Gender and Celebrity Scandals: A Cross-Cultural Examination on Celebrity Endorsement

Abstract

This research examines the effects of consumers’ culture and celebrity’s gender role on source credibility and attitude toward brand. Using culture difference theory (individualism and Confucianism) helps to explain why sex scandals can result in a greater negative impact on the response of Chinese customers than US customers. Finally, we provide a celebrity-select suggestion to mitigate the negative damage brought by the endorser’s sex scandal. Specifically, we conducted experiments by using a 2 (sex scandal vs. tax evasion) x2 (Confucianism vs. individualism) x3 (celebrity gender: male vs. female vs. transgender) between-subjects design.     

Celebrity Endorsements in Advertisements and Consumer Perceptions: A Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

We studied consumer perceptions of celebrity endorsements from a cross-cultural perspective. In empirically examining consumer perception of celebrity endorsement, we used Hofstede's cultural dimensions to develop research propositions and examined these propositions through focus group discussions involving consumers from India and the United States. Findings indicated that specific differences and similarities exist in how consumers across India and the United States perceive celebrity endorsements. There is a positive, although moderate, impact of celebrity endorsements on attention and exposure of consumers. Implications for marketers as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Celebrity Endorsement and Involvement With the Social Cause in Nonprofit Organizations

Celebrity endorsement has become a very popular communication strategy in the nonprofit sector, although there are still doubts about its effectiveness. Specifically, one interesting question is whether the involvement of individuals with a social cause can explain differences in the valuation and effects of the celebrity endorsement strategy in consumer behavior. Taking into account this fact, the current research presents a causal model that analyzes the determinants of the attitude toward ads involving celebrities and the explanatory variables of the behavioral intentions in this sector. We worked with two subsamples of individuals with high and low involvement, who rated a fictitious ad with a well-known social entity and a celebrity. As a result, we observed that the strategy can influence the group of low involved people and have no significant effects on the segment with high involvement.     

LESSONS FROM THE RICH AND FAMOUS: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Celebrity Endorsement in Advertising

Using celebrities to promote products is a popular advertising technique around the world. However, little is known about how the implementation of celebrity endorsement varies according to dominant cultural values. This study content-analyzed television commercials featuring celebrities from two diametrically different countries--the United States and Korea--in terms of two fundamental cultural dimensions: (1) low versus high context, and (2) individualism versus collectivism. Findings of this study suggest that the strategic use and creative executions of celebrity endorsement mirror the respective prevalent cultural orientations in the two countries, although some similarities do exist. Extensive discussion and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Celebrity Endorsement for Nonprofit Organizations: The Role of Celebrity Motive Attribution and Spontaneous Judgment of Celebrity-Cause Incongruence

This study investigated relationships among celebrity motive attribution, celebrity-cause congruence, and involvement with a cause. A 2 (altruistic motive: high vs. low) X 2 (congruence: high vs. low) X 2 (involvement: high vs. low) experimental study examined perceptions of celebrity credibility, attitudes toward celebrity endorsement and nonprofit organization, and intentions to donate money and volunteer time. The findings attest to main effects of causal attribution of a celebrity's altruistic motive and interaction effects between motive attribution and congruence (i.e., spontaneous judgment of celebrity-cause incongruence). Further, three-way interaction effects suggest the role of involvement in spontaneously activating celebrity-cause disassociation.     

Character Portrayal: Examining Gender Roles in Television Commercials Targeted at Children in India and the United States

ABSTRACT

Children's market has been growing steadily not only in the United States but also globally. Advertisers have been targeting this segment heavily in recent years. Given the impact of this segment having increased rapidly in recent years, it is imperative for the advertisers to understand and develop effective advertising messages to reach this segment successfully. One of the essential components of advertisement content includes decisions regarding the gender portrayal of the characters. This study examines the depiction of self-presentation behaviors of the characters in commercials shown during the times and on the channels that children watch in India and the United States. The findings indicate interesting similarities and differences between the two countries. Managerial implications and future research directions are offered based on the findings.     

