Title: Investigating Chinese audience-consumer responses towards TV character-based fashion related social media content

Authors: Delia Vazquez; Jenny Cheung; Xiangran Wu

Addresses: Design and Fashion Business, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, UK ' Design and Fashion Business, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, UK ' Design and Fashion Business, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, UK

Abstract: This study investigates brands placed within the context of a TV series, as TV series have long been identified as a source of peer group discussion (Noguti and Russell, 2008). TV audience consumer engagement is particularly compelling when TV series feature emotionally empathic characters. This study aims to analyse the effect of social media fashion brand communications with Chinese TV series audiences' online purchase behaviour. An online survey (n = 150) was conducted to analyse the links connecting parasocial relationships between TV audiences and audiences' purchase intentions. The results indicate that consumers develop parasocial relationships with TV characters that positively affect their purchase intentions. These results are significant, as marketeers seek to find emotional connections with their consumers across an increasingly fragmented media landscape. Emotional brand engagement is the key to future growth, and integration within empathic storylines within TV series can be viewed as an effective marketing tool.

Keywords: parasocial; fashion marketing; emotional engagement; TV characters emotional brand associations; fashion social media; Chinese consumers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2019.097389

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2019 Vol.22 No.1, pp.53 - 73

Received: 03 Mar 2017
Accepted: 21 May 2017
Published online: 21 Jan 2019 *

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