Celebrity Endorsement
in Sports Advertising
Management summary
This study represents an investigation in celebrity endorsements in sports advertising. The objective of this research is to understand the influence of the type of information and the relatedness of the celebrity on consumers brand attitude and purchase intention. In particular, this thesis will focus on positive and negative information about related and non related celebrities in celebrity endorsement. The problem statement of this study is: ‘What is the influence of the type of information about the celebrity in celebrity endorsements in sports advertising on the brand attitude and the purchase intention of consumers?’
To answer this problem statement, I studied literature about celebrity endorsement and specifically the influence of related and unrelated celebrities and the influence of positive and negative information. Two major effects have been determined; brand attitude and purchase intention. These effects have been leading in this study.
To develop my experimental materials, I conducted a pilot test to establish the validity of using Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey, and using a positive ‐ and negative press release in the experiment. The pilot test showed that there is no difference between Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey concerning their level of famousness and attractiveness and the credibility of the advertisement itself. Both celebrities differ only on their relatedness to sports. The pilot test also showed that there is a difference between the type of information. For these reasons, I conducted the experiment with Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey and both press releases. To measure the brand attitude, I distinguished the cognitive, affective and conative components of brand attitude. The interaction effect on the affective brand attitude is exactly what I expected, i.e. the type of information influences consumers’ feelings and emotions; the affective part of brand attitude. The positive information influences consumers’ affective brand attitude more than the negative information. Furthermore, the positive information has more impact on the related celebrity than on the non related celebrity. The results indicate that the type of information is more determinative in case of related celebrities and less determinative in case of non related celebrities.
celebrity and type of information both influence the purchase intention. I also asked the respondents for the willingness to pay. This test revealed a significant main effect on product and a significant interaction effect on product and type of celebrity and at the same time a between subjects effect of the type of celebrity.
Preface
With great interest I wrote my master thesis about celebrity endorsement in sports advertising. My interest is a result of studying Business Administration at the University of Groningen and playing soccer for the professional women soccer team of FC Zwolle.
From this moment my student life will change into a working life which is something I am looking forward to! First of all I would like to thank my supervisor, Marijke Leliveld, for our nice cooperation and our talks about celebrities and sometimes also about sports. Edwin van de Sar is not the keeper of the Dutch national soccer team anymore! But more important I would like to thank her for her expertise and support during the process. In addition I want to thank Jia Lui, as my second supervisor, for the final feedback. Hopefully you will enjoy reading this thesis. Zwolle, 23 November 2010 L.R. van Beekhuizen
1.
Introduction
Celebrity endorsement is a popular tool to advertise. Celebrity endorsement is described in the literature as a famous person who can draw attention to a brand a shape the perceptions consumers have of the brand by virtue of the inferences that consumers make based on the knowledge they have about the celebrity (Keller, 2007). One of the early examples is Queen Victoria’s endorsement of Cadbury’s Cocoa (Sherman 1985). Three of humankind’s greatest inventions, (cinema, radio, and television) have extended the scope of endorsement as an advertising technique. Fashion label Dolce & Gabbana, for example, tied Italian national soccer heroes (Andrea Pirlo, Fabio Cannavaro, Gennaro Gattuso, Giancluca Zambrotta and Manuele Blasi) to endorse in their exclusive underwear campaign for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Picture 2: Italian soccer players for Dolce & Gabbana (source: D&G)
However, celebrity endorsement is not without risk. The fact that ‘La Squadra Azzurra’ was eliminated in the first round –and that Manuele Blasi was not even selected for the Italian team by coach Marcello Lippi– is regrettable for Dolce & Gabbana. This incident is nothing compared to the scandal around another celebrity: Tiger Woods. No professional athlete has had such an immediate impact on his or her sport as the arrival of Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour. But due to his numerous sexual affairs and escapades, Tiger Woods’ image is badly damaged and his income decreased with ten percent. His sponsors Gilette and Accenture denounced the cooperation with the billionaire immediately. Only major lender Nike kept faith.
