369 369

International Journal of advertising, 32(3), pp. 369389

2013 advertising association
Published by Warc, www.warc.com
doI: 10.2501/IJa-32-3-369-389
A content analysis study of
the use of celebrity endorsers
in magazine advertising
george e. Belch and Michael a. Belch
San Diego State University
this paper presents the results of a content analysis study that examined the use of celebrity
endorsers in magazine advertising. advertisements appearing in 37 different magazines repre-
senting eight major classification categories were analysed to gain insight into the prevalence
of use of celebrity endorsers in magazine advertising. only 10% of the magazine ads run
during the time period analysed contained a celebrity, which is much lower than estimates
of their use often reported in the media. the findings show that the use of celebrities varies
by magazine type with their use being highest for sports and teen publications. the use of
celebrities also varies by product/service category as does the type of celebrity utilised, such as
athletes, actors/actresses, entertainers and supermodels. Celebrity use was based primarily on
the source characteristics of popularity/likeability followed by physical attractiveness. Celebrity
use based on expertise occurs primarily for athletic products.
Introduction
the use of celebrities in advertising has been a common practice for more than 60 years.
Marketers recognise the value of using people who are recognised and often admired, or
even idolised, by their target audience, such as actors and actresses, athletes, entertainers
and other popular public figures, as a way to draw attention to their advertising messages.
It is estimated that between 14 and 20% of all television commercials in the united
states feature celebrities; and in some countries, such as Japan, India and taiwan, they are
even more prevalent in tv ads (Creswell 2008). It is interesting to note that estimates
of the use of celebrities in advertising are based on their appearance in television com-
mercials. However, estimates of the use of celebrities may be veiled by the pervasiveness of
television advertising, which results in a lack of attention to their prevalence in other
media.
While most of the attention is focused on celebrities in the context of television adver-
tising, attention also needs to be given to their use in other media such as magazines.
Magazines account for 15% of total advertising expenditures in the us and, according
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to the association of Magazine Media, 93% of adults (18+) read magazines, the average
reader spends an average of 42 minutes on each issue, and the median number of issues
read each month is 7.7 (Magazine Media Fact Book 2011/2012). Magazines also have
specific characteristics that make them conducive to the use of celebrities, such as their
high degree of audience selectivity and reproduction quality. However, little attention has
been given to the degree to which celebrities are used in magazine ads by marketers, or
the nature of their utilisation.
the purpose of this study is to use content analysis to examine the prevalence of celeb-
rities in magazine advertising and to better understand factors related to their use, includ-
ing the type of product or service and magazine category. Kassarjian notes that content
analysis is a scientific, objective, systematic, quantitative, and generalisable description of
communications content (1977, p. 10). thus, content analysis is an appropriate way to
assess the degree to which celebrities are used in advertising, and the nature of their use.
attention is also given in this study to the various types of celebrity used by marketers
(actor/actress, athlete, entertainer, supermodel) as well as basis for their use (expertise,
physical attractiveness or popularity/likeability). the findings of this study provide a valu-
able insight into the extent to which celebrities are used in a major advertising medium
other than television and the nature of their use by marketers.
Background
The use of celebrities
there are a number of reasons marketers use celebrities in their advertising messages and
pay them large sums of money to endorse their company and/or brands. a very basic rea-
son for using a celebrity in an advertisement is that s/he may have stopping power, which
is viewed as the capability of drawing attention and interest to an advertising message in a
very cluttered media environment (atkin & Block 1983). according to the association of
Magazine Media, the content of the average consumer magazine is 47% advertising and
53% editorial (Magazine Media Fact Book 2011/2012). Many magazines, such as fashion
and lifestyle publications, can have up to 70% of their pages devoted to advertising, which
makes the clutter problem particularly acute. thus, the use of popular celebrities can be a
way for an ad to stand out in a cluttered media environment and attract the attention of
viewers or readers.
another reason marketers use celebrities in their ads is to impact consumers decision
process by favourably influencing their evaluations, feelings, attitudes and purchase inten-
tions towards their brands. Most of the research on the value of celebrity endorsers has
focused on their source characteristics or attributes, including expertise, trustworthiness
and attractiveness. these attributes are viewed as positive characteristics of a communi-
cator that favourably influence the receivers acceptance of a message (ohanian 1991).
a number of studies have shown that celebrities perceived as having expertise with a
product or service can lend persuasive power to an advertising message (speck et al. 1988;
ohanian 1990, 1991; fink et al. 2004; rossiter & smidts 2012). studies have also shown
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
that the expertise of a celebrity endorser interacts with his/her physical attractiveness
(eisend & langner 2010).
a meta-analysis of celebrity endorser studies conducted by amos et al. (2008) exam-
ined the relationship between source characteristics and advertising effectiveness from 32
studies that provided sufficient information for inclusion in their analyses. their results
showed that the characteristics of celebrity expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness
had the most influential effects on advertising effectiveness measures such as brand atti-
tudes, attitude towards the ad and purchase intentions. their analyses also indicated that
negative information about a celebrity had the largest impact on celebrity endorsement
effectiveness.
another popular stream of research related to the use of celebrities is based on their fit
or match with the product, service or brand they are endorsing. the celebrity match up
hypothesis has been used as the conceptual framework for numerous studies examining
the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers (Kahle & Homer 1985; Kamins 1990; Kamins &
gupta 1994; lynch & schuler 1994). the basic premise of this hypothesis is that the
effectiveness of advertisements utilising celebrities depends on the fit, or match, between
the characteristics of the celebrity and the product/service being endorsed. a number of
studies have shown that the use of a celebrity whose image or characteristics are highly
congruent with the product or brand leads to higher levels of both advertiser and celeb-
rity credibility than when the level of congruence is low (Kamins & gupta 1994; till &
shimp 1998; till & Busler 2000).
