The Effect of Regional Accents on Listeners' Evaluation of Radio Commercials.
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2016-08-15
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en
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Advertisers world-wide use foreign accents in commercials, mainly to attract consumers’ attention and evoke stereotypes that can increase the persuasive powers of the commercial. The use of accents in commercials, whether foreign or regional, appears to only have a positive effect if the accent used is congruent with the product advertised. Findings regarding the effects of accented speech in commercials seem to be inconclusive, as speakers with a foreign or regional accent can be downgraded, for example in terms of competence, but also upgraded, especially in terms of warmth. To shed some light on these varying effects, the present study investigated the use of a regional accent with differing accent strengths in product and service commercials. A total of 218 German native speakers took part in the experiment with a 2 (type of commercial: product/service) x 3 (accent: strong/moderate/standard) design. Listeners’ attitude towards the regionally accented commercials and the product/service, their purchase intention as well as their evaluation of the speakers’ competence and warmth were examined. In addition, it was investigated whether perceived comprehensibility of the commercial influences listeners’ evaluations. Findings suggest that there seems to be a different effect of a regional accent in product and service commercials. For service commercials, a regional accent did not seem to have a positive effect. On the contrary, a standard accented service commercial increased listeners’ attitude towards the commercial and service. For product commercials, however, positive effects of a regional accent were found. The purchase intention for products advertised in a moderate regional rather than standard accent seemed higher. In addition, a speaker with a moderate rather than standard accent was perceived to be warmer. Whether the commercial was comprehensible also seemed to play a role, as comprehensibility appeared to increase listeners’ attitude towards the commercial, the service/product, their purchase intention as well as evaluation of the speaker’s competence and warmth. Overall, the present study is among the pioneers of showing that a regional accent seems to have different effects in product and service commercials, which provides useful information to marketers. Suggestions for future research are given.
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