You are on page 1of 8

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci.

, 5(10), 2015, 619-626

ISSN 2231-2935
Research Article
www.ijrls.pharmascope.org

Celebrity Endorsement and Its Effect on Consumer


Behavior: A Literature Review
Fariba Fathi1*, Bahram Kheiri2
1

Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran


Professor at Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT
Today celebrity endorsement is the important factor, which is able to grab the customer's attention towards the
product and services. The buying behavior of a customer is strongly influenced by the efforts made by the advertisers to build brand loyalty. Attentions seeking ads and the use of celebrities in ads are very popular and successful as it gives the wanted results to the companies. This paper aims to identify studies concerning celebrity endorsement and its effect on consumer behavior. By a review of the research carried out, the current article mainly
sheds light on celebrities impact, whether directly or indirectly, on customer buying behavior. The article comes
to the conclusion that, prior to advertising using celebrities, companies should exactly determine whether the
advertisements are only for information or to increase sales. Another important consideration is selecting a celebrity which is a good match to the product, and this factor is determined according to the type of product and services.
Keywords Celebrity; Reference Group; Consumer Behavior; Celebrity Endorser.
INTRODUCTION
The consumer is the one who pays the money to consume the goods and services, which are produced by
the companies. We all come into this category and we
consume things according to our needs, preferences
and buying power. There are many kinds of goods like
consumable goods, durable goods, specialty goods or,
industrial goods. Consumer behavior depends on many
factors like what we buy, how we buy, where and
when we buy, in how much quantity we buy which is
based on our perception, self-concept, social and cultural background and our age and family cycle, our
attitudes, beliefs, values, motivation, personality, social
class and many other factors that are both internal and
external to us. Today the consumption pattern of the
consumer and their behavior is changing gradually.
New demands, technology, lifestyle and acceptance of
other countries cultures are forcing companies to do
continuous change in their offering and promotions.
Increase in competition favors the consumer to get
more variety and quality in reasonable price. Now-adays consumers play an important role in the economic
system of many countries. The whole business concept
is based on one word that is CONSUMER and it exists
for creating consumer, more consumers and many
more consumers.

* Corresponding Author
Fariba Fathi
Email: faribafathi@hotmail.com

Every brand attempts to find at least a fraction of an


audiences time to inform him or her of the various
unique attributes of the products at hand. Due to the
constant flooding of the standard marketing campaigns
by various media the audience eventually, become
insensitive towards them. Hence, now-a-days marketers are facing challenge to find out the ways that will
gain the attention of the consumer.
Now-a-days, many companies are signing contracts
with celebrities in the expectation that by using celebrities they can achieve a unique and appropriate position in the minds of the customers.(Arora and Sahu,
2014)
It seems that the use of celebrity is increasing day by
day. The popularity and credibility of a celebrity helps
the companies to attract more and more customers.
There is a need to find out the great impact of celebrity
endorsement on the buying trends or purchasing behaviors of the consumers.Celebrity endorsements have
long been used and which are one of the most popular
advertising strategies and recognized as ubiquitous
feature of modern day marketing (Biswas, Hussain,
&ODonnell, 2009; White, 2004). Celebrities are the
personalities that are well known in public either because of their credibility or of their attractiveness or
because of both of these. To leverage this, advertisers
use celebrities in their advertisement to increase the
effectiveness and heighten the believability of commercials.(Ahmed et al. 2012) Today, celebrity endorsement is being seen as more and more essential
part in an integrated marketing communication strate-

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

619

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

gy. Every marketer wants to use it. However, there is


also a great risk behind the use of the celebrities.

credible and expert source, when associated with introverts, is more powerful (Solomon, 2013).

The celebrity should be match with personality of the


products, personality of target market and with the
society. Today, the attitude, taste, preferences and
buying pattern of consumers are changing rapidly and
consumers are becoming more literate and aware of
the products that they use to fulfill their needs and
wants. Today, celebrity endorsement is a very successful and commonly practiced strategy for major firms to
create and improve companys brand image.(Arora
and Sahu, 2014)

