Celebrity Brand Personality and Politics in West Bengal: An Explorative Study

Abstract

Marketers have traditionally utilized celebrities to boost brand appeal by attracting attention and increasing memory rates, which is true in politics. However, research on the impact of celebrities on politics is new, and results are varied as to whether their endorsements and statements help in changing voters’ attitudes and behaviors. This study aimed to explore the effect of celebrity endorsement for a political party or celebrity candidate on people’s voting behavior. This is a mixed methods study. A community-based cross-sectional design was adopted for the study at Kolkata port and Maniktala constituencies (authors refer to Kolkata city) in the Kolkata district of West Bengal. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data in this study using NVivo 12, whereas data entry and analysis were carried out with the help of Excel and Stata for quantitative data. About 16% of respondents reported being entirely influenced by the actor or actress’s election campaign. In contrast, 24% are not affected. Three-fifths of the respondents are somewhat influenced. It may be inferred that celebrity endorsement in political campaigns is one of the main elements determining the likelihood of a particular political party or candidate winning or losing an election. At the same time, it cannot always be since various individuals have varied perspectives about each party, and not everyone supports a party or candidate just because their favorite celebrity endorses it. More study is needed to understand this neglected arena of research. Thus, this article focuses on credibility as a key dimension.