The impact of death on consumer responses to celebrity endorser misbehavior

A well‐established stream of research on celebrity misbehavior suggests that negative information may have an adverse effect on an endorsed brand because of its association with a celebrity considered as blameworthy. However, the present research calls into question the generalizability of these results to fatal misbehaviors (i.e., misbehaviors that lead to the celebrity's death). Indeed, after death, a celebrity may gain spiritual meanings, and consumers may find it more difficult to blame a sacred individual. As such, the current article investigates the impact of a celebrity's death on blame attribution and consumer attitudes in the context of celebrity endorser misbehavior. The results of three experiments uncover that death favors a partial blame attribution transfer from the celebrity endorser to the brand, but only when the misbehavior implies a product related to the brand. In addition, the findings reveal a positive effect of death through celebrity sacredness on brand attitude.     

Beyond endorsements: The effect of celebrity Creative Directors on consumers’ attitudes toward the advertisement

Marketers are beginning to expand the roles that celebrities play in support of brands. Connections now go beyond the typical endorsement relationship to employing celebrities as Creative Directors. Study 1 demonstrates celebrity Creative Directors, as opposed to merely endorsers, result in increased attitudes toward the advertisement; an effect mediated by consumer perceptions of celebrity expertize and attenuated by skepticism toward advertising. Study 2 further investigates this phenomenon by considering whether it is the title of Creative Director that results in increased attitudes toward the advertisement or if consumers need to be made aware of the responsibilities associated with such a role. Results from Study 2 suggest that merely bestowing a celebrity with the title of Creative Director is not sufficient to enhance attitudes, the duties performed by the celebrity Creative Director must be made explicit.     

Measuring the impact of brand-celebrity personality congruence on purchase intention

The present study aims to understand the impact of congruence between brand and celebrity personality on consumers attitude and purchase intentions. The data were collected from 382 business school students in India. Drawing from the theoretical frameworks of Attribution theory, Attitude theory, User imagery, Elaboration Likelihood Model, and match-up hypothesis, results reveals that congruence between celebrity and brand personality positively impacts the brand recall, brand associations, and reinforces the brand personality. Which favorably and significantly impacted attitude toward the advertisement and brand. Attitude toward brand has positively impacted purchase intention. ‘Brand personality self-image congruence’ and ‘involvement level with the brand’ were found to moderate the impact of brand association and brand personality reinforcement on attitude toward advertisements and brand. The paper provides practical implications for the advertisement agencies and media managers.     

Engaging fans on microblog: the synthetic influence of parasocial interaction and source characteristics on celebrity endorsement

Brand managers use celebrity microbloggers to endorse their products on microblogs. Previous studies on celebrity endorsement mechanisms concentrated on source factors such as celebrity's characteristics and celebrity—product congruence. This study introduces a new audience factor: the fan–celebrity parasocial interaction (PSI) to explore the celebrity endorsement mechanism within a microblog context. The study hypothesizes that PSI and source factors (credibility, attractiveness, and congruence) significantly influence endorsement effectiveness. The results of an online survey (N = 862) indicate that PSI and celebrity–product congruence are salient antecedents of endorsement effectiveness. PSI serves as a mediator of the effect of source attractiveness on endorsement effectiveness. Source credibility and celebrity–product congruence are mediators between PSI and endorsement effectiveness. The study develops and tests a conceptual model to illustrate the influential mechanism of celebrity endorsement on microblog platforms.     

Celebrity versus film persona endorsements: Examining the effect of celebrity transgressions on consumer judgments

This study introduces film personas (e.g., Hermione Granger, Jack Sparrow, Bridget Jones) as effective brand endorsers. A three study, mixed‐method approach is used. Results show that a film persona (e.g., Legolas, from Lord of The Rings, vs. celebrity, Orlando Bloom) is a more (less) effective endorser (i.e., resulting in more positive attitudinal and behavioral judgments). Exploratory findings indicate that this may be due to film personas possessing a tight (vast) association set, which is more (less) easily transferred onto the endorsed brand. Results of this study also illustrate that endorsed brands are shielded from the negative effects of celebrity transgressions when they are featured as their film persona in an endorsement. This study has important implications for advertisers in the choice and execution of their advertisements featuring celebrities.     

A new model of how celebrity endorsements work: attitude toward the endorsement as a mediator of celebrity source and endorsement effects

This research introduces attitude towards the endorsement as a mediating variable in the relationships between celebrity source and endorsement factors and brand attitude. It also includes perceived celebrity motive, a variable rarely studied in the previous literature, as an endorsement factor. In a survey study, respondents evaluated four celebrity endorsement campaigns. Mediation analyses show that attitude towards the endorsement mediates the effects of three variables on brand attitude; these variables are celebrity expertise, celebrity–brand fit, and perceived celebrity motive. Moreover, results show that if consumers perceive that the celebrity was motivated to do the endorsement not only by money but also by product quality, this has a significant positive effect on attitude towards the brand.     

