The Impacts of Moral Character in Celebrity Endorsement

Abstract

This research consists of two experimental studies investigating the dominance of moral character on athlete endorser perception and the influence of perceiver characteristics on tarnished athlete endorser perception and brand evaluations. Perceiver characteristics are discussed from the perspectives of dispositional tendency, innate moral intuitions and self-location. The first study compared the dominance of moral character and warmth on endorser perception. The second study examined the impact of perceiver characteristics on tarnished athlete endorsers and brand evaluations. The findings reveal that moral character is more influential than warmth on endorser evaluations. Tarnished athlete endorsers with immoral character exert more negative influence than tarnished endorsers with coldness character on brand evaluations. Innate moral intuitions and self-location moderate brand evaluations. Highmorality consumers and heart-locators are more vulnerable than low-morality and brain-locators to the brands endorsed by tarnished endorsers, respectively.