Chou2014 - Political Endorsement

International Journal of Advertising
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Effects of endorser types in political endorsement

advertising
Hsuan-Yi Chou
To cite this article: Hsuan-Yi Chou (2014) Effects of endorser types in political endorsement
advertising, International Journal of Advertising, 33:2, 391-414
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Download by: [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] Date: 08 December 2015, At: 03:15
Effects of endorser types in political
endorsement advertising
Hsuan-Yi Chou
National Sun Yat-sen University
Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 03:15 08 December 2015
Independent voters are a valuable vote source, often determining electoral outcomes world-
wide. Political endorsements from both celebrities and non-celebrities are also a common, vital
election strategy. This paper compares the ad effects associated with three types of endorsers
in political endorsement advertising on young independent voters in Taiwan, and explores the
moderating effects of two voter characteristics. The experimental results indicate that young
independent voters prefer political endorsement ads to general political ads. Compared to pol-
itical figure endorsements, political ads endorsed by either a common citizen or an entertainer
can increase voter favourability towards the advertised party and their intention to vote for it.
Moreover, common citizen endorsements are more effective than entertainer endorsements
in increasing voter turnout intention. However, for female voters or those with better general
attitudes towards political ads, the effects associated with endorser types are weakened.
Introduction
Independent voters are actively pursued by candidates during elections, because their
voting preferences can easily be changed (Wang 2010) and their votes significantly affect
the results of many elections (Castells 2007). For example, in the 2012 presidential and
legislative elections in Taiwan (where the author conducted this study), independent vot-
ers were the major target of each party/campaign as their voting decisions were critical
in determining which candidate would win the election (Hsieh et al. 2011). Post-election
commentary attributed President Ying-Jeou Ma’s success to attracting more votes from
independents (China Review News 2012).
Despite the importance of independent voters, scholars have continued to emphasise
party identifiers in existing research (Wang 2010). How independent voters make voting
decisions and how they may be influenced by political communication remain under-
researched issues (Girvan et al. 2010). Previous studies on independent voters have focused
primarily on the stage of descriptive study, with the purpose of enhancing understanding
of the basic characteristics of these voters (e.g. Dennis 1992; Phan & Garcia 2009; Wang
2010). However, election personnel are more interested in learning how to effectively
International Journal of Advertising, 33(2), pp. 391–414

© 2014 Advertising Association
Published by Warc, www.warc.com 391
DOI: 10.2501/IJA-33-2-391-414
International Journal of Advertising, 2014, 33(2)
persuade independent voters to support their candidates. Thus, the research motivation
behind this study is to explore how to influence independent voters through political ads.
During elections, ads showing notable political figures or common citizens endorsing
particular candidates appear frequently. This is known as political endorsement advertis-
ing. Individuals from the entertainment world also make candidate/party endorsements or
participate in election events in an attempt to guide the opinions and voting behaviours of
the public ( Jackson & Darrow 2005; Wood & Herbst 2007). In Taiwan, the engagement
of entertainers in politics is a common phenomenon and many well-known hosts, actors
and stars may be seen in campaign events and advertisements (Lu 2004; Li et al. 2011).
Spokespersons/endorsers are very popular research topics in the fields of commercial
ads and communication management (e.g. Eisend & Langner 2010; Guido et al. 2011;
Rozendaal et al. 2011). However, in the area of political communication/advertising, lit-

tle research has evaluated the impact of celebrity versus non-celebrity political endorse-
ment on voters’ attitudinal responses and voting behaviours ( Jackson & Darrow 2005;
Henneberg & Chen 2007). In addition, the characteristics of voters who are apt to alter
their decisions after being exposed to political endorsements require further clarification
(Veer et al. 2010). Therefore, the primary purpose of the current study is to investigate the
effects of political endorsement advertising on independent voters. As young people are
more easily influenced by celebrity endorsements in traditional commercial marketing due
to their worship of celebrities (Yue & Cheung 2000; Jackson & Darrow 2005), this study
focuses on young voters to examine the effects of celebrity endorsements in the political
field. Additionally, this study focuses on young voters due to their importance in election
research and practice (Phillips et al. 2008; Chou & Chou 2012). For instance, in the 2012
Taiwan presidential election, both the Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP), the two major parties in Taiwan, fought to win the support
of 1.2 million first-time voters (Chang & Hsieh 2011). The 20–29 voter bracket was
expected to be the key age group (Hsieh et al. 2011). Moreover, Verclas (2008) predicted
that, by 2015, young voters will account for 33% of voters in the US. Therefore, exploring
the effects of political endorsement ads on young voters is of great research value.
In order for endorsement ads to communicate effectively, the choice of endorser is
often the key decision (Henneberg & Chen 2007). According to the match-up relation-
ship between endorsers/spokespersons and the advertised products found in commercial
advertising studies (Friedman & Friedman 1979; Stafford et al. 2002), the current paper
contends that, even under circumstances of political endorsements, different types of
endorser (i.e. political figures, entertainers and common citizens) are likely to generate
different effects. Thus, the second purpose of this study is to compare the ad effects among
these three types of endorser to better understand the results of political endorsements.
Furthermore, voters’ personal characteristics may influence their processing modes
for political ads and thus cause different effects for different types of endorser (Veer
et al. 2010). First, as consumers’ general attitudes towards ads influence their attitudes
towards specific ads (Mackenzie & Lutz 1989; Alwitt & Prabhaker 1992), it is likely that
voters’ general attitudes towards political ads also influence their reactions towards polit-
ical endorsement ads. Second, male and female audiences often use different processing
392
Effects of endorser types in political endorsement advertising
modes and styles when exposed to ad messages (Fisher & Dubé 2005; Putrevu 2008), thus
generating different responses. Therefore, this study examines the moderating effects of
these two voter characteristics.
Specifically, this study aims to understand the responses of young independent vot-
ers towards political endorsement ads, compare the endorsed effects of the three types of
endorser (i.e. political figures, entertainers and common citizens), and discuss the moderat-
ing effects of voters’ general attitudes towards political ads and their genders. The research
results will contribute to a better understanding of political endorsement advertising and
independent voters, as well as provide suggestions for electoral advertising practice.
Celebrity and non-celebrity political endorsements

