate brand interference rather than targeting specific consumer segments. Limitations include non-representativeness of the sample and the use of memes from only one fictitious company, restricting generalizability.

Keywords:

meme marketing, marketing communication, cross-modality matching, internet memes

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Kiljańczyk, M., & Kacprzak, A. (2026). Is It Still a Meme? Examining Factors Influencing the Perception and Effectiveness of Marketing Memes. Roczniki Nauk Społecznych, (Online First). https://doi.org/10.18290/rns2026.0019

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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