Celebrity Endorsement and Its Impact on the UK Consumers - Coursework Example

Celebrity Endorsement and its impact on UK consumers Introduction The development of media internationally has led to the increase of the influence of certain sectors on a country’s social and political life. In this context, people from specific sectors, like the entertainment or the media have become well known around the world, or as they can be characterized alternatively, they have become celebrities. A series of definitions have appeared on the specific issue. In this context, we can use the term celebrity in order to refer to ‘a person of distinction or renown; -- usually in the plural; as, he is one of the celebrities of the place’ (BrainyQuote, online dictionary, 2008). From another point of view, it is noticed that the specific term is related with the ‘state of being celebrated’ (Merriam – Webster Online Dictionary, 2008). The appearance of this phenomenon has caused strong turbulences in existing social and political ethics worldwide; celebrities have the power to persuade the public on a series of issues (in the area of political choices, the qualities of products/ services and even the health). The effect of celebrities on the social and political life of people around the world has been extensively examined using a series of relevant theories. In accordance with Epstein (2002, 194) ‘the odd condition of being well known called celebrity has become a key element in contemporary American social life; the celebrity, in Daniel Boorstin’s formulation is ‘a person who is well known for his well-knownness’’. In other words, publicity is the prerequisite in order for a person to be characterized as celebrity. On the other hand, it should be noticed that celebrities can intervene in many ways in a country’s political, social and commercial trends and ethics. A series of such interventions is described by Schlecht (2003) who notices that ‘celebrities appear in public in different ways; first, they appear in public when fulfilling their profession; furthermore, celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity events; in addition, they are present in news, fashion magazines, and tabloids; also, celebrities act as spokespeople in advertising to promote products and services’ (Kambitsis et al. 2002, Tom et al. 1992, in Schlecht, 2003, 4). The above study presents the different ways that a celebrity can intervene in the local (or the international) political, social and commercial choices of people of all ages. These methods present also the characteristics of ‘celebrities’ within the modern society; in other words, celebrities are the people that participate either in all or in part of the above mentioned activities. 2. Celebrity Endorsement – various aspects 2.1. Trend of celebrity endorsement The phenomenon of celebrity endorsement has been expanded in all countries worldwide – and in many sectors including the political and commercial ones. Regarding specifically the use of celebrities in the promotion of specific products/ services worldwide it is noticed that ‘commercial companies use celebrities extensively with target customer segments to increase the appeal of their offerings’ (Henneberg et al., 2008, 1). Despite the fact that celebrity endorsement can be observed in many scientific and industrial areas worldwide, it seems that there are no appropriate measures of protection of the public from potential negative influence by the choices or the actions of celebrities worldwide. An indicative example is the case of Shane Warne (a cricket athlete) in Australia. The above athlete ‘allegedly paid A$200 000 (£78 060, US$123 000) by a pharmaceutical company to publicize his attempt to stop smoking; Warne failed to stop, and his continuing smoking remained newsworthy more than a year later’ (Chapman et al., 2001, 333). The whole marketing scheme – using the specific celebrity – has normally led to severe turbulences in marketing industry worldwide setting doubts about the criteria used by marketers in order to proceed to specific arrangements with celebrities for the promotion of products/ services worldwide. In the above case, the application of ethics for the protection of the public by negative patterns could have led to the cancellation of the relevant marketing agreement between the celebrity and the firm involved; however, no such case occurred; the marketing campaign was used as arranged and no particular consequences existed on the celebrity participated in that campaign – at least no such consequences were known through the media and the press. It should be noticed here that celebrity endorsement has been used in order to influence a variety of people’s personal choices, i.e. not only those related with specific products/ services but also those referred to the political framework developed across a country (or within a region). When the political choices of Canadian students were examined it was proved that ‘young people’s level of agreement with certain political statements is increased by the endorsement of these positions by Canadian celebrities from the realms of popular music and sports’ (Jackson et al., 2005, 80). In accordance with the above study celebrities can influence the personal choices of young people regarding a variety of issues. Specifically regarding the development of specific political choices by young people under the influence of celebrities’ actions and statements it has been proved that ‘celebrity endorsements make unpopular statements more palatable, while increasing the level of agreement with already popular opinions’ (Jackson et al., 2005, 80). Because of the above, the promotion of political programs towards young people is usually made through celebrity endorsement as the specific marketing strategy has been found to be quite effective regarding the increase of influence of specific political views on young people’s perceptions. On the other hand, the choice of the celebrity participated in a specific marketing campaign (referring to a wide range of activities as described above) should be carefully made taking into account the fact that a celebrity may not be appropriate for the promotion of a specific product/ service/ political concept – there is no fit between the celebrity’s character and the product/ service/ political concept promoted. In this context, it is supported that ‘although celebrities may endorse several brands, their personality does not fit well with the personality of the brand they endorse’ (Roy, 2006, 139). The above study refers to the ‘fit’ between the celebrity and the product/ service promoted; the above assumptions could be equally applied in order to evaluate the appropriateness of a celebrity for the promotion of any product/ service/ political or social concept worldwide. The above assumption is also supported by Magnini et al. (2008) who stated that ‘when the proper celebrity endorser is selected to represent a firm, sales and brand image can be significantly bolstered; selecting an inappropriate celebrity endorser severely reduces sales and brand reputation’ (Magnini et al., 2008, 57). It is clear from the above that celebrity endorsement should be developed in accordance with specific principles – appropriate theoretical models like the ones presented below could be also employed in such a task. 2.2 Celebrity endorsement strategy 2.2.1 Source credibility and attractiveness model In order to understand the applicability of the source credibility and attractiveness model on the celebrity endorsement we should primarily refer to certain aspects of this model as they can be observed in practice in marketing schemes applied worldwide. At a first level it has been proved that there are products/ services that are considered by the public as being more trustworthy. When this issue was examined by Treise et al. (2003) it was proved that ‘sites with a .gov domain are perceived to be more credible’ (Treise et al., 2003, 309). The above study referred to the value of websites as they are perceived by the public around the world. In the above study the participants made clear that they consider the services of the particular characteristic (services provided through websites that end at .com) as more trustworthy. Moreover, Schlecht (2003, 5) supported that ‘the credibility of an advertisement plays an important role in convincing the target audience of the attractiveness of the company’s brand’. In accordance with the above, credibility could be characterized as a criterion of development of specific customer preferences. On the other hand, in order for a specific celebrity endorsement to be successful, it is necessary that the celebrity involved is ‘attractive’; in this way it is expected that the message given to the public will be more effective. Regarding this issue it is noticed by Flora et al. (1996, 353) that ‘the symbolic meanings embedded in celebrities and message topics are important and enduring influences on message effects’. Moreover, it is supported that ‘source attractiveness refers to the endorser’s physical appearance, personality, likeability, and similarity to the receiver, thus to the perceived social value of the source’ (Solomon 2002 in Schlecht, 2003, 5). Attractiveness in the above term is related mostly to the physical appearance of the celebrity involved despite the fact that it can be also related with his/ her own behavioural characteristics (a celebrity who is loved from the public because of his/ her humour or other aspects of his/ her behaviour). Attractiveness could also refer to the social attraction; this concept was examined in practice by Maestro et al. (2005). In the relevant research it was proved that ‘social attraction was most effectively predicted by ingroup prototype embodiment along the dimension of intelligence addressed in the induction, influencing liking of both ingroup (White) and outgroup (Black) target celebrities’ (Mastro et al., 2005, 323). Attractiveness as well as credibility can influence the effectiveness of a particular marketing plan. 2.2.2 The match-up hypothesis model In a similar context, the celebrity involved in a particular marketing project should fit with the product/ service/ concept promoted. The use of the match-up hypothesis model for the identification and