Relationship Between Celebrity Endorsements

and Consumer Purchase Intentions

Supervised by:

Prof. Dr. Farzand Ali Jan

Professor, COMSATS

Submitted by:

Mr. Adil Adnan

Ph.D. (MARKETING)

IQRA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

Certificate of Approval

This is to certify that the research work presented in this thesis, entitled Relationship

Between Celebrity Endorsements and Consumer Purchase Intentions was

conducted by Mr. Adil Adnan under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Farzand Ali Jan. No

part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere else for any other degree. This

thesis is submitted to the Iqra National University in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Field of Management

Sciences at the Department of Business Administration.

Student Name: Mr. Adil Adnan Signature:

Examination Committee:

a) External Examiner 1:

Name: Dr. Noman Khan Signature:

Designation: Assistant Professor

Official Address: COMSATS University, Attock

b) External Examiner 2:

Name: Dr. Saman Atiq Signature:

Designation: Assistant Professor

Official Address: University of Wah, Pakistan

c) Internal Examiner 1:

Name: Prof. Dr. Abid Usman Signature:

Designation: HOD/Professor, Iqra National University

Official Address: Iqra National University, Peshawar

Supervisor Name: Prof. Dr. Farzand Ali Jan Signature:

Name of /HOD: Prof. Dr. Abid Usman Signature

Author’s Declaration

I Mr. Adil Adnan hereby state that my PhD thesis titled as Relationship between

Celebrity Endorsements and Consumer Purchase Intentions is my own work and has

not been submitted previously by me for taking any degree from Iqra National

University, Peshawar or anywhere else in the country/world. Moreover at any time if

my statement is found to be incorrect the university has the right to withdraw my

PhD degree.

_________________ Mr. Adil Adnan

Ph.D in Marketing Date: 31st May, 2017

IQRA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HAYAT ABAD

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

i

Plagiarism Undertaking

I solemnly declare that research work presented in the thesis titled Relationship

between Celebrity Endorsements and Consumer Purchase Intentions is solely my

research work with no significant contribution from any other person. Small

contribution/help wherever taken has been duly acknowledged and that complete

thesis has been written by me. I understand the zero tolerance policy of the HEC and

Iqra National University towards plagiarism. Therefore I as an author of the above titled

thesis declare that no portion of my thesis has been plagiarized and any material used

as reference is properly referred /cited. I undertake that if I am found guilty of any

formal plagiarism in the above titled thesis even after award of PhD degree, the

University reserves the rights to withdraw/ revoke my PhD degree and that HEC and the

University has the right to publish my name on the HEC/University website on which

names of students are placed who submitted plagiarized thesis.

Student/Author Signature: ___________________

Name: ___________________

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the Holy Name of Almighty Allah, Who is the Most Beneficent and the Most

Merciful. I express my deepest gratitude to the Almighty Allah, Who is the only Lord of

all the Worlds; I thank Him for giving me the faith, strength, courage and the

understanding to complete this research work. I would also love to present deepest

respect honor and appreciation to my loving parents for their unconditional love and

support that they always provided me with throughout my life and career. I am also

deeply thankful to my respected teacher and research supervisor Professor Doctor

Farzand Ali Jan for his kind support and guidance without which I would not be able to

complete this work successfully. I would also like to present heartfelt thanks to my co-

supervisor Prof. Dr. Abid Usman and to my respected teacher Prof. Dr. Shah Jahan

Khan for their valuable guidance. Special thanks to all the research respondents who

willingly participated in this study and contributed their important part. Last but not

the least I am thankful to all my family members especially to my loving sons

Mohammad Azlaan Khan & Mohammad Affan Khan for their innocent and loving

contribution in this work. May Allah Almighty bless every one with His kind blessings.

iii

Abstract

For the 21st Century marketing managers, the globalization has resulted in a fierce battle

of the brands at the local and global levels. It has opened new brand investment

avenues for the local and global brand advertising managers that are having both the

promotional challenges and opportunities. The technological advancements and the

rapidly growing mass media and communication systems are constantly providing the

marketing managers with the massive opportunities to convey their voice to the

targeted groups of customers in a most effective manner. For the same reasons the

brand managers are always in search of devising the most effective advertising

techniques through which they can easily and most effectively communicate with their

target audiences. Celebrity endorsement technique is amongst one of them. Celebrities

are the personal and social favorites having deeper influences over the life styles and

consumption patterns of the social members. The current study has been conducted to

examine the relationship between the super stars endorsements and the consumer

purchase intention. As no substantially enough research work has been conducted with

reference to the same subject matter and with special reference to the Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa province. The data has been gathered through questionnaires by taking

790 respondents from the urban and sub urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

of Pakistan through Simple Random Sampling technique. Male and female consumers

both were contacted. Finally, the impacts of various determinants of celebrity

endorsement models were checked through simple linear regression analysis with the

consumer purchasing intention. As a result, positive relationship was found between the

celebrity endorsements and the buying intention of the buyers. The study has described

useful academic as well as managerial implications for both the local and global brand

advertisers.

Key Words: Battle of the Brands, Celebrity Endorsements, Urban & Sub-Urban

Consumers, and Consumer Purchase Intention.

iv

Table of Contents: Chapter 1st: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study: ....................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Problem Statement: ............................................................................................................... 8

1.3 Objectives of the study: ......................................................................................................... 9

1.4 Research Questions: .............................................................................................................. 9

1.5 Scope of the Study: ................................................................................................................ 9

1.6 Research Gap Identification: ................................................................................................ 10

1.7 Justification/Significance of the study: ................................................................................ 11

1.8 Theoretical and Practical Implications: ................................................................................ 13

1.9 Structural Organization of the Study: .................................................................................. 14

Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 15

2.1 Celebrity Endorsements: An Overview ................................................................................ 15

2.2 Role of Celebrities as an Inspirational Figure ....................................................................... 16

2.3 Advantageous Components of Celebrity Endorsements ..................................................... 26

2.4 The Negative or the Darker Side of Celebrity Endorsements .............................................. 28

2.5 The Concept of Multiple Celebrity Endorsements ............................................................... 34

2.6 The Various Forms of Consumer’s Buying Behavior ............................................................ 37

2.6.1 Complex Buying Behavior: ............................................................................................ 37

2.6.2 Dissonance-Decreasing Buying Behavior: ..................................................................... 38

2.6.3 Recurring Buying Behavior: .......................................................................................... 38

2.6.4 Behavior In Search of Variety:....................................................................................... 39

2.6.5 The Range Seeking Consumer Buying Behavior:........................................................... 39

2.7 Measuring the Celebrity Endorsement Effectiveness: ......................................................... 40

2.8 Models Used for the Explanation of Celebrity Endorsement Effectiveness: ....................... 40

2.8.1 The Model of Source Credibility: .................................................................................. 40

2.8.2 Model of Physical Attractiveness: ................................................................................. 44

2.8.3 The Product Celebrity Match-up Model: ...................................................................... 47

2.8.4 The Meaning Transfer Model: ...................................................................................... 52

v

2.9 The Conceptual Framework: ................................................................................................ 57

2.10 Discussion over the Variables Mentioned in the Conceptual Framework: ....................... 59

2.10.1 Independent Variable: The Celebrity Endorsements: ................................................. 59

2.11 Determinants of Independent Variable: ............................................................................ 60

2.11.1Sub Determinants of Source Credibility Model: .......................................................... 60

2.12 Sub Determinants of Physical Attractiveness Model: ........................................................ 62

2.13 Dependent Variable: .......................................................................................................... 64

Chapter 3rd ..................................................................................................................................... 66

Research Methodology .............................................................................................................. 66

3.1 Population of the study: ...................................................................................................... 66

3.2 Procedure for Collecting Data: ............................................................................................. 66

3.3 Research Approach: ............................................................................................................. 67

3.4 Type and Nature of Research: ............................................................................................. 67

3.5 Research Design: .................................................................................................................. 68

3.6 Research Strategy: ............................................................................................................... 69

3.7 Data Collection Sources: ...................................................................................................... 70

3.8 Sample Size and Sampling Technique: ................................................................................. 73

3.9 Statistical Techniques Used for the Analysis and Interpretation of the Data: .................... 75

3.10 Issues Related to the Data Quality: .................................................................................... 75

Chapter 4th ..................................................................................................................................... 77

Results and Discussions ............................................................................................................. 77

4.1 Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................................................ 77

4.1.1 Demographic Profile of the Respondents: .................................................................... 77

4.2 Research Question 1: What are the Consumer Perceptions about Celebrity Endorsements

& Non-Celebrity Endorsements in relation to their Purchase Intention? ................................. 81

4.3 Correspondence Degree between the Selected Variables: ................................................. 85

4.4 Hypothesis Testing: .............................................................................................................. 86

4.5 Discussion over the Resulting Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement & Consumer

Purchase Intention: .................................................................................................................... 98

4.6 The Resulting Relationship between Celebrity Expertise & Consumer Purchase Intention:

................................................................................................................................................... 99

4.7 Relationship between Celebrity Trustworthiness & Consumer Purchase Intention: ........ 100

vi

4.8 Relationship between Similarity & Consumer Purchase Intention: .................................. 101

4.9 Relationship between Likeability & Consumer Purchase Intention: ................................. 102

4.10 Relationship between Familiarity & Consumer Purchase Intention:............................... 103

4.11 Relationship between Celebrity-Product Match up & Consumer Purchase Intention: ... 104

4.12 Relationship between Meaning Transfer and Consumer Purchase Intention:................ 105

Chapter 5th ................................................................................................................................... 107

Conclusion & Recommendations ............................................................................................. 107

5.1 Conclusion: ......................................................................................................................... 107

5.2 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................ 109

5.3 Limitations of the Study: .................................................................................................... 115

5.4 Suggestions for the future researchers: ............................................................................ 115

5.5 Extent of Contribution by the Current Study………………………………………………………………….115

References: .................................................................................................................................. 117

Questionnaire…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………129

vii

List of Tables:

1. Table 3.1 Results of Pilot Study…………………………………………………………………………72

2. Table 4.1 Age of Respondents…………….………………….…………………………………………77

3. Table 4.2 Gender of Respondents………………………………..….……………………………….78

4. Table 4.3 Profession of the Respondents…………………………………….……………………78

5. Table 4.4 Location of the Respondents……………………………………….…………………….79

6. Table 4.5 Income of the Respondents…………………………………………..………………….80

7. Table 4.6 Effectiveness of Advertising Media……………………………………………………81

8. Table 4.7 Frequency of Watching Celebrity based

Advertisements…………………………………………………….………………………………………….82

9. Table 4.8 Celebrity .Vs. Non-Celebrity

Advertisement………………………………..………………………………………………………………..83

10. Table 4.9 Influential Type of Celebrity Endorsers………………………………………………84

11. Table 4.10 Correlational Matrix…………………………………………………………………………85

12. Table 4.11 Descriptive Statistics………………………………………………………………………..86

List of Figures:

1. Figure 2.1 The Broader Frame Work developed to Understand Celebrity

Endorsements…………………………………………………………………………………………….57

2. Figure 2.2 Conceptual Frame Work developed to study the Celebrity

Endorsements…………………………………………………………………………………………….58

viii

List of Abbreviations:

1. EX= Expertise

2. TW= Trust worthiness

3. SM= Similarity

4. FM= Familiarity

5. LK= Likeability

6. MU= Match Up

7. MT= Meaning Transfer

8. PI= Purchase Intention

9. CE= Celebrity Endorsements

10. MCE= Multiple Celebrity Endorsements

11. CPI= Consumer Purchase Intention

12. KP= Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

13. PKR= Pakistan Rupee

1

Chapter 1st

Introduction

The first chapter provides a deep insight into the selected area of research. This chapter starts

with a background note on the research study followed by the problem statement and the

research objectives. The chapter also describes the research questions and scope of the study. At

the end, the chapter describes the justification and significance of conducting this research.

1.1 Background of the Study: Celebrities are the individuals having a wide favorable social recognition and are well

reputed amongst the social members (Erdogan, 1999). These personalities are famous

amongst general public due to their personal achievements or accomplishments in the

respective professions or fields. As an example we can mention the various drama and

movie stars, singers, sport figures, comedians, entertainers, religious, social, political

figures and business persons etc. Talking from the Western point of view, Brad Pitt,

David Beckham, Jim Carry, Lady Gaga, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel and many others can

be exemplified as celebrities. In India, celebrities like, Katrina Kaif, Kapil Sharma, Shah

Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Virat Kohli and many others are the number one choices of

local and global brand advertisers these days. The role of celebrities being the brand

endorsers is really impressive and remarkable in creating positive consumer purchase

intention towards the advertised brand (Kumar, 2010). Pakistani celebrities whether

related to showbiz or to sports are also very important to be discussed over here. In the

same regard the example of famous singer and actor Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam, Fawad Khan,

actresses and super models Mehwish Hayat & Mahira Khan, Shahid Khan Afridi, Shan

Wasim Akram, and many more can be taken. These famous personalities are effectively

endorsing various leading global and local brands in Pakistan (Hassan et al., 2016).

Celebrities are amongst the most loved personalities. The role of these local and global

celebrities in impacting the consumer purchase and re-purchase intention is very

remarkable in the overall promotional process (McCormick, 2016).

Celebrities are one of the great sources to influence the consumer purchase intention in

the most desirable way (Priyankara, Weerasiri, Dissanayke & Jindasa, 2017). In today’s

modern world of marketing the brand advertisers are trying to find new and most

reliable ways of attracting the customer’s attention and to create his/her interest in the

endorsed brand. The modern advertising objective is not just to attract customer

attention but also to perform the overall advertising function in a most meaningful

manner. Modern advertising function is to primarily inform customers about a particular

brand. Secondly to persuade them psychologically so that they may start using it or they

2

may keep using it. Third function of promotion is to give them regular advertising and

brand promotional reminders on regular basis in order to strengthen the overall brand

equity (McCormick, 2016). Through celebrity endorsements the brand managers are

trying their level best to create and maintain strong brand personality in the minds and

eyes of the target audiences (Kang & Choi, 2016). The promotional technique in which

the brand advertisers promote brands through famous personalities refers to as

celebrity endorsement (Bafna, Gandhi, & Jain 2016, & Priyankara et al., 2017). The

general psyche of marketers behind this phenomenon is that the promotional messages

conveyed to the target audiences by these super stars not only provide higher level of

brand recognition but it also strengthens the overall brand equity (Han & Yazdanifard,

2015). Celebrity endorsement provides solid base for brand consideration and perhaps

creates more audience interest in the endorsed brands as compared to the promotional

messages conveyed by non-superstars (Kumar, 2010).

A perfect match should exist in between the endorsed brand and the endorsing

personality, whether those celebrities are foreigners or local, male or female (Kamins &

Gupta, 1994). Moreover, based on its overall significance the selection of an appropriate

celebrity for brand endorsements can lead towards comparatively better advertising

and sales results (McGuire, 1985). The use of celebrities in commercials helps the brand

advertisers in enhancing the brand recall as well as it positively influences the purchase

intention of the customers. Furthermore, it also results in creating and maintaining

strong brand loyalties (Mazlan, Dom, Ramli & Chin, 2016). Celebrities are greatly loved

and followed by their fans. They provide a great source of inspiration for their followers.

Resultantly, celebrity likeability, credibility and their physical charm can produce

desirable impacts on consumers buying behavior (Hassan, Ahmad, & Jamil, 2016). Brand

managers and advertisers strongly believe that superstars remarkably influence the

overall validity of advertising messages. These super stars on the basis of their “personal

charisma” not only help them to build and strengthen the memorability of the

advertising message but also to create a most favorable and long lasting brand images

(Roy & Bagdare, 2015).

Celebrities being the role models for the general public help the brand advertisers to

create most desirable influences on the consumers buying behavior (Hovland & Weiss,

1951). Such advertising technique helps them to grab the instant consumer attention

towards the advertised brand and helps them to strengthen the brand recall

(McCracken, 1989). It has been most commonly noticed that almost in every society the

general public has a strong perceived sense of association with celebrities. These

famous personalities have a very special place in the heart of their followers. As a

3

matter of fact this is due to a celebrity’s physical charm, personal or professional

expertise, or familiarity with the general public (Erdogan, 1999).

Physical elegance, expertise and likeability of a celebrity acts as a “convincing catalyst”

in making an ad more appealing and attention grabbing. Moreover, it creates the most

desirable impacts on a consumer’s purchase intentions (Khan, Sabri, & Nasir, 2016). It

has been observed that celebrity based commercials produce more positive impacts on

the consumers buying behavior in comparison to the commercials featuring other

endorsing sources. The brand advertisers can grab the instant consumer attention

towards their brands and can create a desire in the mind of the customers to buy a

brand when celebrities are used as the brand endorsers (Poghosyan, 2015). The 21st

century brand managers are widely making use of celebrities as an “endorsing source”

for creating and maintaining maximum brand value in the minds and eyes of the

customers (Hassan et al., 2016). In order to grab the instant attention of the target

audience celebrities play a very vital role when are presented as brand endorsers.

Celebrities are really helpful in creating consumer trust in the endorsed brand. These big

names provide deep meanings to the endorsed brands (Kumar, 2010). The careful

selection of celebrities as brand endorsers is the need of the time as it helps in creating

a sense of relatedness amongst celebrity the endorsed brand and the target audience

(McCormick, 2016).

Moreover, it has additionally helped the brand advertisers in enhancing the interest of

the buyers in celebrity endorsed products and services (Anjum, Dhanda, & Nagra, 2012).

Consumers who have more familiarity with the brand endorsing celebrities are most

likely to be positively influenced as compared to non-familiar celebrities. Celebrity

likeability also positively impacts the consumers purchasing intention (Kang & Choi,

2016). By selecting a promising, convincing and most relevant celebrity as a brand

promoter, brand managers can attain an actual competitive advantage in the local and

global markets over its competitive brands (Han et al., 2015). Using celebrities in

promotional messages can bring both the positive and negative impacts on consumer

purchase intentions. Therefore, in order to bring proper alignment the advertisers

should carefully select the most appropriate personality for their brand endorsement

function (Priyankara et al., 2017). For the effective delivery of the promotional messages

the advertisers should take care of the brand endorsing celebrity and brand match or fit.

This positively impacts the consumers mind sets (Rengarajan & Sathya, 2014).

Due to their high social image and status the celebrities most of the times endorse

multiple brands. These multiple brands are manufactured by various local and global

firms. For example Tiger Woods, the famous US golfer endorses a wrist watch brand, a

4

sport shoe brand, a perfume brand and so many other brands at the same time.

Legendary Pakistani cricketer Shahid Khan Afridi endorses a shampoo brand, a sport

shoe brand, a chewing gum brand and so many other brands at the same time.

No matter celebrities endorse a single brand or multiple, existence of right or perfect

match is really important between the endorsing source and the endorsed brand. This

helps in creating a positive consumer purchase intention (Bafna et al., 2016). The

required chemistry that exists amongst the endorsed brand and the endorsing source

helps in strengthening brand position in the market. It has the most desirable influences

on the consumer buying behavior (McGuire, 1985, & Kamins & Gupta, 1994). The

desirable chemistry or strategic fit between the celebrity endorser and the endorsed

brand helps the brand managers to create positive influences on the overall purchase

intention of the customers (Ergin, 2014).

Celebrities most of the times due to their higher face value (greater public recognition)

and also due to their positive influence on the consumer’s minds can positively impact

the consumer buying behavior (Kumar, 2010 & Priyankara et al., 2017). That is why the

brand managers all over the world are engaging famous people for advertising a wide

range of brands. The use of celebrities as brand endorsers has remarkably increased

during the last few decades throughout the world (Anjum et al., 2012). Local and the

global brand managers now clearly recognize and accept the influence of superstars in

impacting the social lives and buying behavior of the consumers. In order to create

positive impacts on consumer purchase intention celebrities as brand endorsers can

work comparatively better than using non-celebrity endorsers (Kumar, 2010). As a

matter of fact, development in advertising and marketing practices has been remarkably

noticed during the last few decades at the local and global levels.

Marketers are successfully shifting their marketing strategies from the traditional

marketing practices to the modern marketing school of thoughts (Krishnan, 2011). It is

noteworthy that in today’s globalized era the entrepreneurs are formulating creative

marketing and advertising techniques to create and maintain a lifetime image in the

minds and eyes of the customers. They are trying to find out the most creative methods

and techniques of advertising. As a result, various advertising appeals and techniques

have been developed. Celebrity endorsement along with psychological appeal, fear

appeal, emotional, gender, and humorous appeal are now most commonly practiced.

These appeals are not only practiced by the global brand advertisers but also by the

local ones (Belch and Belch, 2001). The use of the celebrity endorsers provides a

number of advantages to the brand advertisers. It helps them to gain an excessive brand

exposure, grab the consumer attention, and finally creates his interest to buy the

5

endorsed brand. Overall, it has positive association with buying behavior (McCracken,

1989). For the effective promotion of their brands, brand managers employ widely

recognized, well reputed and famous personalities.

Advertising experts believe that these recognized personalities have a perfect tendency

to create more positive influences on consumer’s social lives and hence on their

purchasing intention. Celebrities are greatly loved and followed by the social members.

Celebrity endorsement is a most important and essential function of today’s modern

and globalized world of marketing (Sameen, 2013). In other words, celebrity

endorsement has a wider application as an influential marketing or promotional tool

these days. It is a perfect recipe to create and strengthen the overall brand equity in the

minds of the consumers. Moreover, it also helps the global and local brand managers to

stay ahead in the battle of the brands (Bafna et al., 2016). Celebrities are the famous

personalities who keep wider public recognition and are enjoying high social fame

amongst the social members. They are the highly successful, influential and eminent

social members possessing distinctive attributes in the minds of the general public

(Silvera & Austad, 2004).

The importance of celebrity endorsements has been widely realized and accepted by

the large number of local and global brand managers. This is because of its vital role

played in the effective delivery of the promotional messages. The role of the celebrities

is really remarkable in attracting the consumer attention and maintaining their interests

in the endorsed brands. The brand managers are confident that celebrities provide the

great source of inspiring the consumers mind as compared to non-celebrity source

(Soderlund, 2003). It is very much evident that celebrity Endorsements has become a

billion dollar industry due to its overall effectiveness in positively impacting the

consumer purchase intention (Kambitsis, 2002). Moreover, based upon its proven

effectiveness brand managers are engaging the world known famous personalities and

are spending large amount of advertising budgets on celebrity endorsement settlements

every year. These celebrities receive huge amounts (Katyal, 2007).

This fact can be further explained as a celebrity endorser act as an inspirational figure in

the advertising messages and therefore play an important role in the overall advertising

process. Brand managers are always in search of finding a most convincing endorsement

source hence celebrities are really helpful to meet the same promotional objective

(Kumar, 2010). These celebrities are most of the times paid in millions. Every year

millions of dollars are paid to the celebrities as brand endorsement fee. As an example,

in 2010, the famous US Golfer, Tiger Woods refused to endorse a brand by presenting a

very interesting excuse that the deal amount was not up to his expectations. Media

6

reports reveal that the offered amount was 75 million US dollar. Moreover, Mr. Woods

earned around 110 million dollar through various brand endorsement contracts.

Amongst these brands, Nike was the largest contributor who paid 30 million dollar to

Tiger Woods. Mr. Woods made 80 million dollar earnings in the same year by endorsing

the other brands (Celebriscoop, 2010). According to the most recent media reports,

David Beckham received 160 million dollar from Adidas as his brand endorsement fee.

Mr. Woods received 100 million dollar from Nike as his brand endorsement fee. Nike

paid him 30 million dollar in 2010, while the endorsing fee reached to 100 million dollar

in 2017. The famous Basketball player, LeBron James, received 90 million dollar from

Nike while their sale reached to 340 million dollar as a result of hiring these two

legendary sportsmen. Famous sport shoes brand Reebok hired 50 Cent to endorse their

brand and paid him 80 million dollar. Moreover, world famous pop singer, Beyoncé

received 50 million dollar from Pepsi as a brand endorsement fee. Jay Z, a famous pop

singer received 20 million dollar from Samsung while Catherine Zeta Jones also received

20 million dollar from T-Mobiles. Angelina Julie received 10 million dollar from Louis

Vuitton by giving her name to the brand while Brad Pitt received 7 million dollar from

Chanel as brand endorsement fee and appearing in a single commercial (Popoptiq,

2017). Keeping the above mentioned case in mind as an example, one can say that

celebrity endorsement technique seems to be one of the most effective and demanded

tool of advertising in 21st century (McCracken 1989, & Hassan et al., 2016).

Consumers, while making their purchase decisions give more weightage to the

celebrities who are well known to them. They also consider the trustworthiness of a

celebrity. They also judge the level of similarity between them and the celebrity.

Expertise of the endorsing celebrity is also considered by the customers to choose a

particular brand (Priyankara et al., 2017). Keeping these facts and figures in mind the

marketer has to come up with a right combination of endorsing personality and

endorsed brand. If this right combination is planned carefully as a result of the same this

strategy can prove itself to be a game changer advertising strategy. This objective can be

achieved by selecting a most appropriate celebrity for the effective promotion of the

brands. This appropriate match or fit between the celebrity and brand enhances the

overall effectiveness of the advertising process (Munnukka, 2016). As a matter of fact

the customers of the modern age are exposed to lots of commercials and advertising

campaigns at the same time (Thornson, 1990, & Hassan et al., 2014).

Keeping the same bombarding advertising impact on consumer minds the marketing

firms should try to design their advertising campaigns in a most creative manner. It

should be designed to create the consumer interest in the advertising process and

simply to avoid any flaw in the advertising communication process (Bafna et al., 2016).

7

The use of celebrities as brand endorsers can provide a solid base to the marketing firms

for creating more interesting advertising materials. It also helps them in creating a long

lasting impact on the consumer buying behavior (Erdogan, 1999).

The use of celebrities as brand endorsers has drastically increased over times. In

comparison to 1979, 25% increase in the use of celebrities as brand endorsers has been

recorded till 2001. This clearly indicates the overall importance of this advertising

technique in impacting the consumer mind sets (Erdogan et al., 2001). Moreover like

other places celebrity endorsements have expanded in the United States of America as

well. It has successfully resulted in bringing higher sales revenue and high market

growth opportunities to the American firms (Lane, 1996). With the increased application

of using celebrities in advertising the endorsement fee of the super star endorsers has

really gone up (McGill, 1989, & Priyankara et al., 2017). In addition to this the expertise

of a celebrity his or her match with a brand has a very positive influence on the buying

behavior of the consumers. In order to create a long lasting and positive impact on

consumer purchase intention the need of the time is to give a real picture to the target

audience that the endorsing celebrities are the real users of the brands.

This can really provide a meaningful weightage to the overall endorsement function

(Bergkvist, 2015). Celebrity endorser’s perceived trustworthiness in the minds of the

audience and his or her match with the brand tend to increase the brand credibility in

the eyes of the target audience. It also results in creating a positive and a long lasting

purchasing intention towards the endorsed brands (Kang and Choi, 2016). In today’s

modern age of globalization the electronic and print media keep the general public

bombarded with so many commercials and advertising messages. Media also tends to

overload the general public with so many informational and entertainment based

programs at the same time. In the same scenario, the use of famous personalities as

brand endorsers do not only perform the advertising function effectively but also

provides a source of entertainment to the general public. Being their favorites the

general public loves to watch them again and again (Choi & Rifon, 2007).

Moreover, it has been noticed that the perceived sense of similarity between the

consumer and the endorsing celebrity positively impacts the purchasing intent of the

consumers (McGuire, 1985). On the other hand celebrities from the same country of

origin have more appealing impacts on the overall buying behavior of the consumers as

compared to the foreign celebrities (Roy et al., 2015). Furthermore, perceived

congruence between the celebrity and the consumer lead towards the creation of more

favorable brand image and strengthens the purchase intention of the target audience

(Choi & Rifon, 2007, & Hassan et al., 2016).

8

1.2 Problem Statement: Celebrities are the widely known and well reputed personalities (Priyankara et al.,

2017). They tend to inspire the general public through their distinctive life styles, and

also through their professional or personal achievements. Celebrities are idealized by

their followers (McCracken, 1989). Previously, some of the studies have found a positive

relationship between the celebrity endorsement technique and consumer purchase

intention (Assael, 1984, Kamins & Gupta, 1994, Usman, 2010, Sertoglu, 2014, &

Priyankara et al., 2017). These researches revealed that a well-known personality can

better advocate a brand in advertisements as compared to a non-celebrity endorser.

These studies believe that presence of a celebrity in commercials is more effectively

perceived by the target audience as compared to the common endorsers. They have

remarkable impacts on consumers mind sets.

These authors empirically verified a positive sense of association between celebrity

endorsements and the buying behavior of the buyers. Moreover, on the other hand

some previous studies have found the celebrity endorsement to be the least effective

advertising technique in relation to the consumer purchase intention (Cooper, 1984,

Mehta, 1994, Tom, 1992, & Katyal, 2007) etc. The brief but comprehensive findings of

these studies revealed that for effective advertising function the brand endorser

necessarily doesn’t need to be a celebrity (Tripp, 1994, & Solomon, 2002). In addition to

this, these studies did not find any remarkable or convincing role of celebrities towards

the creation of positive brand purchase intention. Moreover, keeping both the research

scenarios in mind we can say that celebrity endorsement is a double edged sword

having both the advantages and disadvantages for the advertisers.

After discovering both the brighter and the darker side of the celebrity endorsement the

author intends to study the relationship between the celebrity endorsement and the

consumer purchase intention. Research curiosity in this subject matter motivated the

author to conduct this study upon the urban and sub urban consumers residing in the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The researcher wanted to know that how do

consumers residing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa perceive celebrity endorsement and how

does it impact their buying behavior? In other words the author intends to know which

case may be recorded in the context of the current study and selected population.

So, the problem statement specifically developed for this study states: to conduct an

empirical investigation about the impact of celebrity endorsements and its relationship

with consumer’s purchase intentions.

9

1.3 Objectives of the study: Following are the objectives of the current study:

1. To study and uncover the perceptions of consumers about celebrity

endorsements.

