Why Do Service Providers Employ Their Face-Shots in Marketing Communications?

Abstract

From billboards to newspapers, from TV to Yellow Pages, business

owners of retail establishments and services frequently include their

face-shots in their advertising to the public. Clearly, their face-shot

takes up space which, in turn, costs money. Thus, an important

question to ask is: are advertisers who include their face-shots receiving

a benefit that justifies their cost? Accordingly, in this research, we

develop the notion that the utilization of the service providers face is

able to credibly signal product quality via a bonding mechanism. In

particular, we examine if the signaling ability of the face-shot is higher

for credence goods, services that typically exhibit higher demand for

quality signals. In addition, we also investigate the ability of the face-shot to serve as a logo for the service. Analyzing a dataset containing

3299 yellow pages advertisements culled from seven city-pairs, we find

support for the bonding hypothesis but not for the logo hypotheses.

Implications for the design of marketing communications are also

discussed.