The Halo Effect

The halo effect is intriguing — and eth­ic­ally challenging.

Have you ever con­sidered choos­ing a brand spokes­per­son based on their over­all good looks and charisma?

While it sounds shal­low, you wouldn’t be com­pletely wrong to be temp­ted to base your choice on such grounds, at least in some parts.

Here we go:

The Halo Effect

In pub­lic rela­tions, under­stand­ing and stra­tegic­ally using psy­cho­lo­gic­al phe­nom­ena can be the key to suc­cess­ful cam­paigns. One such phe­nomen­on, the halo effect, plays a pro­found role in shap­ing pub­lic perception.

Perhaps you’ve heard of pretty priv­ilege?

The halo effect occurs when our over­all impres­sion of a per­son influ­ences our judg­ments of their spe­cif­ic traits. The effect extends bey­ond indi­vidu­al assess­ments and sig­ni­fic­antly impacts mar­ket­ing strategies where sin­gu­lar char­ac­ter­ist­ics often shape con­sumer per­cep­tions of advert­ise­ments and brands.

“The halo effect occurs when a per­son’s over­all pos­it­ive traits influ­ence our eval­u­ations of indi­vidu­al attrib­utes, lead­ing to uncon­scious biases in judg­ments.”
Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ¹Nisbett, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for uncon­scious alter­a­tion of judg­ments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, … Continue read­ing

Learn more: The Halo Effect

The Halo Effect and Spokesperson Selection

For PR pro­fes­sion­als, recog­nising the halo effect opens up oppor­tun­it­ies. This phe­nomen­on sug­gests that a pos­it­ive gen­er­al impres­sion can pro­duce favour­able eval­u­ations across vari­ous attributes.

“Halo effect in mar­ket­ing leads people to form an entire impres­sion based on indi­vidu­al char­ac­ter­ist­ics, influ­en­cing their per­cep­tion of advert­ise­ments, trade­marks, and pack­aging.”
Source: Commercial Research ²Hao, L. (2004). The Analysis of Halo Effect in Marketing. Commercial Research.

This is par­tic­u­larly rel­ev­ant in spokes­per­son selec­tion. Physically attract­ive indi­vidu­als tend to be rated more favour­ably regard­ing per­son­al­ity traits, a prin­ciple that can be applied in choos­ing brand ambas­sad­ors or pub­lic fig­ures rep­res­ent­ing a company. 

“The halo effect, also known as the phys­ic­al attract­ive­ness ste­reo­type, refers to the habitu­al tend­ency of people to rate attract­ive indi­vidu­als more favor­ably for their per­son­al­ity traits or char­ac­ter­ist­ics than those who are less attract­ive.”
Source: Nursing Times ³Smith, R. (2009). Halo Effect. Nursing Times, 84 51, 68. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​0​7​/​978 – 0‑387 – 73003-5_487

The key is to cre­ate a strong, pos­it­ive first impres­sion that can col­our sub­sequent per­cep­tions, wheth­er it’s through aes­thet­ic­ally pleas­ing visu­als, enga­ging nar­rat­ives, or asso­ci­at­ing the brand with admired per­son­al­it­ies or values.

Over-Reliance on Positive Associations

While the halo effect can be a power­ful tool, it presents chal­lenges and eth­ic­al con­sid­er­a­tions. Overreliance on pos­it­ive asso­ci­ations can lead to skewed pub­lic per­cep­tions, poten­tially glossing over flaws or issues that need to be addressed.

The halo effect in lotto games shows how pos­it­ive events, such as large jack­pots, can tem­por­ar­ily boost tick­et sales, over­shad­ow­ing the less glam­or­ous aspects of gambling. Similarly, PR cam­paigns that heav­ily rely on the halo effect must be care­ful not to mis­lead or cre­ate unreal­ist­ic expectations.