The Use of Different Endorser Types in Advertising: A Content Analysis of Magazine Advertisements

Most of the literature assumes that endorsements, particularly by celebrities, are a frequently used advertising strategy. However, no study has yet investigated the use of the different endorser types identified by academic literature. This study seeks to close this research gap by analyzing German print advertisements. It finds that endorsement strategy in general is used much less than academic literature assumes, and that the relative significance of the different endorser types is incongruent to expectations. Moreover, the data suggest that, contrary to the literature's assumptions, credibility is not the most important underlying construct for endorsement advertisements, the endorser type used is frequently determined by the product category that is being advertised, and campaigns based on authenticity and similarity are gaining considerable importance in advertising practice.     

名人代言广告效果影响因素综述

作为一种重要的营销策略和宣传手段,名人代言广告被很多企业寄予厚望,但名人的推荐并不是成功的保证。近三十多年来,国内外学者对名人代言广告进行了深入研究,提出了信源模式理论、匹配理论等多种解释,从名人、产品、受众三方面提取了影响名人代言广告效果的诸多因素,在丰富和拓展了广告心理学研究的同时,也对企业营销实践发挥了重要指导作用。     

Investigating the Advertising Antecedents to and Consequences of Brand Experience

Brand experience may contribute more to promotional efficacy than concepts such as brand personality/associations/equity/value/attitudes. Yet, little is known about whether managed advertising efforts might evoke more desirable brand experiences and promotional outcomes as a consequence of consumers’ brand experiences. This study examines antecedents and consequences that may be associated with brand experiences. Attitude toward brand name, connectedness to celebrity endorser, message fit, and visual imaging were investigated as antecedents. Brand attitude and brand distinctiveness were examined as consequences. The resulting insights add managerial rigor to advertising processes that currently are often managed more by gut than by reason.     

Uncovering the power of natural endorsements: a comparison with celebrity-endorsed advertising and product placements

ABSTRACT

Despite the vast literature on celebrity endorsements in advertising, research to date has not assessed whether and how celebrity-brand associations created via traditional endorsements or product placements compare to more natural associations that emerge from real-life celebrity images through social media. This experiment systematically compares the impact of different brand-celebrity associations on consumer perceptions of the celebrity's credibility and their responses to a new brand associated with that celebrity. The results reveal that, unlike more commercial brand associations, natural brand-celebrity associations can yield strong brand effects without eroding the celebrity's credibility. The findings are especially insightful given increasing numbers of natural brand-celebrity associations in social media.     

Investigating the marketing impact of consumers’ connectedness to celebrity endorsers

Consumers enjoy following famous media personalities, discovering details about their habits, food preferences, or designer brands that they wear. Consumers model their consumption behaviors based on their favorite celebrities’ preferences. Marketers are aware of such celebrity admiration and frequently use celebrities as part of marketing communication strategies. Grounded in parasocial relationship and social connectedness theories, this study tests a model of connectedness to the celebrity, attitude toward the celebrity, receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message, and purchase intentions of the celebrity‐endorsed market offering. These relationships were investigated using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate an individual's level of connectedness to their favorite celebrity is positively linked with both their receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message and purchase intentions of the celebrity‐endorsed market offering. On the theoretical side, the integration of parasocial relationship and social connectedness theories explain the processes through which celebrity endorsements impact consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. On the practical side, the findings suggest marketers should carefully choose the best celebrity endorsers for advertisements after considering how constituents from within their key target markets are likely to connect with the chosen celebrity. However, beyond consumers’ connectedness to the celebrity, the findings also suggest that receptivity toward the celebrity‐endorsed message is an essential link to purchase intentions of the endorsed offering.     

Disentangling the impact of temperature on consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising

Although the effect of temperature on consumers is ubiquitous, little is known about how temperature affects consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising. Drawing on embodied cognition theory, this study explores the effect of temperature on consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising through the mediator of the affective system. Based on two experiments involving personal and historical nostalgic advertising, our results show that when exposed to comfortable temperature, consumers follow the “assimilative effect” of temperature; warm temperatures trigger more positive attitudes toward nostalgic advertising when compared with cool temperatures. However, when exposed to uncomfortable temperatures, consumers follow the “complementary effect” of temperatures; cold temperatures lead to more positive attitudes toward nostalgic advertising than hot temperatures. Furthermore, the affective system plays a mediating role between temperature and consumers' attitudes toward nostalgic advertising. This study contributes to the literature on temperature in marketing and provides a practical guide for companies to implement nostalgic advertising strategies.     