2. To study the important elements of celebrity endorsement which may

additionally impact purchaser’s buying intention through superstar

endorsements.

3. To explore the relationship between celebrity endorsement and consumer

purchase intentions.

1.4 Research Questions:

In order to get better understanding of the research topic and to empirically investigate

the problem statement, the below mentioned questions have been developed:

1: What are the consumers’ perceptions and understanding about the celebrity

endorsements in comparison to non-celebrity endorsements?

2: Are the determinants of celebrity endorsement affecting the customer purchase

intentions to buy a product or hire a service if the brands are endorsed through

celebrities?

3: What are the influences of celebrities as brand endorsers on consumer buying

intention?

1.5 Scope of the Study: The current study keeps a scope that is confined to the consumer’s perceptions about

celebrity endorsements in relation to their intent to purchase. These consumers are

from Peshawar city, i.e. the provincial Capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its

surrounding sub urban areas, i.e. Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Mardan,

Nowshehra, and Swabi etc. As a matter of fact the consumers living in the above

mentioned areas are more educated and well exposed to media as compared to the

consumers residing in the rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The consumers living in

the urban and sub urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also have more advanced

lifestyle as compared to the rural consumers. Therefore, the consumers living in these

above mentioned areas have more understanding and knowledge about the local and

global celebrities from the various fields of interest.

10

1.6 Research Gap Identification: The concept of celebrity endorsement is not a totally new development. As a matter of

fact during the last few decades, plenty of research work has already been accomplished

on the advertising practices of celebrity endorsements. These researches have been

conducted both on international as well as on local levels. This ultimately reflects the

overall significance of celebrity endorsement (Bailey, 2007). Various studies conducted

by the international and local researchers have explored many new dimensions and

problems associated with the celebrity endorsements. For example the wrong or

inappropriate match or selection of a celebrity, or using multiple celebrities to enhance

the effectiveness of promotional messages etc. It also includes the overall influence of

negative social thoughts or publicity regarding the endorsing celebrity on the consumer

purchase intention etc. These studies were focused on developed and under developing

markets like United States of America, Africa, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India,

Australia, England, France, China Iran and Philippine etc. Talking from local perspective,

in the recent past, researchers from other parts of the country i.e., Karachi, Lahore and

Islamabad have also taken the same area into the considerations for their researches.

However, on the basis of the previous and presently available literature, there is lack of

research work which has not been substantially executed in the context of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa, province of Pakistan. Like other parts of the country, Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa in general, and its provincial Capital Peshawar in particular, is also

becoming one of the emerging markets over the last two decades. Besides the fact that

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is one of the prime victims of ongoing war against

terrorism, still business volume is carefully expanding in the provincial capital as well as

in its surrounding sub-urban areas. Professional marketing research firms are also not

working in Peshawar, due to which sometimes there is a gap between the knowledge of

consumer buying behavior and firm’s marketing strategies.

Academically, there is another very interesting point to be stated that in Peshawar, the

number of students seeking specialization in the field of Marketing is also very much low

as compared to the number of students seeking their specializations in the fields of

Finance and Human Resource Management etc. Due to the same reasons, marketing

based researches are not most commonly performed over here. As the theory suggests,

research is the backbone of whole marketing system (Sekaran, 2000), therefore the

principle motive for selecting this subject matter is primarily based on the ground reality

that up to now no recent most study has been incorporated to explore the relationship

between celebrity endorsement and consumer’s purchase intention with respect to the

urban and sub urban consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Moreover, theory

also suggests that the knowledge of consumer behavior is a must for every brand

11

manager and advertisers (McGuire, 1985), & McCracken, 1989). As a matter of fact the

brand managers and brand advertisers can get a great volume of help form this research

study regarding the selection of an appropriate celebrity for their brand endorsement

function. Moreover, form the academic point of view the findings of the current study

can also be helpful in examining or understanding the consumer belief and mind-sets

towards celebrity endorsement practices. These facts further validate the need of

conducting consumer behavior based studies.

This study provides a meaningful base to the academicians and marketing students to

develop deep understanding regarding the phenomena of celebrity endorsement in

relation to the consumer purchase intention. It will elaborate the significance of each

and every determinant of celebrity endorsement model towards impacting the

consumer purchase intention. On the basis of the same they will be able to develop a

general understanding about the overall effectiveness of various determinants of

celebrity endorsement models.

1.7 Justification/Significance of the study: There is a greater need of exploring the behavioral aspects of consumer purchase

decision making process (McCracken 1989, Han et al., 2015 & Munnukka, 2016). A

marketing firm must know “why people behave the way they behave”? They should

explore the social, psychological and various situational factors that can positively or

negatively influence the buying behavior of the consumers. Consumer as an individual

has a totally different set of mind as compared to the rest. They might have totally

different needs and wants based on their demographic, psychographic or geographic

attributes. In other words, individuals have differences in their needs and wants on

demographic, psychographic as well as on geographic basis. They have different

personalities, perceptions, attitudes, and a different level of learning, which remarkably

impact their buying behavior or their brand selection procedures (McCracken, 1989).

Consumers belonging to different societies, cultures, social classes and religions have

their own distinctive way of life. All these social and psychological factors individually

and as a whole have deeper influences on the overall consuming behavior of a person.

A marketer must develop sound understanding about buyer behavior (Erdogan, 1999).

Moreover, in every society there is a primary and a secondary reference group. The

primary reference group may include the nearest and dearest ones to an individual. It

includes the family or the blood relationships, while the secondary reference groups

include social relations other than blood relationships. It may include friends,

colleagues, professionals, politicians, social workers and most importantly personalities

from the world of showbiz or sporting industry. Being social members, the primary as

12

well as the secondary reference groups can also produce negative or positive impacts on

the purchase intent of the consumers (McCracken, 1989).

The topic understudy tends to cover and explore the above mentioned behavioral side

of the consumer decision making process. As mentioned earlier, secondary reference

groups include friends, colleagues and other professionals and non-professional people

who are known to us. Besides these groups of people it also includes people from the

world of showbiz and sports industry normally known as celebrities. These personalities

keep a high level of fame, social acceptance as well as deeper influence over the life

styles of the consumers (McGill 1989, & Khan et al., 2106). Like European society, the

Asian society in general and Pakistani society in specific has a great respect and level of

acceptance for the globally and locally known celebrities. As a matter of fact, these

celebrities are from Hollywood, Bollywood or from Pakistani showbiz Industry. Besides

that, global and local sport stars are also idealized and followed by the youngsters of our

country (Hassan et al., 2014).

All over the world, people most often take celebrities as a role model or in other words

as a source of inspiration. Celebrities have a greater impact on the life styles and

consumption patterns of the general public (Priyankara et al., 2017). As a most favorite

personality, people want to look like them. They do copy their favorites in one way or

another. Moreover, they most often copy their life styles or in other words they want to

adapt a similarly perceived behavior (Karina, 2008). Keeping the same aspect of

consumer’s behavior in mind, the global and local marketers are using top class

celebrities from the world of sports and showbiz to create and maintain a life time

brand image in the mind and eyes of the customers. Social members have a positive

tendency towards them (Soderlund, 2003). Due to the same influencing celebrity

endorsement factor, this promotional technique has become a multi-million dollar

industry all over the world (Kumar, 2010). Consequently, keeping the above mentioned

ground realities in mind, the researcher got the motivation to do research on this

important and one of the most emerging advertising techniques.

This study may uncover the real worth of celebrity endorsement technique in relation to

the creation of a positive purchase intention. This work tended to explore the

perceptions of the general public regarding the celebrity endorsements. It also uncovers

the relationship of the same with the purchase intent of the consumers living in the

urban and sub urban parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Though this

province is historically famous for its truly traditional norms and conservatism but due

to the 21st century’s technological changes the other side of the picture reveals the

modern or the globalized life style of its residents. As a matter of fact various

13

multinational brands like KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Mr. Cod, McDonalds, Mobilink,

Telenor, Pepsi, Coke, Philips, Toyota, Honda, Samsung and many more are having

successful business operations in this part of the world. Not only the international

brands but the local businesses also are swiftly making their ways towards creating

strong market shares. Here, we can take example of Chief Fast Food Business, as well as

of Namak Mandi, the traditional food industry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides food

industry, the statement is equally true in case of other sectors like fashion industry,

education, construction, consultancies, health sector, agriculture, banking and telecom

sector etc. As it is a proven fact that the customer is the focal point of today’s modern

world of business, so brand managers or advertisers must come up with “out of the box

advertising ideas”. This creative advertising edge can better help them to create and

maintain life time brand images in the minds of the customers (Kamins & Gupta, 1994).

They must uncover the social and the behavioral aspect of the consumer’s personality,

as it has a remarkable impact on his/her purchase intentions (McGuire, 1985).

They must answer how various advertising or marketing techniques can positively or

negatively influence consumer’s purchasing intention (Dzisah, 2013). In the form of the

current study an effort has been made by the author to uncover the relationship

between celebrity endorsement technique and consumer buying behavior. As a matter

of fact brand managers can only serve their customers in a perfect way if they really

know or understand their needs and wants based on their buying behaviors. This

understanding can get them a real competitive advantage in the local and global

markets by winning the hearts of the target audiences (Dzisah, 2013). This study is also

very important to be conducted as professional marketing research firms are not

substantially working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Due to which, there are huge gaps

between marketing planning or marketing strategies and consumer buying behavior.

1.8 Theoretical and Practical Implications: The findings of the current study can be really helpful to various local and global brands

currently operating in Peshawar. The study can also provide a meaningful base to the

potentially interested entrepreneurs who want to launch their brands in the capital

province or in its surrounding sub urban markets. As a matter of fact, brand managers

can base their present or future marketing and promotional planning (with reference to

celebrity endorsements) on the findings of the same study. Besides this, current study

has proposed implications for academia and marketing practitioners as well. On the

basis of the results obtained through the current study, researcher is confident enough

to provide a meaningful base to the future research projects. Future researchers may

use the same findings and information as a secondary source.

14

1.9 Structural Organization of the Study: Chapter 1: The first chapter provides a deep insight into the selected area of research.

This chapter starts with a background note on the research study followed by the

problem statement and the research objectives. The chapter also describes the research

questions and scope of the study. At the end, the chapter describes the justification and

significance of conducting this research.

Chapter 2: In this chapter a comprehensive review of the previously done researches

on celebrities’ endorsements and its relationship with consumer purchase intention has

been done by the author. This will enable the researcher to build better understanding

of the topic under study. This chapter includes the definitions and explanation of the

relevant terms. Models of celebrity endorsements along with the brighter and darker

sides of the celebrity endorsements have been discussed. Celebrity endorsements form

the global and local perspectives have been discussed and reviewed. Conceptual

framework and hypotheses have been presented as well.

Chapter 3: The chapter describes the efforts that have been made to justify the

proposed methodology for this study. It firstly describes the population of the study,

procedures for data collection, research approach, and the type and nature of the

research study. The chapter also throws light over the research design and the research

strategy. It also provides information about the data collection sources and the selected

sample size & Sampling technique. At the end it describes the statistical tools and

techniques that were used for the analysis of the data.

Chapter 4: Results of the current study are being presented and discussed in this

chapter. These results have been empirically obtained and analyzed by various data

analyzing methods or techniques. The descriptive and inferential statistics have been

used by the author to analyze the gathered data. The chapter at the end offers

extensive and detailed discussions over the obtained results.

Chapter 5: The chapter describes the main results of the current research work in the

form of conclusion. In the light of the findings, the author has presented frameworks

regarding the theoretical and managerial implications. Recommendations have been

presented. Last but not the least, limitations and recommendations for the future

research work have been proposed.

15

Chapter 2nd

Literature Review In this chapter a comprehensive review of the previously done researches on celebrities’

endorsements and its relationship with consumer purchase intention has been done by the

author. This will enable the researcher to build better understanding of the topic under study.

This chapter includes the definitions and explanation of the relevant terms. Models of celebrity

endorsements along with the brighter and darker sides of the celebrity endorsements have been

discussed. Celebrity endorsements form the global and local perspectives have been discussed

and reviewed. Conceptual framework and hypotheses have been presented as well.

2.1 Celebrity Endorsements: An Overview We are living in the 21st century where there is an extremely dynamic and fierce

competitive environment amongst brands. Nowadays every brand manager whether

local or global, is ready to invest big amount of budget on brand promotions (Priyankara

et al., 2017). As we know, the fundamental goal of promotional efforts is to create

brand awareness and to enhance brand consciousness. These promotional messages are

eventually designed to communicate facts about product and service to the end users.

Celebrity endorsement is a powerful tool that is used to create a positive change in

consumer buying behavior and has a strong relationship with the purchase intentions of

the buyers (Shehzad, 2015). Celebrities are having the most desirable features and a

positive energy to influence the target audience. They on the basis of their enhanced

personal and social influence can create stronger brand identity. The same fact was

observed and uncovered in Turkish consumers buying behavior. Like other societies, the

Turkish society also has a very great respect for celebrities and idealizes them in their

social lives. Celebrity based advertisements were highly appreciated by the Turkish

buyers. They acknowledge the impact or the influence of famous personalities over their

purchasing intentions (Sertoglu, 2014).

A research was conducted in Philippine by Karina in 2008 which explores the

consequences of endorser type (celeb and non celeb) and endorser credibility on

customers’ attitudes and buy intentions. It additionally explores the moderating impact

of culture on the effects of spokesperson type and spokesperson credibility on attitude

toward the advertisements. The study suggests that higher the celebrity reputation

featured in a commercial, the better are the influences on purchase intentions of

purchasers. It means that the most credible celebrities can better help advertisers to

create a successful marketing buzz. They can also help the brand advertisers to

strengthen the brand personality at any stage of brand life cycle. Study further revealed

16

that advertiser can further enforce his/her brand image if the selected celebrity is more

skillful, certified, well reputed and truthful (Karina, 2008).

2.2 Role of Celebrities as an Inspirational Figure

Usman, (2010) found that the young consumers have a positive tendency towards

celebrity based commercials. Celebrities on the basis of their personal and social

attributes can positively impact the life styles and purchasing intent of Pakistani

consumers. Most of them sense a perceived psychological attachment with the

endorser that resultantly creates a desirable effect on their purchase intention.

Moreover, using the famous figures actually gives greater visibility to the product and

generates a larger number of clientele .The brand managers have to consider all the

applicable factors that can make commercials more appealing and persuading. They

should also make sure that they have selected the most appropriate celebrity for the

product endorsement function. As a matter of fact the appropriate selection of a

celebrity for product endorsement function is really helpful in making product credible

inside the minds of consumers before making a purchase decision. Moreover, the study

additionally concluded that the male celebrities are more influential than female

celebrities in creating a desirable impact on the purchase intent of the consumers.

Similarly, (Bhavana, 2011, & Mohammad, & Zoubi, 2011) in their researches described

the impact of perceived credibility, and physical attraction of a celebrity as more

influencing determinants of celebrity endorsement process. Moreover, these studies

believe that there should be a logical congruence between the endorsed brand and the

endorsing source. These are amongst the most important determinants of celebrity

endorsement model. These studies further stated that the above mentioned attributes

of a celebrity can also act as a benchmark before selecting a right celebrity for the brand

endorsement function. This careful selection is very essential in order to achieve the

objective of successful brand endorsements. Consumers always pay high level attention

to these factors of celebrity endorsement process when they are exposed to various

brand promotions. These studies concluded that the celebrity endorsement technique

has deeper long lasting and meaningful impacts on the consumer purchase and

repurchase intention. Another study was reviewed by the author that was done in

Ghana in 2013 by Dzisah and Ocloo. This research was aimed at investigating the

phenomena of celebrity endorsement in marketing as part of marketing promotions.

Resultantly, a positive relationship was found by the researchers between celebrity

endorsement and consumer buying behavior towards making a purchase decision.

The central theme of this study was to understand the elements or determinants of

celebrity endorsement which affects consumers purchase or re-purchase intention. One

17

hundred forty-eight respondents from the fields of management, internal customers

and outside clients were surveyed by the researchers. Consequently, the study found a

high degree of validity and reliability of using celebrities as brand endorsers in

advertisements. Furthermore, the study revealed that organization should base their

celebrity selection criteria on the credibility of superstars. Moreover, the brand

managers should also consider the physical attractiveness of the endorsing celebrity as

it creates a very long lasting and deep mental influences on the minds of the customers.

Finally, the paper verified that there is a positive relationship between the celebrity

endorsement technique and consumer buying behavior. This study gives the idea that

businesses must make a careful selection of celebrities who can create a perfect match

with the endorsed brand. It also infers that the selected celebrity should have that

required charisma which can create a positive influence on consumer buying intentions.

The study revealed the fact that celebrities can really create a positive consumer mind

set and strengthens the consumer buying and rebuying intention towards the endorsed

brand (Bergkvist, 2016). Another research study was conducted in England by (Dwivedi,

2015). The study explored that celebrity endorsement is one of the most powerful

advertising tools. Study states that nowadays celebrity endorsements have been

commonly applied by various advertising agencies to promote local and global products

and services. Celebrity endorsement technique has helped the brand advertisers to

create a positive word of mouth and strong brand image amongst the social members.

Its importance has been acknowledged. A strong relationship was found between the

use of celebrities as the brand endorsers and in the creation of strong brand equity.

Moreover, another research was initiated to investigate the influence of celebrities as

brand endorsers on consumer purchase intention. Resultantly the facts revealed were

that celebrity endorsement is one of the most reliable advertising techniques that can

create the most desirable impacts on consumer purchase intention (Dzisah, 2013). The

author reviewed another study that was conducted in Islamabad which is the Capital

city of Pakistan. This research was conducted in 2015 by Zafar and Rafique. Moreover,

the stated authors were considering the physical attractiveness of the endorsing source,

celebrity credibility and congruence with the endorsed brand in relation to the purchase

intention of the buyers. Study explored a positive relationship between the various

determinants of the celebrity endorsement models and consumer purchase intention.

This study also verified the overall significance of celebrity endorsement in relation to

the purchase intent of the consumers. Researchers were of the view that celebrities can

extend greater help towards creation of a favorable consumer response. They were of

the view that the celebrity endorsers can better advocate a brand than a non-celebrity

18

endorser (Zafar and Rafique, 2015). Another Turkish research conducted by Ergin in

2014 revealed that there are celebrity’s gender based variations in creating different

types of customers beliefs and attitudes towards the advertised brand. Moreover, a

comparison of married and unmarried celebrities over the consumer purchase intention

was also tested along with the influence of multiple celebrity endorsers on consumer

buying behavior. A sample of 385 young consumers was taken by the researcher for the

empirical testing of the subject matter. A questionnaire having 17 questions was floated

amongst the selected sample size and some ads were also shown to the respondents.

Resultantly, different responses were recorded as a result of using multiple celebrity

endorsements and making use of married and unmarried celebrities to create a

desirable consumer purchase intention (Ergin, 2014).

Another Pakistani research study was reviewed by the author that was performed by

Khan et al., in January 2016. The findings of this study stated that celebrity endorsement

is one of the most useful advertising techniques of the 21st century. It provides a greater

opportunity to the brand advertisers to make a proper and careful use of a celebrity’s

social fame while engaging them as brand endorser. Celebrities are helpful in creating

the desirable brand awareness and are capable of attracting the instant consumer

attention towards their endorsed brands. In addition to this the social goodwill and

recognition of celebrities can give a decent image to the endorsed brands.

This marketing technique can also provide brand advertisers with a competitive edge

over their competitors (Khan et al., 2016). Like the European brand advertisers, celebrity

endorsements are most commonly used by Pakistani and Indian brand managers too.

This is all because of the celebrities “influential instinct” over the consumer minds. As a

matter of fact they are very much liked and appreciated by their followers. It’s a

common advertising belief across the border that celebrities can better help the brand

advertisers to create a favorable and long lasting brand image in the minds of the

general public. Therefore, it results in the creation of a positive purchase intention. A

study was incorporated to empirically test the influences of Pakistani and Indian

celebrity endorsers over the Pakistani consumers purchase intention. Researchers took

a sample of 150 respondents for empirical testing. Research objective was to explore

the diversity among Indian and Pakistani celebrity endorsements.

In other words the researchers were eager to investigate impacts of Pakistani and Indian

celebrity endorsements on the buying behavior of Pakistani consumers. Resultantly the

findings of the study revealed that there were no significant differences between the

brand endorsements impacts of Pakistani and Indian celebrities on consumers purchase

intention. Findings of the study can also be interpreted in this way that as compared to

19

Pakistani celebrities, Indian celebrities do not have a deeper or stronger influence on

Pakistani consumer purchase intention. In fact they are perceived in the same way, as

Pakistani celebrities are perceived by Pakistani buyers. Moreover, the study revealed

that whether choosing an Indian or a Pakistani celebrity is not a game turning point in

advertising. The study further states that both types of celebrities can play an equally

important role in order to create a desirable response in the consumer’s minds.

However, the careful selection of the endorsing source is the biggest need of the time

(Khan et al., 2016). (Saeed, 2014) performed another study to examine the effects of

celebrity & non-celebrity based commercials on consumers buying behavior. A sample

of 200 respondents was chosen by the researchers. Survey technique was applied for

this study and data was collected through questionnaires. Findings revealed that

celebrity based advertisements have a totally different impact on the consumer buying

intention as compared to non-celebrity based advertisements. Respondents were of a

view that they give more respect and attention to celebrities whereas less importance

and attention is given to non-celebrity endorsements. The study further advocates the

strength and effectiveness of using celebrities in advertising messages.

Finally the study revealed that the celebrities are the better source of endorsing a local

or a global brand successfully (Saeed, 2014). Celebrity Endorsement is one of the

emerging trends in the modern world of advertising. This technique can really help the

brand promoters to create and maintain a successful brand image and simply to create a

successful promotional buzz. Celebrities are greater effective than the ordinary

endorsers (Ahmad, Vishnu, & Amin, 2014). The credibility factor of celebrity

endorsement has been examined in this study. Study revealed that credibility of

superstar endorser has a powerful impact on consumers buying intention. In other

words we can say that the most credible celebrity can really give a new life to a newly

launched product or service. Moreover, celebrities can help the brand advertisers to

create and maintain the brand leadership in the home and host markets.

In this study, the fame of the celebrity and its impact on the buying behavior of the

consumers was tested by the researchers. The research objective was to investigate that

whether the fame of these superstars in relation to the endorsed brands matters to

consumers or not. Results of the study revealed that in superstar endorsement process

credibility of the endorsing star matters to the purchasers in shaping or reshaping their

purchase intention. Researchers were also of the view that fame of the superstar

creates more favorable brand images in the minds of the consumers. This study finally

suggests that the advertising agents should make a careful analysis before selecting a

right kind of celebrity to create a more favorable brand image.

20

According to this study, more credible and more famous personalities can really make

advertising messages more fruitful and rewarding. Endorsement process can get more

effectiveness if the right celebrity endorses the right brand. It will produce positive

influences on consumer buying intent (Ahmad et al., 2014). According to (Hassan et al.,

2016), the concept of celebrity endorsement has gain remarkable attention of brand

managers and target audiences during the last few decades. The use of celebrities as

brand endorsers has drastically increased over times. On the basis of its perceived

importance the local and global brand advertisers are spending millions on celebrity

endorsements every year.

Technically, marketers are looking to identify the effects of super star endorsement on

organizations’ seasoned stability and advertising objectives. This study was conducted

while considering various showbiz personalities, and famous sportsmen. Authors were

interested to know how they influence the purchase intention of the buyers. Celebrity

physical attractiveness and ability to create an effective word of mouth amongst

teenagers of Karachi were tested. 252 respondents were surveyed. Result showed that

physical attraction of the celebrity and the ability of the celebrity to create a positive

word of mouth both keep positive impacts on consumer purchase intention. According

to this study more credible celebs can better help the brand managers to create more

powerful brand equity and a positive word of mouth amongst the social members

(Hassan et al., 2014).

Though celebrity endorsement is not a new concept of advertising but most surprisingly

in Lithuania, the celebrity endorsement practice is quite new. It has drawn the attention

of Lithuanian brand advertisers to successfully create stronger brand images and a

positive word of mouth in society. During the last few years the trend of using

celebrities as brand endorsers has drastically changed in Lithuania. A research was

performed to examine the influence of super star endorsers on consumer buying

intention. The study was executed on Lithuanian mineral water brands that were

endorsed by the leading Lithuanian showbiz and sporting celebrities. The impacts of

various determinants of the celebrity endorsement models were tested on the

Lithuanian consumer purchase intention. Consequently, the researcher concluded that

the existence of a perfect match amongst the endorsed brand and the endorsing

celebrity can really produce positive impacts on consumer buying intent.

In other words we can say that for the effective results of endorsement process,

celebrity personality should have a perfect match or resemblance with brand

personality. However, study’s findings also revealed that the overall brand persona

turns to have the maximum impact on the consumer purchase intention. It can also be

21

interpreted in this way that greater the purchasers find themselves similar to the

endorsing celebrity, the greater they're inclined to buy that brand. As they will perceive

a perfect match between them, the endorsed brand and the endorsing source (Jankovic,

2014). Celebrities are the privileged social members who enjoy favorable public

recognition and are idealized by the general public on the basis of their personal or

professional attributes and achievements. These privileged social members have special

attributes like physical attractiveness, expertise, and trust worthiness (McCracken, 1989,

& Silvera & Austad, 2004). This definition can be further explained as the celebrities are

highly famous and well reputed individuals belonging to the various fields of

specialization. These famous figures enjoy wider public recognition.

For example, they can be actors, game figures, or even other type of serious or comic

entertainers. They are always known for their accomplishments and achievements in

their respective areas, fields or professions (Friedman and Friedman, 1979).

(McCracken, 1989) said that celebrities are the famous figures from the world of

showbiz, sports, politics, business, religion and even personalities from the armed

forces. Keeping this interpretation of the term celebrity we can say that Dr. Zakir Nayak

and Molana Tariq Jamil are the two most respected and loved religious celebrities of the

Muslim world. Junaid Jamshed was first a showbiz celebrity but now he’s recognized as

a religious celebrity. General (R) Raheel Sharif is the military celebrity of Pakistan. Imran

Khan firstly was a sport and now a political celebrity of Pakistan. Malik Riaz and Mian

Mansha are the two leading Pakistani business celebrities. However, the use of showbiz

and sporting celebrities is much in practice in advertising both at local and global levels

(Hassan et al., 2016). In this modern age of advertising celebrities are playing a very vital

role in promoting various products and services. They are most often used by the

advertisers to create positive or stronger brand equity through their high face values.

According to Kamins (1989), celebrity can be a man or woman who's widely recognized

and who carries high volume of social recognition amongst social members. Moreover,

(Stafford, 2002) in his research study defined the term celebrity as celebrities are the

well-known individuals amongst the social members who make use of his/her public

recognition in order to propose a product or a service to the general public. Moreover,

another researcher named as (Kaikati, 1987) argued that the well reputed personalities

from the fields of showbiz and sporting are most of the times engaged by the brand

managers in order to associate their brands with their high level of social acceptance

amongst the social members. Celebrities have an extra ordinary impact on the minds

and lifestyles of the general public. It’s a good idea to make a proper use of them in the

advertising process. That’s why they have been extensively used as brand endorsers

these days and it will drastically increase in future as well. Study further revealed that

22

celebrity based commercials are more influential than non-celebrity based commercials

(Kaikati, 1987). Celebrities can better create the desirable attitudinal and emotional

reactions in the minds of the consumers regarding the advertised brands. They can

extend a great volume of help to create strong brand recall and brand equity (Kanungo

and Pang, 1973, Atkins & Block, 1983, & Petty & Cacioppo, 1983). In comparison to the

general public, celebrities are famous and more socially visible figures. They are well

reputed and widely recognized by the social members. In addition to this celebrities due

to their high social influence on the minds and lifestyles of the general public are most

commonly used by the advertisers as a guide in order to create a positive influence on

consumer buying behavior (Telis, 1998).

Celebrities are the most widely and powerful publically known figures. They can be

more effective if they have the power or charisma of credibility to attract consumer

interest towards the advertised brand (Miciak and Shanklin, 1994). As a matter of fact

the celebrities are the widely known people who can create more favorable public

awareness about a brand and simply can better sell a brand (Wilson, 1997). Moreover,

celebrity can better advocate a brand to a target audience. They can better create

strong brand equity and can positively affect the purchase decision of the target

audience in relation to the endorsed brands (Ohanian, 1991, and Miciak & Shanklin,

1994). Celebrity endorsement has become one of the most important practices of the

today’s modern world of marketing (McCracken, 1989). It can be very simply verified by

an individual himself by watching the television commercials or print media ads. The

leading local and global celebrities have given their names to the various brands for

their effective endorsement functions. This clearly shows the overall effectiveness of

this advertising technique. It really helps the brand advertisers to make the advertising

messages more persuasive and mind appealing.

This technique has a vast capacity to grab the instant consumer attention towards the

advertised brand. It also helps the brand advertisers to make the commercial messages

more memorable and credible. The physical attractiveness and trust worthiness of the

endorsing celebrities put the brand advertisers in a very strong position to create the

most desirable impacts on the consumer minds (Spellman, 1981). Previously done

studies have found a positive impact of celebrity endorsements on consumers buying

behavior. These studies believe that celebrities possess extra ordinary attributes than

the common endorsers.

On the basis of their personality’s influence they can better shape or reshape the

consumption patterns (Friedman & Friedman, 1979, & McGuire, 1985). Using celebrity

endorsement technique, the brand managers can easily create a sense of affiliation

23

between the endorsed brand and the target audience. Celebrities can do as very easily

as they are a source of inspiration for their followers. They have a very special place in

the hearts of their lovers (Assael, 1984, & McCracken, 1989). The increasing demand of

celebrities as brand endorsers isn't a truly recent most development in the field of

marketing and advertising (Kaikati, 1987). Moreover, this amazing advertising technique

has a totally outstanding and remarkable history (Dukcevich, 2004). Here we can take

the example of Queen Victoria when she was associated with Cadbury Cocoa (Sherman,

1985). McCracken (1989) similarly analyzed and conceptualized endorsement method

and described the various roles of a celebrity that he/she plays in the overall

endorsement process.

