2nd seminar. 97-2003

THE INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ON

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR OF GLO SUBSCRIBERS: A STUDY

OF AWO HALL RESIDENTS, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

PRESENTED BY

ADEYEMI EYITAYO LATEEFAT

MATRIC NO: 121006

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR

APPLIED SEMINAR (LAC 724)

COURSE COORDINATORS

DR. B.A. LANINHUN

DR. A.A. OJEBODE

DR. G.O. SHOKI

SEPTEMBER , 2010

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BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Advertising is a form of persuasion that aims to get people to patronize some product,

service or idea. Whether an organization manufactures goods or provides services, it is

imperative that product and service providers reach prospective customers and maintain existing

ones. Advertising aims at ensuring that a product does not fade out of existence. To achieve this,

the use of people who are famous in the society to endorse a product, service or idea has become

one of the various marketing tactics of advertisers.

Celebrity endorsement is expensive. Yet the companies are willing to pay for the

powerful endorsement embedded in the celebrities whose name, face and/or voice recognition

can draw considerable attention of millions of consumers. Agrawal and Kamakura (1995)

estimate that approximately 20% of all advertisements use some form of celebrity endorsement

to inform and persuade. It is believed that when a celebrity endorses a product or service, the

indirect information inferred by the consumer becomes more credible and more relevant.

In the Nigerian telecommunication industry, competition is at its peak as people have

various telecommunication networks to choose from. Thus, each telecommunication service

provider strives to retain existing customers and attract new ones. To achieve this purpose, all the

tools of marketing communication are employed. Public relations, advertising, sales promotion,

event sponsorship and direct marketing have become necessary promotional tools to ensure

survival in the telecommunication industry.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF GLOBACOM NIGERIA

Glo mobile or Glo is one of the most subscribed to networks in Nigeria. In its first year of

operation, it had one million subscribers in over 87 towns in Nigeria. Glo has an estimate of over

25 million subscribers (June 2009) and it is a 100 percent Nigerian owned company. It has a

reputation as one of the fastest growing multi-national carrier in the world and the vision for Glo

is to be the biggest and best carrier in Africa.

Glo mobile made its debut in Nigeria on August 29, 2003. Globacom, as Nigeria's Second National Operator (SNO) defied all known and unknown challenges to enter into the cost-expensive, money spinning telecommunications business. Coming two years behind the other two leading GSM services providers- Zain (formerly Econet) and MTN, it couldn’t have been easy to break into the market.

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Today, Glo has risen to become Nigeria's second leading GSM operator with over 20million subscribers covering the widest of communities, towns and States of the country.

www.nigerianmusicmovement.com

Globacom has over 300 roaming partners in 170 countries worldwide and these include all major

commercial hubs such as UK, USA, France, Germany, UAE, Belgium, South Africa, Saudi

Arabia, Brazil, India and China. The telecom company has the reputation of being the pioneer in

prepaid roaming and GPRS roaming services in Nigeria.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

No doubt, advertising has been one of the most effective means of creating awareness for

the Glo telecommunication company. Music and drama are effective elements employed in the

company’s adverts to attract people to the network. These adverts feature close to 25 celebrities

in the Nigerian entertainment industry.

However, celebrities who appeal to some audience may serve as a turn off to others. Not

all celebrities can endorse a product. The loss of public acceptability of an endorser can ruin the

product or brand endorsed by the celebrity. Thus, the study aims to determine if the acceptance

or non-acceptance of a celebrity will affect the customer’s patronage and opinion about the

organization.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is customers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts?

2. Does the use of celebrities in Glo adverts prompt people to emulate the behaviour of

these celebrities?

3. How has celebrity endorsement influenced customers’ disposition towards the

organization and the services rendered by it, thereby facilitating increase in patronage?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This study aims to find out subscribers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts. To

find out if celebrities featured in adverts affect their patronage. Finally, the study aims to

discover the extent to which people’s preferred celebrity endorsers affect their lifestyle.

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http://www.nigerianmusicmovement.com/

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is a pilot study designed to examine how customers respond to celebrity

endorsement in Glo adverts. Samples of residents of Awo hall, University of Ibadan will be

studied to collect data.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will:

serve as reference for further research work and contribute to existing information on the

subject.

reveal to service marketers people’s opinion about the use or non-use of celebrity in

advertising.

depict whether the use of celebrities by service providers can change the image of the

organization in people’s mind or not.