a study by de los salmones et al. (2013) examined the effectiveness of a celebrity
endorser in advertising for a humanitarian organisation. they found that the celebritys
effectiveness and credibility as an endorser depends on several factors, including perceived
fit with the social cause, attribution of altruistic motivation, celebrity image and attitudes
towards celebrity activism.
the degree of fit between a celebrity and a product or brand can be based on a variety
of factors, including his/her level of expertise, personality, image or even physical char-
acteristics. for example, professional athletes can lend credibility and persuasive power
to an advertising message based on perceptions of their perceived expertise with athletic
products. Celebrities such as actors/actresses or entertainers, as well as athletes, may match
up well with products or brands based on their popularity or attractiveness. a study by
fink et al. (2004) found that athlete attractiveness and expertise were both positively
related to endorsement fit, although the effects of expertise on fit were stronger than
those of attractiveness. the use of celebrities such as actors/actresses and supermodels in
advertising for products such as clothing, jewellery, cosmetics and personal care products is
often based on their physical attractiveness. erfgen (2011) conducted a systematic review
of 36 studies from the celebrity endorsement literature to determine success factors for
brand image effects. He identified 24 drivers of brand image including celebrity, message,
advertising channel and recipient characteristics. With regard to celebrity characteristics,
credibility (including its subdimensions of expertise and trustworthiness), physical attrac-
tiveness relevant to the product domain, and image-based congruence emerged as factors
that positively influence brand image.
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Most of the research on the use of celebrity endorsers has examined their effects on
various measures of persuasion such as beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions, includ-
ing how their effectiveness might vary in relation to source characteristics, as well as the
type of product they are endorsing and the characteristics of the message recipient (atkin
& Block 1983; Biswas et al. 2006). However, several studies have also examined the
practitioner perspective regarding the use of celebrity endorsers to gain insight into the
factors taken into consideration by marketing and advertising professionals when choos-
ing a celebrity endorser. a study by Miciak and shanklin (1994) surveyed practitioners in
advertising agencies as well as on the client side, and found that important factors cited
in choosing celebrity endorsers included attributes such as their image, trustworthiness,
familiarity to the audience and the fit with the product. erdogan et al. (2001) surveyed
ad agency directors and managers in the united Kingdom who were involved in celebrity
campaigns, in regard to characteristics that were considered important when selecting
an endorser and how these factors differed in relation to product type. the factors rated
most important by the agency practitioners were celebritytarget audience match, celeb-
rityproduct/brand match and the overall image of the celebrity. other factors cited as
important included celebrity trustworthiness, controversy/risk, prior endorsements, and
the familiarity and likeability of the celebrity.
Research questions
Prevalence of use of celebrities
as noted above, there have been no published empirical studies that have examined the
extent to which celebrities are used in magazine advertising in the united states, despite
the fact that large amounts of money are paid to athletes, actors/actresses, entertainers
and other types of celebrity whose endorsements may appear primarily in the print media.
Industry estimates of the use of celebrities are based on their prevalence in television com-
mercials, and range from 14 to 20% (Cresswell 2008), although the study conducted by
Choi et al. (2005) suggests that their use may be lower. to fully understand the degree to
which celebrities are used in advertising, it is important to examine the degree to which
they are used in magazine ads as well as television commercials, and how their use varies
across different types of publication. the first research question focuses on these issues:
RSQ1: How prevalent is the use of celebrities in magazine advertising, and does their
use vary across different types of magazine?
Use of celebrities by product/service category
Most of the theorising regarding the use of celebrities in advertising suggests that their
effectiveness is likely to be product dependent, while research has supported the basic
tenets of the match-up hypothesis, which suggests that celebrities are more effective
when there is a fit between them and the product they are endorsing. McCrackens
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
(1989) meaning transfer model also suggests that marketers must decide on the image
or symbolic meanings important to the target audience for a particular product/service,
company or brand. they then must determine which celebrity best represents or captures
the meaning or image they want to project. the value of using celebrities is likely to
vary by product type, as celebrity endorsers work best when image is important and/or
it is difficult to differentiate a brand on a functional or performance basis. Products such
as fashion apparel, cosmetics, personal care items and jewellery are categories that lend
themselves to the use of celebrity endorsers, while functional products such as consumer
electronics, pharmaceuticals, or business-related products and services should be less likely
to rely on the use of a celebrity endorser.
another area where the use of celebrities should be high is in product categories associ-
ated with athletic performance. there are a number of reasons why marketers of athletic
products are likely to use individuals who have achieved notoriety and/or popularity based
on their level of athletic performance. Consumers are likely to see athletes as experts who
can reassure them about the quality of an athletic product or brand, particularly when it is
perceived as being related to the athletes performance level. another reason is that many
sports fans admire, and often idolise, athletes, and view the use of a brand they endorse as
a way of identifying with them. avid sports fans often engage in a psychological process
known as BIrging, or basking in reflective glory, whereby they associate themselves
with successful others such that anothers success becomes their own (Cialdini et al. 1976;
lee 1985; snyder et al. 1986). Based on this discussion, the second research question
emerges:
RSQ2: How prevalent is the use of celebrities in magazine advertising for different types
of products/services, and how does their use vary by product/service category?