Given these examples, it is easily argued that the type of information about a celebrity can be determinative for the success of the endorsement. Positive information about a celebrity can enhance consumers’ preference towards a brand and purchase intention. On the other hand, negative information about a celebrity can harm the endorsement and the brand. Therefore, the main purpose of this thesis is to study whether the effect of celebrity endorsement is affected by the type of information that is exposed about the celebrity.
to positive and negative information about related and non related celebrities in celebrity endorsement. In particular, this thesis will focus on the type of information and the relatedness of the celebrity. Therefore, the problem statement is: ‘What is the influence of the type of information about the celebrity in celebrity endorsements in sports advertising on the brand attitude and the purchase intention of consumers?’ To investigate this, I will study the effects of the relatedness and non relatedness of a celebrity and the effects of positive and negative information using an experiment. In the next chapter I will discuss in more detail the relevant literature related to this problem statement.
2.
Theoretical framework
The use of celebrity endorsement is an example of the linking of a brand with other entities, namely the association people have with the celebrity used. The rationale behind celebrity endorsement is that a famous person can draw attention to a brand and shape the perceptions consumers have of the brand. Hence, the celebrity must be well known to improve awareness, image and responses for the brand (Keller, 2007). Brands can benefit from celebrity endorsement in several ways. Celebrity endorsements are a powerful device by which to enter foreign markets. Celebrities with world‐wide popularity can help companies break through many such roadblocks (Erdogan, 1999). According to Agrawal and Kamakura (1995), celebrity endorsement makes advertisements believable and enhances message recall. Furthermore, celebrities aid in the recognition of brand names, create a positive attitude towards the brand and create a distinct personality for the endorsed brand.
2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of celebrity endorsement
According to Till and Shimp (1998) the impact of a celebrity endorser depends on the fit between the celebrity, the audience and the product. The potential advantages, potential hazards and the preventive tactics are described in table 1 below (Erdogan, 1999).
Potential advantages Potential hazards Preventive tactics
Increased attention Overshadow the brand
Pre‐testing and careful planning.
2.2 Positive and negative information about celebrity endorsers
Celebrity endorsers are effective because they bring a host of characteristics that the audience uses in evaluating the ad. Companies invest large sums of money to align their brands and themselves with endorsers. In return for the large expenditures in endorsements celebrity endorsers are expected to endorse a product successfully wherefore consumers will evaluate the endorsement as credible, believable and appealing (Martin, 1996). Brown and Stayman (1992) agree and add that when this happens some of the following objectives will be accomplished: the credibility of the product’s message is increased, people tend to pay attention to the ad, people tend to like the ad, brand and recall is enhanced, product liking may increase and other positive effect may occur.
Earlier research reveals that a successful endorser strategy enhances the level of consumers' recalling towards product information, reinforces consumers' recognition to endorsed brands, positively influences consumers' attitude to low‐involved products and even enhance consumers' purchase intention and preference towards brands (Lui et al., 2007). It is also proven that celebrities make advertisements believable and enhance message recall and that approximately 20% of all television commercials feature a famous person, and approximately 10% of the dollars spent on televisions advertising are used in celebrity endorsement (Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995). Furthermore, celebrities aid in the recognition of brand names, create a positive attitude towards the brand and create a distinct personality for the endorsed brand. Ultimately, celebrity endorsements are believed to generate a greater likelihood of customers’ choosing in the endorsed brand. Thus, using celebrity endorsements is an advertising strategy that should enhance the marginal value of advertisements expenditures and create brand equity by means of the ‘secondary association’ of a celebrity with a brand.
link between the brand and celebrity. Brands perceived with a strong connection with the endorser are more vulnerable when negative information about the endorser is exposed. Another issue is that consumers become more cynical about celebrities’ motives to connect themselves with a brand or product (Erdogan, 1999). A celebrity has to be aware of the greed and subsequent overexposure when a celebrity becomes an endorser for many diverse products, such as the British Spice Girls in the nineties. The successful girl band endorsed for many brands such as Pepsi, Tesco, L’oreal and Sony. Picture 4: the Spice Girls for Pepsi (source: Pepsi)
In this study, I will focus on the type of information and I expect it to be important for the successfulness of celebrity endorsement. Negative information will negatively affect a consumer’s attitude toward a celebrity and in turn impact attitudes toward the endorsed brand.
Hypothesis 1: I argue that positive information about a celebrity leads to a positive brand attitude and negative information about a celebrity leads to a negative brand attitude.
