The Role of Accent Standardness in Message Preference and Recall

This research examines the impact of spokesperson accents used in persuasive communications on consumer evaluations of and memory for products and services. Leveraging the construct of accent standardness (i.e., perceived accent prestige and "correctness"), in four experiments, listeners demonstrate their overall preferences by giving higher ratings to products advertised using less-familiar, more-standard accents (e.g., British) relative to more-familiar, less-standard accents (e.g., American Southern). However, consumer preferences for standard accents do not positively impact their memory; standard accents actually lower brand recall. Thus, when choosing a spokesperson's accent, there is a trade-off: increasing brand preference by using a standard accent or improving memory by using a more familiar, nonstandard accent.