“One Face, Many Roles”: The Role of Cognitive Load and Authenticity in Driving Short-Form Video Ads

Short-form video platforms have shifted advertising from standalone, time-bounded spots to feed-embedded, swipeable stimuli, creating a high-velocity processing context that can penalize casting complexity. We ask whether a “one face, many roles” casting strategy (a single actor playing multiple characters) outperforms multi-actor executions, and why. A two-phase pretest (N = 3500) calibrated a realistic ceiling for “multi-actor” casts, then four experiments (total N = 4513) tested mechanisms, boundary conditions, and alternatives. Study 1 (online and offline replications) shows that single-actor ads lower cognitive load and boost account evaluations and purchase intention. Study 2, a field experiment, demonstrates that Need for Closure amplifies these gains via reduced cognitive load. Study 3 documents brand-type congruence: one actor performs better for entertaining/exciting brands, whereas multi-actor suits professional/competence-oriented brands. Study 4 rules out cost-frugality and sympathy using a budget cue and a sequential alternative path (perceived cost constraint → sympathy). Across studies, a chain mediation holds: single-actor casting reduces cognitive load, which elevates brand authenticity and increases purchase intention; a simple mediation links cognitive load to account evaluations. Effects are robust across settings and participant gender. We theorize short-form advertising as a context-embedded persuasion episode that connects information-processing efficiency to authenticity inferences, and we derive practical guidance for talent selection and script design in short-form campaigns.