The growth of Instagram continues, with the majority of its users being young women. This study investigates the impact of Instagram upon source credibility, consumer buying intention and social ...identification with different types of celebrities. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 female Instagram users aged 18–30 to determine the extent to which Instagram influences their buying behaviour. The research findings show that celebrities on Instagram are influential in the purchase behaviour of young female users. However, non-traditional celebrities such as bloggers, YouTube personalities and ‘Instafamous’ profiles are more powerful, as participants regard them as more credible and are able to relate to these, rather than more traditional, celebrities. Female users are perceptively aware and prefer to follow Instagram profiles that intentionally portray positive images and provide encouraging reviews.
•Online celebrity endorsements are perceived to be credible and trustworthy when communicating marketing messages.•Personal experience of online celebrities enhances the credibility of their communication.•Female online celebrities are most influential, as these categories are more credible and relevant to young women.•No negative reviews regarding products are posted by users in order to maintain a positive online self-presentation.
In their marketing efforts, companies increasingly abandon traditional celebrity endorsers in favor of social media influencers, such as vloggers and Instafamous personalities. The effectiveness of ...using influencer endorsements as compared to traditional celebrity endorsements is not well understood. Therefore, the present research investigated the impact of celebrity vs. influencer endorsements on advertising effectiveness (attitudes toward the advertisement and product, and purchase intention), moderated by product-endorser fit. Moreover, this research investigated two potential mediators underlying this relationship: identification (perceived similarity and wishful identification) and credibility (trustworthiness and expertise). Two experiments (N = 131, N = 446) investigated celebrity vs. influencer endorsers with good vs. poor fit with a beauty and a fitness product (Study 1), or a food and a fashion product (Study 2). Overall, our results showed that participants identify more with influencers than celebrities, feel more similar to influencers than celebrities, and trust influencers more than celebrities. In terms of advertising effectiveness, similarity, wishful identification, and trust mediate the relationship between type of endorser and advertising effectiveness. Product-endorser did not explain the relationship between type of endorser and any of the mediating and dependent variables. In all, our results show the added value of using influencer endorsers over celebrity endorsers and the importance of similarity, identification and trust in this process.
Cause-related marketing (CRM) has experienced remarkable growth over the past few decades, especially in the hospitality industry. However, concerns have arisen regarding performative CRM allyship, ...where companies engage in visible public support for a cause without costly actions. Little research has investigated how average consumers respond to such performative allyship. Additionally, while celebrity endorsement has been extensively studied in the context of product marketing, its influence on socially oriented communications remains understudied. Across two pilot studies and three scenario-based experiments, this research defines and differentiates true and performative CRM allyship. Study 1 shows that consumers fail to identify the inauthenticity embedded in performative CRM and hold similarly positive perceptions of true and performative CRM initiatives. Study 2 and Study 3 explore the impact of celebrity endorsements in CRM initiatives and the underlying mechanisms. Two boundary conditions, endorser type (traditional celebrity vs. social media influencer) and endorser-cause fit (expertise vs. experience), are examined to show when performative CRM is justifiable or unacceptable.
•Average consumers cannot identify the inauthenticity embedded in performative CRM and hold equal positive perceptions of true and performative CRM initiatives.•A traditional celebrity (vs. social media influencer) endorser will lead to a less authentic perception of the performative (vs. true) CRM initiative.•An endorser with high expertise (vs. experience) about the cause will lead to a more negative parasocial relationship with the endorser and a less authentic perception of the performative (vs. true) CRM initiative.•Perceived authenticity will have a positive impact on (a) brand attitude, (b) purchase intention, and (c) willingness to share.
•Examines the effectiveness of different types of celebrity endorsement.•Combines eye-tracking techniques with self-report method.•A source celebrity is more effective in eliciting tourist ...responses.•Examines a serial mediation model underlying the main effect.•Examines the moderating role of regulatory focus.
Celebrity endorsement has become ubiquitous in international destination marketing, but studies have rarely assessed the differences between the effects of endorsement by a local celebrity vs. a celebrity from tourist source countries (source celebrity). To bridge the literature gap, this paper draws on meaning transfer theory and match-up hypothesis to examine the effectiveness of these two types of celebrity endorsement by exploring the underlying mechanism. By carrying out a pretest and three experiments, the eye-tracking results and lab experiments show that international destination marketing involving a source celebrity (vs. local celebrity) can significantly increase tourists’ visual attention to the advertising destination scenery, positive attitudes toward the destination and intentions to visit. Furthermore, a serial mediation model of celebrity endorsement → celebrity–tourist congruency → tourist attitude toward celebrity → tourist response is also identified. Finally, this paper empirically examines the moderating role of regulatory focus on the celebrity endorsement effect.
