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- Title
The Persistence of Fictional Character Images beyond the Program and their Use in Celebrity Endorsement: Experimental Results from a Media Context Perspective.
- Authors
Spilski, Anja; Groeppel-Klein, Andrea
- Abstract
When consumers recollect media personalities familiar from television or movies, they think of them either as an actor or as the fictional character played by this actor. For instance, when consumers watch TV and Daniel Craig (the current James Bond actor) appears on the screen, they can perceive him as "this is Daniel Craig" or "this is James Bond." Celebrities known from film and TV can give endorsements in character-i.e. playing fictional roles in films and also in commercials. A celebrity known from fictional media is a composite of his or her fictional roles (McCracken 1989, 312). His/her image therefore depends not on the actor's qualities as a private person or celebrity, but on the qualities created in the stage persona in TV series and films. The fictional media provide information on fictional character traits that consumers may use to evaluate endorsers in-character. In this paper, we consider whether an appropriate media context-that creates the stage persona of an endorser-compared with an inappropriate media context for an incharacter endorsement, can enhance the evaluation of ad characteristics and the evaluation of the endorser's perceived expertise and trustworthiness. Several research findings on media-context effects support the hypothesis that congruency between the program and the advertisement with respect to characteristics like mood, feelings, involvement, humor, etc. leads to greater advertising effectiveness. A theory that is frequently cited as a possible reason for these effects is the congruency/accessibility hypothesis (Goldberg and Gorn 1987). A subsequent stimulus that is congruent to the media context is easier to perceive and process. This ease of processing is associated with a positive affect (Winkielman and Cacioppo 2001). The thematic congruency between program and advertisement is of major relevance in this paper, since an endorsement in character in the context of an appropriate program, forms a thematic connection between program and advert. Therefore, this paper deals with the issue of which fictional media context (thematically congruent or incongruent) represents the best placement for an in-character commercial. In order to address this issue, we conducted two studies analyzing different media context conditions. In Study 1, we compared one media context including an actor as a character congruent to the in-character advert, with another media context including another actor in another role (incongruence). In Study 2, in both media context conditions, the same actor was presented, but in a role that matches, versus one that does not match the incharacter advert. When program and advertising overlap-for example, when the advert features a character in a scene similar to one in the film or TV series-the advert represents a continuation of the film or TV series, and may evoke a more positive response due to viewers' familiarity with the character and the advertising story.
- Subjects
ADVERTISING endorsements; HUMAN brands (Marketing); MARKETING strategy; ADVERTISING effectiveness; CONSUMER research; CONSUMER attitudes; CONSUMER behavior; CONSUMER profiling
- Publication
Advances in Consumer Research, 2008, Vol 35, p868
- ISSN
0098-9258
- Publication type
Article