Abstract

As the digital landscape transitions from an Information Economy to an Experience Economy, traditional social media marketing faces a critical "Crisis of Attention." With the rise of banner blindness and "doom scrolling," conventional passive advertising has seen click-through rates plummet, necessitating a shift toward dynamic, interactive content. This research investigates the impact of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) as disruptive tools designed to overcome this engagement deficit. By analyzing the "visual turn" of social media and the integration of Extended Reality (XR) into platforms like TikTok and Instagram, this study explores the shift from passive consumption to active co-creation. The methodology employs a multi-dimensional analysis of consumer behavior among Gen Z and Millennials, utilizing the Experience Economy framework. Findings indicate that AR and VR bypass traditional cognitive filters by requiring active user involvement - such as virtual try-ons or immersive showrooms - thereby transforming the brand-consumer relationship from a one-way broadcast into a two-way interactive simulation. The study reveals that these technologies significantly increase "dwell time" and brand recall by providing the "memorable events" necessary to disrupt the eight-second attention span. Ultimately, the research concludes that immersive technologies are no longer experimental novelties but essential strategic responses to content saturation, offering a viable pathway for brands to re-establish meaningful engagement in a distracted digital marketplace.

References

• Pine, B. J., and J. H. Gilmore. 1998. "Welcome to the Experience Economy." Harvard Business Review 76, no. 4: 97–105. Accessed December 2, 2025. https://hbr.org/1998/07/welcome-to-the-experience-economy.
• Schmitt, B. 1999. Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate. Free Press. https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=KY8rAAAAYAAJ.
• Chapman, H. n.d. "Evolution of Social Media Part I: From Text to Immersive Experiences." Infegy.com. Accessed December 17, 2025. https://www.infegy.com/blog/the-evolution-of-social-media-part-1.
• Schroeder, R. 2017. Social Theory after the Internet. UCL Press. doi:10.14324/111.9781787351226.
• Scholz, J., and A. N. Smith. 2016. "Augmented Reality: Designing Immersive Experiences that Maximize Consumer Engagement." Business Horizons 59, no. 2 (March): 149–61. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.10.003.
• Rauschnabel, P. A., R. Felix, and C. Hinsch. 2019. "Augmented Reality Marketing: How Mobile AR-Apps Can Improve Brands through Inspiration." Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 49: 43–53. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.03.004.
• SocialTargeter. n.d. "Analyzing the Impact of Augmented Reality on Brand Engagement Strategies." SocialTargeter. Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.socialtargeter.com/blogs/analyzing-the-impact-of-augmented-reality-on-brand-engagement-strategies.
• Hilken, T., K. de Ruyter, M. Chylinski, D. Mahr, and D. I. Keeling. 2017. "Augmenting the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring the Strategic Potential of Augmented Reality to Enhance Online Service Experiences." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 45, no. 6 (November): 884–905. doi:10.1007/s11747-017-0541-x.
• Caru, A., and B. Cova. 2013. Consuming Experience. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203390498.
• Davenport, T. H., and J. C. Beck. 2001. The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Harvard Business School Press. https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=j6z-MiUKgosC.
• GrowthSRC. n.d. "Banner Blindness Statistics & Studies to Know in 2025." Accessed December 17, 2025. https://growthsrc.com/banner-blindness-statistics-studies/.
• Benway, J. P. 1998. "Banner Blindness: The Irony of Attention Grabbing on the World Wide Web." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 42, no. 5 (October): 463–67. doi:10.1177/154193129804200504.
• Kahneman, D. 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=ZuKTvERuPG8C.
• Columbus, L. 2014. "Mobile Is Eating the World." Forbes, November 9. Accessed December 17, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2014/11/09/mobile-is-eating-the-world/.
• Dimoka, A., Y. Hong, and P. A. Pavlou. 2012. "On Product Uncertainty in Online Markets: Theory and Evidence." MIS Quarterly 36, no. 2 (June): 395–426. doi:10.2307/41703461.
• Costa, A., V. Marozzo, and T. Abbate. 2025. "Consumers’ Attitudes toward Virtual Try-on Technology: An Extended TAM Model." International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 53, no. 13 (December): 184–99. doi:10.1108/IJRDM-01-2025-0060.
• Venkatesh, V., M. G. Morris, G. B. Davis, and F. D. Davis. 2003. "User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View." MIS Quarterly 27, no. 3 (September): 425–78. doi:10.2307/30036540.