Source Credibility

LITERATURE REVIEW
Reference Group
According to Solomon (2013), reference group is the
one whose attitudes or values are used by an individual
as the basis for behavior. Reference group is the one
which its values, norms, attitudes or beliefs is used as a
guide to individual behavior (Mowen and Minor, 2009).
An individuals reference groups are composed of all
the groups that can influence his beliefs and behavior
either directly or indirectly. The groups that directly
affect the person are called membership groups (Kotler, 2006).
Reference groups can have three types of effect on
people. Information effect occurs when a person applies behavior and attitude of the members of the reference group as useful data elements. Prescriptive effect which is also called utilitarian effect is said to occur
when a person meets groups expectations by earning
direct reward or by avoidance of punishment. The cognitive effects occur when people apply perceived
norms and values in the group as a guide to their attitudes and values (Solomon, 2013).
Reference groups influence people through the norms,
information and value-oriented demonstrative needs
of consumers (Mowen and Minor, 2009). One instance
of such groups is celebrities that are admired by the
community because of their reputation, popularity,
fame and other achievements, and firms use these
individuals and organizations to encourage consumers
to buy their goods (Abdolvandand HoseinzadehEmam,
2013).
Message Source
In most cases, the source of a message can have a
great impact on the likelihood of its adoption by the
recipients. Select a source for maximizing change in
attitude encompasses several dimensions. Credibility
and attractiveness are two main characteristics of the
source. There have to be a consistency between the
needs of the recipient and potential rewards provided
by the source. For example, an attractive or beautiful
source is more effective on those who are more sensitive to social approval and others views. In contrast, a

The credibility refers to the expertise, objectivity and


reliability of a transmitter. Honesty and credibility is of
particular significance especially when the company
wants to advertise its corporate social responsibility
activities in a way to benefit the community. A credible
source is specially when encouraging that consumers
still do not know much about the product or have not
presented comment on it (Solomon, 2013).
The Source Credibility Model holds that effectiveness
of a message is based on the perceived level of expertise and trustworthiness the customers have in an endorser (Sternthal, Dholakia et al. 1978). Expertise can
be defined as the extent to which the endorser (communicator) is perceived to be knowledgeable, skillful
and experienced. And the statements it makes turn out
to be valid. The benefit of using expert endorser is that
it enhances brand recall and positively affects the buying
intentions
of
consumers
(Erdogan
1999).Trustworthiness can be defined as the extent to
which the endorser is perceived to be believable, honest and dependable. Greater the proportion of these
aspects, higher will be the likelihood of the endorser to
be selected by the advertisers (Shimp 2007).
2.4.Source Attractiveness and Celebrities
Source attractiveness is a social value which recipients
ascribe it to a transmitter. This value is concerned with
physical landscape, personality, social status, or similarity to the recipient (we are naturally predisposed to
listen the people that are like us). One study showed
that our brains tend to pay more attention to the celebrities and to process the information relevant to
them more efficiently than normal people. Celebrities
increase awareness to a firm and reinforce corporate
image and brand attitudes. The main reason for the
efficiency of celebrities power is that this special group
of people encompasses cultural meanings, and they
represent important categories such as the status and
social class, and so on (Solomon, 2013).
Celebrities are considered as an example of intellectual
and opinion leaders, and in the form of a reference
group have the ability to direct preferences of consumers toward a specific product or brand (Solomon et
al., 2002) Therefore, the interests and tastes of the
customers can play an important role in the development of marketing and achieving success in this regard
(Abdolvand and HoseinzadehEmam, 2013).
Its quite evident that customer form positive and favorable perceptions about those endorsers who are
physically attractive (Erdogan 1999). Research findings
show that attractive endorsers are good at influencing
the beliefs of customers (Debevec and Kernan 1984).
That is why most of the advertisements depict attractive celebrities (Baker and Churchill Jr 1977). This pre-

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

620

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

sents the advertisers with the twofold benefits of celebrity presence and physical plea (Erdogan 1999). Attractiveness doesnt solely mean physical attractiveness; instead it encompasses lifestyle of the endorser,
its personality dimensions.According to McGuire
(1968), three factors contribute to the effectiveness of
message. These are familiarity of an endorser, similarity of an endorser and liking of an endorser. Similarity
can be defined as the extent to which the receiver
(customer) finds resemblance between itself and the
source (endorser). Familiarity refers to that how much
knowledge the receiver (customer) posses about the
source (endorser). And likability is the affection the
receiver (customer) develops towards source (endorser) because of the physical attractiveness of the endorser (McGuire 1968).

generally brand to a product, celebrities as endorser


and guarantor increase the awareness of the audience,
encourage them, influence their buying decision and
finally raise income level. Thus, use of celebrities and
famous personalities in order to create value for goods
provides organizations and firms with various consequences because of the celebrities enjoyment of cultural and professional backgrounds, age and social acceptability. Famous personalities take privilege of quality and values that are cherished and respected by others. In other words, having different characteristics to
social norms such as unique lifestyle, and individual
charm, celebrities have special skills to attract the attention of others in the category to which they are entering (Moukharji, 2009, Abdolvand and HosseinzadehEmam, 2013).