LIMITATIONS

The researcher faced challenges like unwillingness of some respondents to fill the questionnaire

and time constraint.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

CELEBRITY ENDORSER: is a popular person who could be an entertainer to the public, using

his/her fame to promote a product or service.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT: is a type of branding, or advertising in which a famous person

uses his or her status in society to promote a product, service or charity.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: is the process of searching for, selecting, purchasing, using,

evaluating, and disposing of products and services by consumers.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This section of the study will focus on the review of relevant literature which will give a

better understanding of the concepts that are central to this study.

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CONCEPT OF PERSUASION

“Whenever communication goes beyond the objective of providing information,

education and entertainment, and seeks to influence the attitude or behaviour of the target, it

becomes persuasion” (Onyenyili-Onuorah, 2005: 44). Persuasion is the use of appeals, emotions,

beliefs and values to convince a target audience and it is mostly done through promotion

communication such as; marketing, advertising and direct selling.

Folarin (1998:74) citing Bradley (1984) defines persuasion as “an attempt to change

attitude and behaviour through involvement of a person’s cognitive and affective processes”.

This process is symbolic and it occurs only through cooperation between the source and the

receiver. “Persuasion is the process of co creating a state of identification between a source and a

receiver that results from the use of verbal and/or visual symbols” (Larson, 2004:11). From the

foregoing, it is apparent that persuasion is essential in getting across information about ideas,

goods and services to the target audience. The three forms of persuasion are; public relations,

propaganda and advertising. Out of these three, this study will focus on advertising.

ADVERTISING

“Advertising is a marketing communications element that is persuasive, non-personal,

paid for by an identified sponsor, and disseminated through mass channels of communication to

promote the adoption of goods, services, persons, or ideas”. (Bearden, Ingram and Laforge,

2007:392). Assael (1998:8) observes advertising as “a paid non-personal communication from a

commercial source such as a manufacturer or retailer”. From the foregoing definitions, we can

deduce that advertising is a communication that is non-personal in nature and is intended to

persuade the audience about a cause. Advertising informs buyers about product characteristics

and availability, stimulates demand, helps build brand success, develops and shapes buyer

behaviour.

Different types of media are employed to get these messages across to the target

audience. These include traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio,

outdoor and direct mail; or the new media such as the internet. Adverts may be placed by an

advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organizations. Commercial advertisers often

seek to generate increased patronage of their products or services through branding, which

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involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with

the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise

items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious

organizations and governmental agencies.

WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?

“Consumer behaviour is the study of human responses to products, services, and the

marketing of products and services” (Kardes, 1999:5). It attempts to understand the buyer

decision-making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual

consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's

wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends,

reference groups, and society in general.

Arnould, Price and Zinkhan (2005:5) describe consumer behaviour as “individuals or

groups acquiring, using, and disposing of products, services, ideas, or experiences”. Consumer

behaviour is the mental and emotional processes and the physical activities that people engage in

when they select, purchase, use and dispose of products or services to satisfy particular needs

and desires (Bearden et al, 2007).

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The factors affecting consumer behaviour as identified by Arens, Weigold and Arens

(2008:146) are three; the personal process, interpersonal influences and non-personal influences.

The Personal Process: involves the perception, the learning and persuasion, and the motivation

processes. The perception process explains how the consumer perceives, accepts and remembers

an advert or other stimulus aimed at patronage of a product or service. Learning and persuasion

determine our interests, attitudes, beliefs, preferences, emotions, habits, brand loyalty, needs and

wants. Motivation is based on the Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which maintains that

the lower physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before the higher, socially acquired

needs or wants. These three processes determine how consumers see the world around them, how

they learn information and habits and how they actualize their personal needs and motives.

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The Interpersonal Influence: This affects and sometimes dominates the personal process, it is

made up of three factors, which are; family, society and cultural environment. The family

influence is very strong and it affects consumers’ attitude towards products from an early age.

