Master’s Thesis International Business Communication
Foreign accents in radio commercials: Does a foreign
accent increase ad effectiveness?
An experiment about the effects of using a French accent in Dutch
radio commercials
Winnie L. Kok 30-09-20 Radboud University, Faculty of Arts
Supervisor 1: Dr. B. Hendriks Supervisor 2: Dr. F. van Meurs Word count: 9652
Abstract
Over the past decade marketers have started to make more use of multilingual advertising, with the ultimate goal to stimulate a customer’s purchase intention. Multilingualism not only comprises the use of foreign languages, but foreign accents as well. On the one hand the literature suggests that speakers are downgraded for having an accent, and on the other hand an accent congruent with a product or service could have beneficial outcomes. Therefore, this study set out to investigate what the effects were of a foreign accent, and a slogan in a foreign accent in Dutch radio commercials advertising a product or service, regarding the listener’s purchase intention, comprehensibility, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards
product/service, and attitude towards speaker (competence, likeability, and dynamism). In a 3 (type of commercial: non-accented versus French-accented versus French-accented slogan) x 2 (type of product: product versus service) experimental between-subjects design, 223 native Dutch participants evaluated product (a beret) and service (a Moulin rouge show visit) radio commercials. In line with the hypothesis, the non-accented commercials were perceived as more comprehensible and the speaker as more competent, than the foreign-accented and the foreign-accented slogan commercials. No differences were found between the advertisement of a product and a service. Findings suggest that accentedness in advertising has no or barely any beneficial effects, and marketers should carefully think about whether or not to use accentedness in their advertising.
Key words: Accentedness, foreign accents, radio commercials, products versus services, multilingual advertising
Introduction
Nowadays, due to globalization and the uprise of the internet, people come more easily into contact with different cultures, and their norms and values, but also with different languages. Cultural and linguistic boundaries are therefore not as concrete as before. People do not have to physically visit a country, but create perceptions and associations with countries and languages via other means, such as the internet (Vettorel & Franceschi, 2019). Marketers make use of these associations by incorporating multilingualism in advertising when trying to sell a product or service, which seems to be a growing global trend (Hornikx, van Meurs, & Hof, 2013). Kelly-Holmes (2005, p. 25) defines multilingual advertising as “The appearance of a number of different languages or voices in a market-discourse situation”. This could be solely one word, or complete sentences and blocks of texts in a different language. Often people in the targeted country of the advertisement do not understand the language, but nonetheless marketers still use it.
Multilingualism not only comprises foreign languages, but foreign accents as well (Mai & Hoffmann, 2014). An example is the Dutch Opel KARL commercial, in which a car dealer speaks Dutch with a German accent, to refer to the country-of-origin of the company. Another example is the Dutch radio commercial for the car brand Citroën. Every commercial ends with ‘Citroën’ pronounced with a French accent. These are all different strategies to evoke particular country and language associations with the receiver.
However, studies in a non-advertising context have shown that speakers with an accent are often downgraded for having an accent, such as a perceived lower competence (e.g. Bolton & Kuteeva, 2012; Fuertes, Gottdiener, Martin, Gilbert, & Giles, 2012; Nejjari, Gerritsen, Van der Haagen, & Korzilius, 2012). In an advertising context similar negative effects could occur. The question is why is multilingualism used more frequently in advertising, and what are the effects? Furthermore, could a speaker with a foreign accent in advertising perhaps influence comprehension on the part of the receiver, and is there a difference in the text that is spoken with an accent, e.g. throughout the whole commercial, or just partially?
Research into the effects of multilingualism in an advertising context remains scarce, especially with regard to the use of foreign accents. It is unclear how much of an impact a foreign accent could have, for instance, on the listener’s attitude towards the speaker or purchase intention. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to test the effects of a foreign accent, and a slogan in a foreign accent in Dutch radio commercials on the listener’s attitude. In particular a French-Dutch accent was chosen.
Theoretical framework
Multilingual advertising
Over the past decade marketers have started making more use of multilingual advertising, with the ultimate goal to evoke a customer’s intention to buy the product, which could lead to an actual purchase (Kelly-Holmes, 2005). Hornikx and Van Meurs (2020) point out that an important reason for using multilingual advertising is to attract the receiver’s attention. A number of studies have argued that foreign languages increase curiosity and that foreign words stand out in an advertisement, which makes the words and thus the ad more noticeable (Domzal, Hunt, & Kernan, 1995; Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2020; Piller, 2001; Sella, 1993). Foreign words are also more noticeable for the reason that automatic processing is hindered when someone is not able to speak the language. The receiver therefore dedicates more attention to multilingual advertisements than they would to monolingual advertisements. This could lead to a better remembrance of the advertisement (Piller, 2001).
According to Kelly-Holmes (2005), another important reason for using foreign languages in advertising is that languages can have a symbolic meaning. Hornikx, Van Meurs and Starren (2007) studied the symbolic meaning of the French, Spanish, and German language, by asking participants which associations they had with an advertisement in one of the three languages. French was typically associated with ‘elegant’, ‘beautiful’, and ‘feeling’, German with ‘businesslike’, ‘reliable’, and ‘technical’, and Spanish with ’beautiful’, ‘modern’, and ‘passion’. Kelly-Holmes (2000) calls this a language fetish. When a foreign language is used in advertising it is not relevant that the reader does not speak the language. In spite of not understanding what the words mean, the symbolic value of the language is still present and the receiver could evoke beneficial associations. A well-known example of this is the slogan of the German car brand Audi, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, which is not translated to English in their UK advertising. As Hornikx et al. (2007) explained, by keeping the German slogan in their English advertising, symbolic meanings of the German language could be elicited. The abovementioned typical German associations, such as reliable engineering could pop up in the receiver’s mind. In turn, the receiver will link these associations to the brand Audi, which should be beneficial for the car brand.
Foreign language and product/service fit
Multilingual advertising can have different effects on the receiver of an advertisement. When listeners are confronted with a message in a foreign language or accent, they automatically assign stereotypical personality traits to the speaker (Lynch & Schuler, 1994). Thus,
marketers must carefully choose which stereotype they preferably want to evoke, since studies have shown that the attitude towards the spokesperson could negatively influence attitude towards the advertisement and purchase intention (Birch & McPhail, 2010; Kamins & Gupta, 1994).
