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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
III. Analyzing the
Communication Process
endorse its shoes. Sprewell became one of the
most vilified athletes in sports a few years ago
when he choked and assaulted his Golden State
Warrior’s coach after becoming upset with his sarcasm
during a practice. And 1 featured Sprewell in
a controversial TV commercial showing a tight spot
of him getting his hair braided. In the spot,
Sprewell says, “People say I’m what’s wrong with
the sport. I say I’m a three-time NBA All-Star. I say
I’m the American dream.” Jay Gilbert, And 1’s vice
president of marketing, defended the spot by stating
that it brings the company’s target market
closer to Latrell and the And 1 brand. He noted, “It
will make a lot of people uncomfortable, but he
represents the dream to the ballplayers that are
our core consumers.”
Urban sports brand Pony decided to go a slightly
different route in using bad-boy athletes as
endorsers with its “Why Not?” campaign, which
addresses why three athletes have not been named
to the Hall of Fame in their respective sports. The
ads feature baseball legend Pete Rose, who was
banned from the sport for gambling; former NFL
quarterback Kenny “the Snake” Stabler; and Jack
“the Assassin” Tatum, the former Oakland Raider
who was known for his crushing hits while playing
on the team in the 1970s, including one that paralyzed
an opposing player. Rose appears in three ads
featuring the question “Why isn’t Pete Rose in the
6. Source, Message, and
Channel Factors
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Hall of Fame?” while the ad featuring Tatum in
Pony attire asks, “Why is the Assassin not in the
Hall of Fame?”
So what’s behind the decisions by these companies
to use bad-boy pitchmen? One explanation is
that athletic-shoe companies are trying to reach
young, trendsetting urban males who identify with
the rebellious and scandalous image these athletes
represent. One sports marketing expert notes that
when a company attaches its brand to these antiheroes.
“it’s a way of saying we’re in touch with
someone who is street real.” Gilbert of And 1
argues that personalities like Iverson and Sprewell
can slowly change society and notes that “they
really force people to look at them without blinking
and say, ‘Can you accept this?’” Perhaps the ultimate
reason companies use such spokespersons is
that they help the firms sell their shoes and apparel.
Iverson’s shoe line has consistently been among the
top two or three basketball sneakers and his 76ers
jersey is the NBA’s top seller. Even after his most
recent arrest, sales of Reebok products continued to
increase. In the current market for athletic shoes, it
appears that the nice guys do finish last and it is the
bad boys who are winning the endorsement game.
Sources: Rebecca Winters, “Bad-Boy Pitchmen,” Time, Aug. 19,
2002, p. 18; Hilary Cassidy, “Pete Rose, Ken “Snake” Stabler Star
in Pony Ads,” Adweek, May 14, 2002; Stefan Fatsis, “Can
Iverson Pitch to the Mainstream?” The Wall Street Journal, June
8, 2001, pp. B1, 4.
In this chapter, we analyze the major variables in the communication system: the
source, the message, and the channel. We examine the characteristics of sources, how
they influence reactions to promotional messages, and why one type of communicator
is more effective than another. We then focus on the message itself and how structure
and type of appeal influence its effectiveness. Finally, we consider how factors related
to the channel or medium affect the communication process.
To develop an effective advertising and promotional
campaign, a firm must select the right
spokesperson to deliver a compelling message
through appropriate channels or media. Source,
message, and channel factors are controllable elements
in the communications model. The persuasion matrix (Figure 6-1) helps marketers
see how each controllable element interacts with the consumer’s response
process.
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1 Promotional Planning through
the Persuasion Matrix
The matrix has two sets of variables. Independent variables are the controllable
components of the communication process, outlined in Chapter 5; dependent