Societal influence comprises of the consumer’s social class, reference groups and opinion

leaders. Cultural influence refers to a whole set of attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things that

are transferred from generation to generation within social groups. Subculture can also influence

the decision of the consumer, it is a segment within a culture that shares a set of values, beliefs

and attitudes, which differ from the overall culture.

The Non-personal Influence: This influence is in the form of time, place and environment. The

time of purchase of a product or service could be as a result of the consumer’s need at that time,

or the advertiser through certain benefits that are attached to the product or service could trigger

it. The place where the purchase is made is based on the marketer’s distribution strategy. The

social, political, economic, technical, ecological environments can affect the consumer’s choice.

While these factors are beyond the consumer’s control, they are not necessarily beyond the

advertiser’s.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

More recently, advertisers have begun attempting to quantify and qualify the use of

celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to

a brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior. The crescendo of

celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past years. Marketers overtly

acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer-purchasing decisions.

Bergstrom and Skarfstad (2004:1) citing McCracken (1989) define celebrity endorsement

as “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a

consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement”. He can be an entertainer to the public,

a movie superstar, a television actor or a sportsman owning special entertaining qualities

respectively. “Advertisers hire popular figures and entertainment stars to persuade people to

buy their products. Such advertisements are effective because viewers and readers transfer their

feelings about the star to the product itself” (Winterowd and Murray, 1985:266).

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Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change for a variety of reasons. They may attract more attention to the advertisement than would non-celebrities or in many cases, they may be viewed as more credible than non-celebrities, consumers may desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally, consumers may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire. The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a firm's product can generally be improved by matching the image of the celebrity with the personality of the product.

(Gupta, 2007)

IMPORTANT SOURCE EFFECT VARIABLES

Effect variables that may endear the consumers to the source are;

Source Credibility: Amos, Holmes and Strutton (2008) citing Ohanian (1990) describe source

credibility as the communicator’s positive characteristics that affect the receiver’s acceptance of

a message. Source credibility is the extent to which a celebrity is assumed to have enough

exposure to impart an objective attitude towards the product or service that he or she promotes. It

is believed that the information attributed to a credible source can influence the opinions of

consumers.

Source expertise: Celebrity endorsers’ expertise is the extent to which a communicator is

perceived to be a source of valid assertions. This indicates that a receiver’s perception of the

source’s expertise positively influences source effectiveness. Respondents’ actions in response to

the source’s recommendations seem to vary directly with the source’s perceived level of

expertise and the target person’s level of agreement with those recommendations. Subjects

exposed to a source perceived as highly expert are said to exhibit more agreement with the

source’s recommendation than did those exposed to a source with low expertise. The level of

perceived celebrity expertise should predict celebrity endorser effectiveness.

Source attractiveness: This source does not just encompass aspects of physical attractiveness,

but also entails personality. Certainly, physically attractive celebrities are generally viewed more

favourably on various personality traits than less attractive ones.

Other source effect variables identified by Amos et al (2008) are; celebrity performance,

negative information, celebrity trustworthiness, celebrity familiarity, celebrity likeability, and

celebrity/product fit.

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Advantages of a celebrity endorsing a Brand

Katyal (2010) believes that the accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by

the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:

Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for

that brand among the target audience, especially in case of new products. It ensures that

brand awareness is created in a market.

Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter

of advertisements and making the advert and the brand more noticeable.

PR coverage: This is another reason for making use of celebrities. Managers perceive

celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage.

Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity

with the brand thereby increasing the recall value.

Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message -

because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers,

thus marketers capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic

segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to

generate interest among the masses.

Disadvantages of a celebrity endorsing a brand:

The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:

1. The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product:

Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may

become liabilities to the brands they endorse.

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2. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing

the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the

audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand.

3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his

or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances.

4. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure: The

novelty of a celebrity endorser gets diluted if he does too many advertisements.

5. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities manifest a

certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian

congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each

celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and

lifestyle.

THE PERCEPTION PROCESS

The perception process is the greatest challenge posed at advertisers. This refers to the

way consumers sense, interpret and comprehend stimuli (Arens et al, 2008). Perception explains

the way we give meaning to the world around us and it plays a major role in the consumer

buying-decision process. It depends on internal factors like beliefs, experiences and expectations,

thereby people can emerge with different perceptions of the same stimulus. The processes of

perception are;

Selective attention: This occurs when consumers notice certain adverts but not others.

