Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

Emerald Article: What really works for teenagers: human or fictional celebrity? Varsha Jain, Subhadip Roy, Aarzoo Daswani, Mari Sudha

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To cite this document: Varsha Jain, Subhadip Roy, Aarzoo Daswani, Mari Sudha, (2011),"What really works for teenagers: human or fictional celebrity?", Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, Vol. 12 Iss: 2 pp. 171 - 183 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17473611111141623 Downloaded on: 25-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 34 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

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Steve Dix, Ian Phau, Sonia Pougnet, (2010),""Bend it like Beckham": the influence of sports celebrities on young adult consumers", Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, Vol. 11 Iss: 1 pp. 36 - 46 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17473611011025993 Nisachon Tantiseneepong, Matthew Gorton, John White, (2012),"Evaluating responses to celebrity endorsements using projective techniques", Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 15 Iss: 1 pp. 57 - 69 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13522751211191991 Amanda Spry, Ravi Pappu, T. Bettina Cornwell, (2011),"Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and brand equity", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45 Iss: 6 pp. 882 - 909 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090561111119958

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What really works for teenagers: human or ctional celebrity?

Varsha Jain, Subhadip Roy, Aarzoo Daswani and Mari Sudha

Varsha Jain is a Research Fellow and Head of the IMC Division at the Mudra Institute of Communications Research, Ahmedabad, India. Subhadip Roy is an Assistant Professor at IBS Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. Aarzoo Daswani and Mari Sudha are both Research Associates at the Mudra Institute of Communications Research, Ahmedabad, India.

Abstract ` Purpose This study aims to explore the relative effectiveness of a human celebrity endorser vis-a-vis a ctional celebrity or character endorser on teenage consumers attitudes. Further, the study also seeks to assess whether the effectiveness varies depending on the nature of the product being endorsed. Design/methodology/approach Given the purpose of the study, experimental design was used as the research methodology. In an experimental set-up three product categories (low-involvement food/low-involvement non-food/high-involvement) and two endorsers (human celebrity/ctional celebrity) and a control group were deployed in a 3 3 full factorial design on 378 teenagers. Fictitious advertisements were used as stimuli. Findings The study suggests that, for food and non-food low-involvement product categories, the impact of a human celebrity is more than that of a ctional celebrity. Regarding the purchase intentions of teenagers, it was found that a human celebrity is more effective than a ctional celebrity in food and non-food low-involvement products. In the case of the high-involvement product, the human celebrity was not found to create favorable consumer attitudes. Research limitations/implications The study results suggest that celebrity endorsements are useful, but the nature of the product also has an inuence on success. One limitation of the study was the restriction to print advertisements. Practical implications A major implication from the ndings for the managers is that a human celebrity may not always be the right choice for any product promotion for teenagers. More specically, for high-involvement products, celebrity endorsement needs to be handled with caution since it may not prove to be successful. Originality/value The contribution of the study is in addressing an area that has not been very well researched as yet, and in addressing a research question that has not been investigated properly. Keywords Celebrities, Youth, Consumer behaviour, Product endorsement Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
One of the factors that is important in making an advertisement likeable is the use of positive characters, i.e. those perceived to be credible, memorable, intriguing, amusing and bright (Leather et al., 1994). Celebrities are considered to be such positive characters and are used extensively in product endorsement activities. About 60 percent of advertisement expenditure in India consists of celebrity endorsements (Saxena, 2008). The booming advertising industry has seen a spurt of celebrity endorsements across all product categories. Celebrity endorsements are perceived to cut through ad clutter and are effective in building credibility for the brand while generating spin-off publicity through public relations. New brands get recognition and this aids in positioning and repositioning the brands (Kaikati, 1987). Celebrity endorsements are not only fruitful in appealing to the target audience (Erdogan, 2005), but also in bringing reliability and trust to the brands endorsed (Challapalli, 2007).