Celebrity political endorsements (CPE) refers to the use of celebrities as endorsers for
political purposes (Henneberg & Chen 2007). Studies on CPE and non-CPE remain
sparse, while the few that exist exhibit conflicting findings about the effectiveness of
endorsers. For instance, Jackson and Darrow (2005) and Jackson (2007) found that
Canadian and US students are more likely to agree with the political positions and state-
ments endorsed by celebrities than non-celebrities. Based on the context of the 2008 US
Democratic primary election, Pease and Brewer (2008) demonstrated that exposure to the
news of Oprah endorsing Barack Obama led participants to see Obama as more likely to
win the nomination, and to report a greater likelihood of voting for Obama. Vining and
Wilhelm (2011) also found that endorsements by US governors for candidates running
for state positions had a great impact on election results.
However, other research has a more negative evaluation of CPE. For instance, Payne
et al. (2007) found that, although there were massive Hollywood star endorsements for
John Kerry during the 2004 US presidential election, this strategy unexpectedly hurt
Kerry in the long run and even encouraged young voters to vote for his opponent, George
Bush, due to several high-profile, yet divisive, endorsements. It also helped support the
image created by the Bush campaign team, that Kerry was out of touch with mainstream
voters and more comfortable with Hollywood elites. Wood and Herbst (2007) conducted
an online survey and found that the impact of family and friends on first-time voters’ vot-
ing decisions was much greater than that of celebrities, whose influence was negligible.
Veer et al. (2010) first discussed potential moderating variables for CPE, demonstrat-
ing that participants’ personal political salience influenced their perceptions of star and
common citizen endorsements. Following the direction of Veer et al. (2010), this study
explores the moderating effects of other important variables such as voters’ general atti-
tudes towards political ads and voter gender, to better understand the effects of political
endorsements by celebrities and non-celebrities.
Independent voters
Party identification is an emotional attachment or a sense of belonging of a voter towards
a specific party (Abramson 1983). Independent voters are those who have no obvious
393
party preference or identification. Keith et al. (1992) classified independent voters as pure
independents and independent leaners. The latter profess that they are also independent
voters, but they tend to intrinsically favour a specific party, and their voting behaviours are
more similar to party identifiers (Dennis 1988). Since characterising leaners as independ-
ents would lead to inaccurate estimates of party effects and the responses of the electorate
to campaign strategies (Petrocik 2009), the current study focuses on pure independents
to understand how to win these critical swing voters (65.7% of independent Taiwanese
voters fall into this category (Wang 2010)).
Previous studies on independent voters have focused primarily on: (1) how to define
and identify independent voters (Dennis 1988; Mayer 2008; Phan & Garcia 2009);
(2) comparisons with party identifiers (Wu & Hsu 2003; Su & Liang 2005); (3) reasons
why an independent voter became independent ( Jennings & Markus 1984; Dennis 1992);
(4) classification and comparison of types of independent voter (Nguyen & Garand 2009;
Wang 2010); and (5) voting decisions of independent voters (Girvan et al. 2010). In brief,
comparatively fewer studies have discussed independent voters from the perspective of
political marketing. Further, the predominant focus in previous research has been on
the effects of negative political ads (e.g. Ansolabehere et al. 1994; Lau & Pomper 2001;
Dermody & Scullion 2005) on independent voters’ voting intentions. Therefore, the cur-
rent study discusses how to influence the reactions of independent voters with political
endorsement ads, to address a gap in the literature.
Research hypotheses
Effects of political endorsement by celebrities and non-celebrities

The importance and persuasiveness of expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness in
source characteristics varies depending on the situation (Ohanian 1991). Generally speak-
ing, entertainers have higher physical attractiveness, while political figures usually have
more political expertise and years of experience in politics (Veer et al. 2010). Common
citizens are more similar to the audience. According to Ohanian (1991), due to different
source characteristics, the current study infers that the effects of these three endorser types
should be determined by different contextual variables, such as audience (i.e. independ-
ent voters) characteristics and the endorsed products/targets (i.e. the party or candidate
recommended in an ad).
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a theory used to explain how source,
message, recipient and context variables result in consumer attitude changes (Petty &
Wegener 1999). Part of this theory concerns elaborations, which refer to the degree to
which an individual has the motivation and ability to process and further collect decision-
related information (Petty & Cacioppo 1986). Under different degrees of elaboration,
people follow different information processing routes, helping persuasion variables gener-
ate different effects. Applying the ELM to the election context, when voters are highly
involved in politics, their attitudes should be changed through the central route. They are
concerned about the policies and issues proposed by candidates (i.e. the central arguments
394
in elections) and carefully process relevant information. Conversely, when voters’ political
involvement is lower, they follow the peripheral route. They often lack the motivation
to engage in deep evaluation. Therefore, they engage in less demanding information-
processing and consider a smaller quantity of information, and their decisions are largely
influenced by simple peripheral cues (Petty & Wegener 1999).
This study focuses on pure independents in Taiwan. Independent voters can be old
independents or new independents (Burnham 1970). Wang (2010) examined the types of
independent voter in Taiwan based on their individual social background, political atti-
tudes and political behaviours, and found that pure independents in Taiwan are old inde-
pendents who generally are more apathetic about politics and lack political knowledge.
Wu and Hsu (2003) also found that independent voters in Taiwan usually lack interest
in political affairs and election mobilisation, and understand less about political messages.
Since pure independents in Taiwan generally have low political involvement (Liu & Chu
2012), the author assumes that, when these voters receive political persuasive messages,
they process these messages following the peripheral route and form decisions based on
simple peripheral cues.
The multiple roles theory for persuasion variables by Petty and Wegener (1999) indi-
cates that, under different situations, a variable may play different roles and thus influence
message processing through different mechanisms. Specifically, any variable may play the
role of peripheral cue or central argument, determine the extent of elaboration, produce
a bias in elaboration (Petty & Wegener 1999) or influence attitudes via a self-validation
(Petty et al. 2002) or a belief polarisation (Chou et al. 2011) mechanism associated with
thought confidence. Furthermore, endorsers’ source characteristics may be considered as
peripheral cues or central arguments depending on their relevance to important attributes
of the ad product (Shavitt et al. 1994; Petty & Wegener 1999). This paper posits that
the ‘special products/targets’ recommended in political ads (i.e. candidates or parties) will
cause the three source characteristics of expertise, attractiveness and similarity to play dif-
ferent roles.
Generally speaking, when a voter seeks out a good/ideal candidate, political expertise
becomes the core consideration due to its intimate relationship with policy quality and
administration performance. For example, Yu (2003) asked 712 voters what characteristics
an ideal candidate should have, and found that politics-related personal attributes such
as political expertise, competence, experience and performance are the most important.
Miller et al. (1986) also indicate that candidate competence, including previous political
experience, comprehension of political issues and intelligence, was used more frequently
by voters to evaluate candidates than other dimensions of candidate characteristics.
Extending McCracken’s (1989) meaning-transfer theory, this study infers that endorse-
ment by political figures can transfer their expertise to the endorsed candidate/party. This
transferred meaning represents an important attribute for the recommended target, and
the endorsement may be treated as a central argument that helps voters evaluate the core
attributes of the target (Shavitt et al. 1994). Additionally, based on their political expertise,
political figures, especially those with neutral images, may have a greater ability to judge
the advantages and disadvantages of the candidates and parties. Therefore, their public
395
endorsements may provide candidate-related core information. However, according to the

