In 2007, popular daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. This study uses data from an experiment to examine the impact of news about her endorsement. Exposure to such news did not influence the extent to which participants held favorable opinions toward Obama or the extent to which they saw him as likable. On the other hand, reading about the endorsement did lead participants to see Obama as more likely to win the nomination and to say that they would be more likely to vote for him. These findings suggest that research on celebrity endorsements should consider not only effects on candidate support but also subtler effects, such as those on viability assessments.
Julie Bosman , "The Oprah Factor and Obama,"New York Times, Sept. 11, 2007:A22.
2.
Jeff Zeleny , "Political Test for the Oprah Brand,"New York Times, Nov. 27, 2007:A27.
3.
Jeff Zeleny , "Celebrity Meets Politics as Winfrey Stumps for Obama,"New York Times, Dec. 9, 2007:A39.
4.
Katharine Q. Seelye, "A Big Draw in South Carolina,"New York Times, Dec. 10, 2007:A21.
5.
Dan Balz , "`Our Moment is Now,' Obama Declares; Oprah Winfrey Helps Candidate Pull a Huge Crowd in S.C.,"Washington Post, Dec. 10, 2007:A6.
6.
Andrew Rosenthal , "Michelle, Maria, Caroline, and Oprah on the Hustings in California,"New York Times, Feb. 4, 2008: A22.
7.
Matthew Mosk , "The Magic Touch? Winfrey Lends Her Brand and Her Empire in Support of Obama's Presidential Bid," Washington Post, Sept. 5, 2007:A6.
8.
As early as September 2007, 16 percent of the respondents in the aforementioned Pew survey said that they had heard a lot about Oprah Winfrey's decision to support Obama; another 46 percent said that they had heard a little about it (vs. 38 percent who said that they had heard nothing about it).
9.
In addition, a December 2007 Fox News poll found that more respondents said that Winfrey would influence their vote than said that three other celebrities-Curt Schilling, Chuck Norris, and Barbara Streisand-would do so.
10.
This passage was adapted from Lynn Sweet, "Oprah's Stage: Iowa; Obama Anticipates Talk-Show Queen Will Highlight Some of His Themes, `Reach People Who Might Not Otherwise Be Thinking about Politics,'" Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 22, 2007:26.
11.
Yet another question asked, "How often do you watch The Oprah Winfrey Show?" Of the participants, 51 percent said never, 31 percent said less than once a week, 13 percent said once a week, and 5 percent said several times a week or more. The effects of the treatment did not vary significantly with self-reported viewing of the show.
12.
This conclusion is based on a comparison of standardized regression coefficients.
13.
Predicted scores were calculated using the regression results.
14.
In addition, research based on meaning transfer theory suggests that the impact of celebrity endorsements in selling both products (McCracken 1989) and political ideas (Jackson and Darrow 2005) depends on how the characteristics of the celebrity interact with the product or idea to create meanings. Thus, the effects of Winfrey's endorsement of Obama may have reflected specific meanings related to characteristics of the endorser and endorsee (e.g., both Winfrey and Obama were African-American; Obama was relatively youthful; Winfrey was a woman, while Obama was a man). Our research design does not allow us to disentangle these meanings, but they may warrant further study.
15.
Abramowitz, Alan I.1989. "Viability, Electability, and Candidate Choice in a Presidential Primary Election: A Test of Competing Models." Journal of Politics51(4):977-92.
16.
Abramson, Paul R., John H. Aldrich, Phil Paolino, and David W. Rohde .1992. "`Sophisticated' Voting in the 1988 Presidential Primaries." American Political Science Review86(1):55-69.
17.
Baron, Reuben N., and David A. Kenny .1986. "The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51:1173-82.
18.
Baum, Matthew A.2003. Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
19.
Baum, Matthew A.2005. "Talking the Vote: Why Presidential Candidates Hit the Talk Show Circuit." American Journal of Political Science49(2):213-34.
20.
Baum, Matthew A., and Angela S. Jamison .2006. "The Oprah Effect: How Soft News Helps Inattentive Citizens Vote Consistently." Journal of Politics68(4):946-59.
21.
