Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Authors: Hera Anam, Iqra Javed, Mehtab Yaseen, Irum Khan, Nadia Anwer and Jouhra Hayat Students at Department of Management Sciences,The Islamia University Bahawalpur.

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students Abstract: This study seeks to find out the influence of Celebrity endorsement on students. We measure the impact of various independent variables (Celebrity performance, Celebrity Attractiveness, Negative information and Celebrity product Fit) on our dependent variable (purchasing behavior).The data was collected by using a structured questionnaire from a sample consisting of 120 students belonging to Department Of Management Sciences of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The result of our research shows that students buying behavior is positively affected by above mentioned independent variables. Research instrument reliability is 0.793 which is highly acceptable and also practicable it is. Key words: Purchasing behavior, Celebrity attractiveness, Celebrity performance, Negative information and Celebrity product fit. Introduction: Fashion and celebrities attracts everyone. But main influence of celebrities can be observed on youth and especially on students. Students are considered as target market for most of the products like outfits, shoes, makeup, and health and personal care etc. Students are mostly targeted because they can be easily captured by their interest and likeness of new and innovative products and of course, those products that are being used by their favorite celebrities. Celebrities dont directly affect their followers but they indirectly influence them by using Products. Product endorsement is a technique to increase sale of your product and attract new customer with the help of celebrities that are known as Youth-Icon. Celebrities are incomplete without brands and product endorsement. Students idealize them, they want to be like them and they feel like them while using the same products and brands referred by their favorite celebrity. Adjei (cited in Students follow celebrity fashion trends, 2012) says she sees a relationship between celebrity styles and popular trends. "Students definitely model their fashion after celebrities," she says. "There's a trickling effect. Since celebrities are the face of fashion and they get paid to wear fashion-forward things, it's almost like our fashion comes from them." Celebrity endorsement is one of the most trendy form of Marketing used to promote a range of consumer products and services The use of celebrities for viable purposes is not a one-way process, however, as celebrities are becoming brands in their own right, with their own valuesexisting in theminds of their audience in a similar way to corporate andconsumer brands (Seno and Lukas, 2007).
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Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Research has found that celebrities are more effective than other types of endorsers, such as the professional expert, the company manager, or the typical consumer (Friedman and Friedman, 1979)." In fact, about 25 percent of all television commercials are now using celebrity endorsers to promote brands (Erdogan, et al., 2001), and about 10 percent of advertisers budgets are being used to pay for these endorsers (Agrawal and Kamakura,1995).In 2006, US retailers spent an estimated two to three billion dollars on celebrity advertising and endorsement. The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of celebrity endorsement and their impact on students. Literature Review Students are the major target market of most organizations because they have a great influence on their parents spending pattern. Children are becoming patron at younger and younger age, variety of influences shape their buying behaviors. According to Ritson&Elliot(1999) as children become teenager advertising serve as a basis for social interaction. Parents try to transfer their buying behavior among their children such as sense of quality, price etc. teenagers tend to be picky and like to switch their brand preferences more quickly than any other age group, because they have a high need to be accepted by their social culture. They also have a variety of needs as need of belongingness, style, independence etc. Students buying decisions influenced by variety of factors like parents, peers, siblings, entertainers, teachers, family etc. They also have attachments with celebrities as it is common in young students. Now university students are involved in family purchases, be they a groceries or a new car because they have a lot spare time and also enjoy shopping.Students are affected by their role models. Role model for consumer can be anyone who can influence the buying habits of consumers. Students are not only identified with role models but also intend to copy them in terms of how they dress or what they are going to buy. A research shows that role models also have an impact on career and educational aspiration of adolescents. They influenced by the occupation of television characters that were considered to be role model. They always try to be like their favorite celebrity or role model. For example they try to copy celebritys life style, occupational status that leads adolescents to focus on their career, study and personal internal and external development. Hence, the literature on role model influence suggests that, parents, teachers, television and movie stars, and athletes can be role models. Broadly we can divide these all in to two categories parents and vicarious. Adolescents may choose of parents, and vice versa. Relationship of products, services, brands and celebrities with respect to their effect is as long as their history. Different studies have been done worldwide to focus and analyze the relationship of brands and endorsement. Celebrities, endorsement, target market, value of brand regarding
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Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