the evaluation of the appropriateness of a specific celebrity endorsement can lead to the assumption that celebrity endorsement can fail to achieve the targets set by marketers when there is no fit between the celebrity and the product/ service/ concept promoted. In this context, the match-up hypothesis model states that ‘the effectiveness depends on the existence of a ‘fit’ between the celebrity spokesperson and endorsed brand’ (Till and Busler 1998, in Schlecht, 2003, 7). In accordance with the above, when there is no fit between the celebrity participated in a specific marketing project and the product/ service/ concept promoted, then it is necessary that alternative marketing plans are incorporated – the use of celebrity endorsement should be rejected if the benefits expected do not reach a specific level. Various alterations of the above model can be made in practice ensuring that the celebrity endorsement chosen and the product/ service/ concept promoted do have a relevance/ relationship. 2.2.3 The consumer behaviour model – hierarchy of effects Consumer preferences are crucial for the development of marketing plans. Towards this direction, it is noticed that ‘research studies have proven that known products and names are sold more than unknown ones; therefore, a known brand or an optimally exposed brand will find more recognition and buyers in the market in comparison to completely unknown or unexposed brand’ (Joshi et al., 2008, online article). When the achievement of specific marketing targets is required – usually the entrance in a specific market or the expansion in an existing market – celebrity endorsement has to be developed in accordance with the consumer trends as related with the particular market. The consumer behavioural model is based on the principle that the celebrity endorsement used in relation with a particular product/ service/ concept will be in accordance with the consumer trends – either in a local or an international context. In that case, the potential effects of celebrity endorsement on the consumer choices could be identified and evaluated by studying carefully the hierarchy developed – effects should be categorized and put in an hierarchy; when the effects of a specific celebrity endorsement scheme are high in the hierarchy then this scheme should be chosen; in a different case, alternative celebrity endorsement scheme should be developed using also the principles of fit and attractiveness as presented above. References BrainyQuote, online dictionary (2008) available at http://www.brainyquote.com/words/ce/celebrity142212.html Chapman, S., Leask, J. (2001) Paid celebrity endorsement in health promotion: a case study from Australia. Health Promotion International, 16(4): 333-338 Daneshvary, R., Schwer, K. (2000), “The Association Endorsement and Consumers’ Intention to Purchase,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17 (3), 203- 213. Epstein, J. (2002) Snobbery: The American Version. New York: Houghton Mifflin books Flora, J., Schooler, C., Mays, V. (1996) Exploring a Model of Symbolic Social Communication. Journal of Health Psychology, 1(3): 353-366 Henneberg, S., Chen, Y. (2008) Celebrity Political Endorsement: Campaign Management for the Taipei City Councillor Election 2002. Journal of Political Marketing, 6(4): 1-31 Jackson, D., Darrow, T. (2005) The influence of Celebrity Endorsements on Young Adults’ Political Opinions. The Harvard International Journal of Press/ Politics, 10(3): 80-98 Joshi, V., Ahluwalia, S. (2008) The impact of celebrity endorsements on Consumer Brand Preferences, online, available at http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC706/fc706.html Maestro, D., Tambonini, R. (2005) Linking Media to Prototype Activation and Subsequent Celebrity Attraction: An application of Self-Categorization Theory. Communication Research, 32(3): 323-348 Magnini, V., Honeycutt, E. (2008) Understanding the use of celebrity endorsers for hospitality firms. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 14(1): 57-69 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2008), available at http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/celebrity Roy, S. (2006) An Exploratory Study in Celebrity Endorsements. Journal of Creative Communications, 1(2): 139-153 Schlecht, C. (2003) Celebrities’ Impact on Branding, online, available at http://www.globalbrands.org/academic/working/Celebrity_Branding.pdf Solomon, Michael R. (2002), Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, 5th ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Till, B., Busler, M. (1998), “Matching Products with Endorsers: Attractiveness versus Expertise,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 15 (6), 576-586. Till, B., Shimp, T. (1998), “Endorsers in Advertising: The Case of Negative Celebrity Information,” Journal of Advertising, 27 (1), 67-82. Treise, D., Childers, K., Weigold, M. (2003) Cultivating the Science Internet Audience. Science Communication, 24(3): 309-332 Walker, M., Langmeyer, L. (1992),“ Celebrity Endorsers: Do You Get What You Pay for?,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 9 (2), 69-76. Read More