Furthermore, multilingual advertising can be used to evoke the ‘country-of-origin’ (COO) effect. Foreign languages can be used to link a product or service to a country, for instance by stating ‘This product is made in …’ (explicitly), or by using a language of a country which is known for fabricating that type of product or service (implicitly) (Kelly-Holmes, 2005). The aim of the COO effect is that the consumer will link positive stereotypes and favourable aspects of the country to the product or service, and consequently feel more positive towards the product or service that is being advertised (Aichner, 2014). An example is the association of wine with France, or pasta with Italy (Kelly-Holmes, 2000). However, if the consumer has negative connotations with a country, linking the product or service to that country could have the opposite effect, since individuals tend to attach greater importance to negative cues than positive cues (Kahneman & Tversky, 1984).
Not only a fit between an advertised product and country could have positive outcomes. The foreign-language display theory claims that a fit, or congruence, between the advertised product or service and language makes an advertisement more effective as well (Eastman & Stein, 1993). Several studies have found a positive effect (Hendriks, Van Meurs, & Behnke, 2019; Hornikx & Hof, 2008; Hornikx, Van Meurs, & Hof, 2013; Ivanič, Bates, & Somasundaram, 2014; Verlegh, Steenkamp, & Meulenberg, 2005). In Hornikx, Van Meurs, and Hof (2013) Dutch participants evaluated advertisements with either a congruent or non-congruent product with the language of the slogan, which was Spanish, German or French. Perceived product quality, attitude towards product, and purchase intention were all higher for the congruent advertisements (Hornikx et al., 2013).
Hence, advertisements can be more effective when there is a fit between the language or country and the advertised product or service. Therefore, the present study selected a product and service that is congruent with the French language.
Evaluation of foreign accents
Despite the positive effects of multilingual advertising, various studies have shown that negative effects could occur as well when using foreign accents. To date, numerous studies have found that foreign-accented speakers were evaluated differently compared to non-accented speakers, often less positively (Bolton & Kuteeva, 2012; Fuertes et al., 2012;
Hendriks, Van Meurs, & Reimer, 2018; Nejjari et al., 2012; Roessel, Schoel, Zimmermann, & Stahlberg, 2019; Sliwa & Johansson, 2014). The Language Expectancy Theory explains that this happens due to certain expectations, including preferences and norms people have concerning language use. When the speaker does not align with the expectations (e.g. due to the presence of an accent) the speaker is downgraded regardless of the content of the message (Dillard & Pfau, 2002). Fuertes et al. (2012) conducted a meta-analysis in which they found that non-standard-accented speakers were rated less positively than standard-accented speakers on the dimensions solidarity, dynamism, and status. Nejjari et al. (2012) found similar results. Native British English speakers evaluated a slight and moderate Dutch-English accent compared to native British English in a telephone sales talk. British English was evaluated as being more intelligible, comprehensible and evoked more status than both Dutch-English accents. Similarly, in Roessel et al. (2019) German listeners evaluated job candidates with a strong German-English accent worse on the dimensions affect, competence and hirability than job candidates with a weak German-English accent or native speakers of English. The accented speakers were downgraded to such an extent that the content of the message did not even matter.
These studies imply that having a non-standard accent can have negative effects on listeners. However, most studies took place in a business setting, such as employment situations. Foreign accents are nowadays regularly used for advertising purposes as well (Mai & Hoffmann, 2014).
Foreign accents in an advertising context
A few studies did conduct research on the effects of foreign and regional accents in an advertising context (DeShields & De Los Santos, 2000; DeShields, Kara, & Kaynak, 1996; Hendriks, Van Meurs, & Van der Meij, 2015; Lalwani, Lwin, & Li, 2005). In general, non-accented commercials were evaluated more positively than non-accented commercials, for both foreign and regional accents.
Hendriks et al. (2015) studied the effects of Dutch radio commercials with and without a German or French accent for congruent and non-congruent food products (e.g. sausages and wine). In this study the foreign accents were used throughout the entire commercial. The commercials were rated on numerous dimensions, namely purchase intention, attitude towards the commercial, attitude towards the product, affect speaker, competence speaker, and comprehensibility. There were two main findings. Firstly, the commercials with congruence between language and product were evaluated more positively on all dimensions, except
comprehensibility, than the commercials with no congruence between language and product. These findings are in line with the previously mentioned foreign-language display theory, which claims that a fit between product and language will increase add effectiveness, and thus result in a more positive evaluation of the advertisement by the consumer. Secondly, the non-accented commercials were preferred over the foreign-non-accented commercials, except for the dimensions attitude towards commercial, and affect speaker. However, this study only focused on food products, and not on other types of products, or services, while Mai and Hoffmann (2011) state that services could evoke different evaluations from products.
Mai and Hoffmann (2011) point out that it is important to make a distinction between products and services regarding advertisement effectiveness. Services are intangible and heterogeneous, and rely heavily on the salesperson, which is not the case for products. The attitude towards a salesperson could be influenced by accentedness, which in turn could be intertwined with the overall evaluation of the service. Therefore, services could evoke different evaluations than products.
When examining listeners’ attitude towards the salesperson in service advertisements, DeShields et al. (1996) found that salespersons with a non-standard accent (Spanish-English) were perceived as less favourable and created lower purchase intentions compared to salespersons with a standard accent (American-English). Similarly, a standard American accent created a higher purchase intention than a non-standard American accent in the study by DeShields and De Los Santos (2000). Ivanič et al. (2014) showed that spokespersons were evaluated higher when there were perceived similarities between participants and the spokesperson for both services and products. In practice, they did not find many differences in the evaluation of accents in commercials between products and services.
The same applies to the study by Hendriks et al. (2019), who did not find many differences either in regional accent evaluations between products and services, contradicting Mai and Hoffmann’s (2011) claim that services could evoke different evaluations than products.
Hendriks et al. (2019) included both a product and a service in their study that were congruent with various degrees (strong/moderate/standard) of German accentedness in radio commercials. Overall, this study does not support an effect on regional accentedness when analysing the listener’s attitude towards commercial, attitude towards the product/service, impressions of the speaker, and purchase intention. However, the speaker with a moderate accent was perceived as warmer than the speaker with a standard accent. This effect did not occur for the service commercials. Furthermore, no differences were found between the
evaluation of accents in service and product commercials for the majority of the measurements.