According to him, superstar endorser plays different roles in the endorsement process.

Firstly, he/she play the role of a professional, being associated with a certain field of

interest. Secondly, the role of a spokesperson being hired as a brand endorser and

thirdly the role of an aspirational figure (opinion leader) is being a role model or a

likeable personality to endorse a brand. Similarly, we can classify endorsements into 4

types. First endorsement method is express type of endorsement. Here the endorsing

source expressively shows that he or she endorses the brand. Second is the implicit type

of endorsement. Third endorsement type is the vital endorsement. Here the endorsing

source emphasizes the target audience that they must use the endorsed brand. Fourth

endorsement method is co-presentational endorsement method. It occurs when the

endorsing source just act upon a predetermined script and might have no personal

affiliation with the endorsed brand. Marketers and brand advertisers should understand

that celebrities are amongst the most privileged group of social members.

They can very effectively play the role of a social opinion leader in order to create the

most desirable impacts on consumer buying behavior. They're known as “the extra

ordinary endorsers” on the basis of their symbolic aspirational reference group

associations. They are well reputed and well known to the general public (Assael, 1984

& Hassan et al., 2016). Moreover, these super stars have the extra ordinary power and

capability to shape and reshape the consumer lifestyle and their overall buying behavior

as their personal favorites (Wilkes and Valencia, 1989). According to another study

celebrities on the basis of their personal charisma can better shape, reshape and refine

the lifestyles of the individuals. Moreover, they are in a commanding position to shape

or reshape the consumer buying behavior (Biswas et al., 2009).

By having celebrities in commercials as brand endorsers can produce consumer

affiliation with the endorsing super stars. As a matter of fact consumers generally

believe that celebrities are the personal and social favorites having dynamic

24

personalities with appealing and persuading attributes. They treat them as their role

models (Assael, 1984, McCormick, 2016, & Priyankara et al., 2107). These studies

believe that celebrities from the field of showbiz and sporting in particular provide a

great help to impact the consumer purchase intent in the most desirable way. These big

names include successful people from movies, television and stage performers, famous

entertainers and other big names from the world of sports. These personalities are well

respected and appreciated by people (Schiff man & Kanuk, 2004). It can be further

explained as social members have a positive tendency to affiliate themselves with a

person or item that provides more strength to his/her self-image or self-identity.

Moreover, it also creates and strengthens the feelings of connectedness to a group of

individuals or persons. Celebrities are one of the social groups that can create a sense of

relatedness with the general public and simply can influence their lifestyles and

consumer decision making procedures (Anjum et al., 2012, & Han et al., 2015).

The energetic influence and social power of the celebrities can be measured by keeping

their ability to impact the social members mind sets and lifestyles. They are extensively

capable to do so besides the fact that the social members are not physically socially or

personally closer to them (Choi & Rifon, 2007). According to the presented model of

McCracken (1989) known as meaning transfer model, celebrities are a source of creating

symbolic attachments with their endorsed brands. As a result their followers have a

positive tendency to be a part of same symbolic affiliation. They on the basis of their

personality strength can successfully create and show their association with the brand

as they are the active users of the endorsed brand (Escalas and Bettman, 2005).

The general public deeply accepts the endorsement efforts of similarly perceived

celebrities as compared to the dissimilarly perceived ones. Similarly perceived

celebrities are the greater source of inspiring the consumer mind in a positive way as

compared to the dissimilar sources. As an example if a consumer thinks of him as a

stylish and energetic athlete he may think of David Beckham and can idealize him. His

tendency towards the endorsed brands of Mr. Beckham can get more positive as the

consumer idealizes him and found himself similar to him. In such a case he may adapt a

similar lifestyle or consumption behavior like Mr. Beckham. Similarly he might have a

positive buying attitude towards brands endorsed by his favorite personality.

The attachment or the same sense of relatedness between buyer and Mr. Beckham can

make him buy an Adidas or Police brand as well as his other endorsed brands. This

simply creates positive influences on consumer minds (Schiff man and Kanuk, 2004).

Research study reveals that the super star endorsers are more persuading and mind

appealing in grabbing the instant consumer attention towards the advertised brand

25

better than non-super star endorsers. Those other types of endorsers may include the

organizational representatives and the common people presenting a real life situation

(Seno & Lukas, 2007). To arrive at a most desirable position the marketing organizations

must select the most successful celebrities belonging to their respective fields of

interests. Moreover, to add more taste to the endorsement recipe they must have the

compatibility factor with the selected target audience and the advertised product as

well (Tom, 1992). As compared to a non-celebrity source, celebrity endorsement as a

promotional technique can produce more desirable and long lasting impacts on the

consumer purchasing intention (Atkins & Block, 1983, Ohanian, 1991, & Kumar, 2010).

In addition to this, (Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995, & Seno & Lukas, 2007) conducted

various researches in order to know the economic benefits that the brand managers can

derive through celebrity endorsement deals at the anticipated profitability of a firm.

Interestingly the results of both the studies emphasized and stressed upon the overall

effectiveness of celebrity endorsement technique. It has become more essential for

corporations to design such advertising strategies which offer aggressive differential

advantages to its products and services. It helps in creating the most desirable impacts

on consumer buying behavior and makes the overall advertising process more

meaningful and persuasive. That is most possibly the reason why the local and global

celebrity endorsement volume is increasing year by year (Erdogan, 1999). Nowadays

organizations are spending big amount of advertising budget to advocate their brands

thru famous personalities. The celebrity endorsers possess highly dynamic personalities

having the most appealing and positive attributes (Atkins and Block, 1983). Moreover,

the brand managers must try their level best to create perfect sense of alignment

between the most desirable features of a celebrity and the endorsed brand.

Many researchers concluded in their studies that a celebrity based commercial gives

consumers a better degree of attraction and creates their interest in the endorsed

brand. It also results in better memorability in comparison to the other commercials

without celebrities. Celebrity endorsement is one of the most influential advertising

techniques in order to influence the consumer minds positively (Cooper, 1984, & Dean

and Biswas, 2001).

Celebrities on the basis of their enhanced social influence can create a most effective

influence on consumer buying behavior (Farrell et al., 2000, & Erdogan, 2001). The role

of the celebrities in the effective brand endorsement process is very remarkable in

creating positive purchase responses in the minds of the customers (Erdogan, 2001),

(Kumar, 2010, & Han et al., 2015). Common people as brand endorsers in comparison to

the celebrities are the least effective brand endorsers in order to create a desirable

26

response in consumer buying behavior. This is because of the high social influence of

celebrities on the general public (Cooper, 1984, Erdogan, 2001, & Priyankara et al.,

2017).

2.3 Advantageous Components of Celebrity Endorsements This section of the literature will explore the advantageous side of the celebrity

endorsement practices. Increase in competition between the brands has been recorded

with a purpose to attract greater consumer attention toward the endorsed brands. It

has simply and very clearly advocated the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. As a

result, marketers are strategically prepared to use celebrities in advertisements in order

to create a favorable brand image. Moreover, recently the developments in technology

and media have facilitated the brand advertisers to convey their promotional messages

to the target audience in a very easy way. The development of DTH technology as well

as the developments in local and global satellite based networks has created vast

opportunities for the brand managers to successfully launch their brands in the markets.

The increasing use of electronic and print media has created a large volume of

facilitation for the brand managers to communicate their advertising messages to their

target audiences (Croft et al., 1996).

Keeping the enhancing influence of celebrities on consumer social lives it’s now a

general belief that the endorsements of the brands through renowned super star helps

in better communication of advertising messages. It helps the brand advertisers to grab

the instant attention of the consumers and simply create a positive purchase intention

(Kulkarni & Gaulakar, 2005). Celebrities on the basis of their high influence on social

members are a great source of creating positive impacts on the consumer buying

behavior (Priyankara et al., 2017). In order to gain a great volume of instant consumer

attention towards the endorsed items and services brand managers make a sensible use

of celebrity endorsement strategy.

As a matter of fact, celebrities on the basis of their higher face values can better help

advertisers to grab the instant consumer attention and by making the overall

promotional messages more persuading and informative. They also help the brand

advertisers to strengthen the brand recall by associating themselves with the endorsed

brands (Sherman, 1985). Moreover, while hiring celebrities for the brand endorsement

functions brand managers must select appropriate celebrities as their brand endorsers.

As a matter of fact it can also help the brand advertisers in enhancing both the brand

and corporate images in the mind of the target audiences. So it means that beyond

building and maintaining favorable brand image celebrities can also most importantly

help the brand managers in restoring or building the organizational images. Celebrities

27

not only help the brand managers to maintain the endorsed brand’s market leadership

in the home markets, but can also help the brand managers to launch the brand

successfully in the overseas markets as well (Erdogan, 1999). Hiring an appropriate

celebrity for the brand endorsement function can additionally help the brand managers

to avoid any undesirable issues that can arise due to the multi-cultural complications.

The classical example here can be taken of Pepsi Co International India.

They increased their market share percentage in India while endorsing their brands thru

various famous personalities from the world of showbiz and sports. As a marketing

strategy, Pepsi hired famous Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, and

Karina Kapoor. Moreover, they also engaged the legendary cricketer MS Dhoni and

other famous sporting figures in order to cash their face value and simply to create a

favorable brand image. This celebrity endorsement strategy helped Pepsi Co India to

create strong brand equity (Kumar, 2010). In Pakistan, Pepsi Co applied the same

marketing strategy by taking Shahid Khan Afridi & Misbah-ul-Haq, the two legendary

sport stars of Pakistani Cricket industry. The ads were liked by the target audiences as

they love both the above mentioned cricketing super stars.

Celebrities provide a great base for creating strong brand equities and a positive

purchase intention (Hassan et al., 2014). It has been experienced by various brand

managers that the celebrity endorsers provide a great volume of help to create strong

market shares in the local and global markets. This technique of endorsing brands

through celebrities also helps the brand advertisers to standout and takes greater

consumer notice. Moreover, the same practice can help advertisers to make a clear

distinction between the unique features of their brands in the mind of the consumers as

compared to the rest (Bowman, 2002). It is believed that the advertisements based on a

celebrity proposing a particular product or service can make a sturdy impact towards

gaining instant customer attention.

It is further believed that it helps in building his/her interest in the advertising process.

Moreover, it also helps the brand managers to make the advertised brand memorable

and simply creating a desire in the mind of the customer to buy the advertised brand.

This is surely the ultimate desire and objective of every local and global brand

advertiser. The most remarkable feature of a celebrity as a brand endorser is to make

the advertisement appealing and more memorable inside the thoughts of the

customers. This works as a convincing catalyst and persuade customers to buy the

endorsed brands in a situation where even they do not have any immediate need of

buying the endorsed brands. Researchers believe that the transmitted brand

information is easily retrieved when the consumers make brand purchasing decision

28

(Schultz & Barnes, 1995). Moreover, we can say that the overall effectiveness of

celebrity endorsements in the light of the above mentioned arguments lead towards a

conclusion that celebrity endorsement seems to have positive influences on the buying

behavior of the consumers (Erdogan, 2001, & McCormick, 2016).

However, a careful selection of the most appropriate celebrity can help the brand

advertisers to create the most favorable impacts on consumer purchase intention

(Priyankara et al., 2017). As most of the times, they have been found to be very effective

in impacting the consumer purchase intention. Celebrities influence the consumer

buying behavior in the most desirable way and up to the anticipated results and

expectations (Kumar, 2010).

2.4 The Negative or the Darker Side of Celebrity Endorsements This section of the literature presents the other side of the picture i.e. the darker side of

the celebrity endorsements. This implies that celebrities sometimes may not work as

one of the effective most brand endorsers. Researches show that besides having

numerous benefits, there are different potential risks associated with the use of

celebrities as brand endorsers. In other words, besides having certain advantages

celebrity endorsement sometimes can develop negative brand images and may not help

the brand advertisers to build and maintain strong brand equities (Katyal, 2007). Studies

suggest that sometimes the negative data and publicity about the brand endorsing

celebrity is a major and most serious type of potential risk that is attached with celebrity

endorsement technique. Such uncontrollable situation can cause very serious problems

for the brand advertisers. The negative publicity about the endorsing celebrity can

create a negative word of mouth amongst social members and can negatively impact

their buying behavior in relation to the celebrity endorsed brands (Kumar, 2010).

Moreover, such serious issues can also include a celebrity’s unexpected performance

decline in his/her respective field or profession. This situation is also beyond the direct

and indirect control of the brand advertisers and managers. Studies show that the

negative publicity about a celebrity can adversely affect the purchaser buying intention.

This can also fully damage the personal and social image of the endorsing source

(Klebba and Unger, 1982, & Kumar, 2010). Moreover, some other grounds may also

include the continuous failure in the professional performance of a celebrity which

results in a constant decline in his/her popularity graph. This decline in the popularity

graph of a celebrity may also results in the termination of the brand endorsement

contracts. Moreover, sometimes the involvement of a celebrity in some illegal and

unethical practices can also bear very negative impacts on his/her popularity as well as

on the health of the endorsed brands. Celebrities are the ideals of the general public

29

and they do not expect any socially, legally, or ethically undesirable behavior from their

favorites. If it happens, it adversely impacts a celebrity’s social image as well as the

image of his/her endorsed brands. Sometimes, celebrities can lose their credibility in the

eyes of the audience by over brand endorsing or by frequently changing the brand

loyalties (brand endorsement contracts) (Cooper 1984, & Kaikati, 1987). For example, In

Pakistan various celebrities have changed their brand endorsing loyalties over times.

As an example, Wasim Akram was initially endorsing Mobilink Jazz but currently he is

endorsing its rival brand U-Fone. Shehzad Roy was firstly endorsing Telenor but now

he’s endorsing U-Fone. Ali Zafar, the pop singer was firstly endorsing Telenor but now

he’s endorsing Mobilink as a co-endorser with the Indian actress Nargis Fakhri. In recent

times, many local and global brand managers have faced substantially undesirable

results over their endorsing celebrity‘s misdeeds or due to their involvement in

unethical or illegal practices. For example, PepsiCo has adversely suffered due to the

misdeeds of their brand ambassadors. These big names were Mike Tyson, Madonna,

and Michael Jackson. Their involvement in unethical and illegal practices not only

created a really bad name for them but also for their endorsed brands (Katyal 2007).

Moreover, firms have confronted serious types of embarrassments while their brand

endorsing celebrities were deeply noticed to be involved in different legal and ethical

controversies (Erdogan, 1999). As an example recently the Indian actor Salman Khan

faced a lot of social criticism being accused in the “hit and run case”.

The actor faced a legal trial and there were rumors that he can get arrested on the basis

of the same legal charges against him. He’s also facing another trail of hunting the black

bucks in India though it was legally banned over there. Third trial faced by the same

actor is being accused in the illegal possession of arms. The actor is also known for his

rude behavior too, especially with the female actresses. This negative behavior of the

celebrity negatively impacts his social fame and the popularity graph of his endorsed

brands (Kumar, 2010).

Another example from the Pakistani perspective can be taken of the famous super

model Ayan Ali. The model is one of the top class female models of our country. Her

involvement in money laundering activities badly damaged her social image as well as

the image of her endorsed brands. As a reaction the brand advertisers immediately

terminated all the brand endorsing contracts with her as it can earn a very bad name for

the endorsed brands and the endorsing firm (Express Tribune, February 23, 2017). Most

of the times, audience fails to recognize a brand as it gets overshadowed because of the

too much glamorous exposure of the endorsing celebrity. It seems like the endorsing

source is more important than the endorsed brand. In other words too much and

30

unnecessary importance is posed on celebrity’s personality and very less on the

endorsed brand features. It results in minimizing the overall effectiveness of the

promotional messages. It is one of the advertising blunders that should be avoided

while endorsing brands through celebrities.

Such type of impact is known as overshadowing impact or the vampire impact and here

the celebrity or the brand advertiser both fail to endorse the brands more effectively

(Rossiter and Fercy, 1987). Similar results have been recorded by Cooper (1984) who

states that for the effective promotion of the products and services the endorser don’t

really needs to be a celebrity. It further states that more glamorous exposure of the

celebrity causes overshadowing problem or normally termed as vampire impact (Till,

1996). It results in lack of readability and memorability for the consumers. Here both the

celebrity and the advertiser simply fail to create a favorable brand image (Evans, 1998).

Research shows that this issue mainly arises due to greater focus over the superstar’s

glamour or personality and less attention being given to the advertised brand (Erdogan,

1999). Moreover, the same overexposure problem acts as hurdle in promoting the

endorsed brand effectively. As a matter of fact this is amongst major problems faced by

the local and global brand managers. It’s due to the fact that almost every brand

manager wants to hire them due to their high face values.

Study reveals that at the end of the day it creates too much confusion in the minds of

the customers. Customers most of the times, do not effectively remember the

association of a celebrity with a specific product, service or organization due to the

same overshadowing issues (Tripp, 1994). There is another serious charge over the use

of celebrity in advertisements. Most of the consumers think that the endorsing

celebrities are not the actual users of the brand and they have no personal affiliation

with the endorsed brands. They just endorse it for the sake of making money. Here the

example of Indian celebrity Shah Rukh khan can be taken. As a matter of fact, the actor

is endorsing a large number of unique brands from hair oil to cars.

The number is almost more than 30 brands (Solomon et al., 2002). Here the role of a

celebrity to the general public is not more than a “hired gun”. Here the general public

may think that the endorsing celebrity is endorsing the brand simply for the purpose of

making more earnings. It reflects an understanding that he/she does not have any real

life affiliations with his/her endorsed brands. This badly impacts the purchase intention

of the buyers (Kumar, 2010). When a celebrity associates his name with diverse brand

category it also has much less effects on the consumers buying intention. As a result, it

also decreases the overall effectiveness of the delivered advertising messages. This is all

because of poor compatibility or alignment between brand and celebrity and also due to

31

the overshadowing factor (Mowen & Brown, 1981). Though it does not creates

disappointment in consumer mind (Graham, 1989) however creates awareness in the

mind of the customers that these famous figures are endorsing the brands as they

receive a large amount of the endorsing fee and they have no personal affiliations with

the endorsed brand (Cooper, 1984, & Roy et al., 2015).

In other words one can say that they may not even be the actual users of the endorsed

brands. Moreover, many researchers have further explored that the negative publicity

or thoughts about the endorsing celebrity not only impact consumer perceptions about

him/her but the perception about the endorsed brand as well. It creates an overall

negative impression in the minds of the audience about the product endorsed as well as

about the endorsing personality (Klebba & Unger, 1982, and Till & Shimp, 1995). Besides

this the experts believe that there are few other unique problems being faced in recent

times by the brand advertisers. First one of them is known as the celebrity trap. It refers

to a situation where the celebrities become “a must” for the brand advertisers to

promote their brand through celebrities. It also refers to the problematic situation

where the brand advertisers cannot make a clear distinction between the role of a

celebrity and position of the endorsed brand. For the brand managers sometimes it

becomes very difficult to create a careful and meaningful distinction between the both.

Second issue being faced by the brand advertisers in the celebrity endorsements is the

weak credibility of the endorsing source. This situation arises when celebrities are

endorsing too much brands at the same time and sometimes even they change their

brand endorsement contracts or brand endorsement loyalties. This can put a very big

question mark over the celebrity’s credibility. As a matter of fact, it is because of the

reason that consumers have now more awareness about the reality that super stars are

endorsing brands only with the purpose to earn more brand endorsing money.

Moreover, it adversely impacts the celebrity image as well the image of the endorsed

brands.

That’s why both the celebrity as well as the brand advertiser should take extra attention

of this fact. Because it can put a big question mark over the credibility of both the

endorsed brand and the endorsing source. This is the most undesirable situation for

both the endorsed brand and the endorsing celebrity (Patel, 2009). Sometimes a

confusing situation arises due to the wrong and unplanned use of famous personalities

in advertising communications. This muddling or confused situation arises due to the

involvement of these famous faces in the endorsement of several brands produced by

different firms at the same time. Such a situation drastically increases the consumer’s

confusion and he simply fails to associate a famous face with a particular brand of a

32

particular firm. Moreover, sometimes different celebrities use to endorse competing

products of different manufacturers. These celebrities endorsing the competitive brands

at the same time put the consumer frame of mind in a confusing situation. As a result, it

leads customers towards making a comparison between these endorsing personalities

that whether which celebrity is greater. Like in India Pepsi is endorsed by the leading

Indian super star Shah Rukh Khan and Coca Cola by the Mr. Perfectionist of Bollywood,

Amir Khan. On the other hand, Salman Khan is the brand endorser of Thumbs up cold

drink brand. All these actors are the three big names of Indian film industry. They are

most commonly known as “3 Khans of Bollywood”.

Now, being exposed to the endorsed brands of three big names a consumer can get

totally confused to decide which brand is to be purchased. Consumers can compare and

idealize them and simply can associate more weightage to a brand based upon the

celebrity image or ranking which they might have in their minds (Kumar, 2010). In

Pakistan Pepsi is endorsed by the legendary cricketer Shahid Khan Afridi and actor

Fawad Khan while Sprite by Ali Zafar and Indian actor Siddharth Malhotra as co-celebrity

endorser. Coke is endorsed by Fahad Mustafa and Mahira Khan. Like the above

mentioned Indian consumer’s situation, Pakistani consumers can also face the same

confusing situation as a result of brand endorsements by these big Pakistani celebrities.

Due to the constant falling down in their professional performances celebrity endorsers

are becoming a liability to the brand that they advocate in the local and global markets

(Till & Shimp, 1998). As a result of this the anticipated or the projected profit targets of

the firms are becoming harder to achieve. This is besides the fact that the brands are

being endorsed by these big names (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995). Consequently, few

researchers have termed celebrities as “promotional puppets”. They are of a view that

these famous personalities are solely controlled by the brand advertisers and by the

advertising script. According to them, celebrities are fake and paid endorsers.

They think that celebrities are untruthful because they just endorse too many brands for

the sake of earning more dollars. They are also of a view that these endorsing

personalities have nothing to do in reality with their endorsed brands (Temperley &

Tangen, 2006). It means that the celebrity endorsements though have many advantages

for the brand managers and brand advertisers still it has a darker side as well. Moreover

there were no significant differences between the celebrity based and non-celebrity

based advertisements in impacting the consumer buying behavior.

The various determinants of the celebrity endorsement models were found least

effective in impacting the consumer purchase intention better than a non-celebrity

source (Mehta, 1994). Another study by Tom, (1992) concluded that the non-celebrity

33

sources are more powerful promotional sources as compared to the celebrity sources.

According to these researchers, celebrity endorsers all the time cannot prove

themselves to be the most effective brand endorsers as compared to the non-celebrity

sources. The brand managers must be very careful about this fact. The study revealed

that most of the times consumers think that the endorsing celebrity has no personal

affiliations with the endorsed brands. They simply perceive the non-celebrity sources as

more credible brand endorsing source. In other words the created endorsers were

found to be more effective over the celebrity endorsers. Sometimes celebrities give

their names to so many brands at the same time. It creates a sense of confusion in the

minds of the consumers to associate a particular celebrity with a particular brand

(Erdogan, 1999).

Furthermore, sometimes celebrity endorsers do not prove to be the most effective

endorsers in creating positive purchase intention as compared to the non-celebrity

endorsers. In other words we can say that the celebrity endorsements sometimes do

not bring the expected and desirable results on the overall consumer buying behavior.

Results of the study revealed that celebrities do not have same type of influential

impact all the time on all types of the consumers. That’s why the brand managers

should always remain careful before selecting an appropriate endorsing source for the

effective brand endorsement function (Misra & Beatty, 1990). ).

The same fact can be interpreted in other words that sometimes celebrities do not help

to meet the brand advertising and promotional objectives. Such doubts sometimes put a

question mark on the overall credibility and effectiveness of this brand endorsement

technique. Brand managers should always take a calculated amount of risk while

selecting an appropriate celebrity for the brand endorsement purposes. They should

select those celebrities who can bring the most desirable results on the overall

consumer buying behavior.

Most of the marketing experts call the celebrity endorsement technique as a “double

edged sword”. This implies that celebrity endorsements can bring both the positive and

negative impacts on consumer buying behavior (Miciak & Shanklin, 1994). Sometimes

using the celebrity endorsement technique for the global brands and in a multi-cultural

environment can create many issues. These major issues include the cultural

'roadblocks' time, and space barrier, language barrier, cultural misfit and many other

problems that can damage the overall advertising function (Hofstede, 1984 & Mooij,

1994).

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2.5 The Concept of Multiple Celebrity Endorsements The concept of using two or more than two celebrities as brand endorsers refers to as

“Multiple Celebrity Endorsements”. Moreover a research study by Hsu & McDonald,

(2002) described the phenomena of multiple celebrity endorsement as using two or

more than two celebrities in a brand promotional campaign. Similarly, this phenomenon

of multiple celebrity endorsement can be categorized below specific elements based on

how celebrities are featured in advertisements. They further explained those advertising

situations or scenarios where advertisers can make use of multiple celebrity

endorsements in order to create positive impacts on the consumer purchase intention.

According to them first advertising situation is to use two or more than two celebrities

collectively in commercials in order to successfully advocate a product or a service. On

the other hand the second situation is to make use of celebrities that regularly appear in

a planned series of television and radio commercials in order to endorse a particular

service or product. Here one should know that using more than one celebrity in an

advertising campaign isn't always a new phenomenon for the brand managers in the

local or global advertising industry.

Most of the big brand names like Nike, Adidas, Pepsi, Coke, Nestle, Samsung, Nokia,

Honda, KFC and many others are following the same method of advertising as a

promotional tool. Here we can quote the example of Milk Mustache brand’s marketing

campaign which surprisingly featured more than one hundred globally famous

celebrities to promote milk consumption. The brand advertiser’s objectives were to

create maximum consumer awareness regarding using safe and healthy packed milk

(Hsu & McDonald, 2002).

Another example can be quoted from India, as India is one the globally emerging

economy and one of the biggest consumer markets that has got a lot of respect for their

local and global celebrities. Due to the same reason, brand advertisers are promoting

their brands through various famous figures from the world of showbiz or either from

the cricketing world (Kumar, 2010). For example, In Pakistan, Pepsi has been endorsed

by the famous Pakistani cricketers Shahid Khan Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Wasim Akram,

and Shoaib Malik. In India Pepsi hired the legendary Indian cricketers and Bollywood

stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, MS Dhoni, Shahid

Kapoor, Karina Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone etc. These are the most

famous personalities from Bollywood and Indian cricket industry (Khatri, 2006).

Moreover, Hsu and McDonald, 2002 further stated that more than one superstar

endorsement marketing technique has got more advantages for the brand advertisers.

In addition to this the multiple celebrity endorsement technique assists the advertisers

to construct a sense of consensus in the mind of the target audiences. It also helps in

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minimizing or discouraging the target audience boredom that can be noticed after

seeing one face all the times in commercials.

The third and last advantage is that at the same time it can appeal to more than one

target audience that may belong to different societies, nationalities, genders or sects.

(Erdogan, 1999) in his research suggested that it's far useful for the brand managers to

use multiple celebrities for the effective endorsement of a particular brand. The

research believes that this technique can help the brand managers to reach out most

effectively to its whole target audience and can convey the advertising messages in a

more persuasive manner. Besides this, the researcher was of a view that using more

than one celebrity wrongly might create a sense of confusion in the minds of the

consumers. This situation can adversely affect the brand identity as well as the endorsed

brand image in the minds of the viewers.

Moreover, they were of a view that the local and global brand advertisers and brand

managers should make a well planned and a careful use of multiple celebrity

endorsement technique. This careful use of appropriate celebrities can help them to

avoid any undesirable customer confusion that can occur as a result of wrong use of

multiple celebrity endorsement technique (Erdogan & Baker, 1999). As an instance the

leading cosmetic brand L‘Oreal brand managers use to endorse their products through

those famous celebrities whose personal or physical attributes are more matching with

the endorsed brands. According to the company officials the same practice has

produced very meaningful impact on their consumers buying attitude (Redenbach,

2005). The most serious issues for the brand advertisers are that nowadays buyers are

extra conscious, well-educated and highly knowledgeable regarding the marketing

practices of using celebrities in brand endorsements.

On the basis of the same knowledge they understand that the brand endorsing

celebrities have been engaged in the promotional process because of their social

influence over the minds of the consumers.

Moreover, they are endorsing these brands only to make higher endorsement fee and

in reality they do not have a real or sincere type of attachment with the product. Such

thinking and knowledge can lead towards a negative consumer buying behavior (Belch &

Belch, 2001). Endorsing multiple brands of multiple firms impacts the celebrity‘s

trustworthiness, understanding and likeability. This happens because the celebrity

instead of focusing on one brand endorses multiple brands which sooner or later lacks

uniqueness and trustworthiness (Redenbach, 2005). There may be additionally a

possibility that the use of so many unique celebrities may overshadow the brand image

and can simply cause Vampire impact. Vampire impact arises when the target audience

36

possibly and most effectively just recall the brand endorsing celebrities however not the

endorsed product or service. This is like the promotional dollars spent by the brand

advertisers all going in vain and not bearing the desirable impacts on the consumers

purchase intention (Hsu & McDonald, 2002).

As a matter of fact, in today’s advanced and most competitive business environment the

customers are regularly exposed to many exclusive brands promotional messages.

These brands are marketed through various most effective and exclusive promotional

techniques. Studies revealed that consumer buying behavior is a critical and complex

phenomenon for marketers to understand. Every consumer has a different set of mind

as a unique human being. They have different needs and extraordinary desires. A study

by (Lancaster et al., 2011) stated that delivering maximum customer satisfaction is the

most important goal of the 21st century marketing system. A marketer has to uncover

the real needs and wants of the customers and has to perform his product planning and

development practices accordingly. The same will enable him to deliver maximum level

of satisfaction to the target audience. This will also provide a competitive edge over the

rest of the operators. As a conclusion we can say that marketers must have a right

knowledge of consumer shopping behavior in order to stay competitive in the local and

global markets. This can benefit the firm both in short and long run.

