The Impact of Negative Publicity on Celebrity Ad Endorsements

Abstract

The article reports on an experiment to test the impact of negative publicity on celebrity ad endorsements. The extent to which negativity influences attitudes toward a celebrity, and to what degree this influences consumers of high–low involvement and image‐related products is examined. Three hypothetical incidents relating to an extramarital affair, a drink‐driving incident, and criticism of the professional integrity for three different celebrities (a television sitcom and film star, a television and radio presenter, and a current affairs television presenter) were developed and investigated using a sample of “Generation Y” consumers. Three different sources of negative information were used, based on rumor, media footage, and celebrity publicly tells all. The findings suggest that the statements had a negative effect on the overall attitudes toward the celebrities but showed variations for different product categories. Interestingly, there were no significant differences based on the source of negative information. Several implications are discussed and directions for future research suggested.

Want to make me emotional? The influence of emotional advertisements on women’s consumption behavior

“…Consumers may desire intangible factors, for example, trust, love, fulfillment of dreams, and association with certain personalities, while evaluating and consuming the products being offered or advertised (Thwaites et al, 2012). Advertisers may attempt to market products which consumers may not need.…”

“…They endeavor to influence consumers' consumption patterns favorably by capitalizing on the human emotions that might be triggered by their dreams and idols. Consumers sometimes perceive celebrities as their idols and become ready to emotionally align their buying and consumption styles with ways celebrities present (Thwaites et al, 2012). From this perspective, women's behavior may be more responsive to the products being endorsed by celebrities.…”

“…Although featuring celebrities in advertisements have been considered effective in generating favorable responses among women (Klaus and Bailey, 2008), the success of the advertisement is still not guaranteed (Thwaites et al, 2012). This is because there are certain risks which are associated with featuring celebrities in advertisements.…”

The Impacts of Moral Character in Celebrity Endorsement

“…Moreover, blameworthy (or culpable) endorsers induce more negative reactions in stock returns [29]. Negative publicity information instigates more negative impacts on endorsers congruent with the brands that they endorsed [30][31][32].…”

Moral character effects in endorser perception

“…It is documented that the perceiver characteristics of attribution styles, celebrity identification, brand commitment, and personal involvement moderate the negative impacts of scandals on brand evaluations (Ahluwalia et al, 2000;Thwaites et al, 2012;Um, 2013). Scandals are more influential on perceivers who make dispositional (vs. situational) attributions and are low in brand commitment and celebrity identification.…”