From the questionnaire surveys, they claimed that 53% of the respondents agreed that celebrity endorsement helps them remember the brand. Celebrity recognition as a marketing technique is usually effective in India so that Indians can easily remember the brand associated with celebrities (Balakrishnan & Kumar, 2010).
Brand Image
Buying Decision
Surana (2008) emphasized that only lower and middle class people are the ones for whom celebrity endorsement is of value in relation to the purchase decision. Boeing and Schurhaus (2014), who conducted questionnaire surveys in the city of South Brazil with 400 respondents, suggested that the celebrity-endorsed product does not influence the sample's purchase decisions at all.
Sales Revenue
His research found that 72% of the sample agreed that celebrity endorsement helps improve sales revenue. Furthermore, the research examined the impact of celebrity endorsement on the company's stock returns.
Negative Aspects of Celebrity Endorsement
Negative attitudes toward celebrity endorsement
Boeing and Schurhaus (2014) also added that other marketing mix (i.e. product, price and place) are important as the study found that celebrities have no positive impact on consumer purchase decision. Although Arora and Sahu (2014) found positive impacts on brand recognition, brand trustworthiness and purchase decision, they also suggested that other factors are more important in consumer purchase decisions.
Multiple brand endorsement
Radha and Jija (2013), Surana (2008) and Wei and Lu (2013) supported that consumers do not believe that celebrities use the products they are endorsing in their real lives; it's just a celebrity's job and so consumers don't trust them.
Product specific
In conclusion, marketers consider celebrity tagging to be a public tool for promoting products and brands in a wide variety of media. However, the negative aspects should not be neglected, as this can reduce the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement.
Research Gaps
Research Questions
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research Design
- Population and Sampling
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis
This is an important part of a research to determine the appropriate research population and the appropriate sampling procedure to answer the research questions (Kumar, 2010). In this study, the target population to find relevant answers to the research questions was the working age population in Bangkok aged 18 – 45 years. In addition, this group also exposes the most to celebrity endorsement of a product, as they are the main users of digital media and receive an advertising message from various channels (XM Thomas Idea, 2015).
As such, this data source is appropriate for this study to seek answers regarding consumer purchasing decisions and perceptions of celebrity endorsement. In order to understand the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer purchasing decisions, interview questions would be designed to explore the factors that influence purchasing behavior as well as consumer perceptions of celebrity endorsement. Due to the nature of the research questions that require frequent responses, we used a structured interview.
The first part of the interview questions aims to explore the current state of consumer perception of celebrity endorsements, as well as the impact on purchase intention and behavior. The first part of the interview questions was calculated to find the most frequently mentioned factors and aimed to answer how celebrity endorsement influences the purchasing behavior of Thai consumers and which product specific is most effective when using celebrity endorsement and which product the technique should not be used in Thai consumer perception.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
- Demographic Profiles of Research Participants
- The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Purchasing Decisions Based on the interviews, 12 respondents (40% of total research
- Consumer Perception on Celebrity Endorsement
- Benefits of celebrity endorsement
- Match between the celebrity type and the product type Nowadays, many advertisements use the celebrities who are very popular
- Attitudes towards celebrity endorsement
- Product specific for celebrity endorsement
- The Multiple Brand Endorsement
It is perceived that the celebrity endorsement could promote brand awareness in a wide range instantly and also facilitate brand recognition. The celebrity endorsement helps in promoting brand awareness, especially a new brand or a new product from the existing brand. Some of the respondents mentioned about the benefit of celebrity endorsement on the brand's sales revenue.
I believe that a brand uses celebrity endorsement technique only to stimulate sales revenue." (Male, 27, Business Employee). Finally, respondents also mentioned that celebrity endorsement supports brand credibility, especially when the product is endorsed by a credible celebrity. Therefore, the research also further investigated consumer attitudes towards the celebrity endorsing a brand, as well as the technique of celebrities.
The study also found that respondents who stopped buying a product because of the endorser's negative publicity reported high levels of celebrity endorsement influence on purchase decisions. According to the interviews, most of the survey participants had a relatively negative attitude towards celebrity endorsements in terms of the celebrities' actual experiences with the brands. On the contrary, most of the respondents claimed that the types of products that are not effective using celebrity endorsement are car, insurance and house.