Celebrity Endorser

The issue of celebrity endorsement in advertising has


received significant attention in the literature. Many
studies show strong support for the use of celebrity
endorsements, arguing that celebrities help make
brands recognizable and create a positive brand attitude (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983), enhance
the likelihood of purchase (Friedman & Friedman,
1979), foster brand loyalty, and positively impact wordof-mouth (Bush, Martin, & Bush, 2004). Hoffner and
Cantor (1991) also point out that people emulate the
appearance and behavior of the media celebrities that
they admire. Advertisers often employ celebrities to
endorse a product to enhance audience attentiveness,
add glamour and desirability to the product, and make
the advertisement more memorable and credible
(Spielman, 1981).Scholars have shown that using famous celebrities to endorse products is generally more
effective than using non-celebrities to generate positive responses from consumers (Atkin& Block, 1983;
Freiden, 1984; Kamins, 1989).

According to McCracken (1989), a celebrity endorser is


defined as any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement.
(Wei and Lu,2013) According to (Schlecht 2003) term
celebrity can be defined as, Celebrities are people
who enjoy public recognition by a large share of certain
Group of people. (Ahmed et al. 2012)
Marketing tends to take on new and unique ways of
advertising as advertisers are exploring different ways
to make the advertisements effective and influential as
well. Celebrity endorsement is one of these. The advertisers know it very well that the positive image that the
celebrities cast on the audience is can make the message in the advertisement more persuasive (CHOI and
Rifon 2007). Advertisers go for celebrity endorsement
because of its greater benefits and immense possible
influence. There are certain potential advantages of
celebrity endorsement, celebrities endorsed advertisements draw more attention as compared to those
of non-celebrity ones, helps the company in repositioning its product/brand and finally empowers the
company when its new in the market or plans to go
global. (Erdogan 1999).
Celebrities and Consumers Behavior
Nowadays, the use of new marketing concepts in advertisement is increasing widely, and the use of effective propaganda tools to support and influence the
perception of the brand mother is increasingly expanding. Studies show 80% of the decisions leading to purchase happen through visual representations and buyers need an authority to confirm and guarantee their
purchase. One of the specific propaganda instruments
is the utilization of prominent figures and witnesses
that have attracted the attention of people from the
different aspects. These celebrities are desirable for
the audience from several perspectives including accreditation, persuade the audience, creating a sense of
confidence and credibility. In other words, by ascribing
their own image, credibility, reputation, character, and

Celebrity endorsement has been in application from a


long time (Kaikati 1987), in fact not too late when advertisement techniques were taking on new forms because advertisers realized soon that by using publicly
renowned personalities in advertisements they will be
able to align brands personalities with that of the celebritys. Moreover, these credible endorsers can produce more favorable attitudes toward the advertisement (Goldsmith, Lafferty, & Newell, 2000; Lafferty,
Goldsmith, & Newell, 2002) and intent to purchase the
product (Lafferty &Goldsmith, 1999; Ohanian, 1991;
Wei and Lu,2013).
A REVIEW OF RESEARCH
Most studies on celebrity endorsers have explored how
the credibility of the source affects the success of the
message. A highly credible source is more persuasive
than a less credible source ininfluencing audience attitudes and behavioral intentions (Sternthal, Phillips,
&Dholakia, 1978). Ohanian (1990) has synthesizedthe
previous literature on this subject and proposed three
distinctdimensions of celebrity endorser credibility:

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

621

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. (Wei


and Lu,2013).
Ohanian, R. (1991), investigated the relationship of
attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise with the
intention of purchase and found that only the perceived expertise of a celebrity as a significant factor is
able to generate more intentions of buying any brand.
The author suggests that a celebrity spokesperson
should be very effective. According to him, a celebrity
should be knowledgeable, experienced and qualified to
talk about the product. Researcher states, no matter
whether an endorser is an expert or not; all that matters is how the target audience perceives the endorser. Researcher indicated that when a perceived expert
delivers the message adds the credibility to the message and influences the purchase behavior of the customer. Researcher also described about trustworthiness, which is a component of credibility, can be
achieved by using someone closely associated celebrity
with the product. (Arora and Sahu,2014)
Attractiveness refers to how physically attractive, elegant, or likable the source is to the audience. Therefore, endorsers who are perceived to be knowledgeable, reliable, and attractive are considered credible
and, in turn, induce consumers positive attitudinal and
behavioral responses to the brand and the product
(Ohanian, 1991; Wei and Lu,2013).
Advertisers try to hire such celebrities for endorsement
who are not only attractive (Baker and Churchill Jr
1977) but credible as well (Sternthal, Dholakia et al.
1978). Together these aspects cast a comprehensive
impact upon the customers, as most of the customers
prefer those celebrities who are credible and trustworthy, some like those who are attractive and possescharming physical features, and some look for and
consider both of these dimensions. (Ahmed et al. 2012)
Gresham and Shimp (1985) said that the primary issue
for advertising theory and research is one of chosen
structured processes by which the consumers attitudes and behavior intentions are affected by approach toward the ads making.(Arora and Sahu,2014)
On the concept and application of celebrity endorsement, Agarwal and Kamakura (1995) cite industry
sources who guess that approximately 20% of all TV
commercials feature famous people. Assured sets of
products feature celebrity endorsements more frequently. They studied every endorsement contracts
more than the period 1980-1992. Different hypotheses
have been place including (i) celebrity endorsement
have bring to mind about product, (ii) celebrities have
credibility on skill that makes the product more attractive or improve perceptions of quality (iii) the celebrity
endorsers image is transferred to the product. Experiments proposed that in few situations, celebrity endorsement could improve recall and consume evaluation of the products (Clark &Horstman, 2003).

According to Ataman and Ulengin (2003), the relationship between the consumer and the brand will only the
strengthened when the consumers own physical and
psychological needs and the brands functional attributes and symbolic values as perceived by the consumer. (Arora and Sahu,2014)
Arora and Sahu have investigated three specific objectives:
I- To find out the effect of celebrity endorsement on
the buying trends or purchasing
behaviors of the
consumers.
II- Also to finds out what affects more, buying behavior, buying intention and buying habit by celebrity
endorsement.
III- To find out what are the factors which affecting
customers.
As there are four roles of customers (initiator, influencer, buyer and user). Here there is a need to find
that which of the roles are more affected by celebrity
endorsement.. (Arora and Sahu,2014)
Ahmad, et al (2012) in a study entitled The impact of
celebrity endorsement on customer buying behavior: a
perspective from Pakistan which was performed at
the University of Pakistan, investigated the impact of
celebrity endorsement on customer purchase intention
by taking five models into account including Source
Attractiveness Model, Source Credibility Model (celebrity endorsement), Product Match-Up Hypothesis,
Meaning Transfer Model, Elaboration Likelihood Model, and came to the conclusion that:Advertisements are
always designed to attract greater attention of the
audience. For this marketers come up with different
techniques. Celebrity Endorsement is one of these. And
as reported by previous studies, this study also affirms
the importance of celebrity endorsement in advertisement campaigns that it positively influences the buying
intention of the customers. Most of the times customers are attracted by the attractiveness of the celebrities, and influenced by the credibility of the endorsers.
Additionally, if the personality of the product is congruent with that of the product, customers infer and
assume such congruency more positively. (Ahmed et
al. 2012)
The source attractiveness and source credibility models
(celebrity endorsement) were earlier discussed. Other
models include :
- The Product Matchup Hypothesis:
The Product Match-Up Hypothesis states that there
should be perfect match between the celebrity personality characteristics and brand attributes. The extent of successful match-up can be determined by the
degree of fitness between the brand and the celebrity
(Erdogan 1999). An advertisement in which the celebrity and the brand are highly congruent yields to be
more influential and believable (Michael 1989).Today