On the other hand (Perner, 2008) explained that buying behavior as a study of people,

companies, or agencies and the tactics they use to choose, compare, use, and dispose

off products, offerings, reviews, or thoughts to satisfy their needs and wants. The study

of consumer behavior also includes the effects that these approaches have on the

consumers and society. Moreover, Perner (2008) suggests that the knowledge of

purchaser buying behavior facilitates advertisers in developing their marketing

strategies. Marketers make use of consumer psychology and they try to know as how: a)

they assume sense, differentiate, and pick out between distinctive producers or

products. b) How the consumers get influenced by their surroundings or society (e.g.,

culture, religion, circle of relatives, signs and symptoms, media, social class and family

etc.) c) The ultimate behavior of purchasers at the same time as how do they make

shopping or buying decisions d) How client motivation, perceptions and choice

strategies differ among products that depends upon their level of significance) How

marketers can adapt and enhance the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and

techniques to attain maximum customer base and to do their marketing function more

efficiently. Moreover, it isn't always easy to become fully aware of consumers needs and

wants and to fulfill them most effectively and better than the competitors. It is also very

critical to recognize that as to why purchaser desires that? The answer to this question

will offer marketers a higher know-how of consumer behavior.

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This knowledge both in the short and long run helps them in fulfilling consumer desires

efficaciously. This also helps them in increasing client loyalty towards their products and

services (Zeithami, 1985). Moreover, Assael (1981) stated that there are four forms of

consumer buying behaviors that may affect the acquisition, selection, or decision

making process of a customer. This is totally based on the extent of consumer product

involvement, interest in a product, the situation and differences among the products

available. These four forms of consumer buying behavior are discussed below in detail:

2.6 The Various Forms of Consumer’s Buying Behavior

2.6.1 Complex Buying Behavior:

It refers to the buying behavior where the purchaser is pretty involved inside the

product buying decision. In this type of consumer buying behavior the high level product

involvement occurs. This high level of product involvement can also be due to the

expensive and expressive nature of the products and services. It means that these kinds

of merchandise aren't purchased most frequently or regularly by the consumers.

Moreover, buyers tend to observe extensive differences among the brands available

before making a buying decision. They need more time to compare the price and quality

of the items to be purchased. For instance when a consumer buys a luxury sedan, his

level of interest is always very high due to the high price factor of the car. It is also due

to the low purchase frequency of the purchased product.

Researchers are of a view that normally customers decides very carefully about such

type of buying decisions. They make a proper purchase analysis before buying a product

or hiring a particular service. They are much interested to know about the product

features and capabilities before buying them. In other words we can say that they have

a very keen interest in knowing the overall brand features and performance (Scott,

2007). Besides this, customers also tend to enjoy cognitive dissonance at the same time.

Cognitive dissonance refers to the state of mind where the consumers are having

inconsistency in their thoughts, myths or belief due to a recorded change in his or her

behavior. Cognitive dissonance arises here due to making buying decisions about

complicated nature of products and services. Consumers, if make a poor purchase

decision they have to face an economic loss. Moreover, the poor knowledge of product

understanding will result in high level of performance uncertainty. Technically, from the

advertising angle the brand managers need to ensure that they are going to use the

most effective product differentiation strategies to differentiate their endorsed product

from different competitive offerings. Last but not the least; brand managers should also

try their level best to educate the target customers regarding the type use and features

38

of the endorsed product. This can really bring the most desirable impacts on consumer

buying behavior (Assael, 1981, & Mazlan et al., 2016).

2.6.2 Dissonance-Decreasing Buying Behavior:

The second type of the consumer buying behavior is known as dissonance decreasing

buying behavior. This behavior is recorded in a buying situation where the purchaser is

actively noticed to be concerned about the product to be purchased and resultantly

observes minor differences between the considered or available options. The perceived

level of product differences is not that much high. After using a brand, normally the

customers tend to acquire the desirable information regarding the purchased brands

that can further assure and strongly validate his or her brand purchase decision. By way

of following this behavior the customer try his level best to lessen the losses or

dissonance concerned to the purchase situation. These sorts of consumer buying

behavior entails status quo of consider perception and mind-set in the direction of a

brand. However the customers may additionally face the psychological loss and social

loss as well as the time loss most likely while buying the required items.

Consequently, this type of behavior arises because of the differences between actual

brand performance and perceived brand performance. As an example if a consumer

buys a mobile phone brand with an expected battery performance of 12 hours but after

using it he observes it to be just 9 hours it will definitely create a sense of psychological

unrest (McCormick, 2016).

2.6.3 Recurring Buying Behavior:

This is the third type of consumer buying behavior. It occurs when a customer buys the

products on everyday basis over a time period. In this type of the consumer buying

behavior the customer generally has got a low level of involvement in the product being

purchased. This type of consumer buying behavior is recorded most of the times when

consumers tend to buy the convenience products. Convenience products are that type

of consumer products which are purchased by consumers on everyday basis.

This type of consumer products has got low price, but a high purchase frequency. Here,

we can take example of bread, butter, salt, sugar, fruits vegetables and many other

generally or domestically used items. As a matter of fact, customers may or may not

have a strong brand loyalty while portraying this type of the buying behavior. It has

been noticed that customers don‘t neither undergo the system of notion, mind-set and

buy selection nor look for deep information about the purchased products. They also do

not need to make more detailed product comparisons. They usually take less time and

utilize less energy to purchase such type of brands. Consequently they have less interest

and may be weaker brand loyalties in this type of the consumer buying behavior.

39

However, it's far interesting to know that marketers are continuously trying to find out

new ways to create more customer interest in this product category too.

Their aim is to create the consumer interest in their products and to take it up from low

involvement product brackets to higher consumer involvement product frames. For the

same reason, marketers are trying to do the unique positioning of their brands. They are

trying their level best to associate their brands with health and hygiene, environmental

and physical safety and with many other mind appealing factors. With the introduction

of the same technique, some of the marketers have successfully created their audience

interest in their products/product lines and services as well as in their corporations. As

an instance many brand managers are concerned in developing low volume of calories,

sugar, the cholesterol unfastened oil, iodized salt and much other such type of brands.

Moreover, they are also trying to promote them through the most effective advertising

and promotional media (Scott, 2007)

2.6.4 Behavior In Search of Variety:

Normally this type of consumer buying behavior is originated in a situation where the

customers are not highly satisfied with their earlier product purchasing decisions. This

type of buying behavior may occur if the post purchase feelings do not match with the

pre-purchase expectations of the buyer. It also means that the product has simply failed

to deliver the desirable level of customer expectations. Such type of consumer behavior

can also be recorded due to the excessive use of a product over times, or out of the

consumer boredom. Consumers with this type of buying behavior are very much

demanding, updated, adventurous and highly dynamic. Moreover, such customers

demand a product with the most updated or sophisticated features. On this shopping

behavior, generally the purchaser–product involvement is low however there can be

variations as well.

Such types of customers most frequently change their affiliations with brands, not

because of the dissatisfaction factor, but most importantly due to consumer boredom

(Scott, 2007).

2.6.5 The Range Seeking Consumer Buying Behavior:

Normally it is known as one of the key determinant factors about brand switching

process in consumer product class (Scott, 2007). Customers with such type of behavior

keep a variety of choices in their priority list. They most likely will switch to the next best

possible option as they see it. Such types of customers are also called as mercenaries or

opportunists. They are just waiting for the next best possible option and they will switch

to it as they get a chance to do so. Range seeking behavior refers to that type of

consumer buying behavior where the customers are in a continuous search of better

40

quality products (Assael, 1981). They can also base their search on advance features of a

product or even on a low price factor. Moreover, they can also make product switching

if they perceive the next option to be more scientifically or technologically safe to use.

In other words switching can also occur due to the less perceived hazards associated

with a product or service (Scott, 2007).

2.7 Measuring the Celebrity Endorsement Effectiveness: Celebrity endorsement effectiveness can be evaluated with the help of below

mentioned models:

2.8 Models Used for the Explanation of Celebrity Endorsement

Effectiveness:

2.8.1 The Model of Source Credibility:

This model was developed by the Hovland & Weiss, in 1951. The Source credibility

model is comprised of two determinants i.e. the perceived trustworthiness and level of

expertise held by the endorser. This model suggests that for the overall effectiveness of

an advertising message source should be a trust worthy and an expert person of his or

her field (Hovland et al., 1953, & Dholakia & Leavitt, 1978). In order to make it simple

we can say that expertise of a celebrity refers to his or her possessed level of

knowledge, skill, or experience. Moreover, expertise refers to the point where normally

a communicator is generally perceived to be a source of providing reliable and credible

information on the basis of a communicator’s skill experience or knowledge in a

particular area (Hovland et al., 1951). More expert endorsers have more positive impact

on the buying behavior of the target audience (Ohanian, 1990).

Most of the times consumers are more inclined towards the advertising messages that

are conveyed through more expert and skillful endorsers. As a matter of fact, these

endorsers can better influence the purchase intention of the target audiences due to

their perceived level of expertise in a particular field of interest. For example various

celebrities might have different types of expertise in the different fields of interests i.e.

sports, arts, or fashion designing etc. (Ohanian, 1990, & Belch & Belch, 1994). Moreover,

superstars advocating a particular brand and having substantial personal or professional

expertise are in a better position to create more strong word of mouth amongst social

members. They can also help the brand advertisers to create a desire in the mind of the

customers to start using or keep using a particular brand (Holmes & Strutton, 2008).

Celebrity’s credibility refers to the perceived level of a celebrity’s personal professional

and social integrity, honesty and the volume of believability that general public has got

about him or her (Erdogan, 2001).

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It is a common observation that customer has normally a consideration that celebrities

are truthful source of communication. They consider them credible and hence they

follow what these celebrities say or do (Goldsmith et al., 2000). In our social lives we

give more importance to the point of views of those who have a high level of perceived

credibility in our minds. They can more easily persuade us on the basis of the trust that

we have in them (Erdogan, 1999). The perceived level of trust is built upon the

achievements or the ascribed position of an individual (celebrity) in his or her field or

profession. It is also due to their high place in their follower’s hearts and minds. Level of

credibility is further enhanced if the endorsing personality remains a highly consistent

performer in his/her field of interest over times. It can further increase the overall

effectiveness of the endorsement process if a celebrity’s personality or profession also

perfectly matches with the endorsed brand personality as well.

Trustworthiness or credibility of the endorser refers to his or her perceived level of

knowledge, experience, or skills that has a meaningful place in the mind of the target

audience. The perceived sense of celebrity trustworthiness results in the creation of

positive purchase intention and is also powerful enough to impact consumers social

behavior as well (Belch & Belch, 1994, & Priyankara et al., 2017). A celebrity can have a

high level of perceived credibility if they are well known to the target audiences.

Moreover, they are considered believable on the basis of their higher expertise in the

areas of their operations. Consumers do think about a celebrity’s honesty and integrity

when they personally or contractually associate themselves with a particular brand

(Hung et al., 2011). Brand endorsement through super stars is not the only way to

create a favorable response in the mind of the customers to buy a product.

However, it is considered as one of the valuable sources of information by the target

audience based on the good will of the endorsing personalities. More credible

celebrities tend to reduce the perceived levels of risks associated with the purchase and

use of a brand (Erdogan, 1999). One of the dimensions that may increase the credibility

of a celebrity is the level of social acceptance that they might have in a particular

society. Higher the level of social acceptance, higher will be a celebrity’s credibility

amongst social members. In other words a social or an ethnic match can also create or

enhance a celebrity’s credibility in the minds of the consumers (McCormick, 2016).

Ethnic match can result in more popularity of a celebrity because degree of confidence

is normally much higher on those who are “like us” and it can be less on endorsers from

any other ethnic group or society. In this case, the target audience considers them more

credible because they are similar to their beliefs, lifestyle, or thinking (Desphande &

Stayman, 1994). For example, In case of Indian and Pakistani superstar endorsement

practices a big range of similarities exist even in some cases the identical faith (Shah

42

Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Fawad Khan and Shahid Afridi) but on the other hand,

differences of beliefs are also observed (Katrina Kaif and Mehwish Hayat, MS Dhoni &

Wasim Akram). It means that the impact of other attributes of celebrities whether

Indian or Pakistan are almost same on Pakistani consumers.

However it has been noticed that the degree of attachment with local celebrities is

somehow higher than that of Indians celebrities. This may be because of the really

existing similarities in beliefs of both the endorsing source and target audiences (Hassan

et al., 2014). The model of Source credibility was initially developed by Hovland and his

research fellows in 1951. According to these researchers Source credibility model

normally refers to an endorser or communicator‘s desirable characteristics that can

have a meaningful and most desirable impact on the receiver‘s recognition of

advertising messages (Ohanian, 1990). Technically speaking, this model was developed

totally on the basis of the research in the domain of social psychology by the said

researchers (Hovland et al., 1953). This suggested model of celebrity endorsement

shows the results that the overall effectiveness of an advertising message mainly relies

on the consumer perceived level of know-how and the level of trustworthiness of

celebrity endorser (Hovland et al., 1953, Dholakia and Stemthai, 1977, & Ohanian,

1991).

Moreover (Kelman, 1961) found that the advertising messages become more

meaningful and effective if they are delivered through famous faces. He was of a view

that these famous personalities have the required charisma or potential to influence the

buying behavior of the audience in a most desirable way. They possess deeper

influences on the decision making process of consumers.

It will most commonly happen if the endorser and the audience share same set of

perceived values (social, religious or personal) and the endorser is well known to the

audience as well (Erdogan, 1999). Moreover, (Ohanian, 1990) in his research study

explained credibility and celebrity trustworthiness as the level of trust or confidence in

someone, the perceived level of acceptance of the speaker as well as of the message.

Studies show that credibility or trustworthiness of an endorser is totally perceptual and

it mainly relies upon on the mindset of the target audience. It also can refer to the

perceived level of personal social or professional integrity of the endorsing source.

For the meaningful promotion of their brands normally the marketers take the

advantage of the above mentioned desirable set of values. They are always in search of

those famous faces that are enjoying a maximum level of perceived honesty. They are

having a sincere attitude, are plausible and dependable among their fans and general

public (Shimp, 1999). Some researchers are of a view that in a buying situation where

43

the overall perceived level of celebrity trustworthiness is high, as a result of this feeling

it is most likely to have more positive impacts on the overall purchase intent of the

customers. They are also of a view that less credible personalities will be in a weaker

position to create more positive influence on the purchase intent of the customers.

Another factor that can cause a positive change or influence on purchase intent of the

customers is the knowledge or the level of expertise of the endorsing celebrities.

Expertise or the knowledge of the celebrity can be described as the consumer based

thinking or perceived capacity of brand endorsers to provide or make the logical and

appropriate arguments in the favor of the endorsed brands.

This capability of a celebrity can produce a desire in the mind of the customers towards

buying a particular product or hiring a service (Miller & Baseheart, 1969). On the other

hand some authors recommend that it is not mandatory or essentially must for a brand

endorser to belong to showbiz or to be any other professional. However his

personality’s influence in advertising is totally dependent on the audience perceptions

that how do they perceive him or her (Hovland et al., 1953, Ohanian, 1991 & Tom,

1992). Moreover, a study by Ohanian (1990) suggested that the consumer perceived

expertise of celebrity endorser is more important and effective than his or her physical

charm or attractiveness. The perceived level of trustworthiness of celebrities works a lot

in influencing the consumer purchase intentions positively. He further stated that the

more expert or knowledgeable celebrities are discovered to be more influential and

persuasive than non-expert and less knowledgeable celebrities (Aaker and Myers, 1987).

Furthermore, the possessed level of expertise and trustworthiness of celebrities can

positively impact the consumer brand selection procedures (Ohanian, 1991). Moreover,

(Speck et al., 1988) observed that the endorsing celebrities with comparatively higher

expertise charge higher brand endorsement fee than non-professional or less expert

celebrities (Erdogan, 1999). The brand managers willfully pay them higher amounts of

money in order to cash their high face values. Consequently, the findings within the

source credibility research are ambiguous. It describes the expertise and

trustworthiness of the endorsing source as two determinants of celebrity endorsement

process and does not describe the other dimensions of celebrity endorsement

technique. It also does not clearly explain that amongst these two determinants which

one is more important. Besides this criticism studies have proved to have a considerable

and direct impact of celebrity expertise and trustworthiness on attitudes and behavioral

intentions related to the purchase of a product or service. It may also assist marketers in

selecting the right brand endorsers for the effective brand endorsement function.

Findings revealed that consumers positively perceive the expertise and trustworthiness

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of endorsing celebrities in relation to their purchase intention towards the endorsed

brands (Erdogan, 1999).

2.8.2 Model of Physical Attractiveness:

A thing of beauty is a joy forever (John Keats).Beautiful people do not need any

recommendation certificate (Aristotle).

This model has been developed and proposed by (McGuire, 1985). Beauty is a very

desirable feature of a person. Bodily beauty is an informational and inspirational cue

which entails effects that can produce positive, convincing, and long lasting impacts on

others. Consequently, for the effective brand endorsement function the

recommendation for using more physically elegant celebrities is much higher than using

less physically elegant endorsers (Patzer, 1985). Normally, the famous figures whether

the sports stars or showbiz related personalities have got exceptional social appraisal

and acceptability locally as well as globally. It’s a very effective source to grab and seize

the attention of target market both in print and electronic media.

A study reveals that the physical elegance of the endorser has high quality impact on

consumer buying behavior as compared to less physically attractive endorsers (Ohanian,

1991). Physical elegance of the celebrity produces more considerable and long lasting

impacts on consumer buying behavior because of their high social acceptance and fame

(Kahle and Homer, 1985). Moreover, celebrities having more physical elegance are

widely used by the brand advertisers to promote brands that enhance a man or

woman’s physical attractiveness or looks.

For example, physically attractive models are most commonly used by the local and

global brand advertisers of facial creams, shampoos, soaps, clothes, foot wears, hair

shades and deodorants etc. Moreover the physical elegance or attraction of the brand

endorser really works here to create and maintain a lifetime image in the minds and

eyes of the customers. If the actual or perceived physical attractiveness of the celebrity

perfectly matches with the endorsed beauty stuff or other consumer goods, it also helps

to create an appropriate match between celebrity and endorsed brand. Hence, this right

combination between selected celebrity and endorsed brand can positively impact the

overall consumer purchase intention (Kamins, 1990). Moreover, physical elegance of an

endorsing personality is really effective to grab the instant attention of the target

audience. It also helps the brand advertisers to act as a device that can help them to

shape, modify or even change the overall mind-set of the target audience.

This resultantly ends in creating positive impacts on consumer buying intention (Menon

et al., 2001). A celebrity’s physical attraction is a powerful source to influence the

45

audience with the help of his or her attractive physical looks and glamorous style. It also

helps the brand advertisers in creating a remarkable influence on purchase intention of

the buyers. As European and Indian female celebrities are most of the times used in a

more exposed manner to promote fashion items like beauty creams, deodorants, and

garments etc. These beautiful models normally wear skirts and miniskirts to look more

appealing and eye catching. These tactics really help the local and the global brand

advertiser to grab the attention of the target audience towards the endorsed brand in a

most effective and interesting manner. Thus creates a positive desire in the minds of the

customers towards the endorsed brands (Kumar, 2010).

Pakistani society is culturally somehow different as compared to the European and

Indian societies. However, staying with in the social limits the Pakistani male and female

celebrities are also very much style and fashion conscious. They are known for their

classy and trendy images. These famous personalities anyhow have to keep themselves

within the social limits in order to avoid any controversy. For example, Mehwish Hayat,

Urwa Hussain, Mawra Hussain, Ayeza Khan, Maya Ali and Mahira Khan are the leading

super models of Pakistani showbiz industry. Nowadays they are the number one choice

of every brand advertiser in Pakistan due to their increasing fame and professional

success. These models are promoting various fashion items as well as other consumer

products from garments to cereals. They have a very huge fan base not only in Pakistan

but also in the neighboring countries like India but they do follow their social and

cultural values that are more compatible with Pakistani culture.

Resultantly these famous personalities have positively shown their significance in the

overall brand endorsement function (Hassan et al., 2014). Generally speaking, physical

attractiveness is always a desirable feature of a person. People having the physical

charm are always appreciated in every society. In advertising, one of the advertiser

objectives is to grab the instant attention of the audience that is important to watch and

understand a particular ad. That’s why advertisers make use of those celebrities having

more physical charm and attractiveness. Celebrities always keep themselves physically

fit in order to keep their distinctive position in their respective field of interests.

A study conducted by Patzer (1985) found that bodily elegance is an informational and

inspirational dimension of the celebrity personality that entails consequences which can

be expressive or noticeable; appealing persuasive and not easy to be ignored. He further

advocated the usage of such appealing celebrity endorsers than other types of

endorsers. According to the above mentioned study, consumer likes to enhance his or

her physical attractiveness or beauty. Moreover they always react positively to the

brand endorser who looks like him/her, or is having more physical charm (Erdogan,

46

1999). Sometimes the target audience generally tends to suppose that physically

appealing personalities are tons smarter than the others and it is more pleasant

experience to watch them in advertisements. These findings are totally based on the

studies in the areas of social psychology (McCracken, 1989). It basically concentrates on

4 key regions related to the personality of the celebrity. It includes familiarity which

refers to the knowingness of the consumers with the celebrity endorser. It also refers to

the extent of fondness, care and affection for the endorsing personality.

Celebrities that are well known to the general public or to the target audience can

better grab their attention as well as are in a better position to endorse a brand

successfully. The second component entails similarity which refers to the perceived

resemblance between the endorsing personality and the respondent or audience.

Psychologists believe that people are generally more attracted towards those who are

most likely perceived to be like them. The third component is likeability which refers to

the affection or the sense of attachment with the endorser that is primarily based on

his/her physical look or with the celebrity behavior. Likeability can also be based upon

the intellectual talent or on the lifestyle of the endorsing personality.

These are the various component of physical attractiveness model. It states that the

brand endorsing personalities with more desirable physical features or beauty can

better create more consumer interest in the endorsed brands (Kumar, 2010), (Khan et

al., 2016). It suggests that the effectiveness of an advertising message mainly relies

upon celebrity familiarity with the audience. It also has a relationship with his or her

likability, similarity, and physical attraction towards the message receiver (Ohanian,

1990). Moreover, the local and the global marketer tend to choose one of the best

celebrity brand endorsers on the basis of their physical or personal splendor. This is

done by them in order to cash their social fame and personality attributes i.e. superstar

popularity and physical attraction, their familiarity similarity as well as their likeability

(Singer, 1983). Especially the print media commercials really enhance and display the

logical and appealing importance of bodily beauty. According to different studies many

researchers most of the times have observed the fact that physically attractive brand

endorsers are comparatively more effective than physically unattractive brand

endorsers. Physically desirable sources can better do the consumer persuasion,

changing ideals or modifying life style patterns. They can produce meaningful impacts

on consumer minds (Baker and Churchill, 1977, Petty & Cacioppo, 1980, & Debevec and

Keman, 1984). Moreover, the advertising experts believe that the physically attractive

celebrities can better influence the consumer purchase intentions than less physically

attractive endorsers (Friedman et al., 1976, & Chaiken, 1979).

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Another study by (Cohen et al., 1972) implemented the said model in the process of

advertising and marketing activities. They found that bodily beauty decides the

effectiveness of persuasive conversation through a procedure referred to as identity. It

is most likely to occur in situations where the message receiver receives and

acknowledges the transmitted information sent through an inspirational and physically,

personally, or socially attractive source (Erdogan, 1999). In addition to this, various

studies have been performed in the past in order to know the impact of gender

interaction between celebrity and respondent. Studies suggested that a celebrity has an

extra impact of persuasion on opposite gender’s consumer purchase intention (Debevec

& Kernan, 1984).

These researchers were of a view that beautiful and most attractive female models

creates extra consumer interest in the endorsed brand and strengthen the purchase

intention better than their male counterparts (models or endorsers). Their perceived

personality influence is much higher than male celebrity endorsers. On the other hand,

Caballero et al., 1989) are of a different view. They investigated the impact of same and

opposite genders on each other’s purchase intentions. Consequently, they found the

same gender endorsers to be more effective rather than the opposite gender.

That means men were found to be more influencing than females to impact the buying

intention of the male consumers and vice versa. Similar results were recorded by

another study performed by Petroshius and Crocker (1989). They discovered that

celebrity gender has no significant influences on consumer‘s attitudes toward classified

ads or on their consumer purchase intentions. The overall research conclusion regarding

gender based celebrity endorsement practices were not very much clearly described.

Hence they do not provide solid ground of differentiation to the advertising managers

(Erdogan, 1999). The above mentioned studies show results in the belief that attractive

celebrity brand endorsers may strongly create more positive consumer mindset towards

the advertised brand. As a matter of fact these celebrities may not essentially result in

the creation of desirable consumer buying behavior, cognitive attitudes and purchase

aim. While some of the above mentioned studies revealed the other side of the picture.

Means these studies are helpful in confirming positive influences of the various

determinants of celebrity endorsement techniques over the consumer purchase

intention.

2.8.3 The Product Celebrity Match-up Model:

This model has been proposed by (Kamins & Gupta, 1994). Generally speaking the

marketer job is to create a perfect match between the consumer’s needs and wants and

the products or services that he offers to them. In advertising, a perfect match is

48

required amongst the celebrity endorser and their endorsed brands for the effective

most communication of promotional messages. This perfect match between the

celebrity endorsers and their endorsed brands is as important as other dimensions of

celebrity endorsement in order to enhance the overall effectiveness of the promotional

messages (Kamins, 1990, Kotler, 1997). A true and a strong affiliation or match between

the brand endorsing celebrity and the endorsed brands will powerfully generate a very

strong word of mouth. Moreover it will also act as evidence that the endorser is a real

user of the brand. This also shows that the commercial is not just a paid content, but it

shows a real association between the endorsing source and the endorsed brand.

If this real affiliation or match is missing, or if target audience does not perceive a

perfect match between the celebrity and the endorsed brand, a firm must understand

that they are just wasting their time and money (Kamins & Gupta, 1994). Such situation

is very dangerous and something unwanted as well, that an advertiser would never like

it to happen. It has been observed that the celebrities possessing more logical

congruence with the endorsed brands can better communicate and transfer the

advertising message to the target audience as compared to those celebrities who have

less or no logical congruence with the endorsed brands (Jagre et al., 2001). For example,

the famous footballer Messi and the legendary sportsman Michael Jordan possess more

logical congruence with the promotion of sports stuff like sports shoes and less

congruence with electronics or cosmetic stuff. Lady Gaga can be a best option to

promote fashion related stuff as she has got a classy & a fashionable image in the minds

of the general public.

As a matter of fact she cannot be the most appropriate option to endorse automobiles.

World famous formula one racer, Michael Schumacher can be a right choice to endorse

sports cars, instead of endorsing home furniture. Local example can be of the legendary

Pakistani cricketer Shahid Khan Afridi who is endorsing a variety of brands from chewing

gum brand to sports shoes. The consumers here can perceive more logical congruence

between him and sports stuff and very less or even no congruence between him and

other personal care stuff including shampoo, or mobile phones (Hassan et al., 2014).

Fortini & Campbell (1992) found that humans normally consume those brands which

have some association with famous or known personalities, e.g. colleagues, relatives,

friends and family members or even the celebrities. On the other hand, Misra and

Beatty (1990) revealed that product selection procedure of a consumer is impacted by

the social members especially by the super stars that are credible and having more

congruence with the endorsed brand.

49

Furthermore, they stated that the physical elegance of a celebrity can also provide a

competitive edge to the advertiser in order to produce meaningful impacts on the

consumer buying behavior. The most appropriate congruence between the celebrity

and the advertised brand most effectively strengthens the purchase intention of the

consumers. It also helps the brand advertisers to enhance the overall effectiveness of

the promotional messages (Roy, 2006). Celebrities having more congruence with the

advertised brand supported by their physical elegance are in a better position to create

a most effective impact on the purchase intention of the customers (Ohanian, 1991).

Before making a mind to purchase the endorsed brand most of the times consumers

want to see the logical congruence between the celebrities and the endorsed brands.

They think it’s one of the important considerations in today’s modern world of fashion

and technology (Kamins and Gupta, 1994). Celebrities if have a desirable congruence

with the brand they can give an impactful meaning to the overall brand equity as well as

can produce desirable impacts on the buying behavior of the consumers. Celebrities on

the basis of their personal charisma can create a desire in the minds of the target

audience to start using or keep using a particular brand. Male and female celebrities in

Pakistan are widely used by the brand advertisers due to their high level of social

acceptance in the local market.

All the dimensions of celebrity endorsement are most commonly used by the local

brand advertisers’ i.e. emotional match up, physical elegance match up, Credibility etc.

The same approach is also widely used by the Indian brand advertisers due to its overall

effectiveness (Hassan et al., 2014).

In a research study by Jalees & Rehman, (2014) an attempt was made to study the

purchasers’ perceptions of similarity, familiarity, and notion in the direction of idealized

models (celebrities) shown in print and electronic media advertisements. Consequently,

they came to know that these dimensions of celebrity endorsement positively impact

the buying intentions of the consumers. The study revealed a positive relationship

between the perceived similarity and consumer purchase intentions. Likeability of a

celebrity also resulted in the creation of a positive buying behavior. Moreover no

relationship was recorded by the researchers between the perception about idealized

version and consumer buying intention (Jalees & Rehman, 2014).

According to Watkins, celebrities are a needless chance or option, except they may be

very logically associated with brands (Watkins, 1989). Moreover the presented model

suggested that most basically the effectiveness of an advertising message mainly relies

on the consumer perceived 'match' or even a ‘perfect match’ between the celebrity

brand endorser and his or her endorsed brands (Till & Busler, 1998). This model further

50

suggests that the celebrity personality and his or her image must have a real strategic fit

with the endorsed brand personality. If this match or perfect match is there between

both the celebrity and the brand it will simply bring more effectiveness to the overall

promotional campaign and to the consumer buying behavior as well (Kamins, 1990). The

strategic fit among the product and celebrity relies upon sharing of similar features

between the endorsed brand features and the image of the endorsing celebrity (Misra &

Beatty, 1990). For example a globally famous athlete appearing in the ad of a sport shoe

or other sporting stuff can really bring more meaningfulness and charm to the

advertising efforts of its brand manager.