ELM (Petty & Cacioppo 1986; Petty & Wegener 1999), this may represent the kind of
information (i.e. central argument) that independent voters with low political involvement
typically do not desire to process, thus reducing its persuasive effects.
On the contrary, the attractiveness transferred by entertainer endorsements and the
similarity transferred by common citizen endorsements have no obvious relation to the
important attributes of candidates and parties (Yu 2003; Henneberg & Chen 2007). Thus,
they should be considered peripheral cues (Shavitt et al. 1994; Petty & Wegener 1999) and
have greater effects on independent voters with low political involvement. In traditional
commercial marketing, many researchers have demonstrated that attractive sources posi-
tively impact endorsed products ( Joseph 1982; Kahle & Homer 1985). Feick and Higie
(1992) also argued that source similarity to the message recipient is an important factor in
increasing ad persuasion, especially for higher-preference, heterogeneous products/services.
Though they did not directly measure participants’ perceptions of celebrity traits, Jackson
and Darrow (2005) used the attractiveness and similarity of celebrities to explain their
endorsement effects on political statements. Thus, this paper contends that, for political
endorsements, entertainers and common citizens should generate better ad effects on
independent voters in Taiwan than political figures. Referring to Chou and Lien (2010),
Garramone et al. (1990) and Veer et al. (2010), four indices are used to understand voters’
advertising effectiveness responses, including ad attitudes, party attitudes, turnout intention
and intention to vote for the advertised party. Therefore, this study proposes the following
hypothesis:
H1: In political endorsement ads, common citizen endorsements and entertainer

endorsements generate better effects on independent voters’ ad attitudes, party
attitudes, turnout intention, and intention to vote for the advertised party than
do political figure endorsements.
Although both are peripheral cues, the author argues that the comparative effects of
entertainer and common citizen endorsements may be different. Kamins’ (1990) match-up
hypothesis posits that the obviously positive effects of spokesperson physical attractiveness
exist when the endorsed product is attractiveness-related. However, for an attractiveness-
unrelated product, the effects of spokesperson attractiveness are weakened. This effect has
been demonstrated in both high- and low-involvement decision contexts (e.g. Kamins
1990; Parekh & Kanekar 1994; Koernig & Page 2002). According to Kamins’ (1990)
match-up hypothesis, attractiveness is not a relevant element of products in political
endorsements (i.e. parties or candidates). Thus, the mismatch between physically attractive
endorsers and the product should somewhat weaken the favourable ad effects of entertainer
endorsements. However, messages transmitted by common citizen endorsers are based on
similarities in personal characteristics, which represent greater value for decision reference
(Bickart & Schindler 2001), and in turn have a greater influence on audiences (Latane &
Bourgeois 2001). Dahl et al. (2012) also propose that, when using real consumers in ads
rather than professional models, audiences will connect more with these ads and be more
396
persuaded by them. Therefore, this paper argues that the ad effects of common citizen
endorsements are greater than those of entertainers and proposes the following hypothesis:
H2: In political endorsement ads, common citizen endorsements generate better

effects on independent voters’ ad attitudes, party attitudes, turnout intention
and intention to vote for the advertised party than do entertainer endorsements.
Moderating effect of general attitudes towards political ads

According to the definition of attitude (Kotler et al. 1999), general attitudes towards pol-
itical ads are defined as a long-term cognitive evaluation, affect and behavioural tendency
towards political ads in a person. Political involvement and general attitudes towards pol-
itical ads are different constructs (Dermody & Scullion 2005).
Bauer and Greyser (1968) and Alwitt and Prabhaker (1992) found that a general atti-
tude towards ads influences how consumers respond to specific ads. Dermody and Scullion
(2005) implied that general attitudes towards political ads can affect voters’ attention
towards a political ad, which further affects voters’ understanding of the ad. Based on the
above, the current paper argues that if the general attitudes of voters towards political ads
are more favourable, they may also like political endorsement ads, and be more willing to
process the information in the ads. As their advertising message involvement increases, the
effects of the central argument (i.e. political figure endorsements) also improve, while the
effects of the peripheral cues may be somewhat reduced. This reduces the advertising effec-
tiveness differences among the different endorser types. However, if the general attitudes of
voters towards political ads are less favourable, voters still process the ad messages following
the peripheral route and form decisions based on simple peripheral cues. Different endorser
types may then lead to different effects, as predicted by H1 and H2. Thus:
H3: In political endorsement ads, if the general attitudes of independent voters

towards political ads are more favourable, the ad effects of endorser types are
weakened, such that there is no difference in ad attitudes, party attitudes, turnout
intention, and intention to vote for the advertised party (a) between common citi-
zen and political figure endorsements, (b) between entertainer and political figure
endorsements, and (c) between common citizen and entertainer endorsements.
Moderating effect of voters’ genders

Based on the selectivity hypothesis/model (Meyers-Levy 1989; Meyers-Levy &
Maheswaran 1991), Putrevu (2008) proposed that under low- and medium-involvement
conditions, male and female audiences adopt different information processing modes and
therefore generate different responses towards ads. More specifically, men, as selective
processors, usually form judgements and attitudinal responses by collecting a select sub-
set of all available information. By contrast, as comprehensive processors, the processing
thresholds towards message cues of women are lower than those of men. Certain cues
397
that may not attract the attention of men might be sufficient to attract women, since
the latter attempt to assimilate/process all available information before rendering judge-
ment (Meyers-Levy & Sternthal 1991). Therefore, the selectivity hypothesis predicts
that women will process ad messages more thoroughly than men. Such propositions and
related applications have been documented in many studies. For example, Laroche et al.
(2000) demonstrate that females appeared to comprehensively acquire in-store informa-
tion for a Christmas gift, while males appeared to heuristically limit their search to a
smaller subset of in-store information. Putrevu (2008) demonstrates that, compared to
men, women will engage in more in-depth processing of sexual appeal advertising with a
strong fit with the target brand. Richard et al. (2007) and Kim et al. (2007) both find that,
as comprehensive information processors, female respondents also reflect a more complex
and exhaustive information search process than male ones in online websites.
Accordingly, this paper infers that when independent voters with low political involve-
ment are exposed to political endorsement ads, men will tend to focus on partial informa-
tion (i.e. salient cues) (Wolin 2003). Since endorsers are the focus of these types of ad
and have higher personal relevance due to the increased potential to treat them as the
reference group in ads (Schiffman & Kanuk 2007), endorsers are quite likely to attract
the attention of male voters, which will assist each endorser type to display its effects
adequately. However, since women consider a greater amount of information when mak-
ing decisions (Putrevu 2008), other information/cues in ads (such as the title, text content
and ad design) may also attract their attention and influence attitude formation as well,
thus weakening the associated effects of the various endorser types. As such, this study
proposes the following hypothesis:
H4: Compared to male independent voters, when female independent voters are
exposed to political endorsement ads, the ad effects of different endorser
types will be weakened, such that there is no difference in ad attitudes, party
attitudes, turnout intention and intention to vote for the advertised party
(a) between common citizen and political figure endorsements, (b) between
entertainer and political figure endorsements, and (c) between common citi-
zen and entertainer endorsements.
Method
Participants and design

