Pakistan Academy of Marketing Journal

2016, Vol. 01, No. 1, 16.

An attractive, expert or a trustworthy celebrity endorser? Which

endorser type influences Pakistani consumers the most?
1 Ali Ahmed, 2 Omer Farooq & 3 Khansa Masood
1Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan
2Air University, Islamabad
3University of Management and Technology, Lahore
Email: se7en.ali@gmail.com

Abstract
Advertisement campaigns are designed with an objective to capture the mind of customers. Out of several options marketers have on
their hand, celebrity endorsement is considered to be a promising one. Many researches have been made in this context that have
investigated the phenomenon of celebrity endorsement from every possible dimension particularly its effect on purchase intention.
This study moves along the same line and intends to see the effect of celebrity endorsed advertisements on purchase intention of
customers residing in Pakistan. Three celebrities were selected with each attractive, trustworthy and expert and their print ad. were
attached to the questionnaire. A total of 159 responses were received (53 for each celebrity). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was
applied to verify the hypotheses. Two dimensions i.e. attractiveness and trustworthiness were found to be significantly influencing
purchase intention of customers while the expertise dimension was found to be insignificant.
Key Words: Risk Tolerance, Asset Allocation, Cognitive abilities & Personality

1.

Introduction

Advertisements are designed with an objective to positively influence the purchase behavior of customers and to make this happen, these are made lively and
interest awakening. In context of marketing, a number of marketing tools are available to marketers to launch marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsement is
one of them in which marketers use celebrities in their advertisements to promote the product, service or an idea. The rationale behind using celebrities in
advertisements to leverage the personality of the celebrity to promote the idea (Atkin & Block, 1983). Globally, every fifth advertisement campaign which
goes on air is celebrity endorsed. In U.S only every fourth advertisement bears endorsement by celebrity (Hollensen & Schimmelpfennig, 2013). Celebrity
endorsement presents a number of prospective benefits over other marketing techniques. To name a few, celebrity endorsed messages are eye-catching,
sparkling, motivating, and fold substantial attention of audience. The seeding force behind wide acceptability and greater usage of celebrity endorsement is
the phenomenon that audience in general, identifies the celebrities as role models due to such identification audience attempts to make their living patterns
similar to that of celebrities, this activity ultimately results into a positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and purchase behavior (Kamins, 1990;
Ohanian, 1991).
Using celebrities in advertisement campaigns is an old marketing tool being exercised over a long period of time. The subject area of celebrity endorsement
gained much debate when advertisers recognized that instead of solely relying on simple marketing techniques, using celebrities in advertisements may
result in better brand awareness as they will be having greater control in forming an alignment between celebrities personalities and brand personalities
(Erdogan, 1999).
Today, celebrity endorsed campaigns mainly constitute those celebrities that are high in three dimensions, attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness.
These three facets collectively cast an enlarged influence upon purchase behaviors of customers (Sternthal, Dholakia, & Leavitt, 1978). According to Baker
and Churchill Jr (1977) some cultures tend to favor attractive celebrities whereas others are inclined to be influenced more by expert and trustworthy
celebrities. However attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness, though important but are not the exclusive criteria to be taken care of while selecting
celebrities. Marketing firms have to make it sure that there exists an appropriate match-up between the brand characteristics and celebritys personality
features. This similitude of features results in upraising promising perceptions of brand in the mind of customers (Ohanian, 1991).
According to Chan, Ng, and Luk (2013), customers are better able to recall those celebrities who they find attractive and funny. The study further reports
that celebritys fame, image in public and features match-up with the product are key dimensions that marketers must take into account while selecting
celebrities for campaigns. Customers believe that celebrities not only increase brand awareness, but also increases their confidence in making purchases.
Celebrity endorsement nevertheless is a promising tool, but doesnt always yields in hundred percent results. The thing is that decision of using celebrities in
campaigns must be carefully made and a schematic criteria of selecting celebrities should be there in place because if any mishap happens even minor, not
only the advertisement campaign may fail badly, but the whole brand may be doomed (Till & Shimp, 1998). Overshadowing, overexposure and controversy
are some additional risks that must be taken care of while going for celebrity endorsement (Erdogan, 1999).