2.3 Related and non related celebrities
When an athlete endorses a product the sport forms the foundation for that endorsement. The sport that a celebrity is in is the activity that makes the celebrity a (related) celebrity. Football player David Beckham is a related celebrity when he endorses football products for the brand Adidas for example, but he is a non related celebrity when endorses underwear for the brand Armani. Consumers use information from an ad, but they also use information about the celebrity to make inferences about the product. This transfer of information from the celebrity to the product is what makes celebrity endorsement effective.
Hypothesis 2: Information about a related celebrity has more effect on consumers’ brand attitude than information about a non related celebrity. Moreover, the type of information will have a stronger effect on related celebrities than for non related celebrities.
2.4 Brand attitude
Also the stair‐step‐model (figure 1) of Lavidge and Steiner (1961) distinguish the cognitive, affective and conative components of brand attitude. In figure 1, the seven steps outlined indicate three major functions of advertising. The first two steps of the model, awareness and knowledge, refers to the function information or ideas. The second two steps, liking and preference, refers to the function attitude or feeling. The final two steps, conviction and purchase, refers to the function action. The stair‐step‐model leads consumers, in seven steps, from attitude ‐awareness‐ to actual purchase: 1) the consumer is unaware of the existence of the product or service; 2) the consumer is becoming aware of the existence of the product or service; 3) the consumer knows what the product has to offer; 4) the consumer has favorable attitudes towards the product; 5) the consumer favorable attitudes have developed to preferences; 6) the consumer got the conviction that the purchase would be wise; and 7) the consumers translates the attitude into actual purchase.
Because of different types of attitudes, different scales can be used to measure consumers’ brand attitude. Earlier research reveals that brand attitude is measured by scales as ‘good vs. bad’, ‘like vs. dislike’, ‘nice vs. not nice’ (Chattopadhyay, 1998), ‘good vs. bad’, ‘like very much vs. do not like very much, ‘pleasant vs. unpleasant’, ‘poor quality vs. high quality’ (Gresham et. al., 1984), and ‘good vs. bad’, ‘positive vs. negative’ and ‘the extent to which they like it vs. dislike it’ (Whan Park et. al., 2010). I will use three scales to measure the three types of attitude (see also Method section).
Picture 5: Roger Federer for Nike ‘Wimbledon 2009’ (source: Nike). I argue that the type of celebrity and the type of information will particularly influence the affective component, because this component is based on emotions and feelings. I hypothesize that information about a related celebrity has more effect on consumers’ affective brand attitude than information about a non related celebrity. Moreover, I hypothesize that positive information about a celebrity leads to a positive affective brand attitude and negative information about a celebrity leads to a negative affective brand attitude. 2.5 Purchase intention According to Daneshvary and Schwer (2000) is the endorser’s expertise more important than physical attractiveness in affecting attitude towards an endorsed brand. An endorser’s expertise influences the attitude towards the brand and the purchase behavior, positively or negatively. Fishbein and Ajzen (1977) confirm with Lavidge and Steiner (1961) their process from attitude to purchase. Thus, I predict that consumers with a positive brand attitude will have a positive purchase intention and consumers with a negative brand attitude will have a negative purchase intention.
2.6 Conc The pro celebrity intention non rela Figure 2: To answ influence attitude on consu intention The hypo • t a • ceptual mod blem statem y in celebrity n of consum
ted and the
Conceptual m
wer the pro e does the t
towards a b umers attitu n of consum otheses deri Information toward the positive bran attitude. In o Information information del
ment of this y endorsem mers?’, is sho type of infor
model
blem statem type of infor brand; 2) wh de towards ers. ved from thi will affect a endorsed br nd attitude a other words,
about a rel about a no
thesis: ‘Wha ents in spor own in the co rmation can ment, the m rmation (pos hat influence a brand; 3) d is model and consumer’s rand. I argue and negative , I expect a m lated celebr on related ce
at is the infl rts advertisi onceptual m be positive o
main questio sitive or neg e does the ty does the eff
d by my theo s attitude tow
e that posit e information main effect o
ity has more elebrity. Mo
uence of th ng on the b model. The ty or negative.
on is divided gative) abou ype of celebr ect towards oretical backg ward a celeb ive informat n about a ce of informatio e effect on oreover, the
e type of in brand attitud ype of celebr d into sub t a celebrity rity (related a brand also ground are a brity and in t tion about a elebrity leads n. consumers’ type of info
formation a de and the rity can be r
questions: y have on co or non relat o affect the as follows: turn impact a celebrity le s to a negati brand attitu ormation wi bout the purchase elated or 1) what onsumers ted) have purchase attitudes eads to a ve brand
stronger effect on related celebrities than for non related celebrities. In other words, I expect an interaction effect of information and celebrity on brand attitude.
