Posing or candid? The effect of narcissism on consumers "responses towards endorsers" modeling styles in advertisements

Abstract

In the real world,many advertisements feature aposing endorser,whileon the contraryothers feature an endorserwith amorecandid style.This research investigates the effect of the endorser’s modeling style on consumers’ responses. Specifically,whether millennials consumer’slevel ofnarcissism has an effect on theirbrandperception, advertisement perception and on whether the product advertisedstands a better chance at selling,depending on the modeling style (candidversus posing).Findings show that individuals with higher levels of narcissism have a lower purchase likelihood when presented with an advertisement portraying a model in a candid (versus posing)stance, whereas this difference was not observed for those with low level of narcissism. Authenticity goal and impression management goal cannot explain this effect.Moreover, there was no effect for advertisement evaluation and brand evaluation.Possible explanations for this will be discussed, as well as managerial implications, based on this study’s findings.