Advertisers frequently utilize colour, humor, sexual images and celebrity endorsers to

gain attention of the audience.

Selective comprehension: This involves consumers’ interpretation of information

provided in adverts. Persuasion researchers have documented the tendency of individuals

to perceive incoming information consistent with their own opinions and preferences.

Selective retention: Has to do with what parts of the advertised information consumers

remember. Advertisers make use of symbols, rhymes and unique images, which assist the

learning, and remembering of brand information (Bearden et al, 2007).

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EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Adebamigbe (2005) discovered that while advertisers believe in the effectiveness of the

use of celebrity endorsers in influencing consumer purchasing behaviour, a large number of

consumers do not share this opinion. Although the adverts tend to be more memorable,

consumers will not purchase products that do not appeal to them. She goes further to explain that

most consumers believe that the use of celebrities in adverts is deceitful, as most of these

endorsers do not patronize the advertised products.

Amos et al (2008) underscored the high risk associated with using celebrity endorsers as

well as the huge impact negative information about that celebrity can have on consumer

perceptions. They also found that when negative information about a celebrity endorser emerges,

the revelation could dilute the equity of the product/brand associated with the celebrity. It was

also revealed that college students might represent an ideal target market for advertisements that

use celebrity endorsers as it has been observed that the influence on students is greater than on

members of more cross-sectional samples. Finally, celebrity endorsers were found to be less

influential in non-US studies. This suggests that non-US populations are less responsive to

celebrity endorsers.

Ang, Dubelaar and Kamakura (2010) observed that celebrity endorsement could change a

product’s worth. When a product is paired with different celebrities, it takes on different brand

personalities. When the fit is good, the transfer of the personality is more likely to occur and this

tends to be positive. On the other hand when the fit is bad, transfer is less likely to occur, and

when it occurs tends to be negative. They also found that if the product has a very strong brand

personality, it may not be worth paying any celebrity to endorse it (regardless of image-fit) since

the celebrity will not be able to shift the personality any higher due to ceiling effects.

From the foregoing, celebrity endorsement has been found to have either a positive or

negative effect on consumers. Some people may perceive a celebrity endorsed product as more

valuable while others may believe that it is deceitful. Also, not all products need to be endorsed

by celebrities especially when the product/celebrity fit is poor. However, these previous studies

emphasize more on product endorsement than service endorsement. This pilot study will

investigate the influence of celebrity endorsement on services.

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THEORETIC FRAMEWORK

Congruity Theory is one of the Consistency Theories of attitude change. It was

developed by Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum in 1955 to improve on the first

consistency theory, Fritz Heider’s Balance Theory. According to Strong, Cook and Lemore

(1996:68) “congruity theory enables us to match a celebrity with a product or idea and

mathematically predict the image outcome for that promotional mix. This theory teaches us how

efficiently a credible person, by virtue of association, can improve the image of an organization.

It also teaches us how efficiently that image can be destroyed when endorsers lose public trust”.

This implies that a change of attitude to both the source of information and the message is bound

to take place when there is internal inconsistency.

Cultural Norms Theory posits that, “through selective representation and tendentious

emphasis on certain themes, the mass media created the impression among their audience that

such themes were part of the structure or clearly defined cultural norms of society. These media

presentations account for the behaviour of certain members of the public” (Folarin, 1998:69).

This means that the audience emulates what the media portrays.

Meaning Transfer Model of Mc Cracken (1989) cited by Joshi and Ahluwalia (2010) is

a comprehensive model which suggests that the meaning associated with the celebrity endorser

moves to the product or the brand. This model portrays that the audience can transfer their

feelings towards the celebrity to the product itself. Compatibility of the celebrity's persona with

the overall brand image is very important, as a celebrity imparts credibility and inspirational

value to a brand thus, his or her image should perfectly match the brand's image.

METHODOLOGY

This part of the study describes in detail the steps taken by the researcher in carrying out

this study. It highlights the research design, the population, the sampling techniques, the research

instruments, method of data collection and data analysis.

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RESEARCH DESIGN

This study employs the survey design. The method was considered appropriate in view of

the fact that people’s opinion and attitude are the focus of the study.

