Do celebrities in advertisements matter? Familiar endorsers as an accelerator of gestural cues of persuasion

Abstract

Regulatory focus theory has been used as a framework to elucidate the effects of advertising messages as well as those of some non-verbal advertising elements including endorsers’ gestures. However, previous advertising research has not discussed the role of celebrity endorsement based on this theory. In this research, we conducted three experiments to examine the moderating effect of the endorser type (celebrity vs. noncelebrity) on the causal relationships of the gesture style (eager vs. vigilant) and the message framing (promotional vs. preventive) via consumer motivational mindset changes. We found that, compared to unknown, noncelebrity endorsers, familiar celebrity endorsers are more likely to promote eager (vigilant) gestures to generate consumers’ promotion (prevention) focus orientation, leading to a favorable evaluation of the product of which advertising message is framed in a promotional (preventive) way. This research contributes to research on both regulatory focus and celebrity endorsement.