Culture and the Star-Power Strategy: Comparing American and Korean Response to Celebrity-Endorsed Advertising

ABSTRACT

Given the wide interest in celebrity endorsements in advertising, it is surprising that there are no quantitative cross-cultural studies on their effectiveness across target audiences. Previous content-analytic research makes assumptions about effectiveness, but has not examined these assumptions. Our article fills this gap by comparing American versus Korean student samples’ response to celebrity-endorsed ads. We find these cultures diverge in purchase intentions after viewing celebrity-endorsed ads. We also find the emphasis of intuitive moral domains drives purchase intentions. Our discussion focuses on marketing implications as well as outlining future directions for this surprisingly underexplored research area.     

Addressing negative product attribute reviews: The case of advertising product attributes and corporate social responsibility information

Negative product reviews are bad for businesses. They can adversely affect product sales, brand evaluations, and brand loyalty. To attend to negative reviews, one approach is through advertising products or company virtues. The current study examines the efficacy of different advertising approaches (core product attribute advertising vs. non-core product attribute advertising vs. corporate social responsibility [CSR] advertising) in helping dilute the negative effect of dissimilar negative product attribute reviews (negative core product attribute reviews vs. negative non-core product attribute reviews). Through four experiments, we found that when the non-core attribute of a product had negative reviews, a core attribute advertising approach weakened the effect of negative reviews. However, CSR advertising was less effective. Furthermore, when the core attributes of a product had negative reviews, a non-core attribute advertising effort did not weaken, but actually augmented the impact of negative reviews. In addition, when the core attributes of a product received negative reviews, CSR advertising decreased the influence of negative reviews. Our findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for managing negative online reviews of product attributes.     

More Isn't Always Better: Exploring the Influence of Familiarity When Using Multiple Celebrity Endorsers

Marketers continually employ celebrity endorsers as a promotional tactic to enhance brand awareness and increase sales. Frequently, companies will use multiple celebrities to endorse the same product, but feature them individually across a series of concurrent advertisements. While this tactic is often used in practice, its effectiveness has not been thoroughly examined within the academic literature. Our research investigates the value of using multiple concurrent endorsers and the moderating role that celebrity familiarity has on attitudes toward the brand and purchase intentions. Results suggest that using multiple endorsers concurrently is not always the best approach.     

Delineating the role of endorser's perceived qualities and consumer characteristics on celebrity endorsement effectiveness

This study examines the influence of both endorser's credibility qualities, such as expertise and trustworthiness, and consumers' characteristics, such as gender and team identification, on endorsement effectiveness expressed as purchase intentions. A survey quasi-experimental research design was used in the context of sports celebrity endorsements. Data were collected from 289 respondents via a convenience sample. The findings indicated gender differences only on team identification and not on endorsers' perceived qualities or on endorsement effectiveness. Team identification differences had a significant impact on purchase intentions while marginally affected athletes' credibility. Of the two examined elements of credibility, trustworthiness constitutes a significant differentiation factor for purchase intentions. The study provides several theoretical and practical implications.     

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.     

Disentangling location-based advertising: the effects of location congruency and medium type on consumers' ad attention and brand choice

Research on location-based advertising (LBA) suggests that the merits of LBA lie in the fact that consumers can be targeted with location-congruent ads on their personal mobile devices. However, LBA consists of two underlying constructs: a mobile (vs. point-of-sales) advertising medium and location congruency (vs. location incongruency). This study aims to disentangle these underlying constructs by showing that they differentially affect the efficacy of an ad. Using a virtual reality lab experiment, this study shows that location-congruent ads result in increased choice for the target brand as compared to location-incongruent ads, independent of medium type. However, in location-incongruent situations, mobile ads attracted more attention than point-of-sales display ads. The advantages of LBA thus do not seem to emanate from medium type, but rather from the congruency between the ad and product location. When the ad is received at a different location than the product, the mobile medium is able to enhance consumers' ad attention.     

Antecedents and outcomes of digital influencer endorsement: An exploratory study

The advertising and marketing literature have established that celebrity endorsements constitute an effective way to enhance attitudes toward brands and increase purchase intents. However, there are no relevant studies on digital influencers. This study addresses the research gap by examining the effect of digital influencers' attractiveness and the effect of the congruence between a digital influencer and a brand on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. By applying structural equation modeling to a sample of 307 followers of digital influencers, a model was tested and group analysis was performed for two categories (“entertainment & video games” and “fashion & beauty”). The results show that both brand attitudes and purchase intentions are influenced by the digital influencer's attractiveness (which includes both likeability and familiarity) and by the congruence between the digital influencer and the brand. This study makes several contributions to both theory and practice, which are highlighted in this paper.