The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in India

By
Rajni Surana
2008

A dissertation presented in part

consideration for the degree of MA in
Marketing
1
Acknowledgements 

My research interest in celebrity endorsement and the efforts leading to this study have

brought me various debts of favour.

I am particularly appreciative to Dr. Deborah Roberts who gave her time to assist with my

requests for information, as well as for her guidance and valuable assistance from the offset

of this project. Her insights and remarks were of great value.

My deliberations on the study have also been influenced by the contributions of several other

researchers, many of whom are cited throughout the text. Furthermore, I would like to

express my gratitude to all the respondents without whom this research would not have been

possible.

Finally, I would like to recognize and thank my parents Mr and Mrs. Surana and my sister

Chiki for their undying support.

2
Abstract 

The practice of celebrities being used for rendering services other than performing their

actual job as either an actor or an athlete, such as endorsements has proliferated over time.

Despite the cost and the risks involved with this technique of advertising, it is been used quite

extensively in the present era. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays

become a pervasive element in advertising and communication management.

India as a country is known for loving its stars. The Indians idolize their boll wood actors and

cricketers. The advertisers see this as an opportunity to grab and work on so as to expand

their operations and promote their product. This dissertation focuses on examining the

perception of these Indian Consumers about the celebrity endorsement process and the

subsequent impact on their purchase decisions.

This project begins with a literature review which provides an insight into the research done

by the previous authors followed by the structure of the research method adopted to achieve

the objective this study. In depth qualitative interview approach has been adopted to

investigate the attitude of the consumer towards celebrity endorsement and how it affects

their daily lives. The findings derived from analyzing the collected data unearthed some very

interesting facts which have been summarised in the conclusion and also managerial

implication relating to it has been discussed.

3
 Table of Contents

Page Number
Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background to the topic 1

1.2 Research Aim 1-2
1.3 Research Questions 2
1.4 Synopsis of the Chapters 3-4

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction 5-7

2.2 Celebrities as a form of Aspirational
Reference Group 7-8
2.3 Celebrity versus Non-celebrity
Endorsement effectiveness 8-9
2.4 Pros of Celebrity Advertisement 10-11
2.5 Cons of Celebrity Endorsement 11-13
2.6 Selecting the ‘Right’ celebrity 13-14
2.6.1 The Source Credibility Model 14-15
2.6.2 The Source Attractiveness Model 16-18
2.6.3 Match-up Hypothesis 18-20
2.6.4 The Meaning Transfer Model 20-22
2.7 Multiple Celebrity Endorsements 22-24
2.8 Consumer’s perspective 24-26
2.9 Country context: India 26-27
2.10 Conclusion 28

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Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Research Methods 29-30
3.3 Why Qualitative Approach for
this Research? 31-32
3.4 Data Collection
3.4.1 Primary data 32
3.4.2Interview 33-34
3.4.3Pilot test 34
3.4.4 Secondary Data 34-35
3.5 Sampling Strategy 35
3.5.1 Research Informant Profile 36
3.6 Data Analysis 37
3.7 Summary 38

Chapter 4: Analysis and Discussion

4.1 Introduction 39
4.2General Opinion about Celebrity -
Endorsement versus Personal Choice
4.2.1 General view 39-42
4.2.2 Personal Choice 42-44
4.3 Effectiveness as an Aspirational
Reference group 45-46
4.4 Brand Recall and Brand Recognition 47-48
4.5 McCracken- Transfer of Meaning
4.5.1 Age 48-49
4.5.2 Gender 49-50
4.5.3 Personality 50
4.6 Match-up Hypotheses 51-52
4.6.1 Examples 52-55
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4. 7Source Attractiveness 55-56
4.8 The ‘Familiarity’ Aspect 56-57
4.9 Source Credibility 57-59
4.10 Celebrities are Endorsing One Brand
and using another 59-61
4.11 Multiple Product Endorsement 61-64
4.12 The Vampire Effect (Overshadowing) 64-66
4.13 Negative publicity 66-68

Chapter 5: Conclusion 69-72

Chapter 6: Limitations, Managerial Implications

and Future Research

6.1 Limitations 73-74

6.2 Managerial Implication 74-76
6.3 Future research 76-77

References
Appendix

6
Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background to the topic 

Marketers spend enormous amounts of money annually on celebrity endorsement contracts

based on the belief that celebrities are effective spokespeople for their products or brands

(Katyal, 2007). Celebrity Endorsement is viewed as a billion dollar industry in today’s era.

(Kambitsis et al, 2002). Various companies are signing deals with celebrities in the hope that

by using celebrities they can accomplish a unique and relevant position in the minds of the

consumers. (Temperley & Tangen, 2006).Celebrity endorsement is increasingly being

employed across various industries regardless of the product type. It is known to be playing

the role of a signalling strategy. (Mustafa, 2005). Also According to Reynolds (2000)

celebrity endorsement can give a brand a touch of glamour.

Everything said and done, one have to weigh the potential risks vs. the potential rewards as

celebrity endorsements are always a high-risk, high-reward situation and there is always a

human element that you might not know about.( Miller 1994)

1.2 Research Aim 

The topic of celebrity endorsements and its elements is heavily documented in academic

literature, but what makes this research interesting is that it enables us to understand the

celebrity endorsement process from an Indian consumers point of view. Not much work has
7
been seen in the Indian light despite the fact of it being perceived as a potential market for

celebrity endorsed products.

Indian consumer attitudes are changing at a rapid pace and they are becoming more aware of

the products that they use to define their ‘self’. The research is carried out to obtain a view

amongst Indian Consumers about celebrity endorsement. Is it as positive as it is assumed to

be?

Most advertisements, be it of any form, majorly focuses on the young generation therefore

their perception about the celebrity endorsed form of advertisement is of utmost importance,

also getting to know the attitude the youth provides the knowledge of the most

current incidents or attitudes of any country, hence the youth has been targeted in this

research.

The research undertaken on celebrity endorsement in this paper will be useful on both

academic and professional platform, as it looks into the perception of Indian consumers on

celebrity endorsement, providing theory for scholarly and directives for managers and

professionals

1.3 Research Question 

How does celebrity endorsement impact the perception of Indian consumers?

How does it impact their buying behaviour?

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1.4 Synopsis of the Chapters 

The framework of this piece of study has been structured to gain insights into the above

purpose and thus includes 6 chapters namely the literature review, Methodology, Analysis

and Discussion, Conclusion, limitations, managerial implications and future research. A brief

outline of each of them is given below:

Chapter 2 is the literature review which relates to the study of the previous secondary data

available on this topic. This chapter primarily includes what celebrity endorsement is all

about, the merits and demirits associated with it, the effetiveness of celebrity versus non-

celebrity endorsements, multiple celebrity endorsements and the four most important models

pertaining to chosing the ‘right’ celebrity which constitute the central part of this research.

Chapter 3 establishes the method to be adopted to carry out this study and thus it talks about

the appropriateness of qualitative research as compared to the usage of quantitative approach

for this particualr research. Also the use of interviews has been reasoned in this chapter.

Apart from this the criterion for the selection of the sample size is disclosed.

