When Appearance and Language Disagrees

121 Pages·2015·2.3 MB·English

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2015
When Appearance and Language Disagrees:
Effects of Culturally Incongruent Cues in
Advertising
Neleen Shandele Leslie
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION

WHEN APPEARANCE AND LANGUAGE DISAGREES: EFFECTS OF CULTURALLY
INCONGRUENT CUES IN ADVERTISING

By
NELEEN LESLIE

A Dissertation submitted to the
School of Communication
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2015

©2013 Neleen S. Leslie
Neleen Shandele Leslie defended this dissertation on April 13, 2015.
The members of the supervisory committee were:

Felipe Korzenny
Professor Directing Dissertation

Michael Hartline
University Representative

Steve McDowell
Committee Member

Sindy Chapa
Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and
certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements.

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“For my mom...it was worth it!”

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It has been exactly three years and three months since I began this journey and so much
has happened in that time. I am thankful to the Almighty for seeing me through this program and
for providing for me throughout.
I wish to thank my advisor Dr. Felipe Korzenny and my committee members for their
support and guidance throughout this process, and for helping me to realize this dream. I’d also
like say thank you to Dr. Gary Heald for his support, faith and guidance, and for pushing me to
be the best I can be. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the faculty and staff of the School of
Communication who have been willing to lend a hand when I needed it.
Finally and most importantly, my deepest thanks to my family for their prayers, love and
support. I especially want to thank my mother, Mrs. Marcia Leslie for sacrificing her dreams for
mine. To her I dedicate this work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii 
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... xi 
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 5 
Incongruence between Source Appearance and Language ......................................................... 8 
Information Processing Theories and Source Effects ............................................................... 12 
Language and Ethnic Identification .......................................................................................... 16 
Strength of Ethnic Identification as a Moderator ...................................................................... 21 
Cosmopolitanism as a Moderator ............................................................................................. 22 
METHOD ..................................................................................................................................... 25 
Pilot Test Design ....................................................................................................................... 25 
Study Design ............................................................................................................................. 26 
Sample Selection ....................................................................................................................... 28 
Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 29 
Measures ................................................................................................................................... 29 
Ad Message Involvement ..................................................................................................... 29 
Ethnic Identification with the Ad .......................................................................................... 30 
Source Credibility (Trustworthiness) .................................................................................... 31 
Physical Attractiveness ......................................................................................................... 31 
Likeability ............................................................................................................................. 32 
Similarity............................................................................................................................... 32 
Overall Attitude towards the Commercial ............................................................................ 33 
Attitude towards the Brand in the Ad ................................................................................... 34 
Purchase Intention ................................................................................................................. 34 
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Ethnic Identification .............................................................................................................. 35 
Cosmopolitanism .................................................................................................................. 35 
Involvement (Product Category) ........................................................................................... 36 
STUDY 1: PILOT TEST .............................................................................................................. 37 
STUDY 2: HYPOTHESES TESTING ......................................................................................... 41 
Sample Profile ........................................................................................................................... 41 
Creation of Indices and Reliability Testing .............................................................................. 42 
Manipulation Checks ................................................................................................................ 43 
Exploratory Analyses ................................................................................................................ 43 
Analytical Approach ................................................................................................................. 45 
Ad Message Involvement (AMI) .............................................................................................. 46 
Ethnic Identification with the Ad (ADID) ................................................................................ 47 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 47 
Inclusion of Moderators ........................................................................................................ 49 
Model Related Attitudes ........................................................................................................... 51 
Likeability ................................................................................................................................. 52 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 52 
Inclusion of Moderators ........................................................................................................ 55 
Similarity................................................................................................................................... 57 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 57 
Attractiveness ............................................................................................................................ 59 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 59 
Inclusion of Moderators ........................................................................................................ 62 
Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................................... 68 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 68 
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Ad and Brand Related Attitudes ............................................................................................... 69 
Ad Attitude ................................................................................................................................ 69 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 69 
Brand Attitude ........................................................................................................................... 71 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 71 
Purchase Intention ..................................................................................................................... 72 
Initial Multiple Group Analyses ........................................................................................... 72 
Inclusion of Moderators ........................................................................................................ 74 
Further Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 77 
Ethnic Identification with the Ad .............................................................................................. 77 
Likeability ................................................................................................................................. 79 
Attractiveness ............................................................................................................................ 80 
Purchase Intention ..................................................................................................................... 81 
DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 82 
LIMITATIONS & FUTURE STUDIES ....................................................................................... 89 
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 91 
A. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT .................................................................................................. 91 
B. SCRIPT FOR COMMERCIALS ............................................................................................. 98 
C. IRB APPROVAL ..................................................................................................................... 99 
D. CHANGE IN PROTOCOL APPROVAL ............................................................................. 100 
E. MODELS USED IN STUDIES.............................................................................................. 101 
F. PRODUCT USED IN STUDY 2 ............................................................................................ 102 
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 103 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................................................... 109 