POPULATION

Being a pilot study, the sample comprises residents in Obafemi Awolowo Hall of the

University of Ibadan who are subscribers to glo network. The rationale behind this choice is

because it is the only residential hall that accommodates both male and female undergraduate

and postgraduate students.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

The sampling techniques employed in this study are three;

The researcher employed the stratified random sampling by grouping the respondents into the

nine blocks of the hall. The purposive sampling technique was utilized because the parameter for

choosing the respondents was based on being a glo subscriber. And finally, the convenience

sampling technique because the views of people who were willing, able and qualified of all the

two, three or four occupants in the rooms were sampled.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

In carrying out this study, questionnaires numbering up to 36 were administered on the

selected sample of the population. The questionnaire was divided into two sections. Section A

that consisted of 12 questions sought to elicit information on how celebrity endorsement

influences glo subscribers’ purchase habit and opinion about the organization and its services.

Section B was based on demographic variables. The questionnaire contained a total of 16 items

comprising open-ended, close-ended, multiple choice questions and rating scales.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

The questionnaire was self-administered in order to ensure objectivity, thus terms that

could be found ambiguous to the respondents were explained. Out of the 36 copies of

questionnaires which were administered on the sample, 30 copies were retrieved.

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METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

The responses from the administered questionnaires were analyzed and recorded in a

tabular form in order to get the distribution of respondents in percentage. There will be further

explanation of findings for easy comprehension.

ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

This section of the study focuses on data analysis and discussion of findings gathered through the

questionnaire.

TABLE 1: Respondents’ views about Glo’s advert style

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Dull 1 3.3

Catchy 7 23.3Interesting 9 30Creative 12 40Others 1 3.3

TOTAL 30 100

In table 1, 12 respondents (40%) of the sample believe that Glo adverts are creative,

9(30%) believe that these adverts are interesting, 7(23.3%) is of the opinion that the adverts are

catchy while 1(3.3%) feel that Glo adverts are dull. One of the respondents thinks that the

adverts although creative and full of ideas, are not effective. This shows that most people like the

Glo advert style.

TABLE 2: Responses on how respondents became aware of celebrity endorsement in Glo adverts

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Television 9 34.6

Newspapers 3 11.5Internet - -

Billboard 4 15.4Radio 1 3.9

All of the above 9 34.6TOTAL 26 100

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Table 2 shows that the highest frequency is television and the combination of all the

media 9(34.6%). Billboard awareness is 4(15.4%), newspaper is 3(11.5%) while radio is

1(3.9%). Thus, while all other means have been quite effective in creating awareness for the

network, more emphasis should be laid on the internet and the radio.

TABLE 3: Respondents’ familiarity with glo celebrity endorsers

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)

9-7 1 3.3

6-4 10 33.4

3-1 15 50

Void 4 13.3

TOTAL 30 100

Item number 3 was an open-ended question and majority of the respondents were able to

recall the names of the celebrities that they have seen in the media advertising for Glo. Only

1(3.3%) of the respondents was familiar with between 7-9 celebrities, 10(33.4%) of them could

recall between 4 and 6 celebrities while 15(50%) respondents could remember 1-3 names of the

celebrity endorsers.

From this findings, it is obvious that people pay attention to celebrities in Glo adverts and

this is a good indication that the endorsers have an effect on them.

RESEARCH QUESTION 1

What is customers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts?

In order to answer this question, items number 5, 10 and 12 of the questionnaire are

selected.

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TABLE 4: Respondents’ views on the likability of the celebrities featured in glo adverts

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Yes 22 91.7No 2 8.3

TOTAL 24 100

Table 4 indicates that 22(91.7%) of the respondents agree to liking the celebrity

endorsers, 2(8.3%) say that they do not like the celebrities who endorse for Glo while 6

respondents did not give their opinion on this question.

This shows that more than average of the sample likes the celebrities.

TABLE 5: Responses on the credibility of Glo celebrity endorsers

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Very credible 11 39.3Not credible 4 14.3Indifferent 13 46.4TOTAL 28 100

From the data above, 11 of the respondents (39.3%) are of the opinion that Glo celebrity

endorsers are credible, 13(46.4%) are indifferent to the credibility of these endorsers while

4(14.3%) do not think that these sources are credible at all.

