The Role Of Models In Advertising: An Analysis Of Food And Beverage.

The study investigated the role of models in advertising: an analysis of food and beverageand used consumers of Amstel malt in Onitsha, Nigeria as case study. It argues that the use of attractive models in advertising sometimes creates distraction as audience focus their attention on the models rather than the advertised product. Therefore, the study aimed at determining whether models in advertising attract more attention to themselves than the product advertised; finding out what arouses the interest of audience most in advertising; determining what influences action of audience in billboard advertising; and assessing what audience recall most in advertising. 

The work was anchored on agenda setting theory, the uses and gratifications theory of the media, and the psychodynamic theory. It used 373 sample size drawn purposively from the population of Amstel malt consumers in Onitsha. The work adopted survey research method and used questionnaire as data gathering instrument. Findings showed that models in advertising attract more attention to themselves than to products advertised and that audience recall models in advertising more than the product advertised. It was therefore, concluded that audience attention was more on models used in advertising. Based on this, it was recommended that billboard advertising should use models sparingly and concentrate on making the product or service advertised more conspicuous on billboard to ensure easy recall.