How "Star" Influences the Advertising Effectiveness of Culture-Art Products?: The Exposure Effect of Celebrities in Musical Advertising

The purpose of this study is to examine a star’s role at a musical advertising. In the Korean musical market, star marketing has been used for reducing the risks. When stars are cast, they are exposed to audiences through... [ view full abstract ]

The purpose of this study is to examine a star’s role at a musical advertising. In the Korean musical market, star marketing has been used for reducing the risks. When stars are cast, they are exposed to audiences through advertisements (Prag & Casavant 1994). Celebrity endorsers were more effective at improving the consumer's advertisement attitude, product attitude and purchase intention than non-celebrities (Atkin & Block 1983; Kamins 1989). In this viewpoint, this study explored the role of the star for the musical advertising even though a star does not have any career at the musical. Four imaginary posters were made as experimental stimuli (endorsers of the musical: a male movie star/ a male non-celebrity / a female movie star / a female non-celebrity). Participants were exposed to one of four posters randomly and asked about the attitude toward the advertising and the product purchase intension. A total of 256 usable responses from 280 questionnaires were collected. The result suggests that stars were more effective at the consumer's advertising attitude and purchase intention than non celebrities. Stars have been cast to improve audience’s attention for musicals. To generate public interest on cultural-art products, casting stars will be a successful strategy.