Type and basis of use of celebrities
also of interest in this study are the characteristics of celebrities used in magazine adver-
tising and the basis for their use. as discussed above, the fit between a celebrity and a
product can be based on various source characteristics such as credibility (expertise and
trustworthiness) or attractiveness, which in turn can be grounded in the popularity or
likeability of a celebrity, or his/her physical attractiveness. the use of celebrities in product
categories where functionality or performance is a salient purchase motive is likely to be
based on their perceived expertise. However, for categories where emotional motives such
as brand image or identification are important, celebrities are likely to be used more for
their attractiveness. research on physical attractiveness has shown that physically attrac-
tive communicators generally have a positive impact and generate more favourable evalu-
ations of both advertisements and products than less attractive models (Baker &Churchill
1977; Chaiken 1979; Joseph 1982; Jones et al. 1998). Products such as cosmetics, fashion
apparel and certain types of personal care products are likely to benefit from the use of
an attractive celebrity, as physical appearance is very important in the marketing of these
items.
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the attractiveness of a celebrity does not have to be based on physical appearance as
it can include other virtuous characteristics that message recipients perceive as desirable
in an endorser. other components of the source attractiveness model include similarity,
familiarity and liking. similarity is defined as a supposed resemblance between the source
and the receiver of the message, familiarity refers to knowledge through exposure, and
likeability as affection for the source as a result of physical appearance, behaviour or other
personal traits (triandis 1971). the meta-analysis of celebrity endorser effects conducted
by amos et al. (2008) found that familiarity and likeability were influential factors in
explaining the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers.
as noted above, surveys of advertising and marketing practitioners have shown that
familiarity and liking are two source characteristics that are often taken into consideration
in choosing a celebrity. While some advertising and marketing practitioners rely upon
their own intuition and insight in judging these characteristics, many turn to research that
measures a celebritys familiarity and appeal among their target audience. for example,
many companies and their advertising agencies rely on Q-scores that are commercially
available from Marketing evaluations, Inc. for more than 1,800 sports and performer
personalities. the two key components of the Q-score are the familiarity score, which indi-
cates the percentage of people who have heard of the person, and the one of my favourites
score, which is a measure of the appeal or popularity/likeability of the celebrity.
the primary types of celebrity endorser used in advertising tend to be athletes,
actors/actresses, entertainers and supermodels who achieve celebrity status (e.g. gisele
Bundchen, Kate Moss and Heidi Klum). However, there are other types of individual
who can attain celebrity status and can be used to promote a product, such as news per-
sonalities, sportscasters, politicians, authors and business executives. the basis for using
celebrities as endorsers includes various source characteristics such as their expertise and
attractiveness, which in turn can be based on popularity and/or physical appearance. this
discussion leads to the final set of research questions:
RSQ3: How prevalent is the use of different types of celebrity in magazine advertising
and what are the bases for their use as endorsers? also what types of celebrity
are used as endorsers for different product/service categories and do the bases
for their use vary?
Method
Magazines
to conduct this study, advertisements appearing in the highest-circulation magazines across
eight different categories were analysed. the categories are based on the classifications used
by srds, and include general news, sports, entertainment, mens, womens shelter, womens
fashion, teen and business. the magazines were selected based on circulation figures from
the audit Bureau of Circulations the primary circulation verification service for consumer
magazines as well as major business publications. all of the magazines used in this study
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were published in april 2007. fifteen of the magazines were weekly publications, 21 were
monthlies and two were published bi-monthly. for weekly magazines, one of the four
weekly issues for the month of april was randomly selected. only ads that were at least
a quarter of a page in size were analysed as it is very rare to see a celebrity used in an ad
smaller than this. also some magazines contained a number of pages towards the back of
the publication, with as many as 10 to 12 small shopper information ads as well as numerous
classified ads. these types of ad were not included in this study.
Products/services
each ad was categorised into one of the 20 product/service categories shown in table 1.
Based on data from the Publishers Information Bureau, these product/service categories
accounted for more than 80% of the total dollar amount spent on magazine advertising in
the united states in 2007. the 20 product/service categories also accounted for 85% of
the advertisements that appeared in the 37 magazines analysed for study. the remaining
15% of the ads were spread across a variety of products and services.
Source characteristics
each person appearing in the print ads was classified based on several source characteristics,
including gender and celebrity status (celebrity or non-celebrity), type of celebrity and basis
of use. for the purposes of this study, a celebrity endorser was defined as any individual
who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good
by appearing with it in an advertisement (McCracken 1989). However, it should be noted
that a celebrity endorsement could also be for a business product/service or a company,
since business publications were one of the magazine categories analysed. to help in the
identification of celebrities appearing in the magazine ads, a list of celebrities tracked in the
Winter 2007 Performer Q survey conducted by Marketing evaluations, Inc. was obtained.
this list provided the names of various actors/actresses, entertainers, athletes, and other
Table 1: Product/service categories
1. Telecommunication products/services
2. Automobiles (including light trucks and SUVs)
3. Financial services
4. Personal care products/cosmetics
5. Travel/tourism (hotels, resorts, airlines)
6. Retail stores
7. Consumer electronics
8. Home appliances
9. Fashion/apparel (clothing, shoes)
10. Jewellery/accessories (watches, purses)
11. Athletic products/equipment
12. Pharmaceuticals prescription/OTC
13. Fast food/restaurants
14. Alcoholic beverages
15. Non-alcoholic beverages
16. Media (music, videos, movies, books)
17. Furniture/home furnishings
18. Business products/services
19. Food
20. Cigarettes/tobacco products
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InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)
sports personalities, news personalities and business executives who were being tracked in
the survey conducted during this time period. Celebrities appearing in an advertisement
were further coded into categories based on type and basis of use in the ad. the specific
categories for type of celebrity include athlete or coach, actor/actress, entertainer, business
executive, supermodel, sportscaster/commentator, news personality, author/writer, and other.