So it means that the brand endorsements through highly appreciated celebrities having

more logically perceived compatibility with the endorsed brand can better lead to

effective promotional results as compared to the brand endorsement practices through

common sources or less appreciated celebrities (Kamins and Gupta, 1994), & (Hassan et

al., 2014). If there is the same perfect match between the endorsed product and the

endorsing personality, it does not only bring advertising effectiveness but also increases

the super star believability and elegance in the minds of the target customers (Kamins &

Gupta, 1994). Moreover Ohanian (1991) concluded the same findings and suggested

that it's very important to choose appropriate celebrities who can better resemble with

the endorsed brand. Moreover these endorsers are highly expert and skillful in their

respective areas of specializations. A study conducted by Bailey, 2007 stated that the

brand managers who can effectively create a sense of relatedness between the

endorsed product and endorsing celebrity image, (celebrity personality or his area of

specialization) will bring most fruitful results not only to the advertised brands but also

to the endorsing celebrity. Due to the development of digital technology, nowadays

consumers are well aware and knowledgeable. Advertisers can’t just create their

interest by using beautiful or mind appealing models. Consumers today also count on

the existence of compatibility between the recommended brand and the endorsing

super star. In other words, while making a purchase decision customers make a

comparison between the perceived image of the endorsed brand and the personality of

the endorsing celebrity (Ohanian 1991, Anjum et al., 2012 & Priyankara et al., 2017).

Before buying a brand consumers most of the times tend to find the congruence among

the recommended brand and the celebrity. At times when they fail to find the same

required congruence between the endorsing source and the endorsed brand (based on

their own perceptions) it ultimately conveys a negative meaning to them. This

negatively impacts their buying mind sets.

That perceived negative meaning is that the celebrity has not a real life association with

the endorsed brand. It also conveys a meaning that this is totally a fake advertising

51

association shown between the endorsing celebrity and his endorsed brands. As a result

of this feeling they think that celebrity here is just a paid character nothing else having

no logical connection with his endorsed brands (Erdogan, 1999). Moreover, as per the

above mentioned arguments we can conclude the fact that the existence of appropriate

congruence amongst the celebrity and endorsed brand is needed in order to have

powerful and meaningful promotional outputs. On the other hand if the brand

endorsing stars and the endorsed brand have no common attributes to share or possess

it will directly create an unwanted and unfavorable impact called as Vampire effect. As a

matter of fact the endorsing superstar in such a situation over shadows image of the

endorsed brand. As a result of this overshadowing impact the target viewers only

recognize and remember the brand endorsing celebrity not the endorsed brand (Evans,

1988). This model further indicates that beautifully appealing models especially female

super stars are greater influential at the endorsement of beauty or fashion related

brands. These brands include cosmetics, jewelry, garments, and foot wears etc.

As the young ladies are more style and fashion conscious and they also idealize the

famous and most successful female celebrities. So it is a very good advertising idea to

use them in the endorsement of the fashion related items and services (Kamins, 1990).

As an example, famous Indian actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachhan,

former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen and the beautiful actress Kajol are the brand

endorsers of L’Oreal cosmetic brands. On the other hand the legendary and globally

famous Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is successfully endorsing Adidas and MRF

sports merchandise in India.

Moreover, many authors such as (Friedman and Friedman, 1978, and Atkins & Block,

1983) argued in their researches that the use of superstars is much influential in those

product purchases where there is the involvement of excessive social and psychological

practices. Another study performed by Packard (1957) revealed that endorsing brands

through the celebrity endorsers is much important for the promotion of luxurious

products like expensive diamond rings; fancy furniture and house hold items, expensive

cars, and high class services like hoteling, travelling, etc. As celebrities are perceived to

be the VIPs and they make use of luxurious items so it’s a good idea to promote such

type of brands through these famous persons. As their personality already has a

perceived match in the mind of the customers with the endorsed brand. Besides this,

(Callcoat & Phillips, 1996) suggested totally different results. They advocated the use of

celebrity endorsement to be more effective for the promotion of generally used and less

expensive products and services normally referred to as fast moving consumer goods

(FMCGs). These authors are of the view that celebrities can play a very vital role in the

52

effective promotional function of low priced items that can be termed as convenience

products. These products normally have a low price, but a higher purchase frequency.

Unlike luxurious items, consumer level of involvement is also low in this type of product

category. These products are most commonly used by the majority of the customers on

very frequent basis. After conducting a critical review of the abovementioned studies,

we can draw conclusion that there should be a logical, physical, social, technological,

personal or even a professional association amongst the celebrity endorser’s personality

and their endorsed brand. The same real or valid connection between the both will

create a meaningful and a long lasting impact on consumer purchase intention. It will

also help the brand managers to enhance the celebrity image as well as the brand image

in the minds of the target audience. Consequently, this strategic fit will also bring more

effectiveness to the advertising efforts and will have a positive influence on consumer

purchase intention both in the short and long runs.

2.8.4 The Meaning Transfer Model:

This model was proposed by McCracken in 1989. Certain objections were posed over

the effectiveness of the previously discussed source models. According to the critics, the

source model does not include achievement dimension of the celebrity endorsement

technique. Moreover, DeSarbo and Harshman (1985) objected the source model by

stating that the sub determinants of the celebrity credibility model, physical attraction

or the model of product matchup do not provide a strong or a logical base for the

suitable celebrity endorser selection. They have raised three objections over the

suitability or validity of the source model. These objections are discussed below:

Objection 1: The presented models do not effectively provide logical measures to

carefully manage the issues related to the multidimensionality of endorsing source and

its impacts on consumer buying intention.

Objection 2: Second point of criticism is that proposed models do not clearly explain the

interactions between a celebrity and his or her recommended product.

Objection 3: Third objection being raised is that proposed models provide a very poor

quantified empirical basis for purposed dimensions of celebrity endorsement.

After the above mentioned criticism, McCracken 1989 proposed another model that is

called as ‘meaning transfer model’. Moreover the central idea behind proposing this

model is to ensure that celebrities possess particular sets of meanings which might be

necessary to be associated and transferred to the products being advocated by them.

This model further states that the overall significance and effectiveness of celebrity

endorser mainly relies upon his/her ability to convey the logical impact or meaning to

53

the brand endorsement process (McCracken, 1989). As compared to the non-celebrity

sources, celebrities can associate and transfer more effective and extraordinary

meanings to the endorsed brands. Celebrities normally have differences in races, marital

status, magnificence, gender, age, profession or area of specialization in addition to

personality and lifestyle types. Hence, marketers should go for the selection of the most

appropriate celebrity that can make a proper connection with the endorsed brand and

can meaningfully transfer the desirable attributes to the target audience (McCracken

1989). For example Messi the world known foot baller is endorsing various sports stuff,

Katrina Kaif Indian actress is endorsing so many glamorous brands these days as she is

famous for her glamorous lifestyle.

Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are known for their luxurious way of life that’s why they

are endorsing so many luxurious brands etc. Those endorsed brands include expensive

watches etc. As a matter of fact celebrity’s fans idealize them. They want to look like

them as celebrities are a source of motivation and inspiration at the same time to them.

That’s why marketers should properly understand this phenomenon that which

celebrities are more effectively followed or idealized by the general public. Based on the

same thinking they should make a careful selection of the most appropriate celebrity

endorser (Fowles, 1996). Meaning transfer process can be better initiated and

transferred through celebrity endorsement (McCracken, 1989). Purchasing decisions of

the consumers are influenced by their social factors like family, reference groups or by

culture.

There is also the influence of sub culture on the buying behavior of the consumers.

Now, the marketers should properly understand and take care of all the social,

psychological and situational factors that can both positively or negatively influence the

purchase behavior of the consumers (McCracken, 1989). This proposed model illustrates

a three stage based technique. In first stage, the marketer has to identify the cultural

meanings intended or proposed for the product and makes a decision what he/she

basically wants the product to say or communicate. After that, the advertiser needs to

analyze that how can one give voice to these meanings through the careful selection of

the most appropriate celebrity. Advertisers must keep in mind that which meaning is

associated with a brand endorsing celebrity’s social image. Moreover, in the 2nd level,

marketer has to see which particular set of meaning is really getting transferred

between the endorser and the endorsed product in the real and most logical manner

(Tom, 1992). This manner is fully based on the expressive properties of the celebrity

endorser. After the successful transfer of meaning to the product, now the next task is

to transfer it most effectively to the target audience.

54

Finally the third level starts which is referred to as intake manner. Here the marketers

need to examine that how the ultimate user receives, interprets or match that meaning

with his self-image. Means how the celebrity image and the brand image get diffused

into his mind and how he receives the meanings of both the brand and celebrity image

in relation to his own image. The final level of the model deals with the overall

significance of the customer in the endorsement procedure (McCracken, 1989). The

model of Meaning transfer was first just perceived as a theoretical concept however its

practicality to actual existence turned into reality when Lang Meyer and Walker (1991

(a) and 1991(b) proved it in their researches. In (1991, (a) they used a reaction

elicitation model with a super star endorser endorsing the gymnasium or fitness centers

while in (1991, (b) they used celebrity endorsers for the promotion of bathroom towels,

electronics, and blue denims etc. The results discovered that when celebrities were

mixed with products, those perceived variations affected consumer’s perceived

meaning of the products as well. So, Lang Meyer and Walker's findings empirically

supported the model proposed by McCracken (1989).

The study supported the model by elaborating that celebrities basically exemplify and

convey diverse meanings and these meanings are then associated directly with the

endorsed brands (Erdogan, 1999). As a matter of fact the super stars are very commonly

known for their effective endorsement efforts. As they occupy a very distinctive and

special place in the hearts of their followers (Assael, 1984, & Kumar, 2010). Therefore,

celebrities are idealized and idolized by their followers (Katyal, 2007) and are most often

treated as heroes and social opinion leader (Biswas et al., 2009).

That’s why marketers should very carefully use celebrities to effectively endorse their

brands through them. Advertising and marketing conversation represented within the

stated model play the role of a mediator. This is required to switch the endorsing

celebrity-product message in order to persuade customers and to influence their buying

behavior in the most desirable way. Though, the celebrity endorsement is not an

entirely new marketing or promotional technique. It has become a common practice of

the today’s modern world of marketing. It has got both its advantages and

disadvantages. As discussed earlier various authors have attempted to discover the

impact of celebrity endorsements on consumer buying behavior. Also efforts have been

made to point out the negative impacts of celebrity endorsement practice.

Some are of a view that the effectiveness of endorsement through the superstars

declines through over endorsement contracts. Consequently it produces a terrible

relationship with purchase intention of the buyers (Tripp, 1994). Moreover, the

Involvement of a celebrity in a scandal or in any illegal or unethical practice can also

55

create very harmful or detrimental impacts on buying behavior (White et al., 2009).

Celebrity endorsement has giant influence on buying intention of target audience.

Splendor of superstar, their congruency, and believability these types of elements have

fine impacts on the purchase intent of the customers. When comparing the Indian and

Pakistani celebrities we see that if one celebrity is considered to be physically appealing

than the other is taken into consideration to be more believable and so forth.

Sometimes celebrities share the same type of the attributes while sometimes they share

totally different attributes.

Consequently marketers have to go for a right kind of combination that can produce a

proper sense of relatedness and alignment between them and their endorsed brands.

Growing emergence of Indian celebrities has not only been cashed by the Indian

advertisers but also by the Pakistani brand managers. As an example Arjun Kapoor,

Priyanka Chopra, Karina Kapoor and Imran Hashmi the Indian celebrities are endorsing a

Pakistani cellular brand in Pakistan. At the same time Pakistani celebrities also are seen

inside the ads of comparable brands. Indian Celebrities are equally respected in Pakistan

and vice versa, that’s why marketers across the border make use of these famous

personalities. A customer’s attitude and evaluation criterion constitutes purchaser buy

purpose, and it is an important factor to understand purchaser behavior (Fishbein &

Ajzen, 1975, Kumar, 2010, & Hassan et al., 2014). Purchase aim can measure the

opportunity of a customer to shop for a product, or to hire a service.

Study shows that stronger the purchase purpose better is the customer’s willingness to

buy it (Dodds, et al., 1991 & Schiff man & Kanuk, 2000). Moreover, the concept of

purchase intention suggests that the consumers follow distinctive psychological factors

or choices when they are about to make a purchase decision. The external

environmental factors also play an important role over here to accumulate information,

examine options, and finally make a buy decision (Zeithaml, 1988), (Dodds et al., 1991,

Schiff man & Kanuk, 2000). Moreover, Chi et al., (2009) in their research study proposed

that advertising and marketing endorser’s reputation, his or her expertise, and elegance

can strengthen purchasers’ determination towards a product or service. It can fasten his

response in a quick time and can lead towards creation of purchase intention. (Holbrook

and Stephens, 1988 & Laroche, et al., 1996) also were of the same idea that marketing

endorser’s fame and the face value can alternate customer preferences; attitude and

can promote buying aim in the desirable direction. Advertising endorser can make use

of electronic or print media advertising to implement a product’s exposure rate that

influences the consumer’s mind-set and know-how to elevate the purchase intention

(Miciak & Shanklin, 1994).

56

Studies strongly believe that the celebrity endorsers can carefully give a nice image to a

recommended product and simply can desirably impact customer buying intention.

Furthermore, purchaser perceptions about a brand and purchase aim might be higher

when purchasers have a greater level of involvement in the brand and familiarity

(Kamins & Marks, 1991, & Laroche, et al., 1996). Moreover, Wang (2006) conducted a

study by taking the endorsed brand image as his independent variable, while the brand

category as moderating variable and the buying behavior as dependent variable. Study

concluded that better the brand image is, better will be the acquisition goal of the

buyer. On the other hand Fournier (1998) suggested that if the endorsed brand provides

such brand features that best fulfill the consumers need, the target audience will most

likely produce strong mental relatedness and an unbreakable relationship with the

brand. It will further strengthen the future buying behavior of the consumers.

Moreover, consumer purchase intention is based on purchaser perception, values

acquisition, and it's far important key to understand consumer purchase intention.

Monroe and Krishnan (1985) explored that perceived value and perceived image both

affects purchase purpose. They also concluded that greater perceived cost and

perceived satisfaction leads toward the stronger purchase intention. Zeithaml, (1988)

also recommended that the better perceived value leads towards the better buying

behavior. Due to the involvement of celebrities advertising has become more

influencing and convincing. It has become an important consideration in modern-day

aggressive advertising environment. It results in the creation of fame both for products

as well as for the celebrities. A study was conducted to know the effectiveness of local

and foreign celebrities on the purchase intention of the buyers. Study considered

Pakistani and Indian celebrities with their personal, professional physical or social

attributes that are used for his or her endorsement effects on buying intention. A

sample of three hundred consumers was taken to analyze the influences of local or

foreign celebrities on the purchase intention of Pakistani consumers. These celebrities

are endorsing various competitive brands in the same or different product category.

Consequences confirmed that endorsement through local and Indian celebrities has

similar and not much significant impact on buying behavior of Pakistani consumers.

Study revealed that celebs whether local or foreign do not make a remarkable

difference in influencing the buying behavior of the consumers. However, brand image

and brand loyalty are the important elements that can remarkably influence the buying

intention of the buyers. It also brings positive results on consumer perceptions about

the brand (Hassan et al., 2016).

57

2.9 The Conceptual Framework: On the basis of above mentioned literature, author has proposed the following

conceptual framework:

Figure 2.1: The Broader Framework Developed to Understand the

Celebrity Endorsements:

Endorsed Items

Promotional Messages

Target Audience

Model of Source Credibility - Celebrity Expertise - Trustworthiness

Model of Physical Attractiveness - Similarity - Likeability - Familiarity

Model of Product Celebrity Match

Up

Model of

Meaning

Transfer

Endorsing

Source i.e.

Celebrity

Buying Behavior: Cognitive Process - Celebrity Based Perceptions - Celebrity Endorsement based Perceptions - Impacts Consumer Behavior Towards Advertising and Endorsed Brands & finally Consumer Purchase Intention

58

Figure 2.2 Concpetual Framework Developed to study the Celebrity

Endorsements:

1. Independent Variable: Celebrity Endorsements

2. Determinants of Independent Variable: Source Credibility Model (Expertise and

trustworthiness). Physical attractiveness Model (Similarity, Likeability, &

familiarity). Product Match-Up and Meaning Transfer Model

3. Dependent variable: Purchase Intention

Model of

Physical

Attractiveness

Celebrity

Expertise

Celebrity

Trustworthiness

Similarity

Likeability Familiarity

Model of

Product Match

Up

Model of Meaning Transfer

Model of

Source

Credibility

H2a H2b H3a H3b H3c

H4 H5

Celebrity Endorsement

Consumers Perceptions and

their Attitude

Consumer Buying Intention H1

59

2.10 Discussion over the Variables Mentioned in the Conceptual

Framework:

2.10.1 Independent Variable: The Celebrity Endorsements:

Celebrity is a person who is well reputed and well known to the general public. These

personalities are famous amongst the social members and are given more importance

as compared to the rest (McCracken, 1989, & Khan et al., 2016). Friedman and

Friedman, (1979) stated that celebrity endorser is an advertising character who's well

known to the general public for his or her personal or professional success in the

respective fields others than that of the endorsed brands. While the celebrity

endorsement refers to the advertising technique where a brand is being endorsed by

the famous personalities know as celebrities. These famous personalities have a deeper

influence over the social lives and minds of the general public due to their higher level

of social recognition and personal accomplishments (Friedman & Friedman, 1979, Chi et

al., 2009, & Dzisah et. al 2013).

Local and the global marketers are now most widely and commonly using the celebrity

endorsement as a promotional technique due to its overall significance (Poghosyan,

2015). Nowadays celebrities from showbiz or sporting world can be easily seen in

commercials as they have an influential stance towards creation of a positive word of

mouth amongst the social members (Hassan et.al 2014). Celebrity endorsement can be

similarly understand and explored with the help of several determinants. These

determinants describes the overall effectiveness of a celebrity as a brand endorser and

describe that how effective he or she can be in order to impact the purchase intention

of the customers. The author has taken the determinants of the celebrity endorsement

that has been prescribed by (Amos et al., 2008, and Kumar, 2010).

Furthermore, the source credibility model and the source physical attractiveness model

shall be used as a basic factor for choosing the determinants of celebrity endorsement

process (Erdogan, 1999). Consequently, the selected determinants in the light of above

mentioned literature are: Celebrity credibility, having the sub determinants named as

expertise, and trustworthiness of a celebrity. Physical attractiveness having the sub

determinants titled as similarity, familiarity and likability. Last but not the least, the

celebrity-product match up or congruence model and the meaning transfer model has

been used.

H1: Celebrity endorsement has a positive relationship with the consumer purchase

intention.

60

2.11 Determinants of Independent Variable: 1. Source Credibility Model: It simply refers to the volume to which the receiver of the

advertising message perceives the endorsing source as having applicable understanding,

knowledge and abilities in relation to their purchase intention. Consumers have a high

level of liking and appreciation for these famous personalities. Consumers normally

have a high level of trust in these famous personalities. The target audience believes

that these endorsers give unbiased and reliable information regarding brands as

compared to other non-famous personalities (Belch & Belch, 1994, & Krishnan, 2011).

2.11.1Sub Determinants of Source Credibility Model:

A. Expertise: It is the first most critical component of credibility model (Hovland et al.,

1953 & Goldsmith et al., 2000). In addition to this the perceived credibility of a super

star is defined as the overall effectiveness of an endorsing source that creates and

increases the acceptation and understanding of the promotional messages (Erdogan,

1999 & Kumar, 2010). Previous literature shows that the perceived credibility of the

endorsing celebrity is amongst one of the most important attributes of the celebrity

endorsement technique in advertising (Bailey, 2007, & Anjum et al., 2012). Credibility or

trustworthiness of the endorser is very crucial for the creation of a positive word of

mouth especially when target audience have a bad mind-set towards a brand. These

famous figures can really do effective argumentation to build or regain the lost brand

image. More credible endorsers can better create and maintain a brand image (Belch &

Belch, 2001, & Bafna et al., 2016). Expertise possessed by a celebrity is being defined as

the volume or the limit up to where the celebrity endorser is perceived to be a valid

source of reliable information and recommendations (Erdogan, 1999, & Kumar, 2010).

The perceived level of expertise depends upon the technical know-how, or skills of the

endorsers (Ohanian, 1990, & McCormick 2016).

It has been recorded that more expert celebrity endorser can better portray a brand

image as compared to less expert endorsers and positively impact the purchase intent

of the target audience (Woodside & Davenport, 1974, Ohanian, 1991, Aaker, 1997 &

Kumar, 2010). The brand endorsing celebrities possessing high level of expertise in a

particular field e.g. fashion industry or sports etc. can create better brand persona as

compared to non-professional endorsers (Speck et al., 1988, & Katyal, 2007). The level

of expertise that a celebrity possesses will decide its promotional effectiveness.

Consequently, the greater volume of perceived expertise the endorsing celebrities have,

greater will be its impact on the consumer purchase intent. The perceived level of

celebrity trustworthiness keeps a positive influence on the consumer buying intention.

The information of a celebrity will not be modified with the aid of negative publicity or

negative social thoughts but it will adversely impact the celebrity believability or

61

celebrity credibility in the minds of the target audience (Amos, Holmes & Strutton, 2008,

& Kumar, 2010).

H2a: Expertise of the celebrity positively influences the consumer purchase intention

B. Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness of the endorsing celebrity normally refers to the

perceived level of the endorsing source’s integrity, honesty and his or her believability in

the minds of the followers. For effective brand endorsement a celebrity should be a

trustworthy person (Erdogan et al., 2001) & (Hassan et al., 2014). For the meaningful

endorsement of brands, marketing managers are continuously attempting to engage

well reputed celebrities, who are extensively visible on media and are considered as

trustful, reliable, honest, and believable (Shimp, 1997, & Amit Kumar, 2010).

Trustworthiness is the maximum important issue with regard to the source credibility.

According to Friedman, (1978), likeability of an endorser is the most essential attribute

of trust. An advertiser can create a best combination between the likeability and

trustworthiness of a celebrity because of the fact that when consumers like someone

they ultimately develop a level of trust in them (Friedman, Santeramo & Traina, 1979, &

Priyankara et al., 2017). Summing up, the trustworthiness of an endorser is of major

significance and it has got powerful impacts on the purchase intention of the customers.

The trustworthy endorsers can better endorse a brand as compared to the less credible

endorsers. A better brand image can be developed if consumers perceive the celebrity

to be more trust worthy and expert (Kumar, 2010).

The negative publicity about a celebrity somehow, cannot just impact the celebrity’s

credibility but can also lower down the perceived brand image in the minds of the

customers. It can also adversely impact the profit margins (Shimp, 1995 & Katyal, 2007).

H2b: Trustworthiness of the super stars has a relationship with the purchase intention

of the customers

2. Model of Physical Elegance: Physical beauty is a source of attraction and motivation.

Here one must understand that the physical elegance does not only include the physical

beauty of an endorser but it also includes his high level of skills, his or her strong

character in the minds of the customers as well as the talents and achievements of the

endorsers (Erdogan, 1999). Celebrities are having more physical attraction and splendor

because of their high performances in their respective fields. They have got a high level

of social recognition on the basis of their achievements and physical charm (Cohen &

Golden, 1972 & Rengarajan et al., 2014). Celebrities having physical elegance and a

proper match up with the endorsed brand can better advocate a brand as compared to

the endorsers who are not having physical charm and are also not having a required

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level of congruence with the endorsed brand. For example, Roger Federer has a high

volume of physical charm being an outstanding athletic performer.

Moreover, Mr. Federer has a high volume of congruence as well for the endorsement of

sports stuff on the basis of same high athletic performance (Anjum et al., 2012). Even

the less attractive but more congruent endorsers can also do better brand endorsement

though they are not too much attractive but they have a high extent of congruence with

an endorsed brand. E.g. the famous Pakistani food and household items expert Zubaida

Apa is an old lady (not having physical elegance), but consumers perceive a very high

level of congruence with her for the endorsement of food stuff and other household

items. When a required level of congruence does exist between the celebrity and the

endorsed brand, physical attraction becomes less essential and therefore the brand

advertiser may pick out a much less attractive but more congruent superstar (Jagre,

2001, & Roy, 2006).

2.12 Sub Determinants of Physical Attractiveness Model: A. Similarity: It refers to the perceived level of commonalities between the celebrity

endorser and the target audience exposed to the promotional communications

(McGuire, 1985 & McCormick, 2016). It’s a common fact that normally people have an

attractive tendency towards others who are “like them” and a repulsive one towards

dissimilar people. Hence, if a customer finds the endorsing personality to be similar to

him or herself, there is a greater chance of successful brand endorsement. This similar

association can be on the basis of belonging to the same gender, age, profession,

nationality, society or even religion etc. Perceived similarity between the celebrity

endorser and the brand can bring extra impactful cohesiveness in the promotional

efforts (Erdogan, 1999, & Mazlan et al., 2016).

On the basis of the same fact, marketers select celebrities who are having more logical

similarities with the target audience so that to bring a strategic fit or harmony in the

advertising message (Shimp, 1995, & Bergkvist, 2015). The perceived similarity between

the endorser and the target audience results in the creation of a social bond. It does not

only increase the attachment of social members with the celebrity but also with the

brand endorsed by him or her. Celebrities are well known personalities so consumers

can better identify them in a commercial as compared to unknown or common people.

The perceived level of similarity between endorser and the target audience also result in

better brand recall (Dzisah 2013, & Kang et al., 2016).

H3a: Similarity among the celebrity endorser and customers positively impacts the

purchase intention of the buyers.

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B. Likeability: likeability refers to the perceived level of affection that the target

audience holds for a particular celebrity. This likeability for the endorser is being

developed as a result of his or her physical elegance and behavior. When the target

audience develop liking for a particular celebrity, it automatically creates affection with

the brands endorsed by him or her. Consequently, marketers engage these famous

personalities to promote their brands in order to cash out their public fame (McGuire,

1985, Belch & Belch, 2001 & Kumar, 2010).

For example, in Pakistan the leading celebrities from showbiz and sporting world are

widely liked by the general public. They have a large number of locally and globally

endorsed brands on their credit. These celebrities include Shahid Khan Afridi, Wasim

Akram, Atif Aslam, Fawad Khan, Mehwish Hayat, Ayesha Khan and Mahira Khan etc.

Marketers are keeping a vigilant eye over the popularity graph of these celebrities and

are constantly engaging them in their promotional campaigns as their brand endorsers.

Millions of dollars are annually paid to them as a remuneration of the brand

endorsement efforts (Hassan et al., 2016).

H3b: Celebrity likeability positively affects the consumer’s purchase intention

C. Familiarity: It refers to the intended information amongst the general public that the

endorsing celebrities possess through social publicity (Erdogan, 1999, & Kumar, 2010).

The marketers must know the level to which the general public or the target audiences

possess familiarity with the endorsing celebrity. As a matter of fact greater the level of

familiarity of a celebrity, greater will be the influence on the purchase intention of the

customers. Some celebrities are more liked as compared to the rest, depending upon

the similarity and familiarity with the target audience. These celebrities are well

exposed to the general public as compared to the rest. This better exposure to the

target audience has remarkable impact on the buying behavior of the target audiences

(Zajonc, 1968, & Poghosyan, 2015).

The effects of familiarity on mind-set of the consumers will increase if the endorsing

celebrities appear most frequently in advertising messages. Moreover, it can decrease if

the endorsing celebrities do not most frequently appear in advertising messages. In

other words if the advertising messages are most frequently broadcasted it can

positively increase the familiarity of the endorsing celebrity. Moreover, it can negatively

decrease if the celebrity featured commercials are not most frequently broadcasted on

the advertising media (Bornstein, 1989).

H3c: Celebrity familiarity positively influences the acquisition goal of the purchaser

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3. The Model of Product Celebrity Matchup: A required level of alignment or perfect

match between the endorsing celebrity and the endorsed brand is much required for

bringing extra effectiveness in the advertising message (Cooper 1984, Khan et al., 2016,

& Bafna et al., 2016). This required level of congruence between the celebrity and the

endorsed brand results in better brand recall as well as creates a positive impact on the

purchase intent of the customers (Kumar, 2010 & Bergkvist et al., 2015). Consequently,

congruence between both the entities increase the celebrity and brand believability in

the mind of the customers as compared to the situation where the required level of

congruence is missing between the super star and the recommended brand (Han et al.,

2015).

H4: The appropriate congruence between celebrity and the endorsed brand positively

influences the consumer purchase intention.

4. Meaning Transfer Model: This model of celebrity endorsements has been presented

by McCracken in 1989. According to him the endorsing source must possess some

unique personal or professional features or meaning set that can help the brand

advertisers to promote their brands through them in a most desirable manner.

Different celebrities have different sets of unique meaning and features that can help

the brand advertisers to associate and transfer the same to the endorsed brands and

finally to the brand users. This can positively impact the consumer perceptions about

the endorsed brand and the endorsing source. Therefore, it can also produce the most

desirable impacts on the consumer purchase intention as well (McCracken, 1989,

Erdogan, 1999, & Priyankara et al., 2017).

H5: Celebrities providing or transferring meaning to the brands positively influences

the purchase intention of the customers

2.13 Dependent Variable:

A. Consumer Purchase Intentions:

On the basis of the above mentioned literature, the author intended to take consumer

purchase intention as dependent variable for the current study. Consumer purchase

intention refers to a cognitive procedure that a consumer has to pass through while

purchasing a product or hiring a service for present or for a future time period (McGuire,

1985). Several factors are responsible behind the shaping and reshaping of consumer

purchase intention. It primarily includes the social factors, the psychological factors as

well as the situational factors. The social factors include the religion, culture, family,

social classes and reference groups etc. Reference group is of two types, the primary

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reference group includes the blood relationships while the secondary reference group

includes the social relationships other than blood ones.

