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I like you, but only if not too successful: male spokespersons effectiveness

Feray Adıgüzel (Department of Business and Management, LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy)
Carmela Donato (Department of Business and Management, LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 18 October 2019

Issue publication date: 14 January 2020

454

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine and compare the simultaneous effect of financially successful appeals and attractiveness for male spokespersons, as well as explain why and when this effect happens based on the viewer’s gender.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were designed by manipulating the success (vs absent) and attractiveness (vs average looking) of a male spokesperson and compared his marketing effectiveness in terms of purchase intention and advertising attitude. Additionally, the influence of gender through the mediating effect of negative/positive affect was compared.

Findings

Participants indicated lower purchase intention and advertising attitude in light of the success appeal in both studies; however, this effect was influenced by attractiveness in case of high involvement product. Additionally, success had a greater effect on ad effectiveness than attractiveness. Only for males, negative affect mediated the relationship between ad effectiveness and exposure to a successful spokesperson.

Practical implications

Practitioners should be aware of the negative influence of a financially successful spokesperson overall, especially if he is also very attractive and the product is a high involvement one targeting males. On the contrary, attractiveness of a successful spokesperson might cancel out negative effects for those products targeting females.

Originality/value

This study differs from previous studies by considering the simultaneous effect of successful and/or attractive male spokespersons on adult sample instead of college students and examine the effects for high and low involvement product.

Keywords

Citation

Adıgüzel, F. and Donato, C. (2020), "I like you, but only if not too successful: male spokespersons effectiveness", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 110-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-07-2018-2787

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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