Good guy vs. bad guy: the influence of parasocial interactions with media characters on brand placement effects

Abstract

Although brand placements are frequently associated with media characters within movies or TV series, and viewers are well known to relate to such characters, previous research has scarcely dealt with media characters’ influence on brand placement effects. Addressing this, two studies investigate the influence of parasocial interactions with media characters on perceptions of brands related to media characters. The first study applied a 1 × 2 between-subjects design, assuming that positively represented characters elicit greater parasocial interaction and, subsequently, more favourable brand attitudes compared with negatively represented characters. The results confirm the assumed indirect effect. A second study was able to replicate the first study's findings in a different setting and to introduce brand familiarity as an important moderator of the mediation found in the first and second study (moderated mediation). The underlying mechanism and implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• product placement
• parasocial interaction
• brand familiarity
• advertising effects
• brand personality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.