Both studies (Hendriks et al., 2015; Hendriks et al., 2019) examined radio commercials with a foreign or regional accent throughout the whole commercial. However, Piller (2001) found that there often occurs a switch from native language to foreign language (or foreign accent) in advertisements at the end of an advertisement, for example when a slogan is mentioned. Various studies have found effects for foreign slogans in printed advertisements (Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Hornikx, Van Meurs, & De Boer, 2010; Raedts & Dupré, 2015; Raedts, Roozen, Peeters, Dupré, & Ceuppens, 2016). In general, readers had a more positive attitude towards the advertisement when the foreign language that the slogan was presented in was comprehensible for the reader. Moreover, Hornikx and Starren (2006) and Raedts et al. (2016) found that a slogan in the reader’s native language was preferred when the foreign slogan was difficult to comprehend. However, foreign-accented slogans were not studied and could lead to different results, since the slogan is still in the native language of the reader but spoken with an accent. Furthermore, Hornikx and Starren (2006) and Raedts et al. (2016) only examined printed advertisements. These advertisements included visual elements that could be distracting or influence the reader’s attitude. The focus of the reader could perhaps not be solely on the language of the slogan, but also on the other elements.
Therefore, the present study focused on foreign-accented slogans in radio commercials, since radio commercials do not include textual or visual elements, which is a scarcely examined research area (Hendriks et al., 2015). The earlier mentioned Dutch ‘Citroën’ radio commercial in which the car brand name was pronounced with a French accent is an example of such a commercial. Since still little is known about the effects of accentedness in advertising contexts, even though it is a rising marketing strategy, future studies in this area are of great interest.
Present study
Literature about the effects of foreign accents in radio commercials is still scarce. The present study will examine Dutch non-accented, foreign-accented, and foreign-accented slogan commercials for a product and service that is congruent with a French accent, which is a combination that has not been studied in the past.
As discussed in the literature, studies have already shown the importance of congruence between a language and a product or service for advertisement effectiveness
(Hendriks et al., 2019; Hornikx & Hof, 2008; Hornikx et al., 2013; Ivanič et al., 2014; Verlegh et al., 2005). Therefore, this study chose a product and a service that is congruent with the French language.
The following research questions have been formulated:
RQ1: To what extent does a French accent influence the evaluation of radio commercials, regarding the listeners’ purchase intention, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, attitude towards speaker, and comprehensibility? RQ2: To what extent does the pronunciation of a slogan with a French accent influence the evaluation of radio commercials between a product and a service regarding the listeners’ purchase intention, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, attitude towards speaker, and comprehensibility?
RQ3: To what extent does a French accent influence the evaluation of product radio commercials and service radio commercials differently regarding the listeners’ purchase intention, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, attitude towards speaker, and comprehensibility?
Based on prior research about accentedness, where foreign-accented commercials were rated less positively than non-accented commercials (e.g. DeShields & De Los Santos, 2000; DeShields et al., 1996; Hendriks et al., 2015; Hendriks et al., 2019), the following hypothesis has been formulated:
H1: The non-accented commercials will be rated more positively on all dimensions (purchase intention, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, attitude towards speaker, recognition accent and comprehensibility) than the foreign-accented commercials (H1a) and the foreign-foreign-accented slogan commercials (H1b).
Method
Materials
The independent variables of this study were type of commercial, consisting of three levels, and type of product, consisting of two levels, displayed in Figure 1. There were six radio commercials in total. The commercials were recorded by the voice-casting agency ‘Voicebooking’. A female speaker, fluent in Dutch and French, and who could speak Dutch with a French accent, recorded all commercials to reduce differences in voice characteristics as much as possible. All product commercials had the same script, only the presence of an accent was manipulated. The same applied to the service commercials. The English translation of the scripts can be read in Appendix A. The following script was used for the product commercials:
Flamboyant Frankrijk: het land van goede wijnen, lekker eten, romantiek en mode. Met de karakteristieke baret! Ervaar de Franse cultuur door het dragen van een unieke baret. Ontvang nu maar liefst 20% korting op uw eerste aankoop. Bent u benieuwd naar dit kwaliteitsproduct? Kijk dan voor meer informatie op onze website www.barets.nl. ‘het ultieme Franse gevoel’.
The following script was used for the service commercials:
Flamboyant Frankrijk: het land van goede wijnen, lekker eten, romantiek en mode. Met de karakteristieke Moulin Rouge show! Ervaar de Franse cultuur en breng een bezoek aan een unieke Moulin Rouge show. Ontvang nu maar liefst 20% vroegboekkorting. Bent u benieuwd naar deze kwaliteitsshow? Kijk dan voor meer informatie op onze website www.moulinrougeshow.nl. ‘het ultieme Franse gevoel’.
Figure 1: Analytical model
A pre-test was conducted to establish which products and services were associated the most with France. Previous studies (e.g. Hendriks et al., 2019; Hornikx & Hof, 2008; Hornikx et al., 2013) have established that congruence between product and language increases advertisement effectiveness. Therefore, this study used a product and service that are both congruent with France.
A total of 35 participants (age M = 28.34, SD = 13.41; range 20 – 73) evaluated the fit of eight products and eight services. Most participants were female (65.7%), and the remaining part was male (34.3%). The participants’ educational level was either WO (74.3%), or HBO (25.7%). All participants had the Dutch nationality and had Dutch as their mother tongue.
The fit was measured with one question: ‘I think this product/service is typically French…’, which had sixteen 7-point scale items. The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Hornikx et al., 2007). The following eight French products were included: organic soap, perfume, a vintage purse, a mariniere t-shirt, a beret, a cookbook, pétanque balls, and a crêpe pan (Gpsmycity 2020; Francis, 2018; France Hotel Guide, n.d). The following eight French services were included: a bus day-trip to Paris, an art show visit, a cooking workshop, a fashion show visit, a pétanque ball tournament, a Moulin Rouge show visit, a vineyard tour, and a wine tasting (Desanctis, 2016; France Hotel Guide, n.d.; Francis, 2018; Frankrijk.nl, n.d.).
A beret was perceived as the most typically French product (M = 6.17, SD = 0.75). A repeated measures analysis with product type as within-subjects factor showed a significant main effect of product type (F (7, 238) = 25.32, p < .001). The beret was evaluated significantly more typically French than perfume (p = .009), a vintage purse (p < .001), organic soap (p < .001), a mariniere t-shirt (p < .001), and a crêpe pan (p = .007). No significant differences were found between the beret and the cookbook (p = .288), and the pétanque balls (p = .078). Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations of product fit with France.