Celebrities come under the secondary reference group. The second influencing factor is

termed as psychological factors, which include the motivation, perception, personality

type of the consumer, attitudes of the consumers, and consumer level of learning, etc.

Last but not the least, the situational factors refers to the situation in which a consumer

finds himself. It includes the moods and motives of the consumers, terms and conditions

of purchase, the surroundings as well as the time of purchase. These factors shape and

reshape the consumer buying behavior (McGuire, 1985). The role of celebrities in

advertising is of a very great importance in influencing the consumer purchase

intentions (Krishnan 2011, Han et. al 2015, & McCormick, 2016). The desirable attributes

of the superstar’s personality creates a positive mindset of consumers to start using or

keep using a particular brand (Amos, Holmes and Strutton, 2008).

The positive perceptions of the target audience about the celebrity lead toward the

creation of a positive mindset and it ultimately impacts their purchase intention (Khan

et al., 2016). Involvement of a celebrity in advertising messages not only helps in garbing

the instant attention of the target audiences but it also helps the advertisers to

strengthen their brand equity (Goldsmith et al., 2000, & Pringle and Benet, 2005).

Celebrities have a positive impact on the mindset of the consumers on the basis of their

popularity and achievements. Therefore for the most desirable results marketers should

make a careful use of these famous personalities while endorsing their brands through

them (Singer, 1983, & Mazlan et al., 2016).

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Chapter 3rd

Research Methodology The chapter describes the efforts that have been made to justify the proposed methodology for

this study. It firstly describes the population of the study, procedures for data collection, research

approach, and the type and nature of the research study. The chapter also throws light over the

research design and the research strategy. It also provides information about the data collection

sources and the selected sample size & Sampling technique. At the end it describes the statistical

tools and techniques that were used for the analysis of the data.

3.1 Population of the study: For every research study, the determination of a right set of respondents is very much

crucial in order to draw scientifically valid results (Sekaran, 2000). Population taken by

the author for this research contains consumers residing in the provincial capital of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its surrounding sub urban areas including Abbottabad, Dera

Ismail Khan, Kohat, Mardan, Nowshehra, and district Swabi etc. The idea behind

selecting the urban and surrounding sub urban areas of the province was because of the

comparatively higher literacy rate of its respondents as compared to the literacy rate of

the rural consumers. The consumers living in these areas are also better exposed to

various informational or advertising media like print and electronic media, so they have

a greater knowledge about various celebrities and their respective areas of operations.

Consumers living in these areas, in comparison to the rural consumers have a better

access and understanding of social media as well which is also becoming an important

and emerging source of advertising these days. Amongst the selected members of

population, the respondents were of 16 to 45 years of age.

It’s a general observation that consumers in this age group are more active buyers as

compared to under 16 and above 45 years buyers (McGuire, 1985). The level of brand

consciousness and celebrities’ awareness is also higher in this age bracket. Consumers in

this age group are more inclined towards more usage of personally or domestically used

items. It may include consumer goods like personal care products, (cosmetics,

electronics etc.) as well as domestically used items like food stuff; kitchen accessories,

furniture and other home used stuff. Furthermore, study will incorporate students,

business people, housewives and professionals as population. Consumers belonging to

both the genders are considered as population for the current study.

3.2 Procedure for Collecting Data: Researcher made personal visits to the various educational institutions the business and

non-business based organizations located in the Provincial Capital Peshawar as well as

to above mentioned sub urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A formal permission was

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attained from the concerned authorities to coordinate with the respondents studying or

working in the respective organizations. However, author was not in a position to make

a direct contact with the housewives, due to the cultural constraints prevailing in this

part of the world. Therefore, an indirect contact was made with them through their

male family members and data was gathered from them in this planned manner.

Questionnaires were personally floated and administered. The problems that were

faced by the respondents while filling the questionnaires were personally resolved and

facilitated by the author in order to get the meaningful inputs from the respondents.

Some of the questionnaires were floated through Google forms while some were

personally handed over to the respondents. Data collection from the above mentioned

respondents took 4 months as the population of the study was widely located and not

easily accessible. As this is a self-funded research project, so all the transportation and

other general expenses were beard by the researcher himself.

3.3 Research Approach: This research study is based on a deductive approach. According to Lee and Lings, 2008

deductive approach enables the researcher to draw valid conclusions on the basis of

statistical analysis. It also helps in enhancing the capacity of the researcher to generalize

the facts and figures and to answer the research questions in a more unbiased manner.

Therefore, with the application of deductive approach, the author was able to conduct a

scientific investigation regarding the relationship between the celebrity endorsement

technique and consumer purchase intention with respect to consumers residing in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

3.4 Type and Nature of Research: Qualitative research basically is referred to as exploratory study. It has a wider

application in the field of research where the researchers want to know the opinions,

and the reasons for adopting a particular behavior (Wyse, 2011). A qualitative type of

study basically emphasizes on subjective interpretation of a given situation (Sekaran,

2000, & Bryman, 2001). The qualitative nature of research studies also help in enabling

the researcher to get a deep insight into a particular research problem by getting the

required data in a scientific manner (Sekaran, 2000, & Smith et al., 2009). Structured

and semi structured techniques are most often used by the researchers who are

interested in collecting the qualitative type of data. The techniques that are most

commonly used by the researchers under this type of research are the focus group

discussions, the group or individual based interview etc.

Miles & Huber man, 1994 supported the same fact by mentioning that the qualitative

studies help in providing a deeper know-how, information and insight into a particular

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phenomenon. Moreover, the qualitative type of research studies is more appropriate

for a relatively smaller sample size (Wyse, 2011). On the other hand, the quantitative

type of research studies includes the quantification of the problem by collecting the

data in numerical form and is further analyzed through various statistical tools and

techniques (Wyse, 2011). Under this method, the identified or the selected variables are

quantified which helps to understand the differences or similarities between the

opinions and behaviors of the selected samples. This type of research study also helps in

generalizing scientifically valid results when the selected sample size is relatively large

(Gordon and Lang maid, 1988). In comparison to the qualitative type of research, the

quantitative researches are better structured. Techniques used under this method are

the surveys that can either be an online one or a paper survey. Longitudinal studies,

online interviews, or face to face interviews techniques are also used under this type of

research study (Wyse, 2011). In the light of the above mentioned arguments, the nature

of the current study demands the author to adapt a quantitative type of research study.

It will help the author to better answer the drawn research questions.

3.5 Research Design: Research design requires the researcher to select and integrate the various components

of the research in an organized and meaningful manner. It helps the researcher to

ensure that the research problem is going to be addressed correctly. This basically

serves as a blueprint that describes the procedure for data collection, data

measurement and data analysis (De Vaus, 2001). The main purpose of clarifying the

research design is to ensure that the research problem has been effectively and logically

addressed without any ambiguity (Robson, 2002, & Saunders et. al 2009). There may be

considerable variations in describing the lengths and the complexities of a research

design that is why a good research design must have some desirable attributes. These

attributes are discussed below: These attributes must include:

1. Clear identification and justification of a research problem.

2. Appropriate and substantial review of the past or presently available literature.

3. A clear specification of the hypotheses or research questions.

4. For the effective testing of the proposed hypotheses, what type of the research data

is required to be obtained?

5. Finally, it must describe the relevant statistical methods and techniques for the

scientifically valid interpretation and analysis of the data (De Vaus, 2001, Ghauri et al.,

2002, & Saunders et al., 2009).

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In the light of the above mentioned studies, the author has tried to justify the research

design on the basis of the research questions that are consistent with the overall

research philosophy.

3.6 Research Strategy: Survey approach is a popular and most commonly used research strategy in marketing

based studies. Survey approach can either be performed online or on paper. On the

basis of survey approach researchers are able to do strategic formulations in order to

better develop various business models. Marketing researchers are also capable of

developing better understanding of consumer behavior with the application of survey

approach. Marketing researchers can make better use of survey approach to understand

and analyze the behavior of the masses and simply can put their marketing activities on

the right track (Wyse, 2012). It is usually related to the deductive approach and helps in

understanding or answering who, what, where, why, when etc. This approach enables a

researcher to collect data from the larger sample sizes in less time as well as in fewer

budgets (Saunders et al., 2009). The reason behind the overall significance of the survey

approach is:

1. Respondents provide more dependable and accurate information as they are not

clearly visible to the general public and are already assured that their opinions will have

a complete confidentiality.

2. Survey method provides a high degree of flexibility. Surveys can be performed online,

e.g., sending emails to the respondents, or through telephone, (landline or mobile

phones), or by making use of Facebook or Twitter. The flexibility aspect of the survey

approach is also extended towards making a mixed use of all these available survey

methods, e.g. a researcher can make an online contact with the respondents from the

remote areas and can make a direct or face to face contact with the local respondents.

3. Survey approach is very much extensive in its nature as it enables the researcher to

gather the information from a large set of the respondents in less time. This advantage

of a survey approach can be hardly seen or availed in other forms of research tools.

4. Relatively lesser costs are being incurred by the researchers adapting the survey

approach.

5. Most significantly, the information gathered from the respondents through a

questionnaire can be easily standardized and generalized (Wyse, 2012).

Moreover, this research approach is usually perceived as authoritative among the

respondents and is relatively smooth to provide a better explanation of their behaviors

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(Saunders et al., 2009, & Wyse, 2012). Consequently, for the meaningful interpretation

and analysis of the identified research problem, the author intends to gather the data

from the identified population through an established questionnaire within the form of

a survey. The questionnaire selected for this study has been designed by Kumar, 2010.

In order to further validate the same, the pilot testing was then performed for the

current study.

3.7 Data Collection Sources: A. Primary Data Source:

Structured questionnaire method has been followed by the researcher as a primary data

tool. A questionnaire basically includes predetermined and sequentially asked questions

in order to gather information from the identified groups of respondents (Sekaran,

2000). It is very important for a researcher to design questions in a logical order in a

questionnaire. One question should not get repeated as it creates confusion in the mind

of the respondents and decreases the overall effectiveness of a questionnaire.

Questionnaire must have a logical order or compatibility with the overall research

objective. Researcher should avoid asking unnecessary and irrelevant questions. A

researcher should also avoid biasness while designing the wording of a question to avoid

any sort of undesirable situation. Moreover, questionnaire helps researcher to gather

large set of information from larger population in comparatively lesser time (Sekaran,

2000). In the light of the above mentioned discussion the author intends to use

questionnaires as a primary data tool.

B. Questionnaire Design:

As mentioned earlier, the author has taken a questionnaire developed by Amit Kumar in

2010. Formal permission was attained through electronic mail. Certain appropriate

changes were made in the adapted questionnaire by the author of the current study.

The selected questionnaire has been divided in to four parts. First part contains the

demographic data of the respondents i.e. age, gender, location and the profession of

the respondents. Part two of the questionnaire investigates the perceptions and ideas of

consumers about celebrity endorsement practices used by the brand advertisers. Third

part of the questionnaire deals with the study and evaluation of superstar

characteristics and its relationship with the purchase intention of the buyers. Last but

not the least the final part of the questionnaire deal with the general effects of celebrity

endorsements on consumer buying intention. Coherence is a most desirable feature of a

questionnaire that should be present amongst the asked questions in a questionnaire.

This removes the difficulties and confusions that can arise in the minds of the

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respondents while filling a questionnaire and can help the researcher to grab

meaningful information from the minds of respondents (Sekaran, 2000).

Keeping this in mind the adapted questionnaire has been re-designed and scientifically

tested. Moreover, in order to make the used terminologies more understandable for the

respondents, brief but comprehensive definitions or explanations have been given in

the questionnaire. Five degrees Likert scale has been used by the author in the

questionnaire. Likert scale was developed by Dr. Rensis Likert in 1965. This scale is

basically a type of psychometrically response based scale that is most often used by the

researchers in questionnaires. The basic aim of Likert scale is to study the respondent’s

preferences about a given situation or statement or to know the level of agreement or

disagreement with a given situation (Victor L. 2007).

Likert scale based questions are highly effective. They help the researchers to

understand the preferences and degrees of agreement or disagreement of respondents

with a given situation (Robson, 1993). Likert scale is easily and most simply constructed

scale. It is considered to be one of the most reliable scales widely used by the

researchers. Respondents can easily and simply record their responses against the asked

questions in less time (Victor L. 2007).

C. Pilot Testing:

It refers to the procedure of pretesting questionnaires while taking a small group of

research respondents so that to avoid any possible ambiguity and issues in the wordings

and overall flow of questionnaires. Furthermore, it also helps in calculating the

reliability, the validity and sensitivity related issues of the constructed questionnaire

(Wyse, 2012).

For the same reason a sample of 71 respondents was taken by the researcher in order

to conduct the pilot study for the current research. These 71 respondents were

randomly chosen. The SPSS software was used to know the reliability, and the validity of

the questionnaire. Results are mentioned below:

D. Results of Pilot Testing: A pilot study was conducted by the researcher in order to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. All the selected variables and their Cronbach’s alpha values have been reported collectively in a single table given below:

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Table 3.1 Results of Pilot Test

Variables No of items Cronbach’s alpha

Independent Variable

Celebrity Endorsements 8 0.864

Determinants of Independent Variable

Expertise 3 0.64

Trustworthiness 3 0.791

Similarity 3 0.721

Likeability 3 0.812

Familiarity 3 0.821

Product celebrity match up

3 0.732

Meaning Transfer 3 0.781

Dependent Variable

Purchase Intention 3 0.801

Source: Current Study Cronbach’s Alpha provides a measure to determine the reliability or consistency that may exist between the test items. It helps researchers to determine the consistency that is supposed to be present in the test items. In other words, it helps in measuring the strength of consistency that may exist between the test items. According to Chelsea Goforth, (2015) Alpha coefficient lesser than .05 are normally unacceptable. As it can be seen in the table 3.1 the derived values of Cronbach’s Alpha against every variable fulfills the minimum requirement and allows researcher to use the adapted scale.

E. Secondary Data Sources: Secondary data usually refers to the already existing data in

the form of previously done researches and in book form (Sekaran, 2000). Secondary

data basically refers to the information that is already available and gathered by the

previous researchers in the present or in the past time period (Bryman, 2004).

Quantitative researchers require secondary data so that to thoroughly and scientifically

understand the area under study. It has got application in qualitative studies as well.

Secondary data basically broadens the spectrum of thinking and understanding of a

researcher (Sekaran, 2000), & (Bryman, 2004). Secondary data is more flexible and is

most likely seen as very much cost effective and an easy way to develop understanding

regarding a particular area of interest. Besides the positive aspects, secondary data has

got certain limitations as well.

Sometimes the secondary information is not available in a substantial volume which

does not provide a solid base towards understanding an identified research area or

73

problem understudy. This motivates researcher to go for the application of some

primary research tools then (Bryman, 2004). Secondary data is also of a very great

importance in order to develop thorough and deep understanding about a subject

matter. It helps the researchers to develop the theoretical understanding and know how

regarding a topic under study (Sekaran, 2000). With the help of secondary data

researcher gets the direction to develop research problem, objectives, research

questions as well as hypotheses (Saunders et al., 2009). Secondary data either exist in

the form of published research papers, newspapers, and different types of reports as

well as in the form of library books. Digitally available books are also one of the

secondary data sources. For the current study, the author thoroughly reviewed different

research papers written by the various researchers in different times and in different

places. The reviewed research papers cover a time period of 66 years i.e. from 1951 to

2017. All the past and presently made developments in the area of celebrity

endorsements have been carefully observed and reviewed by the author.

These researches were done in the different parts of the world including United States

of America, France, England, New Zealand, China, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Iran,

Malaysia, Africa, and Philippine etc. Studies performed by the Pakistani researchers

were also reviewed by the author as they were of a great help to develop the unbiased

thinking about the topic under study. Secondary data must be reviewed with an

objective to develop unbiased thinking regarding the topic under study (Sekaran, 2000).

Moreover, for the current study the author also reviewed the relevant newspaper and

magazines materials as well (Aurora, Herald, Dawn, Popoptiq, Times of India, and Indian

Express etc). These newspapers and magazines were published in Europe, India as well

as in Pakistan. The referencing section at the end of the report can be seen for further

details. References have been quoted according to the prescribed format of American

Psychological Association (APA Format).

3.8 Sample Size and Sampling Technique: Sample is basically a particular subset of a given population. It is used for the

representation of the population as a whole. It is very difficult and sometimes

impossible for a researcher to interact with every individual from a larger set of

populations. That’s why researchers have to select a substantial number of respondents

to draw the required and scientifically valid results (Sekaran, 2000). Carefully selected

Sample has got a very meaningful impact on the overall findings of a research study.

Selecting an inappropriate sample size from an identified area of interest can lower

down the overall scientific effectiveness of a research study. That’s why a researcher

should take a very good care of selecting an appropriate sample size (Sekaran, 2000). So

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keeping the same idea in mind, the author took a sample size comprising of 800 male

and female respondents. Out of this, 790 respondents responded positively. This sample

size has been scientifically selected under the sample size determination technique

prescribed by the (Ronald E. Walpole, 1982) as per the following calculations:

N = Population Size

e = Level of Precision

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics following are the urban and sub urban

population figures of the selected urban and sub urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

1. Urban Population of Provincial Capital of KP= 2019118

2. Sub Urban Population of the Selected Districts= 5799280

The Sample size for the urban population is calculated as follows:

The Sample size for the sub urban population is calculated as follows:

The respondents of the current study belong to the provincial capital of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar as well as to the sub urban parts of the province. Those sub

urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa includes Abbott Abad, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat,

Mardan, Nowshehra and Swabi etc.

Sampling technique for this study is Simple Random Sampling which is considered to be

one of the most basic types of sampling techniques. Underneath Simple Random

Sampling every respondent from the selected population keeps an equal chance for

getting selected as they are randomly picked amongst the large set of identified

population. It enables the researcher to gather information from the identified groups

of respondents in less time with a certain level of ease and also in a swift manner

(Sekaran, 2000).

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3.9 Statistical Techniques Used for the Analysis and Interpretation

of the Data: Researchers have to make an appropriate use of Descriptive as well as Inferential

Statistics for the scientific analysis of the data. With the application of descriptive

analysis a researcher is able to make a summary of the data, or to study the current

patterns or behavioral trends with the help of pie charts, graphs or by calculating the

mean etc. Inferential Statistics enable a researcher to conclude inferences about an

identified set of population by drawing an appropriate number of samples out of that.

With the application of Inferential Statistics the researcher is able to draw the valid

results on the basis of various Statistical tests and techniques (Graham Hole, 2000).

Correlation refers to that type of Inferential Statistical technique which enables the

researchers to investigate any possible association between two continuous or

quantitative variables. Pearson Correlation Coefficient is denoted by r. It is used by the

researchers to measure the possible strength or power of relationship between two

variables (Sekaran, 2000). Moreover analysis of variance is widely used by the

researchers to make the comparisons between the means of various sets of

observations. In order to test the null hypothesis an f test is being used. It is also called

as one sided analysis of variance. T test is considered when we have to make a

comparison of two sets of observation. In a situation where we have more than two sets

of observations we have to use f test.

That is in fact a further extension of t test. There is another extension of one way

ANOVA called as MANOVA. MANOVA is used in a research situation where we have

more than one dependent variable (Wyse, 2011). On the other hand regression Analysis

is also widely used by the researchers these days. Simple Linear Regression Analysis

helps the researcher to see or study the impact of a single independent variable on the

given or selected dependent variable. On the other hand, researchers also make use of

Multiple Regression Analysis to study or evaluate the value of dependent variable while

taking two or more than two independent variables. Hence, the distinction between

Simple and Multiple Regression Analysis is all based on the number of independent or

explanatory variables taken (Graham Hole, 2000). In the light of the same the nature of

the current research study demands the author to use frequency descriptive analysis,

Pearson Correlation Analysis, and Regression Analysis for the scientific analysis and

meaningful interpretation of the data.

3.10 Issues Related to the Data Quality: A number of issues exist related to the quality of data. Saunders et al., 2009 revealed

that researchers must take care of the various issues related to the quality of the

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research data. They further argued that researchers can examine these various issues

related to the data quality by knowing their reliability, validity as well as the

generalizability. They must be properly checked in the overall research design in order

to avoid any type of quality related issues to the data. The extent to which the data

collection techniques may produce consistent research findings is referred to as

“reliability” (Saunders et al., 2009). As the current study was based on the consumers

belonging to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that’s why the author made sure to collect the

data from actual residents of Peshawar and residents from its surrounding sub urban

areas. These consumers are well exposed to the media and they have greater know how

regarding celebrities from the various fields of interest. This greatly helped the

researcher to draw the unbiased results.

Moreover, in order to be more unbiased and calculated a pilot study was conducted by

the author to know the reliability of the adapted questionnaire. On the other hand

validity refers to the extent where the research findings show how much accuracy they

have with the real life situation. It deals with measuring accuracy in the data collection

and analysis techniques to avoid any type of biasness (Saunders et al., 2009). Before

conducting the final study, the author conducted pilot testing in order to retain the

empirical validity of the research findings.

Generalizability is the third thing to be considered. It refers to the external validity of

the research findings. In other words it shows us the extent to which we can generalize

the research findings (Saunders et al., 2009). There is an association between the

selected sample and the research findings. As a matter of fact it is somehow impossible

to contact every member form a specified population sometimes. Still, researchers

should take a handsome number of respondents as a sample population based on some

appropriate formula. In other words we can say that greater the size of a sample

population, greater will be the extent of generalizability. The author has tried to ask the

relevant and most appropriate questions from the respondents in order to better

answer the research questions and to increase the generalizability of the current

research findings.

77

Chapter 4th

Results and Discussions Results of the current study are being presented and discussed in this chapter. These results have

been empirically obtained and analyzed by various data analyzing methods or techniques. The

descriptive and inferential statistics have been used by the author to analyze the gathered data.

The chapter at the end offers extensive and detailed discussions over the obtained results.

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

4.1.1 Demographic Profile of the Respondents:

Table 4.1 Age Details of the Respondent

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

16 to 18 years 53 6.7 6.7 6.7

18-30 480 60.8 60.8 67.5

30 and above 257 32.5 32.5 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

Interpretation: The above mentioned table shows that amongst the selected group of

respondents the 7% of them belonged to the 16 years of age group. 61% was comprised

of 18 to 30 years of age group while 33% belonged to 30 and above 30 years of age. The

table also indicates that the majority of the respondents were belonging to the age

group of 18 to 30 years followed by the age group of 30 and above. While teenagers

were only 7% of the whole sample population.

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Table 4.2 Gender Details of the Respondents

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Male 506 64.1 64.1 64.1

Female 284 35.9 35.9 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

Interpretation: The above mentioned table reveals that 65% of the respondents were males while 35% respondents reported their gender as female. As a matter of fact the participation of females in the various fields of life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is still very low as compared to the Punjab and Sindh province of Pakistan. The same fact is very much apparent and evident over here that the female respondents were only comprised of 35% of the whole sample population.

Table 4.3 Profession of the Respondents

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Student 328 41.5 41.5 41.5

Professional/Business 283 35.8 35.8 77.3

Unemployed 119 15.1 15.1 92.4

Others(Please specify) 60 7.6 7.6 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

79

Interpretation: The table indicates that out of the total group of respondents, 7% were students, while 35% of the respondents belonged to the business sector. Moreover, 15% respondents reported to be unemployed while 7% belonged to the other category representing housewives. This is very much evident that the number of professional respondents was higher as compared to the unemployed and student respondents.

Table 4.4 Location Details of the respondents

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Urban 534 67.6 67.6 67.6

Sub Urban 256 32.4 32.4 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

80

Interpretation: As per table, 67% respondents were belonging to the urban areas of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while 32% respondents belonged to the sub urban areas of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa. The number of urban consumers was higher as compared to the number

of sub urban consumers.

Table 4.5 Income / Pocket Money Of the Respondents

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

5000 to 10,000 377 47.7 47.7 47.7

Above 10,000 413 52.3 52.3 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

81

Interpretation: The table and the pie chart indicates that 47% respondents reported their income or pocket money in between 5000 to 10000 PKR while 52% reported their income in the above 10000 PKR category. As the sample population was comprised of students, professionals, unemployed and housewives that’s why majority of the consumers reported their income or pocket money in the bracket of 5000 to 10000 PKR.

4.2 Research Question 1: What are the Consumer Perceptions

about Celebrity Endorsements & Non-Celebrity Endorsements in

relation to their Purchase Intention? The first research question has been analyzed through descriptive statistics as it reveals the perceptions of the consumers about the celebrity endorsements. The other two research questions have been analyzed through inferential statistics.

Table 4.6 Effectiveness of Various Advertising Media

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

TV advertisement 496 62.8 62.8 62.8

Magazines 49 6.2 6.2 69.0

Internet 221 28.0 28.0 97.0

Radio 1 .1 .1 97.1

Newspaper 23 2.9 2.9 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

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Interpretation: The results show that television is the most viewed medium conveying

the celebrity based commercials to the selected groups of customers. Internet holds the

second position in this regard by having the 28% votes and explaining the importance of

internet in conveying the celebrity based commercials. Magazines hold the 7% while the

newspapers hold the 3% share in conveying the celebrity endorsements to the target

audiences. Radio is the least effective medium rated by the respondents of the current

study. Only 1% share has been assigned to radio in conveying the celebrity based

commercials to the selected target audience. As a matter of fact, television provides the

audience with both the audio and video facilities that’s why it has the major percentage

share in conveying the celebrity endorsements. While radio only provides audience with

the audio facility and also is having less audience base that’s why it has got the lowest

percentage share in delivering the celebrity based advertising messages.

Table 4.7 Frequency of Watching Celebrity based Advertisements

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Often 578 73.2 73.2 73.2

Occasionally 130 16.5 16.5 89.6

Rarely 59 7.5 7.5 97.1

Never 23 2.9 2.9 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

83

Interpretation: According to the results 73 % respondents stated that they are most often exposed to the celebrity based commercials through different media. 16% reported that occasionally they noticed celebrities while they were being exposed to the advertising media. 7% reported that they rarely watch or see celebrities on different advertising media while only 3% said that they never see any celebrity in advertising messages. This shows the overall effectiveness of celebrity endorsements that only 3% consumers believe that they do not notice the presence of celebrities on different types of advertising media.

Table 4.8 Celebrity .Vs. Non-celebrity ads

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Celebrity endorsed advertisements 668 84.6 84.6 84.6

Non-celebrity advertisements 122 15.4 15.4 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

Interpretation: According to the above mentioned table 84% of the total respondents

believed that celebrities based commercials are more influential than the non-celebrity

based advertising messages. On the other hand only 15% think that non-celebrity based

commercials are more influential than the celebrity based commercials. This provides a

clear understanding about the overall effectiveness of celebrity endorsement technique.

84% of the sample population thinks that celebrity endorsements are more convincing

in their nature as compared to the non-celebrity based sources. It also verifies that the

consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have positive perceptions about the celebrity

endorsement technique. They think that they positively perceive the presence of

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celebrities in various advertising messages and it has a positive association with their

purchase intention.

Interpretation: Majority of the respondents of the current study believe that showbiz

stars are the most promising and convincing brand endorsers. 60% share has been

assigned to the showbiz celebrities as effective most brand endorsers while 29% share

has been assigned to the sporting celebrities. 4% share has been assigned to politicians

and 6% to the corporate celebrities. 1% share has been assigned to the other types of

celebrities that may be the religious or other types of celebrities. The results very clearly

indicate the strategic strength of movie and drama stars in impacting the purchase

intention of consumers. They are most commonly followed and idealized by the

Table 4.9 Influential type of Celebrity Endorsers

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Actors or Actresses from

movies 478 60.5 60.5 60.5

Sports stars including cricketers 229 29.0 29.0 89.5

Politicians 39 4.9 4.9 94.4

Business persons 43 5.4 5.4 99.9

Others(Please specify) 1 .1 .1 100.0

Total 790 100.0 100.0

85

majority of the consumers. They have deeper influences on their lifestyles as well as on

their consumer buying behavior. The local and the global sports stars are also liked and

loved by the consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and their role is also important towards

the creation of a positive purchase intention.

4.3 Correspondence Degree between the Selected Variables:

This topic is intended to investigate and evaluate the existing degrees of

correspondence between the selected variables. For the same purpose the researchers

used to calculate the correlation so that to measure the existing relationships of the

selected independent variable or it’s attributes with the dependent variable. The below

mentioned table describes the degree of correlation amongst the selected attributes of

celebrity endorsement models with the selected dependent variable that is the

consumer purchase intention.

Table 4.10 The Correlational Matrix:

PI EX TW SM FM LK MU MT

Purchase intention 1.000 Expertise .257** 1.000 Trustworthiness .384** .546** 1.000 Similarity .463** .326** .362** 1.000 Familiarity .489** .423** .521** .574** 1.000 Likeability .389** .468** .412** .536** .629** 1.000 Product match up .289** .482** .381** .462** .364** .532** 1.000 Meaning transfer .234* .268** .389** .288** .342** .301** .389** 1.000

Number of Respondents =790 Note: PI denotes Purchase Intention ** denotes the correlation significance at 0.01 level (1 tailed) *denotes that the correlation significance at 0.05 level (1 tailed).

The above mentioned table shows that all the determinants of celebrity endorsement

models positively interact with the dependent variable i.e. the consumer purchasing

intention. It therefore proves positive one tailed correspondence between the selected

variables. The table indicates that some of the determinants have strong relationship

with the purchase intention while some hold the moderately good relationship with the

same. The rest have low but still positive relationship with the consumer purchase

intention. As per table the familiarity and similarity have the strong relationship with the

86

dependent variable while the likeability and trustworthiness hold moderately good

relationship with the same. The expertise, product match-up and meaning transfer have

low but still positive relationship with the consumer purchase intention.

