Self-referencing and advertising effectiveness: The influence of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level on the attitudes toward the advertising and brand among Asian minorities. Additionally, this study explored the self-referencing as a mediating role between the effects of the race of ad characters and cultural cues and the attitudes toward the advertising and brand. A 2 (Asian characters vs. white characters) by 2 (Asian cultural background scenario vs. American cultural background scenario) by 2 (low acculturated vs. high acculturated) between-subjects factorial design was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that the congruent advertising condition activated more self-referencing and were more favored by the Asian minorities than the incongruent advertising condition. In addition, high acculturation increases the degree of self-referencing when the ad features American cultural cues. Moreover, self-referencing mediated the effect of the model ethnicity and cultural cues on attitude to the advertising and brand.