A Moulin rouge show visit was perceived as the most typically French service (M = 5.66, SD = 1.19). A repeated measures analysis with service type as within-subjects factor showed a significant main effect of service type (F (7, 238) = 25.94, p < .001). The Moulin rouge show visit was evaluated significantly more typically French than an art show visit (p < .001), and a cooking workshop (p < .001). No significant differences were found between the Moulin rouge show visit and a wine tasting (p = 1), a pétanque ball tournament (p = .969), a bus day-trip to Paris (p = 1), a fashion show visit (p = .281), and a vineyard tour (p = 1). Table
1 shows the means and standard deviations of service fit with France. The product and service with the highest means were chosen for this study.
Another repeated measures analysis was conducted to find a comparable product and service. The six significant products (a beret, perfume, a vintage purse, organic soap, a mariniere t-shirt, and a crêpe pan), and the three significant services (a Moulin rouge show visit, an art show visit, and a cooking workshop) as within-subjects factor showed a significant main effect (F (8, 272) = 3.39, p = .001). No significant differences were found between the beret and Moulin rouge show visit (p = 1). Therefore, the beret was selected as product and a Moulin rouge show visit as service to be advertised in the radio commercials. Table 1. Means and standard deviations (between brackets) of product and service fit
with France (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)
Products M (SD) Services M (SD)
Beret 6.17 (0.75) Moulin Rouge show visit 5.66 (1.19) Cookbook 5.26 (1.72) Vineyard tour 5.37 (1.03) Crêpe pan 5.23 (1.35) Wine tasting 5.29 (0.99) Perfume 5.14 (1.44) Pétanque ball tournament 5.06 (1.53) Pétanque balls 5.14 (1.75) Bus day-trip to Paris 5.00 (1.78) Mariniere t-shirt 4.37 (1.68) Fashion show visit 4.69 (1.51) Organic soap 3.29 (1.55) Art show visit 2.94 (1.45) Vintage purse 2.69 (1.11) Cooking workshop 2.83 (1.25)
Subjects
A total of 223 participants took part in the experiment (age M = 35.44, SD = 16.91; range 18 – 75, 63.2% female). The distribution per condition is presented in Table 2. The educational level of most participants was University (WO) (56.5%), and Higher Professional Education (HBO) (32.3%). All participants had the Dutch nationality and Dutch as their mother tongue. Table 2. Distribution participants per condition
n
Product No accent 37
French accent 37 Slogan in French accent 38
Service No accent 37 French accent 37 Slogan in French accent 37
Total 223
Age (F (5, 217) < 1), gender (χ2 (5) = .61, p = .988), educational level (χ2 (4) = 2.68, p = .612), French proficiency (F (5, 217) = 1.61, p = .158), attitude towards France (F (5, 217) = 1.69, p = .138), product use (F (2, 109) < 1) and service use (F (2, 108) < 1) were evenly distributed across conditions.
A one-way anova showed a significant difference between the six conditions and the participants’ attitude towards products made in France (F (5, 217) = 2.42, p = .037). The participants who listened to the non-accented product commercial (M = 4.70, SD = 0.91) had a significantly less positive attitude towards products made in France than the participants who listened to the non-accented service commercial (p = .015, Bonferroni correction; M = 5.51, SD = 0.96). No significant differences were found between the other conditions regarding their attitude towards products made in France (p = 1, p = .407, Bonferroni correction).
Design
This study had a 3 (type of commercial: non-accented versus accented versus foreign-accented slogan) x 2 (type of product: product versus service) experimental between-subjects design. The participants listened to one version of the radio commercial, and evaluated it via an online questionnaire.
Instruments
Participants evaluated the radio commercials in an online questionnaire that was developed in Qualtrics. The questionnaire was in Dutch, which can be read in Appendix B.
Purchase intention was measured with the statement: ‘Buying this product is…’ for the product commercials, and ‘Using this service is…’ for the service commercials, followed by two 7-point scale items: ‘something I certainly want to do’, and ‘really something for me’. The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Hendriks et al., 2015). The reliability of purchase intention comprising two items were excellent for both product and service: α = .96, and α = .97.
Comprehensibility was measured with the statement: ‘The commercial was easy to understand’, followed by a 7-point scale and was anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Hendriks et al., 2015).
Attitude towards the commercial was measured with the statement: ‘I believe this commercial is…’, followed by five 7-point scale items: ‘nice’, ‘captivating’, ‘interesting’, ‘attractive’, and ‘original’. The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Hendriks et al., 2015). The reliability of attitude towards the commercial comprising five items were excellent for both product and service: α = .92, and α = .90.
Attitude towards the product/service was measured with the statement: ‘I believe this product/service is…’, followed by five 7-point scale items: ‘nice’, ‘captivating’, ‘interesting’, ‘attractive’, and ‘original’. The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Hendriks et al., 2015). The reliability of attitude towards the product/service comprising five items were excellent for both product and service: α = .98, and α = .98.
Attitude towards the speaker was divided into three dimensions, namely ‘competence’, ‘likeability’, and ‘dynamism’. Competence was measured with the statement: ‘I believe the speaker sounds…’, followed by five 7-point scale items: ‘competent’, ‘independent’, ‘confident’, ‘competitive’, and ‘intelligent’. The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). The reliability of competence comprising five items were good for both product and service: α = .76, and α = .76.
Likeability was measured with the same statement: ‘I believe the speaker sounds…’, followed by five 7-point scale items: ‘warm’, ‘tolerant’, ‘friendly’, ‘sincere’, and ‘good-natured’ (based on Fiske et al., 2002). The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’. The reliability of likeability comprising five items were very good for both product and service: α = .87, and α = .88.
Dynamism was measured with the statement: ‘I believe the speaker is…’, followed by four 7-point scale items: ‘enthusiastic’, ‘modern’, ‘hip’, and ‘trendy’ (based on Fuertes et al., 2012; Grondelaers, Van Hout, & Van Gent, 2019). The items were anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’. The reliability of dynamism comprising four items were very good for both product and service: α = .88, and α = .87.
Furthermore, a few additional questions were necessary. Firstly, to measure if the respondents recognized the accent the following open-ended questions were asked: ‘Where do you think the speaker is from?’ and ‘Where do you think the speaker of the slogan is from?’ (based on Hendriks et al., 2019).
Secondly, to check whether the participants were already familiar with the French language, they had to self-assess their French proficiency by rating their speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills on a 5-point scale anchored by ‘very bad – very good’ (based on Stoll, 2014). The reliability of French proficiency comprising four items were excellent for both product and service: α = .94, and α = .94.