• Consumers with a positive brand attitude will have a positive purchase intention and consumers with a negative brand attitude will have a negative purchase intention. The related celebrity will have a stronger effect on the brand attitude and purchase intention than for non related celebrity.
3.
Research design and methodology
For the type of celebrity, Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey were selected. As the sport related celebrity, tennis player Roger Federer was selected and as the non related celebrity, actor Patrick Dempsey was selected. Both men have a similar look and appearance (picture 6). For the type of information, a positive press release and a negative press release were written. The positive press release was about the celebrity becoming the ambassador for UNICEF and the negative press release was about the celebrity having caused a car accident. To test whether there are only differences in the type of celebrity and the type of information rather than acquaintance and attractiveness, I conducted a pilot study.
Picture 6: Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey
3.1 Pilot study
The participants were eighteen males and twenty‐one females (mean age = 28.05, SD = 7.32). The participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions of the 2 (celebrity: Roger Federer versus Patrick Dempsey) x 2 (information: positive versus negative) between‐subjects factorial design.
3.1.1 Celebrity manipulation
The type of celebrity was manipulated by the use of two different celebrities. The participants were asked to what degree they thought Roger Federer (or Patrick Dempsey) were well‐known and famous. Because the Cronbach’s Alpha of these two questions is α = 0,79, these two questions were combined into a ‘famous’ scale. To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on ‘famous’, I conducted 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed no significant effects, F (1,35) = < 1, ns.
The participants were also asked to what degree the thought Roger Federer (or Patrick Dempsey) were nice, likable, handsome, charming and friendly. Because the Cronbach’s Alpha of these five questions is α = 0,88, these questions were combined into an ‘attractive’ scale. To test whether the type of celebrity and the type of information influences ‘attractive’, a 2x2 ANOVA was conducted. This test revealed no significant effects, F (1,35) = < 1, ns. Both 2x2 ANOVA’s did not reveal any significant effects. So, there is no difference between Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey concerning their level of famousness and attractiveness.
Another important aspect of the materials is to what degree Roger Federer (and not Patrick Dempsey) is associated with sports and more specific with the brand Adidas. A 2x2 ANOVA on the extent to which Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey are associated with sports, showed only a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (1,35) = 113,12 , p < 0,001. Roger Federer was associated more with sports (M = 6.30) than Patrick Dempsey (M = 1.53). None of the other effects was significant echoing our material development. Moreover, a 2x2 ANOVA on the extent to which Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey are associated with Adidas, also showed only a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (1,35) = 57,40 , p < 0,001. Roger Federer was associated more with Adidas (M = 4.45) than Patrick Dempsey (M = 1.32). Several respondents indicated to know that Roger Federer is sponsored by Nike. This is probably the reason that the association is not very high. Nevertheless, the difference between Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey was significant.
Naturally, the credibility of the advertisements is important. First of all, the participants were asked in what degree they thought the advertisement was credible. To test whether the type of celebrity and the type of information influences the credibility, probability and convincingness, three 2x2 ANOVA’s were conducted. These tests revealed no significant effects, F (1,35) = < 1, ns. Although Patrick Dempsey is not related to Adidas, the advertisement is not unbelievable. To conclude, the two advertisements differ only on the relatedness to sports of the celebrity and not on attractiveness, famousness or credibility.
Figure 3 shows an overview of all the means of the celebrity manipulation.
Components Individual items Mean Roger Federer Mean Patrick Dempsey Type effect Famous ‐ Well‐known ‐ Famous 6.05 5.60 6.05 5.74 No effect No effect Attractive ‐ Nice ‐ Likable ‐ Handsome ‐ Charming ‐ Friendly 5.35 5.45 5.20 5.20 5.40 5.58 5.42 5.37 5.53 5.26 No effect No effect No effect No effect No effect Associations ‐ Association with sports ‐ Association with Adidas 6.30 4.45 1.53 1.32 Type of celeb. Type of celeb. Credible ‐ Credibility ‐ Probability ‐ Convincingness 3.75 3.45 3.45 3.58 3.26 2.95 No effect No effect No effect Figure 3: overview celebrity manipulation. 3.1.2 Information manipulation
Figure 4 shows an overview of all the means of the celebrity manipulation.
