PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Osei Appiah TI - The Effectiveness of “Typical-User” Testimonial Advertisements on Black and White Browsers' Evaluations of Products on Commercial Websites: Do They Really Work? AID - 10.2501/S0021849907070031 DP - 2007 Mar 01 TA - Journal of Advertising Research PG - 14--27 VI - 47 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/47/1/14.short 4100 - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/47/1/14.full SO - J Advert Res2007 Mar 01; 47 AB - This study tests the effectiveness of testimonial advertisements on black and white browsers' evaluations of a high-end product on a commercial website. The results demonstrate that, although white browsers in general respond no differently to a commercial site whether it features a black character testimonial advertisement, white character testimonial advertisement, or no testimonial advertisement, black browsers do respond differently to commercial sites based on the race of the character used in the testimonial advertisements. Specifically, the findings indicate that black browsers identified more strongly with black character testimonials, were more likely to believe a site was targeting them when the site contained black testimonials, and recalled more product information from a site that featured black character testimonials vis-à-vis a site with either white character testimonials or no testimonials. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.