2.

Literature Review

Today marketing firms have acknowledged the power celebrity endorsement holds in influencing the purchase intention of customers that is why a major
proportion of present advertisement campaigns primarily include those ones that are endorsed by celebrities. Thus, celebrity endorsement has emerged as a
powerful tool in the domain of marketing (CHOI & Rifon, 2007). According to Schlecht (2003) celebrities are such people who are publicly recognized by a
large group of people. This wide acceptability makes them stand out of the crowd and makes their say more weighted. Celebrity endorsement is defined by
McCracken (1989) 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.
To date, several models have been presented in the subject area of celebrity endorsement which attempt to explain its mode of application. Key models
include the following:

The Source Credibility Model

The Source Attractiveness Model

Pakistan Academy of Marketing

1

Ali Ahmed, Omer Farooq & Khansa Masood

The Product Match-up Hypothesis

The Meaning Transfer Model
The Elaboration Likelihood Model

2.1. Source Credibility Model

According to the source credibility model, the effectiveness of a message (advertisement) is driven by customers perceived level of trustworthiness and
expertise of the celebrity endorser (Sternthal et al., 1978).
Hovland and Weiss (1951) define the term expertise as the degree to which the communicator (endorser) makes valid statements and is considered to be
skillful, knowledgeable and experienced. Research shows that an expert endorser not only increases brand recall but also significantly impacts the buying
intention of customers in a positive way. Trustworthiness is the degree to which the endorser is considered to be honest, dependable and believable. So, more
the expertise and trustworthiness, more will be the chances for a celebrity to be selected by marketers for marketing campaign (Erdogan, 1999).
2.2. Source Attractiveness Model
Customers generally develop favorable perceptions about physically attractive celebrities (Erdogan, 1999). Research made by Debevec and Kernan (1984)
statistically verifies it that attractive celebrities cast a positive influence on customers beliefs. As a result, much of the endorsed advertisement campaigns
bear attractive celebrities (Baker & Churchill Jr, 1977).
In his study, McGuire (1968) identifies three important aspects that increase the effectiveness of message in an advertisement. These include celebritys
similarity, celebritys familiarity and celebritys likability. According to him, celebritys similarity is the extent to which the message receiver finds
similarity between the source and itself. Celebritys familiarity states to amount of the receivers knowledge regarding the source (endorser). Finally,
likability refers to the receiver association that it develops to source because of the physical attractiveness.
2.3. The Product Matchup Hypothesis
It is based on the assumption that there should exist a perfect match between the personality characteristics of celebrity and brand features. Such
advertisement campaigns in which the extent of fitness is considerably high often results in greater effectiveness of advertisement campaigns (Kamins, 1990).
Matchup between product and celebrity doesnt means similarity only. In-fact it also depends upon several other dimensions. In case of endorsing the
products that enhances the charm or attractiveness, attractive celebrities prove to be more inducing. Rationale behind this assumption is quite simple,
customers assume that they might get as attractive as celebrities appear after using the product endorsed by the celebrity. But it should be noted that this
matchup is not just limited to the feature of attractiveness. Different other studies are there that have shown that trustworthy celebrities are also good at
influencing beliefs (Kamins, 1990; Ohanian, 1991).
2.4. The Elaboration Likelihood Model
ELM is based on the premise that there are two driving forces behind elaboration likelihood, motivation and ability. The motivation to understand the
message is referred to being completely involved in it while ability is extent of individuals knowledge along with the logical aptitude to not only to identify
but also to process the persuasive message. ELM pinpoints two paths that lead to change in attitude; these include the central route and the peripheral route.
In central route, the receiver (customer) participates actively and imparts significant attention to message (advertisement). Because of high level of
involvement, the advertisements inducement can either lead to the formation of permanent favorable response or unfavorable response. Whereas in
peripheral route the receiver (customer) lacks motivation and is not actively involved, the observation is just based on secondary cues and the perceptions
formed about the products are also temporary.
2.5. The Meaning Transfer Model
According to Meaning Transfer Model, when an endorsers promotes a product, service or the idea, customers go through a thought process of correlating
specific meanings with the endorser, than customer transfer these meanings to brand. This means that customers infer brands in terms of a specific set of
meanings which they derive from the celebrity. Each celebrity has an exclusive set of meanings that primarily includes its attitudes, its lifestyle and its
personality features. This process of assigning meaning routes through three connected stages. At the first stage, customers develop and associate some kind
of meanings with the celebrity and develop their perception in the form of image. Then they transfer this celebrity associated meaning to the product. Finally
customers get the meaning of the product during the process of consuming the product (McCracken, 1989).
Such a diverse literature signifies the importance of using celebrities in advertisements for marketers and for assessing celebrities effectiveness, a valid
measurement instrument is therefore needed. Ohanian (1990) developed a comprehensive scale that measured this celebrity effectiveness phenomenon from
three different dimensions i.e. attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. The scale passed both reliability and validity tests. Though other scales are also
there to measure the same thing but the problem with using other scales is that either these lack uniformity as celebrity endorsement has been conceptualized
differently by different authors do not possess reliability and validity.
A number of studies have been done measuring the effect of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise on purchase intention. In a research done by
Ohanian (1990) herself, only celebrities perceived expertise was found to be positively correlated with purchase intention. Ohanian (1990) justified the
insignificant effect of celebrities trustworthiness and attractiveness on purchase intention by arguing that audience do not associate trustworthiness with the
celebrities as they perceive that these celebrities are paid heavily for endorsement and secondly audience does not regard celebrities attractiveness as a key
determinant of purchase criteria. So attractiveness also poses to be insignificant in affecting purchase intention. However, researches are there which have
shown the positive effect of trustworthiness and attractiveness of celebrities on purchase intention separately.

