A study on the influence of national stereotyping in advertisements on consumers’ attitudes.
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2024-01-28
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en
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For many years, marketers have often used stereotypes in their advertising because stereotyping helps to convey ideas and images quickly and clearly. The majority of stereotypes used in advertising are based on gender stereotypes, which have an influence on consumers’ attitudes toward those advertisements. However, little to no research has been conducted in order to determine if national stereotypes would have an effect on consumers’ attitudes. Therefore, this study examined the influence national stereotypes in advertising may have on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions. Furthermore, this study investigated the perceived stereotypicality, traditionality, and offensiveness of national stereotyping in advertisements and stereotypical congruency. A total of 85 Dutch participants and 63 French participants took part in this study, in two separate experiments. This research had a mixed design. The between-subject factor was stereotypicality of the endorser (non-stereotypical/ stereotypical) and the within-subject factor was nationality of endorser/product (Dutch, French, German, and Italian). The findings indicated that the stereotypicality of the endorser had no effect on ad attitude, product attitude, purchase intention, national stereotypes attitude and stereotypical congruency. However, the nationality of the endorser/product influenced ad attitude, product attitude, purchase intention, stereotypical congruency, and national stereotype attitude. The results showed that the Italian endorser/product resulted in higher ad attitude, product attitude, purchase intention, stereotypical congruency, and national stereotype attitude than French, Dutch, and German endorsers/products. Lastly, the findings of this study revealed that national stereotyping is perceived as stereotypical and traditional, but it is not perceived as offensive. In conclusion, these results suggest that marketers may continue to use stereotypical images because there are hardly any differences between ads with stereotypical and non-stereotypical endorsers, and they may continue to use them if their aim is to portray more traditional ads. Furthermore, they may use stereotypical Italian images or products because the Italian endorser/product resulted in better ad attitude, product attitude, purchase intention, and national stereotype attitude than French, Dutch, and German endorsers/products.
Keywords: national stereotype, country stereotype, ad attitude, product attitude, stereotypical congruency, purchase intention, stereotypicality, traditionality, offensiveness, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy
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