Participants’ attitude towards France was measured with the question ‘Which feeling do you have when you think of France?’, followed by a 7-point scale, anchored by ‘very negative – very positive’ (based on Liu & Johnson, 2005). Secondly the statement: ‘In general, I believe products that are made in France are of good quality’, followed by a 7-point scale and was anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’ (based on Liu & Johnson, 2005).
Moreover, two questions about the participants’ use of the product and service were specifically designed for this study. For the product commercials the statement ‘I like it when someone wears a beret’ was used, followed by a 7-point scale and was anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’. For the service commercials the statement ‘When I am abroad I often visit shows’ was used, followed by a 7-point scale and was anchored by ‘strongly disagree – strongly agree’.
At the end of the questionnaire the following background variables were collected: age, gender, nationality, mother tongue, and educational level.
Procedure
Participants were recruited via the researcher’s personal network, via e-mail, face-to-face communication and social media, such as Facebook and WhatsApp. The participant could take part in the experiment by clicking on a link, which would lead to the online questionnaire. The experiment took on average 4.92 minutes (M = 295.26, SD = 182.39) Before starting the experiment, the participants were asked to fill in a consent form stating that their participation was voluntary and anonymous and that they were at least 18 years old. There was no compensation for participating in the experiment. The researcher was the contact person for the study. The researcher’s email was given in case participants had questions or complaints.
Statistical treatment
To measure the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variables, multiple statistical tests were conducted. The pre-test included multiple repeated measures anova. To
test if there were main- and interaction effects between the independent and dependent variables a multivariate analysis of variance was conducted. To look in more depth into the results, multiple regression analyses were performed. Equal distribution across the conditions was measured with one-way anova’s and chi-square tests. For the background variables general descriptives were used.
Results
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using a foreign (French) accent in Dutch radio commercials. In total, there were six different commercials. The commercials were either non-accented, foreign-accented or the slogan foreign-accented. The commercials represented a product (a beret), or a service (a Moulin rouge show visit).
Recognition French accent
In order to see whether participants recognized the French accent, they had to identify the origin of the speaker in the commercials. For the foreign-accented commercials, most participants identified the country of origin of the speaker as France, followed by the Netherlands, Belgium, and other.
For the foreign-accented slogan commercials most participants identified the country of origin of the speaker as The Netherlands, followed by France, Belgium, and other. The percentages per country are displayed in Table 3.
Table 3. Percentages and n for recognition accent per country
Foreign-accented commercial Foreign-accented slogan commercial France (n = 44) 59% The Netherlands (n = 56) 75% The Netherlands (n = 21) 28% France (n = 9) 12% Belgium (n = 6) 8% Belgium (n = 5) 7% Other (n = 3) 4% Other (n = 5) 7%
Evaluation of the radio commercials
A multivariate analysis of variance for purchase intention, comprehensibility, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, and attitude towards speaker (competence, likeability, and dynamism) with as factors type of commercial (non-accented, foreign-accented, and foreign-accented slogan) and type of product (product or service) revealed a significant main effect of type of commercial (F (14, 422) = 2.47, p = .002), but not for type of product (F (7, 211) = 1.01, p = .426) and no significant interaction effect between type of commercial and type of product (F (14, 422) = 1.32, p = .190). Means and standard deviations are presented in Table 4.
The univariate analyses only showed an effect of type of commercial on comprehensibility (F (2, 217) = 11.45, p < .001, η2 = 0.08) and on attitude towards the
speaker – competence (F (2, 217) = 5.98, p = .003, η2 = .05)
The foreign-accented commercials (M = 4.74, SD = 1.72) were perceived as less comprehensible than the foreign-accented slogan commercials (p = .004, Bonferroni correction; M = 5.53, SD = 1.52) and the non-accented commercials (p < .001, Bonferroni correction; M = 5.89, SD = 1.78). No significant differences were found between the foreign-accented slogan commercials and the non-foreign-accented commercials (p = .433, Bonferroni correction).
Table 4. Means and standard deviations (between brackets) and n for purchase intention, comprehensibility, attitude towards commercial, and attitude towards product/service, in function of type of commercial and type of product (1 = low/negative, 7 = high/positive) Purchase intention Comprehen- sibility Attitude commercial Attitude product/service Non-accented commercial Product (n = 37) 2.03 (1.06) 6.11 (1.10) 3.78 (1.26) 3.21 (1.28) Service (n = 37) 2.74 (1.41) 5.68 (1.23) 3.71 (1.28) 3.64 (1.34) Total (n = 74) 2.39 (1.29) 5.89 (1.18) 3.75 (1.27) 3.43 (1.32) Foreign-accented commercial Product (n = 37) 2.43 (1.42) 4.76 (1.72) 3.62 (1.58) 3.39 (1.45) Service (n = 37) 2.43 (1.33) 4.73 (1.74) 3.57 (1.38) 3.17 (1.26) Total (n = 74) 2.43 (1.37) 4.74 (1.72) 3.60 (1.47) 3.28 (1.35) Foreign-accented slogan commercial Product (n = 38) 2.67 (1.28) 5.58 (1.54) 3.93 (1.35) 3.48 (1.30) Service (n = 37) 2.70 (1.46) 5.49 (1.52) 3.74 (1.26) 3.79 (1.12) Total (n = 75) 2.69 (1.36) 5.53 (1.52) 3.83 (1.30) 3.63 (1.21) Total Product (n = 112) 2.38 (1.28) 5.48 (1.57) 3.78 (1.40) 3.36 (1.34)
Service (n = 111) 2.63 (1.39) 5.30 (1.55) 3.67 (1.30) 3.53 (1.26) Total (n = 223) 2.50 (1.34) 5.39 (1.56) 3.73 (1.35) 3.45 (1.30)
Moreover, the speaker of the foreign-accented commercials (M = 4.26, SD = 0.90) was perceived as less competent than the speaker of the foreign-accented slogan commercials (p = .004, Bonferroni correction; M = 4.72, SD = 0.91) and the non-accented commercials (p = .027, Bonferroni correction; M = 4.64, SD = 0.83). No significant differences were found between the foreign-accented slogan commercials and the non-accented commercials (p = 1, Bonferroni correction). Means and standard deviations are shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Means and standard deviations (between brackets) and n for attitude towards speaker (competence, likeability, and dynamism) in function of type of commercial and type of product (1 = low, 7 = high)
Attitude towards speaker
Competence Likeability Dynamism Non-accented commercial Product (n = 37) 4.57 (0.85) 4.84 (0.92) 3.84 (1.11) Service (n = 37) 4.70 (0.82) 4.86 (1.15) 4.22 (1.05) Total (n = 74) 4.64 (0.83) 4.85 (1.04) 4.03 (1.09) Foreign-accented commercial Product (n = 37) 4.39 (0.93) 4.84 (1.02) 4.09 (1.11) Service (n = 37) 4.12 (0.85) 4.58 (1.11) 3.74 (1.20) Total (n = 74) 4.26 (0.90) 4.71 (1.07) 3.92 (1.16) Foreign-accented slogan commercial Product (n = 38) 4.56 (0.97) 4.87 (0.96) 4.19 (1.24) Service (n = 37) 4.89 (0.84) 5.04 (0.96) 4.29 (1.20) Total (n = 75) 4.72 (0.91) 4.95 (0.96) 4.24 (1.21) Total Product (n = 112) 4.51 (0.91) 4.85 (0.96) 4.04 (1.16) Service (n = 111) 4.57 (0.89) 4.83 (1.09) 4.09 (1.17)
Total (n = 223) 4.54 (0.90) 4.84 (1.02) 4.06 (1.16)
To investigate to what extent purchase intention is influenced by the dependent variables, and background variables a multiple regression analysis was run for each type of commercial (non-accented, foreign-accented, foreign-accented slogan) separately, since only a main effect was found for type of commercial. All the dependent variables and background variables were entered in the multiple regression analysis, and differences were found for attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, and product/service use. Therefore, only these three variables were entered in the final multiple regression analyses.