Components Individual items Mean Roger Federer Mean Patrick Dempsey Type effect Type of information ‐ positive/ negative ‘occasion’ ‐ Affectedness of celebrity 4.30 4.20 3.79 3.84 Type of info. Type of info. Type of news ‐ Little/ big news ‐ Interestingness ‐ Importance 3.15 3.00 2.90 2.63 2.53 2.58 No effect No effect No effect Figure 4: overview information manipulation. 3.2 Methodology
3.2.1 Procedure
The participants were 45 males and 57 females (mean age = 26.98, SD = 7.08). The participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions of the 2 (celebrity: Roger Federer versus Patrick Dempsey) x 2 (information: positive versus negative) between‐subjects factorial design.
Respondents were asked to view the press release and read the text carefully (appendix 2). Several 7‐point Likert scaled items were used to measure the brand attitude and purchase intentions (appendix 3), whereby point 1 is the most negative scaled question and 7 is the most positive scaled question. Finally, some questions to check to manipulations were asked. 3.2.2 Brand attitude I distinguished the three components of brand attitude; the cognitive, affective and conative brand attitude. • Cognitive: o To what extent do you think the Adidas brand is impressive? o To what extent do you think the Adidas brand is satisfactory? o To what extent do you think the Adidas brand is good? • Affective: o To what extent do you like the Adidas brand? o To what extent do you think the Adidas brand is attractive? o To what extent do you think the Adidas brand is entertaining? • Conative: o To what extent is Adidas your favorite sports brand?
o
To what extent would you consider buying Adidas products? 3.2.3 Purchase intention I also asked the respondents for their purchase intention, by asking them if they would buy products of the Adidas brand, in case they need them (yes/ no) and to what extent they think that Adidas products are value for money (7‐point Likert scaled item). To measure the willingness to pay, I asked how much money the respondents are willing to pay for a tennis racket, a pair of football boots and a swimsuit.
3.2.4 Manipulation check
which showed only a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (2,97) = 631,41 , p < 0,001. Moreover, a 2x2 ANOVA on the extent to which Roger Federer and Patrick Dempsey are associated with Adidas, also showed only a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (2,97) = 57,40 , p < 0,001. Roger Federer was associated more with both sports as well as the brand Adidas.
Secondly, I wanted to measure to what degree the respondents thought the advertisement was attractive (niceness, attractiveness and interestingness). Because Cronbach’s Alpha of these questions is α = 0,83, these questions were combined into a ‘attractive’ scale. To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on ‘attractive’, I conducted a 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed no significant effects, F (2,97) = < 1, ns.
Figure 5 shows an overview of all the means of the manipulation check.
4.
Results
4.1 Brand attitude
To measure the brand attitude of the respondents, the brand attitude is divided into three aspects; cognitive, affective and conative brand attitude. The cognitive brand attitude is subdivided into impressive, satisfactory and good. Because Cronbach’s Alpha of these questions is α = 0,87, these questions were combined into the cognitive brand attitude. To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on the cognitive brand attitude, I conducted a 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (2,97) = 192.22 , p < 0,001. The respondents in the related celebrity condition indicated to have a higher cognitive brand attitude (M = 5.49) than the respondents in the unrelated celebrity condition (M = 3.54).
To measure affective attitude, participants were asked to what degree they thought Adidas was nice, attractive and entertaining. Because Cronbach’s Alpha of these questions is α = 0,95, these questions were combined into the affective brand attitude. To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on the affective brand attitude, I conducted a 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed a significant interaction effect, F (2,97) = 15.86 , p < 0,001 (figure 4 on page 23). This test showed a significant main effect of type of celebrity and type of information qualified by the interaction effect1.
Within the related celebrity condition, positive information resulted in a higher attitude towards Adidas (M = 6.19) than negative information (M = 3.92) , p < 0,001. This difference was less strong within in the unrelated celebrity condition (Mpos = 4.07 and Mneg = 3.03). In line with my hypothesis, the results indicate that the type of information is more determinative in case of related celebrities and less determinative in case of non related celebrities.
