8 2.Literature Review 2.1 Spokes Character The definition of a spokes-character is vague, there is no a definite explanation for spokes-characters. But most definitions for spokes-characters are all related to some common qualities. In Phillips’ (1996) paper, the author collected many definitions about trade characters, which are non-celebrity spokes characters. It is said that trade character is a character created in association with a product (Norris1984). Other definition for trade character is” people, animals, animated characters, objects, or the like that are used in advertising a brand and that come to be identified with the brand, in much the same way that a trademark is identified with a brand.” The Keebler Elves for Keebler cookies and the Pillsbury Doughboy for Pillsbury products are examples of trade characters, as is Betty Crocker for General Mills. Spokes- character can be defined as a visual identification or personification of a particular brand of merchandise or of a particular advertiser. For example, Tony the Tiger is the trade character of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. According to Dunn and Barban (1986) trade character is any visual symbol that is associated with a product. Garretson and Niedrich (2004) think spokes-characters to be non-human characters used to promote a product or brand. But using the word trade character may be a little out-dated, because in the early days
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2.Literature Review
2.1 Spokes Character
The definition of a spokes-character is vague, there is no a definite explanation
for spokes-characters. But most definitions for spokes-characters are all related to
some common qualities. In Phillips’ (1996) paper, the author collected many
definitions about trade characters, which are non-celebrity spokes characters. It is said
that trade character is a character created in association with a product (Norris1984).
Other definition for trade character is” people, animals, animated characters, objects,
or the like that are used in advertising a brand and that come to be identified with the
brand, in much the same way that a trademark is identified with a brand.” The
Keebler Elves for Keebler cookies and the Pillsbury Doughboy for Pillsbury products
are examples of trade characters, as is Betty Crocker for General Mills. Spokes-
character can be defined as a visual identification or personification of a particular
brand of merchandise or of a particular advertiser. For example, Tony the Tiger is the
trade character of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. According to Dunn and Barban (1986)
trade character is any visual symbol that is associated with a product. Garretson and
Niedrich (2004) think spokes-characters to be non-human characters used to promote
a product or brand.
But using the word trade character may be a little out-dated, because in the early days
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advertising character were registered as trademarks for a brand and/or company. For
many of the more recent characters, which are used for promotional purposes and
never registered as legal trademarks (Phillips, forthcoming), the term "trade character"
seems slightly misleading (Callcott and Lee,1995). In this paper, I will use the term
spokes-character to replace trade character or advertising character and define it as a
fictional character used to promote or represent for brands or products.
Previous research by Callcott and Lee provide a multi-dimensional framework for
spokes character definition along four parameters AMOP (table 1):
(1) physical Appearance of the character
(2) the Medium it appears in
(3) advertising or non-advertising Origin
(4) spokes-character Promotion of the product
2.1.1 Appearance
The appearance of the spokes character can be divided into human or non human
character. Research by Phillips and Gyoerick (1999) shows 45.5% of the
spokes-characters are human; 32.5% are animal; 15.3% are product personification
and 6.7% are mythical characters. While in Taiwan the most used spokes-character is
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animal, then product personification, human and mythical character respectively.
Fictitious Human spokes characters are usually pictured realistically through
illustration, famous characters are Quaker Oats man, Betty Crocker. Illustration
enable these character to be everyone, the appearance can reflect all the traits that the
brand or product wants to present and enhance consumers imagination also remain
untarnished through several generations. In Taiwan, the example can be Formosa
Chang (鬍鬚張).
Non-Human spokes-characters are animals, mythical beings, or product
personifications. Most of the animal spokes characters are anthropomorphized
characters, human have a tendency personify animals as they were also human beings.
The use of animal characters may also because of the symbolic meaning of the
animals, for example in Taiwan people like to use dragon which is represented as the
king in Chinese history to show that they are the king of the industry or the leading
brand. Taiwan Life use Taiwan A-dragon as their spokes-character in their advertising
may also conceive this notion of being a No.1. Macoto Bank baseball team use cobras
as their mascot is because cobras has the spiritual meaning in aboriginal tribes, it
means power and strength which fits the spirit of baseball team.
