With the rapid growth of short video platforms, covert advertising has emerged as a key strategy for driving consumer behavior in e-commerce. However, existing research has primarily focused on explicit advertising and its effects on consumer attitudes, with limited exploration of how covert advertising in short video e-commerce influences impulse buying through psychological mechanisms like perceived entertainment and trust. To address this gap, this study investigates the impact of covert advertising features—creativity, content-congruity, and personalization—on consumers’ impulse buying intentions, based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory. Data were collected via a survey of active short video platform users and analyzed using structural equation modeling. This study extends the applicability of the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework in digital marketing contexts and offers practical insights for optimizing short video advertising design to enhance consumer engagement and conversion rates.