(fashion supermodels are considered celebrities in this study as they often achieve celebrity
status because of their popularity and presence in the media.) the bases of celebrity use
include expertise, attractiveness based on popularity or likeability, and physical attractiveness.
Coding of the source characteristics
a three-judge panel coded the characteristics of each person appearing in the magazine ads.
two of the judges were professors who teach advertising and integrated marketing com-
munications courses on a regular basis, while the third judge was a graduate student working
on a special studies research project on the use of celebrities in advertising. the coding of the
source characteristics was very straightforward for gender and type of celebrity, while coding
for the basis of use of the celebrity was more subjective. for the purposes of this study expert-
ise was defined as the extent to which the use of a celebrity was primarily centred on him/
her being perceived as a source of valid assertions about the product or service based on the
knowledge, experience or skills s/he might possess as an endorser (erdogan 1999).the other
two bases of celebrity use that were coded for this study included physical attractiveness and
likeability/popularity. Celebrity use that was judged to be primarily based on the physical
attractiveness of the individual, such as the use of a fashion model or attractive actor/actress
or entertainer, was coded as such. the use of the celebrity endorser was coded as being based
on popularity/likeability when his/her use was judged to be based more on admiration or rec-
ognition. this could stem from the personality or lifestyle characteristics that would make
the celebrity popular among the target audience rather than physical characteristics. the
judges were given operational definitions of these categories and trained in their application
until each had a good understanding of the coding scheme.
of the 2,358 ads appearing in the 37 magazines analysed in this study, a little more
than two-thirds (68%) contained one or more persons in them. one or more males were
present in 515 of the ads, while females were present in 1,081 of the ads. the coding for
celebrities appearing in the ads required the judges to classify them by type and the basis
for using them in the ad. all three judges agreed on the classification of the celebrities
into one of the nine category types for 80% of celebrities appearing in the ads, and two of
the judges agreed on another 15%. for use of the celebrity, there was unanimous agree-
ment for 76% of the celebrities appearing in the ads while two of three judges agreed on
another 22%. the coding convention adopted for the study was that if at least two of the
three judges agreed in their assignment of the person to a category, that categorisation
was assigned to the individual. thus, the modal scoring convention resulted in the clas-
sification of 95% to 98% of the celebrities for the two categories used in this study. the
remaining classification of celebrities for the two categories was done after discussion
among the three judges.
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
Inter-judge reliability
to determine the reliability of the type and use coding of the celebrities appearing in the
ads analysed for this study, rust and Cooils (1994) proportional reduction in loss (Prl)
reliability measure for qualitative data was used. this approach addresses the problem that
the percentage of agreement between judges does not take into account the likelihood of
chance agreement between raters occurring, particularly when the number of coding cat-
egories is low. the Prl approach is based on the proportion of inter-judge agreements,
and considers the number of judges as well as the number of coding categories. for the
coding of the celebrity characteristics, the Prl measures were 0.98 for type of celebrity
and 0.97 for basis of use. overall, the high Prl reliability measures suggest that the
procedures used in this study were successful in reliably categorising the celebrities who
appeared in the magazine ads based on type and use.
Results
Prevalence of celebrities in magazine advertisements
the first research question concerns the degree to which celebrities are used in magazine
advertising and whether their use varies across different types of magazine. the overall
results regarding the prevalence of various source characteristics in magazine advertis-
ing are shown in table 2, which presents the total number of ads that appeared in each
magazine, the percentage with models in them, and the number that used celebrities. the
results are summarised for each of the eight magazine categories to provide insight as to
whether the use of models, as well as celebrities, varies by type of publication.
only 225, or 10%, of the 2,358 ads appearing in the 37 magazines analysed contained a
celebrity, while 14% of the ads that contained a model used a celebrity. the use of celebri-
ties was highest for the teen and sports magazine categories (19% and 16%, respectively)
and lowest for general news along with womens shelter and business publications. none
of the 93 ads appearing in the general news publications used a celebrity, and only 5% of
the ads in the business magazines used one. Celebrity use was also very low for womens
shelter (4%) and mens magazines (6%). Individual magazines containing the highest per-
centage of celebrities in their ad pages were the sports publications ESPN The Magazine,
Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest, as well as teen magazines including J-14, Seventeen and
Cosmo Girl. the percentage of ads containing celebrities was also high for several fashion
publications targeting women, such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Elle.
