Reducing Resistance: The Impact of Nonfollowers’ and Followers’ Parasocial Relationships with Social Media Influencers on Persuasive Resistance and Advertising Effectiveness

Although social media influencers have become popular brand endorsers, previous research on this new form of advertising has neglected to analyze how the followers of these influencers are persuaded. Based on a key mechanism proposed by the entertainment overcoming resistance model, long-term parasocial relationships (PSRs) should reduce the amount of persuasive resistance in the forms of reactance and counterarguing. Consequently, the persuasive effects should be enhanced. To empirically test these assumptions, two online studies were conducted. The first experimental study (N = 151) confirmed that followers experienced stronger PSRs than did nonfollowers, which resulted in higher perceived source trustworthiness and reduced levels of both perceived freedom threat and counterarguing after exposure to a sponsored Instagram post. The second study (N = 225) further confirmed the enhanced persuasive impact of PSRs in terms of brand evaluations and behavioral intentions. The theoretical and practical implications for advertisers, consumer advocates, and future research are discussed.