The conative part of brand attitude is measured by the combination of ‘Adidas as favorite sports brand’ and ‘considering to buy Adidas products’ of which Cronbach’s Alpha is α = 0,91. To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on the conative brand attitude, I conducted a 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed a significant main effect on the type of celebrity, F (2,97) = 158.44 , p < 0,001. The respondents in de related celebrity condition indicated to have a higher conative brand attitude (M = 5.92) than the respondents in the unrelated celebrity condition (M = 3.52). The interaction effect on the affective brand attitude is exactly what I expected (figure 6). The type of information does influence consumers’ feelings and emotions; the affective part of brand attitude.
The pos informat the non Figure 6: Figure 7 Compon Cognitiv attitude Affectiv attitude Conativ attitude Figure 7: Low aff brand a High af brand a sitive inform tion. Further related cele Affective bran shows an ov nents Indi ve e ‐ Im ‐ Sa ‐ Go ve e ‐ Ni ‐ At ‐ En ve e ‐ Ad ‐ co overview bra 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 fective attitude ffective attitude mation influe rmore, the p brity. nd attitude verview of al ividual items mpressive tisfactory ood ce ttractive ntertaining didas favorite onsidering buy nd attitude re Rog ences consum positive infor ll the means e sports brand ying Adidas esults ger Federer mers’ affect mation has m of the mani Mea Roger Fe 5.4 5.3 5.7 5.0 5.0 5.0 d 5.9 5.9 ive brand a more impact pulation che an ederer Pa 0 6 0 6 6 4 4 0 Patrick ttitude mor t on the rela eck. Mean atrick Dempse 3.19 3.98 3.44 3.56 3.62 3.56 3.73 3.31 k Dempsey
4.2 Purchase intention
To test the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on the purchase intention of consumers I used the question ‘Would you buy products of the Adidas brand, in case you need them?’ and conducted a hierarchical log linear analysis. This test revealed a significant main effect both of the type of celebrity, Chi square (1) = 14.00, p< 0,001, as well as the type of information, Chi square (1) = 4.04, p < 0,05. 98% of the respondents who saw the spreadsheet of the related celebrity, Roger Federer, would purchase Adidas products and 75% of the respondents who saw the spreadsheet of the unrelated celebrity, Patrick Dempsey, would purchase Adidas products. Analyzing the other main effect, of the type of information, 92% of the respondents who read the press release with positive information, ambassadorship for UNICEF, would purchase Adidas products and 80% of the respondents who read the press release with negative information, car accident, would purchase Adidas products. Although there is no significant interaction effect, the type of celebrity and type of information both influence the purchase intention. I also used the question ‘Do you think that Adidas products are value for money?’ and I conducted a 2x2 ANOVA. This test revealed a significant main effect on the type celebrity, F (2,97) = 131,95 , p < 0,001 means.
As mentioned before, I also asked the respondents for the willingness to pay. I conducted a 2 between subjects (celebrity: related versus unrelated) x 2 between subjects (information: positive versus negative) x 3 within subjects (products: tennis racket versus football boots versus swimsuit) repeated measures ANOVA .This test revealed a significant main effect on product and a significant interaction effect on product and type of celebrity and at the same time a between subjects effect of the type of celebrity (Roger Federer M = 47.80 and Patrick Dempsey M = 35.29).
Figure 8 shows an overview of the between subjects (celebrity: related versus unrelated) x 2 between subjects (information: positive versus negative) x 3 within subjects (products: tennis racket versus football boots versus swimsuit) results.
5.
Discussion
Celebrity endorsements are frequently used as a mean of attracting attention and can be effective at positioning products in consumers’ minds. Consumers appreciate celebrities in endorsements because the endorsed products offer the chance to have something in common with a celebrity. However, the use of celebrities as endorsers is not without risk given the extraordinary lifestyles celebrities live. Therefore, the main purpose of this thesis was to study whether the effect of celebrity endorsement is affected by the type of information that is exposed about the celebrity. Specifically, I examined what happened to the brand attitude and purchase intention of consumers after exposing them to a positive or negative press release of a related or non related celebrity. 5.1 General findings To measure the brand attitude, I distinguished the cognitive, affective and conative components of brand attitude. The interaction effect on the affective brand attitude is exactly what I expected. The type of information does influence consumers’ feelings and emotions; the affective part of brand attitude. The positive information influences consumers’ affective brand attitude more than the negative information. Furthermore, the positive information has more impact on the related celebrity than on the non related celebrity. In line with my hypothesis, the results indicate that the type of information is more determinative in case of related celebrities and less determinative in case of non related celebrities.