Celebrity use by product category
the second research question pertains to the relationship between the use of celebrities in
magazine advertising and product types. to analyse this relationship, only the 12 product/
service categories for which there were at least 50 ads across the 37 magazines were used.
the number of ads for the remaining eight categories was believed to be too small to
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Table 2: Use of models and celebrities by magazine
Category
Number
of ads
Number
with
model
Percentage
with model
Number
with
celebrity
Percent-
age with
celebrity
Percentage
with model
using celebrity
General news
Time 25 15 60 0 0 0
Newsweek 14 8 57 0 0 0
TV Guide 11 6 55 0 0 0
US News & World Report 43 28 65 0 0 0
Total: General news 93 51 55 0 0 0
Sports
Sports Illustrated 34 20 59 9 26 45
ESPN The Magazine 44 33 75 14 32 42
Golf Digest 111 63 57 20 18 32
Sporting News 12 6 50 1 8 17
Runners World 92 47 51 3 3 6
Total: Sports 293 169 58 47 16 28
Entertainment
People 62 47 76 8 13 17
US Weekly 40 25 63 4 10 16
In Touch Weekly 23 17 74 2 9 12
Star 26 12 46 1 4 8
National Enquirer 20 8 40 0 0 0
Total: Entertainment 171 109 64 15 9 14
Mens
Playboy 30 23 77 1 3 4
Maxim 62 50 81 8 13 16
Mens Health 67 44 66 2 3 5
Field & Stream 43 28 65 3 7 11
Stuff 39 28 72 1 3 4
Total: Mens 241 173 72 15 6 9
Womens shelter
Good Housekeeping 122 64 52 5 4 8
Womans Day 65 43 66 1 2 2
Family Circle 131 80 61 5 4 6
Redbook 100 71 71 4 4 6
Total: Shelter 418 258 62 15 4 6
Fashion women
Cosmopolitan 110 65 59 16 15 25
Glamour 135 93 69 19 14 20
Vogue 192 161 84 17 9 11
Allure 114 85 75 11 10 13
Elle 131 107 82 14 11 13
Total: Fashion women 682 511 75 77 11 15
(continued)
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
draw any meaningful conclusions regarding the use of celebrities in ads for these types of
products and services. table 3 shows the number and percentage of ads in each product/
service category that used celebrities. the categories with the highest percentage of celeb-
rities in their ads are media (music/videos/movies) and athletic products (21% and 20%,
respectively). these results reflect that fact that celebrities such as entertainers/artists are
often used in ads promoting their music, while actors/actresses are used to advertise the
Category
Number
of ads
Number
with
model
Percentage
with model
Number
with
celebrity
Percent-
age with
celebrity
Percentage
with model
using celebrity
Teen
Seventeen 70 59 84 16 23 27
Cosmo Girl 58 47 81 12 21 26
Teen Vogue 89 71 80 8 9 11
J-14 22 14 64 9 41 64
Total: Teen 239 196 82 45 19 23
Business
Money 60 29 48 2 3 7
Forbes 47 18 38 4 9 22
BusinessWeek 36 21 58 2 6 10
Fortune 40 32 80 3 8 9
Fast Company 38 23 61 0 0 0
Total: Business 221 123 56 11 5 9
Total: All magazines 2,358 1,590 67 225 10 14
Table 2: Use of models and celebrities by magazine (continued)
Table 3: Use of celebrities by product category
Product category Number of ads
Number with
male celebrity
Number with
female celebrity
Percentage with
celebrity
Cosmetics/personal care 565 1 70 13
Fashion/apparel 344 8 40 14
Food products 268 13 5 7
Jewellery/accessories 135 5 11 12
Media (music, DVDs, movies) 129 18 9 21
Pharmaceuticals 127 5 1 5
Automobiles 108 2 0 2
Athletic products 94 16 3 20
Financial services 75 0 0 0
Travel/tourism 58 1 0 2
Business products/services 52 3 0 6
Consumer electronics 50 2 0 4
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InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)
movies in which they star. Celebrity athletes are also frequently used to promote athletic
products such as shoes, apparel and sports equipment. It is interesting to note that the use
of celebrities is extremely low in certain product categories, including financial services,
automobiles, consumer electronics, business products/services and food products. this
may reflect the fact that advertising for most of these product/service categories is often
more information based, and focuses more on specific product/service attributes rather
than subjective factors such as image or style. However, automotive advertisers often focus
on image and style in their advertising strategies, so it is interesting that the use of celebri-
ties is so low for this category.
Characteristics of celebrities used in magazine ads
the final research question involves the characteristics of the celebrities used in print ads.
table 4 shows the breakdown of the types of celebrity appearing in the ads, as well as the
way they were used. as can be seen in this table, the types of celebrity used most often
across the 37 magazines analysed were actors/actresses (34%), followed by athletes (27%).
the other two types of celebrity used most often were entertainers and supermodels. also
shown in table 4 are the results regarding the way celebrities were used in the ads. the
primary basis for using a celebrity in the magazine ads analysed was for his/her popularity
appeal.the majority (52%) of the celebrities were used for their popularity/likeability, while
30% were judged to be used for their physical attractiveness, and 16% based on expertise.
to gain further insight into the way celebrities were used in the ads, we examined the
use of celebrities in relation to the magazine category as well as the type of product/service
being advertised. table 5 shows the type and basis of use for celebrities across the various
magazine categories (general news magazines were not included in this analysis since no
celebrities were used in any of the ads appearing in these publications). as can be seen in
this table, there is variation in type of celebrity used in relation to the magazine category.
for example, most of the ads appearing in teen magazines that contained a celebrity used
an actor/actress or entertainer, while fashion publications relied on actors/actresses and
Table 4: Characteristics of celebrities used in ads
Type of celebrity Number Percentage Use of celebrity Number Percentage
Actor/actress 76 34
Athlete 61 27
Fashion model 41 18
Entertainer 35 16
Business executive 5 2
News personality 3 1
Other 4 2
Total 225 100
Popularity/likeability 116 52
Physical attractiveness 68 30
Expertise 37 16
Other 4 2
Total 225 100
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
fashion models. However, all but two of the celebrities used in ads appearing in sports
magazines were athletes. a chi square analysis examined the relationship between maga-
zine category and type of celebrity used. this analysis was limited to the three categories
of magazines that had a sufficient number of celebrities. the results indicated there is a
significant relationship between magazine category and type of celebrity used (c
2
= 168.4),
4 df, p < 0.001).