Chapter 4 reveals the the analysis and interpretation of the responses which were collected

during the interviews.A wide range of sub-topics under this theme has been touched upon,

some of the results are consistent with the literature review and some opposing.

Chapter 5 related to the final conclusion where all the findings from the research has been

summarised.

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Chapter 6 finally expresses the limitations that were faced while conducting this research. It

also states an extensive area appropriate for future research and finally divulge the

managerial implication which would facilitate in a better execution of celebrity endorsed

campaigns.

10
Chapter 2: Literature Review 
This chapter discusses the concept of celebrity endorsement in general and the related

theories associated with it. The literature review forms the main pedestal of the dissertation

as the consequent analysis and future result is based on it. The review is done of the

literature on celebrity endorsements and the Indian market.

2.1 Introduction 

“Celebrity is an omnipresent feature of society, blazing lasting impressions in the memories

of all who cross its path.”

- Kurzman et.al (2007)

Indian market is not by a large space, an easy audience to target for the advertisers. The one

billion people of the country are speckled in terms of beliefs, ethnicity, states, culture,

language, dialects, norms and values. Other aspects such as the economic discrepancy in the

country separates it in a way which has resulted in a large number of lower and upper middle

class, with a very small class falling under in the middle class. This demonstrates a vast

disparity in the buying power and decision making clout, one which the advertisers should

keep in mind. Indian advertisement has been placing a vital amount of importance on both

recall and persuasion as brand differentiating messages.(Dixit,2005). Very often, various

advertising styles are used by advertisers to influence consumer brand choice behaviour and

11
among these different available choices one very popular choice is Celebrity Endorsements.

(Alsmadi 2006).

“Traditional celebrity endorsements are as well established as the concept of celebrity

itself.”(Anonymous, 2007).Celebrities influence on consumers appears to be larger than ever

before. (Alperstein 1991). When used effectively celebrity endorsers have the potential of

serving a valuable role in enhancing a brand’s competitive position and developing brand

equity. (Till 1998).Schikel (1985) highlights the subtle yet intense impact of celebrities on

everyday thinking and living. Defined as ‘intimacy at a distance’, it is seen that individuals

have a tendency to form illusions of an interpersonal relationship with celebrities. (Horton

&Wohl 1956).

A person who enjoys public recognition from a large share of a certain group of people and

uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in advertisements is

known as a celebrity. (McCraken 1989). They are usually known to the public for their

accomplishments in areas other than the product endorsed by them. Friedman &Friedman

1979). This stands true for classic forms of celebrities such as actors like Shah Rukh Khan,

models like Milan Somen, Sports athletes like Sachin Tendullkar and entertainers like

MaliakaArora Khan but also for less obvious groups such as businessmen like the Ambani’s

or politicians like Rahul Gandhi.(Schlecht 2003).

In India especially, it is not difficult to find motives for the increasing use if celebrities in

advertisements as Indians have always been in awe of the stars of the celluloid world. Unlike

the foreign counterparts they have always consecrated them and placed a halo behind their

heads implying that their celebrities could do no wrong. (Anonymous, 2001). Indeed, some

people are seen to admire, imitate, and become besotted with their favorite celebrities, which

12
forms the crux for the celebrity endorsement being quite a sought after advertisement

technique.(McCutcheon et.al 2003)

Today celebrity endorsement is being seen more and more as an integral part in an integrated

marketing communication strategy. Hamish and Pringle (2004) suggest 3 macro factors

present in the market today that in principal justifies the validity of celebrity endorsement as

a promotional strategy. The first factors the increasing opportunity for interactivity between

brands and their consumers. Second is the “era of consent” situation present today where

consumers have more control over the messages they receive. And lastly is the increasing

media fragmentation and commercial communication clutter.(Temperley and Tangen, 2006).

Pappas (1999) examined the value of star power in an endorsement and pointed towards how

a well-designed advertising helped celebrities convert their star power into brand equity.

2.2 Celebrities as a form of Aspirational Reference Group 

From a theoretical perspective, celebrities are considered to be effective endorsers as because

of the presence of their symbolic desirable reference group alliance. (Soloman and Assael,

1987).Assael (1984) suggests that the effectiveness of the celebrity endorsement is present

because of its ability to tap into the consumer’s symbolic union with its aspirational reference

group.(Menon)

Reference groups among consumers are viewed as being a critical source of brand meanings

as it helps them to evaluate their believe about the world particularly with others who share

the same beliefs or are similar on relevant dimensions. Consumers form associations between

reference groups and the brands they use and transfer this meaning from brand to self and one

13
of the most reliable form of reference group is Celebrity Endorsers.(Escalas and Bettman

2005)

Celebrities are deemed to be referents by consumers, which refers to imaginary or actual

individuals envisioned to have significant bearing on the consumer’s evaluations, aspirations

and behaviour. The power of the celebrities lies in these influences that they exert on

consumers, even though they themselves are physically and socially distant from an average

consumer.(Choi & Rifon, 2007)

Consumers have a tendency to form an attachment to any object that reinforces one’s self

identity or desired image, renders feelings of connectedness to a group or to any object that

elicit nostalgia, and perhaps the most vivid example of this form of attachment maybe found

in the consumers preoccupation with the celebrities. (O’Mahony and Meenaghan, 1998).

2.3 Celebrity versus Non‐celebrity endorsement effectiveness 

The prevalent utilization of celebrity endorsement in marketing program is not an accident.

Research has found that as compared to the other genre of endorsers such as the company

manager, typical consumer and the professional expert, by far the celebrities are the most

effective. (Seno & Lukas, 2007)

According to Tom et al (1992) results endorsers were more effective in creating a link to the

product than celebrity endorsers based on the classical conditioning paradigm. This argument

was based on the fact that companies had more controlling power over created endorsers and

they build these characters in such a manner that they are fitting with the brand and target

audience and also that these characters were not allowed to endorse more than one brand. The

14
celebrity endorsers on the other hand had created a persona of their own over time and the

company lacked control over them.

Differences were found in the cognitive responses, but there was no statistically significant

difference in attitudes towards advertising and the intention to purchase the endorsed brand in

the celebrity and non-celebrity endorsed situations.(Mehta 1994). On the contrary Atkin and

Block 1983 and Petty et. al 1983 found that as compared to the non-celebrity endorsers, the

celebrity endorsers produced more positive attitudes towards advertising and greater purchase

intentions.

McCraken (1989) found that the use of celebrity endorsers stand for an effective way of

transferring meaning to brands as it is believed that celebrity endorsers bring their own

emblematic meaning to the endorsement process and that this cultural meaning residing in the

celebrity is passed on to the product which in turn is passed on to the consumer..McCraken

(1989) argued there lays a difference between celebrities and anonymous person as it is

assumed by him that celebrities have the capability of delivering meanings of extra depth,

power and subtlety and also offers a range of lifestyle and personality which cannot be

matched by anonymous people. In the similar vein he continues to prove that most heavily

stereotyped celebrity produces not jus single meanings but also interconnected multiple

meanings indicating that celebrity endorsers are far more effective than non-celebrity

endorsers. In the light of company reports and academic writing it is safe to argue that

celebrity endorsers are more effective than non celebrity endorsers in generating desirable

income.(Erdogan 1999).

