Warmth effect in advertising: the effect of male endorsers’ warmth on brand attitude

Prior literature in advertising tends to view warmth as an emotion arises from relationships between two or more characters in a commercial (e.g. lovers or family members), while little attention has been paid to endorsers as a potential source of warmth. In this article, we propose that the warmth of endorsers can serve as a way to elicit feelings of warmth in consumers and affect the effectiveness of the advertisement. Across three studies, we reveal a warmth effect in brand endorsement such that consumers perceive a greater psychological connection between the brand and the self when the brand is endorsed by a male endorser with high warmth, which, in turn, leads to a more favourable brand attitude. This warmth effect occurs only for male endorsers, but not for female endorsers. We further identify two boundary conditions and show that the effect is more prominent when consumers are of interdependent self-construal (vs. independent self-construal) and when the endorsed brand is a functional brand (vs. a prestigious brand). The findings contribute to the literature of brand endorsement, warmth and gender stereotype in advertising, and provide managerial insights for selecting brand endorsers.