table 5 also shows that there is variation in the basis for use of celebrities appearing in
ads across the various types of magazines. ads in fashion magazines that use celebrities
relied primarily on their physical attractiveness (52%) followed by popularity (42%), while
ads in teen magazines used celebrities based predominantly on popularity (71%) and to
a lesser degree physical attractiveness (29%). ads in sports publications were most likely
to use celebrities based on their popularity/likability (51%) followed closely by expertise
(47%). ads appearing in mens magazines that utilised celebrities relied primarily on their
popularity, while the basis for using celebrities in entertainment magazines was divided
equally between popularity/likeability and physical attractiveness. the analysis showed
that there is a relationship between magazine category and basis for using a celebrity
(c
2
= 59.05, 4 df, p < 0.001).
table 6 shows type and basis of use for celebrities across various product/service cat-
egories. only those product/service categories for which at least 10% of the ads analysed
used a celebrity were included in this analysis. as with magazine categories, there is vari-
ation in the types of celebrity and basis of use across the various product areas. Cosmetics/
personal care products rely primarily on actors/actresses and supermodels, which is logical
Table 5: Type and use of celebrities by magazine category
Category/type Athlete Actor/actress Entertainer Fashion model Other Total
Fashion 2 38 8 26 3 77
Sports 45 1 0 0 1 47
Teen 2 16 20 7 0 45
Mens 4 5 3 0 3 15
Entertainment 2 6 3 4 0 15
Womens shelter 1 8 1 4 1 16
Business 5 2 0 0 4 11
Category/use Expert Attractive popularity Attractive physical Other Total
Fashion 5 32 40 0 77
Sports 22 24 0 1 47
Teen 0 32 13 0 45
Mens 2 9 2 2 15
Entertainment 0 7 8 0 15
Womens shelter 2 7 5 1 15
Business 6 5 0 0 11
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InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)
given that these products are usually promoting ways to enhance ones physical appearance
and attractiveness. fashion/apparel products utilised entertainers the most when using a
celebrity, followed by actors/actresses; while ads promoting media (music, videos, movies)
used actors/actresses, athletes and entertainers. as would be expected, ads for athletic
products used athletes when employing a celebrity as part of the message. It is interesting
to note that ads for jewellery/accessories show variation in the type of celebrities utilised,
as athletes, actors/actresses and fashion models were used about equally in ads for this
product category.
also shown in table 6 is the basis of use for celebrities in the ads for the various
product categories. as can be seen in this table, cosmetics and personal care products
primarily used celebrities based on two factors popularity/likeability (51%) and physical
attractiveness (49%). fashion/apparel ads that utilise celebrities do so based mostly on
their popularity (85%), while ads promoting media rely primarily on the popularity of the
celebrity (66%). the use of celebrities in ads based on their expertise was most prevalent
in ads promoting athletic products, as more than two-thirds of the ads in this category
that contained celebrities used them on this basis. (Chi square tests of the relationships
between celebrity type and use by product category could not be conducted because of the
low number of celebrities for many of the product categories.)
Discussion
a major goal of this study was to determine the degree to which celebrities are used in
magazine advertising in the us, as most of the estimates of their use are based on their
prevalence in television commercials. the results show that 10% of the magazine ads run
during the time period analysed in this study contained a celebrity. this percentage is in
line with the cross-cultural content analysis done by Choi et al. (2005), which found that
Table 6: Type and use of celebrities by product category
Category/type of celebrity Athlete Actor/actress Entertainer Fashion model Other Total
Cosmetics/personal care 1 40 1 27 2 71
Fashion/apparel 5 16 22 4 1 48
Media (music/DVDs/movies) 8 9 6 0 4 27
Athletic products 16 0 0 0 3 19
Jewellery/accessories 5 5 1 4 1 16
Category/use of celebrity Expert Attractive popularity Attractive physical Other Total
Cosmetics/personal care 0 36 35 0 71
Fashion/apparel 0 41 7 0 48
Media (music/DVDs/movies) 2 18 2 5 27
Athletic products 13 3 0 3 19
Jewellery/accessories 1 9 4 2 16
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
only about 9% of television commercials aired during prime time on the major networks
in the us used a celebrity. However, the percentage is lower than the estimates of 14 to
20% that are often reported from industry studies conducted by research firms such as
Millward Brown (Creswell 2008). unfortunately the methodology used for these esti-
mates is not provided, making it difficult to understand how they are derived.
there are several reasons why the percentage of magazine ads including a celebrity
might be lower than for television commercials. estimates of the use of celebrities in
television advertising are often based on their use in commercials appearing during prime
time, which is dominated by advertising for national brands. these brands are usually con-
sumer products and services that have much larger advertising budgets and can afford to
pay endorsement fees for popular celebrities. Many of the ads appearing in the magazines
used in this study were for companies and/or brands that may be unable to afford to use
celebrity endorsers in their advertising messages or may feel that it is not cost effective
to do so. the use of celebrities in magazine ads may also be lower because they do not fit
well with the execution of a print ad. Magazine ads are static in nature as they rely on the
use of a photo or image of the product being advertised and perhaps some ad copy. there
is also a finite amount of space available and advertisers may be concerned over using it to
show a celebrity rather than product. television commercials are much more dynamic in
nature and provide greater creative opportunities for using a celebrity endorser by show-
ing him/her using, discussing and/or engaging with a product or service. It is also likely
that many products/services categories do not lend themselves to the effective use of a
celebrity endorser, such as financial services, business products and consumer electronics.