To enhance the generalisability of the research results, the recommended parties in pol-
itical endorsement ads were the two major parties in Taiwan. Thus, a 3 (endorser types:
political figure vs entertainer vs common citizen) × 2 (recommended parties: KMT vs
DPP) between-subjects factorial experiment was conducted. The sample was restricted
to young voters in Taiwan between 20 and 30 years old (20 is the minimum voting age
in Taiwan). A convenience sample of 297 residents in Taipei City and New Taipei City
participated and completed the questionnaire in exchange for an honorarium (100 NT
398
dollars). The residents were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions.
Incomplete questionnaires and those that indicated a preference for or leaned a little more
to a specific party were eliminated, resulting in 129 independent voter responses (70.5%
male, 29.5% female) with an average age of 22.6.
Experimental situation, stimuli and pretest

To increase the authenticity of the experimental situation, the study context was the 8th
legislative election held in Taiwan on 14 January 2012. The experiment was conducted
from 28 December 2011 to 7 January 2012. Since participants were based in different
constituency areas, this study focused on ads for the position of legislator at large (i.e.
promoting KMT or DPP party votes for the nationwide constituency).

The experimental stimulus was a political print ad. Endorser types and recommended
parties were manipulated in the ad to produce six versions with the same ad background
and layout. The ad slogan was ‘This time, I will vote for the KMT (DPP); I believe this
is the best choice!’
Before the formal experiment, this study selected pictures of possible male endorsers
including political figures, entertainers and common citizens to use in a pretest. There
were no significant differences in political endorsement effects between different-gendered
endorsers in Morin, Ivory and Tubbs (2012), which justified the choice of only male endors-
ers. Sixty young voters were asked to assess each figure’s awareness (low/high awareness)
and familiarity (very unfamiliar/very familiar) (Putrevu 2008) in a subset of the pictures
on a 7-point scale, and check the perceived party position for every figure. Based on the
pretest results, this experiment chose the political figure ‘Huai-Nan Peng’, entertainer
‘Zheng-Long Lan’ and common citizen ‘Zhi-Gi Li’ to serve as the endorsers. Huai-Nan
Peng has been the president of the Central Bank of Taiwan, the national bank of Taiwan,
since 1998. Although it is a government department subordinate to the Executive Yuan
(the highest-level administrative organisation in Taiwan), it is considered an independent
department. Its major mission includes monetary management, financial stability and bank
supervision. Zheng-Long Lan is a popular actor in Taiwan. He has acted in many TV
dramas, movies and ad endorsements. Zhi-Gi Li is a fictitious figure with average looks.
The selected endorsers had different awareness (F(2, 86) = 94.156, p < 0.05) and familiarity
(F(2, 87) = 43.187, p < 0.05). The two celebrities, Peng and Lan, both had significantly
higher awareness and familiarity than the non-celebrity, Li (M = 5.73 = 6.07 > 1.48, both
p < 0.05; M = 4.40 = 5.10 > 1.33, both p < 0.05). As for party position, more than 60% of
the pretest participants gave these three figures neutral images (Peng 66.7%; Lan 86.7%; Li
75.8%). Therefore, their appearances in political endorsement ads for the KMT and DPP
were possible.
Procedure
At the beginning, participants were first asked to evaluate their political involvement and
general attitudes towards political ads. Next, the experimental situation was introduced,
399
and each participant was asked to imagine that ‘he/she sees a newspaper political ad for
a certain party that is attempting to increase party votes for the nationwide constituency’.
After reading one of the six-version ads embedded in the questionnaire, participants
completed the questionnaire. To identify independent voters, participants were asked to
indicate which party they preferred (Chang 2003). Following Wang (2010), those who
selected the option ‘no preference’ were further asked, ‘Do you feel yourself leaning a little
more to one of the political parties?’ Those who still answered ‘no’ were considered ‘pure
independents’.
Measures
Four advertising effectiveness indices were measured using 7-point scales. Participants
assessed their attitudes towards the ad (bad/good, unfavourable/favourable, negative/
positive; α = 0.93 (Pascal et al. 2002)) and the party recommended in the ad (bad/good,
dislike/like, unpleasant/pleasant; α = 0.96 (Veer et al. 2010)), as well as the possibility that
they would vote in this election (very unlikely/very likely and low possibility/high pos-
sibility; α = 0.96 (Garramone et al. 1990)). Intention to vote for the advertised party was
measured with two statements (Pease & Brewer 2008; Veer et al. 2010): ‘After viewing
this ad, I will vote for the party recommended by the endorser’ (strongly disagree/strongly
agree) and ‘If tomorrow is election day, what is the likelihood of me giving my at-large
party vote to the advertised party’ (very unlikely/very likely; α = 0.87). Additionally, par-
ticipants were asked to use a 7-point scale to evaluate how they generally felt about pol-
itical ads (dislike very much/like very much (Chou & Lien 2010)).
For manipulation checks, participants were asked to check which party was recom-
mended in the ad. Next, the items for endorser awareness and familiarity were measured in
the same way as in the pretest. To ensure that different endorser types largely represented
different source characteristics, items for endorser physical attractiveness (unattractive/
attractive and ugly/handsome; α = 0.85) and political expertise (without/with polit-
ical expertise and without/with political-relevant experiences; α = 0.95), adapted from
Ohanian (1990), were measured. Additionally, endorser similarity was measured with two
statements adapted from Arpan (2002): the endorser in the ad has a ‘similar background
and living environment to me’ and ‘similar thoughts and values to me’ (strongly disagree/
strongly agree; α = 0.85). Finally, to determine whether pure independents in Taiwan
are old independents, following Faber et al. (1993), participants indicated their degree of
agreement with statements concerning enduring political involvement on a 7-point scale:
‘I do not want to miss any news about politics’ and ‘I like to talk about politics’ (α = 0.81).
Jackson (2007) found that, when celebrities’ endorsements of certain political beliefs
involved significant personal benefits, it would weaken the endorsement effects and even
result in adverse impacts. Additionally, Wood and Herbst (2007) suggested that if people
questioned a celebrity’s political endorsement motivation for candidates, the celebrity’s
endorser credibility would be undermined. However, de los Salmones et al. (2013) found
that the attribution of altruistic motivations to the celebrity endorsement was positively
related to endorser credibility. Since the endorsement motive perceived by the participants
400
has a great influence on the endorsement effect ( Jackson 2007), it was measured and con-
trolled. Participants evaluated the following statements adapted from Yoon et al. (2006)
and Dong et al. (2010) on a 7-point scale (extremely unlikely/extremely likely): the politi-
cal endorsement by this man is ‘a self-marketing strategy’, ‘because of personal benefits
involved’, ‘to enhance self-image’ (egoism motive; α = 0.85), ‘because he sincerely cares for
political development’ and ‘because of his belief that the recommended party is a better
choice’ (altruism motive; α = 0.81).
Analysis and results

