Print advertising: Celebrity presenters

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Celebrity presenter characteristics Hook versus linear conceptualization of characteristics Persuasion and dissuasion This study validates Rossiter and Percy's (1987) hook theory of presenter characteristics, for celebrity presenters. Firstly, by employing a product-alone control group, the study demonstrates that some celebrity-product pairings have a good fit and can persuade whereas others have no effect or represent such an obviously poor fit that they dissuade consumers from buying the product. Secondly, the study suggests that good fit, and thus persuasion, for celebrity presenters, depends on the audience immediately perceiving that the celebrity is an expert user of the product (for all products) and is a positive role model (for high-risk products). On the other hand, the study reveals that failure of any of four of the celebrity's characteristics causes dissuasion by celebrity presenters; these failures include lack of high visibility (i.e., not widely well-known), perceived inexpertness as a user of the product (a strong negative hook that is probably the reason for the poor fit perception), lack of trust (though this is a weak dissuasive factor for celebrities) and, paradoxically, the celebrity being too likable (for low-risk products). Thirdly, the hook(s) conceptualization of presenter characteristics is superior to the conventional linear conceptualization in that a hook-scored regression model accounted for the same amount of variance in persuasion–dissuasion as did the linear model (adjusted R 2 s of 41% vs. 43%) despite the hook model's handicap of at least one-third lower possible R 2 due to trichotomization of 7-point ratings into positive, neutral, and negative hooks. A major strategic decision in advertising is whether or not to use a presenter. Executionally, thereafter, the decision evolves into what characteristics the presenter should have to maximally influence persuasion. Rossiter and Percy (1987) propose a hook theory of the way presenters' characteristics operate; in contrast with all other theories of presenter effects, hook theory postulates that presenters' characteristics work in a positive threshold manner (and sometimes in a negative threshold manner) rather than in a positive, linear manner. Rossiter and Percy's (1987) VisCAP model of presenter characteristics incorporates hook theory. The theory's characteristics are visibility (widely well-known, necessary for celebrity presenters and creatable via advertising for " real people " presenters and animated characters), credibility (expertise and trustworthiness), attraction (likability and role-model identification), and power (for coercive persuasion that rarely applies except in public …