Determinants and Effects of Cultural Context: A Review,Conceptual Model,and Propositions

Edward Hall's pioneering work on “Silent Languages” of time, space, material possessions, friendship patterns, and agreements and his conceptualization of cultures as low-context and high-context have inspired numerous research studies on international and cross-cultural marketing. Despite these widespread applications, there is no research to date that integrates the theoretical foundations and applications of Hall's work in a single study. In this context, the current research delivers on the following three goals: (a) an extensive literature review of Hall's work on cultural context is done; (b) a conceptual model is developed that depicts the determinants and effects of cultural context; and (c) 12 propositions are developed, contrasting the effect of low- versus high-context cultures on a variety of cultural themes, such as Hofstede's five cultural dimensions, mono-chronic or M-time versus polychronic or P-time orientation, and relationship building etc. International marketing implications of this research and directions for future research are discussed.     

Internationalizing the Assessment Criteria to Build Cross-Cultural Competency

ABSTRACT

International business programs, universities with international students, and educators who seek to internationalize their teaching need to make informed decisions about teaching, testing, and assessment criteria. The infusion of American business curricula throughout the world as well as the need to train American business students for leadership roles in global contexts calls for teaching and assessment practices which explore a plurality of cognitive, affective and behavioral pedagogical strategies. This article considers traditional education and assessment in China in light of American educational practices currently used for assessment in business training. It explores how an understanding of modern Confucianist values can shape assessment choices in both American and overseas programs as an example of developing cross-cultural awareness. The authors call for an assessment process in business education which draws from a plurality of methods adapted to teaching, learning and testing for global awareness.     

Cross-Cultural Examination of Relationship Quality

ABSTRACT

This study of relationship quality contributes to the field of global industrial services marketing by examining relational and economic determinants and an outcome of relationship quality in a cross-cultural setting. The sample includes 202 buyers of industrial services from 42 countries. A conceptual model is proposed and tested using structural equation modeling. The study concludes that a buyer's expectation of continuity with a service provider is influenced more by relationship quality than by perceived economic value. Relationship quality, in turn, is impacted by perceived economic value, relationship bonds, and relationship investments. Results partially confirm the interpersonal predispositions of collectivist cultures. For example, buyers from collectivist cultures place significantly more emphasis on relationship investments than do buyers from individualist cultures. These findings have important implications for marketing theory and practice.     

Celebrity Endorsements in U.S. and Thai Magazines: A Content Analysis Comparative Assessment

SUMMARY

Celebrity endorsements have become a prevalent form of advertising. Hence, the purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the use of celebrities and the types of products endorsed. Advertisements from one popular magazine in the U.S. and 2 popular magazines in Thailand were used. Results indicated that U.S. advertisements of beauty, dietary and health services, hospitals, and weight loss clinics categories utilized celebrity endorsements more often than other categories. In Thai advertisements, supplementary foods and medicines used celebrity endorsers more often than other categories. Results further support that a significant relationship exits between celebrity endorsers and product types.     

Reconsidering the Role of Fit in Celebrity Endorsement: Associative‐Propositional Evaluation (APE) Accounts of Endorsement Effectiveness

This study is designed to fill any explanatory gaps that have been traditionally underexplored when considering the interplay of implicit/automatic/unconscious and explicit/deliberate/conscious attitudes in the context of celebrity endorsement. The main experiment employed single target‐implicit association test as a measure of implicit attitudes. The key finding of the study is that the experimental condition where the fit between the celebrity and the endorsed product was low induced favorable implicit and explicit attitudes, similar to the condition where the fit was high. The explanation for this finding was that dissonance enhanced the association strength of the attitude object through biased attention and elaboration, which provided a basis for favorable propositions. In propositional reasoning, retroactive confirmation of the favorable implicit attitudes resolved dissonance. This study seeks to go beyond the existing endorsement and sponsorship literature developed based on matching principles such as source models, match‐up hypothesis, the congruity theory, and associative network models. The authors recommend that managers search for more creative and novel partners in addition to image‐matching ones.     

企业营销文化的概念研究

企业营销文化是企业文化系统中重要组成部分。构建企业文化必须要建设好企业营销文化。企业营销文化系统包括营销哲学,营销理念和营销形象。在企业的营销活动中,企业只有长期的建立企业营销文化,才能为企业带来长久的利益。企业在营销中应该较多的去运用营销文化。     

Career Motivation,Mentoring Readiness,and Participation in Workplace Mentoring Programs: A Cross-Cultural Study

In this study, the author examined participation in workplace mentoring programs in two cultural (individualistic and collectivistic) contexts. Data were collected from two samples (United States = 83; Ghana = 132) of workers (from 80 organizations) at managerial development workshops. Analysis of variance showed differences in willingness to participate and intention to participate in mentoring programs. Hierarchical linear regression results also showed interactive effects of culture on participation and mentoring readiness as well as participation and career motivation. The findings show criterion validity for the mentoring readiness construct, which is important for selection of participants for mentoring programs.     