A multiple regression analysis for the foreign-accented commercials showed that the three variables entered in the model explained 36% of the variance in purchase intention (F (3, 70) = 14.77, p < .001). Attitude towards commercial was shown to be a significant predictor of purchase intention (β = .42, p < .001). Purchase intention increases with .42 SD for each increase of 1 SD of attitude towards commercial, given that all other variables are kept constant. Same holds for the predictor product/service use (β = .30, p = .004). Purchase intention increases with .30 SD for each increase of 1 SD of product/service use given that all other variables are kept constant. Attitude towards product/service was not a significant predictor (β = .10, p = .322).
A second multiple regression analysis for the foreign-accented slogan commercials showed that the three variables entered in the model explained 37% of the variance in purchase intention (F (3, 71) = 15.32, p < .001). Attitude towards commercial was shown to be a significant predictor of purchase intention (β = .46, p < .001). Purchase intention increases with .46 SD for each increase of 1 SD of attitude towards commercial, given that all other variables are kept constant. Same holds for the predictor product/service use (β = .22, p = .031). Purchase intention increases with .22 SD for each increase of 1 SD of product/service use given that all other variables are kept constant. Attitude towards product/service was not a significant predictor (β = .14, p = .158).
Finally, a third multiple regression analysis for the non-accented commercials showed that the three variables entered in the model explained 34% of the variance in purchase intention (F (3, 70) = 13.40, p < .001). Attitude towards commercial was shown to be a significant predictor of purchase intention (β = .27, p = .012). Purchase intention increases with .27 SD for each increase of 1 SD of attitude towards commercial, given that all other variables are kept constant. Same holds for the predictor attitude towards product/service (β = .39, p < .001). Purchase intention increases with .39 SD for each increase of 1 SD of attitude
towards product/service, given that all other variables are kept constant. Product/service use was not a significant predictor (β = .17, p = .089).
Conclusion and discussion
This study set out to investigate what the effects were of a foreign accent, and a slogan in a foreign accent in Dutch radio commercials. Specifically, a French-Dutch accent was chosen for this study. Overall, it was hypothesized that the non-accented commercials would be evaluated more positively than the accented commercials (H1a) and the foreign-accented slogan commercials (H1b). Another question was if there were differences in evaluations between the advertisement of a product and the advertisement of a service. The study focused on five dimensions, namely purchase intention, attitude towards the commercial, attitude towards the product/service, attitude towards the speaker (competence, likeability, and dynamism), and comprehensibility.
Previous studies have shown that congruence between a language and a product or service is beneficial for advertisement effectiveness (Hendriks et al., 2019; Hornikx & Hof, 2008; Hornikx et al., 2013; Ivanič et al., 2014; Verlegh et al., 2005). Therefore, a pre-test was conducted to establish which product and service would be associated the most with the French language. A beret was selected as a product, and a Moulin Rouge show visit as a service.
In total, three research questions were examined. The first research question focused on the influence of a French-Dutch accent in radio commercials, the second research question looked specifically into the effects of a slogan in a French-Dutch accent in radio commercials, and the last research question focused on the differences between the advertisement of a product and the advertisement of a service.
However, overall there were barely differences found for type of commercial (non-accented versus foreign-(non-accented versus foreign-(non-accented slogan), and type of product (product versus service). The commercials were evaluated rather neutrally, which could have meant that the participants neither liked nor disliked the commercials very much.
Research question 1: Accentedness
The first research question examined the influence of a French-Dutch accent on the evaluation of radio commercials, regarding the listeners’ purchase intention, attitude towards commercial, attitude towards product/service, attitude towards speaker (competence, likeability, and dynamism), and comprehensibility. Findings showed that comprehensibility and attitude towards the speaker (competence) were evaluated differently among the type of commercials. The foreign-accented commercials were perceived as less comprehensible than
the foreign-accented slogan commercials and the non-accented commercials. No differences were found between the foreign-accented slogan commercials and the non-accented commercials. Moreover, the speaker of the foreign-accented commercials was perceived as less competent than the speaker of the foreign-accented slogan commercials and the non-accented commercials. No differences were found between the foreign-non-accented slogan commercials and the non-accented commercials.
Moreover, no differences were found for purchase intention, attitude towards the commercial, attitude towards the product/service, and attitude towards speaker (likeability and dynamism). Hence, hypothesis 1a, stating that the non-accented commercials would be rated more positively than the foreign-accented commercials is partially supported. Hypothesis 1b, stating that the non-accented commercials would be rated more positively than the foreign-accented slogan commercials, is not supported
As expected, comprehensibility was evaluated differently among the type of commercials. These findings are consistent with previously found results, where accented speakers were perceived as less comprehensible than non-accented speakers (Bent & Bradlow, 2003; Hendriks et al., 2015; Hendriks et al., 2018; Nejjari et al., 2012; Roessel et al., 2017). In an advertising-context, Hendriks et al. (2015) found as well that foreign-accented commercials were perceived as less comprehensible than non-foreign-accented commercials. In a non-advertising-context, Roessel et al. (2017) found that job candidates with a non-native accent were evaluated as less comprehensible than job candidates with a native accent. These findings are in accordance with Bent and Bradlow (2003), and Nejjari et al. (2012) where accented-English was considered less comprehensible than non-accented-English when evaluated by native English speakers. However, when examining regional accentedness, comprehensibility does not seem to differ among accent strengths in commercials (Hendriks et al., 2019).