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

622

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

companies are exerting great emphasis upon the importance of proper match-up between the celebrity
and the product. Whether its a beverage company or
any other, companies always look eager for a fitting
link between celebritys personality and product attributes. This also happens on the part of customers as
they also expect congruity between celebrity and the
product (Ohanian 1991). The product celebrity matchup doesnt solely rely on just ordinary congruency but
on the physical attractiveness of the celebrity as well.
Attractive celebrities are more persuasive specially
when endorsing the products that enhance the prettiness, because customers assume that as the product
enhanced the beauty of the endorser, so does it will in
real (Kamins 1990). Another study revealed that only
those celebrities should endorse who are congruent
and perceived by the customers to have expertise as
well (Ohanian 1991).
- The Meaning Transfer Model:
The Meaning Transfer Model holds that whenever a
celebrity endorses product, customers associate certain meanings with the endorser and eventually transfer it to the brand. In simple words we may state that
endorsers bring their very own meanings to the brand
(McCracken 1989). According to McCracken (1989) this
meaning assigning process moves along a path comprising three successive stages. The Meaning Transfer
Model revolves around meanings and their transfer.
Every celebrity bears a unique set of meanings, including its personality, attitudes, lifestyle and even demographic components too (gender, age). First stage is
the time when customers associate meanings with the
celebrity and shape its image. Second, the meanings
associated with the celebrity also get associated with
the brand and third, customers finally acquire the
brand meaning during the consumption process. (Ahmed et al. 2012)
- The Elaboration Likelihood Model
According to The Elaboration Likelihood Model, two
key ingredients, motivation and ability serve as the
basis of elaboration likelihood. Motivation to perceive
the message comprises being involved and relevancy
whereas ability is based on knowhow of the individual
and analytical capability to perceive and process the
persuasive message. The Elaboration Likelihood Model
suggests two paths i.e. Central Route and Peripheral
Route that lead to attitude change.According to the
Central Route, the customer actively pays attention to
the advisement and the customer level of involvement
is high. Now this persuasion of advertisement may lead
to either favorable response or unfavorable response
by the customer which ultimately results into development of lasting positive and negative attitudes. According to the Peripheral Route, the receiver isnt actively involved and thus lacks motivation. It just perceives and evaluates the advertisement on secondary
cues. Eventually the attitudes the receiver forms (fa-

vorable or unfavorable) about the message are temporary. (Ahmed et al. 2012)
Wei and Lu (2014) in a study entitled Effect of celebrities and customer online reviews on customer buying
behavior of female clients compared the impact of the
presence of celebrities and the process of customer
online reviews on the buying behavior of female clients, based on models and AIDMA (Attention, Interest,
Desire, Memory, and Action) AISAS (Attention, Interest, Search, Action and Share) and the combination of
these two models. The research came to conclusion
that: although celebrity endorsements are one of the
most popular advertising strategies to promote products, many consumers turn to the Internet to research
products because it lowers the costs of gathering and
sharing information and offers new ways to learn
about products before purchasing them . The research
provides further support for previous findings that traditional advertisements and consumer-created information produce different effects on consumers and
their responses.This study is ableto provide a better
understanding of the two different informationand
how to influence female consumers attention, interest,desire, memory, search, action, and share perceptions of advertisements versus consumer recommendations which was lackingin the marketing literature. It
is a first step toward integrating thistwo consumer action model AIDMA and AISAS research on onlineshopping behavior opens up other areas for further research.( Wei and Lu,2013).
In a study entitled Evaluating and Prioritizing Effective
Factors in Selecting Celebrity Endorsements for Advertising Campaigns from the Consumers' Point of View
by Abdolvand and Hosseinzadehemam (2013), by assessing 11 factors from celebrities, the authors identified beliefs and tastes of consumers in order to identify
and rank the factors which play more fundamental
roles in customers adoption of the celebrities. The
results showed that the major factors influencing customers adoption of the celebrities can be prioritized as
reputation, presence in several product advertisement
campaigns at the same time, the proportion of the
product, reliability, attractiveness, familiarity with the
audience, celebrity as the user of the product, debate
risk, record of presence of in various advertising campaigns and the nationality of the celebrities. In addition, three components including reputation, presence
in several product advertisement campaigns at the
same time and the nationality of the celebrities have
significant impacts (Abdolvand and HosseinzadehEmam, 2013).
Boeing and Schurhaus (2014) in Brazil investigated the
impact of celebrity endorsement of products on customer purchase intention in Brazil, and stated that ads
that are repeated frequently, with or without the presence of celebrities, has had more influence on purchase intention of men and married people with high
purchasing power, and the people with low purchasing

