政治「寵」兒：寵物於地方層級選舉競選廣告中的呈現對投票意願之影響

Pets in Politics: Impact of Pet Presentation in Local-Level Election Campaign Advertisements on Voting Intentions

近年候選人紛紛推出加入寵物圖像的競選廣告，然至今仍鮮少研究探討寵物牌於選舉行銷的效益。本研究結合意義移轉模型、社會判斷、性別刻板印象、概念隱喻理論，探討地方層級選舉之競選廣告中加入寵物視覺的效果。兩實驗結果發現：（1）競選廣告加入寵物，會提升選民對候選人的溫暖感知，但降低能力感知；（2）男性候選人會強化加入寵物對溫暖感知的正向影響；女性候選人會弱化加入寵物對能力感知的負向影響；（3）女性候選人使用寵物線索會提升選民的候選人態度與投票意願；（4）寵物大候選人小的呈現，相較於寵物小候選人大，會弱化加入寵物對溫暖感知的正向影響；（5）以寵物小候選人大來呈現，加入寵物會提升候選人態度與投票意願。本研究釐清寵物線索在競選廣告中的作用機制，具開創性意義，除供廣告商和不同性別候選人瞭解如何有效使用寵物線索，也具商業行銷啟發。

In recent years, political candidates have increasingly incorporated pet imagery into their campaign advertisements, but little research has explored the effects. This study integrates the meaning transfer model, social judgments, gender stereotypes, and conceptual metaphor theory to investigate the effects of incorporating pet visuals in local-level election campaign advertisements. The results of two experiments reveal the following: (1) adding pet imagery to campaign advertisements increases voters’perceived candidate warmth but diminishes perceived competence; (2) the positive impact of pet imagery on perceived warmth is amplified for male candidates, while the negative impact on perceived competence is weakened for female candidates; (3) only female candidates benefit from using pet imagery to improve voters’attitudes toward the candidate and voting intentions; (4) using a pet image that is larger (vs. smaller) than the candidate’s image weakens the positive impact of pet imagery on perceived candidate warmth; (5) when the pet imagery is smaller than the candidate, including pets (compared to no pets) improves candidate attitudes and voting intentions. This study clarifies the mechanisms of pet cues in campaign advertisements, offering innovative insights. The findings guide advertisers and candidates of different genders on the effective use of pet cues and inspire commercial marketing.