This indicates that although a large percentage of the respondents are indifferent to the

celebrities’ credibility, the number of people who think that the sources are credible is

encouraging.

TABLE 6: Respondents’ opinions about the use of non-celebrities in Glo adverts

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Yes 10 35.7No 10 35.7

Not sure 8 28.6TOTAL 28 100

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From the data, while 10(35.7%) of the respondents want celebrities in adverts, another

10(35.7%) do not mind the use of non-celebrities while the remaining 8(28.6%) is not sure about

this.

Respondents were further asked to state the reason for preferring non-celebrity models in

Glo adverts and they observe that it will give more employment opportunity to people, some

believe that it portrays the network as being expensive while some people are of the opinion that

celebrity endorsements do not determine patronage of the network.

Other respondents who are of the opinion that celebrities are good in Glo adverts gave

their reasons as the celebrities doing a good job of promoting the network while some think that

the celebrities featured in Glo adverts are too many and that one or two would be sufficient.

The data gathered on research question 1 reveals that majority of the respondents like

Glo’s celebrity endorsers and think that they are credible to an extent although the number of

people that want celebrities in adverts is the same as that of the people who prefer non-celebrity

models. This research question can be traced to the congruity theory which posits that there must

be internal consistency on the part of the target audience if celebrity endorsement is going to

benefit the organization.

RESEARCH QUESTION 2

Does the use of celebrities in Glo adverts prompt people to emulate the behaviour of these

celebrities?

Questionnaire items 4, 6, and 11 are found appropriate to answer this research question.

TABLE 7: Responses on subscribers’ view on how convincing Glo adverts that feature

celebrities are

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Convincing 10 34.5

Unconvincing 5 17.2Indifferent 14 48.3TOTAL 29 100

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Majority of the respondents 14(48.3%) claim to be indifferent to these adverts, 10

respondents (34.5%) are of the opinion that the adverts are convincing while 5(17.2%) think that

the adverts are not convincing.

This portrays that although most people are conscious of the motive of the advertisers and

so are indifferent to the adverts, some still find the adverts convincing while the least number of

respondents think that the adverts are unconvincing.

TABLE 8: Respondents view on how realistic claims made in Glo adverts are

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree - -

Agree 12 44.4Neutral 8 29.6

Disagree 6 22.2Strongly disagree 1 3.7

TOTAL 27 100

In table 8, most respondents, 12(44.4%) agree that Glo adverts are realistic, 8(29.6%) are

neutral to this while 6 of the respondents (22.2%) disagree.

Thus, claims made in Glo adverts are mostly perceived to be realistic.

TABLE 9: Responses on how often customers imagine to be like the celebrities in the

adverts

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Very often 2 6.6

Often 6 20.0Rarely 11 36.7Never 11 36.7

TOTAL 30 100

Table 9 shows that 11(36.7%) respondents rarely and never wish to be like the celebrities,

8(20.6%) of the respondents agree to often wishing to be like the celebrities. Thus, a large

percentage of the respondents do not wish to be as the celebrities portrayed in the adverts.

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Based on the data collected on research question 2, it can be deduced that a good number

of respondents perceive the Glo adverts to be realistic, less than average of the respondents find

celebrity endorsed adverts convincing and quite a good number of the respondents disagree with

ever wishing to be like the celebrities in glo adverts. Research question 2 will revisit the cultural

norms theory which maintains that people tend to emulate certain things portrayed in the media.

The adverts could have been appealing to the respondents however, they do not clamour to be

just like the people being portrayed therein.

RESEARCH QUESTION 3

How has celebrity endorsement influenced customers’ disposition towards the organization and

the services rendered by it, thereby facilitating increase in patronage?

Items 7, 8, and 9 of the questionnaire answer this research question.

TABLE 10: Responses on the influence of celebrity endorsement on customers’ patronage of the

network

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree 2 6.7


Disagree 13 43.3Strongly disagree 9 30

TOTAL 30 100

Table 10 portrays that most respondents 22(73.3%) feel that the celebrities do not

influence their patronage of the network. 6(20%) are influenced by the celebrity endorsers to

increase their patronage while 2(6.7%) are indifferent.

This implies that most people do not put the celebrity endorsers in consideration before

patronizing the network.

