WordNet

of or relating to or constituting testimony
expressing admiration or appreciation; "testimonial dinner"
make or take a proof of, such as a photographic negative, an etching, or typeset
a measure of alcoholic strength expressed as an integer twice the percentage of alcohol present (by volume)
make resistant (to harm); "proof the materials against shrinking in the dryer"
a trial photographic print from a negative
any factual evidence that helps to establish the truth of something; "if you have any proof for what you say, now is the time to produce it" (同)cogent evidence
(printing) an impression made to check for errors (同)test copy, trial impression
a formal series of statements showing that if one thing is true something else necessarily follows from it
(used in combination or as a suffix) able to withstand; "temptation-proof"; "childproof locks"
activate by mixing with water and sometimes sugar or milk; "proof yeast"
knead to reach proper lightness; "proof dough"
your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief; "the evidence that smoking causes lung cancer is very compelling" (同)grounds
(law) all the means by which any alleged matter of fact whose truth is investigated at judicial trial is established or disproved
an indication that makes something evident; "his trembling was evidence of his fear"
something that serves as evidence; "his effort was testimony to his devotion" (同)testimonial
a solemn statement made under oath
an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact; "according to his own testimony he cant do it"

PrepTutorEJDIC

(人物・資格・品質などの)証明書,推薦状 / 表彰状,感謝状,(業績などに対する)記念品,賞品 / 証明書(推薦状)の;表彰の
〈U〉『証拠』,証明;〈C〉『証拠となるもの』,証拠品 / 〈C〉(真実性・品質などの)試験,吟味 / 〈U〉アルコール性飲料の標準強度 / 〈C〉〈U〉校正刷り(proof sheet);試し刷り,(写真の)試し焼き / 《補語にのみ用いて》(…に)耐えられる,負けない《+『against』+『名』》 / (アルコール飲料など)標準強度の / …‘を'校正する / (…に対して)…‘を'耐久性にする;…‘を'耐水性にする《+『名』+『against』+『名』》
『証拠』,証拠物件 / 印,徴侯,形跡(indication)・(証拠をあげて)…‘を'証明する・「in evidence」で「証拠(証人)として」
〈C〉〈U〉(法廷の証人台での)『証言』 / 〈U〉(…の)証拠,しるし《+of+名》 / (信仰などの)公然とした表明

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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2013/04/12 08:37:40」(JST)

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For the use of the term "testimonial" in sport (especially football), see testimonial match.

An advertisement for the Wikimedia Foundation incorporating a series of editor testimonials

In promotion and of advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of some product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whereas the word "endorsement" usually applies to pitches by celebrities. Testimonials can be part of communal marketing.

Pope Leo XIII endorses "Vin Mariani", a patent medicine containing cocaine.

Celebrity endorsements

Further information: Celebrity branding

Actress and model Lin Chi-ling at the LG New Chocolate Phone launching event for the BL40, 2009, Hong Kong

Advertisers have attempted to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior.

For example, Omnicom agency Davie Brown Entertainment has created an independent index for brand marketers and advertising agencies that determines a celebrity’s ability to influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent. According to the Wall Street Journal, the so-called "Davie-Brown Index" will "enable advertisers and ad-agency personnel to determine if a particular public figure will motivate consumers who see them in an ad to purchase the product advertised."

Social media such as Twitter have become increasingly popular mediums for celebrities to endorse brands and influence purchasing behavior. According to Bloomberg, social-media-ad spending is expected to reach a total of $4.8 billion at the end of 2012 and $9.8 billion by 2016.^[1] Advertising and Marketing Companies sponsor celebrities to tweet and influence thousands (sometimes millions) of their followers to buy brand products. For example, Ryan Seacrest gets paid to promote Ford products.^[2] Companies who pay celebs to tweet for them subscribe to the Malcolm Gladwell theory of influence.

Celebrity endorsements have proven very successful in China where, due to increasing consumerism, it is considered a status symbol to purchase an endorsed product. On August 1, 2007 laws were passed banning healthcare professionals and public figures such as movie stars or pop singers from appearing in advertisements for drugs or nutritional supplements. A spokesperson stated: "A celebrity appearing in drug advertising is more likely to mislead consumers, therefore, the state must consider controlling medical advertisements and strengthen the management of national celebrities appearing in medical advertisements."

Customer testimonials

Testimonials from customers who are not famous have been effectively used in marketing for as long as marketing has existed.^{[citation needed]} A past or current customer will present a formal "word of mouth" testimonial that a business can use in marketing and to build trust with future customers. Though testimonials are incredibly effective when believed true, a challenge lays in having the audience believe that testimonials presented by a business are given by real people, and not fabricated by the business itself. Even so, testimonials, reviews, and case studies are still considered by most marketing experts to be the most effective means of marketing and gaining brand trust by small- and medium-sized businesses.