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•Online survey on the antecedents and consequences of endorsers in marketing.•Brand and endorser credibility determine customer brand engagement and brand equity.•Endorser credibility ...impacted brand equity in the case of mega-influencers.•Smaller influencers engage customers better than celebrities.
Endorsers are highly effective in promoting customer–brand engagement. New endorsers are emerging owing to the digital explosion. Who promotes brands better - mega or macro-influencers? Traditional celebrities can represent both types of endorsers (mega and macro) with a strong online presence but varying numbers of followers. This study conducted an online survey to determine the antecedents and consequences of endorsers' participation in marketing and communication strategies. The results of path analysis showed that brand and endorser credibility played a significant role in determining customer brand engagement and brand equity. Endorser credibility impacted brand equity only in the case of mega-influencers. Smaller influencers exhibited higher prowess than celebrities to engage customers, thus suggesting that “less is more.”
Celebrity credibility constitutes a significant portion of the celebrity brand endorsement literature. While this field of research is mature with a rich history of 45 years, it lacks a bibliometric ...analysis that traces its evolution. We address this gap by conducting a structured and bibliometric review of the literature. Through this hybrid review, we highlight the most cited articles, authors, journals, theories, methodologies, and sub-research themes in this body of knowledge. Our findings demonstrate that this research area is inter-disciplinary and significantly influences research within and beyond the business context. We identify a shift in credibility literature towards the digital media context. Further, this review indicates that a comprehensive sub-discipline of celebrity endorsement underlies the evolved literature of brand communication. Finally, we present an antecedent-consequence framework of source credibility. We conclude with theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and future research propositions using the Theory, Method, and Context (TMC) framework.
Brand managers use celebrity microbloggers to endorse their products on microblogs. Previous studies on celebrity endorsement mechanisms concentrated on source factors such as celebrity's ...characteristics and celebrity—product congruence. This study introduces a new audience factor: the fan–celebrity parasocial interaction (PSI) to explore the celebrity endorsement mechanism within a microblog context. The study hypothesizes that PSI and source factors (credibility, attractiveness, and congruence) significantly influence endorsement effectiveness. The results of an online survey (N = 862) indicate that PSI and celebrity–product congruence are salient antecedents of endorsement effectiveness. PSI serves as a mediator of the effect of source attractiveness on endorsement effectiveness. Source credibility and celebrity–product congruence are mediators between PSI and endorsement effectiveness. The study develops and tests a conceptual model to illustrate the influential mechanism of celebrity endorsement on microblog platforms.
We investigate the novel premise that a personal signature – an individual’s own handwritten version of their name – can prime identities when used as an extrinsic cue. Evidence from seven studies, ...including two retail field experiments, shows that adding a personal signature as an extrinsic cue promotes identity-congruent behavior, and thus produces different effects on behavior depending on the consumer’s identity. For example, adding a personal signature to a product label leads to more favorable product evaluations among consumers with an associative identity, but less favorable evaluations among consumers with a dissociative identity. We pinpoint identity salience as the process underlying this phenomenon by showing that adding a personal signature as an extrinsic cue influences behavior in an identity-diagnostic context unrelated to the personal signature. We advance the consumer identity and extrinsic cues literatures, and we offer practical business implications.
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.
In social media marketing, celebrity endorsement is a widely used strategy. Luxury brands use their social media accounts to post pictures of celebrities using their products. However, they would be ...confronted with the dilemma of whether to standardize or localize their celebrity endorsers for different markets. This dilemma of whether to standardize or adapt their advertisements to the local market has been haunting luxury brands for a long time. This paper examines the effectiveness of localized celebrity endorsements for luxury brands on Chinese social media. We analyze whether Chinese celebrity endorsers could trigger more social media interactions and enhance perceived brand luxury than Western celebrity endorsers, based on an analysis of online big data and two experiments. We also explore when localized celebrity endorsement is most effective, focusing on the moderating role of patriotism. The results suggest that localized (vs. standardized) celebrity endorsements lead to more social media interactions. Using localized (standardized) celebrity endorsements enhance the perceived brand luxury for people with high (low) patriotism.
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