Received: July 2010 Revised: January 2011 Accepted: February 2011

DOI 10.1108/17473611111141623

VOL. 12 NO. 2 2011, pp. 171-183, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1747-3616

YOUNG CONSUMERS

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Similarly, animated lms and television have generated a great deal of interest in ctional characters. As a result these ctional celebrities have featured in variety of products, including high-priced products. This is done by the licensing of ctional celebrities by various companies to extract the benet of these established characters (Callcott and Lee, 1994). The advantages of licensing ctional celebrities as endorsers includes effective communication of the brand ethos, expanding the product portfolio, increasing brand s awareness, giving easy entry to new markets and building brand equity while retaining brand loyalty. Additionally, other advantages include more scope of creativity, exibility and cost-effectiveness (Bhatia and Puri, 2007). Also, ctional celebrities bring more enjoyment than a normal testimonial in advertisements (Bhushan and Philip, 2009). The use of a ctional celebrity endorser is the fastest approach to making serious money as it brings with it the prospect to drive into new revenue streams (Sanghari, 2008). The effect of celebrity endorsement is such that young consumers are more likely to use products endorsed by them as celebrities mould their consumption (Chan and Prendergast, 2008). Martin and Bush (2000) noted that teenagers were inuenced by entertainers and athletes who were elevated to role-model status by the highly media saturated atmosphere. Not only do they compare themselves with celebrities but also speak as if they shared a real relationship with them. With about 115.3 million teenagers, India has the largest teenage population in the world. In a decade, they will represent the largest percentage of the population in India (NRIFinanceGuide.com, 2008). A survey commissioned by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) found that the average monthly allowance of urban Indian children aged 10-17 years is Rs. 1,300 ($US26) (Ghosh, 2008). The teenage years are also the rst phase of their life in which they feel they are taking informed decisions about the brands they purchase (Dougall et al., 1999). Usually, while bidding to get a slice of the teenage market, marketers often make the mistake of considering all kids within a certain age group to be more or less the same and extend the same treatment to this segment (Geraci et al., 2000). This generates the need to focus on knowing the exact attitude and behavior of this ever-on-the-move generation towards advertisements featuring real and ctional celebrity.

2. Literature review
Celebrities are known for being extremely good at something beyond appearing in advertisements, and their outstanding skill in their respective elds brings them into the public eye and makes them objects of veneration and respect (Pringle, 2004). Celebrity endorsement effectiveness has been tested by many researchers in the past, and many theories and models have been built. The theories include source credibility (Ohanian, 1990), source attractiveness (McGuire, 1985), match-up hypothesis (Till and Busler, 2000) and the meaning transfer model (McCracken, 1989). Source effect models highlight the characteristics of the source or the message sender and its effect on the receiver. The source credibility model identies source expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness as key components. The source attractiveness model examines similarity, familiarity and likeability as key components. The match-up hypothesis suggests that the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement depends on the existence of a t between the celebrity endorser and the endorsed brand. The meaning transfer model consists of three stages wherein rstly the celebrity image is formed, secondly this celebrity image transfers to the product and nally from the product to the consumers. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) reveals an interaction between involvement level and type of endorser. Under low-involvement conditions, the type of endorser has a signicant impact on attitudes towards the product but no impact on behavioral intentions. The type of endorser manipulation found that celebrities had marginally signicant impact on brand recall over ordinary people (Petty et al., 1983). Celebrity endorsers are more effective than non-celebrity endorsers in generating attitudes towards advertisement, attitude towards brand and purchase intentions (Erdogan, 1999). Kahle and Homer (1985)