Mythical spokes-characters hail from a variety of literary and folklore traditions,
and include giants (Green Giant), fairies (Coca-Cola's Sprite), mermaids (Chicken of
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the Sea tuna), kiccoro and morizo (EXPO 2005). The peak of using mythical
spokes-characters is around 1950s’, but the new trend of spokes-character’s
appearance is becoming to product personification.
Product Personification can take the form of the product, itself, or of some
product-relevant concept. It is a common use in food product, for example Mr.
Peanuts and M&M chocolate.
2.1.2 Medium
The second parameter for spokes-character definition relates to the medium
through which these characters are presented to the public. There are four basic media
through which spokes-characters connect with consumers: print, film, radio and
merchandise. Now, internet is a new medium which combine print and film,
spokes-characters can be present in both static or motion ways (Phillips and Lee,
2005). Spokes-characters appearing in print are usually in the form of illustrations
(realistic or caricature), or photographs. Spokes-characters appearing on film may be
brought to life by some form of animation (computer, stop-motion, etc.) Live-action
spokes-characters include humans and animals in costumes or in character (e.g.,
Ronald McDonald ). As for radio, it is not a common medium in Taiwan and in
modern time because television becomes the prevalence medium for advertising.
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Merchandise is an important medium to contact with consumers, which
proliferates through promotional premiums and licensing. Many people are crazy
about these merchandises and collecting them. Merchandise featuring
spokes-characters can help to strengthen consumer awareness of the character, or even
the brand. Spokes-character premiums are perhaps better at promoting brand
awareness than other forms of licensed merchandise since proofs of purchase are
often required in order to obtain them. Recent years in Taiwan, convenience stores
often use this premium strategy to stimuli more consumption and also by giving
spokes-character merchandise to enhance consumer awareness.
2.1.3 Origin
Spokes-Characters can be defined as having an advertising or non-advertising
origin.
Characters with a non-advertising origin can be classified as celebrities like
Snoopy, Garfield the cat. They are not design to promote the product or brand but are
licensed as an endorser who uses self charisma to convince consumer to purchase the
goods. That is they are just functioned as human celebrity.
On the other hand, non-celebrity spokes-characters are those characters with an
advertising origin, which means, they were originally created strictly for advertising
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purposes. This study will focus on non celebrity spokes-character. Exploratory
research indicates that non celebrity spokes-characters may be more effective than
their celebrity counterparts because the identity they provide for a product belongs
only to that product (Callcott and Alvey 1991). The disadvantage of using celebrity
characters is to confuse consumers, over-use celebrity may actually decrease the
power of celebrity effect because consumers are confused by too many brands that the
celebrity present for. The other disadvantage is that because many messages focus
attention on the celebrity rather than on the products, the effect of changing brand
preference is not notable (Ogilvy and Raphaelson,1982). Previous experiment
(LaTour,2004) shows that different brands use the same celebrity spokes character
can mislead consumers of what they really saw on the television. Consumers may
think they’ve seen brand A’s advertising but it is actually brand B’s and enhance the
memory of brand A not brand B. It is important for companies to consider when they
want to use celebrity characters also they may need to consider the character-product
fitness. The non-celebrity characters can become almost "as one" with a product
through repeated exposure over the years, often earning the support and trust of
consumers.
2.1.4 Promotion
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Active promotion of the product involves speaking for the product or
demonstrating the product in some way. Passive promotion of the product is more
symbolic in nature. Phillips and Gyoerick (1999)’s study indicated that a majority
(62.1%) of spokes-characters were passive. companies move spokes-characters back
and forth between active and passive promotion for the products in order not to bore
the consumers, because when the same spokes-character shows too often for a long
time the spokes-characters can get wear out quickly.