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

623

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

power are indifferent to them. This research investigates the effects of the celebrity endorsement on men
and women, and married and single people.
Alnawas (2010) investigated the effect of the presence
of celebrities on consumers' purchasing behavior, and
the findings showed that respondents decision-making
process and the product selection are not influenced
by celebrity endorsement. The main statistical difference was that the respondents are interested in the
relationship between professional celebrity/brand image endorsed, and the importance of matching the
celebrity to the endorsed product, which in turn may
stimulate their purchasing intention. Based on the
above findings, it is very important for a company to
realize that there is a big difference between increased
awareness of the brand using celebrities and creating
consumers purchasing intention using celebrities (Alnawas, 2010).
Jain et al (2010) investigated the impact of national
and regional Indian celebrities on changing consumer
attitudes. The results show that national celebrities
have a more positive impact on change in consumer
attitudes. This effect is more in the products with low
involvement (e.g., soft drinks) than in the products
with higher involvement (e.g., automobile).
Hostler and others (2011) in their study evaluated the
effect of recommendation agents (RAs) on the unplanned purchasing behavior of consumers, and they
presented a theoretical model for analyzing the effect
of recommendation agents on unplanned online purchases of customers.
Roy (2012) reinstates that the validity of a celebrity
who shows too much exaggeration in endorsement of
a product can be reduced.
Dzisah and Ocloo (2013) in Ghana, in a study concluded
that celebrity alone cannot be the main contributor to
the success of an advertising campaign, and other factors such as price and other factors that make the success of a brand, are also influential. They say that modern consumers are educated and well know that celebrities for their endorsement of a product receive a lot
of money, and this leads to their mistrust to both celebrity and product.
Kansu and Mamuti (2013) have shown the positive
impact of celebrities on the brand in Turkish Airlines.
Shoeb and Khalid (2014) in one of the newest research
on celebrity endorsement concluded that the consumers have a more personal relationship with the brand
which has an image consistent with the image of an
ideal celebrity, especially when the brand and celebrity
image fit together. The study also shows that how this
personal relationship is formed. Also, the effect of celebrity endorsement is moderated by the symbolism of
the brand, so that the brands which are associated
with something from consumers have stronger effects
than the brands that do not have this connection. Re-

garding the ideal celebrities, the positive effects of


congruence and image harmony have stronger influence on brands that have a symbolic communication
with the consumers of that brand (compared with other brands). The study showed that consumers are motivated for personal needs to use a brand that is supported by a celebrity, and purchase a commodity that
can build and show off their identity.
Negative impacts of celebrities on consumer behavior
The current body of research shows the direct and positive effect of celebrities on the mind and the shopping
intention of customers, and it has been documented
that consumers consider several factors in buying a
product but the most important factor is quality. According to the author, as popular celebrities are supported by people, they can have positive effects on
confidence and product sales.
Customer perspective to the brand can be easily
changed due to the presence of celebrity. A popular
figure can add a new dimension to a product. A low
quality product may attract the customer for the first
time, but the retention of the product under the influence of the presence of celebrity is not possible (Arora
and Sahu, 2014).
Celebrities, however, are expensive because of their
celebrity status and risky because of their potential for
gaining negative publicity. Recent research has looked
at negative events surrounding celebrity endorsers and
the consequences of those events (Louie et al, 2001,
Louie and Obermiller 2002, Mani et al, 2006, Till and
Shimp 1998).
Its noteworthy that not all the celebrities prove to be
successful endorsers, thus making the selection process more difficult (Giffin 1967). That is why advertisers
go for a careful selection of celebrities because if any
micro aspect may go wrong in celebrity endorsement
selection process, whole of the celebrity endorsed advertisement campaign may collapse. This will ultimately show brand the way back to pavilion (Kaikati 1987,
Till and Shimp 1998).
However celebrity endorsement doesnt hold sole key
to success. It also presents the company with potential
hazards. These might include, overshadowing, overexposure, and controversy (Erdogan 1999).
CONCLUSION
Studies show that the presence of celebrities in products and services can influence consumer purchase
behavior. Whatever the reputation and popularity of
the celebrity is higher, the greater will be the possibility of changing consumer attitudes. However, if other
factors influencing the marketing mix are considered
consistent with this promotion, the impact is greater.
Celebrity has to be selected compatible with the type
of product or service.

JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

624

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

Celebrity endorsement can have negative consequences as well. If the consistency between celebrity and
product is overlooked, negative results will be ensued.
The popularity, compatibility, attractiveness, confidence and expertise of celebrity play important roles in
changing the attitude of consumers, which if they are
not compatible with the subject of advertising, adverse
results will be provided.
REFERENCES
[1] Abdolvand,M.A.,HoseinzadehEmam
,A.,(2014).Evaluating and Prioritizing Effective Factors in Selecting Celebrity Endorsements for Advertising Campaigns from the Consumers' Point of
View ,Journal of Marketing Management : 23,19-39

[13] Clark, Robert C. and Horstman, Ignatius J. (2003)