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found that an attractive celebrity created more favorable purchase intention as compared to an unattractive one. Furthermore, while trying to explore studies related to teenager perception and impact of celebrity endorsement advertisements, it appears that the exposure to mass media is quite large, as 89 percent and 91 percent of teenagers respectively watch television and movies regularly (NRIFinanceGuide.com, 2008). As a result, teenagers select media gures as their role models based on the characteristics that they can identify themselves with (Martin and Bush, 2000). Young people admire their icons and stars that are dependable (McGowan, 2000). They are attached to brands endorsed by their icon celebrity and aspire to adopt their image and lifestyle (Martin and Bush, 2000; Thomson and Woodham, 1997). The brand is referred as a cool brand among teenagers when a cool celebrity uses it (Martin and Bush, 2000). Teenagers state that when entertainers endorse the products, then the chances of using the product increase (Chan and Prendergast, 2008). When teenagers attach to a likable product, there is a high chance of them being involved in its purchase decision process (Beatty and Talpade, 1994). Brands in the entertainment, food and clothing areas are major interests among children (Pecheux and Derbaix, 1999). Erdogan (1999) found that the possibility of teenagers shopping with their parents decreases as their age increases. Teenagers are future adults and have buying power and inuence over family purchases. They tend to spend more freely on less expensive products that are especially for their own use and are within their buying limits (Foxman et al., 1989). Apart from making decisions pertaining to products for their own use, the teenage population inuences many of parental product and brand choices (Foxman et al., 1989; Erdogan, 1999). Talpade and Trilokekar-Talpade (1995) reveal that teenagers are involved from the very initial stage of bringing up the idea of buying a product to the decision stage of buying the product from a store. This increased inuence is observed for a variety of products, ranging from chewing gum to a new car or vacations and travel (Foxman et al., 1989; Geraci et al., 2000). The inuence stems from being better informed than their parents, so they can enjoy the status of an advisor or consultant to the parents (Christensen and Rohde, 1999). Prior research relating to the effectiveness of ctional celebrity endorsers was studied. A study examining the inuence of an animated spokes-character on preschoolers suggests that animated spokes-characters generate high levels of attention, character recognition and liking and product recognition and liking. However, these high levels of recognition and liking did not transfer to product preference, intention or choice (Neeley and Schumann, 2004). Callcott and Lee (1994), in their content analysis of animated spokes-characters in television commercials, revealed that celebrity spokes-persons appeared more popular for adult-oriented durable or service products. With fewer studies dealing in teenagers behaviors, attitudes and buying patterns towards advertisements featuring human and ctional celebrities in different product categories, the present study tries to nd the same, along with the reasons for favoring such advertisement. The study is insightful, as young people are considered to be innovative, energetic, exible, positive, friendly and knowledgeable. Their behavior and thinking is normally different, and it is difcult to convince them to pursue a product (Byeld, 2002). Thus the following hypotheses were formulated: H1. A human celebrity has a more favorable impact on consumer attitudes (i.e. attitude towards the advertisement, towards the brand and purchase intention) than a ctional celebrity in the case of a food product. A human celebrity has a more favorable impact on consumer attitudes (i.e. attitude towards the advertisement, towards the brand and purchase intention) than a ctional celebrity in the case of a non-food low-involvement product. A human celebrity has a more favorable impact on the consumer attitudes (i.e. attitude towards the advertisement, towards the brand and purchase intention) than a ctional celebrity in the case of a non-food high-involvement product.

H2.

H3.

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3. Methodology
3.1 Design of the study Experimental design was the selected methodology given the nature of the study objectives. The three product categories included food products, non-food low involvement products and non-food high involvement products and the three endorsers consisted of a ctional celebrity, human celebrity and no endorser as the control group. Thus the experimental set up was a 3 3 full factorial design. The product category had three levels (i.e. low-involvement food, low-involvement non-food and high-involvement non-food). The endorser had three levels (i.e. ctional celebrity, human celebrity and control without an endorser). 3.2 Variables and measures The independent variables used in the study were the celebrities and the product and dependent variables were consumer attitudes, namely attitude towards the advertisement (AAD), attitude towards the brand (AB) and purchase intention (PI). 3.3 Pre-test The selection of the levels of the independent variables required a pre-test. Pre-tests were conducted on batches of 60 students of standard ninth and 12th (age ranging between 13 and 17, years respectively), in order to know their preferred products and celebrities. The rst pre-test was conducted to identify the human and the ctional celebrity. This was conducted on two separate but homogenous groups of sizes around 40 individuals. An opening brief was followed by a single open-ended question which asked, Which celebrity/ctional character would you most like to watch in an advertisement?. The most preferred human celebrity was Aamir Khan (Hindi movie actor with 87 percent of votes) and the most preferred ctional character was found to be Mickey Mouse (89 percent of votes). Pre-test 2 was conducted to identify the products to be used in the study. This was conducted on a single group of around 40 respondents. The results suggested that for food products the respondents preferred chocolate; for non-food products they preferred shampoo (low-involvement) and television (high-involvement). 3.4 Treatments From the pre-test results, nine treatments were operationalized, with the identied three product categories and three endorsers. Nine print advertisements were prepared with ctitious brand names and punch lines. In the human celebrity and the ctional celebrity conditions, the celebrities selected from the pre-test were put in the ad alongside the product and the punch lines were adjusted accordingly. The three ads of the control group had only the product and the punch line. Print advertisements were chosen as the treatment, for two reasons. Firstly, it was not possible to create ctitious video advertisements using a celebrity endorser because of cost and production difculties. Secondly, it was feasible to use a print advertisement as a treatment, since it could be attached as a supplement in the questionnaire developed to collect responses. Once completed, the advertisements were shown to three advertising practitioners to check that the ctitious advertisements looked natural. 3.5 Questionnaire design In the nal study, nine separate questionnaires were designed. The basic pattern of the questionnaire remained the same with minor changes according to the treatment. The questionnaire opened with a brief about a celebrity management group that had roped in a celebrity for endorsement activities. The brief continued with a note about the product brand for which the company would use the celebrity as endorser. The brief added that it had come up with an advertisement but was not sure about the impact of the advertisement. This followed with questions pertaining to the attitude of the respondent towards the advertisement and also probed into the reasons for liking. Similarly pages 3 and 4 had questions pertaining to the attitude of the respondents towards the brand and their purchase