2.5 Spokes-Characters in Taiwan
There are more than 200 spokes-characters in Taiwan in a board definition, this study
had select 100 spokes-characters to examine, these spokes-characters speak for
different institutions, some speak for public organization, some speak for private
organizations in different area. 46 out of 100 spokes-characters speak for service
industry, 5 speaks for non-profit organization, the rest 49 spokes-characters speak for
physical products or brand category from food to electronic product。It is found that
food products industry uses spokes-characters intensively, then followed with bank
and insurance industry, entertainment, electronic products. Spokes-characters are
thought to be child-oriented because the animated, cartoon look characters are
appealing to the children, 33 out of 100 spokes-characters represent for product or
service that’s aim at children.
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Table 2-1.
Framework for Spokes-Character Definition
Parameters Description
Appearance Fictitious Human
Actors
Caricatures
Non-Human
Animal
Mythical
Product Personification
Medium Print
Illustration
Photography
Film
Animation
Puppetry
Live-Action
Radio
Personas
Merchandises
Premiums
Character
Licensing
Origin Advertising
Non-celebrity
Non-Advertising
Celebrity
Promotion Active
Speak for product
Demonstrate product
Passive
Symbolic
Source: Callcott and Lee, 1995
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2.2 Purposes of Using Spokes-Character
According to Phillips (1996) there are three ways that spokes-characters are used
to communicate with consumers: by creating product identification, by promoting a
brand personality, and by providing promotional continuity.
2.2.1 Product Identification
spokes-character can create a link between the product, the packaging, and the
advertising in the minds of consumers. It works like a trademark, consumers see the
spokes-character they know that is the product. By appearing on the label spokes
-characters build product identification. Many researches (Mizerski, 1995) indicate
that children identify brands by their cartoon spokes-characters.
2.2.2 Personality
Spokes characters can show their personality to consumers through meaning
appeal and emotion appeal. It can give meaning to the brand by symbolizing its
character, and it can lend emotional appeal to the brand by personifying the product.
Spokes-characters lend the warmth of an actual personality to the product
(Kleppner,1966) and thereby create an emotional tie between the consumer and the
character (Zacher, 1967)
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2.2.3 Promotional Continuity
Spokes-characters can create promotional continuity across advertising
campaigns, across brands in a product line, and over time. Advertising continuity is
occurred when spokes character keep showing on the advertising and representing for
specific brand, it brings product identification. Product line continuity means spokes
characters can provide continuity across brands in a product line. This can result
cumulative publicity and connecting products can help to sell each other (Strasser,
1989). Spokes-characters can also provide continuity over time (Wright, Warner,
andWinter, 1971). This make consumers have deeper impression of the link between
spokes character and the brand.
2.3 Gender and Spokes-Character
Base on the target audiences’ gender, companies may need to use different
spokes-characters to attract consumers’ attention. Phillips and Gyoerick (1999) found
that more realistic animal spokes-characters appear in men’s magazine while
spokes-characters appear in women’s magazines are more personified. The
spokes-characters that are less personified are used as symbols of product attributes
and usually promote for high-involvement products, examples are the RCA dogs and
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Merrill Lynch Bull. Highly personified Spokes-characters are usually used for low-
involvement products in women’s magazines. Spokes-characters ads target toward
different gender presented in different appearance to get better effect. Gender of
Spokes-characters can also be a factor to influence consumers’ attitude toward
advertising effectiveness. Male spokes-characters dominate the ads for a long time,
the percentage of male spokes-characters is 45%, female 27%, and the rest are not
applicable (Phillips and Gyoerick, 1999). In men’s magazines, there is no female
spokes-character advertisement, while in women’s magazines there are about 30% of
the spokes-characters are female. Why there are more male spokes-characters than
female spokes-characters? The answer might lies in the traditional notion that men are
the symbol of authority and since we were still kids we were exposed by the
commercials dominate by male characters and male voices. Male spokes-characters
appear in all kinds of product commercials except cosmetic and household products.