Celebrity
Endorsents
(www.bu.edu/e.con/seminar/micro/pdffa)
celebendorse.bu.pdf
[14] Debevec, K. and J. B. Kernan (1984). "More Evidence On The Effects Of A Presenter's Attractiveness Some Cognitive, Affective, And Behavioral
Consequences" Advances in Consumer Research 11:
127-132.
[15] Dzisah,W.E., Ocloo,C.E.(2013). Celebrity Endorsement and Consumer Buying Behaviour; Enhancing
the Promotion Function of Marketing in the Central
Business Area of Accra, Ghana, European Journal of
Business and Management:5(25),197-209

[2] Agrawal, J., Wagner, A. Kamakura. (1995). The [16] Erdogan, B. Z. (1999). "Celebrity endorsement: A
Economic Worth of Celebrity Endorsers: An Event
literature review." Journal of Marketing ManageStudy Analysis. Journal of Marketing ,59(3), 56-62
ment 15(4): 291-314.
[3] Ahmed ,A.,Azmat Mir ,F.,Faroogh,O. (2012) . Effect [17] Freiden, J. B. (1984). Advertising spokesperson
Of Celebrity Endorsement On Customers Buying
effects: An examination of endorser type and genBehavior; A Perspective From Pakistan , Interdiscider on two audiences. Journal of Advertising Replinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Busisearch, 24, 3341.
ness:4(5) ,584-592
[18] Friedman, H. H., & Friedman, L. (1979). Endorser
[4] Alnawas , I.(2010).The Influence of Using Celebrities
effectiveness by product type.Journal of Advertising
on Consumers Buying Behavior,Interdisciplinary
Research, 19, 6371.
Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business:2 (1)
[19] Giffin, K ., (1967), "The Contribution of Studies of
, 257- 282.
Source Credibility to a Theory of Interpersonal Trust
[5] Arora ,A.,Sahu,K. (2014), Celebrity endorsement
in
the
Communication
Proand its effect on consumer behavior,pezzottaite
cess,"PsychologicaBlulletin, 68 (2), 104-119
journals : 3(2), 866-869
[20] Goldsmith, R. E., Lafferty, B. A., & Newell, S. J.
[6] Ataman ,B. lengin,B.(2003). A note on the effect of
(2000). The impact of corporate credibility and cebrand image on sales , Journal of Product & Brand
lebrity credibility on consumer reaction to advertisements and brands. Journal of Advertising, 29,
[7] Atkin, C., Block, M. (1983). Effectiveness of celebri4354.
ty endorsers. Journal of Advertising Research: 23,
5761.
[21] Gresham, L. G., &Shimp, T. A. (1985). Attitude toward the Advertisement and Brand Attitudes: A
[8] Baker, M. J. , Churchill Jr G. A. (1977)."The impact
Classical Conditioning Perspective. Journal of Adverof physically attractive models on advertising evalutising, 14(1), 10-17.
ations." Journal of Marketing Research: 538-555.
[22] Hoffner, C., & Cantor, J. (1991). Perceiving And
[9] Biswas, S., Hussain, M., ODonnell, K. (2009). CelebResponding To Mass Media Characters. In J. Bryant,
rity endorsements in advertisements and consumer
& D. Zillman (Eds.), Responding to the screen: Reperceptions: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Globception and reaction process. 63102.
al Marketing, 22, 121137 .
[23] Hostler, R.E., Yoon,V.Y., Guo,Z. , Guimaraes, T.,
[10] Boeing ,R. Schurhaus,C.(2014) . The Effect Of CeForgionne,G.(2011). Assessing the impact of reclebrity Endorsement On Brazilian Consumer Behavommender agents on on-line consumer unplanned
ior: Does It Really Matter? International Business
purchase behavior, Information & Management: 48,
Research; 7( 5),49-61.
336343
[11] Bush, A. J., Martin, C. A., & Bush, V. D. (2004).
[24] Jain,V. , Roy , S., Kumar , A., Kabra, A.
Sports celebrity influence on the behavioral inten(2010).Differential Effect Of National Vs. Regional
tions of generation Y. Journal of Advertising ReCelebrities On Consumer Attitudes,Management &
search, 44, 108119.
Marketing Challenges for Knowledge Society :5, ( 4),
[12] Choi, S. and N. J. Rifon (2007). "Who is the celebrity
121-134
in advertising? Understanding dimensions of celebrity images." The Journal of Popular Culture 40(2):
304-32
JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