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TABLE 11: Respondents’ view on how their favorite celebrity determines their opinion of

the organization




TOTAL 27 100

More than average of the respondents 17(62.9%) do not transfer their affection for a

celebrity to the organization, 6(22.2%) agree to this, while 4(14.8%) are indifferent.

It can be inferred from the above that most people see celebrities and the organization

that they endorse for as separate entities.

TABLE 12: Responses on how the dislike of a celebrity will affect customers’ perception about the

network




TOTAL 30 100

Majority of the respondents 18(60%) will not have a negative opinion towards the

network simply because of a celebrity that they do not like, 6(20%) respondents’ opinion of the

network will be negative as a result of a celebrity which they are not fond of while the remaining

6(20%) do not care about this at all.

Thus, we can assume that the endorsement of a celebrity that people do not like will not

have a negative effect on customers’ perception of the network and the organization.

The data gathered on research question 3 reveals that majority of the respondents feel that

the celebrity is different from the organization. Thus, they do not transfer their opinion about a

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celebrity to the organization. The transfer model is considered here, the people seem to be aware

of the purpose of the celebrity endorsers, thus they regard the organization and its services as one

entity and the celebrity endorser as another.

TABLE 13: Distribution of respondents by gender

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Male 12 40

Female 18 60TOTAL 30 100

Table 13 indicates that 18(60%) of the respondents are female while 12(40%) are male. This

finding reveals that more female views are represented in this study.

TABLE 14: Distribution of respondents by age

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Below 20 years 3 10

20-25 years 24 80More than 25 years 3 10

TOTAL 30 100

As presented in table 18, it is obvious that majority of the respondents fall between 20-25 years

of age 24(80%). Those above 25 years are 3(10%), while respondents below 20 years old are

also 3(10%). This portrays that more undergraduates’ views are represented in this study.

TABLE 15: Distribution of respondents by faculty

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Agriculture 3 10

Arts 8 26.7Education 4 13.3

Law 1 3.3Medicine 2 6.7Science 5 16.7

Social science 3 10Technology 4 13.3

TOTAL 30 100

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As shown above, majority 8(26.7%) of the respondents recruited for the study are in the

humanities while faculty of law has the least number of respondents 1(3.3%).

TABLE 16: Distribution of respondents by level

RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)100 level 5 16.7200 level 5 16.7300 level 6 20400 level 6 20500 level 3 10700 level 5 16.7TOTAL 30 100

Table 16 shows that 12(40%) of the respondents are in 300 level and 400 level, 10(33%) are in

100 and 200 level, 700 level students are 5(16.7%) while 500 level students are 3(10%).

CONCLUSION

In the course of this pilot study, it has been reaffirmed that celebrity endorsement makes

the brand memorable to the target audience. It should however be noted that people are diverse

hence, their opinions tend to vary. Celebrity endorsers who appeal to a sect of the audience may

not appeal to another and this explains why certain people feel that adverts featuring professional

models are preferable to celebrity adverts.

Findings also revealed that although respondents perceive the glo adverts to be realistic

and convincing, they are not motivated to emulate certain behaviours of these celebrity

endorsers. The endorsement of celebrities does not guarantee patronage of the organization as

people believe that the celebrities who endorse products and services are not determinants of the

efficiency of the organization. These findings are however subject to change as an extensive

study may either add to or negate some of the findings. It is however recommended that future

research works explore the criteria for selecting celebrity endorsers.

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REFERENCES

Adebamigbe, T.O. (2005) “The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on product purchase: A Studyof Peak Milk and Lady Care Sanitary Towel” A B.A. Project, Department ofCommunication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan.

Amos,C.; Holmes, G. and Strutton, D. (2008) “Exploring the relationship between celebrityendorser effects and advertising effectiveness: A quantitative synthesis of effect size”International Journal of Advertising Vol. 27, No 2 pp. 209-234.

Arens, W.F.; Weigold, M.I. and Arens, C. (2008) Contemporary Advertising. 11th edition, NewYork: McGraw-Hill.

Arnould, E.; Price, L. and Zinkhan, G. (2002) Consumers. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Assael, H. (1998) Marketing. Fortworth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Bearden, W.O.; Ingram, T.N. and Laforge, R.W. (2007) Marketing Principles and Perspectives.New York: McGraw-Hill.