Pakistan Academy of Marketing Journal

This very study continues to move along the same line by measuring the effect of the all the three dimensions of celebritys credibility (trustworthiness,
expertise and attractiveness) on purchase intention with respondents from Pakistan. Given the evidences above, three hypotheses are proposed:
H1: The attractiveness of celebrity endorser positively impacts purchase intention of customers.
H2: The expertise of celebrity endorser positively impacts purchase intention of customers.
H3: The trustworthiness of celebrity endorser positively impacts purchase intention of customers.

3.

Methodology

For measuring the hypotheses separately, three different celebrities were identified with each celebrity representing a separate dimension identified by
Ohanian (1990). Mahnoor Baloch was selected as an attractive celebrity endorser, Chef. Rahat was selected as an expert celebrity endorser and Dr. Aamir
Liaqat was selected as trustworthy celebrity endorser. Three print advertisements, one for each celebrity were identified on the basis of prominent presence
of these celebrities in their respective advertisement campaigns. Dettol Soap print advertisement for Mahnoor Baloch, Manpasand Banaspati for Chef. Rahat
and Meezaan Banaspati for Dr. Amir Liaqat were finalized.
Three versions of questionnaire were developed for each celebrity endorser. The questionnaire was based on 6 point semantic differential scale adopted from
Ohanian (1990). Attractiveness was measured in terms of words attractive/unattractive, classy/not classy, beautiful/ugly, elegant/plain, and sexy/not sexy.
Trustworthiness was measured in words dependable/undependable, honest/dishonest, reliable/unreliable, and trustworthy/untrustworthy and expertise was
represented in words expert/not an expert, experienced/inexperienced, knowledgeable/unknowledgeable, qualified/unqualified, and skilled/unskilled.
Purchase intention was also measured on a six point scale ranging from likely to unlikely with three questions measuring the likelihood that the respondent
will (a) inquire more about product, (b) consider purchasing it, and (c) purchase the product if the particular celebrity endorser it. In first questionnaire with
which the print advertisement of Mahnoor Baloch (attractive celebrity) was attached, only the attractiveness dimensions was focused to see its effect on
purchase intention of respondent. In second questionnaire with which the print advertisement of Chef. Rahat (expert celebrity endorser) was attached, only
the expertise dimension was focused to see its effect on purchase intention. In third questionnaire with which the print advertisement of Dr. Aamir
(trustworthy celebrity endorser) was attached, only the trustworthiness dimensions was focused to verify its effect on purchase intention. So only those
dimensions of the scale were selected which were relevant to the celebritys personality ignoring the remaining ones.
A total of 210 questionnaires were floated (70 for each celebrity endorser) among the respondents in major cities of Pakistan. 159 were received (53 of each
celebrity endorser) resulting in response rate of 75.71%.
The table 1 on the next page shows the demographics of the respondents, who participated in the research.
Table 1:
Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage
Gender:
Males
31
59%
Females
22
41%
Total
53
100%
Age Group:
15-20
1
2%
21-25
46
87%
26-30
6
11%
Total
53
100%
Occupation:
Student
53
100%
Young Prof.
0
0%
Entrepreneur
0
0%
Other
0
0%
Total
53
100%

