View of A STUDY ON MEASURING GENDER EFFECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT FOR MOBILE PHONES

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Vol.04,Special Issue 08, (EMDMSCBW-2019) December 2019, Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

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A STUDY ON MEASURING GENDER EFFECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT FOR MOBILE PHONES

1Dr. Rajeev Shukla

1Director, Shri Vaishnav School of Management, Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya, Indore

2Dr. Dhanashree Nagar

2Associate Professor, Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management, Indore, M.P.

Abstract - The Indian mobile industry is facing a stiff competition in terms of advertising and brand promotion. There are many mobile phone brands available in Indian market, competing with each other on the basis of product features, price, design and the celebrity who is endorsing the brand. A number of factors have been mentioned as important in using endorsers, such as the endorser's personal qualities, reputation, trust, popularity, etc. The present study is intended to measure the effects of celebrity endorsement on the promotion of mobile phones. Gender-wise significant difference in customer perception observed towards image of celebrity, credibility of celebrity, presentation style of celebrity, multiple brand endorsement, and celebrity endorsement as measure for attracting new customers.

Keywords: Mobile phones, Celebrity, Endorsement, Effectiveness, Gender effect.

1. INTRODUCTION

In today’s competitive marketing environment celebrity endorsement is commonly used marketing approach in all the sectors. It is a brand building exercise, if used strategically and blended with other elements of marketing mix. Marketers make every endeavor to grab customer’s mind by associating them with the famous personalities. (Khatri, 2006) The celebrities’ job is not only to render services of their actual job performances like as an actor or as sports person, but also they endorse products and brands. Despite the fact of incurring cost and the risks with this promotional element, advertisers mostly pick endorsers as a part of their promotional strategy. This could be in the form of expert opinion by the celebrity, being a representative for a product, or just being associated with a product (McCracken 1989; Seno & Lukas 2007).

Celebrity endorsers are regularly used to promote an endless list of products, including cosmetics, grocery items, credit cards, automobiles, consumer durables, FMCGs and even diet programs. It is observed more in case of the products where there is a large potential customer base. These are typical marketing tactics for nationally or globally reputed brands as compared to a local brand or a niche market. Famous personalities appear in different way when they are in public reflecting their personality of the profession they are into. They act as a spokes person in ads to promote a product and service.

(Kambitsis et al, 2002) There are a number of factors considered as important for endorsement such as endorser's personal qualities, reputation, believability, likeability, etc.

(Nelson 1974). Various studies have contributed towards the celebrity effect on product and brand that they endorse. These studies reflect that celebrity endorsement can have an impact on a product and brand’s attributes.

India’s mobile industry is facing a stiff competition in advertising and brand promotion. There are many brands available in mobile phone market which is competing with each other on the basis of product attributes, price and other factors. One of the important key elements of brand differentiation is celebrity endorsement. This study measures the effects of celebrity endorsement on the promotion of mobile phone brands.

The study has also made an attempt to measure the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement for mobile phone and the perception of customers towards celebrity endorsement.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Celebrity endorsement means association of product or a service with well known personality. (Sharma, 2015) It is being seen more and more as an integral part in an integrated marketing communication strategy (Temperley and Tangen, 2006). The effect of celebrity endorsement on consumer purchase decision is also studied extensively by marketers and researchers. McCraken (1989) define celebrity as “A person who enjoys public recognition from a large share of a certain group of people and uses this recognition on

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behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in advertisements is known as a celebrity”

There are two forms of celebrities in advertising: celebrity license and celebrity endorsement (Mistry 2006). The former is not used often, as it tends to be a long-term, co-branding commitment by both the corporation and the celebrity as the celebrity adds his/her likeness or name directly to a product.

Clark & Horstman (2003) observed that celebrity endorsement induces product/brand recall, enhances perceptions of quality and transfers the image of celebrity to product and to the users in terms of image. It affects consumer purchase decision in certain situations by enhancing recall and consumes assessment of the products. Adoption of celebrities by advertisers has been increased in last few years. It is an effective communication strategy between marketers and consumers. (Abdussalam & Johnson, 2016). Guard (2013) observed that appearance of celebrities in advertisement helps the customers to remember the brand during shopping. Most of the products are endorsed by film actors and sports personalities. Marketers invest into celebrities due to their popularity, attractiveness, credibility and trustworthiness.

They endorse brand identification, change negative attitude towards brands, reposition existing brand and affect purchase intention of customers. (Abdussalam &

Johnson, 2016) Marketers adopt celebrity endorsement strategy in order to improve memory power of consumers while they are in purchasing situation. There are certain parameters like celebrity product match up, credibility, attractiveness, target audience match up, cost consideration that put forward the compatibility between the celebrity and the brand.