“The ‘Halo Effect’ in lotto games occurs when tick­et sales unex­pec­tedly increase after a large jack­pot, due to bet­tors exchan­ging prize win­nings for new tick­ets.”
Source: Applied Economics Letters ⁴Grote, K., & Matheson, V. (2007). Examining the ‘Halo Effect’ in lotto games. Applied Economics Letters, 14, 307 — 310. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​8​0​/​1​3​5​0​4​8​5​0​5​0​0​4​4​7​372.

The halo effect is a double-edged sword, how­ever. While it can be lever­aged to enhance brand image and cre­ate pos­it­ive asso­ci­ations, it requires care­ful hand­ling to avoid mis­lead­ing audiences.

The Paradox of Prominence

The “dark side” of what drives people’s engage­ment can be a true PR chal­lenge. This phe­nomen­on, where every strength inher­ently pos­sesses a cor­res­pond­ing down­side, can be called the para­dox of prominence.

An example of this para­dox is the halo effect, where phys­ic­al attract­ive­ness becomes an asset for a spokes­per­son. Attractiveness often leads to pos­it­ive biases; attract­ive indi­vidu­als are fre­quently per­ceived as more cred­ible and com­pet­ent. ⁵Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beau­ti­ful is good, but…: A meta-ana­lyt­ic review of research on the phys­ic­al attract­ive­ness ste­reo­type. … Continue read­ing ⁶Silfwer, J. (2023, December 17). The Halo Effect: Why Attractiveness Matters in PR. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​h​a​l​o​-​e​f​f​e​ct/

However, this same attrib­ute can spark neg­at­ive reac­tions. Critics might claim that the indi­vidu­al’s suc­cess or vis­ib­il­ity is primar­ily due to their looks, under­min­ing their com­pet­en­cies. This dual­ity illus­trates how the qual­it­ies that draw pos­it­ive atten­tion can sim­ul­tan­eously attract cri­ti­cism and scepticism.

Competence, anoth­er valu­able trait, often encoun­ters sim­il­ar pit­falls. Highly com­pet­ent indi­vidu­als inspire con­fid­ence and admir­a­tion. Nevertheless, this com­pet­ence can be per­ceived neg­at­ively when will­fully inter­preted as arrog­ance. Studies sug­gest that while com­pet­ence garners respect, it can also lead to social pen­al­ties, such as envy and resent­ment. ⁷Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A mod­el of (often mixed) ste­reo­type con­tent: Competence and warmth respect­ively fol­low from per­ceived status and com­pet­i­tion. Journal of … Continue read­ing

Examples of the Paradox of Prominence

The para­dox of prom­in­ence seems to be an inher­ent aspect of human interest dynamics. 

We must recog­nise that with every increase in vis­ib­il­ity, there is a cor­res­pond­ing increase in scru­tiny and criticism.

“Being Loved by Everyone”

Earning pub­lic aware­ness comes with inev­it­able costs.

In the quest for great­er vis­ib­il­ity and influ­ence, it is crit­ic­al to acknow­ledge that “being uni­ver­sally well-liked” is a naïve and unreal­ist­ic goal. 

“Being loved by every­one” can nev­er be a viable pub­lic rela­tions strategy. 

By stra­tegic­ally har­ness­ing this para­dox, pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als can man­age pub­lic per­cep­tion by inter­n­al­ising expec­ted “down­sides” as addi­tion­al aware­ness drivers. 

Learn more: The Paradox of Prominence

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Psychology in Public Relations

• Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases
• Cognitive Dissonance
• Survivorship Bias 
• Theory of Mind: A PR Superpower
• The Amplification Hypothesis
• The Online Brain Hypothesis
• The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon: Heard About It Before?
• The Halo Effect
• The Paradox of Prominence
• Parkinson’s Law & The Law of Triviality (Bike Shed Effect)

Group Psychology

• Social Group Sizes (The Social Brain Hypothesis)
• The Pitfalls of Groupthink
• The Engagement Pyramid
• 150 — Dunbar’s Number
• Seriality (Context Matters)
• Diffusion of Innovations
• The Bystander Effect

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