Source Attractiveness

"What is Beautiful is Good"

Source attractiveness: the social value recipients attribute to a communicator.^[1] 

The acceptance of the message depends on the attractiveness of the source, which in turn depends on three central attributes: familiarity, likeability, and similarity.^[2]

Familiarity: the audience's knowledge of the source through exposure

Likeability: the affection for the source’s physical appearance and behavior 

similarity: the resemblance between source and receiver.^[3]

•   Research has indicated that when consumer see salespeople or models in ads as similar to themselves they are more likely to accept and be influenced by the messages contained in an advertisement. Since source attractiveness increases message acceptance, marketers try to emphasize similarity and enhance likeability to increase source attractiveness.^[4]

• The better the source on each of these attributes, the more attractive it would be, and the more acceptable its message.^[5]
• Some sources appeal to consumers because they are cool, brainy or just plain famous. However, many are just nice to look at.^[6]

SO, why does beauty sell?

• One explanation is that physical attractiveness is a cue that facilitates or modifies information processing because it directs our attention to the message.(In other words were more likely to notice an ad with a beautiful person in it)^[7]
• However, just because we are more likely to notice the ads, does not mean we read it. We tend to filter out any irrelevant information to minimize cognitive effort.^[8] For the most affective marketing, the hottie in the ad should be relevant. 
• Example:  attractiveness affects attitudes toward adds about perfume or cologne but not towards coffee ads^[9]

Interesting Tid Bit:

"A British dairy company enlisted Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the Sex Pistols, to appear in a commercial to promote its butter. Sales went up 85% when the punk legend plugged the product."^[10] 

http://www.redrif.com/2010/11/07/the-7-worst-celebrity-endorsements/