celebrity etc. These are some variable which we have studied to analyze them as our literature review. 1. Celebrity Performance Liking or disliking of a celebrity is all about its performance in particular field and industry. People become crazy fans and blindly follow their favorite celebrities. For more impact of brand, performance of celebrity matters a lot. For example cricket is a passion for youth now days. Celebrity Players are used in advertisement and endorsement strongly influences their target population. Now we see ShahidAfridi (Pakistan) in Hand & Shoulder (P&G) ad and ViratKohli (India) in the ad of Fair & Lovely (Unilever), they are influencing other people andstrongly changing minds of customers about them and product. People, who like them, madly follow them because they think their heroes can never aliar. And of course the celebrities have the abilities to influence the decision and choices of others because people feel strong association with them. Celebrities (e.g. models, actors, television stars, artists and, sport athletes can be from any field) are known to the public for their achievements in their particular area other than the product class endorsed (Friedman & Friedman, 1979). Celebrity endorsers use theirpublic identifiacation on behalf of consumer goods by appearing with them inadvertisements (McCracken, 1989).Celebrities who are considered as endorsers have the ability to capture the audiences attention, giving retailers a better chance of communication of their message to consumers (Choi and Rifon, 2007). Effectiveness of the delivered message about any brand or product greatly depends upon the apparent performance level related of the celebrity (Erdogan, 1999). Brand or product with a high performance level celebrity apply more effective image than with low performance level celebrity (Ohanian, 1990). Most of the studies show a positive effect of high performance and trustworthiness on effectiveness of the message (Chao et al. 2005). Celebrity performance also can put a negative impact about the product or brand on its customers. When any celebrity fails to perform according to the expectations of its viewers and consumers and then their efficiency began to decline (Agrawal& Kamakura 1995). So, we can say that celebrity performance has both negative and positive impact on the mind of customers about any particular product or brand which they are endorsing. 2. Celebrity Attractiveness It is the law of nature, Beauty attracts everyone. But while making decision of strong influence and lasting impact, companies choose attractive celebrities that can capture and grab the attention of people. From each and every prospect celebrity attractiveness is very influential for youth. An attractive celebrity is likely to be an especially powerful source of brand image because of the dual benefit of their status of being a celebrity and also having the benefit of attractiveness in his/herself (Kamins, 1990).It is not that we should just consider the physical aspects of attractiveness, that also temporary and flashy, attractiveness also includes other characteristics of

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

a person such as personality, special powers of mental process or any kind of (Erdogan 1999). special skills.

Research investigating physical attractiveness has shown that physically attractive celebrities have a positive and strong effect on the products and brands with which they are attached.The effectiveness of a message depends on source familiarity, likeability, similarity, and physical attractiveness of the endorser (Ohanian, 1990). Many people have their dream celebrities like athletes, sportsmen, or due to special skilletc, they might not be attractive because of their work. But mostly in media, celebrities are found more attractive due to their film, drama, fashion, style, singing, dancing etc. Attractive celebrities due to repute and large number of fans get more brand endorsement than other because it might have a thought that they can do better than others and they can influence more persons. Celebrity attractiveness is related positively to brand image, which in turn is related positively to brand equity (Seno and Lucas, 2007).Mostly, physically attractive celebrities are well thought-out as more on various personality qualities than their less attractive matching part (Kahle& Homer 1985; Eaglyet al. 1991). Joseph (1982) examined the attractiveness of endorser far away from the level of personality traits. Actually, he studied the effect ofattractiveness of endorser on views, product image, and other measures of effectiveness. According to Agrawal and Kamakura (1995), when a celebrity is attached with a brand, his/her image helps shape the image of that brand in the minds of consumers. Also, by effectively attaching the celebrity with a brand, consumers will be more likely to visit the retailer being endorsed. Attractiveness of a celebrity is not only considered as physical characteristic etc but also to some others. Teens prefer to follow celebrities who are similar to him or her. And this trend leads teens to follow celebrities who are of similar race or sex etc. (Basow& Howe, 1980). 3. Negative Information Celebrities effect life of peoples, in both negative and positive ways. People who blindly follow their favorite celebrities also feel bad and hesitation about perception of image, while they listen to negative information about their favorite celebrities. Negative image of celebrity can put the brand image at a great stake. For example if there is a rumor about ShahidAfridithen there is a chance that, this also may affects the image of Fair & lovely due to ShahidAfridis endorsement for Fair & Lovely. According to Louie and Kulik (2001), this can happen when a celebrity endorser is involved in an undesirable event. Some of these events such as delivering racial comments or being charged with crime act can damage the reputation of the celebrity, which in turn can damage the reputation of the products he/she endorses. Other accidental events such as getting sick or injured can limit the celebritys media spotlight, which in turn can lower their popularity and their efficiency. Once a relation has been established between celebrity and product, physical or virtual damage of any them can cause the damage for other, mean we can say their standards are interrelated with each other (Darin, et al. 2008). Continuous relationship of any celebrity and brand create a
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Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

strong bond between them from the point of view of consumers and any negative information about the celebrity may negatively affect the endorsed brand (Erdogan& Baker 2000). Till and Shimp (1998) observed that a strong connection between celebrity and product must be present before negative celebrity information decreases brand image & evolution. Psychological involvement and attachment theory suggests that consumers often develop strong relational ties with admired celebrities (Atkins and Block, 1983).Consumers often perceives a sense of friendship or closeness with celebrities, who make them less willing to blame them when negative events occur (Ross,1977). Celebrity, who is considered to be responsible for any negative event (any accident etc.) also leave a negative impact on the brand or product they endorse (Louie and Obermiller. 2002).

