Celebrity endorsements and advertising effectiveness: The importance of value congruence

xvi, 152 p. : col. ill.Millions of dollars are spent on celebrity contracts each year by assuming that the benefits of using celebrities will exceed the costs. Accordingly, many researchers have studied the impact of celebrity endorsements on advertising effectiveness. One of the theories used frequently by these researchers is the match-up hypothesis. This theory suggests that there should be a good fit between the celebrity and the product; however, it is not clear what constitutes a good fit. Some researchers suggested that attractive celebrities will be more effective if they are used to promote attractiveness-related products. Other researchers claimed that when there is congruence between the product type and the celebrity profession, advertising effectiveness will be enhanced; however, these existing dimensions of the match-up hypothesis fall short of explaining some popular celebrity endorsement campaigns (e.g., Sharpie Pens and David Beckham). The current research contributes to the study of celebrity endorsements by adding another dimension, values, to the match-up hypothesis. Specifically, the congruence between celebrity values (as perceived by consumers) and values represented by products was considered as an alternative to the attractiveness and expertise dimensions. In a series of six experiments, support for the positive impact of celebrity-product value congruence on advertising effectiveness was found. College students exposed to the high value congruence ad spent less time in examining the ad, suggesting that participants were easily and quickly able to match up the celebrities and products. Moreover, participants who were exposed to the high value congruence ad had significantly more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand, had higher intentions to buy the product, and were more likely to recommend the product to other people than were participants who were exposed to the low value congruence ad. The results also suggested that value congruence with unfamiliar celebrities was more effective than value congruence with familiar celebrities for generating more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand and higher behavioral intentions, due probably to the minimized effect of pre-established thoughts or feelings about unfamiliar celebrities. Together these results suggest that the congruence between celebrity and product values plays an important role in advertising effectiveness.Committee in charge: Lynn R. Kahle, Chairperson; Joan Giese, Member; David Boush, Member; Deborah Morrison, Outside Membe

Utjecaj materijalizma na zadovoljstvo životom

This paper builds on Sirgy’s theory of materialism by integrating exposure to materialistic advertising and social infuence into a more comprehensive model. The data collected in Bosnia-Herzegovina showed that exposure to materialistic advertising and social infuence contributes to materialism. Materialism, in turn, leads to the use of all types of standards of comparison (affective- and cognitive-based expectations) to make judgments about the standard of living. As the use of these standards of comparison increases, people start to evaluate their standard of living more negatively and these negative evaluations of the standard of living lead to a dissatisfaction with life.Ovaj se rad nastavlja na Sirgyjevu teoriju materijalizma, koju proširuje ugradnjom izloženosti materijalističkom oglašavanju idruštvenom utjecaju u opsežniji model. Podaci prikupljeni u Bosni i Hercegovini pokazuju da izloženost materijalističkom oglašavanju i društvenom utjecaju pridonosi materijalizmu, a on pri donošenju sudova o životnom standardu dovodi do korištenja svih vrsta standarda za usporedbu (afektivnih i kognitivnih očekivanja). Kako se povećava korištenje ovih standarda usporedbe, tako ljudi svoj standard počinju ocjenjivati negativnije, a negativna ocjena životnog standarda dovodi do nezadovoljstva životo

Influence of materialism on life satisfaction

This paper builds on Sirgy’s theory of materialism by integrating exposure to materialistic advertising and social influence into a more comprehensive model. The data collected in Bosnia-Herzegovina showed that exposure to materialistic advertising and social influence contributes to materialism. Materialism, in turn, leads to the use of all types of standards of comparison (affective- and cognitive-based expectations) to make judgments about the standard of living. As the use of these standards of comparison increases, people start to evaluate their standard of living more negatively and these negative evaluations of the standard of living lead to a dissatisfaction with life

The Impact of Imports and Exports in a Country’s Quality of Life

This paper is a sequel to Sirgy et al. (Social Ind. Res. 68(3) (2004) 251), “The Impact of Globalization on a Country’s Quality of Life: Toward an Integrated Model” published in Social Indicators Research. That paper conceptualized globalization in terms of the free flow of four major components: (1) goods and services, (2) people, (3) capital, and (4) information. The current paper focuses on the free flow of goods and services, one of the four major components of globalization. Specifically, we (1) articulate the trade globalization construct, (2) show the complex mediating effects between trade globalization and QOL, and (3) describe under what conditions these positive vs. negative QOL effects are likely to occur. We develop a set of theoretical propositions to capture these mediating and moderating effects. Based on the theoretical model, we suggest the following public policy recommendations: (1) Encourage exporting firms not to outsource jobs. (2) Encourage firms to export more products in ways that can enhance their production efficiency. (3) Discourage firms from exporting culturally sensitive (and possibly offensive) products to culturally distant countries. (4) Encourage firms to export more products with potential for technology transfer. (5) Encourage firms in industries with a significant comparative advantage to increase exports. (6) Encourage imports of products that do not compete with high employment domestic industries where workers cannot easily transition to more productive employment. (7) Impose trade barriers as short-term solution to help?threatened industries while helping those industries retool to become more competitive. (8)?Assist displaced workers by re-training them to shift to industries with comparative advantage