It also verifies the acceptance of the research hypotheses. Moreover, the below

mentioned descriptive statistics results show the overall responses or opinions of the

respondents.

Table 4.11: Descriptive Statistics of Various Attributes

Mean St. deviation N

Purchase intention 2.1749 .98210 790 Expertise 2.2162 1.34185 790 Trustworthiness 2.4644 1.42217 790 Similarity 2.5421 1.22138 790 Familiarity 2.5936 1.44328 790 Likeability 2.3979 1.18392 790 Product match up 2.1962 1.24254 790 Meaning transfer 2.4339 1.30422 790

4.4 Hypothesis Testing: This section of the chapter deals with the hypothesis testing and its results. The

developed hypotheses in the light of the reviewed literature are individually discussed

below:

1. Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Consumer Purchase Intention:

H1: Celebrity endorsement has a positive relationship with the consumer’s purchase

intention.

The first hypothesis has been developed in the light of the studied literature. It has been

developed in order to examine the relationship between the celebrity endorsement and

consumer purchase intention. The below mentioned tables describe results obtained

through the simple linear regression analysis:

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted

R Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.630a .396 .396 .64288 .396 517.323 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Celebrity Endorsement

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Results of regression analysis verify a positive relationship between the celebrity

endorsement and consumer buying intention. It describes that there is a significant

relationship between both the variables. Results show the value of (R = .396) and the

adjusted R square = .396. It shows a variance of 39.6%. Considering the value of the

variance recorded for the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer purchase

intent, it can be said that 39.6% variation in consumer purchase intent is explained by

this variable. 39.6% variation in the consumer purchase intention by the celebrity

endorsement shows the overall significance of this advertising strategy. Moreover, it

suggests that using celebrities for the brand endorsement purposes is a good idea in

order to create a positive impact on the consumer purchase intent. In other words,

celebrities can better help the brand advertisers in order to grab the consumer

attention and to make them buy the advertised brands.

Coefficients

Model Unstandardized coefficients Standardized coefficients

T Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

(constant) -.023 .088 -.255 .799

CE 1.078 -.047 .630 22.745 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

Regression model shows substantial strength with (F=517.32), β coefficient = 0.630) and

a highly significant p value. As the regression analysis shows a positive relationship

between both the variables, we therefore accept H1 which means that celebrity based

advertisements have a positive impact on the consumer purchase intention. It means

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 213.804 1 213.804 517.323 .000a

Residual 325.672 788 .413

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Celebrity Endorsement

b. Dependent Variable: Consumer Purchase Intention

88

that celebrities do have an important place in the minds and hearts of their followers in

impacting their purchase intention.

2. Relationship between Celebrity Expertise and Consumer Purchase Intention.

H2 a: Expertise of the celebrity positively influences the consumer purchase intent.

Second hypothesis describes the first determinant of the Source Credibility Model i.e.,

expertise of a celebrity. This model has been developed by Hovland & Weiss, in 1951.

This hypothesis was developed in order to examine the impact of celebrity’s expertise

on the purchase intention of the consumer buyers. For the empirical testing of the

hypothesis Simple linear regression is used.

Consequently, a positive relationship has been found between the celebrity expertise

and consumer purchase intentions. Technically speaking, (R=.197), with only 19.6%

variance has been recorded. This explains that 19.6% of purchase intention variability is

explained by the first determinant of the source credibility model i.e., expertise. This

also reveals that 80.4% of the variation in purchase intention cannot be explained by

expertise alone. It indicates and proves the existence of other determinants of celebrity

endorsement which can influence the purchase intention of the buyers. The results

obtained through the regression analysis show substantial association between the

variables.

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.444a .197 .196 .74127 .197 193.783 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Expertise

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 106.481 1 106.481 193.783 .000a

Residual 432.995 788 .549

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Expertise

b. Dependent Variable: Consumer Purchase Intention

89

It has a reported value of F=193.7 and also a highly significant p-value leading towards

the rejection of the null hypothesis.

In order to evaluate the relationship between the expertise and purchase intention the

following regression equation can be obtained:

Ypi=1.243+.331*Xex

(Ypi denotes expected score on the consumer purchase intention, while Xex denotes the

actual score on Expertise of the endorsing source). Moreover, the results obtained

through the regression analysis reveal strong direct relationship between the two

variables. It can be further explained as if the brand endorsing source is possessing more

expertise in a particular field of interest, he or she can better influence the consumer

purchase intention as compared to a less or non-expert endorser. So, on the basis of the

above mentioned figures, H2a has been accepted.

3.Relationship Between Celebrity Perceived Trustworthiness & Consumer Purchase Intention

H2 b: Trustworthiness of the super stars has a relationship with the purchase intention of the

customers.

This hypothesis describes the second determinant of the Source Credibility Model .i.e.

trustworthiness. This hypothesis was developed in order to investigate any possible association

between the trustworthiness of the endorsing celebrity and consumer purchase intent. The below

mentioned table describes the results obtained through simple linear regression.

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.243 .055 22.450 .000

Expertise .331 .024 .444 13.921 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Consumer Purchase Intention

Model Summary

Model R

R

Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error

of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change

F

Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.497a .247 .246 .71782 .247 258.985 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Trustworthiness

90

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 133.446 1 133.446 258.985 .000a

Residual 406.030 788 .515

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Trustworthiness

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

The above mentioned tables show a positive relationship between trustworthiness and

consumer purchase intention. Derived value of (R=.247), only 24.6% variance (Adjusted

R2). This implies that 24.6% variability in the consumer purchase intention is influenced

by the second determinant of the source credibility model .i.e. trustworthiness of the

endorser. Furthermore, these results reveal the existence of a positive relationship

between the trustworthiness of the endorser and the consumer purchase intention.

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.231 .050 24.696 .000

Trustworthiness .344 .021 .497 16.093 .000

Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

In order to predict the consumer buying intention on the basis of trustworthiness of the

endorsing source, the following regression equation can be obtained:

Ypi=1.231=.344*Xtw

Ypi denotes the expected score on the purchase intent of the buyers while Xtw shows

the actual score on the trustworthiness of the endorsing source.

In other words, consumers purchase intention is significantly influenced if consumers

have high level of perceived trustworthiness in the endorsing personality. Regression

model shows substantial goodness with (F=258.96) and a highly significant p value. On

the basis of above mentioned figure H2b has been accepted.

4. Relationship between Similarity & Consumer Purchasing Intention:

H3 a: Similarity among the celebrity endorser and customers positively impacts the

purchase intention of the buyers.

This hypothesis deals with the first determinant of Source Attractiveness Model. The

Source attractiveness model has been developed by McGuire in 1985. This hypothesis

was developed to check any possible relationship between the similarity among the

91

brand endorser and customers and how this can further influence the consumer

purchase intention. Below mentioned tables show the results.

Model Summary

Model R

R

Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error

of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change

F

Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.449a .202 .201 .73932 .202 198.976 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Similarity

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 108.759 1 108.759 198.976 .000a

Residual 430.717 788 .547

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Similarity

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

The same positive relationship has been found between celebrity similarity and

consumer purchase intention. On the basis of above mentioned figures we can infer that

there is a strong relationship between the celebrity similarity and consumer purchase

intent. Derived value of (R=.449), only 20.1% variance (Adjusted R2). It implies that

20.1% variability in consumer purchase intention can be explained by the first

determinant of source attractiveness model .i.e. similarity. It further implies that if

consumer perceives more similarity between himself and the endorsing source, it will

have more positive influences on his or her purchase intention.

This perceived similarity can be on the basis of sharing same religion, social or cultural

values. Moreover, this sense of similarity between the endorsing source and consumers

can also exist on the basis of other situational, demographic, personal, or psychological

factors (McGuire, 1985).

92

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.279 .053 24.360 .000

Similarity .317 .022 .449 14.106 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

The following regression equation shows the impact of similarity over the purchase

intention:

Ypi=1.279+.317*Xsm

Ypi denotes the predicted score on buying intention, while Xsm represents the actual

score on similarity. Like the other above mentioned determinants, the regression model

in case of similarity also shows good fit with the derived value of (F=198.97) , and a

highly significant p value. As the regression analysis result shows a direct relationship

between the two variables therefore we accept H3a.

5. Relationship between Likeability & Consumer Purchase Intention:

H3 b: Celebrity likeability positively influences the purchase intention of the purchaser.

The next determinant from the source attractiveness model is likeability. Purpose behind the development of this hypothesis is to make empirical investigations regarding the relationship between celebrity likeability and consumer purchase intention. Theory suggests that celebrity endorsers who keep high levels of likeability amongst general public can better influence their purchase intention (Anjum et.al, 2012). The below mentioned tables show the results obtained through simple linear regression analysis.

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.542a .294 .293 .69515 .294 328.403 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Likability

93

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 158.693 1 158.693 328.403 .000a

Residual 380.783 788 .483

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Likability

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

Test results reveal stronger relationship between the celebrity likeability and consumer purchase intention. It suggests that the purchase intent of the consumers is greatly influenced by the highly liked celebrity endorsers. It also indicates that target audience gives more importance to the endorsing source which is more liked by them. In other words, it verifies that the likeable source is more influential over the purchase intent of the consumers as compared to less likeable or unlikeable celebrity endorsers. The derived value of (R=.54.2), with a 29.3% variance (Adjusted R2). It reveals that 29.3% variability in consumer purchase intention is being explained or influenced by the second determinant of the source attractiveness model i.e. likeability.

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients

t Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.161 .049 23.855 .000

Likability .411 .023 .542 18.122 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

Ypi=1.161+.411*Xlk

Ypi represents the expected score on purchase intent of the buyers, while Xlk

represents the actual score on the likeability of the endorsing source.

a. Consequently the regression model shows the derived value of (F=328.40), (β

coefficient = .411) and p value is highly significant depicting a strong relationship

between the celebrity likeability and consumer purchase intention. Therefore,

we accept H3b

6. The Relationship between Familiarity & Consumer Purchase Intention:

H3 c: Celebrity familiarity positively affects the consumer’s purchase intention

This hypothesis describes the third and last determinant of the Source

Attractiveness model .i.e. Familiarity. Purpose of developing this hypothesis is to

94

check any possible association between the familiarity feature of a celebrity and

its impact on consumer purchasing intent. Simple linear regression results are

being presented in the below mentioned tables:

Model Summary

Model R

R

Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change

F

Change df1 df2

Sig. F

Change

.558a .311 .310 .68679 .311 355.733 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Familiarity

According to the above mentioned results, once again a positive relationship has been

recorded between the source familiarity and consumer purchase intention. The derived

value of (R=.558), with a 31% variance (Adjusted R2). It implies that 31% variability in

consumer purchase intention is explained by the third determinant of source

attractiveness model .i.e. familiarity. Moreover, it suggests that the target audience

does not always consider the brand endorsement opinions of every celebrity whether

known or unknown to them. In other words, consumers give more weightage to the

brand endorsing opinions of those celebrities whom they are more familiar with. The

sense of familiarity between the endorsing source and the target audience can exist

because of so many reasons. Those reasons can be a comparatively better media

exposure, more successful careers, and interests of the target audience in a particular

field, (sporting or showbiz), (McCormick, 2016).

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 167.792 1 167.792 355.733 .000a

Residual 371.684 788 .472

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Familiarity

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

95

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.124 .049 23.040 .000

Familiarity .406 .022 .558 18.861 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

Ypi=1.124+.406*Xfm

(Ypi represents the expected score on the purchase intention, while Xfm represents the

real score on the familiarity of the endorsing source). As shown in the table the value of

(F=355.73), β coefficient = .406) and the value of one tailed p < .001. On the basis of the

above mentioned figures, we therefore accept H3c.

7. The Relationship between Celebrity-Product Match up & Consumer Purchase

Intention

H4: The appropriate congruence (match-up) between celebrity and the endorsed

brand positively influences the consumer purchase intention.

Product Match up model has been presented by Kamins and Gupta in 1994. H4 has been

developed in order to examine the matching relationship between the endorsing

celebrity and the endorsed brand in relation to the consumer purchasing intention. The

below mentioned tables describe results:

Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2 Sig. F Change

.457a .209 .208 .73598 .209 207.943 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Product Match Up.

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 112.637 1 112.637 207.943 .000a

Residual 426.839 788 .542

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Product match up

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

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Results obtained through the regression analysis reveal stronger relationship between

the existence of a right match amongst the endorsing celebrity and the endorsed brand.

It means that for the effective delivery of promotional messages, appropriate

congruence should exist between the endorsing personality and the endorsed brand. As

theory suggest that required level of congruence between the source and product may

exist on the basis of social, demographic, psychological or situational factors (McGuire,

1985). Derived value of (R = .457) with a high adjusted R square = .208). It also implies

that 20.8% variation in consumer purchase intention is being influenced and explained

by this determinant of celebrity endorsement. In net shell, the regression model shows

substantial strength with the derived value of (F=207.94), and a highly significant p

value.

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.274 .052 24.554 .000

Product Match

Up .356 .025 .457 14.420 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

Ypi=1.274+.356*Xmu

Ypi represents the expected score on the buying intent of the buyers, while Xmu

represents the actual score on product celebrity match-up). On the basis of above

mentioned results, we therefore accept H4 which means a positive relationship has

been found between the existence of a right match between the celebrity endorser and

the product which is being endorsed by him or her. In other words, it can also be stated

as if required level of congruence between the celebrity endorser and the advertised

product is missing, it may not positively impact the consumer purchase intention that

much.

8. The Relationship between Meaning Transfer & Consumer Purchase Intention

H5: Celebrities providing or transferring meaning to the brands positively influences

the purchase intention of the customers

This is the last hypothesis of the current study. It describes and investigates any possible

association between the meaning transfer capabilities of celebrities in relation to the

consumer purchase intention. Test results are presented in the below mentioned tables:

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Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of

the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square

Change F Change df1 df2 Sig. F Change

.496a .246 .245 .71869 .246 256.444 1 788 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), Meaning Transfer

ANOVA

Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 132.458 1 132.458 256.444 .000a

Residual 407.018 788 .517

Total 539.476 789

a. Predictors: (Constant), Meaning Transfer

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

The results of regression analysis reveal a positive relationship between the meaning

transfer capabilities of celebrity endorser in relation to the consumer purchase intent.

This fact is very much obvious from the derived values of (R = .496) as well as from the

adjusted R square = .245). The results of regression analysis prove that this is also one of

the most important determinants of celebrity endorsement in relation to the consumer

purchase intent. As it describes that 24.6% variation in the consumer purchase

intention is being explained by this important determinant of celebrity endorsement

technique.

Coefficients

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

T Sig. B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.201 .052 23.243 .000

Meaning

Transfer .391 .024 .496 16.014 .000

Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention.

The regression equation obtained is Ypi=1.201+.391*Xmt

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Ypi represents the predicted or expected score on the purchase intent, while Xmt shows

the actual score on the meaning transfer capabilities of the endorsing source. Moreover,

it can be said that for the effective delivery of the advertising message a celebrity

endorser must have certain capabilities to provide or transfer appropriate meaning to

the advertised brand. This will definitely produce a positive impact on the consumer

buying behavior (McCracken, 1989). The regression model for this determinant also

shows substantial strength with the value of (F=256.44), and also having a significant p

value. We therefore, accept H5 as a positive relationship has been found between both

the variables. In other words it means that celebrities having enough capabilities to

provide or transfer certain meaning to the advertised brand are in a better position to

influence the consumer purchase intention as compared to the rest.

4.5 Discussion over the Resulting Relationship between Celebrity

Endorsement & Consumer Purchase Intention: The results extracted from the current study strongly accept the relationship between

celebrity endorsement and consumer purchase intention. As celebrities have

charismatic influences on the lifestyle and mindsets of the general public therefore, they

can better help the brand advertisers to strengthen their brand recall as well as the

overall brand equity (Kumar, 2010, & Munnukka, 2016). Majority of the respondents

were of a view that they do consider and appreciate the presence of celebrities in brand

advertisements. They believe that they idealize these famous personalities from the

various fields of interest. Therefore, it is concluded that the purchase intention of the

buyers is remarkably influenced by their favorite super stars (McCormick, 2016).

Respondents of the current study revealed that they are most commonly exposed to

celebrity based commercials. They think that it’s one of the most influential marketing

strategies to endorse brands through these famous figures. It also means that as

compared to non-celebrity sources, the celebrity endorsement is more influential in

order to create positive impact on consumer buying behavior (Priyankara et al., 2017).

These celebrities appear almost on every type of media, whether print, electronic or

social media. Majority of the respondents believed that television is one of the most

important sources of promoting brands. They also give weightage to the celebrity based

advertisements on internet, newspaper and magazines.

This somehow, also proves the overall development and significance of the mass media

in our country in general, and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in specific. As the battle of brands

is getting fierce both at the global and local levels, that’s why marketers are trying to

endorse their brands through competent sources. That is why the celebrities are now

most commonly endorsing the global and local brands on different media locally and

globally as well (Mazlan et al., 2016). The results of the current study reveal the same

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fact where majority of the respondents reported that film stars, drama actors and

sporting figures have more appealing instinct than non-celebrity endorsers.

As celebrities can better attract and retain the consumer attention towards the

advertised brands and thus can positively impact their purchase intention (Roy et al.,

2015). About the negative publicity regarding an endorsing celebrity, the respondents

were of two views. Majority of the respondents believed that the negative publicity

about the endorsing celebrity do affect their buying behavior. While the rest reported

that it does not have any significance impact on their buying behavior. Now, the impact

of the various determinants of celebrity endorsement on the consumer purchase intent

will be discussed individually.

4.6 The Resulting Relationship between Celebrity Expertise &

Consumer Purchase Intention: Results obtained through simple linear regression analysis revealed a positive

relationship between the celebrity expertise and purchase intention. The results of the

current study show that consumers do consider the level of expertise possessed by the

endorsing celebrity. The higher the level of celebrity expertise is, the higher will be the

consumer purchase intention towards the advertised brand (Hovland & Weiss, 1951). In

other words we can say that normally consumers give more importance to the brand

endorsing opinions of more expert celebrities as compared to the less perceived experts

in their particular area of interest (Kang & Choi, 2016). Regression analysis shows strong

sense of relatedness between celebrities expertise and consumer purchase intent R=

.197 and the 19.6% overall variability in the consumer purchase intention is being

explained by the celebrity expertise. As an example, we can say that a cricketer

endorsing a detergent brand, e.g. (Wasim Akram endorsing “Ariel”) and an actor

endorsing a sporting stuff (Fawad Khan endorsing “cricket bats”) both will have less

influence on the consumer purchase intention. As a matter of fact they both can be

perceived as “less experts” or even “non-expert endorsers” for the endorsement of

detergent and sporting stuff by the target audiences.

This negative perception of the target audience is generated even besides the fact that

both the endorsers are highly famous and successful in their respective areas of

specializations. The problem over here is that the brand advertiser has endorsed the

“right product” through the “wrong celebrity”. Moreover, Wasim Akram, the legendary

Pakistani cricket star can be perceived as “more expert endorser” for the endorsement

of cricket stuff as compared to Junaid Khan, who has recently started his cricketing

career. Technically speaking, 19.6% is relatively large percentage of variability in

consumer purchase intent caused by the first determinant of source credibility model

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prescribed by Hovland & Weiss, 1951. But, in comparison to the other six determinants

of celebrity endorsement, 19.6% variability is comparatively the lowest percentage

variation in the consumer purchase intent as per the findings of the current study. It

also implies that though expertise has significant influence on the consumer buying

behavior but in comparison to the other determinants, it still has lowest percentage

variation in the consumer purchase intent. Results of the current study match with

previously conducted researches performed by (Hovland & Weiss, 1951, Lane, 1996 &

McCormick, 2016) etc.

4.7 Relationship between Celebrity Trustworthiness & Consumer

Purchase Intention: The results show a positive relationship between the perceived trustworthiness of

celebrities and consumer purchase intention. This means that celebrities who are

considered more trustworthy can better influence the purchase intention of the

consumers as compared to less trustworthy or un-trustworthy celebrities. It implies that

higher the level of the celebrity trustworthiness, higher will be its impact on the

consumer buying intention (Bafna et al., 2016). As a matter of fact besides advertising,

trust is considered as an important factor in our social relationships as well. It provides

the first and last base for building and maintaining the social relationships. Humans are

mentally and physically more relaxed with more trustworthy people as compared to the

shifty ones. People want to hear them, they want to see them and they do influence our

social behaviors. According to the various psychological theories, trust worthy

individuals are more influential in shaping or reshaping our social lives and behaviors as

compared to those individuals who are perceived as “less trustworthy” or even

“untrustworthy” (McGuire, 1985). These social members at the same time are the

consumers as well and they are influenced by the social, personal, psychological or

situational forces when they decide to buy a product or hire a service.

Consumers do influence each other’s buying behaviors (Khan et al., 2016). Celebrity as a

personal or social favorite or even role model can also better influence the buying

behavior of the consumers (Hovland & Weiss, 1951). Regression analysis run for the

current study show the value of (R=.247) and a variation of 24.6% is explained by the

second determinant of the source credibility model. It shows the largest percentage

variation in the consumer purchase intention as compared to the other determinants. It

means that for the most effective results of the overall promotional effort, trustworthy

celebrities should be hired. The findings of the current study interpret the overall

significance of this most important determinant of celebrity endorsement technique.

Consumers pose more importance on trustworthy celebrities while deciding to buy or

keep using a particular brand (Rengarajan et al., 2014). The findings of the current study

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are similar to the majority of the previously done researches like (Miller & Baseheart,

1969, Kang & Choi, 2016, & Han et al., 2015) etc.

4.8 Relationship between Similarity & Consumer Purchase

Intention:

Similarity is the first sub determinant of the celebrity endorsement model (Source

Attractiveness Model) prescribed by McGuire, 1985. Like the above mentioned

determinants of Source Credibility Model, a positive impact of similarity has been found

with the purchase intention of the consumers. It means that if the target audience

perceives any sense of similarity between them and the endorsing celebrity, more

positive impacts on his/her buying intentions are produced regarding the endorsed

brand (This perceived sense of similarity between the endorsing source and the target

audience can exist on the basis of sharing same demographic, (age, gender, occupation,

nationality, religion, culture, & marital status etc.). Consumers can also feel a sense of

similarity between them and the endorsing celebrity if they both live in the same

geographical region. Moreover, the same sense of similarity can also exist on the basis

of personal liking and mental frame of mind (Anjum et al., 2012). The same facts have

been described by the regression analysis by showing the value of R=.449 and it also

states that 20.1% variability in the consumer purchase intention has been explained by

the first determinant of the “Source attractiveness Model” i.e. similarity.

The results reveal that if a sense of commonality with the brand endorser is being

perceived by the target audience, it will more positively impact their purchase intention

towards the endorsed brands. For example, Pakistani consumers can perceive more

similarity with Fawad Khan, being a Muslim and Pakistani celebrity as compared to the

Tom Cruise, who is a non-Muslim and American Celebrity. Similarly, young Pakistani

female consumers can perceive more sense of similarity with Pakistani super models

Mahira Khan and Mehwish Hayat, as compared to Mahnoor Baloch and Atiqa Odho as

they were the most successful Pakistani actress of 1990s. In other words, we can say

that being older celebrities, they now cannot better influence the young female

consumers buying behavior as Mahira Khan and Mehwish Hayat can do.

Simply Shah Rukh Khan though is an Indian Celebrity, but at the same time, being a

Muslim the actor can also create a better sense of similarity in the mind of the Pakistani

consumers. Furthermore, he can positively impact their purchase intent towards the

endorsed brands. Moreover, gender and other demographic factors can also result in

the creation of a perceived resemblance between the endorser and the target audience

and hence can positively impact their purchasing intention. The results of the current

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study are consistent with (Sameen et al., 2013, Choi & Rifon, 2012, & Priyankara et al.,

2017) etc.

4.9 Relationship between Likeability & Consumer Purchase

Intention: The current study has found a positive relationship between celebrity likeability and

consumer purchase intention. It means that if the endorsing celebrity is more liked by

the target audience, then they are in a better position to create a positive impact on the

buying intent of the buyers as compared to the less liked or unlikeable celebrities

(Kumar, 2010). Likeability is one of the most important determinants of the source

attraction model prescribed by McGuire, 1985. It states that if brands are endorsed by

the likeable celebrities, the more are the chances to produce a desire in the minds of

the general public to buy the endorsed product or hire a service. As mentioned earlier,

in the age of digital revolution and globalization, the number of celebrities is growing

day by day. A normal viewer is exposed to a number of celebrity based commercials

from the various fields of interests endorsing a variety of brands. All of them may not be

perceived in the same manner by the target audiences. Their perceived sense of

similarity, familiarity and likeability may differ from each other (Mazlan et al., 2016).

The need of the time is to hire those celebrities who are most liked by the target

audience (Erdogan, 1999). Likeable people are the biggest source of attraction and

hence are in better position to influence one’s social behavior in general and his buying

behavior in specific (Hassan et al., 2016). Regression analysis shows strong sense of

relationship between celebrity likeability and consumer buying intention. It shows the

value of R = .542 and almost a variation of 29.3% in the overall purchase intent. 29.3%

variation is the second largest percentage variation after familiarity as per the results of

the current study. It means that likeable celebrities are one of the most influential brand

endorsing sources that can produce positive impacts on the purchase intention of the

buyers (Belch & Belch, 2001). As an example, famous US star, George Clooney when was

endorsing a global car brand in China, due to his personal affiliation with anti-Chinese

school of thoughts, failed to endorse the brand successfully in China. As a matter of fact,

due to the same personal affiliations of Mr. Clooney, Chinese rejected both the

endorsing source and the endorsed brand. Simply, in Pakistan, the Indian celebrities are

equally “accepted and respected” that’s why they appear in a number of

advertisements promoting the local and global brands on the local media (Hassan et al.,

2016). Moreover, Pakistani consumers have a great respect for the famous international

cricketers like Chris Gayle, Michael Watson, & Brit Lee. These famous players appear in a

number of commercials endorsing the global brands on the local media due to their

likeability feature in Pakistani society. The emerging local Pashto singers of Khyber

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Pakhtunkhwa like Gul Panra, Zeek Afridi, Bakhtiar Khattak and Humayun, etc. are

endorsing so many local brands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in general and in its provincial

capital Peshawar in specific. These local Pashto singers have a large local fan base in this

part of the country and are successfully promoting local brands on the local media.

Current results have been found similar to Kumar, 2010 & Priyankara et al., 2017.

4.10 Relationship between Familiarity & Consumer Purchase

Intention: Familiarity is the second determinant of source attractiveness model. The results show

that if consumers have a sense of familiarity with the endorsing celebrity, it can result in

the creation of positive purchase intent towards the advertised brands. In our social life,

more familiar people are always considered as more attractive as compared to less or

unfamiliar people. It’s a part of human psyche that they are mentally more relaxed with

the familiar people as compared to the less familiar or unfamiliar people (McCormick,

2016). In other words, we can say that more familiar celebrities can better impact the

consumer purchase intent as compared to the less familiar or totally unfamiliar

celebrities (Priyankara et al., 2017). As a matter of fact, the numbers of celebrities are

growing both at the local and global levels. These celebrities are belonging to the

various fields of interest like showbiz, sporting, music etc. Some of these celebrities are

majorly exposed to the general public by the local and global media while some have a

comparatively low media exposure. Low media exposure can occur because of their

weak professional performances or also due to the strong media overshadowing impact

of stronger celebrities. This can therefore, negatively impact the fame and familiarity

levels of weak celebrities as they may remain unnoticed by the masses (McGuire, 1985)

& (Krishnan, 2011). Some celebrities may not look attractive to some consumers while

they appear in commercials as consumers have no or low familiarity with these

endorsing sources. They might not positively impact their buying behavior (McCormick,

2016). It can sometimes happen even the endorsing celebrities are highly successful and

majorly exposed to the general public. Simply they may fail to create a positive influence

on the consumer purchase intention towards their endorsed brands (Han et al., 2015).

For example, Wasim Akram and Shahid Khan Afridi, the legendary Pakistani Cricketers

are the all-time favorite celebrities of Pakistani cricketing audience. These both

celebrities are currently endorsing a major variety of local and global brands in Pakistan.

In comparison to them Javed Miandad remained the past super star performer of the

Pakistani cricketing industry and Yasir Shah is the recent star performer. They both have

less media exposure and as a result the general public has low levels of familiarity with

them. Resultantly they both may not influence the consumer buying behavior the way

Wasim Akram and Shahid Khan Afridi are influencing the same. The target audience

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when having more familiarity with the endorsing celebrity can feel more positive

impacts on their purchasing intentions as a result of the same feeling. Celebrity’s

familiarity positively impacts the consumer buying behavior (Rengarajan, 2014).

Moreover, Omer Sharif and Bushra Ansari, the all-time favorite super star comedians

and the two big names of Pakistani theater and television industry are maximally known

to the local audience as compared to Jim Carry, (US comedian), Kapil Sharma and Sunil

Grover, the leading Indian comedians. Another example could be of the famous foot

baller Messi. Maximum people in Pakistan do not love to play or watch football as

Cricket is the most played and most viewed sports in Pakistan.

Messi, though is known to the world, may not be known to the majority of people in our

country due to their lack of interest in Football. Hence, Messi, Michael Schumacher,

Ronaldinho, Roger Federer, Maria Sherapova and Tiger Woods are comparatively less

known to the majority of the people living in Pakistan especially in the rural areas. In

rural areas the local celebrities whether belonging to the world of sports or to showbiz

have comparatively more media exposure which results in higher familiarity with the

celebrities. Regression analysis shows enough strength between celebrity familiarity and

purchase intent of the buyers R=.558 and it shows that 31% variation in the consumer

buying intent is explained by familiarity. As per results of the current study, 31%

variation in the consumer purchase intent being explained by familiarity is the biggest

percentage variation explained by any other determinant of celebrity endorsement

model used for this study. The current results are consistent with (McGuire, 1985,

Anjum et al., 2012 & Mazlan et al., 2016).