15
2.4 Pros of Celebrity Advertisement 

Academic researchers have conducted sufficient empirical research to express the benefits of

product endorsement, in addition to the intuitive arguments that rationalize this practice.(Till

and Shimp, 1998). It is observed that the presence of a renowned persona helps in solving the

problem of over communication that is becoming more and more prevalent these

days.(Kulkarni & Gaulankar, 2005)

The increased consumer power over programmed advertisement has made advertising has

made advertising more challenging. To ease this threat and to help create and maintain

consumer attention to advertisements celebrity endorsement strategy is seen to be

advantageous. Celebrities have the potential of helping the advertisements stand out from the

surrounding clutter, guiding towards a improved communicative ability by cutting through

excess noise in a communication process( Sherman 1985). Also one probable solution in the

face of tarnished company image is the hiring of a celebrity to restore it. Celebrity

Endorsement assists in the image polishing of the company’s image.(Erdogan, 1999)

A stream of studies identifies the attributes such trustworthiness, similarity, likableness,

expertise that cause a celebrity to stand as a persuasive source which in turn creates a sense of

certainty.(Mustafa 2005). It is shown by research and experience that consumers are highly

ready to spend and more comfortable , when products that relate to their desired image is

endorsed by celebrities. (Internet World 2001) as it helps them to take more notice of

celebrity endorsements and improve their level of product recall. (Bowman 2002)

Another reason for the use of celebrity endorsement is because it has a strong impact on the

learning style and memory which is critical to marketing communication success. This is

because most consumers are not in a purchasing situation when they come into contact with

16
the brand message. Marketers make use of celebrity endorsements as they lead to better

information storage in the minds of the consumers which can be readily retrieved when the

purchasing situation dose arise.(Schultz & Barnes, 1995)

All these lead to the conclusion that celebrity endorsements is likely to have a positive effect

on product choice behaviour.(Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell 2000; Mathur, Mathur &

Rangan 1997)

2.5 Cons of Celebrity Endorsement   

The very first downside of celebrity endorsement is the term ‘Lazy Advertising’ used to

address the extreme usage of celebrities to endorse products, which poses a question on the

validation of success of celebrity endorsement as a prevalent marketing communication

activity. (Kulkarni and Gaulankar, 2005). It is believed that using celebrities can turn out to

be an unnecessary risk, unless there appears to be a very logical relation between the endorser

and the product. (Beverage Industry 1989, USA Today, 1995)

17
Celebrity endorsers may now and then become a liability to the brand they endorse(Till and

Shimp,1998). Negative information and publicity regarding the celebrity is one risk

associated with the use of celebrity endorsers. If the celebrity is strongly associated with the

brand then the impact of the negative publicity will brim over to the product. (Till, 1996).

Many companies have been badly affected by the negative publicity accruing from the

celebrity’s misdeeds. One very prominent example is Pepsi which suffered with three

tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. (Katyal, 2007).

Furthermore, those who chooses to use celebrities have no control over the celebrity’s future

behaviour.(Till & Shimp, 1998)

Clutter in brand endorsement is very high up these days. (Kulkarni and Gaulankar, 2005).

This is due to celebrity greed which leads to a celebrity endorsing many diverse products.

(Erdogan, 1999) Overexposure is a common occurrence between highly recognized and

well-liked endorsers and highly competing brands and leads to making the consumer

confused and unable to recall correctly which brand the celebrity stands for. (Tripp et.al.,

1994). This not only compromises the value of the celebrity in the eyes of the star’s fans but

also brings to the customers notice the true nature of endorsements which is more

compensation inclined and not so brand or product inclined. (Cooper, 1984, Tripp et al.

1994, Graham 1989). This has been referred to by Solomon et al. (2002) as the “hired gun”

problem, where the spokesperson is perceived as endorsing the product only for the motive of

money. A review by King (1989) found that especially among young people the perceived

credibility of celebrity endorsers has fallen drastically, with 64% believing that celebrities

appeared in the ads only for money.

As Cooper (1984) articulates “the product, not the celebrity, must be the

star.”Overshadowing or better known as the ‘vampire effect’ occurs ‘’when the celebrity

18
endorser occurs in the presence of multiple other stimuli which all competes to form a link

with the celebrity endorser.” (Till, 1996) . It is a fairly familiar problem that tends to ‘water

out’ the image and association present between the celebrity and the brand being endorsed

and one that leads to lack of clarity for the consumer. (Evans, 1998) . A universal concern

here is that consumers will fail to notice the brand being promoted because they are focusing

their attention on the celebrity. (Erdogan, 1999)

Two new shortcomings can be seen these days what marketers call Celebrity Trap and

Celebrity Credibility. Celebrity trap is when the task to find substitutes becomes more and

more difficult and thus celebrity becomes an addiction for the marketing team leading to

surfeit of celebrities. Celebrity credibility refers to scepticism by the consumers regarding the

celebrities, because of which brand is bound to be affected, especially when there is anything

negative regarding the celebrity associated with the brand in the news. (Kulkarni and

Gaulankar, 2005).

Agrawal and Kamakura (1995) recommend that there are decreasing returns associated with

celebrities in advertising. Also some consumers have termed celebrities to be a ‘puppet’ used

by companies implying that they perceive the celebrities to be lying, when endorsing certain

products. (Temperley & Tangen, 2006)

2.6 Selecting the ‘Right’ celebrity 

Shimp (2000) put forward five factors in order of decreasing importance namely, (1) the

celebrity credibility, (2) celebrity and audience match-up, (3) celebrity and brand match

up,(4) celebrity attractiveness, and (5) miscellaneous considerations, which were considered

by advertising executives while making their celebrity-selection decisions. Models and

19
concepts were constructed by scholars to draw the liaison between celebrities, the brand they

endorsed and the perception of the people related to the two. (Khatri, 2006). One of the

earliest models was the Source Credibility Model by Hovland et al. (1953). Apart from this

there were 3 additional models recognised by Erdogan (1999) which were the Match-up

Hypothesis by Forkan (1980), the Source Attractiveness Model by McGuire (1985) and the

Meaning Transfer Model by McCraken (1989). The following part will take a closer look at

the stated considerations and the associated models.

2.6.1 The Source Credibility Model

“The effectiveness of a communication is commonly assumed to depend to a considerable

extent upon who delivers it.”(Hovland et al., 1953). The expression source credibility is used

commonly to entail the communicator’s positive attributes that affect the recipient’s

acceptance of a message. (Ohanian, 1990). Furthermore, the source needs to be trustworthy,

in the nous of believability, honesty and ethics.(Belch & Belch, 2001). Information from a

credible source such as a celebrity has the power to influence the opinions, belief, attitude

and behaviour through a process called internalisation based on the assumption that the

information from the source is accurate..(Belch & Belch, 2001). Internalisation occurs when

source influence is accepted by the receiver in terms of their personal attitude and value

structures.(Erdogan, 1999)

Source credibility refers to the perception of the source’s expertise, objectivity and

trustworthiness (Ratneshwar and Chaiken, 1991). Over the past 30 years the research

conducted by psychologists demonstrates that a source which is distinguished as highly

credible is likely to be more persuasive than a low credibility sender (Aaker et al. 1992,

20
Erdogan, 1999; Atkin& Block, 1983). The same is reflected in the source credibility model,

which contends that the effectiveness of a message displayed depends on perceived level of

trustworthiness and expertise in an endorser (Dholakia and Sternthal 1977; Erdogan

1999;Ohanian, 1991; Solomon et al. 1999)

Hovland et al., (1953) partitioned source credibility into expertise and trustworthiness. Where

expertise is “the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid

assertions” and consists of knowledge, special experience and skills.(Shank, 2004).Expertise

of the source should relate to the product that he/she is endorsing. (Till & Busler,1998).