Furthermore, differences were found for attitude towards the speaker – competence. These results corroborate the findings of Hendriks et al. (2015), where the speaker of a non-accented radio commercial was perceived as more competent than the speaker of a foreign-accented radio commercial. When examining regional accents, there seemed to be no effect for accentedness on competence of the speaker (Hendriks et al., 2019).
In the present study, a foreign accent appeared to have no effect on the perceptions of the speaker’s likeability and dynamism. This is a somewhat surprising result, since
accented-speakers in previous studies, non-advertising contexts as well as advertising-contexts, were usually downgraded on all three dimensions. Fuertes et al. (2012) conducted a meta-analysis in which accented speakers were rated lower on the dimensions status (e.g. intelligence), dynamism (e.g. liveliness) and solidarity (e.g. trustworthiness), compared to non-accented speakers. The same effect was found by Sliwa and Johansson (2014), where non-native English speakers were downgraded from native English speakers on the dimensions status, solidarity and dynamism. However, most studies that evaluated listeners’ attitude towards the speaker were non-advertising context studies, which could partially explain the difference in findings.
Moreover, no effects were found for foreign accentedness on the listeners’ purchase intention. This was the case, despite the prediction that appreciation for the non-accented commercials would be higher than for the foreign-accented and foreign-accented slogan commercials. Thus, H1 is rejected. As the Language Expectancy Theory explains, accented speakers are often downgraded for having an accent due to not aligning with expectations people have concerning language use (Dillard & Pfau, 2002). However, the lack of differences in evaluations found in this study does not seem to align with the theory. This finding was also reported by Hendriks et al. (2018), who did not find differences for regional accentedness on the listeners’ purchase intention when looking at commercials. However, Hendriks et al. (2015) did show that purchase intention was lower for foreign-accented commercials, compared to non-accented commercials. Likewise, DeShields et al. (1996) found purchase intention was higher for salespersons without an accent, which was also reported by DeShields and De Los Santos (2000). The outcome of the present study is unable to support this effect, since purchase intention did not seem to differ among the type of commercials. Overall, purchase intention was rather low for all type of commercials. A possible explanation could be that in general, the listeners were not interested in a beret, or visiting a Moulin Rouge show, which may have made the accentedness an irrelevant factor in the commercials.
In addition, the dependent variable purchase intention was further investigated for type of commercial (non-accented, foreign-accented, foreign-accented slogan), since the ultimate goal of advertising is to evoke a customer’s intention to buy the product (Kelly-Holmes, 2005). For the foreign-accented commercials purchase intention was positively related to the listeners’ attitude towards the commercial, and product/service use. This indicates that listeners’ were more likely to make a purchase when they had a positive attitude towards the
commercial, and used similar type of products and services more often. The same was found for the foreign-accented slogan commercials, were purchase intention was positively related to attitude towards the commercial, and product/service use. For the non-accented commercials purchase intention was positively related to attitude towards the commercial, and attitude towards product/service. This indicates that listeners were more likely to make a purchase when they had a positive attitude towards the commercial, and a positive attitude towards the advertised product or service.
As purchase intention seemed to have no direct effect on type of commercial, or type of product, marketers could put their focus on attitude towards the commercial, product/service use, and attitude towards product or service, which may indirectly influence purchase intention of the listeners.
Moreover, no effects were found for foreign accentedness on the listeners’ attitude towards the commercial. This was the case, despite the prediction that appreciation for the non-accented commercials would be higher than for the accented and foreign-accented slogan commercials. Thus, H1 is rejected. These results concur with Hendriks et al. (2015) who did not find an effect of a foreign accent on the listener’s attitude towards the commercial either. The same accounts for Hendriks et al. (2019) who also did not find an effect of a regional accent on the listener’s attitude towards the commercial. The foreign-language display theory suggests that the listener’s attitude towards the commercial could increase when there is congruence between the advertised product/service and language (Eastman & Stein, 1993). All three studies advertised a product or service congruent with a foreign or regional accent, but still no effects were found for attitude towards the commercial. Finally, no effects were found for foreign accentedness on the listeners’ attitude towards the product/service. This was the case, despite the prediction that appreciation for the non-accented commercials would be higher than for the accented and foreign-accented slogan commercials. Thus, H1 is rejected. This finding is contrary to that of Hendriks et al. (2015), who found that foreign-accented commercials were evaluated more negatively than non-accented commercials. This outcome does reflect similar results of Hendriks et al. (2019) who found no differences for attitude towards the product/service regarding a regional accent either.
In summary, for three out of the five dependent variables no effects were found. This study focused on a French-Dutch accent and included a product and a service that were
congruent with France, to activate French associations with the listeners of the radio commercials. Participants were asked to identify the origin of the speaker of the commercials, which was originally meant as a manipulation check to see if the French accent was recognized correctly. After conducting the research, it turned out the questions asked were not suitable for the purpose of the manipulation check. The participants were supposed to recognize the French accent, and thus identify the speaker as French. The speaker of the commercials was a fluent speaker in Dutch and French, which could have made the origin of the speaker multiple countries, such as the Netherlands, France or Belgium. The manipulation check of the French-Dutch accent was therefore not successful, since there turned out to be no right or wrong answer to the questions. However, it is still of value to investigate the answers in more detail.
Results showed that for the foreign-accented commercials 59% of the participants identified the origin of the speaker as French, and 28% as Dutch. For the foreign-accented slogan commercials, only 12% of the participants identified the origin of the speaker as French, and 75% as Dutch. These results suggest that stronger French associations with the advertised product or service could be evoked when the commercial is foreign-accented, since more listeners believe the speaker is from France. In turn, this could make an advertisement more effective (Eastman & Stein, 1993). On the one hand, this might imply that foreign-accented commercials are more effective than non-foreign-accented or foreign-foreign-accented slogan commercials, but on the other hand results of the present study and previous studies (DeShields & De Los Santos, 2000; DeShields et al., 1996; Hendriks et al., 2015; Hendriks et al., 2019) showed that foreign-accented commercials were evaluated less positively compared to non-accented commercials.