Folarin, B. (1998) Theories of Mass Communication. Lagos: Stirling Horden.

Kardes, F.R. (1999) Consumer Behavior and Managerial Decision-making. New York:Addison-Wesley.

Larson, C.U. (2004) Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility. 10th edition, Belmont:Wadsworth.

Onyenyili-Onuorah, J. (2005) Advertising and Society. Lagos: Raindrops.

Strong, W.F.; Cook J.A. and Lemore, G. (1996) Persuasion. Iowa: Kendall/Hint.

Winterowd, W.R. and Murray, P.Y. (1985) English Writing and Skills. San Diego: Coronado.

INTERNET SOURCES

Agrawal J., Kamakura W. A. (1995) “The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: an eventstudy analysis” Journal of Marketing Vol. 59, Iss. 3 p56-63.www.rondonsja.com/research/economicworthofcelebrities.pdf

Ang,L.; Dubelaar,C. and Kamakura,W. (2010) “Changing Brand Personality through CelebrityEndorsement” www. conferences.anzmac.org/ANZMAC2007/papers/Ang_1.pdf

Bergstrom,C. and Skarfstad, R. (2004) “Celebrity Endorsement: Case Study of J. Lindeberg” ABachelor Thesis, Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences, LuleaUniversity of Technology www.epubl.luth.se

Gupta, D., (2007) “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behaviour and BrandBuilding” Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract

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Joshi, V. and Ahluwalia, S. (2010) “The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer BrandPreferences” www.chillibreeze.com/celebrityendorsement/htm

Katyal,S. (2010) “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on a Brand”.www.chillibreeze.com/celebrity endorsement/htm .

www.nigeriamusicmovement.com. “Globacom: Five Years of Robust and Innovative Services”An internet source assessed on 20th July, 2010.

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http://www.chillibreeze.com/celebrity

http://www.chillibreeze.com/celebrityendorsement/htm

APPENDIX I

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE ARTS,

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Dear respondent,

This questionnaire is designed to evaluate the impact of celebrity endorsement on globacom subscribers. Celebrity endorsement is the use of a famous person in the society to promote a product, service or charity. For example: Kanu in the Peak milk advert.

This research is for academic purpose only and the confidentiality of all information given is assured.

Thank you.

SECTION A

Please tick in the boxes as appropriate.

1. What do you think of Glo’s advert style?

(a) Dull [ ] (b) Catchy [ ] (c) Interesting [ ] (d) Creative [ ]

(e) Others (Please specify) __________________________________________________

2. How did you become aware of the use of celebrity endorsement in Glo adverts?

(a) Television [ ] (b) Newspapers [ ] (c) Internet [ ]

(d) Billboard [ ] (e) Radio [ ] (f) All of the above [ ]

3. Could you please mention some of the celebrities that you know in these adverts?

_______________________________________________________________________

4. What is your perception about Glo adverts that featured celebrities?

(a) Convincing [ ] (b) Unconvincing [ ] (c) Indifferent [ ]

5. Do you like these celebrities? (a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]

Note that:

SA – Strongly Agree A – Agree N – Neutral

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D – Disagree SD – Strongly Disagree

SA A N D SD

6. Most claims made in Glo adverts are realistic.

7. The use of celebrities in Glo adverts affects your patronage of the network.

8. Your favorite celebrities in Glo adverts determineyour perception about the organization.

9. A celebrity that you do not like will affect your perception about the network.

10. How credible do you think the celebrities featured in these adverts are?

(a) Very credible [ ] (b) Not credible [ ] (c) Indifferent [ ]

11. How often do you find yourself wishing to be like the celebrities used in these adverts?

(a) Very often [ ] (b) Often [ ] (c) Rarely [ ] (d) Never [ ]

12. Would you prefer the use of non-celebrities in Glo adverts?

(a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ] (c) Not sure [ ] Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SECTION B (Demographic variables)

13. Gender (a) Male [ ] (b) Female [ ]

14. Age group (a) Below 20 years [ ] (b) 20-25 years old [ ]

(c) More than 25 years old [ ]

15. Faculty ___________________________

16. Level _________________________________

Thank you for your patience and understanding

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2nd seminar. 97-2003

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