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Gender of Participants .................................................................................................... 37 

Table 2: Ethnicity of Participants ................................................................................................. 37 

Table 3: Ethnic Group Classifications of Models’ Pictures .......................................................... 38 

Table 4: Ethnic Group Classifications of Models’ Audio Clips ................................................... 39 

Table 5: Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants ....................................................... 41 

Table 6: Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients of Indices ...................................................................... 42 

Table 7: Mean Involvement in Product Category Scores by Treatment Condition ...................... 43 

Table 8: Correlations among Variables of Interest ....................................................................... 44 

Table 9: Ad Message Involvement Means for Congruent and Incongruent Conditions .............. 46 

Table 10: Ethnic Identification with the Ad Means by Ethnicity and Treatment ......................... 47 

Table 11: ANOVA Results for Ethnic Identification with the Ad by Treatment ......................... 48 

Table 12: Post Hoc Analysis for Ethnic Identification with the AD by Treatment Group for Non
Hispanic White Participants .................................................................................................. 48 

Table 13: Model Summary for Ethnic Identification with the AD Predicted by Strength of Ethnic
Identification, Cosmopolitanism and English Language Treatment Conditions .................. 50 

Table 14: Overall Model Tests for Ethnic Identification with the AD Predicted by Strength of
Ethnic Identification, Cosmopolitanism, Ethnic Identification with the AD and English
Language Treatment Conditions ........................................................................................... 50 

Table 15: Slope Tests for Ethnic Identification with the AD Predicted by Strength of Ethnic
Identification, Cosmopolitanism and English Language Treatment Conditions .................. 51 

Table 16: Mean Scores for Likeability, Similarity, Attractiveness and Trustworthiness by
Ethnicity and Treatment Group for English Language Ads ................................................. 52 

Table 17: Overall Model Tests of Differences in Likeability, and Attractiveness for Non-
Hispanic White Participants Exposed to English Language Ads ......................................... 53 

Table 18: Post Hoc Analysis for Likeability and Attractiveness by Treatment Group for Non
Hispanic White Participants .................................................................................................. 53 
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Table 19: Mean Likeability, Similarity, Attractiveness and Trustworthiness Scores by Treatment
Group for Hispanics Watching Spanish Language Ads ....................................................... 54 

Table 20: Model Summary for Likeability Predicted by Strength of Ethnic Identification,
Cosmopolitanism and English Language Treatment Conditions for Non Hispanic White
Participants ............................................................................................................................ 55 

Table 21: Overall Model Tests for Likeability Predicted by Strength of Ethnic Identification,
Cosmopolitanism and English Language Treatment Conditions for Non Hispanic White
Participants ............................................................................................................................ 56 

Table 22: Slope Tests for Likeability Predicted by Strength of Ethnic Identification,
Cosmopolitanism, Ethnic Identification with the AD and English Language Treatment
Conditions for Non Hispanic White Participants .................................................................. 57 

Table 23: Overall Model Tests of Differences in Attractiveness for Hispanic Participants ......... 60 

Table 24: Post Hoc Analysis for Attractiveness by Treatment Group for Hispanic Participants . 61 

Table 25: Model Summary for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism and English
Language Treatment Conditions for Non Hispanic White Participants ............................... 62 

Table 26: Overall Model Results for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism and English
Language Treatment Conditions for Non Hispanic White Participants ............................... 63 

Table 27: Slope Test Results for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism and Treatment
Conditions for Non Hispanic White Participants .................................................................. 64 

Table 28: Model Summary for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism, Gender and
Treatment Conditions for Hispanic Participants ................................................................... 64 

Table 29: Overall Model Results for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism, Gender and
Treatment Conditions for Hispanic Participants ................................................................... 66 

Table 30: Slope Test Results for Attractiveness Predicted by Cosmopolitanism, Gender and
Treatment Conditions for Hispanic Participants ................................................................... 66 

Table 31: Mean Ad Attitude, Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention Scores by Ethnic and
Treatment Group for English Language Ads ........................................................................ 70 

Table 32: Mean Ad Attitude, Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention Scores by Treatment Group
for Hispanics Watching Spanish Language Ads ................................................................... 71 

Table 33: Post Hoc Analysis for Purchase Intention by Treatment Group for Non-Hispanic White
Participants ............................................................................................................................ 73 
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