TY - JOUR
T1 - Hails From the Crypt
T2 - A Terror Management Health Model Investigation of the Effectiveness of Health-Oriented Versus Celebrity-Oriented Endorsements
AU - McCabe, S.
AU - Vail, K. E.
AU - Arndt, J.
AU - Goldenberg, J. L.
PY - 2014/3/1
Y1 - 2014/3/1
N2 - Interfacing the terror management health model with the meaning transfer model, we offer novel hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of celebrity and medical endorsements for consumer products and health behavior decisions. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that, compared with control topic primes, death thoughts in focal attention increased the effectiveness of health-oriented (doctor) endorsers but not culture-oriented (celebrity) endorsers, whereas death thoughts outside of focal attention increased the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers but not health-oriented endorsers. Studies 3 and 4 then focus more specifically on the valence and specificity of culture-oriented endorsements, revealing that death thoughts outside focal attention increase the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers only on the behaviors specifically endorsed and only when the endorser is characterized as possessing cultural value. Discussion focuses on everyday management of existential concerns and implications for persuasive communications in the health domain.
AB - Interfacing the terror management health model with the meaning transfer model, we offer novel hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of celebrity and medical endorsements for consumer products and health behavior decisions. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that, compared with control topic primes, death thoughts in focal attention increased the effectiveness of health-oriented (doctor) endorsers but not culture-oriented (celebrity) endorsers, whereas death thoughts outside of focal attention increased the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers but not health-oriented endorsers. Studies 3 and 4 then focus more specifically on the valence and specificity of culture-oriented endorsements, revealing that death thoughts outside focal attention increase the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers only on the behaviors specifically endorsed and only when the endorser is characterized as possessing cultural value. Discussion focuses on everyday management of existential concerns and implications for persuasive communications in the health domain.
U2 - 10.1177/0146167213510745
DO - 10.1177/0146167213510745
M3 - Article
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 40
SP - 289
EP - 300
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 3
ER -