Speck, Schumann and Thompson (1998) found that as compared to non-experts, expert

celebrities produced higher recall of product information, but the difference was not

statistically significant.(Erdogan, 1999)

Trustworthiness is “the degree of confidence in the communicator’s intent to communicate

the assertions he considers most valid and consists of honesty, integrity and believability.

Hovland et al., (1953). The advertisers by selecting endorsers who are widely regarded as

honest, believable and dependable, can capitalise on the value of trustworthiness (Erdogan,

1999). Ohanian, (1990) states that the message will be more effective and the receiver more

integrated, when the celebrity is perceived to be more trustworthy.

As source credibility research looks upon the celebrity endorsement process as uni-

dimensional, it fails to provide a well-grounded explanations of important factors. Even

though source credibility is an vital factor in the celebrity selection process, as credibility has

been proved to have direct and significant effect on attitude and behavioural intentions, it

should not be the only criteria that should be taken into consideration while selecting

celebrity endorsers (Erdogan, 1999).

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 2.6.2 The Source Attractiveness Model

“Beauty is a greater recommendation than any other introduction.” This quote by Aristotle is

suitable in this context of source attractiveness for appreciating the efficacy of pleasant

appearance since most societies place a high premium on physical attractiveness. (Ohanian,

1991).Patzer (1985) affirms that physical attractiveness is an informational cue which

involves effects that are inescapable, persuasive and subtle. (Erdogan, 1999)

Although expertise and trustworthiness have time and again been considered as important

elements, attractiveness based on ‘source valence’ model was identified as another dimension

of source credibility. (McGuire, 1968). Advertisers have made choices of selecting celebrities

on their foundation of their attractiveness to gain from dual effects of physical appeal and

celebrity status. (Singer, 1983)

Source Attractiveness is mostly associated with physical attributes, such as familiarity,

similarity and likeability, all of which are important in the individual’s initial judgment of

another person. (Ohanian, 1990). Similarity refers to the resemblance between the receiver

and the source of the message whereas familiarity refers to the acquaintance of the source

through exposure. While talking about similarity, it is mentioned that consumers are more

likely to be influenced by a message coming from someone they feel a sense of similarity

with. (Belch & Belch, 2001). The position advocated by the source is better understood and

received when the endorser and the recipient are seen to have similar needs, lifestyles, goals

and interests. (Kelman, 1961). Likeability on the other hand is the fondness for the source

which may be as a result of behaviour, physical appearance or other personal trait and also

22
these celebrities need to be at least well known and admired in the public eye.(Belch &

Belch, 2001).

Attractiveness includes any number of attributes such as intellectual skill, personality

properties, lifestyle or athletic prowess that consumers might perceive in a celebrity endorser,

and thus does not simple refer to physical attractiveness.(Erdogan, 1999). “Source

Attractiveness leads to persuasion through a process of identification.” Kelman (1961)

.Identification is the process which has been used to explain how attractiveness influenced

consumers. This is another of Kelman’s social influence processes which occurs when

because of the desire to identify with such endorsers, receivers accept the attractive source’s

information. (Ambrose, 1992; Friedman & Friedman, 1979).

Research reveals that consumers have a tendency to form positive stereotypes about attractive

individuals and also that as compared to their unattractive counterparts, physically attractive

communicators celebrities are more successful at changing beliefs (Baker and Churchill,

1977) and generating purchase intentions (Friedman et al. 1976; Kahle and Homer, 1985). A

study conducted by Kahle and Homer (1985) divulged that consumers were more geared up

to buy an Edge razor after seeing an attractive celebrity in a magazine advertisement than an

unattractive celebrity. They also elucidated that speed of communication occurs more

promptly when pictures appear in advertisements than when arguments appear.

However it was suggested by Caballero et al., (1998) and Ohanian (1991) that though

attractiveness might result in positive feelings towards advertising and products, but it is not

necessary that this feeling should necessarily translate into actual behaviour, cognitive

attitudes and purchase intention.

23
It is indicated by both Till and Busler (1998) and Ohanian (1991) that more than physical

attractiveness, the expertise of the endorser is more important in affecting attitude towards the

endorsed brand.

2.6.3 Match-up Hypothesis

Spokesperson-brand congruence match-up entails that the highly relevant characteristics of

the spokesperson are consistent with the highly relevant attributes of the brand.(Misra and

Beatty, 1990). According to Kamins (1990) there is a necessity for the existence of a

meaningful relationship between the celebrity, the audience and the product. According to

Evans (1988)in the absence of a distinct and specific relationship between the product and the

celebrities, “celebrities suck the life blood of the product dry”, thus emphasizing the danger

of the vampire effect.

According to Kahle and Homer (1985), the Match-up Hypothesis of endorser selection fits

well with Social Adaptation theory which implies that the adaptive significance of the

information will determine the impact. Research indicates that advertising a product via a

celebrity leads to a greater celebrity and advertiser believability relative to advertisements

portraying a less fitting product spokesperson image. (Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Kotler1997)

Till and Busler, (1998) explained that even though Micheal Jordon is a an attractive endorser,

his effectiveness as a celebrity endorser is likely to be greater when endorsing products

related to his athletic deftness such as Gatorade or Nike, rather than products that are

unrelated to his athletic performance such as WorldCom Communications. According to

Katyal (2007), there are certain parameters that postulate compatibility between brand image

and the celebrity, which are as follows:

24
• Celebrity popularity.

• Celebrity physical attractiveness.

• Celebrity credibility.

• Celebrity prior endorsements.

• Whether celebrity is a brand user.

• Celebrity profession

• Celebrity’s fit with the brand image.

• Celebrity—Target audience match

• Celebrity associated values.

• Costs of acquiring the celebrity.

• Celebrity—Product match.

• Celebrity controversy risk.

The extensive and persistent use of celebrities in advertising suggests that they are worth the

costs associated with hiring them (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995). A celebrity’s stamp of

approval can create an emotional bond between the endorser and the consumer, if the fit is

right (Bradley, 1996). A successful and popular endorser has the capability to increase

consumer’s purchase intentions and preference towards brands either directly or indirectly.

(Lui et.al 2007). One can always match a celebrity with the wanted image of the brand but it

will not be successful if the target audience does not perceive the fit.(Temperley and Tangen,

25
2006). Newsom et al. (2000) take the view that there should be no conflict between any prior

promotion campaign endorsed by a celebrity and the preferred image.