The main effects on the type of celebrity of the cognitive and conative brand attitude are consistent with previous literature. A related celebrity influences the advertisement more than a non related celebrity. The type of information does hardly affect consumers’ attitude. Consumers do not directly relate bad behavior of a celebrity to a brand. Is that really true? Tiger Woods suffered badly after the exposure of all the negative information about him. Not only his own popularity was damaged, the popularity of ‘his’ brand also decreased enormous, because almost all his sponsors denounced the cooperation immediately.
The difference between Tiger Woods and the celebrities and press releases used in this study can be made easily. Tiger Woods appeared time after time in a negative way. Moreover, his ex‐wife, supermodel Elin Nordegren, set herself vulnerable in the media which yielded her more sympathy and made Tiger Woods more and more the ‘bogey’man2. In this study, Roger Federer (or Patrick
2
Dempsey) appeared only once in the media and the negative information is still less negative than all Tiger Woods his escapades. Consumers might be stunned by the car accident, but they do not connect it directly to the brand. It is likely that consumers’ will be affected more when negative information is exposed more often, as in case of Tiger Woods.
I tested the influence of type of celebrity and type of information on the purchase intention of consumers. This test revealed a significant main effect both of the type of celebrity as well as the type of information. Although there is no significant interaction effect, the type of celebrity and type of information both influence the purchase intention. It is likely that this influence is stronger derived from the affective brand attitude. I also asked the respondents for the willingness to pay. This test revealed a significant main effect on product and a significant interaction effect on product and type of celebrity and at the same time a between subjects effect of the type of celebrity. 5.2 Implications
This research contributes scientifically to the existing literature about celebrity endorsement. This study is the first that studies the influence of the type of information that is exposed about related as well as unrelated celebrities on sports advertising. This leads to better understanding of the applicability of celebrity endorsement.
This study has a practical contribution as well. The study provided a brand attitude and purchase intention questionnaire. These outcomes could be pragmatic for researchers who want to study brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Marketers will be able to understand celebrity endorsement and the use of related and non related celebrities. A related celebrity sounds nice, but when this celebrity crosses the line constantly, a brave non related celebrity would be better for a brand.
5.3 Future research
Although this study makes a contribution to the celebrity endorsement literature, there are a few recommendations for future research. First, this study was a single‐shot study, i.e., I measured the effects only once. I recommend developing a longitudinal study to examine the brand attitude and purchase intention, which might be helpful in understanding the long term effects, and more importantly, the effects of several positive versus negative information about the celebrity.
consumers. Finally, because of low power further research on this topic with a larger sample would be recommended. When utilizing a larger sample it is likely that the results of the brand attitude effect also are valid for the purchase intention of consumers.
5.4 Conclusion
All in all, this research show the results on brand attitude and purchase intention caused by exposing consumers to a press release (positive or negative) about a celebrity (related or non related) exactly as I expected it to be. Both brand attitude and purchase intention are influenced by the type of celebrity and the type of information, whereby the effects are stronger in the related celebrity condition. Sports, and its endorsers, will not soon be forgotten.
6.
References
Agrawal, J. & W. A. Kamakura (1995), The Economic Worth of Celebrity Endorsers: An Event Study Analysis, Journal of Marketing. Volume 59, pp. 56‐62.
Brown, Steven P. & Douglas M. Stayman (1992), Antecedents and consequences of attitude towardthe ad: a meta‐analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (June): 34‐51.
Chattopadhyay, Amitava (1998), When Does Comparative Advertising Influence Brand Attitude? The Role of Delay and Market Position, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 15(5): 461‐475
Daneshvart, R., & K. Schwer (2000), The association endorsement and consumers intention to purchase. Journal of Consumer Marketing. Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 203‐213.
Erdogan, B. Zafer (1999), Celebrity endorsement: a literature review. Journal of Marketing
Management, 15(4): 291‐314.
Fishbein, Martin & Ajzen Icek (1975), Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: an introduction to theory and research. Reading (Massachusetts): Addison Wesley.
Gresham, Larry G., Alan J. Bush & Robert A. Davis (1984), Measures of Brand Attitude: Are Cognitive Structure Approaches really needed?, Journal of Business Research, 12 , 353‐361.