Celebrity endorsements have been part of the marketing scene dating back to the second half of the last century.
DISCUSSION
Regarding the benefits of celebrity endorsement, in addition to influencing consumer purchase decisions, the study found other benefits of celebrity endorsement through consumer perception. Mistine, who exemplifies the case of brand image enhanced by celebrity endorsement, was also mentioned by almost every respondent who perceived the benefit of brand image. This confirms Kamins' (1990) matching hypothesis that attractive actresses are more effective in endorsing beauty and cosmetic products and thus can enhance brand image accordingly.
According to consumers' perception of the celebrity endorsement, this study supports Boeing and Schurhaus' (2014) conclusion that it is not necessary to match the celebrity type with the product type as long as the celebrity's personality matches the brand's characteristics and message. But the result of the current study is in line with the research of Anekthammakul (2010) by showing that this problem does not reduce the credibility of the product or the brand and so is not at all relevant in the purchase decisions. Wei and Lu (2013) argued that celebrity endorsement is product specific and that search items (e.g., shoes) are more effective using celebrity endorsement than an experienced item (e.g., toner).
Findings from the current study support the idea that celebrity branding is product dependent (Wei & Lu, 2013). Brand recognition and recall decreased when a celebrity endorsed multiple brands, especially when product concepts and messages are quite similar, causing brand confusion among Thai consumers.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS,
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
Practical Implications
However, the research also further identified that multiple brand endorsement reduces brand recognition and recall among Thai consumers. Moreover, to remind consumers regularly, marketers should try to repeat the celebrity endorsement wherever they can in various mediums such as TV, magazine, radio or billboard, especially when the brand uses multiple endorsers. Otherwise, consumers would only remember the famous person, but then forget the brand he/she endorses.
However, marketers must ensure that the chosen celebrity is correct in terms of age, personality and other identities associated with that celebrity who may represent the brand. Otherwise, it is pointless to take advantage of the celebrity's popularity, but he/she does not represent the brand personalities at all. In this case, the audience could not associate the celebrity with the product, then they would eventually forget about the celebrity endorsement of that brand.
Regarding negative attitudes towards celebrity endorsement, most Thai consumers do not believe that celebrities actually use the product they endorse in real life, causing lower brand trust. Furthermore, celebrities should also refrain from using the competitor's products of the brand they are endorsing, otherwise it would completely destroy that brand's credibility in the eyes of consumers.
Limitations of the Study
To overcome this issue, marketers should come up with a contract to force celebrities to use the products they endorse, at least in public, in order to increase credibility on the products and gradually develop positive views about the technique as well. . Finally, the interviews investigated reactions to Thai celebrity endorsers only, and this cannot ensure that perceptions and attitudes towards foreign celebrity endorsers would be the same as Thai ones. It should be noted that the research was conducted during the last quarter of 2015, so the responses of respondents that include Thai celebrities have endorsed brands within the past 2-3 years.
Suggestions for Future Research
Furthermore, the same research design can be replicated to conduct a similar study in other countries. It is possible that different people in different countries have different cultures that reflect in different attitudes towards this marketing tool. As such, the future study of this topic in other countries may yield different answers from this research.
In terms of data collection, semi-structured and unstructured interview styles where some or all questions were not prepared should be considered in order to gain more consumer insights. Consequently, future research should recommend a more specific celebrity endorsement method to marketers for each consumer target group defined by income range, geographic area, age group, and occupation. The more insight into the data and participant response a future study will gain, the clearer the ideas will be on how to implement effective celebrity endorsements to drive the purchase decision for each target customer group.
It explores the matching hypothesis in celebrity advertising when beauty is only skin deep. Using a celebrity as a leader and brand ambassador in an advertisement (Unpublished undergraduate dissertation). International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications Research in the Real World: A Resource for Social Scientists and Research Practitioners, Blackwell, Oxford.
A Study of Chinese Advertising Practitioner's Perspectives on the Choice of Celebrity Endorsements, Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved from http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Is-celebrity-influence-still-a-force-to-be-reckone-30251918.html. Effectiveness of Using Thai Superstars for Multiple Brand Endorsement, Journal of Public Relations and Advertising.
Reviewing celebrity endorsements and online customer reviews influences female consumers' purchasing behavior.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: Interview Guide