www.paom.org.pk

Ali Ahmed, Omer Farooq & Khansa Masood

Attractive

Classy

Beautiful

Attractiveness Factor

Elegant

Sexy

Dependable
Inquiry

Honest

Reliable

Trustworthiness
Factor

Purchase
Intention

Consideration
Purchasing

Trustworthy

Expert
Experienced

Knowledgeable

Expertise Factor

Qualified

Skilled

Table II: Hypothesized relationship between celebrity factors and purchase intention.

Pakistan Academy of Marketing Journal

4.

Analysis

All the questionnaires measured celebrity credibility along fourteen dimensions categorized in three factors. These include celebrity attractiveness
(attractive/unattractive, classy/not classy, beautiful/ugly, elegant/plain, and sexy/not sexy), celebrity expertise (expert/not an expert,
experienced/inexperienced, knowledgeable/unknowledgeable, qualified/unqualified, and skilled/unskilled) and celebrity trustworthiness
(dependable/undependable, honest/dishonest, reliable/unreliable, and trustworthy/untrustworthy). In first questionnaire type with attractive celebrity print ad
attached, the attractiveness dimension was under focus. In second questionnaire with expert celebrity print ad attached, the expertise dimension was under
focus. In third questionnaire with trustworthy celebrity print ad attached, the trustworthiness dimension was under focus. The questions of purchase intention
that measured the likelihood to inquire, to consider and to purchase the product were grouped into in all three questionnaires.
In order to test the formulated hypotheses, structural equation modeling technique was applied in IBM SPSS AMOS 21 to verify if any significant
relationship exists in between celebrity endorsement and purchase intention of customers.
The table below shows the beta value and significance of each dimension of celebrity endorsement separately. It should be noted here that the endogenous
variable on which each of these factors is loading is purchase intention which is measured separately for each type of questionnaire.
Questionnaire Type
Attractive celebrity
Attractiveness > Purchase Intention
Expertise > Purchase Intention
Trustworthiness > Purchase Intention
Expert celebrity
Attractiveness > Purchase Intention
Expertise > Purchase Intention
Trustworthiness > Purchase Intention
Trustworthy celebrity
Attractiveness > Purchase Intention
Expertise > Purchase Intention
Trustworthiness > Purchase Intention

Estimate
(Beta)

