The Advertising Effectiveness of Aboriginal Endorsers: An Example from Taiwan

Abstract

Endorsement of products by successful aboriginal people might enhance the effectiveness of their marketing. While there is much research regarding aboriginal tourism, there is apparently little discussion of marketing strategies other than frequent criticism of the stereotypical portrayal of aboriginal people. The purposes of this study were to explore the effectiveness of different types of endorsement and to determine what types of advertising appeals are most effective in attracting tourists to visit aboriginal cultural sites. This research adopted a between-subjects experimental design. In total, 610 samples were valid. Among them, 461 questionnaires were returned by the six experimental groups, and 149 were obtained by the two control groups. The main interest of this study was to explore the effectiveness of endorsement advertising of aboriginal products, in this case aboriginal culture villages in Taiwan. The results revealed that an employee endorser (i.e., aboriginal dancer) stimulates a better response than a celebrity endorser. In addition, an emotional advertising appeal was more effective than using a rational advertising appeal in an aboriginal cultural village's brochure.