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intention, respectively. Further there were questions related to the likeability of the celebrity. Finally, the last few questions pertained to the demographic factors like age and gender. 3.6 Sample prole and data collection A total of 15 schools with English as the medium of instruction were approached (as the language used in the advertisements and the questionnaires was English) in Western India, of which seven agreed to participate in the research study. Students from the eighth standard to the 12th standard were considered as they fell in the age group of 13-17 years. The questionnaires were administered to 418 teenagers and of those 378 respondents were retained as usable responses. The response rate of the teenagers (respondents) was 90 percent. The number of girls and boys was 177 and 201, respectively. 3.7 The experiment The experiment was conducted in the following manner. The researcher gave a brief to the students about the study. Next, questionnaires were distributed along with the advertisements in the class. In every class three sets of questionnaires along with the relevant advertisement were circulated and administered, under the supervision of two researchers. It was also ensured that each student spent ve to ten minutes in observing the advertisement and 15 to 20 minutes in lling up the questionnaire. The researcher ensured that the questionnaires were completely lled before collecting them back.

4. Data analysis and results

A 3 3 product involvement by celebrity endorsement factorial design was analyzed using SPSS MANOVA procedure. It was found that the dependent variables (AAD, AB and PI) were signicantly correlated to each other (r AAD;AB 0:578, p 0:000, r AB;PI 0:540, p 0:000, r AAD;PI 0:447, p 0:000), which necessitated the use of MANOVA to control for Type I error. The scores of dependent variables i.e. attitude towards advertisement (AAD), attitude towards brand (AB) and purchase intention (PI) were calculated from multi-item scales given in the questionnaire before running multivariate analysis. The group means for all the dependent variables in each treatment group are given in Table I. Before the MANOVA was run, Boxs M test for homogeneity of covariance matrices was run. The M statistic was found to be 190.9 and the corresponding F statistic (3.859) was signicant at the 5 percent level. However, the literature (Stevens, 2002; Timm, 2002) has suggested that Boxs M is very sensitive to sample size and normality of the data and thus the authors decided to go ahead with the MANOVA. The MANOVA effect results (Table II) (determined here through Pillais trace) for both the independent variables were signicant, with F values for celebrity of 5.027 and for product of 4.536. The interesting nding was that of a signicant interaction effect (F value 1.945); that is, both independent variables of celebrity and product jointly inuenced the set of correlated dependent variables. Table I Group means: dependent variables (AAD, AB and PI)
Product category/endorser Low-involvement (food) Fictional celebrity Treatment 1 2.04 2.20 2.04 2.24 2.67 2.79 2.33 2.37 2.80 Human celebrity Treatment 2 2.38 2.68 2.80 2.83 3.18 3.05 2.17 2.38 2.68 No endorser Treatment 3 2.17 2.44 2.02 2.37 2.61 2.18 2.79 2.63 2.67

Low-involvement (Non-food)

Treatment 4

Treatment 5

Treatment 6

High-involvement (non-food)

Treatment 7

Treatment 8

Treatment 9

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Table II MANOVA results: main and interaction effects

Effect Celebrity Product Celebrity Product Value 0.079 0.072 0.062 F 5.027 4.536 1.945 Hypothesis df 6.000 6.000 12.000 Error df 734.000 734.000 1104.000 Signicance 0.000 0.000 0.026