Manipulation checks
All participants correctly recognised the recommended party. Endorser types signifi-
cantly affected endorser awareness (F(2, 126) = 87.413, p < 0.05), familiarity (F(2, 126) =
48.745, p < 0.05), political expertise (F(2, 126) = 37.917, p < 0.05), physical attractiveness
(F(2, 126)=56.257, p < 0.05) and similarity (F(2, 126) = 32.024, p < 0.05). Compared to the
group exposed to the common citizen endorsement, the groups exposed to the ads with
political figure and entertainer endorsers had higher scores on the measures of endorser
awareness (M = 5.69 = 5.31 > 2.02, both p < 0.05) and familiarity (M = 4.42 = 4.42 > 1.58,
both p < 0.05). The political figure had more political expertise than the entertainer and
the common citizen (M = 4.83 > 2.57 = 2.96, respectively, both p < 0.05). The entertainer
had higher physical attractiveness than the political figure and the common citizen
(M = 5.49 > 3.57 = 3.24, respectively, both p < 0.05). The common citizen had higher
perceived similarity than the political figure and the entertainer (M = 4.39 > 2.81 = 2.74,
respectively, both p < 0.05). Endorser types also affected participants’ perceived altruism
motive of political endorsement (F(2, 126) = 3.222, p < 0.05); the perceived altruism
motive was more intense for political figure and common citizen endorsements than for
entertainer endorsement (M = 4.06 = 3.86 > 3.31, respectively, both p < 0.1). Pair-wise
comparisons also revealed that the perceived egoism motive was more intense for the
common citizen endorsement than for the political figure endorsement (M = 4.66 vs 4.01,
p < 0.1). To prevent such perceptions from confounding the pure effects of endorser types,
the political endorsement motives of the endorsers were controlled in the formal analy-
sis. The independent voters in the study exhibited a low degree of political involvement
(M = 2.84 < 4, t(128) = –9.82, p < 0.05).
Effects of political endorsement ads and endorser types

First, the results of the independent-sample t-tests showed that, regardless of whether the
KMT or DPP was recommended in the ad, participants generated similar ad attitudes
(M = 3.54 vs 3.44, t(127) = 0.502, p > 0.1), party attitudes (M = 3.38 vs 3.61,
t(127) = –1.240, p > 0.1), turnout intention (M = 4.99 vs 5.08, t(127) = –0.239, p > 0.1)
and intention to vote for the advertised party (M = 3.76 vs 3.51, t(127)=1.314, p > 0.1).
401
Therefore, the follow-up analysis did not discuss this variable, and combined the KMT
and DPP samples. Second, the results of the paired-sample t-tests revealed that the atti-
tudes of participants towards political endorsement ads (M = 3.49) were better than those
towards general political ads (M = 2.85, t(128)=5.089, p < 0.05).
Next, while controlling for potential influential variables (i.e. the political endorsement
motives perceived by the participants), this study applied analyses of covariance
(ANCOVAs) to examine the main effects of the endorser types, voters’ general attitudes
towards political ads and voters’ genders. The results shown in Table 1 reveal that
endorser types significantly affected party attitudes (F(2, 122) = 3.315, p < 0.05), turnout
intentions (F(2, 122) = 3.806, p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the advertised party
(F(2, 122) = 2.912, p < 0.1). Participants were more favourable towards the recommended
party (M = 3.56 = 3.62 > 3.12, both p < 0.05) and had greater potential to vote for that
party (M = 3.67 = 3.72 > 3.19, both p < 0.05) for ads endorsed by the common citizen and
the entertainer than for ads endorsed by the political figure. Therefore, H1 was partially
supported by the party attitude and intention to vote for the advertised party indices.
Furthermore, the common citizen endorsement generated higher turnout intention than
did the entertainer endorsement (M = 5.69 vs 4.54, p < 0.05). Thus, H2 was partially
supported by the turnout intention index.1
Table 1: ANCOVA results
ANCOVA F values (sig.)