Culture,Perceived Value,and Advertising Acceptance: A Cross-Cultural Study on Mobile Advertising

Abstract

Adverting standardization has been widely discussed since 1990s. Recently, this discussion has been extended to mobile advertising. When it comes to adopt a standardization or localization strategy, it is important that marketers understand how mobile advertising is perceived in different markets. This study examines the impacts of four perceived values of mobile advertising on young Australian and Chinese consumers’ acceptance of mobile advertising. The findings suggest that perceived functional value have the most positive effect on mobile advertising acceptance, followed by credibility and interactivity value. Further analyses reveal that culture moderates the relationships between perceived values and advertising acceptance.     

The Importance of Fashion: The Chinese and U.S. Gen Y Perspective

ABSTRACT

A cross-cultural study is conducted to examine the perceptions, needs, preferences, influences and fashion buying habits of Generation Y consumers in both China and the United States. Chinese consumers appear to be more fashion-conscious in that the majority of their luxury purchases are fashion products. In this increasingly globalized world, it is important for a fashion marketer to determine if one strategy can be used to reach all Generation Y consumers or if separate strategies are necessary. Specifically, this study examines fashion leadership, need for uniqueness, and attention to social comparison information to determine if there are differences between these two cohorts and how best to reach them.     

Offensiveness of Advertising with Violent Image Appeal: A Cross-Cultural Study

Violent images are often used in advertisements to gain attention and sell products, resulting in complaints to regulatory bodies and concern regarding the effects of these potentially offensive advertisements on society. This paper presents the results of a survey of 930 university students from six countries to determine which personal and attitudinal variables have a significant influence on their attitudes toward advertisements with violent images. The results indicate that gender, country, intensity of religious beliefs, economic inclination, and products (social/political groups) produced the strongest reaction. These factors should be considered when advertisers run local or global campaigns with violent images.     

我国企业文化营销策略研究

文化营销有助于企业实现产品差异化及提升品牌价值,也有助于企业产品品牌与消费者之间的沟通。我国企业在使用文化营销过程中还存在着不能紧密联系消费者、无法建立长期稳固的关系、不能给予消费者迅速反应、不注重消费者回报等问题。企业在实施文化营销时,应将文化运用到4R营销当中,即建立与消费者之间的文化关联;建立消费者所需求的文化反应;建立企业与消费者之间长期稳固的文化关系;建立了稳固的关系得到的营销文化回报。这能使营销过程更加顺利,并更有效的达到营销目的。     

Buying Norwegian Salmon: A Cross-Cultural Study of Store Choice Behavior

This article examines antecedents of store choice behavior in a cross-cultural context (i.e., 1.296 consumers in Sweden, Italy, and China). Chinese culture has a significant downward impact on choosing super-/hypermarkets and an upward impact on choosing fish shops when buying salmon. Italian consumers have a positive impact on the fish shop option, but a negative impact on the street market option. If consumers prefer salmon and think it is luxurious and sophisticated and not a “value for money”-item, the probability of choosing super-/hypermarkets increase. Opposite scores, increase the probability of choosing fish shops. Research and managerial implications are drawn.     

Online Engagement and the Role of Digital Influencers in Product Endorsement on Instagram

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the forms of engagement generated from the endorsement of products by digital influencers on Instagram, considering the characteristics of their online posts. A qualitative approach was used to investigate digital influencers’ posts based on semiotic image analysis and the critical incidents technique. The results reinforced that digital platforms enable distinct forms of engagement by establishing new configurations that affect relationship marketing and promotion strategies. In particular, on Instagram, the development of engagement can involve four participants who play different social roles, expanding the process of value co-creation.     

Homeownership as a Sign of Immigrants’ Consumer Acculturation: The Role of Region of Origin

ABSTRACT

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country's values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population during the last decade and the significantly higher homeownership rates of natives in comparison with other countries makes the Spanish scenario a relevant case study. The results obtained show homeownership is linked to features associated with highly acculturated consumers. Moreover, the analysis conducted reveals important differences in the way immigrants from different origins advance in their consumer acculturation processes and suggest distinct approaches when marketing to these groups.