4. Celebrity Product Fit Celebrity-product fit shows how best match is there in product and celebrity which is going to be endorsed by him/her. Mostly companies used famous personalities for advertisement and endorsement. But in this race of endorsement, sometimes marketers lose focus and control on product that is there a complete product fit between product and celebrity. And there is also an option of multiple endorsements, while celebrity is endorsing two or more than two at a time, and they can create the ambiguity about the image of both product and celebrity. Customer might perceive wrong about products that one person cannot claim all good about all the products, there might have a chance that something is wrong. So while choosing a celebrity, it should be in mind that both of the images of celebrity and products are connected to each other. It is also said that more close relationship between celebrity image and brand perception can create greater positive affects about the product. Celebrity-product fit also known as hypotheses match up is the match up harmony between brand endorsed and celebrity (Till &Busler 2000). Celebrities whose personality better match up with the brand can create more favorable brand perception than mismatch celebrity with bad product fit(Bower and Landreth 2001). Friedman and Friedman (1979) concluded that the greater the celebrity/product fit, as considered by consumers, the higher the level of endorsement effectiveness on custoemrs. Till and Busler (2000) found that celebrity/product fit was effective for only certain measures of effectiveness such as brand attitude, but not for other measures such as purchase intention. Regardless of the impact celebrity/product fit has on effectiveness; the absolute weight of the existing literature suggests that the phenomenon should play an important role in celebrity endorser effectiveness (Till &Busler 2000). Objective: The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of celebrity endorsement and their impact on students. Specific Objectives:
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Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

1. To find out the relationship of celebrity performance and their impact on students. 2. To find out the relationship of celebrity attractiveness and their endorsement on students. 3. To find out the relationship of negative information about celebrity and their endorsement on students. 4. To find out the relationship of how best fitted is the celebrity to product, his/her endorsement and their impact on students. Hypothesis H1: If performance of celebrity increases their endorsement impact on students also increases. H2: The more the celebrity is attractive, the more its endorsement effect on students. H3: If negative information about celebrity is prevails, their endorsement effects decreases on students. H4: The more celebrity is product fit, the more its impact on students. Research Methodology Our study is focusing on university students to explore the effect of celebrity endorsement on students performance. We target the students of The Islamia University Bahawalpur for our research. Sample size Population of our study is the all students of University and sample of our study is the students of Department of Management Sciences. Sample size is approximately 120 students both from morning and evening sessions, enrolled in all offered programs. Sampling strategy Convenience sampling technique is used for study to collect the data due the lack of time and resources. Data collection technique and instrument The study is based on primary data and data is collected through structured questionnaire. Questionnaire is consisting of 14 questions focusing on research variables using likert scale. Data is quantitative in nature and it is collected by student studying at university level from both male and female from department of management sciences. Data Analysis Technique:

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Our research based on Multivariate Regression statistical test and Bivariate Correlation analysis. We are using these statistical test because of our study based on more than one independent variable. We used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 for data analysis. Result & Analysis: Reliability of Instrument Cronbachs alpha was used to find out the internal reliability of the instrument. Total value of cronbachs alpha was 0.793 for all four independent variables. This value is greater than the standard value of cronbachs alpha proposed by (Nummally, 1978) of 0.70, this value shows that our instrument is reliable and we can apply all statistical tests on it with confidence. Data Analysis MultivariateRegression test is applied on collected data to find out the relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. The result shows that all Hypotheses are accepted due to strong relationship among the variables. In regression, p-values for all Hypotheses are less than 0.05, so all are accepted. Results show that there is a strong effect of independent variables on dependent variable, because F-value for celebrity performance is 37.071, for celebrity attractiveness 31.075, for negative information effect is 24.437 and for celebrity product fit F is equal to 32.928. Which indicate the strong fitness of model? The beta value shows the positive relationship among DV and IVs. The value of adjusted R-Square of H1, H2, H3, H4are 23.3%, 33,6%, 37.1% and 51.8% respectively. Variation in DV is explained by 1% variation in IVs. These results show moderate relationship among variables. Conclusion: This research shows that the celebrity performance increases then it creates greater impact on the purchasing behavior of students. Buying habits of students are also greatly influenced by the level of celebrity attractiveness and celebrity product fit. Negative information about celebrities also influences the attitude of students. So we can conclude that celebrities and their endorsement create magnificent effects on students attitude in their daily lives, in the form of their buying behavior and advertisement views. References: 1. Adjei, cited inStudents follow celebrity fashion trends, (2012). 2. Agrawal, J. and Kamakura, W.A. (1995), The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: an event study analysis, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 56-62. 3. Atkin, C. and Block, D. (1983), Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 57-61. 4. Basow, S. A., Howe, K.G., 1980. Role- Model influence: effects of sex and sex-role attitude to college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 4(4), pp. 558-72. 5. Bower, A. B. and Landreth, S. (2001) Is beauty best? Highly versus normally attractive models in advertising, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 30, pp. 1-12.