Marketers of these types of product/service may prefer straight-sell types of ad execution
that focus on features and benefits, and view the use of a celebrity endorser as unnecessary
or even distracting.
another goal of this study was to determine whether the use of celebrity endorsers var-
ies across different types of magazine. the results clearly show that the use of celebrities
varies by magazine category, as their use was highest for ads appearing in sports publica-
tions as well as those targeting teens, and lowest for general news, womens shelter and
business publications. It should be expected that celebrities would be used more in sports
publications, where the use of athletes as endorsers is a common practice, or in magazines
targeting teens, as previous studies have shown that teenagers are more receptive to ads
containing celebrity endorsers. However, it is somewhat surprising that no celebrities
were used in ads run in general news magazines such as Time and Newsweek, considering
that these publications generally contain ads for national brands. the low use of celebrity
endorsers in womens shelter magazines was also unexpected, however, this may be due to
the nature of the products/services advertised in these publications, which often include
household and food items.
additional insight into the use of celebrities in magazine advertising comes from find-
ings regarding their use in relation to product/service categories, as well as the type of
celebrities used as endorsers for different product categories. the use of celebrity endors-
ers was highest for ads promoting media products/services (music, dvds, movies) and
athletic products, as 20% of the ads in these categories utilised a celebrity. these results
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InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)
are consistent with the high use of celebrities in sports publications as well as magazines
targeting teens (which often contain ads for movies and music). other product categories
where the percentage of ads containing a celebrity endorser exceeded 10% include fash-
ion/apparel, cosmetics/personal care, and jewellery/ accessories. the use of celebrities was
very low in advertising for financial services, business products/services, pharmaceuticals,
consumer electronics and food products, which explains the low percentage of ads con-
taining celebrities in magazines that contain ads for these products and services.
also of interest in this study are the findings regarding the type of celebrities used
by marketers in magazine advertising, and the basis for their using them. the four main
types of celebrity used in the magazine ads analysed were actors/actresses, athletes,
entertainers and supermodels. Moreover, their use was dependent on product category,
which in turn leads to differences in their prevalence across different types of publication.
actors/actresses and supermodels were the most commonly used types of celebrity for
cosmetics/personal care items, while entertainers, along with actors/actresses, were used
most often for fashion/apparel. the use of these types of celebrity endorser for the two
product categories is the reason for their being the primary form of celebrities appearing
in fashion, teen, entertainment and womens shelter magazines. It is likely that marketers
use celebrities more in ads that appear in these types of publication, as fashion, teen and
entertainment magazines tend to reach a younger audience that may be more influenced
by celebrity endorsers. a study by Chan and Prendergast (2008) of young people aged
1524 living in Hong Kong found that peer communication and susceptibility to peer
influence were positively related to engagement in social comparison. they also found
that those who had a strong motivation to view advertisements were more likely to adopt
celebrities as role models and to imitate them. In turn, both social comparison and imita-
tion of celebrity models were positive predictors of materialism.
as expected, athletes are the types of celebrity used most often as endorsers for athletic
products, accounting for their dominance in sports magazines. However, it is interesting
to note that athletes were also used as endorsers for other product categories, including
fashion/apparel, media and jewellery/accessories. their use in magazine ads for these
types of product reflects the fact that the popularity of high-profile athletes often tran-
scends sport, and they are viewed as effective endorsers for a variety of products. for
example, watch companies such as rolex, omega and tag Heur use high-profile athletes
such as tiger Woods, Maria sharapova, roger federer and other sports icons as brand
ambassadors.
additional insight into the use of celebrity endorsers comes from the findings regard-
ing the basis for their use. the results show that the primary reason for using celebrity
endorsers in magazine advertising was based on the source attractiveness characteristic of
popularity/likeability. Physical attractiveness was the second most prevalent basis for their
use, followed by expertise. the use of celebrities based on their popularity is most com-
mon for fashion/apparel and cosmetics/personal care products along with ads for media
(music/movies). the use of celebrities based on their physical attractiveness occurred
primarily for cosmetics/personal care items, while their use based on expertise occurred
primarily for athletic products.
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
the findings from this study are consistent with theorising and research regarding the
most effective ways to use celebrity endorsers. for example, one of the most prevalent
paradigms for researching the use of celebrity endorsers is the product match-up hypoth-
esis, which maintains that the congruence of the fit between the celebrity and the product
being endorsed is a key determinant of their effectiveness. this study clearly suggests that
marketers take the match between the celebrity and the product into account when using
endorsers in magazine advertisements. for example, athletes were used to endorse athletic
products, supermodels and actresses were used to endorse cosmetics and personal care
items, and actors/actresses and entertainers were the most prevalent celebrity endorsers
for fashion apparel.
additional support for the match-up concept comes from the basis of use of celebri-
ties in the magazine ads analysed. for example, the use of athletes was based primarily on
the source characteristic of expertise, which suggests that marketers of athletic products
view them as a good fit and use their expertise to communicate the quality of the athletic
products they are promoting. the use of celebrity endorsers for cosmetics/personal care
products was based on the source characteristic of attractiveness, including both popular-
ity/likeability and physical attractiveness, while their use in fashion apparel ads was based
primarily on popularity/likeability and, to a lesser degree, on attractiveness. Cosmetics
and personal care items, as well as fashion apparel, are product categories where image
is important and the use of a celebrity endorser can be an effective way to enhance the
image of a brand.