Note: Design: Intercept Celebrity Product Celebrity Product

Next, the MANOVA result was subjected to further tests in order to examine the effect of the independent variables on each dependent variable. Table III provides the effects of independent variables on each dependent variable respectively. The results indicated that both the independent variables had a signicant main effect on AB and PI at the 5 percent level of signicance. However, both independent variables were not found to have a signicant effect on AAD at the 5 percent level. The celebrity product interaction effect was found to be signicant on dependent variables AAD and PI but not on dependent variable AB at the 5 percent level of signicance (see Table III). To test for the three hypotheses stated earlier, the post-hoc Bonferroni tests of mean comparison was used along with graphs of marginal means. The results of the post hoc tests have been presented in three sub sections, each one dedicated to a particular dependent variable. 4.1 Attitude towards advertisement (AAD) The post hoc tests for AAD supported the ndings in Table III. There was no statistically signicant difference in AAD across the categories of the celebrity (mean difference: human, fictional 0:3218, p 0:091; human, control 0:0198, p 1:000; ctional, control 20:3019, p 0:126) or the products (mean difference: low-involvement food, low-involvement non food 20:2842, p 0:085; low-involvement food, high-involvement 20.2842, p 0:217; low-involvement non-food, high-involvement 0.0516, p 1:000). However, analysis of the prole plot of the marginal means indicated the presence of interaction effect among the independent variables (Figure 1). The human celebrity was found to have a favorable impact on the attitude towards the advertisement than the ctional celebrity and control group for the food product (chocolate) and the non-food low-involvement product (shampoo). However, in case of the high involvement product (LCD TV), the control group mean of 2.79 was higher than that of both celebrities (human and ctional). 4.2 Attitude towards the Brand (AB) The post hoc tests for AB also supported the ndings in Table III. There was no statistically signicant difference in AB across the categories of the celebrity (mean difference: human, ctional 0.3123, p 0.118; human, control 0.1851, p 0.511; ctional,

Table III MANOVA results: main and interaction effects on each dependent variable
Source Celebrity Dependent variable AAD AB PI AAD AB PI AAD AB PI Type III sum of squares 5.152 7.154 19.472 5.799 11.645 13.958 14.198 7.794 14.650 df 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 M square 2.576 3.577 9.736 2.900 5.823 6.979 3.549 1.949 3.663 F 2.468 3.347 9.415 2.778 5.448 6.749 3.400 1.823 3.542 Signicance 0.086 0.036 0.000 0.063 0.005 0.001 0.010 0.124 0.007

Product

Celebrity Product

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Figure 1 Prole plot 1. Dependent variable: AAD; independent variables: celebrity and product

control 2 0.1272, p 1.000). In case of the product, there was a signicant difference in attitudes across chocolate and shampoo and shampoo and TV (mean difference: low-involvement food, low-involvement non food 20:3801, p 0:011; low-involvement food, high involvement 20:0177, p 1:000; low-involvement non-food, high involvement 0:3624, p 0:017). However, even in this case, analysis of the prole plots of the marginal means indicated the presence of an interaction effect among the independent variables (Figure 2). The human celebrity was found to have a more favorable impact on the attitude towards the brand than the ctional celebrity and control group for the food product (chocolate) and the non-food low-involvement product (shampoo). Similar to the previous case, the control group mean was the highest for the high involvement product (LCD TV).

4.3 Purchase intention (PI) The post hoc tests for PI suggested that there was a signicant difference in the Purchase Intentions across the celebrity and the product categories. Whereas the human celebrity generated signicantly higher purchase intentions than both the ctional celebrity and the control, there was no signicant difference between the purchase intention levels of the ctional celebrity and the control group (mean difference: human, fictional 0:4196, p 0:012; human, control 0:5556, p 0:000; ctional, control 0:1361, p 1:000). In the case of the product, signicant differences were observed between the food and non-food (both high and low involvement) product categories (mean difference: low-involvement food, low-involvement non food 20:3840, p 0:009; low-involvement food, high involvement 20:4263, p 0:003; low-involvement non-food, high involvement 0:0423, p 1:000). Further observations of the marginal means suggested that the human celebrity had a more favorable impact on the purchase intention of the non-food low-involvement (shampoo) and the food product (chocolate) than the ctional celebrity and control group for food product (see Figure 3). However, in case of the high-involvement product (TV) the marginal means of all three levels were close to each other.

