The Power of Cute: How Mascot Cuteness Shapes Perception in Charity and Commercial Sporting Events?

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of kindchenschema and whimsical cuteness sporting event mascots on the consumers’ evaluation of charity and commercial sporting events. In Study 1, web texts were collected and analyzed for sentiment using ROOT-CM 6.0. Study 2 employed an experimental design to examine the effects of kindchenschema (vs. whimsical) cuteness mascots on consumers’ evaluations of charity (vs. commercial) sporting events, bootstrap analysis methods were used to test the mediating effects event-perceived warmth and event-perceived competence. We found that the public holds positive attitudes toward event mascots. We also found that kindchenschema cuteness mascots were more helpful in improving consumers’ evaluations of charity sporting events than whimsical ones. Event-warmth perception played a mediating role in this effect. On the contrary, whimsical cuteness mascots were more helpful in improving consumers’ evaluations of commercial sporting events, with event-perceived competence playing a mediating role.