Does the Endorser’s Smile in Destination Ads Affect Consumer Response? The Case of Strong Versus Weak Destination Brands: An Abstract

Abstract

While the role of emotions in marketing communication has been extensively investigated, the role of emotion displays shown in advertisements has not yet received adequate research attention. Drawing on emotional contagion theory (Hatfield et al. 1993, 1994), which is “the flow of emotions from one person to another with the receiver catching the emotions that the sender displays” (Hennig-Thurau et al. 2006, p. 58), this study examines how the facial expression of endorsers (Small and Verrochi 2009) displayed in destination advertisements and the brand’s strength (Aaker 1991, 1996) affect consumers’ intention to visit the destination, destination attachment, and word-of-mouth communication (WOM). Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design, we manipulated the emotion display of an endorser (smiling vs. non-smiling) shown in an advertisement for a destination and the destination brand’s strength (strong vs. weak). Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions via an online questionnaire. The results of our study reveal that emotion displays in advertisements should receive more attention in both advertising and destination research and practice. A strong brand results in more favorable consumer responses in terms of intention to visit the destination, destination attachment, and WOM compared to a weak brand. This effect is strengthened for intention to visit and WOM when the advertisement promotes a smiling (vs. non-smiling) endorser. Thus, advertisements are most persuasive when they show a smiling endorser together with a logo representing a strong brand that transfers experiences and valuable information and, thus, provides value to the consumer. In terms of weak destination brands, we found that smiling endorsers cannot offset the effect; in other words a strong destination brand is a basic requirement for favorable consumer responses. Conversely, a smiling endorser is regarded a “delighter” that helps in increasing favorable consumer responses given a strong destination brand. Important implications for theory and management can be derived from these results. First, marketing managers are advised to integrate endorsers with positive emotions into their advertisements to reinforce the positive effect of the brand’s strength. Second, they are expected to create strong destination brands to elicit positive consumer responses. In sum, this study advances our understanding of emotion displays’ role in advertisements by taking into account the relevance of brand strength.