Endorser General attitudes Voters’ Egoism Altruism
types towards political ads genders motive motive
Ad attitudes 0.445 14.313 0.823 1.416 10.464
(0.642) a (0.000)*** (0.366) (0.236) (0.002)***
Party attitudes 3.315 23.695 1.031 2.663 9.815
(0.040)** (0.000)*** (0.312) (0.105) (0.002)***
Turnout intention 3.806 0.339 0.359 3.312 0.397
(0.025)** (0.561) (0.550) (0.071)* (0.530)
Intention to vote for the 2.912 9.693 3.960 2.044 5.230
advertised party (0.058)* (0.002)*** (0.049)** (0.155) (0.024)**
a
F value (p-value)
*p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
1
The ANOVA results of endorser types on the advertising effectiveness indices revealed that without the
control variables (i.e. political-endorsement motives), endorser types significantly affected turnout intentions
(F(2, 126) = 2.925, p < 0.1) but not other indices (all F(2, 126) < 1.123, all p > 0.1). However, after controlling
for endorsement motives, endorser types affected party attitudes (F(2, 124) = 2.463, p < 0.1), turnout intention
(F(2, 124) = 3.673, p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the advertised party (F(2, 124) = 2.135, p = 0.123;
the comparative effects among endorser types could be found through the planned contrast process). Thus,
controlling for the perceived endorsement motives strongly impacted the effects of endorser types.
402
On the other hand, voters’ general attitudes towards the political ads significantly
affected their attitudes towards specific ads (F(1, 122) = 14.313, p < 0.05), party
attitudes (F(1, 122) = 23.695, p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the advertised party
(F(1, 122) = 9.693, p < 0.05), the effects of which found through regression analyses
were all positive (β = 0.311, t(122) = 3.783, p < 0.05; β = 0.384, t(122) = 4.868, p < 0.05;
β = 0.260, t(122) = 3.113, p < 0.05). Male voters had greater intention to vote for the
advertised party (M = 3.73 vs 3.33, F(1, 122) = 3.960, p < 0.05) than female voters, which
may result from the better ad effects of gender matching between the male audience and
the male endorser (Boyd & Shank 2004).
For the control variables, the egoism motive significantly affected turnout intention
(F(1, 122)=3.312, p < 0.05) while the altruism motive affected ad attitudes
(F(1, 122) = 10.464, p < 0.05), party attitudes (F(1, 122) = 9.815, p < 0.05) and intention
to vote for the advertised party (F(1, 122) = 5.230, p < 0.05). Regression analyses
revealed that the effects of the egoism motive on ad attitudes were negative (β = –0.163,
t(122) = –1.820, p < 0.1), but the effects of the altruism motive on the other three indices
were all positive (β = 0.276, t(122) = 3.235, p < 0.05; β = 0.256, t(122) = 3.133, p < 0.05;
β = 0.198, t(122) = 2.287, p < 0.05, respectively), which was consistent with the research
results of the endorsers’ altruistic attribution (de los Salmones et al. 2013).
Moderating effects of voters’ general attitudes towards political ads

To test the moderating effects of voters’ general attitudes towards political ads, moderated
multiple regression was performed on the advertising effectiveness indices. Endorser types
were coded as two dummy variables (D1, D2), (1, 0) for the common citizen, (0, 1) for the
entertainer and (0, 0) for the political figure. The political figure endorsement was designated
as the comparison group. D1, D2, general attitudes towards political ads (mean-centred) and
their interactions were included as independent predictors. Voters’ genders and perceptions
of endorsers’ egoism and altruism motives were also included as control variables.
The results (Table 2) show that the interaction between D1 and general political
advertising attitudes on intention to vote for the advertised party (β = –0.243, t(120) = –2.059,
p < 0.05), and one between D2 and general political advertising attitudes on turnout
intention (β = 0.281, t(120) = 2.458, p < 0.05) were significant. To explore the nature of the
interaction and to test whether different simple effects of endorser types existed in voters
with different attitudes towards political ads in general, following Aiken and West (1991)
and Fitzsimons (2008), spotlight analyses at plus and minus one standard deviation from
the mean of general attitudes towards political ads were performed.
When participants had poorer attitudes towards political ads in general, the com-
mon citizen endorsement had a more positive impact on participants’ party attitudes
(β = 0.341, t(120) = 2.613, p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the advertised party
(β = 0.400, t(120) = 2.920, p < 0.05) than the political figure endorsement. Similarly,
the entertainer endorsement improved voters’ party attitudes (β = 0.292, t(120) = 2.050,
p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the advertised party (β = 0.294, t(120) = 1.966, p < 0.1)
more than the political figure endorsement.
403
Table 2: Moderated multiple regression results (political figure endorsement as

the comparison group)
Moderated multiple regression results

Egoism Altruism
D1 D2 GAa D1*GA D2*GA Genders motive motive
Ad attitudes 0.073 0.081 0.252 –0.038 0.159 –0.064 –0.116 0.280
(0.729)b (0.795) (1.833)* (–0.328) (1.462) (–0.775) (–1.381) (3.301)***
Party 0.207 0.239 0.519 –0.170 –0.058 –0.084 –0.131 0.257

attitudes (2.133)** (2.425)** (3.918)*** (–1.510) (–0.551) (–1.057) (–1.609) (3.139)***
Turnout 0.170 –0.115 –0.188 0.151 0.281 0.071 –0.186 –0.052

intention (1.612) (–1.075) (–1.305) (1.229) (2.458)** (0.825) (–2.098)** (–0.583)
IV 0.208 0.234 0.443 –0.243 –0.065 –0.170 –0.122 0.199

(2.043)** (2.269)** (3.189)*** (–2.059)** (–0.587) (–2.048)** (–1.434) (2.319)**
a
GA = general attitudes towards political ads; IV = intention to vote for the advertised party; b standardised β (t-value)
*p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
When participants had better attitudes towards political ads in general, the ad effects
of endorser types were directionally consistent with those found in the poorer atti-
tude group, but became weaker. The comparative effects between the political figure
and common citizen endorsements and those between the political figure and enter-
tainer endorsements on participants’ party attitudes (β = 0.072, t(120) = 0.546, p > 0.1;
β = 0.185, t(120) = 1.386, p > 0.1) and intention to vote for the advertised party (β = 0.016,
t(120) = 0.112, p > 0.1; β = 0.174, t(120) = 1.245, p > 0.1) were not significant. Therefore,
H3(a) and H3(b) were partially supported by the party attitude and intention to vote for
the advertised party indices.
For the interaction between D2 and general attitudes towards political ads on turnout
intention, the slope of general attitudes towards political ads was non-significant for the
political figure endorsement (β = –0.188, t(120) = –1.305, p > 0.1), but significantly posi-
tive for the entertainer endorsement (β = 0.356, t(120) = 2.135, p < 0.05).
Endorser types were coded in a different way – (1, 0) for common citizen, (0, 1) for
political figure and (0, 0) for entertainer – to directly compare the effects between com-
mon citizen and entertainer endorsements. Using similar analytical procedures, the results
show that the interaction between D1 and general political advertising attitudes was
significant on ad attitudes (β = –0.227, t(120) = –1.786, p < 0.1). The slope of general
attitudes towards political ads was not significant for the common citizen endorsement
(β = 0.189, t(120) = 1.420, p > 0.1), while it was significantly positive for the entertainer
endorsement (β = 0.560, t(120) = 3.530, p < 0.05). Additionally, spotlight analyses show
that the common citizen endorsement had a more positive impact on participants’ turnout
intention (β = 0.431, t(120) = 2.973, p < 0.05) than the entertainer endorsement for par-
ticipants with poorer attitudes towards political ads in general. However, the above effects
disappeared (β = 0.143, t(120) = 0.988, p > 0.1) when participants had better attitudes
404
towards political ads in general. Therefore, H3(c) was partially supported by the turnout
intention index.
Moderating effects of voters’ genders