During their careers, successful individuals are elevated to the celebrity status, and therefore

regardless of their actual physical appearance their achieved recognition and popularity

makes these celebrities look attractive to consumers. These celebrities’ accomplishments and

fame transform in to credibility and power in the eye of the public.(Choi, 2007). Solomon et

al. (1999) refers to the ‘credibility gap’, where the lack of credibility is aggravated by

incidences where celebrities endorse products that they do not really use, or in some cases do

not believe in.

2.6.4 The Meaning Transfer Model

According to McCraken (1989), the previous models discussed above are not capable of

capture the success factors of the endorsement process, hence he proposed the meaning

transfer model as a rich and all-inclusive portrayal of the same, the central premise of which

is that celebrities encodes unique sets of meanings which might be transferable to the

endorsed product, provided the celebrity is used well. Celebrity Endorsement is a special

example of the universal process of meaning transfer which witnesses a conventional

movement of cultural meaning in consumer societies.

Celebrities are known to be full of different meanings in terms of age, gender, personality and

lifestyle. Celebrity endorsers bring their own symbolic meaning to the process of

endorsement. Specially the cultural meanings residing in a celebrity go beyond the person

itself and is passed on to the products. (McCraken,1989;Brierley, 1995)

26
The model exemplifies a three-stage process of meaning transfer which involves the creation

of the celebrity image followed by the transfer of meaning from the celebrity to the brand

which again in turn is followed by the transfer of brand image to the customers. (Schlecht,

2003). In the first stage the meanings associated with the famous person moves from the

endorser to the product or the brand, and this meaning is drawn by the celebrity from its

public persona. In the second stage, the creation of product personality takes place as the

meaning is transferred from the endorser to the consumer. This is based on the symbolic

properties conveyed by the endorser. Finally in the last stage which is known as the
27
consumption process, the brand meaning is attained by the consumer. The consumers who

identify themselves with these symbolic properties the meanings are transferred to them

thereby rendering the process of transfer of the meaning from the celebrity to the consumer

complete. The third stage of the model overtly proves the importance of the consumer’s role

in the process of endorsing brands with famous people. (McCraken,1989)

Even though this approach is useful in certain rationales, but at the same time it prevents one

from seeing the celebrities who are in fact highly individualized and complex bundles of

cultural meanings. (McCraken,1989). McCraken’s model may first seem a merely theoretical

concept, but in truth its replicability to real life was demonstrated by two studies. The

meaning transfer model was found applicable in a study conducted by Mitchell and Boustani

(1992), which tested the model on breakfast cereals. Also Langmeyer & Langmeyer (1993)

rendered it legitimate through its study carried out on jeans and VCRs which included

celebrities like Madonna.

2.7 Multiple Celebrity Endorsements 

One of the first enquiries into the phenomenon called celebrity endorsement was by Mowen

and Brown (1981), where the results of his study underlined the importance of the advertiser

launch a exclusive agreement with a celebrity.(Cronin, 2003). Save for exclusivity comes

with a high price tag even though the traditional advertising literature advocates the

importance of an exclusive product contract with a celebrity. This high value ticket has lead

to a trend of companies sharing stars. Earlier studies hint at the fact that in order to erode

consumer’s acumen of endorser’s trustworthiness, as well as advertisement and brand

28
evaluation, by simply knowing that the celebrity is endorsing multiple products.(Tripp,

Jensen, Carlson, 1994).

On the contrary, Hsu &Donald(2002) found that it might be beneficial to endorse a product

with multiple celebrities as it leads to attracting and connecting to the different and diverse

sets of target audience to the product. In fact this strategy of using an assortment of

celebrities is quite high-flying among sports brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok. (Temperley &

Tangen, 2006).

Erdogan and Baker had interviewed several advertising agency managers and reported that

the practitioners’ insight indicated that “a brand has a wide range of consumers and

sometimes the use of multiple celebrities is needed to cover the whole target audience,

though it must be made sure that each celebrity’s values reflects core brand values” (Hsu &

Donald, 2002). By using multiple celebrities in collaboration one can more successfully

endorse a specific product. This is evident in the marketing strategy used by the cosmetic

manufacturer L’Oreal who matches its product line depending on the celebrities and the

meanings associated with them. Redenbach, 2005). Additionally, the boredom which is

caused by the presence of a single celebrity can be reduced with the help of multiple

celebrities.(Hsu & Donald, 2002)

However, it is also cautioned that multiple celebrities may lead to confusing consumers about

the brand’s identity and that it should be assured that “each and every celebrity possesses

compatible meanings that are sought for brands” (Erdogan and Baker, p. 13).

While surfing through the different channels of television one realises that several brands are

being endorsed by some celebrities. For illustration, Amitabh Bachchan is seen to enact for

Pepsi, Cadbury, Dabur, and Nerolac. On the other hand Pepsi has been endorsed by Sachin

29
Tendulkar, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rahul Dravid. The following table provides a

brief overview of different brands endorsed by multiple celebrities in India.(Khatri,2006)

Prevalence of Multiple Celebrity endorsement in India

2.8 Consumer’s perspective 

“The heterogeneity in consumer’s responses to emotional appeals in advertising is well

documented in the behavioural literature”.(Moore, Harris & Chen, 1995).McCraken (1989)

goes on to describe a consumer as a ‘self’ that constantly detracts into their lives the

symbolic properties from consumer products in order to construct aspects of themselves and

the world.

30
The results of the study conducted by O’Mahony and Meenaghan (1998) designate that a

consumer holds by and large a positive attitude towards celebrity endorsements. Research

confirms that the celebrity endorsement can have an impact on the consumers recall

evaluations, attention and purchase intentions. At the same time it needs to be taken into

consideration that although consumers might have a favourable disposition towards

celebrities, this does not necessarily always translates into purchase intentions.(O’Mahony

and Meenaghan, 1998).

Consumer’s perception begins with their self-image and lifestyle.(Busler, 2003).Daneshwar

and Schwer (2000) formulated an estimated equation on the purchase intention of the

consumers which is based on the literature that points to the fact that purchase intention in an

environment of endorsements depends on consumers identifying with the association and its

consequent purpose on their socioeconomic profile. The equation goes as follows:

PURCHASE INTENTION = f (often, income, gender, occupation, age, education)

It is often seen that the understanding of the bond between the endorsed product and the

product itself is difficult for the consumer to judge and thus this is critical to understand while

discussing celerity endorsement.(Hsu & Donald, 2002).Using the internationalization

process, Friedman & Friedman (1979) posited that consumers were more likely to purchase

expensive and/or complex products which were endorsed by expert celebrities rather than

typical customers. Using the same theory, Lafferty and Goldsmith (1999) that consumers are

more likely to purchase a product when the perception of corporate credibility is high and

when the purchase intention when endorser credibility which maybe a celebrity, is again

perceived to be high. But it is seen that once the consumer has the product in his or her hands,

however, the design, quality, and price of the product are what consummates the sale, not the

31
association with a celebrity, which enlighten us with the verity that celebrities get consumers

to try products, not to necessarily buy products."(Anonymous, 2007)

Daneshvary and Schwer (2000) refer to individuals with higher levels of education might be

less influenced by any form of advertising than those with less education, because education

provides individuals with analytical skills allowing them to decipher information from

several sources prior to making a purchasing decision, making them less likely to purchase a

product based on one source.

