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1 Celebrity Endorsements
Celebrity Endorsements
Alexa DeFranco
Keighle Joyce
Dr. Bracken
COM 355
CSU
Summer 2015
2 Celebrity Endorsements
I. Introduction
In today’s society people have become more focused on the name associated with
a product than the product itself. David Ogilvy founder of the international marketing
agency Ogilvy & Mather has said, “Celebrity advertisements triggered above average
product recall but resulted in below average sales.” Though the sales don’t jump from
celebrity endorsements, products generate greater visibility amongst consumers. While
celebrity endorsements in advertising fail to alter consumer’s behavior they succeed in
positively impacting the consumer’s attitudes, thus affecting the consumers
psychological processing of an ad.
II. The Relationship Between Celebrity Endorsement and Psychological Processing
According to Merriam Webster, celebrity endorsement defined as “to use a
famous person’s image to sell products or services by focusing on the person’s money,
popularity, or fame to promote the products or services.” This idea of endorsement has
been around since the late 19th century. The first recorded celebrity endorsement was
British actress Lillie Langtry endorsing Pears Soap (Han & Yazdanifard 2015.) In today’s
society celebrity endorsements are everywhere. In the United States almost 20% of
television ads include a celebrity endorser (Crutchfield 2010.) Corporations invest
significant amounts of money to align their products with big-name celebrities in an
attempt to draw attention to the endorsed product. Studies have shown that consumers
have an overall positive attitude towards celebrity endorsements and perceive them as
attention gaining, likable, and impactful ( O’Mahony, Meenaghan 1998.) Recent market
studies show that eight out of ten television ads scoring the highest recall are those with
a celebrity endorser (Mukherjee, 2009.) When consumers see ads with celebrity
3 Celebrity Endorsements
endorsers they inherently assume that the endorser is a user of the product (Biswas,
Hussain, & O’Donnell, 2009.) This kind of association leads consumer’s attitudes to
change favorably if they are a fan of the celebrity endorsing. Example of this is when
Pro-Active Skin care had Justin Bieber endorse their product. When consumers saw
Bieber in ads for the product they instantly associated the skin-care line as “cool”
(Barnes, 2011.) However, celebrity endorsements do not always work out. Celebrities
can be unpredictable and their negative actions can have severe consequences on the
brands they endorse. An example of this is in the case of Kobe Bryant. Bryant was going
through issues in his private life at the time he was endorsing McDonalds. When he was
convicted of sexually assaulting a woman, people found him being in McDonalds ads
disturbing. Consumers thought less of the brand because they had Bryant endorsing
them (White, Goddard, & Wilburd 2009.)
Conclusion:
The way consumers perceive celebrities directly influences how one
processes an ad. While celebrity endorsements in advertising fail to alter consumer’s
buying behavior they succeed in positively impacting the consumer’s attitudes, thus
affecting the consumers psychological processing of an ad. When corporations are able
to align themselves with a celebrity who seemingly fits for the brand from the viewpoint
of consumers, is when this endorsement works out best for the corporation. The
consumer’s psychological processing of an ad with a celebrity endorsement that is done
correctly has the ability to make consumers attitude positive.
4 Celebrity Endorsements
Works Cited
Biswas, S., Hussain, M., & O'Donnell, K. (2009). Celebrity endorsements in
advertisements and consumer perceptions: A cross-cultural study.
Journal of Global Marketing, 22(2), 121-137 Retrieved From,
http://www.ajms.co.in/sites/ajms/index.php/ajms/article/view/237
Crutchfield, D. (2010). Celebrity endorsements still push product. Advertising Age, 22.
Retrieved From, http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/marketing-celebrity
endorsements-push-product/146023/
Han, O., & Yazfanifard, R., (2015). The Review of the Effectiveness of Celebrity Advertising
that Influence Consumer’s Perception and Buying Behavior. Global Journal of
Management and Business Research” E-Marketing Retrieved from
https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/4-The-Review-of-the-Effectiveness.pdf
Mukherjee, D. (2009). Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Brand Image. Social Science
Research Network Electronic Paper Collection Retrieved from
http://usdrinc.com/downloads/Celebrity-Endorsements.pdf
O’Mahoney, S., & Meenaghan, T., (1998) The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on
Consumers. Irish Marketing Review. Retrieved from,
http://iiiprxy.library.miami.edu:10038/docview/204576526?pqorigsite=summon&acc
untid=14585
Skärfstad, R., & Bergström, C. (2004). Celebrity endorsement: case study of J. Lindeberg.
International Business and Economics Program, 193, 8-19 Retrieved From,
http://epubl.ltu.se/1404-5508/2004/193/LTU-SHU-EX-04193-SE.pdf
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White, D. W., Goddard, L., & Wilbur, N. (2009). The Effects of Negative Information
Transference in the Celebrity Endorsement Relationship. International Journal of
Retail & Distribution Management,
http://jmi.readersinsight.net/index.php/jmi/article/view/18