Advertising Effectiveness and the Match-up Hypothesis: Examining Spokesperson Sex, Attractiveness Type, and Product Image

As the women’s consumption century arrives, more and more male celebrities endorse feminine products. This paper investigates the match-up effect between a spokesperson’s attractiveness type and a product’s image, and the effect of the spokesperson’s sex. Results indicate that for feminine-gendered products, the advertising effect is more positive with a female spokesperson than with a male spokesperson. However, ads with male spokespersons selling cute-image products can create more favorable reactions that those with male spokespersons selling sexy-image products. Additionally, there exists a match-up effect between the spokesperson’s attractiveness type and the product’s image. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.