The celebrities are often looked upon by the young as their role model. (Choi & Rifon,

2007).It is seen that celebrity endorsement specially encourages the young to embrace their

individuality by celebrating their contemporary icons and heroes. (Temperley, Tangen, 2006).

2.9 Country context: India 

Brand endorsements by celebrities are a widespread phenomenon in India and worldwide.

For decades, the celebrities present in the Indian films have provided lifestyle cues to youth.

Given the popularity, size and reach of the celebrities present in the film industry have the

power to influence the attitude and behavior of millions of people, particularly the youth in

India.The result of several discussions between strategic media work and WHO, after

consulting with media experts, sociologists, films and television professionals and academics

as well as scanned media reports, determines the impact of films and its consequent impact of

celebrities on the youth. (Anonymous, 2003)

The country observed for the first time aggressive competition between new players and big

established businesses with the opening of the new Indian economy in 1991.(Malhotra 2005).

32
Consumer’s expectations and demands are continuously rising in today’s dynamic and

competitive environment forcing marketers to adopt more creative advertising efforts such as

celebrity endorsements to influence consumer brand choice and behaviour. (Alsmadi 2006).

Hence, there was an novelty of the celebrity brand endorsement which has proliferated to

have become a multi-million dollar industry in India today.(Malhotra 2005)

Further more the celebrities in India live a very public life, hence several aspects of their lives

are exposed to the general public such as where they shop, where they holiday, their favorite

food and so on and thus receives extensive coverage from the media. The best example to

support this is the South Indian actor Rajnikanth who has temples dedicated to his

glory.(Dixit 2005)

However, a few of the brands have, no doubt, been established without celebrity endorsement

(Kulkarni and Gaulkar, 2005). Procter & Gamble promoted its ‘Rejoice’ brand in India with

an ordinary woman in their advertising which worked well. They do not believe in celebrity

endorsement and think that consumers, especially housewives, are more prone to identify

with a lay person than a celebrity. A few more examples that can be given are Lifebuoy,

Close Up, Fevicol etc.

Katyal (2007) asserts that there is the presence of great potential for celebrity endorsement in

India to be seen as truly relevant, thereby inducing customer to purchase the product. He also

states that star power in India can be identified by the successful endorsements done by Shah

Rukh Khan for three brands namely Santro, Clinic Al-clear and Pepsi.

33
2.10 Conclusion 

The literature review has discussed concepts and theories regarding the basics of celebrity

endorsement, the pros and cons of it and its effectiveness as a aspirational reference group.

Celebrity -versus non-celebrity endorsement effectiveness has been reviewed in order to

examine the difference of their influences on consumer perception of endorsed products. It

was noteworthy to highlight the studies on celebrity endorsement (Such as McCraken,1979)

as it serves as a symbolic communicative of social distinction in negotiating prestige and

status specially in a country like India where high income disparities and social mobility

magnifies the tendency to claim differential status through the brand one consumes.

The literature review also appraises the effect of current prevalence of multiple

endorsements. Further, a brief overview of the importance of selecting the right kind of

celebrities has been brought to the front with the help of celebrity endorsement theories such

as Source Credibility Model, Source Attractiveness Model, Meaning Transfer Model and

more. Also, there is a detailed section on the implication and economic worth of celebrity

endorsements.

Alongside these, the last section of this chapter talks about the celebrity endorsement in India.

The reason for focusing on India is because this specific form of marketing communication

activity is seen to be growing by leaps and bounds in India. Furthermore, another reason for

choosing celebrity endorsement is because consumers in the country hold the celebrities in

really high regards. Thus, this would enforce the study as it is to study the Indian consumer

perception on celebrity endorsements as little research has been done on it.

34
Chapter 3: Methodology 

“Knowing what you want to find out leads inexorably to the questions of how will get the

information.’”

-Miles and Huberman (1994, pp.42)

3.1 Introduction 

In the previous chapter the literature review connected to research question of this study is

brought up. Methodology is the answer to the why and how the research was carried out in

the first place. This increases the possibility of receiving appropriate answers to the research

questions and derives valuable insights into the topic at hand. The main focus of the

methodology here is driven by primary research, thus undertaking research that is novel in

nature. Alongside this it highlights the methods that would be put to use to explore this study.

The choice of research approach is the first topic discussed in this chapter, followed by data

collection, sample selection and data analysis

35
 

3.2 Research Methods 

“Research means different things to different people” (Amartunga, Baldry, Sarshar and

Newton, 2002) and the intention behind it are to investigate innumerable data, theories,

experiences, concepts and law. “The procedural framework within which the research is

conducted” is the definition of research methodology. (Remenyi et al., 1998).The two broad

and distinct approaches to social research cover the Quantitative and Qualitative methods of

enquiry.

Quantitative research has been characterized as the “science that silences too many voices”

since it relies heavily on remote, inferential empirical methods employed to extend and

reinforce certain kind of data, interpretations and test hypotheses across samples. This leads

to the failure of capturing the participants’ perspectives (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000, pp.10). It

follows rigorous methods and procedures which allow generalization of the findings, to

measure and analyze causal relationships between variables (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000).

Thus the area of research where the topic under study is large and also when there is a need to

deduce casual relations between variables, then the use of quantitative method can be

justified, (Gordon and Langmaid, 1988) which is not the case in this study hence the

quantitative approach has not been opted for.

The qualitative paradigm on the other hand intends to gain a deeper understanding,

knowledge and insight into a particular situation or phenomenon, by providing answers to

questions of ‘how?’ rather than ‘what?’ (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Unlike qualitative

research which occurs in natural settings, quantitative research is where hypotheses are

established. (Silverman, 2000; Creswell, 2003).

36
3.3 Why Qualitative Approach for this Research? 

“Qualitative research is often cast in the role of the junior partner in the research enterprise,

and many of its exponents feel it should have more clout and more credit.”(Dey, 1993)

The main benefit of using qualitative research methods in marketing and advertising research

is that the consumer gets an opportunity to actively voice their opinion and such an opinion is

not shaped by the methodological assumptions of quantitative research (Creswell, 2003).

Qualitative methods are generally considered capable to present richer and more expressive

data, compared with quantitative research methods (Silverman, 2000) and this is the reason

the researcher uses this method in the current study.

Qualitative methods of conducting research can be valuable in bringing closer the

corresponding respondents and the researcher closer to one another. This facilitates in a more

effective understanding of the research topic under study. (Easterby-Smith et al, 2002)

Qualitative research gaining popularity has various reasons which were recognised and listed

by McDaniel, Jr and Gates (2002). The very first motive was that qualitative approach proves

to be more economical than quantitative approach. Also the qualitative approach is the best

way to understand the in-depth motivations and feelings of the consumer as it results in first-

hand experiences with flesh-and-blood consumers and witness consumers’ reactions to

concepts and hear them at length, in their own language. In addition of the above two, it has

been found out that qualitative research also has the power to increase the efficiency of

quantitative research. (McDaniel, Jr and Gates (2002).