4.11 Relationship between Celebrity-Product Match up &

Consumer Purchase Intention: Kamins and Gupta, 1994 presented this model for measuring the effectiveness of

celebrity endorsement practices. According to them, for the overall effectiveness of

promotional efforts, a perceived congruence or fit should exist between the celebrity

endorser and the endorsed brand. They further argued that the same required

consumer perceived congruence between the endorser and the product attributes will

resultantly produce more positive influences on the overall consumer purchase

intention. Regression analysis shows substantial strength between this determinant and

consumer purchase intention. As per results, the derived value of R= .457 and it states

that 20.8% variation in the consumer purchase intention is being influenced by this

determinant. Again, 20.8% variation reveals the overall importance of this determinant

in influencing the purchase intent of the consumers. It implies that consumers give more

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importance to the endorsing opinions of those celebrities who possess a logical

congruence with the endorsed brand (Hassan et al., 2014).

For example, Salman Khan, the famous Indian Film star is currently endorsing a variety of brands from detergents to soda water brands on Indian media. Salman Khan though is 50 years old celebrity but is still famous for his energetic and athletic performances. Now, keeping the same thing in mind, he can be a right choice to promote energy drinks, and fitness stuff. The actor is unmarried and his marriage is always a hot topic on Indian showbiz media and in general public as well. While on the other hand he is endorsing a local detergent brand on Indian media depicting himself as a husband and romancing with his so called wife. Logically speaking, the Indian consumers can feel no real life congruence between the endorsing celebrity and the endorsed brand and hence it can make them think that it is nothing but just a paid content. Moreover on the basis of same, the consumers can think that the endorsing celebrity has no personal or real life association with the endorsed brand. Consumers when find lack of perceived fit or congruence between the endorsing celebrity and the product attributes it can weaken their purchase intention and vice versa (Kamins & Gupta, 1994).

As they think that there is no real affiliation of the endorsing source with the endorsed brand (Bafna et al., 2016). As an another example from the Pakistani society, Shahid Khan Afridi, being the brand endorser of a sport shoe brand can better influence the consumer purchase intent as compared to Humayun Saeed who is a successful movie star. Simply, Ismail Shahid an old local comedy actor can be a poor choice to endorse a local fitness gymnasium and sports cars in Peshawar. Various hair transplant services in Peshawar use the most congruent celebrities like Rana Naveed (famous cricketer), Janas Khan and Gulzar Alam (Pashto Singers), Qavi Khan (the legendary actor) to endorse their hair transplant services. These celebrities in real life went through hair transplant surgery that is why consumers can perceive more strategic fit between them and their endorsed service. The brands when endorsed by the more congruent celebrities that are having required congruence with the endorsed brand, can positively impact the buyer’s purchase intent (Lane, 1996, Erdogan, 1999, & Khan et al., 2016).

4.12 Relationship between Meaning Transfer and Consumer

Purchase Intention: Meaning transfer Model was developed by McCracken, 1989. This model states that in

order to produce positive impacts on the consumer purchase intention the endorsing

celebrity must be capable of providing and transferring the most appropriate meaning

to their endorsed brands. The more is their capability to do so, the more positive will be

the generated impact on the consumer purchase intention (Erdogan, 1999). The same

facts have been authenticated by the results of the current study as well. The results of

the current study show a positive relationship between the meaning transfer and

consumer purchase intention. The results show the value of R= .496 , and it also states

that 24.6% variation in the consumer purchase intent is explained by meaning transfer.

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24.6% variation accounts a larger percentage variation caused by this determinant of

the celebrity endorsement model.

In other words we can say that consumers do consider the power of the celebrities

while endorsing the brands. A celebrity’s personality should have the required set of

meaning that can be further transferred to the endorsed brand (Fowles, 1996). This

capability of a celebrity will positively impact the consumer buying behavior

(McCracken, 1989). Moreover, the target audiences do consider the fact that whether

the endorsing sources are capable of providing and transferring appropriate meaning to

the endorsed brands or not (Kumar, 2010). Different celebrities carry different meanings

that should be properly analyzed and match by the brand managers while selecting the

most appropriate celebrity for their brands. In other words, we can say that different

celebrities have different set of lifestyles, personalities, social statuses, age and genders

etc. For example, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are famous for their luxuries life styles

and that’s why both the stars are endorsing two of the most expensive wrist watch

brands in Europe. Anwar Maqsood, the legendary writer, poet and actor is famous for

his artistic taste that’s why he can be a good choice to endorse the traditional garment

brands instead of English suiting. Maya Ali and Nadia Hussain, the leading Pakistani

models are famous for their glamorous looks. Endorsing fashion brands through them

can be a good idea as they do have the capability to assign and transfer meaning to this

brand category. Saif Ali Khan and his actress sister Soha Ali Khan, these two Indian

actors belong to the royal Nawab family of India.

Brand managers can wisely choose them as brand endorsers as they can better assign

meaning to the endorsement of the luxuries brands like expensive jewelry and luxuries

home used furniture etc. Michael Schumacher and Vin Diesel are famous for their risk

taking and adventurous nature. Keeping the same fact in mind, they both can provide a

solid base towards the successful endorsement of sports cars and bikes. The current

results are consistent with the previously done researches by (McCracken, 1989, Kumar,

2010, & Priyanka et al., 2017).

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Chapter 5th

Conclusion & Recommendations The chapter describes the main results of the current research work in the form of conclusion. In

the light of the findings, the author has presented frameworks regarding the theoretical and

managerial implications. Recommendations have been presented. Last but not the least,

limitations and recommendations for the future research work have been proposed.

5.1 Conclusion: The battle of brands is getting fierce day by day both at the local and global levels.

Besides concentrating on the traditional marketing strategies and tactics, marketers

nowadays are trying to find new ways for the effective marketing their brands. These

marketing strategies and tactics are aimed at impacting the overall consumer buying

behavior in the most desirable manner. This also helps the brand advertisers to

strengthen their brand recall as well the overall brand equity. Endorsing the brands

through celebrities though is not a most recent development in the world of advertising,

but its global significance has remarkable increased during the last few decades. Like

other parts of the world, the use of celebrities in adverting has also remarkably

increased in Pakistan due to its overall significance. A large number of international and

local celebrities can be seen on Pakistani media endorsing a large variety of global and

local brands. Celebrities are providing a meaningful base towards creation and

maintenance of a favorable brand image in the minds and eyes of the customers

(Hassan et al., 2016). Nowadays the global marketers consider celebrity endorsement as

one the most important marketing tool. They have accepted the important role that

celebrities can play in order to grab the consumer attention and finally to make them

buy the endorsed brand (McCracken, 1989).

Celebrity endorsement now has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the world due

to its important role in the effective promotion of the brands (Kumar, 2010). Current

study was initiated while keeping the same charismatic feature of celebrities in

impacting the consumer buying behaviors. It was initiated to explore the impacts of

celebrity endorsement on purchase intent of consumers living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

province of Pakistan. Results of the current study support the past results drawn by

various researchers in the various parts of the world. Current study has explored a

positive relationship between the various determinants of celebrity endorsement

models and consumer purchase intention. Results revealed that celebrity endorsement

is perceived as one the most influential advertising tool across all the age groups and

amongst both the genders.

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Especially, the young people and the teenagers have a particular tendency towards this

special type of advertising tool. It means that brand recall and the overall brand equity

can be effectively strengthened if an appropriate celebrity endorses a brand (Kumar,

2010). In order to meet the objectives of the current study and to uncover the strategic

importance of celebrity endorsement as an effective advertising tool, three models of

celebrity endorsement were used for this study. These models are named as Source

Credibility Model (Hovland & Weiss, 1951), Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire,

1985), Product Match up Model (Kamins & Gupta, 1994) & Meaning Transfer Model

(McCracken, 1989). These models have sub determinants and the impact of every

determinant was tested on the consumer purchase intention. A positive association

between the various determinants of the celebrity endorsement and consumer

purchase intent was recorded. Some determinants were having extremely significant

impact on the consumer purchase intent while the rest were having comparatively

lower impact on the consumer purchasing intention.

As a matter of fact, familiarity was having the most significant impact on consumer

purchase intention showing 31% variation in consumer purchase intention. The second

most significant determinant was celebrity likeability showing 29.3% variation in the

consumer purchase intention. Meaning transfer and trustworthiness were ranked as

third most significant determinants impacting the consumer purchase intention. Both

the determinants showed a variation of 24.6% in the overall consumer purchase intent.

Celebrity product match up was recorded as the fourth important determinant of

celebrity endorsement showing a 20.8% variation in the consumer purchase intention.

Perceived similarity between the endorsing source and the target audience is also

essential that’s why similarity stood as the fifth important determinant having a positive

impact on the consumer purchase intention.

Similarity shows a 20.1% variation in the consumer purchase intention. As a matter of

fact, celebrity product match up and similarity cause almost the same impact on the

consumer purchase intention as there is a very low difference in their variation

percentages in affecting the overall consumer purchase intention. Expertise was ranked

as “comparatively least important” determinant as compared to the rest of the

determinants. The recorded variation in the purchase intention for the celebrity

expertise is 19.6% which is the lowest recorded figure. It means that majority of the

consumers do not pose too much importance on celebrity’s expertise while they are

exposed to their endorsed brands. In other words, expertise does not impact the

consumer purchase intention remarkably in comparison to the other determinants of

the celebrity endorsement models.

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In comparison to the previous studies the results of the current study are matching with

a large number of previously conducted researches like (Kumar, 2010, Mazlan et al.,

2016, & McCormick, 2016). However, determinants of the celebrity endorsement

models have been differently ranked by the different researchers in different times

according to their importance, as per their test results. The logical reason behind this

fact is that different consumers in the different parts of the world have differences of

opinions, choices and perceptions. Moreover, they differently perceive the various

determinants of celebrity endorsement in relation to their purchase intention. So, it

means that there is no universal rule of thumb under which we can universally or

scientifically rank these determinants according to their importance.

Their importance is all based on consumer’s perceptions and consumer perceptions vary

from person to person and society to society (McGuire, 1985). That is why Pakistani

consumers also perceive celebrity endorsement models differently than other

consumers living in the other parts of the world. That is because of the differences in

“thinking and doing” of the various social members. Consequently, the current study

validates the overall effectiveness of celebrities as brand endorsers in relation to the

consumer purchase intention. It also states that brand advertisers should always be very

careful while selecting an appropriate celebrity as their brand endorser. Moreover, this

right choice of the celebrity endorsers can make the big difference both in the short and

long run in creating positive impacts on consumer minds and life styles.

5.2 Recommendations: In the light of the findings of the current study the researcher would like to give the

below mentioned recommendations to the global brand managers in general and the

local brand managers in specific:

1. The brand and advertising managers should keep a proper check over the

building and falling images of various celebrities whether from showbiz or from

the world of sports. As a matter of fact, rise and decline in their professional

performance can directly influence their social image and brand endorsements

as well. For example, Yuvraj Singh, the legendary Indian cricketer was endorsing

a number of brands after winning the cricket World Cup 2011. He was

nominated as the “Man of the Series” and after this, he had a lot of brand

endorsement offers. Unfortunately, cancer disease caught him in 2012 due to

which his professional performance was adversely affected and he had to take a

break. This also negatively impacted his brand endorsement deals as he went

out of the public scene. After a time period of three years he made a comeback

on the International Cancer day by rejoining the Indian cricket team after getting

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the successful medical treatments. This time again he came back into the media

lime light with so many brand endorsement offers (Times of India, Feb 6, 2012).

This is how celebrities lose and gain their popularity graphs. The need of the time

is to keep a constant eye over the falling and rising image of the celebrities

(McCracken, 1989). The other example could be of Pakistani celebrity “Chai

Wala” (Arshad khan). The term “Chai Wala” means the tea seller. This gentleman

belongs to the Mardan city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This smart young man was a

poor tea seller but he became an overnight celebrity after getting his pictures

viral on the social media by a lady reporter.

As a result, he was offered with a number of brand endorsement deals and

finally he got modeling and acting offers too. He accepted those offers but after

some time due to living in the traditional Pathan society and due to his family

pressure, he decided to quit the world of showbiz. He saw an overnight rise, and

then an intentional fall. Media reports revealed that now he’s no more accepting

any endorsement deal and has started his own business (Express Tribune, Dec

27, 2016).

Another example can be of famous Indian comedian Kapil Sharma. He is the top

most ranked Indian comic celebrity. His comedy show is not only famous in India

but is equally liked in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and other countries. His

show contains various co-super stars like Sunil Grover (playing the role of Guthi)

and Ali Asghar (playing the role of dadi). Kapil Sharma due to his arrogant

behavior with his co-stars is continuously losing his social and professional

image. As a result of same inappropriate behavior with his co-stars, Sunil Grover

and other co-stars have decided to quit the show. Moreover, the channel

management has asked Kapil Sharma to settle the said matter with in a month.

The channel management believes that the same program cannot be

successfully broadcasted without the involvement of Sunil Grover and Ali Asghar

because of their important roles. Both these celebrities are the important

characters and the channel has even offered them to launch another show by

eliminating the super star Kapil Sharma. Media reports reveal that Mr. Sharma

due to his inappropriate behavior is facing a lot of other personal and legal issues

at the moment as well. He most recently criticized the Indian Prime Minister on

social media for his poor state governance too. He also rudely behaved with the

local authorities about some local cleanliness issues. All these unwanted actions

and inappropriate social behavior has caused a downfall in his social and

professional image.

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These downfalls have benefited the other two celebrities and now they are very

near to replace him. Kapil Sharma is also losing his brand endorsements demand

due to the same reasons (Times of India, March 20, 2017).

2. Second point of recommendation is that before selecting a celebrity, brand

managers should make sure that the endorsing celebrity is not involved in any

illegal or unethical activities. Their past or present time involvement in any illegal

activity or unethical activity can bring a real bad name to their endorsed brands

as well. For example, the Pakistani super model Ayaan Ali is one the most leading

models having so many brand endorsement contracts on her credit. The model’s

social and professional image was adversely affected when she was arrested in

illegal money transferring act. All of the sudden, the brand managers had to

change their brand endorsers as the model was sent to jail and her trail was

initiated in the court of law. The case proceedings are still in process however

the recent development is that the model name has been eliminated from the

exit control list (Express Tribune, February 23, 2017). In past, the Indian Actor

Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan also faced different legal cases as they were found

guilty in the court of law. This really damaged their social and professional

images in the minds of the social members. Moreover, the famous US golfer and

World champion, Tiger Woods social image was negatively impacted as a result

of family disputes appeared on the media and legal trials being faced by him

depicting his negative image in the overall situations. It also negatively impacted

his brand endorsement deals and so many brands decided not to use Mr. Woods

for future brand endorsement projects. They believed that they can lose their

brand image due to the falling image of Mr. Woods (Aurora, February 28, 2017).

3. Most of the times consumers believe that celebrities practically or personally

never use the brands endorsed by them. They think that the endorsing

celebrities have no personal or real life affiliations with their endorsed brands. It

also makes them feel that these stars are acting upon a predetermined script

and this is nothing but just a paid content. The ultimate impact of this feeling on

the consumer purchase intention is very undesirable. Solution to this problem is

that the Pakistani brand managers should contractually bound the celebrities to

use the endorsed brands personally and publically. This will really create a strong

word of mouth amongst the social members and would positively impact their

purchase intent. Moreover, strict legal actions should be taken if any celebrity

violates the terms and conditions of the brand endorsement deal. For example,

the world famous Pakistani athlete Amir Khan has recently signed an energy

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drink brand endorsement deal. In the ad he is running in the streets of Lahore

with eye catching graphics and mind appealing camera work.

All of us know that energy drinks contain a high volume of unhealthy ingredients

that a World Champion and a professional athlete like Amir Khan would never

love to consume. As a matter of fact, these fatal ingredients adversely impact

athlete’s physical fitness. As professional athletes have to clear different types of

medical tests and presence of any undesirable ingredient in their body creates

highly undesirable results (Aurora, February 28, 2017).

4. The trend of changing the brand endorsement loyalty is also very common In

Pakistan. This is because of the absence of strict advertising and promotional

rules and regulations. The brand managers should consider the ethical most

celebrities that can keep up the brand endorsement loyalty for a longer time

even for a lifetime, if possible and desirable. As a matter of fact, it adversely

impacts the consumer buying behavior. Because, at one time they see their

favorite celebrity endorsing a particular brand but after some time they see him

or her endorsing the other competitive brand (Roy et al., 2015). For example,

Wasim Akram the legendary cricketer was first endorsing Jazz (a telecom firm),

but now he’s endorsing Ufone. Pakistani pop stars Ali Zafar and Shehzad Roy also

have changed their brand endorsement loyalties for the same brand category in

the recent past. Besides leaving everything on law, celebrities should also realize

that the general public idealizes them as their personal favorites and they do

consider their brand endorsing opinions. So they also should take care of their

moral responsibilities and they should not misguide them just for the sake of

receiving higher endorsement money.

5. The brand managers should conduct public opinion based surveys before

selecting an appropriate celebrity for their brand endorsements. This can help

them to determine the consumer perceived level of celebrity expertise,

trustworthiness, familiarity, likeability and their perceived similarity. This can

also help the brand managers to test the effectiveness of product match up

hypothesis and the meaning transfer model. This can be done by taking small or

moderately large sample sizes of consumers. The findings can enable them to get

valuable ideas regarding the selection of an appropriate celebrity. In the age of

digital technology, contacting consumers or the general public is not a difficult

task to do. If an appropriate celebrity is being selected based upon the opinions

of the general public or the target audiences, the chances of the brand

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endorsement success can be quite higher. As this is going to be a complete

consumer choice based selection of an appropriate celebrity.

6. Like other parts of the world, Pakistani government should also take the matter

seriously and should make required changes in the advertising rules and

regulations. The need of the time is to formulate the required and strict standard

operating procedures for the brand promotion and celebrity endorsement

practices. The concerned officials should make the local advertising SOPs in line

with the global advertising standard operating procedures. This can really

provide a solid legal ground to regulate and control the promotional activities in

general and using celebrities in commercials in specific.

7. Brand advertisers should not only focus to find a single quality to be higher in a

considered celebrity. They should also consider the other attributes of celebrity

endorsement as a priority too. They should try their level best to find such a

celebrity who most possibly possess maximum of these attributes altogether in a

most desirable way. The best possible combination of all these attributes will act

as a “convincing catalyst” and will further strengthen the psychological influence

of the endorsing source over the consumer minds. That is why the marketers

believe that ability of celebrities to influence the consumer behavior is

unquestionable. Being their favorites, consumers find them very close to their

hearts. Interestingly, it is regardless of the fact that these “favorites” are

personally and socially far located from the general public (Choi & Rifon, 2007).

8. In Pakistan though multiple celebrity endorsement is in practice but not that

much as compared to India and other parts of the world. Multiple celebrity

endorsement is the endorsement technique where multiple celebrities endorse a

particular brand at the same time (Hsu & McDonald, 2002). For the effective

promotion of the brands, it is far better to use multiple celebrities instead of

relying on one. Some brand managers believe that it simply strengthens “the

charismatic influence of these super stars on consumers mind” in relation to the

endorsed brand (Erdogan, 1999). Sometimes celebrities appear in different

commercials while sometime they are shown together in a particular brand

advertisement. The use of multiple celebrities not only strengthens the overall

brand equity but also helps in avoiding consumer boredom. As they may possibly

experience boredom while watching a single face again and again on their

television screens. The biggest advantage of this brand endorsing practice is that

one of the endorsing celebrities might have the desirable celebrity endorsement

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features that the other might not have. Using them altogether is like “adding

more taste to the endorsement recipe” (McCracken, 1989). For example, in the

recent Pakistani Lux soap ad, viewers can see the “Cracking chemistry” between

the beautiful Pakistani female model Mahira Khan and the charming Pakistani

male model Fawad Khan.

The requirement of the ad was to have a beautiful lady romancing with a

charming gentleman covering his eyes and attracting him towards her as the

fragrance helped the guy to detect her. These two celebrities are amongst the

“ruling faces” of modeling and acting fields these days not only in Pakistan but

also in India. The brand advertisers very wisely selected the above mentioned

Pakistani male and female celebrity and the ad was a success (Indian Express,

April 13, 2016).

Simply Sprite made use of Pakistani young celebrity Ali Zafar and Indian new

comer Siddharth Malhotra as co-endorsers showing the traditional food streets

of Lahore for the effective promotion of the brand in both the countries. Last but

not the least, Pakistani brand advertisers in specific, should make a very careful

selection of multiple celebrities for brand endorsements having the required

endorsement features. This can prove itself as a game changer brand

endorsement strategy.

9. Sometimes the brand advertisers give more focus on the endorsing source rather

than the endorsed brand. This advertising blunder is known as overshadowing

impact or the vampire impact. Most of the times it has been noticed in the

various brand advertisements that the celebrity is given more importance while

the brand features are not properly presented to the target audiences. This

technically happens when the celebrity’s personality is over emphasized in the

advertising process rather than emphasizing on the brand personality (McGuire,

1985). Too much glamorous presentation of a celebrity directly overshadows the

brand personality in the overall advertising process. It looks like that the

endorsing source seems to be very important to the brand advertiser rather than

the endorsed brand. While the advertising objective is to sell the brand not the

celebrity. It is in fact selling your brand effectively through celebrities but over

emphasis on their personality can damage the brand personality in the overall

advertising process. The author would like the brand advertisers to notice this

really important promotional blunder that can happen unintentionally but would

damage the whole advertising process.

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5.3 Limitations of the Study: The current study acknowledges certain limitations that were faced by the researcher

while performing this study. This study was conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

of Pakistan. The respondents were between the ages 0f 16 to 45. The senior citizens

were also not contacted who might have a totally different set of perceptions regarding

the celebrity endorsements in relation to their buying intentions. Therefore, the findings

of the current study may not be fully applicable on Under 18 and on the senior citizens

buying intentions in relation to the celebrity endorsements. Moreover, due to the lack

of financial resources, human resources, and also due to the lack of time, the researcher

was not able to take a more diversified and larger sample size that could be comprised

of rural consumers as well.

5.4 Suggestions for the future researchers: The author would like to guide the future researchers by showing certain directions for

the future research projects. Though a larger sample size was considered for the current

study, still the future researchers can take comparatively larger sample sizes in order to

determine the impact of celebrity endorsement on the consumer buying behavior. This

would enable them to make more authentic and empirical analysis of the subject matter

under discussion. Future studies can also play their role in order to determine the

impact of the celebrity endorsement on the buying behavior of the senior citizens.

Future studies can also consider the rural buyers from the various parts of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa in specific and other rural parts of the country in general or as per their

research objectives. Investigating the impact of the local and international celebrities on

the consumer buying behavior can be a next suggestion for the future researchers. Last

but not the least, future studies can also focus on investigating the impact of negative

publicity about a celebrity on the consumer purchase intentions.

5.5 Extent of Contribution by the Current Study to Understand

Celebrity Endorsements & Its Impact on Consumer Purchase

Intention:

This final section of the research thesis presents the brief but comprehensive

contribution of the current study in relation to the celebrity endorsements and its

impact on consumer purchase intention. . The overall research objective of the current

study was to uncover the consumer perceptions about the celebrity endorsements in

relation to their purchase intention. According to the previously conducted studies the

celebrity endorsement strategy is just like a “double edged sword”. Some studies have

found negative relationship between celebrity endorsements and consumer purchase

intention such as Klebba & Unger, 1982, Cooper, 1984, Kaikati, 1987 & Katyal, 2007. The

116

findings of these studies strongly believe that for the effective endorsements of the

brands the endorsing source does not necessarily needs to be a “celebrity”. Moreover,

on the other hand many global and local researchers have found the celebrity

endorsements to be the one of most effective brand promotional & advertising

strategies. These studies have been conducted by Hovland & Weiss, 1951, McGuire,

1985, McCracken, 1989, Kamins & Gupta, 1994, Anjum, 2012, & by Khan et al., 2016.

The current study has revealed the positive relationship between the celebrity

endorsements and consumer purchase intention. It strongly validates the positive role

of celebrities as one of the most promising and convincing brand endorsers. The findings

of the current study help to understand the consumer perceptions about the celebrity

endorsements and its overall effectiveness in relation to their purchase intention. The

consumers living in the urban and sub urban parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of

Islamic Republic of Pakistan positively perceive the role of celebrities as brand

endorsers. It reveals that people living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a great deal of

respect for the local and global celebrities when these celebrities are used as brand

endorsers. Four models of celebrity endorsements were used for the current study by

the researcher to uncover the strategic weightage and importance of celebrity

endorsement phenomenon. The study has contributed a greater volume of knowledge

to understand the consumer perceptions regarding the celebrity endorsements and its

various determinants such as expertise, trust worthiness, similarity, likeability

familiarity, product-celebrity match up and the ability of celebrities to transfer “real

meanings” to the overall brand endorsement function. The current study has thoroughly

explained and discussed the above mentioned determinants of the celebrity

endorsement models in relation to the consumer purchasing intention. The research

gap that was identified in the chapter first of this study has been properly filled through

this study. The findings of the current study have useful academic implications for

marketing and advertising students and faculty members. It also provides a strong base

for the marketing and advertising professionals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in specific and

to the marketing and advertising professionals of other parts of Pakistan in general to

understand the consumer perceptions about celebrity endorsements. Based on the

same knowledge these local brand managers and advertisers can wisely choose a right

celebrity to endorse a right product at the right time, right place and by using a right

promotional media.

117

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Questionnaire

Dear Respondent

I‘m PhD student and currently conducting research on the topic “Relationship between

Celebrity Endorsements and Consumer Purchase Intention” You are requested to fill

questionnaire which will not take much of your valuable time. This study is being

conducted only for the academic purpose. It is to assure that the provided information

will not be used for any other purpose. Your kind response will be highly appreciated.

1. What is your age?

a. Less than 18 years

b. 18-30

c. 30 and above

2. What is your gender?

a. Male

b. Female

3. What is your profession?

a. Student

b. Professional/Business

c. Unemployed

d. Others (Please Specify)

4. Which part of country do you live?

a. Urban

b. Sub-Urban

5. What is your monthly Income/ Pocket Money?

a. 5000 to 10000

b. Above 10000

Consumer Perception and Celebrity Endorsements

6. Which of the following medium do you think is more likely to convey celebrity endorsed advertisements?

a. TV advertisements

b. Magazines

130

c. Internet

d. Radio

e. Newspapers

7. How frequently do you come across advertisements using celebrity endorsements?

a. Often

b. Occasionally

c. Rarely

d. Never

8. What attracts you more: celebrity endorsed advertisements or non-celebrity advertisements?

a. Celebrity endorsed advertisements

b. Non-celebrity advertisements

9. What type of celebrities do you think is more influential as endorsers?

a. Actors or Actresses from movies

b. Sport stars including cricketers

c. Business persons

d. Others (Please specify)

10. Does the presence of celebrities in the advertisements help you recognize and recall product more promptly?

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. strongly Disagree

11. Do you think celebrities really use the product endorsed by them in real life?

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

12. How do you perceive celebrity endorsements?

a. Very effective

131

b. Effective

c. Somewhat effective

d. Not at all effective

13. How influential do you think is celebrity endorsements?

a. Very influential

b. Influential

c. Somewhat influential

d. Not at all influential

Celebrity Attributes and Purchase Intention

14. As a consumer, do you consider ―Expertise of the celebrity as an attribute that can influence your purchase decision? (Expertise refers to the level of knowledge, experience and expertise a celebrity has in particular field)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

15. As a consumer, do you consider ―Trustworthiness of the celebrity as an attribute that can influence your purchase decision? (Trustworthiness refers to the honesty and believability of the celebrity)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

16. As a consumer, do you think the sense of ―Similarity between you and the celebrity endorser can influence your purchase decision for a certain product or service? (Similarity refers to the sense of similarity a consumer feels with a celebrity)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

132

17. As a consumer, do you consider the ―Familiarity of the celebrity as an attribute that can influence your purchase decision for a certain product or service?

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

18. As a consumer, do you consider the ―Likeability of the celebrity as an attribute that can influence your purchase decision for a certain product or service? (Likeability refers to the level of celebrity‘s fame in the public opinion and how popular the celebrity is)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

19. As a consumer, do you think the ―Match between the celebrity and the product can an important attribute in influence your purchase decision for a certain product or service? (Fit/Match refers to the level how well the fit between the celebrity and the product is)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

20. Do you think celebrities can provide or transfer meaning to the product and influence your purchase intentions based on celebrity‘s age, gender and lifestyle? (Meaning Transfer refers to the meaning a celebrity brings or transfers to a certain product with the help of their personality and lifestyle)

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

133

21. Please rate these factors according to their importance and effectiveness in order to influence your purchase decision. (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)

a. Expertise 1 2 3 4 5

b. Trustworthiness 1 2 3 4 5

c. Similarity 1 2 3 4 5

d. Likeability 1 2 3 4 5

e. Familiarity 1 2 3 4 5

f. Product-celebrity match 1 2 3 4 5

g. Meaning transfer 1 2 3 4 5

22. Which of the below given factors influence you the most to buy a product or service endorsed by a celebrity?

a. Expertise of the celebrity in the given field/ product endorsed.

b. Trustworthiness of the celebrity

c. Similarity between the celebrity endorser and yourself.

d. Likeability of the celebrity

e. Familiarity of the celebrity

f. Match between the Product and the celebrity

g. Meaning that a celebrity can transfer to products thru their personality or lifestyle

Celebrity Endorsements and Purchase Intention

23. Do you feel that ―Negative Publicity about a celebrity endorser can influence your purchase decision? (For example Salman Khan is facing trial in 3 cases for killing black bucks and illegal possession of arms.)

a. Yes

b. No

c. Sometimes

d. Can‘t say

24. I‘m likely to purchase products or services that have been endorsed by celebrities.

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

134

25. I do purchase products and services endorsed by celebrities.

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree

26. In overall, I‘m happy with purchasing products or services advertised by celebrities.

a. Strongly Agree

b. agree

c. Not sure

d. disagree

e. Strongly Disagree