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Figure 2 Prole plot 2. Dependent variable: AB; independent variables: celebrity and product

Figure 3 Prole plot 3. Dependent variable: PI; independent variables: celebrity and product

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4.4 Evidence for H1 From Table IV it is evident that all the consumer attitudes were higher for the human celebrity than the animated one or the control in case of the food product, i.e. chocolate. The highest positive consumer attitude was achieved for the variable purchase intention for Aamir Khan, the human celebrity (2.802). In all cases, the control (i.e. no celebrity) had the least favorable consumer attitudes. The MANOVA results (represented by the signicant F statistic) supported the claim that the means for all the dependent variables across the categories of independent variables were signicantly different from each other. This was further supported by the post hoc tests, where most of the post hoc differences were signicant, suggesting a difference of effects because of the character used. Thus H1 was supported. 4.5 Evidence for H2 From Table V it becomes evident that all the consumer attitudes were higher for the human celebrity than the animated one or the control in case of non-food low involvement product, i.e. shampoo. The highest positive consumer attitude was achieved for the variable attitude towards brand for Aamir Khan, the human celebrity (3.183). The MANOVA results in Table V (represented by the signicant F statistic) here also support the claim that the means for all the dependent variables across the categories of independent variables were signicantly different from each other. This was further supported by the post hoc tests, where most of the post hoc differences were signicant suggesting a difference of effects because of the character used. Thus, H2 was supported. 4.6 Evidence for H3 From Table VI it becomes evident that all the consumer attitudes were higher for the control than the human and ctional celebrity in the case of the non-food high-involvement product, i.e. television. The highest positive variable that was achieved was for the purchase intention (2.802) for ctional celebrity; however, consumers attitudes were more inclined toward the Table IV Product character means for food product (chocolate)
Dependent variable AAD Product Chocolate Character Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Mean 2.381 2.037 2.167 2.675 2.195 2.444 2.802 2.041 2.016 Pillais trace 0.158 MANOVA results F statistic 3.070 Signicance 0.007

AB

Chocolate

PI

Chocolate

Table V Product character means for non-food low-involvement product (shampoo)

Dependent variable AAD Product Shampoo Character Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Mean 2.833 2.238 2.369 3.183 2.667 2.611 3.048 2.794 2.175 Pillais trace 0.161 MANOVA results F statistic 3.561 Signicance 0.002

AB

Shampoo

PI

Shampoo

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Table VI Product character means for non-food high-involvement product (TV)

Dependent variable AAD Product TV Character Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Aamir Khan Mickey Control Mean 2.167 2.333 2.786 2.381 2.365 2.627 2.675 2.802 2.667 SE 0.158 0.158 0.158 0.160 0.160 0.160 0.157 0.157 0.157 Pillais trace 0.096 MANOVA results F statistic 2.051 Signicance 0.060

AB

TV

PI

TV

control. This means that a ctional celebrity may work for a non-food high-involvement product but consumers need detailed information about the product. The related MANOVA results given in Table VI, however, were different from those for H1 and H2. As well as this, the post hoc tests were not found to be signicant, implying that there was no signicant difference in the means of the dependent variables because of the character. Thus, H3 was not supported.

5. Discussion
The most important nding of the study is that a celebrity may not be the only reason behind favorable consumer attitudes for any product category. The ndings of the study broadly suggest that human celebrity has a favorable impact on the attitude of teenagers towards brand and advertisements of food and non-food low-involvement products, which is supported by the literature (Neeley and Schumann, 2004). In the case of the food product, the human celebrity created the most favorable impact on the consumer attitudes, namely AAD, AB and PI. This nding supports the literature on celebrity endorsements, which found a celebrity to be an effective mode of marketing communication (Erdogan, 1999). In case of the non-food low-involvement product, the human celebrity was found have a major impact on consumer attitudes. In this case, the product was a style-enhancing product, and according to the literature (Martin and Bush, 2000; McGowan, 2000) teenagers are inuenced by celebrities, who they consider to be style icons. In the case of the high-involvement product the human celebrity was not found to create favorable consumer attitudes. This may have happened because consumers require more knowledge about a high-involvement product before they make a purchase decision, and they are not easily inuenced by an advertisement (Byeld, 2002). In fact, the control group had highest means for AAD and AB in case of the high-involvement product. Thus there was support for H1 and H2, but H3 was not supported by the ndings. The study further suggests that teenagers think logically about products and accordingly develop intentions to purchase it; they also prefer ads to carry new features and new technology about the product rather than just the presence of a celebrity endorser. The nding also supports the elaboration likelihood model, which suggests that in the high-involvement condition, having a celebrity in an advertisement may not be sufcient to create positive consumer attitudes (Petty et al., 1983). Thus, advertisements need to highlight the key features or attributes of the product clearly. However, in both low and high product categories teenagers desire the product design and layout to be new and creative. Therefore, advertising appeals or messages need to be designed according to their preference for different product categories to have a high impact.

