Ethnic influences on attractiveness and trustworthiness perceptions of celebrity endorsers

This research examines how the commonality or difference in ethnicity between consumer and celebrity endorser affects the attractiveness and trustworthiness consumers ascribe to recognizable brand spokespersons. Three studies reveal two potential routes through which such effects arise. When the message was limited to simple endorser identification or when priming focused the consumer’s processing on his or her own felt ethnicity, common ethnicity facilitated favourable perceptions across both attractiveness and trustworthiness. In a more complete ad-processing environment, without specific priming of the consumer’s personal ethnic identification, more complex and variable attractiveness and trustworthiness judgments arose.