37
Qualitative research is highly appropriate in areas where people’s motives, thoughts, feelings

require reasoning and also where the individual experiences need to be explored. (Gordon &

Langmaid, 1988). Every respondent has an idiosyncratic manner of perceiving things which

may or may not be congruent to the researcher’s standpoint.(Renzetti & Lee,1993)

In context to the research topic of this study, a qualitative method of enquiry is justified as the

views on the perception of the Indian consumers about celebrity endorsement are highly

subjective and difficult to measure by the researcher. The use of qualitative research mode

will facilitate an interpretive study of a particular issue where the researcher is central to

deriving logic of the responses received from the respondents (Silverman, 2000), which is

different from quantitative research where the role of the researcher is to take an isolated

stand.(Duffy, 1988) as a qualitative researcher is more involved with the truth as perceived by

the respondent rather than the objective truth.(Burns, 2000)

3.4 Data Collection 

“The diverse forms of qualitative data collection and the multiple goals of qualitative

research inhibit development of a uniform approach to the extensiveness of qualitative data

collection.” (Sobal, 2001)

3.4.1 Primary data

The data collection method in this particular research comprises of two forms namely

primary and secondary data. “Data collected specifically for the research project undertaken”

is the definition of primary research as provided by Saunders et.al (2003: pp 486). Primary

38
data is generally originated by any researcher to address any specific problem or issue at

hand, where the only drawback is that it can be expensive and time-consuming. The various

ways of gathering primary data is through surveys, focus group, observations and interviews.

3.4.2Interview

In the process of reviewing the literature on celebrity endorsement a gap was detected in

viewing these issues, from the perspective of young Indian customers. In an attempt to bridge

this gap, qualitative interviews which were based on an open-ended interview guide that was

well designed to collect first hand information.

In sync with the precept of qualitative research which reasons that systematic inquiry must

occur in a natural setting and not in an synthetically controlled one such as an experiment,

(Silverman, 2006), interviews should take place “to find out what is on someone’s mind….We

interview people to find out from them those things we cannot directly observe” (Patton,

1990).

Interviews is that qualitative tool that has the flexibility to be adapted to the level and

personality of the respondents, last as long or as short as you think necessary, and draw out

the spontaneous reactions of the respondents(Hanabuss, 1996). The interviews give voice to

common people, open them for a close personal interaction between the researchers and their

subjects allowing them to freely present their life situations in their own words, and. (Kvale

2006)

“Interview procedures come in a number of forms, but can most easily be distinguished by

the degree of structure used by the researcher in the interview process”. (Arnould, E.J.,

Wallendorf, M., 1994). According to Seidman’s (1998) in-depth interviewing utilizes open-

39
ended questions that constructs and directs the probing of participants’ answers and the goal

of in-depth interviewing is to get the participants reconstruct his or her experience within the

topic under study. All the participants were interviewed face-to-face and the interviews lasted

for about half a half on an average. Open-ended rather than closed-ended questions,

unstructured rather than structured interview schedules since qualitative research frequently

involves face-to-face contact between researcher and subject, and the samples are also

typically small. (Cannon 1988)

3.4.3Pilot test

A pilot interview was performed with the help of an Indian student in the University of

Nottingham to check for any obstacle in the interview guide. This proved to be beneficial as

it helped unveil that the interview questions needed to be rephrased in a more simple

language to make it comfortable for the interviewees and the jargons and some unknown

marketing terms present in the interview guide were to be done away with. Also the pilot test

helped the researcher to get at ease with the entire interviewing process as the researcher was

a novice. It gave an introductory idea of the responses and helped in reframing the questions

and changing their order which would encourage more continuity in thinking.

3.4.4 Secondary Data

Prerequisite to the collection of primary data is a careful scrutiny of the existing secondary

data. (Malhotra, 2005) Data that is collected from existing journals, reports and statistics from

private and public institutions. For this specific study the collection of secondary data was

done primarily from marketing journals already available on this topic. Secondary data helps

the author to comprehend the perception of Indian consumers on celebrity endorsement

better. One should proceed to primary data only when one has exhausted the secondary data
40
source. Thus the study carried out has analysed the primary data with the rationale and

validation of the present secondary data.

However, one needs to be careful while using secondary data as maybe the collected data

may be biased as the collector of that original data might have highlighted only a partial

picture or another aspect may be that data may be quite old and also the data quality could be

unknown. (Saunders et al, 2007).

3.5 Sampling Strategy 

The process of sampling constitutes one of the principal areas of confusion, a problem not

helped by the insufficient manner in which it is covered in the literature. (Marshall, 1996).

There are no clear cut rules for sample size in qualitative inquiry therefore its determinant

depends on what you want to know, the purpose of the inquiry, what will have credibility,

what’s at stake, what will be useful, and what can be done with the available time and

resources. (Sobal, 2001) Thus, choosing a study sample is an important step in any research

project since it is rarely efficient, practical, or ethical to study whole populations.

Qualitative researchers usually work with small samples of people, bound by unambiguous

contexts, and studied in depth (Miles and Huberman, 1994). A particular form of

nonprobability sampling called the Judgement sampling was used in order to select the

interviewees ‘at random’. Judgement sampling occurs when a researcher selects sample

members to conform to some criterion (Cooper and Schindler, 1999). The sampling frame for

this study were the young people in India aging between 21-26 years who were exposed to

advertisements enclosing celebrities in general and known to be skilled in “making sense of

complex imagery and illusions to the world beyond advertising" (O' Donohoe et Tynan

41
1998). The reason for selecting this age group is that, such advertisements usually target them

as audience as they are known to think rationally and are well aware of communication

activity called celebrity advertising and are marure enough to interpret it in a rational manner.

As emphasized by Malhotra (2005) “Qualitative research is unstructured, exploratory in

nature, based on small samples…” the sample size for this research study is 10.

3.5.1 Research Informant Profile

Name Age Occupation Nationality Region

Kiruthiga 23 Student Indian Bangalore

Nidhi 24 Student Indian Bangalore

Rohan 23 Student Indian Kolkata

Shreya 22 Student Indian Mumbai

Anshul 25 Student Indian Kolkata

Meenu 24 Student Indian Delhi

Ruchi 22 Student Indian Delhi

Mithila 22 Student Indian Mumbai

42
 Puneet 22 Student Indian Delhi

Lalit 24 Student Indian Mumbai

3.6Data Analysis 

Once the data is collected it needs to be thoroughly analyzed in order to arrive to a valid conclusion.

Since the chosen approach is qualitative in nature grounded theory has been used to evaluate the data.

Strauss & Corbin has defined grounded theory as an “approach is a qualitative research method that

uses a systematic set of procedures to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a

phenomenon”.

Grounded theory is a process by which a researcher generates theory that is grounded in the data

(Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1998). The key to ground theory is to generate enough

in-depth data that can illuminate patterns, concepts, categories, properties, and dimensions of the

given phenomena (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). As expressed by Charmaz

(1983), grounded theory occurs through the disassembling and reassembling of the data. This

disassembling and reassembling occurs through the “coding” process. Coding is one of the means of

developing the analysis as it serves to synthesize, summarize and sort many observations made of the

data. (Charmaz, 1983: 112).

A serious problem associated with opting to use this approach is that the totality of the philosophy as

expressed by the interviewee is destroyed while organizing the material though the process of coding.