Although the 3 (endorser types) × 2 (voters’ genders) ANCOVA results showed that
the interactions between endorser types and voters’ genders were not significant on the
dependent variables (all F(2, 120) < 1.230, all p > 0.1), the simple main effects of endorser
types were examined for different genders. The ANCOVA results shown in Table 3 (the
statistics of control variables, including endorser motives and voters’ general attitudes
towards political ads, are omitted from the table) indicate that male participants were
significantly affected by endorser types in party attitudes (F(2, 85) = 5.077, p < 0.05),
turnout intention (F(2, 85) = 3.853, p < 0.05) and intention to vote for the ad party
(F(2, 85) = 4.102, p < 0.05). The results of the planned contrasts demonstrate that
the common citizen endorsement generated better party attitudes (M = 3.74 vs 3.07,
p < 0.05), turnout intention (M = 5.71 vs 4.77, p < 0.1) and intention to vote for the
advertised party (M = 3.98 vs 3.26, p < 0.05) than did the political figure endorsement.
Additionally, the effects of the entertainer endorsement were better than those of the
political figure endorsement on the indices of party attitudes (M = 3.74 vs 3.07, p < 0.05)
and intention to vote for the advertised party (M = 3.91 vs 3.26, p < 0.05). Furthermore,
the political endorsements by the common citizen generated higher turnout intention
(M = 5.71 vs 4.31, p < 0.05) than the entertainer endorsement. In sum, the effect pat-
terns were similar to those of the main effects of endorser types predicted in H1 and H2.
However, for female participants, the effects of the endorser type were weakened and were
unable to influence any dependent variable (all F(2, 32) < 0.988, all p > 0.1). The party
attitude, turnout intention and intention to vote for the advertised party indices partially
Table 3: Means and ANCOVA results (moderation of voters’ genders)
Male voters Female voters

ANCOVA ANCOVA
PF a E CC F values PF E CC F values
Ad attitudes 3.46 3.61 3.53 0.154 2.89 3.44 3.58 0.988
(0.858) b (0.384)
Party attitudes 3.07 3.74 3.74 5.077 3.48 3.44 3.35 0.050
(0.008)*** (0.951)
Turnout intention 4.77 4.31 5.71 3.853 4.94 5.10 5.39 0.166
(0.025)** (0.848)
Intention to vote for the advertised party 3.26 3.91 3.98 4.102 3.43 3.52 3.23 0.260
(0.020)** (0.773)
a
PF = political figure; E = entertainer; CC = common citizen; b F value (p-value)
*p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
405
support H4(a), the party attitude and intention to vote for the advertised party indices
partially support H4(b), and turnout intention index partially supports H4(c).
General discussion
Conclusions
The results suggest several conclusions. First, young independent voters prefer political
endorsement ads to general political ads. This may be because these voters tend to lack
political experience and knowledge, and the celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers in
political endorsement ads may act as a type of decision reference that helps this group
form its attitudes (Burton & Netemeyer 1992; Hou 2012), leading to a preference for
this type of ad.
Second, endorser types have a significant impact on young independent voters’
ad responses. Compared to the political figure endorsement, party ads endorsed by
either a common citizen or an entertainer can result in voters becoming more favour-
able towards and increasing their intention to vote for the advertised party. Moreover,
common citizen endorsements are more effective than entertainer endorsements in
increasing voters’ turnout intention. This study uses four indices to understand voters’
advertising effectiveness responses, and finds that the effect patterns of endorser types
on party-directly-related indices (i.e. party attitudes and intention to vote for the adver-
tised party) and election-participation index (i.e. turnout intention) are different. This
responds to Pease and Brewer (2008), who suggest that research on celebrity political
endorsement should adopt multiple effect indices to comprehensively understand its
impacts.
Third, voters’ general attitudes towards political ads and their genders both moder-
ate the effects of endorser types. In the group with better general attitudes towards
political ads and in the female group, the effects associated with endorser types are
weakened, and the common citizen, entertainer and political figure endorsements
generate similar ad effects. By contrast, for the group with poorer general attitudes
towards political ads and in the male group, endorser types generate the expected
effects. Common citizen endorsements and entertainer endorsements generate better
effects than political figure endorsements, while common citizen endorsements are
more effective than entertainer endorsements.
Theoretical and managerial implications

This study makes several theoretical contributions. First, the concept of celebrity/non-
celebrity political endorsements has not been analysed comprehensively in the political
marketing or communication literature ( Jackson & Darrow 2005; Henneberg & Chen
2007). However, systematic research on related issues in response to extensive practical
application is urgently needed. The experimental results of the current paper contribute
406
to a clearer understanding of the effects of political endorsements on young independ-