625

Fathi et al., Int. J. Rev. Life. Sci., 5(10), 2015, 619-626

[25] Kaikati, Jack G. (1987), "Celebrity Advertising: A [40] Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Schumann, D. (1983).
Review and Synthesis," International Journal of AdCentral and peripheral routes to advertising effecvertising, 6, No.2, pp.93-105.
tiveness: The moderating role of involvement. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 135146.
[26] Kamins, M. A. (1989). Celebrity and noncelebrity
advertising in a two-sided context.Journal of Adver- [41] Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T. (1984) .The Elaboration
tising Research, 29, 3442.
Likelihood Model of Persuasion ,Association for
Consumer Research, 11: 673-675.
[27] Kansu,A.S., Mamuti,A. (2013). The Use of Celebrity Endorsement as Marketing Communication [42] Roy,S.(2012).To Use The Obvious Choice: InvestigatStrategy by Turkish Airlines, International Journal
ing The Relative Effectiveness Of An Overexposed
of Academic Research in Business and Social SciCelebrity Author , Journal Of Research For consumences , : 3( 12),676-683
ers:22,41-69
[28] Kotler,P.,(2005),Marketing Management, 1st
Prentice Hall

by

[43] Schlecht, C. (2003). "Celebrities impact on branding." Center on Global Brand Leadership, Columbia:
Columbia Business School

[29] Lafferty, B., & Goldsmith, R. E. (1999). Corporate


credibilitys role in consumers attitudes and pur- [44] Shimp, T. A. (2007). Advertising, promotion, and
chase intentions when a high versus a low credibilother aspects of integrated marketing communicaity endorser is used in the AD. Journal of Business
tions, South-Western Pub
Research, 44, 109116.
[45] Shoeb ,A. Khalid ,A.(2014). Impact Of Celebrity
[30] Lafferty, B., Goldsmith, R. E., & Newell, S. J. (2002).
Endorsements On Brand, International Journal of
The dual credibility model: The influence of corpoScientific &Engineering Research, : 5(12), 95-110
rate and endorser credibility on attitudes and pur[46] Solomon ,M.R. (2006) .Consumer Behavior: Buying,
chase intentions. Journal of Marketing Theory and
Having, and Being, 6th (Eds), by Pearson Education.
Practice, 10, 112.
[47] Solomon, M., Bamossy, G. &Askegaard, S. (2002).
[31] Louie, T. A., Kulik, R. L., & Johnson, R. (2001). When
Consumer behaviour: A European perspective, 2nd
bad things happen to the endorsers of good prod(Eds), UK: Prentice Hall Europe.
ucts.Marketing Letters, 12, 1323.
[48] Spielman, H. M. (1981). The celebrity sell: Making it
[32] Louie, T. A., &Obermiller, C. (2002). Consumer
work. Marketing Times, 28, 1314.
response to a firms endorser disassociation deci[49] Sternthal, B., Phillips, L. W., &Dholakia, R. (1978).
sions. Journal of Advertising, 31, 4152.
The persuasive effect of source credibility: A situa[33] McCracken, G. (1989). Who is the celebrity endorstional analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 42, 285
er? Cultural foundation of the endorsement pro314.
cess. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 310321.
[50] Sternthal, B., R. Dholakia, et al. (1978). "The persua[34] McGuire, W. J. (1968). "Personality and attitude
sive effect of source credibility: Tests of cognitive
change: An information-processing theory." Psychoresponse." Journal of Consumer research: 252-260.
logical foundations of attitudes: 171-196.
[51] Wei , P. Lu, H.(2014). An examination of the celebri[35] Michael, A. K. (1989). "Celebrity and non-celebrity
ty endorsements and online customer reviews
advertising in a two-sided context." Journal of Adinfluence female consumers shopping behavior : Comvertising Research 6(7): 34-42.
puters in Human Behavior 29 , 193201 .
[36] Money, R. B., Terence, A. S., &Sakano, T. (2006).
Celebrity endorsements in Japan and the United [52] White, E. (2004). Found in translation. Wall Street
Journal. 20.09.
States: Is negative information all that harmful?
Journal of Advertising Research, 46, 113123.
[53] Till, B. D., &Shimp, T. A. (1998). Endorsers in advertising: The case of negative celebrity information.
[37] Mowen,J.C., Minor,M.(2000) . Consumer Behavior,
Journal of
Advertising, 27, 6782.
20th by Prentice Hall
[38] Mukherjee, D. (2009). Impact of celebrity endorsement on brand image, Social Science Electronic Publishing, August (6), pp. 2-35, Available:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1444814
[39] Ohanian, R. (1991). The impact of celebrity spokespersons perceived image on consumers intention
to purchase. Journal of Advertising Research, 31,
4652.
JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation | International Journal of Review in Life Sciences

626

You might also like