• Girsang, C., and C.-H. Teng. 2025. "Exploring User Engagement and Purchase Intentions in T-Shirt Retail Through Augmented Reality and Instagram Filters." Applied Sciences 15, no. 18 (September): 10161. doi:10.3390/app151810161.
• Culnan, M. J., and P. K. Armstrong. 1999. "Information Privacy Concerns, Procedural Fairness, and Impersonal Trust: An Empirical Investigation." Organization Science 10, no. 1 (February): 104–15. doi:10.1287/orsc.10.1.104.
• Xu, H., T. Dinev, J. Smith, and P. Hart. 2011. "Information Privacy Concerns: Linking Individual Perceptions with Institutional Privacy Assurances." Journal of the Association for Information Systems 12, no. 12 (December): 798–824. doi:10.17705/1jais.00281.
• Mashinge, R., K. B. Muhwati, K. Magora, and J. Awoleye. 2025. "Mitigating Deepfake-Based Impersonation and Synthetic Data Risks in Remote Healthcare Systems." International Journal of Computer Applications 187, no. 41 (September): 27–42. doi:10.5120/ijca2025925724.
• Abbas, R., S. J. Nwanyim, J. A. Adesina, A. U. Obu, A. Adesokan, and J. Folorunso. 2025. "Secure by Design - Enhancing Software Products with AI-Driven Security Measures." Computer Science & IT Research Journal 6, no. 3 (April): 184–200. doi:10.51594/csitrj.v6i3.1880.
• Taylor, R. n.d. "Secure by Design for AI: Building Resilient Systems from the Ground Up." Docker. Accessed December 17, 2025. https://www.docker.com/blog/secure-by-design-for-ai/.
• Milgram, P., and F. Kishino. 1994. "A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays." IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems 77, no. 12: 1321–29. http://vered.rose.utoronto.ca/people/paul_dir/IEICE94/ieice.html.
• Azuma, R. T. 1997. "A Survey of Augmented Reality." Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 6, no. 4 (August): 355–85. doi:10.1162/pres.1997.6.4.355.
• Erensoy, A., A. Mathrani, A. Schnack, J. Elms, and N. Baghaei. 2024. "Consumer Behavior in Immersive Virtual Reality Retail Environments: A Systematic Literature Review Using the Stimuli‐Organisms‐Responses (S‐O‐r) Model." Journal of Consumer Behaviour 23, no. 6 (November): 2781–2811. doi:10.1002/cb.2374.
• Heller, J., M. Chylinski, K. de Ruyter, D. Mahr, and D. I. Keeling. 2019. "Let Me Imagine That for You: Transforming the Retail Frontline Through Augmenting Customer Mental Imagery Ability." Journal of Retailing 95, no. 2 (June): 94–114. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2019.03.005.
• Negm, E. 2025. "The Impact of Augmented Reality on Consumer Behavior: A Focus on Value Development, Leading to Brand Engagement and Purchase Intention." Management & Sustainability: An Arab Review 4, no. 2 (April): 320–41. doi:10.1108/MSAR-08-2023-0044.
• Steuer, J. 1992. "Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence." Journal of Communication 42, no. 4 (December): 73–93. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1992.tb00812.x.
• Lombart, C., O. Untilov, F. Charton‐Vachet, and D. Louis. 2025. "The Virtual Store: A New Shopping Channel That Generates Value and Well‐Being for Gen Z Customers." Journal of Consumer Behaviour 24, no. 3 (May): 1522–40. doi:10.1002/cb.2480.
• Dwivedi, Y. K., et al. 2022. "Metaverse Beyond the Hype: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Emerging Challenges, Opportunities, and Agenda for Research, Practice and Policy." International Journal of Information Management 66: 102542. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102542.
• Sarkis, N., N. Jabbour Al Maalouf, E. Saliba, and J. Azizi. 2025. "The Impact of Augmented Reality within the Fashion Industry on Purchase Decisions, Customer Engagement, and Brand Loyalty." International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, March, 1–10. doi:10.1080/17543266.2025.2470187.
• Norton, M. I., D. Mochon, and D. Ariely. 2012. "The IKEA Effect: When Labor Leads to Love." Journal of Consumer Psychology 22, no. 3 (July): 453–60. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.08.002.
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). 2023. "Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Security-by-Design and -Default." Accessed December 17, 2025. http://www.cisa.gov/tlp/.
• Akerlof, G. A. 1970. "The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 84, no. 3 (August): 488. doi:10.2307/1879431.
• Pavlou, P. A. 2003. "Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce: Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model." International Journal of Electronic Commerce 7, no. 3 (April): 101–34. doi:10.1080/10864415.2003.11044275.