Hoyer, Wayne D. & Deborah J. MacInnes (2007), Consumer Behavior, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston (New York), 4th edition.
Keller, Kevin L. (2007), Strategic Brand Management: building, measuring and managing brand
equity, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River (New Jersey), 3rd edition.
Lavidge, R. & G. Steiner (1961), A model for predictive measurements of advertising effectiveness.
Journal of Marketing, 25(6), 59‐62.
Martin, James H. (1996), Is the athlete’s sport important when picking an athlete to endorse a nonsport product? Journal of Consumer Marketing. Vol. 13, No. 6, pp 28‐43.
McCracken, G. (1989), Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the endorsement process, Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (3), 310‐321. Money, R. Bruce, Terence A. Shimp & Tomoaki Sakano (2006), Celebrity endorsements in Japan and the United States: is negative information all that harmful?, Journal of Advertising Research, 46(1): 113‐123. Sherman, Stratford P. (1985), When You Wish Upon a Star, For‐ tune, (August 19), 68. Till, B. D., & T. A. Shimp (1998), Endorsers in advertising: The case of negative celebrity information. Journal of Advertising, 27(1), 67–82.
Yoo, Changjo & Deborah MacInnes (2005), The brand attitude formation process of emotional and informational ads, Journal of Business Research, 58: 1397–1406.
Whan Park, C., Deborah J. MacInnes, Joseph Priester, Andreas B. Eisingerich & Dawn Iacobucci (2010), Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Emperical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers, Journal of Marketing, 74(6): 1‐17.
Appendix
Appendix 1: Pilot test (Condition Roger Federer / positive information ‐Example‐) Kort onderzoek Deze vragenlijst duurt ongeveer tien minuten. Er wordt met name gevraagd naar uw mening. Er zijn dus geen foute antwoorden mogelijk. Uw antwoorden zullen gebruikt worden om een vervolgonderzoek te ontwerpen waarin Roger Federer een rol zal spelen. U kunt nu beginnen aan de vragenlijst. NB de vragenlijst is dubbelzijdig afgedrukt.
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is internationaal toptennisser en wordt daarom het nieuwe gezicht van Adidas. Hieronder volgt een voorbeeld van een campagne. Op de volgende bladzijden volgen enkele vragen over deze reclame.
Hieronder volgt een persbericht over Roger Federer. Op de volgende bladzijde volgen enkele vragen over deze reclame. Roger Federer zet zich in voor UNICEF 17 augustus 2010 Vandaag is tennisser Roger Federer door UNICEF International benoemd tot ambassadeur van de kinderrechtenorganisatie. In deze hoedanigheid zal de tennisser de komende jaren aandacht vragen voor het werk en de doelstellingen van UNICEF: ervoor zorgen dat elk land de rechten van kinderen respecteert en naleeft.
Het is een groot voorrecht om Roger Federer bij UNICEF welkom te mogen heten," aldus Anthony Lake, algemeen directeur van UNICEF International. "Met zijn grote bekendheid en betrokkenheid kan én zal Roger een warm pleitbezorger zijn voor het verbeteren van de situatie van vele kwetsbare kinderen in de wereld."
Roger: "Ik zet mij in voor UNICEF omdat zij wereldwijd als een sterke, onafhankelijke organisatie strijdt voor het welzijn van kinderen. Er zijn talloze projecten in vele landen waarin UNICEF het voortouw neemt. Als toegewijd vader weet ik hoe het voelt om je kinderen te willen behoeden voor alle narigheid zodat ze zich goed kunnen ontwikkelen en op kunnen groeien zonder problemen. Maar voor heel veel kinderen is dat helaas niet zo vanzelfsprekend. Ik vind het belangrijk dat ieder kind zijn leven op dezelfde manier kan beginnen, met dezelfde rechten en kansen. Ook al is er de afgelopen jaren wereldwijd veel bereikt op het gebied van de rechten van het kind, er is nog veel te doen en in mijn rol als ambassadeur zal ik mij met hart en ziel daarvoor inzetten.”
Roger’s eerste optreden als ambassadeur zal zijn op 20 september in New York. Hier zal hij het startschot geven voor de UNICEF Loop, waar kinderen geld bijeen zullen lopen voor betere gezondheidszorg voor kinderen in Zambia.
Condition Patrick Dempsey / Positive information
Condition Patrick Dempsey / Negative information