Butler, Richard J., Benjamin W. Cowan, and Sebastian Nilsson .2005. "From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah's Book Club Selections." Publishing Research Quarterly20(4):23-24.
22.
Cohen, Jeremy, Diana Mutz, Vincent Price, and Albert Gunther.1988. "Perceived Impact of Defamation: An Experiment on Third-Person Effects." Public Opinion Quarterly52(2):161-73.
23.
Davison, W. Phillips.1983. "The Third Person Effect in Communication." Public Opinion Quarterly47(1):1-15.
24.
Druckman, James N.2004. "Priming the Vote: Campaign Effects in a U.S. Senate Election ." Political Psychology25(4):577-94.
25.
Glynn, Carroll J., Michael Huge, Jason B. Reineke, Bruce W. Hardy, and James Shanahan.2007. "When Oprah Intervenes: Political Correlates of Daytime Talk Show Viewing." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media51(2):228-44.
26.
Gunther, Albert.1991. "What We Think Others Think: Cause and Consequence in the Third-Person Effect." Communication Research18(3):355-72.
27.
Gunther, Albert C., and Esther Thorson.1992. "Perceived Persuasiveness Effects of Product Commercials and Public Service Announcements." Communication Research19(5):574-96.
28.
Holbrook, Allyson L., Melanie C. Green, and Jon A. Krosnick .2003. "Telephone versus Face-to-Face Interviewing of National Probability Samples with Long Questionnaires: Comparisons of Respondent Satisficing and Social Desirability Response Bias." Public Opinion Quarterly67(1):79-125.
29.
Hovland, Carl I., Irving L. Janis, and Harold H. Kelley .1953. Communication and Persuasion . New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.
30.
Jackson, David J., and Thomas I. A. Darrow.2005. "The Influence of Celebrity Endorsements on Young Adults' Political Opinions." Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics10(3):80-98.
31.
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Shapiro, Robert Y.1994. "Issues, Candidate Image, and Priming: The Use of Private Polls in Kennedy's 1960 Presidential Campaign ." American Political Science Review88(3):527-40.
32.
Keeter, Scott.1987. "The Illusion of Intimacy and the Role of Candidate Personal Qualities in Voter Choice." Public Opinion Quarterly51(3):344-58.
33.
McCracken, Grant.1989. "Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process." Journal of Consumer Research16(3):310-21.
34.
MediaVest USA.2004. "Word to Presidential Hopefuls: Celebrities on Campaign Trail Reach Young Voters ." http://www.mediavestww.com/news/download/Celeb_Politics_20040825.pdf
35.
Perloff, Richard M.1993. "Third-Person Effect Research 1983-1992: A Review and Synthesis." International Journal of Public Opinion Research5(2):167-84.
36.
Petty, Richard E., John T. Cacioppo, and David Schumann.1983. "Central and Peripheral Routes to Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Involvement." Journal of Consumer Research10(2):135-46.
37.
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.2007. "The Oprah Factor and Campaign 2008: Do Political Endorsements Matter?" http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=357
38.
Phillips, Derek L., and Kevin J. Clancy .1972. "Some Effects of `Social Desirability' in Survey Studies." American Journal of Sociology77(5):921-40.
39.
Popkin, Samuel L.1991. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
40.
Rickerhauser, Jill, and John H. Aldrich .2007. "`It's the Electability, Stupid'-or Maybe Not? Electability, Substance, and Strategic Voting in Presidential Primaries." Electoral Studies26(2):371-80.
41.
Schwarz, Norbert.1999. "Self-Reports: How the Questions Shape the Answers." American Psychologist52(2):93-105.
42.
Stone, Walter J., Ronald B. Rapoport, and Alan I. Abramowitz .1992. "Candidate Support in Presidential Nomination Campaigns: The Case of Iowa in 1984." Journal of Politics54(4):1074-97.
43.
Vanishing Voter Project.2004. " First Time Voters Propelled to Polls by Personal Contact; Non-Voters Discouraged by Election Procedures." http://www.vanishingvoter.org/Releases/release111104.shtml
44.
Wood, Natalie T., and Kenneth C. Herbst .2007. "Political Star Power and Political Parties: Does Celebrity Endorsement Win First-Time Votes?" Journal of Political Marketing6(2-3):141-57.
