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Research Article
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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
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credible and expert source, when associated with introverts, is more powerful (Solomon, 2013).
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
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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).
Celebrity Endorser
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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
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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
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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-
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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.
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