Srinivas (2013) investigated consumers’ purchase intention based on attitude towards celebrity endorsement. The study observed that celebrity endorsement generates higher purchase intention and positive attitude towards the ad and brand. Popularity, good image and congruence between celebrity and brand image supports the marketer to consider the celebrity as endorser. (Leug & Luk, 2013) Thus, celebrity endorsement ads increase brand awareness, attract the celebrity fans, encourage trial and enhance purchase confidence. Another study by Sharma (2015) observed that celebrity endorsement helps in transferring the personality and status of celebrity directly to the brand. The personality attributes such as glamour and style may also be linked with the brand. It generates significant positive effect of perceived quality and brand loyalty. It may also enhance consumers’ confidence and preference for a brand leading to influence their purchase intention. Thus, not only brand loyalty is ensured but emotional response may also develop to favourable perceptions towards brand.

Abbas et.al. (2018) observed that ads with celebrity make it easy for customers to recall the brand. Mobile companies use this strategy to increase their customers and market share. Study observed that liking towards the celebrity; attractiveness and the personality of celebrity are the most effective components of the celebrity endorsement construct model, making them key influencers of mobile phone purchase intention of male customers. The female customers see likeability, attractiveness and credibility of the celebrity while purchasing mobile phones.

2.1 Objectives of the Study

 To assess gender effect on customers perception towards celebrity endorsement of different brands of mobile phones.

 To understand gender-wise perception towards trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers of different brands of mobile phones.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 Type of Research: Exploratory Research.

 Sampling Unit: Viewers of celebrity endorsed advertisements of mobile phones

 Sampling Technique: Non-probabilistic Convenience sampling

 Sample Size: Data collected from 199 respondents.

 Data Collection: Primary data for the study collected through structured questionnaire and five point Likert Scale (strongly agree- 5, agree- 4, cannot say-3, disagree- 2, strongly disagree- 1) scale has been used for gauging the responses.

 Tools for data analysis: Mean, Standard Deviation and T test.

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3 3.1 Hypotheses

Following hypotheses were developed for the study and checked at 5% level of significance 1. H11:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards

mobile phone advertisement based on image of celebrity.

2. H12:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on popularity of celebrity.

3. H13:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on physical appearance of celebrity.

4. H14:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on style of celebrity.

5. H15:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on performance of celebrity.

6. H16:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on credibility of celebrity.

7. H17:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on positive effect of multiple endorsements by celebrity.

8. H18:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception based on way of presentation of celebrity in mobile phone advertisement.

9. H19:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on celebrity endorsement of different brand.

10. H110:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement based on celebrity endorsement for increasing new customer.

11. H111:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement for more effectiveness than other modes.

12. H112:- Gender-wise there is a significant difference in customer perception towards mobile phone advertisement that celebrity endorsement influences purchasing behavior of mobile phones.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Gender profile of respondents is exhibited in Table 1. 70% respondents were male and 30 % were female in the sample.

It has been revealed in Table 3 that Gender-wise no significant difference in customer perception was observed based on popularity of celebrity, performance of celebrity, multiple endorsements, increasing new customers, more effective than other modes and influence on purchase behavior by celebrity endorsement. Thus, hypotheses H12, H15, H17, H110, H111 and H112, were rejected. However Gender-wise significant difference was found in customer perception based on image of celebrity, physical appearance celebrity, style, credibility, way of presentation of celebrity and multiple brand endorsement by same celebrity. The hypotheses H11, H13, H14, H16, H18 and H19 were not rejected.

It was revealed in the study that the male respondents were highly agreed that image of celebrity, physical appearance of celebrity, style of celebrity, perceived credibility of celebrity, and multiple brand endorsement of celebrity plays a vital role in effectiveness of celebrity endorsement for mobile phones. Whereas female respondents were agreed that way of presentation of celebrity would be more effective measure for deciding celebrity endorsement for mobile phones. (Table2).

5. CONCLUSION

The present study was intended to measure the effects of celebrity endorsement on the promotion of mobile phones. Gender-wise significant difference in customer perception was observed towards image, physical appearance of celebrity, style of celebrity, credibility, way of presentation and multiple brand endorsement. However no significant difference was found in customer perception towards popularity of celebrity, performance, multiple endorsements by celebrity, increase in new customers, more effectiveness and influence on purchase behavior. Further study can be carried out on the basis of a specific celebrity endorsing different products to understand the effectiveness of the same celebrity on buying behavior. In case of mobile phone brands, a comparative analysis of consumer behavior for

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different brands of mobile phones based on celebrity endorsement can also be done. The study has a further scope of being carried out by adding other demographic variables.

REFERENCES

1. Abbas, A., Afshan, G., Aslam, I. and Ewaz L. (2018) The Effect of Celebrity Endorsement on Customer Purchase Intention: A Comparative Study, Current Economics and Management Research, 4(1), 1-10.

2. Abdussalam P. and Johnson, B.(2016) Celebrity Endorsement in India: Pattern and Trends, Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies, VII(2-1)

3. Chan, K., Yu Leung and E. K. Luk (2013) Impact of Celebrity Endorsement in Advertising on Brand Image among Chinese Adolescents, Young Consumers: Insight and ideas for responsible marketers, 14(2),167-179.

4. Charles, A. and Block, M. (1983) Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers, Journal of Advertising Research, 23 (1), 57-61.