6. Managerial implications
For managers, the rst lesson from the current study is that indiscriminate use of a celebrity is not a good strategy. A human celebrity may not be good for promoting all product categories. Thus, by being selective about a celebrity endorsement, managers may be able

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to create more effective communication and at the same time save some expenditure. Secondly, the study also pointed to the fact that a human celebrity may not be more effective than a ctional celebrity/character in creating a favorable consumer attitude. In cases where a ctional celebrity/character is popular and is less costly to acquire, the marketer should go for this option, as it would generate the same positive response as the human celebrity. Lastly, the product category would have an important role in determining which spokesperson to use or in fact whether to use one at all. In case of an aspiration-oriented product, such as a shampoo, consumers may be wooed by a human celebrity since the consumers look up at him/her as a role model and would like to appear/dress up as him/her. However, where a product is high-involvement and requires information-seeking from consumers, using a spokes-character may not turn out to be a successful strategy. The marketer should rather focus on the products features and properly inform the target audience of them. This too would be less costly. To summarize, our study points out that there may not be a single successful strategy when it comes to the use of spokes-characters in advertising. The product category as well as the objective of the marketer will interact to determine the right strategy.

7. Conclusion and limitations

The objective of the study was substantially supported by the ndings. The study suggests that for food and non-food low-involvement product categories, the impact of a human celebrity is greater than that of a ctional celebrity. Regarding the purchase intention of teenagers, it was found that a human celebrity is more effective than a ctional celebrity in food and non-food low involvement products but a ctional celebrity may have more impact in the case of high-involvement products. In future, teenagers would like to see human celebrities in advertisements of low-involvement products because they are attractive and the teenagers can also easily relate themselves with these celebrity, thus in a way they have a fair share of being in sync with the latest trends. However, a more detailed depth interview trying to nd out what the consumers look for in an endorsement, and how they differ depending on the spokes-character (celebrity/ctional character) could provide a future research direction. This study used only one medium for the research work, i.e. print. Television could also be used and a similar study could be conducted. The study could be extended by determining the effectiveness of celebrities in service brands. The emotional appeal attached to celebrities among teenagers and simultaneously its effect on product performance can be derived. Lastly, the same study could be extended and applied to international celebrities for audiences in the Indian region.

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About the authors

Varsha Jain is a Research Fellow and Division Head of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Mudra Institute of Communications Research in Ahmedabad. Currently, her research is focused on branding and celebrity endorsements in advertisements. She has presented her research at international conferences, for example, the Asian Media Information and Communication Center (AMIC, Singapore), and has publications in international and national journals and book chapters to her credit. Varsha Jain is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: varsha.micore@ micamail.in Subhadip Roy is an Assistant Professor at the ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad. He received his PhD from ICFAI University, Dehradun. His research interests are in the areas of brand management, advertising and market research. Aarzoo Daswani is a Research Associate in the Department of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) at Mudra Institute of Communication Research, Ahmedabad, India. She holds a Bachelors degree in Information Technology from the K.S. School of Business Management, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Som Lalit Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad, India. Her research interests include advertising communication and consumer behavior. Mari Sudha serves as a Research Associate in the Department of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) at Mudra Institute of Communication Research (MICORE), Ahmedabad, India. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Statistics from St Xaviers College, Ahmedabad and the School of Sciences, Ahmedabad, respectively. Her research interests include operational research, applied statistics, social network analysis and culture and advertising communication.

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