Endorser is common in advertising for marketing strategies. The firms spend hundreds of million dollars to hire celebrities to endorse their products and brands. Appropriate endorsers are beneficial in brand differentiation and help competitive advantage building. Previous researches in match-up between endorser and product image have two diverse points of view (congruity vs. incongruity). The latest research reveals that in moderate incongruity would accommodate the two different views. Based on the three inconsistent findings, this study explores the effects of gender-based trait through different match-up levels of endorser and service type. The present study uses experimental design to investigate the advertising effects of endorser¡¦s gender (male vs. female), endorser¡¦s gendered traits (male vs. female), and service type (masculine vs. neutral vs. feminine). Thus, a 2x2x3 factorial design is conducted. The ad effects are measured by perceived quality, attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intention to observe the responses under twelve different and fictitious scenarios. The results indicate that a male endorser with female traits is more effective than a male endorser with male traits, especially promoting feminine-based service marketing. Besides, consumers¡¦ perceived quality is different when evaluating match-up combinations based on endorser¡¦s gender. Moreover, when promoting a masculine-based service, a female endorser with female trait is more effective than a male endorser with male traits in perceived quality and purchase intentions. According to these findings, the research provides implications for researchers and marketers on match-up between endorser and service type.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-135).

Background: Public service advertising in China just has two decades years of history and media used for public service advertising mainly focus on print advertising. Compared to commercial advertising, public service advertising is not mature in China whatever in the forms, content variety or media. Chinese internet users have increased rapidly in recent years, so in this situation, the development of online PSAs is especially important. While many researches focus on print media, few are about PSAs on internet. The money of charity organization spent on PSAs is rare, because the donators want their donation spent on important place. So the quality of PSAs is important to attract people’s attention.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors influencing college students’ attitude toward online public service advertising for recruiting volunteers.Method: A quantitative method is taken in this thesis. The primary data are collected through questionnaire and the sample is college students in university in Shanghai for science and technology. The secondary data come from mainly E-library, E-journal and books. To analyze the data, hypothesis testing method is used and SPSS is used as statistical analysis tool.Conclusions: Entertainment, informativeness, irritation, credibility and advertising value these factors from Ducoffe’s model are applied to the research on attitude toward PSAs. The result shows that factors of entertainment, informativeness and advertising value have positive influence on college students’ attitude, while factors of irritation and credibility don’t have influence on college students’ attitude toward volunteer recruitment PSAs, thus they have a nearly neutral attitude. Entertainment and informativeness have significant correlation with advertising value separately, and this situation can also be applied to attitude toward PSAs. Advertising value has significant correlation with attitude toward PSAs. So the Ducoffe’s model is not totally appropriate for the research on attitude toward PSAs.

According to human nature of having a taste for beauty, advertisers heavily rely on physical attractive male and female models as the product spokespersons to enhance consumers¡¦ liking of the ad, and this is so-called ¡§What-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype.¡¨ Previous research focuses on the impact of physical attractiveness of models on consumer perceptions and advertising persuasion. However, service is different from products due to the high intangibility and interaction with consumers. Therefore, this research takes one step forward to examine how a service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness influences advertising persuasion. The present study uses experimental design to investigate the advertising effects of service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness (high vs. moderate), gender congruence between service provider and customer (congruent gender vs. incongruent gender), and type of service (search service vs. experience service). Thus, 2x2x2 factorial design is conducted. The ad effects are measured by attitudes toward the ad and purchase intention toward the ad to observe the responses under eight different and fictitious scenarios. The results indicate that, a highly attractive service provider is not necessarily more effective than a moderately attractive one. When promoting a service with search attributes, either gender congruence between service provider and consumer or service provider¡¦s physical attractiveness matters in advertising persuasion. When promoting a service with experience attributes, a moderately attractive service provider is more effective than a highly attractive one in the condition of the same gender between provider and consumer. The findings suggest that companies and marketers should take account of not only the match-up of service attributes and physical attractiveness but also the target customer gender to enhance their advertising persuasion.