5. Friedman, H. and Friedman, L. (1979) Endorser Effectiveness by Product Type, Journal of Advertising Research, 19 (5), 63-71.

6. Kambitis, C., Harahousou, Y., Theordorakis, N. and Chatzibeir, G. (2002) Sports advertising in print media: The case of 2000 Olympic Games, Corporate Communication, 7(3), 155-161.

7. Khatri, P. (2006) Celebrity Endorsement: A Strategic Promotion Perspective, Indian Media Studies Journal, 1(1), July-Dec., 25-37.

8. Langmeyer, L. and Walker, M. (1991) A First Step to Identify the Meaning in Celebrity Endorsers, Advances in Consumer Research, 18, 364-371.

9. McCracken, G. (1989) Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process, Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (December), 310-321.

10. Mistry, B. (2006) Star Spotting, Marketing, (June 7), 33-34.

11. Mowen, J. and Brown, S. (1981) On Explaining and Predicting the Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers, Advances in Consumer Research, 8, 437-441.

12. Nelson, A. (1974) Can the Glamour and Excitement of Sports Really Carry the Ball for Your Product?

Marketing Review, 29 (February), 21.

13. Seno, D. And Lukas, B. (2007) The Equity Effect of Product Endorsement by Celebrities: A Conceptual Framework from a Co-Branding Perspective, European Journal of Marketing, 41 (1/2), 121-134.

14. Sharma, R. (2015) Effect of Celebrity Endorsements on Brand Quality Perceptions & Brand Loyalty – A Comparative Study of Luxury & Non Luxury Brands In India, AIMA Journal of Management & Research, 9(4/4), 1-13.

15. Srinivas, N. (2013) Impact of brand Celebrity on Consumer Purchase Intention: A study with reference to Selected Mobile Service Providers in Hyderabad City, International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management, 4(8), 50-57.

16. Temperley and Tangen (2006) the Effects of Endorsements on Product Evaluation, Decision Sciences, 8 (July).

Table-1: Gender profile of the Respondents

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid MALE 140 70.4 70.4 70.4

FEMALE 59 29.6 29.6 100.0

Total 199 100.0 100.0

Table-2: Gender Wise Mean and Standard Deviation for Attributes of Celebrity Advertisement

GENDER N Mean Std.

Deviation Q1 MALE 140 4.3143 .92204

FEMALE 59 3.5254 1.29130 Q2 MALE 140 4.1429 .97133

FEMALE 59 4.3729 .69228 Q3 MALE 140 3.8429 1.16466

FEMALE 59 3.6780 .70566 Q4 MALE 140 3.6429 .98967 FEMALE 59 3.6271 1.28517 Q5 MALE 140 3.9357 1.06082 FEMALE 59 3.7288 .94377 Q6 MALE 140 3.7357 .75494 FEMALE 59 3.3390 1.21215 Q7 MALE 140 3.8929 .97225

FEMALE 59 3.6780 1.18089 Q8 MALE 140 3.7214 .99689

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FEMALE 59 4.0000 .69481 Q9 MALE 140 3.9214 .92190 FEMALE 59 3.1864 1.16670 Q10 MALE 140 3.5286 1.12168 FEMALE 59 4.1017 1.09379 Q1

1 MALE 140 4.1286 .84686 FEMALE 59 3.9492 .85951 Q1

2 MALE 140 3.7071 1.02835 FEMALE 59 3.9322 .82763

Table-3: Gender Wise T-test for Attributes of Celebrity Advertisement

Levene's Test for Equality of Variances

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-

tailed)

Q1 Equal variances

assumed 19.715 .000 4.866 197 .000

Equal variances not

assumed 4.257 83.984 .000

Q2 Equal variances

assumed 1.447

.230 -1.650 197 .101

Equal variances not

assumed -1.887 150.838 .061

Q3 Equal variances

assumed 18.074 .000 1.011 197 .313

Equal variances not

assumed 1.225 172.657 .222

Q4 Equal variances

assumed 16.685 .000 .093 197 .926

Equal variances not

assumed .084 88.310 .933

Q5 Equal variances

assumed .001 .973 1.297 197 .196

Equal variances not

assumed 1.360 121.798 .176

Q6 Equal variances

assumed 21.265 .000 2.798 197 .006

Equal variances not

assumed 2.331 77.647 .022

Q7 Equal variances

assumed 2.100 .149 1.334 197 .184

Equal variances not

assumed 1.233 92.714 .221

Q8 Equal variances

assumed 17.153 .000 -1.954 197 .042

Equal variances not

assumed -2.254 153.941 .026

Q9 Equal variances

assumed 12.461 .001 4.734 197 .000

Equal variances not

assumed 4.305 89.940 .000

Q10 Equal variances

assumed .106 .745 -3.316 197 .001

Equal variances not

assumed -3.350 111.652 .001

Q11 Equal variances

assumed .058 .810 1.359 197 .176

Equal variances not

assumed 1.351 107.647 .180

Q12 Equal variances

assumed 1.744 .188 -1.489 197 .138

Equal variances not

assumed -1.626 134.302 .106