Significance

.833
-.285
.216

***
.214
.014

.075
.305
-.086

.228
.013
.170

.163
.610
.011

.170
***
.905

CFI
160.752/113

.914

251.682/113

.819

230.054/113

.901

In the table, Estimate (Beta) shows two things, firstly it shows the strength of relationship, and secondly it shows the direction of relationship which can be
either direct or inverse. Next to it is Significance, which is the p-value in actual. As a rule of thumb if p-value is less than the value of alpha, the hypothesis
is accepted. In present case our level of alpha is 0.05. The third column shows the chi-square statistic of model fit and degrees of freedom and the final
column titled CFI is Comparative Fit Index.
From the table above it can be seen that Attractiveness Factor of Attractive Celebrity shows a very strong positive relationship (.768) with purchase
intention and is highly significant (***). Secondly, the Expertise Factor of Expert Celebrity shows a weak positive relationship (.305) with purchase
intention and is significant (.013). Lastly, the Trustworthiness Factor of Trustworthy Celebrity shows again a very weak positive relationship (.011) with
purchase intention is not significant either (.905).
Though Chi-square is widely used statistic for suggesting the model fit but it is very sensitive to the size of sample included in studies and is not considered
reliable when the sample size exceeds 200 or is less than 100, which is our case as for each celebrity we have a sample size of 53. Therefore CFI is used here
as test statistic for indicating model fitness. As a rule, a value of .90 and above is acceptable and the model is considered having a good fit. According to
Table 1, the CFI values two out of our three models lies within the acceptable range which shows that model fits the data except for our second model. Also
the model fit indices (AGFI, GFI, RMSEA, and TLI) of all the three models are not much good. This is mainly because of relatively low sample size.
Increasing the sample size sufficiently may improve the indices which would than indicate a good fit of model in data.
Testing of Hypotheses (H1, H2, and H3)
The focus of first hypothesis (H1) is on measuring the impact of attractiveness of celebrity endorser on purchase intention. The beta value in the table above
shows a strong support for H1. Also it is highly significant, so H1 is accepted. The second hypothesis (H2) centers on measuring the impact of expertise of
celebrity endorser on purchase intention. Though the relationship appears to be significant but isnt strong. So it can be said that there is partial support for
H2. Finally, third hypothesis (H3) aims to verify the influence of trustworthiness of celebrity on the purchase intention. Two things are there, foremost the
relationship, though positive but is so weak and moreover it isnt significant either. So H3 is rejected.

5.

Discussion

Marketers use celebrities in advertisement to magnify the effectiveness of advertisement campaigns. Thats why celerity endorsement has now become an
important subject area in field of marketing. With such a wide use of celebrities, a proper scale was needed. Ohanian (1990) developed a scale of celebritys
credibility that mainly comprised three dimensions i.e. attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness. Using three popular celebrities and 53 respondents of a
university campus, the study was based on the measure developed by Ohanian (1990). The study intended to study that whether attractive celebrities, expert
celebrities or trustworthy celebrities positively influence purchase intention of customers or not. This research shows that attractive celebrities and expert
celebrities significantly impact the purchase intention of customers. Expert celebrities were found to be least effective in influencing the purchase intention
of customers.

www.paom.org.pk
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Ali Ahmed, Omer Farooq & Khansa Masood

The results of this study are contrary to that of the conducted by Ohanian (1990) herself in U.S. In her study she found attractiveness and trustworthiness to
be in insignificant relationship with purchase intention but in case of Pakistan, from this study it can be seen that attractiveness and expertise does affect the
purchase intention of customers. This difference in findings can be mainly due to difference in the culture of Pakistan and U.S., for example U.S culture is
individualist whereas Pakistani is collectivist. However there can be certain hidden reasons behind these differences in findings.

Limitations
The sample size in the study is 53 which look quite small. Future studies should continue moving along the same line as this study has shown he differences
in results due to the cultural effect. This makes this research area more promising for more refined results in predicting about the purchase intention of
customers. Due to this limited sample size the model fit indices arent good either. So future studies must take fairly large sample into account. Secondly, the
unrelated dimensions for each celebrity were ignored. In case of attractive celebrity endorser, only the attractiveness dimension was taken into account and
the other two dimensions, trustworthiness and expertise were ignored. In case of expert celebrity endorser, only the expertise dimension was taken into
account and the other two dimensions, trustworthiness and attractiveness were ignored. In case of trustworthy celebrity endorser, only the attractiveness
dimension was taken into account and the other two dimensions, trustworthiness and expertise were ignored. Further studies should also take the unrelated
dimensions into account; this might yield some additional information.

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