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

6. Chao, P., Wuhrer, G. &Werani, T. (2005) Celebrity and foreign brand name as moderators of country-of-origin effects, International Journal of Advertising, 24(2), pp. 173192. 7. Choi, S.M. and Rifon, N.J. (2007), Who is the celebrity in advertising? Understanding dimensions of celebrity images, Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 304-25. 8. Darin, et al. (2008), The effects of negative information transference in the celebrity endorsement relationship, in McAfee School of Business Administration, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, USA. 9. Eagly, A.H., Ashmore, R.D., Makhijani, M.G. & Longo, L.C. (1991) What is beautiful is good, but : a meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychology Bulletin, 110(1), pp. 109128. 10. Erdogan, B.Z. (1999) Celebrity endorsement: a literature review. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(3), pp. 291314. 11. Erdogan, B.Z. and Baker, M.J. (2000), Towards a practitioner-based model of selecting celebrity endorsers, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 25-43. 12. Erdogan, B.Z., Baker, M.J. and Tagg, S. (2001), Selecting celebrity endorsers: the practitioners perspective, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 39-48. 13. Friedman, H.H. and Friedman, L. (1979), Endorser effectiveness by product type, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 19, October, pp. 63-71. 14. Joseph, W.B. (1982) The credibility of physically attractive communicators: a review. Journal of Advertising, 11(3), pp. 1525. 15. Kahle, L.R. & Homer, P. (1985) Physical attractiveness of the celebrity endorser: a social adaptation perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 11(4), pp. 954961. 16. Kamins, M.A. (1990), An investigation into the match-up hypothesis in celebrity advertising: when beauty may only be skin deep, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 4-13. 17. Louie, T.A. and Kulik, R.L. (2001), When bad things happen to the endorsers of good products, Marketing Letters, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 13-23. 18. Louie, T.A. and Obermiller, C. (2002), Consumer response to a firms endorser (dis)association decisions, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 41-52. 19. McCracken G. (1989), Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the endorsement process, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, pp. 310-321. 20. Ohanian, R. (1990), Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 19, pp. 39-53. 21. Mark, Ritson. Richard, Elliot., 1999. The Social Uses of Advertising: An Ethnographic Study of Adolescent Advertising Audiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, pp.260-272. 22. Ross, L. (1977), The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: distortions in the attribution process, in Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press, New York, NY. 23. Seno, D. and Lukas, B.A. (2007), The equity effect of product endorsement by celebrities. A conceptual framework from a co-branding perspective, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41 Nos 1/2, pp. 121-134. 24. Till, B.D. &Busler, M. (2000) The match-up hypothesis: physical attractiveness, expertise, and the role of fit on brand attitude, purchase intentions, and brand beliefs. Journal of Advertising, 29(3), pp. 113. 25. Till, B.D. &Shimp, T. (1998) Endorsers in advertising: the case of negative information. Journal of Advertising, 27(1), pp. 6782.

Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Tables:

Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha .793 N of Items 5

Model Summary Model R 1 2 3 4 .489a .589

b

Adjusted R Square Square .239 .347 .387 .534 .233 .336 .371 .518

R Std. Error of the Estimate .72481 .67434 .65599 .57464

.622c .731d

a. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance b. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness c. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness, negative information d. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness, negative information, celebrity product fit

ANOVAe Model 1 Sum Squares Regression 19.475 Residual Total 2 Residual Total 3 61.991 81.467 53.205 81.467 of df 1 118 119 2 117 119 3 10.516 24.437 .000c 14.131 .455 31.075 .000b Mean Square F 19.475 .525 37.071 Sig. .000a

Regression 28.262

Regression 31.548

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Effects of Celebrity Endorsements on Students

Residual Total 4 Residual Total b. Predictors: attractiveness 49.918 81.467 37.974 81.467 (Constant), 116 119 4 115 119 celebrity performance, celebrity 10.873 .330 32.928 .000d .430

Regression 43.493

a. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance

c. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness, negative information d. Predictors: (Constant), celebrity performance, celebrity attractiveness, negative information, celebrity product fit e. Dependent Variable: purchasing behavior

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