Furthermore, the origin of the speaker in the foreign-accented slogan commercials was identified the most as Dutch. Only the slogan was pronounced with an accent at the end of the commercial, meaning the biggest part of the commercial was pronounced without an accent. Listeners could have lost their interest in the commercial and not have been listening closely anymore to the commercial when the slogan was pronounced with a French accent. This might have caused listeners to think that the speaker had a Dutch nationality, and in turn not think about French associations.
Due to most listeners not identifying the origin of the speaker as French, the effect of the foreign-language display theory may have been diminished, since the theory explains that
an advertisement is more effective when there is a fit between the advertised product or service and language. This could be a possible reason for the lack of findings.
Research question 2: Foreign-accented slogan
Due to the scant existing literature about the effects of using a foreign-accent only partially in radio commercials, the second research question focused on the effects of the pronunciation of solely a slogan in a French-Dutch accent in radio commercials.
An interesting finding was that the foreign-accented slogan commercials were evaluated as more comprehensible than the foreign-accented commercials. No effects were found between the foreign-accented slogan commercials, and the non-accented commercials. These results suggest that an increase in accented-words in an advertisement could make an advertisement less comprehensible.
Another important finding was that the speaker of the foreign-accented slogan commercials was perceived as more competent than the speaker of the foreign-accented commercials. No effects were found between the foreign-accented slogan commercials, and the non-accented commercials. This implies that an increase in accented-words in an advertisement could make the speaker be perceived as less competent.
As noted by Piller (2001), there often occurs a switch from native language to foreign language (or foreign accent) at the end of an advertisement. Various studies have investigated the effects of slogans in a foreign language in printed advertisements (Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Hornikx et al., 2010; Raedts & Dupré, 2015; Raedts et al., 2016), but not slogans in a foreign accent. A slogan is often strategically used to draw extra attention, which makes it an important marketing tool (Piller, 2001). Therefore, the present study is one of the first studies to report on the effects of foreign-accented slogans in radio commercials.
Research question 3: Products versus services
The third research question tested if the advertisement of products and services would have a different effect. According to Mai and Hoffman (2011, 2014) services could evoke different evaluations than products, since services are intangible, rely heavily on the salesperson, and usually a social interaction takes place. This suggests that services could have a greater effect
on foreign-accentedness in advertising than products. However, this study found no differences at all between a product and a service regarding the listeners’ purchase intention, attitude towards the commercial, attitude towards the product/service, attitude towards the speaker, and comprehensibility. Neither was there a difference between the type of commercials (non-accented versus foreign-accented versus foreign-accented slogan) and the advertisement of a product and a service.
This has not been the only study that reported contradicting results from Mai and Hoffman (2011, 2014). Hendriks et al. (2019), also found no differences in regional accent evaluations for products versus services, although in the product commercials the moderately-accented speaker was perceived as warmer than the standard-moderately-accented speaker. Likewise, the study by Ivanič et al. (2014) barely showed differences in the evaluation of accents in commercials for products versus services. These two studies and the present study focused on radio commercials, which did not include any visual elements. The most distinctive feature between a product and a service is that a visual interaction takes place for services. However, this was not the case for the radio commercials. This could have diminished the reliance on the salesperson for services, creating less of a difference between the advertising of a product versus a service. Future studies could investigate whether there are differences between mediums, such as television and radio commercials, and to which extent they make use of visual, textual, and speech elements for the advertisement of products and services.
Limitations and future research
A few limitations apply to this study. Firstly, this study aimed to advertise a product and a service that would be congruent with the accent in the radio commercials, in this case French. To test this effect, a manipulation check was conducted in which the participants had to identify the origin of the speaker. This question was suitable for previous studies that looked into accentedness. However, only after conducting the research it turned out this question was not suitable to check the manipulation of the present study, since there was not one correct answer to the question. Therefore, the present study should have used different questions to check whether the intended effects of the manipulation occurred or not. The manipulation check was changed into ‘recognition French accent’. Future studies could prevent this limitation by specifically asking which accent is used in the commercial, instead of the origin of the speaker.
Secondly, only one product and one service were examined. Even though these were carefully selected based on a pre-test and literature research, the study could be replicated with different types of products and services. Additionally, the present study had a non-food related product and service, while previous studies mostly focused on food products. Food products are in someone’s possession for a limited time, while non-food products are most likely for longer-term use, and might involve a more intensive decision-making process. Future studies could examine possible differences between these types of products and services to further generalize results.
Furthermore, the credibility of the radio commercials can be put into doubt. In the radio commercials there was only a speaker, there was no background music, or background noise. In a realistic radio commercial there are usually background noises to a certain extent. Therefore, future studies could make the radio commercials more realistic by adding background sounds, which might also have an effect on the listeners’ attitude.
The present study included a French-Dutch accent. It would be interesting to investigate whether the same results occur for different accents, for instance an Italian or Russian accent. Future studies could also look into whether there are differences in accent evaluations in multiple types of media, such as a television commercial that also includes visual factors.
In addition, the present study was one of the firsts to examine the effects of a slogan pronounced with a foreign accent in advertising. Therefore, further studies need to be carried out on this subject in order to validate and compare these findings. Not only slogans in a foreign accent could be examined, but also slogans in a foreign language, or native language.
Implications
This study contributes to a greater understanding of the effects of foreign accents in radio commercials advertising a product and a service. Nowadays, multilingualism in advertising has become a more common used marketing strategy. Therefore, it is relevant for marketers to know the effects of multilingualism in advertising, and specifically foreign accentedness. The ultimate goal of most marketers is to increase purchase intention of the customer, by e.g. adding a foreign accent that is congruent with the advertised product or service. The foreign accent is supposed to have a positive effect on the customer. However, in summary the
present study found that a foreign accent had either a negative or no influence on the customer’s attitude, and there do not appear to be differences between the advertising of a product and a service. It seems that a commercial is found to be more comprehensible when there is no accent at all. This suggests that accentedness in advertising may have no or barely beneficial effects. Marketers should carefully think about whether or not to use accentedness in their adverting, in order to not waste time and money.
Additionally, this study makes a contribution to the literature about the effects of using a foreign-accented slogan in commercials. In summary, it appears that an increase in accented-words in an advertisement could make the advertisement less comprehensible, and make the speaker be perceived as less competent. Since this is one of the first studies to examine this subject, further research is essential to draw any practical implications.
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