殘酷時尚議題已成為當代的芒刺，對動物保護團體及人權組織形成挑戰。善待動物組織(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals：PETA)是目前規模最大、發展最完善的動物權利組織，其廣告往往能在人們心中喚醒善待動物的意識。PETA首次在時尚雜誌上發起的反對毛皮廣告活動，即獲得「非營利組織最佳廣告獎(Best Ads Produced by a Nonprofit)」。 本研究的宗旨為，展示公益內容廣告運動可在任何市場導向的經濟體中運作。本研究列舉PETA的PSA廣告範例如下：「我寧願裸體」（“I’d rather go naked”, 1992年) 、「毛皮代表死亡」(“Fur is dead”, 2001年)、「對皮膚感到自在」(“Be comfortable in your own skin”, 2003年)、「拯救海豹」(“Save the seals”, 2009年)。「毛皮」 （“Skins”）主題上述廣告皆由知名女性代言。 本研究為質量研究，採用射影技術(projective technique)及深入訪談，調查結合訊息與圖像的PSA廣告在傳達動物權力相關議題時的效果。本研究將指出這些廣告可如何透過1.有創意、逼真的圖像、2.說服力的寓意訊息及3.知名代言人，加強傳遞人與自然關係的概念。 本研究發現，具說服力的訊息必須擁有逼真、富含寓意、簡潔、清楚等特性，且僅有在搭配適當的圖像時，才能發揮效力。此類圖像必須擁有不含混、非情色誘因、有創意、外來風或暗中使用性訴求等特性。廣告必須同時訴諸感性訴求及現實主義，並由知名、受人敬重的代言人出演。當公益廣告意圖以幽默感營造有利的風趣情境時，就不應使用嚴肅形象，或要求觀眾訴諸行動。至於訴諸恐懼類的公益廣告，則結合令人反感的圖像特徵及寓意訊息，仍可營造有利觀眾回應的情境，然而太過強烈的反感特徵有時會造成觀眾無法掌握寓意，導致觀眾無法回應。訴諸恐懼類平面廣告所引起的觀眾回應差異，以及本研究的局限性，可歸因於應答者的文化差異。 本研究做出結論為，擁有優良公眾形象及正面背景的知名代言人，可成功向大眾傳遞寓意訊息。再者，有創意、逼真，但不過度暴力、過度情色的圖像可吸引觀眾目光，促使大眾意識並做出反應。 / In the Modern Age the problem of killing fashion has become a thorny issue for the fashion industry, animal rights protection organizations, animal world and humanity. In this respect, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) performs as the largest and most highly developed animal rights institution in modern countries. PETA’s advertising has made a revolution in people’s minds concerning the ethical treatment of animals and already the first advertising campaign by PETA received the “Best Ads Produced by a Nonprofit” Award for its anti-fur advertising campaign in fashion magazines. The purpose of the study is to show how such social content advertising campaigns can work in all countries that are learning to live under market-driven economies. This research concerns properly selected print PSA samples of “I’d rather go naked” (launched in 1992), “Fur is dead” (launched in 2001), “Be comfortable in your own skin” (launched in 2003), and “Save the seals” (launched in 2009) campaigns presented by a number of celebrity spokeswomen posing for PETA’s “Skins” print advertisements. Based on qualitative research with the use of projective techniques and in-depth interviews, the study investigates the impact of a combination of PSA specific messages and image characteristics concerning animal rights using Public Service Print Advertising. The research will show how these ads hopefully can improve their effectiveness in order to achieve more respect for the human-nature relationship by using 1) Creative, realistic images, 2) A powerful educational message, and 3) A highly respected and appreciated celebrity spokesperson. The study found that a strong persuasive message is defined as realistic, educational, laconic, clear and the advertisement is ultimately effective only when used with proper image characteristics. Such image characteristics are non-vulgar, non-sexually distracting, but creative, exotic, or latent in sexual appeal. An advertisement should use emotional appeal and realism, presented by a celebrity spokesperson with a respected personal background. While PSA uses a high degree of humor to produce favorable and amused attitude, they do not present a serious image or promote a call to action. Regarding using fear appeal, strongly unpleasant image characteristics combined with educational messages still may produce a favorable and responsible attitude. However, it was found that unfavorable perceptions caused by strongly unpleasant images sometimes distracted viewers from the educational message or failed to produce a responsible reaction. The striking differences among public responses regarding fear appeal in print ads and study limitations can be attributed to cultural differences within respondents. The study has concluded that strong educational messages spoken by highly trustworthy celebrities with positive background activity makes the public listen. Furthermore, creative, realistic, but not overly-violent or overly-sexual images catch the viewer’s attention, makes the public more aware and encourages responsible thinking.