Why Do We Pay for Advertising Models?

Purpose – In this study, we inspected the effects of public-service advertising (PSA) and commercial advertisements on consumers social and emotional values. Specifically, we include source credibility on advertising models as a mediating variable to compare the path difference between the social and emotional value of consumers, and to test the appropriateness of advertising expenses. Research design, data, and methodology – A total of 219 copies of effective questionnaires were used and methodologies such as Cronbach’s alpha, paired samples t-test, and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted. Results – The results showed that the consumer model was effective at PSA, while celebrities and CEOs were effective at commercial advertising. Further, only credibility (among source credibility) made a significant difference in the test of PSA models of both PSA and commercial advertising that consumers preferred. Conclusions – The advertising model types varied depending on advertising types (for example, PSA and commercial advertising). Therefore, celebrities and CEOs appearing in commercial advertising should have no ethical or moral defect by self-control, and marketers should elect the model considering such a fact.