ent voters.
Second, choosing an appropriate endorser/spokesperson to recommend the adver-
tised target is usually a complicated and difficult decision (Stafford et al. 2002). Few
previous studies on political endorsement have compared the effects of different types
of endorser ( Jackson & Darrow 2005) or discussed the impact of endorser traits (Morin
et al. 2012). This paper examines the persuasion-variable roles and the accompanying
ad effects of the three common endorser types and corresponding source characteristics,
which contributes to the establishment of a match-up theory of endorsers and targets
for political ads.
Third, previous studies on independent voters’ ad responses have focused largely on
negative political ads (e.g. Ansolabehere et al. 1994; Lau & Pomper 2001) and compared
the ad-processing modes (i.e. objective vs subjective/selecting-processing) between
independent voters and party identifiers (Chang 2003). The current study focuses on
positive political ads that include endorsers and discusses a different processing mode,
the ELM peripheral route, advancing understanding of the factors affecting independ-
ent voters’ ad processing and responses.
Fourth, this study demonstrates that endorser types are an important determinant of
political endorsement effects. Additionally, voter characteristics such as gender and gen-
eral attitudes towards political ads also moderate the effects of political endorsements.
Both findings help to resolve and propose new explanations for the conflicting results
of previous studies on the effects of CPE ( Jackson & Darrow, 2005; Payne et al. 2007;
Wood & Herbst 2007; Vining & Wilhelm 2011).
Finally, most of the previous studies on general attitudes towards political ads
focused on the antecedents and consequences of this construct (Stevens et al. 2008;
Jin et al. 2009), or on the differences between different voters in their general attitudes
towards political ads (Dermody & Scullion 2005; Tinkham et al. 2009). However, the
current study demonstrates that this construct can have important moderating effects,
signalling a new research direction for political advertising studies.
For practitioners, the research results suggest that political endorsement advertising
can generate favourable ad effects on young, independent voters. Additionally, par-
ties and candidates should use common citizen or entertainer endorsers (rather than
political figures) in political endorsement ads. Interestingly, Shih’s (2003) analysis of
Taiwanese campaign ad endorsers in 1989–2002 found that political figure endorse-
ments were most common. Henneberg and Chen (2007) interviewed campaign manag-
ers and candidates on this issue and reached a similar conclusion: the more intense the
use of political figure endorsements, the higher the probability of winning the election.
However, the current results suggest that, for young, independent voters who play a
critical role in determining the electoral outcome, political figure endorsements are not
very effective in attracting their votes. The difference between the current results and
previous studies may result from different research methods (experiment vs content
analysis/interview) and research perspectives (voter- vs practitioner-based). This shows
that differences in the perspectives of practitioners and voters may remain. Therefore, it
407
may be necessary for political marketers to reconsider the strategic application of politi-
cal figure endorsements in future election campaigns. Though employing celebrities to
transfer their symbolic properties/meanings to endorsement process is more consistent
with the communicative mode in collectivistic cultures, such as Asian countries (Choi
et al. 2005), this paper finds that, in Taiwan, celebrity appeals may not be a guarantee of
better persuasive effects, which further manifests the importance of endorser types and
the research value of this paper.
For independent voters who are male or who have poorer attitudes towards political
ads in general, the favourable ad effects of using common citizen and entertainer politi-
cal endorsements are more obvious. Thus, political marketers can target these people to
strengthen the promotion of political endorsement ads.
Many democratic countries, such as Canada, the US and the UK, have been facing
the problem of low voter turnout rates in recent years (Rubenson et al. 2007; Veer et al.
2010; Doxie 2011). However, voter apathy towards politics and the low voter turnout
rate are signs of an aggravated civil society and are disadvantageous to the long-term
development of democracy. Therefore, this study also suggests that government authori-
ties use common citizens, rather than celebrities, in political endorsement ads that
encourage independent voters to vote.
Limitations and future research

This study has several limitations that should be noted. First, the participants were all
young independent voters. Future research should re-test the effects of the experimental
variables on older independent voters, as their responses to CPE may differ. Second,
the voters in this study were ‘old independents’. The responses of ‘new independents’,
with greater political involvement towards political endorsement ads, are worth future
research. Third, the sample size was small because young voters in Taiwan are less
involved in electoral politics, and therefore election-related research and the experimen-
tal period are limited due to use of a real election in the experiment.
Fourth, the political endorsement effects of other celebrity types and the role of
celebrities’ fame should also be investigated. Additionally, future research can examine
the delayed effects (rather than those measured immediately after the ad exposure) of
political endorsement by different endorser types (Eisend & Langner 2010). Fifth,
some cases of celebrity political endorsements identify the celebrities as common peo-
ple. Whether such a strategy can improve their perceived similarity to voters is also
worth future research.
Finally, this study focuses on the impact of endorsers’ source characteristics in politi-
cal endorsement ads. The effect of the content provided by the endorsers in ads was
not investigated. Therefore, future research can extend the focus to include the recom-
mendations made by the endorsers, and even consider the effects when endorsers are
used to perform negative attacks. Further, in addition to the difference between selec-
tive and comprehensive processors, voters may also be different in terms of cognitively
or emotionally oriented processing (Mayer & Tormala 2010). Therefore, the effects of
408
the endorsed content (rational/emotional appeals or issue/image orientation) on voters

being cognitively or emotionally oriented should be investigated.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC
100-2410-H-110-069-) for financial support, and two anonymous reviewers for their
helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.
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413
About the author

Hsuan-Yi Chou is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Communications
Management at National Sun Yat-sen University. He received his PhD from the
Graduate Institute of Business Administration at National Taiwan University. His
research interests are in the areas of advertising effects, political communication and
consumer psychology. His work has been published in such journals as International
Journal of Advertising, The Journal of Psychology, The Service Industries Journal, Asian
Journal of Communication, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Asia
Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics and Journal of Marketing Communications.
Address correspondence to: Hsuan-Yi Chou, 70, Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung City,
Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Email: hsuanyi@mail.nsysu.edu.tw
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International Journal of Advertising

The Quarterly Review of Marketing Communications

ISSN: 0265-0487 (Print) 1759-3948 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rina20

Effects of endorser types in political endorsement

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2501/IJA-33-2-391-414

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International Journal of Advertising, 33(2), pp. 391–414

Rozendaal et al. 2011). However, in the area of political communication/advertising, lit-

Celebrity and non-celebrity political endorsements

Effects of political endorsement by celebrities and non-celebrities

endorsements may provide candidate-related core information. However, according to the

H1: In political endorsement ads, common citizen endorsements and entertainer

H2: In political endorsement ads, common citizen endorsements generate better

Moderating effect of general attitudes towards political ads

H3: In political endorsement ads, if the general attitudes of independent voters

Moderating effect of voters’ genders

Participants and design

Experimental situation, stimuli and pretest

promoting KMT or DPP party votes for the nationwide constituency).

Analysis and results

Effects of political endorsement ads and endorser types

Table 1: ANCOVA results

ANCOVA F values (sig.)

Moderating effects of voters’ general attitudes towards political ads

Table 2: Moderated multiple regression results (political figure endorsement as

Moderated multiple regression results

Party 0.207 0.239 0.519 –0.170 –0.058 –0.084 –0.131 0.257

Turnout 0.170 –0.115 –0.188 0.151 0.281 0.071 –0.186 –0.052

intention (1.612) (–1.075) (–1.305) (1.229) (2.458)** (0.825) (–2.098)** (–0.583)

IV 0.208 0.234 0.443 –0.243 –0.065 –0.170 –0.122 0.199

Moderating effects of voters’ genders

Table 3: Means and ANCOVA results (moderation of voters’ genders)

Male voters Female voters

Theoretical and managerial implications

to a clearer understanding of the effects of political endorsements on young independ-

Limitations and future research

the endorsed content (rational/emotional appeals or issue/image orientation) on voters

Behavior, 14(3), 261–296.

Advertising, 11(3), 15–24.

McCracken, G. (1989) Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the

About the author

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intention (1.612) (–1.075) (–1.305) (1.229) (2.458) (0.825) (–2.098) (–0.583)