Testimonials have reached an all-time high in importance as the internet is now a plethora of reviews (synonymous with testimonials). Websites such as Yelp!, Google+, TripAdvisor, and many more have become 'go to' places for individuals who are seeking other customers reviews/testimonials about a particular business. To put the growth of this industry into perspective, look at Yelp.com's growth alone: Yelp.com has more than 71 million monthly unique visitors as of January 2012^[3]

The downside to such explosive importance in this arena is the massive amount of fraud in the form of "fake reviews" or "opinion spam". Simply put, testimonials that are not authentic. Often a business owner will open multiple email addresses and then corresponding Yelp accounts and write a multitude of testimonials seemingly by many customers of said business. Similarly, the same owner may also write negative reviews of his competitors businesses. Additionally, as per the authentic testimonials blog "Just do a search on the recent phenom website fiverr.com using the search term “testimonial” or “review” and there are almost 5,000 results of people offering to “write great testimonial for your product or service”. From a NY Times article about the same topic “...On another forum, Digital Point, a poster wrote, “I will pay for positive feedback on TripAdvisor.” A Craigslist post proposed this: “If you have an active Yelp account and would like to make very easy money please respond.”(1)(2) There are tens-of-thousands of ads out there all over the internet of people requesting you to write bogus reviews for their business and people offering to do the same."

There have also been allegations that review sites themselves are prepared to manipulate reviews in return for companies buying advertising subscriptions,^[4]^[5] with a class action being filed against Yelp to this effect in February 2010.^[6]

While a few Universities and Corporations are working on a method to defeat these fake reviews, it seems none have yet been successful to any degree that we can rely on.

Research on celebrity testimonials and customer testimonials

Research by Martin, Wentzel and Tomczak (2008) found that the effectiveness of testimonials depends on the degree to which consumers are influenced by normative pressure and the quality of the product features highlighted. Results showed that people influenced by peer pressure (high-SNI consumers) place a greater emphasis on the testimonial than on the attribute information. In contrast, people who ignore the opinions of others (low-SNI consumers) are more inﬂuenced by attribute information. ^[7]

Legality

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in fact found that in US businesses an alarming number of testimonials were in fact fictitious and misleading that in Dec of 2009 they introduced a new set of rules governing testimonials.^[8] In essence it is now illegal to use testimonials that "...mislead consumers and affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service." However, despite new regulations, online consumers often view testimonials with a high degree of skepticism. Companies from the private sector have begun to offer testimonial verification services to help consumers verify the authenticity of displayed testimonials.

References

^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/social-media-ad-spending-to-jump-to-9-8-billion-in-2016.html
^ http://www.business2community.com/twitter/celebrity-endorsements-and-twitter-do-we-buy-things-when-celebrities-tell-us-to-0229724
^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelp,_Inc.
^ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-42744374/inside-yelps-blackmail-lawsuit-ceo-stoppelman-seems-to-hate-his-advertisers/
^ http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/Content?oid=1176635
^ http://gawker.com/5479568/yelp-class+action-complaint
^ Martin, Brett A. S., Daniel Wentzel and Torsten Tomczak (2008), "Effects of Susceptibility to Normative Influence and Type of Testimonial on Attitudes toward Print Advertising", Journal of Advertising, 37 (1), 29-43.
^ http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus28-advertising-and-marketing-internet-rules-road

English Journal

Do testimonials improve parental perceptions and participation in parenting programmes? Results of two studies.

Morawska A, Nitschke F, Burrows S.SourceParenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. alina@psy.uq.edu.au
Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community.J Child Health Care.2011 Jun;15(2):85-98. Epub 2011 Apr 28.
Despite the effectiveness of parenting interventions in both prevention and intervention with child emotional and behavioural problems, parental participation in evidence-based programmes remains low, limiting the benefit to the population. This research examines a new population parental engagement
PMID 21527478

The brave new world of medicine by testimonial.

Cassels A.SourceUniversity of Victoria, Victoria, BC.
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne.CMAJ.2011 Apr 5;183(6):728. Epub 2011 Mar 7.
PMID 21398242

Enzymatic shaving of the tegument surface of live schistosomes for proteomic analysis: a rational approach to select vaccine candidates.

Castro-Borges W, Dowle A, Curwen RS, Thomas-Oates J, Wilson RA.SourceDepartment of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom. williamcborges@hotmail.com
PLoS neglected tropical diseases.PLoS Negl Trop Dis.2011 Mar 29;5(3):e993.
BACKGROUND: The membrane-associated and membrane-spanning constituents of the Schistosoma mansoni tegument surface, the parasite's principal interface with the host bloodstream, have recently been characterized using proteomic techniques. Biotinylation of live worms using membrane-impermeant probes
PMID 21468311

Japanese Journal

エーテル麻酔創始者の一人であるW.T.G.Morton救済のための寄付に関わる小冊子"PROCEEDINGS IN BEHALF OF THE MORTON TESTIMONIAL."について(その4)

加來洋子,石橋肇,渋谷鉱
日本歯科医史学会会誌 28(4), 323-331, 2010-09-01
NAID 110007730441

エーテル麻酔創始者の一人であるW.T.G.Morton救済のための寄付に関わる小冊子"PROCEEDINGS IN BEHALF OF THE MORTON TESTIMONIAL."について(その3)

加來洋子,石橋肇,渋谷鉱
日本歯科医史学会会誌 28(3), 205-211, 2010-04-01
NAID 110007593865

インド藍で1,500枚のハンカチを染める(官学連携)

野田隆弘
岐阜市立女子短期大学研究紀要 60, 61-66, 2010
… Later, the testimonial in honor was given to our college by the chairman of this convention, who is Gifu Pref. … Later, the testimonial in honor was given to our college by the chairman of this convention, who is Gifu Pref. …
NAID 110008593138