It should be noted that the effectiveness of a celebrity endorser for products such as
cosmetics/personal care items, fashion apparel and jewellery/accessories does not have to
be based on his/her physical attractiveness. Many of the celebrities were used based on
their popularity/likeability in ads for these types of product as well as others. However,
celebrities were often used for their physical attractiveness as well. Cosmetics and personal
care products also often use celebrities such as actors/actresses or supermodels to capitalise
on their physical attractiveness, which makes them a good fit for these brands. the reli-
ance of marketers on attractive celebrities is consistent with the generalised advertising
principle that the physical attractiveness of a communicator is important for products
that consumers purchase to make themselves more attractive. Based on a review of the
celebrity endorsement literature, erdogan (1999) concluded that there is no doubt that
attractive celebrity endorsers enhance attitudes towards advertising and brands, although
their impact on purchase intentions is less clear. However, it does appear that advertising
practitioners view physical attractiveness as a valuable information cue when choosing a
celebrity endorser (Patzer 1985).
the results of this study provide insight into the prevalence of use of celebrities in ads
appearing in magazines, which is still one of the major forms of advertising media, and
the ways in which they are used. the findings should be of interest to both academic
researchers as well as practitioners as there has long been strong interest in the effective-
ness of celebrity endorsers among both groups. However, it should also be noted that the
use of celebrities in advertising is not as prevalent as many might think, which begs the
question of why they are not used more. one of the reasons the use of celebrity endorsers
386
InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)
might be so low is that achieving a favourable return on investment from their use may
be the exception rather than the rule. Most companies cannot determine and/or choose
not to reveal the increases in sales and/or market share resulting from the use of celebrity
endorsers, and there have been only a few studies that have examined the economic value
of their use. several of these studies have shown a favourable impact of celebrity endorsers
on stock prices (agrawal & Kamakura 1995; Mathur et al. 1997). a more recent study
by elberse and verleun (2012) examined 341 endorsement deals for 178 athletes over an
18-year period from 1990 to 2008, and found a positive impact on stock prices and sales,
although the effect on the latter decreased over time.
While these studies provide support for the use of celebrity endorsers as part of an
advertising strategy, others still question the logic of using celebrities given the additional
costs and risks associated with their use (Yingling 2007). for example, a study conducted
by the research firm ace Metrix analysed nationally televised commercials during the first
11 months of 2010 and found that celebrity ads performed either below average or merely
equalled the average for non-celebrity spots across a number of measures, including atten-
tion, relevance, desire for the product, information communication, likeability and positive
brand change (daboll 2011). an analyst at the research firm Millward Brown, which
conducts extensive research on the use of celebrities, has noted that the simple addition
of a celebrity to an ad does not, in and of itself, increase the odds of success and there are
as many mediocre ads with celebrities as without (fitch 2006, p. 1).
this study does not address the questions as to why companies decide to use or not use a
celebrity endorser in their magazine advertising, or how marketers and their agencies make
decisions regarding the use of a specific celebrity. However, it does provide insight into the
prevalence of their use across various types of magazine, as well as product categories, and
the types of celebrity that are utilised in relation to each. It does appear that advertising and
marketing practitioners have implicitly incorporated the research finding and theorising
regarding the use of celebrities in making decisions regarding their use in magazine adver-
tising. However, additional research is warranted that might provide more insight into why
the use of celebrities in magazine advertising is so low, as well as how they are used. surveys
of practitioners have focused on factors that are considered in the use of celebrity endorsers
such as source attributes, and how their characteristics match with the product/service or
brand. attention might also be given to practitioners perspectives regarding whether there
are limits to the effective use of celebrities in magazines, given the static nature of print
advertising, and whether celebrities are better utilised in television commercials.
the findings fromthis study suggest several additional areas for future research regarding
the use of celebrity endorsers. researchers might also examine the use of celebrities, both in
print and television, by focusing on the specific ways they are utilised as endorsers. While
the current study considered the bases for celebrity use, more attention might be given to
whether they are used actively or passively. active use would include showing the celebrity
using and/or engaging with the product or service and communicating personal beliefs or
feelings about it, while passive use would be based on merely associating the celebrity with
the company or brand by showing him/her in the ad. Consideration might also be given to
how consumers respond to the different ways celebrities are used in advertising.
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CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
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About the authors
george e. Belch is a Professor of Marketing and Chair of the Marketing department
at san diego state university. He obtained his Phd in Marketing from the university
389
CeleBrItY endorsers In MagaZIne advertIsIng
of California, los angeles. His research focuses on marketing communications and con-
sumer processing of and response to advertising messages. His articles have appeared in
the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Advertising.
Michael a. Belch is Professor of Marketing at san diego state university. He obtained
his Phd in Marketing from the university of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on vari-
ous aspects of integrated marketing communications. His articles have appeared in the
Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Promotion Management.
george and Michael are co-authors of Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing
Communications Perspective which has been one of the leading text books in advertising
for more than two decades.
address correspondence to: george e. Belch, Professor of Marketing, College of
Business administration, san diego state university, 5500 Campanile drive, san diego,
Ca 92182.
email: gbelch@mail.sdsu.edu