“Today on Oprah,” intoned the TV announcer, and all over America viewers tuned in to learn, empathize, and celebrate. In this book, Kathryn Lofton investigates the Oprah phenomenon and finds in ...Winfrey’s empire—Harpo Productions, O Magazine, and her new television network—an uncanny reflection of religion in modern society. Lofton shows that when Oprah liked, needed, or believed something, she offered her audience nothing less than spiritual revolution, reinforced by practices that fuse consumer behavior, celebrity ambition, and religious idiom. In short, Oprah Winfrey is a media messiah for a secular age. Lofton’s unique approach also situates the Oprah enterprise culturally, illuminating how Winfrey reflects and continues historical patterns of American religions.
Half a century of research on celebrity endorsement has led to the advancement of four grand celebrity endorsement theories. Most scholars have adopted the meaning transfer model, proposed 30 years ...ago by Grant McCracken, as the most appropriate theory to explain effective celebrity endorsements. In this conceptual study, we present a literature search and analysis that finds strong support for the validity of all four grand endorsement theories (source credibility, source attractiveness, match‐up hypothesis, and meaning transfer model) and thus show that each theory constitutes an effective construct for a particular set of endorsements. We argue that, contrary to the assertion in the literature, no single theory is able to holistically explain celebrity endorsements. Only a comprehensive framework comprising all theories can explain the great variety of different celebrity endorsements executed in advertising praxis. Moreover, we present a prescriptive framework that allows marketers to identify the most effective celebrity endorsement strategy based on a product's or brand's value proposition, as we believe traditional product categories are no longer an appropriate concept on which to base an effective advertising strategy.
The digital age has given rise to new pathways for everyday individuals to accrue media attention, which can be translated into promotional endeavors. Such sociocultural currency is referred to as ...celebrity capital, which can be exchanged within the field of advertising through celebrity endorsements. Traditional celebrities acquire celebrity capital through institutional intermediaries such as sport, television, music, and movies. Research is needed to understand the unique process by which social media influencers (SMIs) acquire celebrity capital. We draw on interviews with 40 global advertising industry practitioners and influencers to better understand how influencers acquire celebrity capital in a saturated media landscape. Extending previous work on celebrity capital and influencer advertising, this study conceptualizes a process which we term influencer celebrification. Influencer celebrification is the process by which SMIs acquire celebrity capital within an interconnected advertising ecosystem. Empirical findings identify three types of practices in the influencer celebrification process: generative practices; collaborative practices; and evaluative practices. This study identifies the role of advertising practitioners in the influencer celebrification process and offers implications for advertising theory and practice.
This paper explores consumer reactions to negative celebrity publicity. We draw from the sociological analysis of morality and propose that an individual's concerns with moral norms of the target ...celebrity's personal conduct (deontology) and perceived wrongness of his/her act to the general public (teleology) have detrimental effects on celebrity endorsements. The results based upon a convenience sample of young Asian consumers reveal the crucial role of the evaluation of moral reputation in shaping respondents' reaction to the poorly behaving celebrity and the endorsed brands. The major implication is that moral reputation is an important bridging connection between the attribution process and consumers' reaction to negative celebrity publicity and therefore the celebrity endorser's moral reputation should be incorporated into celebrity endorsement research. Our approach captures a broad sociological process underlying consumer resistance to erratic behavior of celebrity endorsers.
Companies increasingly use micro-celebrities for product endorsement. However, there are concerns around the self-presentation and credibility of this source of information online. This study ...examines the relationships between source credibility, self-presentation, and consumer behavior towards micro-celebrity endorsements. In-depth interviews were conducted with 38 female active users of Instagram, from Russia, to explore the impact of micro-celebrities' credibility and self-presentation upon consumer purchase decisions. This study attempts to construct an extended source credibility framework applicable to the online context. The findings show that users deem micro-celebrities credible if they follow certain criteria of online behavior and self-presentation.
Although many brand managers favor the use of celebrities in advertisements, others worry that celebrities overshadow the brand and thus impair brand recall. Practitioners refer to this overshadowing ...as the vampire effect, defined as a decrease in brand recall for an advertising stimulus that features a celebrity endorser versus the same stimulus with an unknown but equally attractive endorser. Because there is no agreement about whether this overshadowing really exists, this research analyzes the existence of the vampire effect and its moderators in a series of experiments with a total of 4,970 respondents. The results provide important insights into how to avoid the vampire effect by creating appropriate conditions, such as high endorser–brand congruence or a strong cognitive link between the celebrity and the brand. Surprisingly, brand familiarity does not significantly moderate the effect.
The global politics of celebrity Semati, Mehdi; Zambon, Kate
Popular communication,
07/03/2021, 2021-07-03, Volume:
19, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The proliferation of celebrity studies across multiple fields and disciplines demonstrates an emerging scholarly consensus about the importance of celebrity for understanding the present conjuncture, ...contemporary capitalism, and its cultural politics. However, celebrity studies have largely neglected transnational and global theories and contexts, which, with the notable exception of studies in development and humanitarianism, tend to focus on Anglophone publics within the Global North. Studying celebrity from a critical transnational perspective allows us to deploy the insights of this literature while building its theoretical reach, scope, and utility. The goal is not only to expand representation but also to generate stronger theory. This special issue brings together research focusing on transnational issues of celebrity as a technology of soft power, counter-hegemonic organizing, and discourses of race and migration. It also explores self-presentation and self-branding in the globalized attention economy.
ABSTRACT
While authenticity has received considerable attention in the marketing literature, the factors that influence the perceived authenticity of a celebrity's “human brand” have remained ...unexplored. This research fills this void by identifying the antecedents of celebrity authenticity, defined as the perception that a celebrity behaves according to his or her true self. Based on a qualitative analysis of an open‐ended survey completed by 218 adults and on previous authenticity literature and attribution theory, the authors propose two antecedents of celebrity authenticity—rarity and stability—that are each composed of three sub‐dimensions. Analyses of cross‐sectional survey data from a sample of 428 adults provide support for the hypotheses that stability and rarity positively influence celebrity authenticity. Additionally, based on aging stability theory, the authors predict and demonstrate that the effects of rarity and stability on celebrity authenticity are moderated by age.
The prevalence of online social networks has given rise to the emergence of social media influencers (SMIs), so-called "Internet celebrities". Celebrity endorsement, which can be an effective ...marketing strategy, is also popular in the tourism field. This study uses self-congruity theory, which originally refers to the congruence between consumers and brands or products, to the congruence between endorsers and potential tourists to evaluate endorsement effectiveness. Results indicate that SMI endorser-consumer congruence positively contributes to visit intentions toward the endorsed destinations as does endorser-destination congruence. Tourism marketers are advised to use SMIs when the destination images and target markets align.
This article introduces a dual entertainment path model that integrates insights from media entertainment and transportation theory to show how links between entertainment motives (aspirational and ...playful) and experiences (celebrity fantasy and emotional investment) influence endorsed brand attitude. Results of two studies validate the salience of two paths. Fans, who hold parasocial bond with the celebrity, are driven by both aspirational and playful motives to engage in celebrity-induced entertainment experiences. Nonfans lack aspirational motive and are driven predominantly by playful motive. In either situation, celebrity-induced entertainment experiences enhance endorsed brand attitude. This model complements the existing celebrity endorsement literature by positing entertainment as a salient dimension of brand endorser effects. Its findings provide new insights on how advertisers promote their brands.
PDF
