Product placement as leveraged marketing communications: the role of wishful identification, brand trust, and brand buying behaviours

ABSTRACT

Online streaming and DVRs have spurred the use of products placed within the storyline of a show to be an opportunity for advertisers to offer a message to their consumer about a brand even with the possibility of entirely avoiding commercial pods. This study examines wishful identification as a concept that mediates the relationship between favourite fictional character attributes, and buying behaviours and brand trust of products/brands used by a favourite character in a television show. Results indicate that wishful identification does, in fact, persist beyond the viewing experience. Additionally, the attribute of admiration and a combination of attributes we label the ‘Ideal Character’ is most predictive of wishful identification and our purchase intention dependent variables.

KEYWORDS:

• Product placement
• entertainment
• advertising
• TV characters
• wishful identification

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the anonymous reviewers whose thoughtful comments made this paper stronger.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather Shoenberger

Heather Shoenberger is an assistant professor of advertising at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. She received a JD degree from the University of Missouri School of Law and a PhD from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her research focuses on the nexus of decision-making, commerce, and communication. She is especially interested in consumer well-being.

Eunjin (Anna) Kim

Eunjin (Anna) Kim, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University. She is mainly interested in narrative persuasion and consumer resistance to persuasive messages. Other research interests include branding, interactive media use (social, digital, and mobile), and consumer behaviour. Her work has been published in Journal of Advertising; Psychology and Marketing; Marketing Letters; Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking; and Mobile Media & Communication.