• Nelson, P. 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior." Journal of Political Economy 78, no. 2 (March): 311–29. doi:10.1086/259630.
• Spence, M. 1973. "Job Market Signaling." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 87, no. 3 (August): 355. doi:10.2307/1882010.
• Ogunsanya, V. A., et al. 2025. "The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Strengthening Privacy and Security in the Era of Cyber Crime and Digital Forensics." International Journal of Science and Management Research 08, no. 05: 177–98. doi:10.37502/IJSMR.2025.8515.
• Yadav, R. T. 2024. "AI-Driven Digital Forensics." International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management 10, no. 4: 1673–81. https://ijsret.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IJSRET_V10_issue4_353.pdf.
• Shaku. n.d. "Virtual Try-On Technology: Boost B2B Sales & Reduce Returns." Shaku Industry Blog. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://shaku.tech/blogs/virtual-try-ons-the-key-to-reducing-returns-and-increasing-customer-satisfaction.
• Norberg, P. A., D. R. Horne, and D. A. Horne. 2007. "The Privacy Paradox: Personal Information Disclosure Intentions versus Behaviors." Journal of Consumer Affairs 41, no. 1 (June): 100–126. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2006.00070.x.
• Acquisti, A., L. Brandimarte, and G. Loewenstein. 2015. "Privacy and Human Behavior in the Age of Information." Science 347, no. 6221 (January): 509–14. doi:10.1126/science.aaa1465.
• Karras, T., S. Laine, M. Aittala, J. Hellsten, J. Lehtinen, and T. Aila. 2020. "Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN." http://arxiv.org/abs/1912.04958.
• Awoleye, J., S. Mavire, T. B. Chatukuta, and E. Katenda. 2025. "An Analytics-Driven, Metrics-Based Framework for Optimising Security and Performance in Hybrid Enterprise Zero Trust Deployments." International Journal of Computer Applications 187, no. 16 (June): 42–56. doi:10.5120/ijca2025925221.
• Cisco. n.d. "Solutions - Cisco Zero Trust Architecture Guide - Cisco." Accessed December 18, 2025. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise/design-zone-security/zt-ag.html.
• Yang, Q., Y. Liu, T. Chen, and Y. Tong. 2019. "Federated Machine Learning: Concept and Applications." http://arxiv.org/abs/1902.04885.
• Zhang, M. 2022. "Forensic Imaging: A Powerful Tool in Modern Forensic Investigation." Forensic Sciences Research 7, no. 3 (July): 385–92. doi:10.1080/20961790.2021.2008705.
• Awoleye, J., S. Mavire, A. Munyira, and K. Magora. 2025. "Forensic Analysis Frameworks for Encrypted Cloud Storage Investigations." International Journal of Computer Applications 187, no. 17 (June): 8–19. doi:10.5120/ijca2025925241.
• Mehrabian, A., and J. A. Russell. 1974. An Approach to Environmental Psychology. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.
• Donovan, R. J., and J. R. Rossiter. 1981. Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach. Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=fDiOHAAACAAJ.
• Yang, H.-P., W.-S. Fan, and M.-C. Tsai. 2024. "Applying Stimulus–Organism–Response Theory to Explore the Effects of Augmented Reality on Consumer Purchase Intention for Teenage Fashion Hair Dyes." Sustainability 16, no. 6 (March): 2537. doi:10.3390/su16062537.
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1975. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. Jossey-Bass Publishers. https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=afdGAAAAMAAJ
• Hoffman, D. L., and T. P. Novak. 1996. "Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations." Journal of Marketing 60, no. 3 (July): 50. doi:10.2307/1251841.
• Davis, F. D. 1989. "Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology." MIS Quarterly 13, no. 3 (September): 319–40. doi:10.2307/249008.
• Mavire, S., K. B. Muhwati, C. D. Kudaro, and J. Awoleye. 2025. "A Federated Learning Approach to Secure AI-Based Patient Outcome Prediction Across Hospitals." International Journal of Science and Management Research 8 (October). doi:10.37502/IJSMR.2025.8806.
• Cloarec, J., L. Meyer‐Waarden, and A. Munzel. 2024. "Transformative Privacy Calculus: Conceptualizing the Personalization‐Privacy Paradox on Social Media." Psychology & Marketing 41, no. 7 (July): 1574–96. doi:10.1002/mar.21998.
• Zeadally, S., E. Adi, Z. Baig, and I. A. Khan. 2020. "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence Capabilities to Improve Cybersecurity." IEEE Access 8: 23817–37. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2968045.