To overcome this problem, transcription of the taped interview has been suggested.(Wiseman, 1979:

278). Since all the interviews conducted were recorded with the permission of the candidates this need

for transcription was possible and hence the primary data collected has been analyzed through the

process of ‘coding’.

43
The key areas under the chosen topic which has been analyzed against the data available from the

literature review are the general perception of the Indian consumers about the celebrity endorsement

process, their personal preference, does it result in brand recall and hence influence purchase, what

are the views on multiple clebrity endorsement and the necessity of the existence of a appropriate

relationship between the product and the celebrity. The impact of negative publicity and

overshadowing the product has been explored. Also the importance of match up hypotheses has been

investigated with the help of four examples of celebrity endorsements from India. (Refer to Appendix

1).

3.7 Summary 

The chapter has described and authenticated the methods used for carrying out this study. By

adopting the qualitative method the researcher was able to provide vivid picture as the

research seeks to concentrate on richness of the response rather than on a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’

approach. An in-depth and semi-structured interviews process was used which helped in a

enhanced understanding of the individuals perception on celebrity endorsement. In order to

reach far away consumers telephonic interviews were conducted. Also by conducting a pilot

interview before carrying on with the actual interviews resulted in providing the correct

direction to the research.

The following chapter the analysis and discussions of the data are done based on the theories

given in the literature review

44
Chapter 4: Analysis and Discussion 

4.1 Introduction 

This chapter aims obtain the objective of the study by critically analyzing the qualitative data

through thoroughly examining the interviewee’s responses and beliefs. This has been

achieved through evaluating the most relevant responses by the participants. The data has

been analysed and discussed by comparing the comments made by the respondents with the

literature review keeping in mind the research objective of the study. Thus, the rationale of

this analysis is based on the personal answers provided by the respondents

This chapter begins with the general opinion of the consumers regarding the celebrity

endorsement process and whether it aligns with their personal preference.

4.2General Opinion about Celebrity Endorsement versus Personal 

Choice 

Firstly, the respondents were asked to voice their opinion about the celebrity endorsement

process in general and then state whether it had the capacity to influence them personally.

The interviewees were able to elaborate and build on their thoughts as the questions were

45
open-ended. The responses from the participants enabled the achievement of interesting

insights into this particular phenomenon.

4.2.1 General view

I think it’s a very smart way of impressing the brand’s name in the minds of the people and

influencing them to buy the product or at least create a desire in them to own the product .

This practice of celebs rooting for a product and creating greater demand for it has had a

greater impact in India because people treat movie stars and cricket players almost like

incarnations of god himself and almost instinctively follow them. An endorsement thus means

that they believe that it’s a good product and use it and so should their fans. And most of the

times, it works on the consumers psyche because every common man dreams of being like the

star , if not a star himself.”(Meenu)

“Celebrities are endorsing products only because they are known and famous. Their

presence makes a lot of difference as it helps to make the brand more recognizable adding to

its value, especially in today’s world as everything is done on a massive and glamorized

scale. People tend to follow the patterns of the one’s they love immensely. So, the known

faces have a huge impact on the general masses.”(Shreya)

The general opinion that can be derived from the answers provided by the respondents is that

celebrity endorsement is a ‘way of impressing the brand’s name in the minds of the people

and influencing them to buy the product or at least create a desire in them to own the

product.’ In the words of the participants it makes the ‘brand more recognizable.’ It is

observed that the presence of a renowned persona helps in solving the problem of over

communication that is becoming more and more prevalent these days.(Kulkarni & Gaulankar,

2005). Thus, when used effectively celebrity endorsers have the potential of serving a

46
valuable role in enhancing a brand’s competitive position and developing brand equity. (Till

1998)

Since this research is India specific the answers provided by the participants’ highlights the

scenario in India. They have suggested that India is a country where the’ practice of celebs

rooting for a product’ is seen as a big thing, Along with bollywood stars, the cricketers are

viewed as great influencers in India as in the words of a respondent ‘Cricket is a craze in

India.’ These thoughts concur with the statement passed by the Hind times tabloids which

goes as ‘In India especially, it is not difficult to find motives for the increasing use if

celebrities in advertisements as Indians have always been in awe of the stars of the celluloid

world.’

“India has a huge fan following of the cricketers. Cricket is a craze in India. So the people

who follow cricket religiously tend to get influenced by the choices of brands endorsed by the

cricketers. Products, therefore endorsed by the celebrities have become a common thing and

have also showed a significant increase in the sales volume of most of the endorsed products.

Anything that brings in profit is grabbed instantly, celebrity endorsement being an existing

example.”(Lalit)

But everything said and done, the dominant opinion of the chosen sample was that

‘Marketing is all about creating an appealing illusion for the customer.’ One particular

participant has referred to celebrity endorsement as an ‘intelligent’ way of advertising the

product as terms such as ‘glamorous and eye catching’ has been used to define the products

endorsed by celebrities.

One interesting view brought to the forefront was that the respondents believe that in India

‘the middle class and lower class’ are the ones who prefer buying celebrity endorsed products

47
as opposed to the chosen participants who all belong to the upper segment of the society. This

thought was reinforced again when questioned on using celebrites as reference groups. (Refer

to the comment passed by interviewee ‘Rohan’ under the Effectiveness as an Aspirational

Reference group section)

Marketing is all about creating an appealing illusion for the customer....and getting

celebrities to endorse products serves this purpose to its best in India where the middle class

and lower class do idolize these celebrities and go buy these brands. People who idolize Shah

Rukh Khan would buy sunfeast biscuits instead of Parle G and people who idolize Dhoni

would buy Coke instead of sprite. (Nidhi)

..I think it’s a very intelligent way of advertising the product and in fact a consumer may be

made to overlook a lot of the shortcomings which the product may have....as its all about

manipulating customers into buying their product as celebrity endorsed products as more

glamorous and eye catching.” (Puneet)

The results of this study and the study conducted by O’Mahony and Meenaghan (1998)

designate that a consumer holds by and large a positive attitude towards celebrity

endorsements. Research confirms that the celebrity endorsement can have an impact on the

consumers recall evaluations, attention and purchase intentions. At the same time it needs to

be taken into consideration that although consumers might have a favourable disposition

towards celebrities, this does not necessarily always translates into purchase

intentions.(O’Mahony and Meenaghan, 1998). This is illustrated below.

4.2.2 Personal Choice

48
The purchase decision of the majority of the respondents did not seem to be influenced by

celebrity endorsement and are seen to have ‘a very insignificant amount of preference for a

celebrity endorsed product’ and said that things like the ‘quality of the product and the value’

of the product mattered not which celebrity is associated with it. Daneshvary and Schwer

(2000) suggests that since education provides individuals with analytical skills allowing them

to decipher information from several sources prior to making a purchasing decision, making

them less likely to purchase a product based on one source, therefore individuals with higher

levels of education might be less influenced by any form of advertising than those with less

education like in the case of the chosen sample.

“Personally I do not think it influences me much as I am not swayed by glossy

advertisements”(Puneet)

“Not necessarily. The quality matters more to me than the brand ambassador. It entirely

depends on the product, no matter” (Ruchi)

“What would matter to me is the quality of the product and the value that I derive by

consuming it. I may have a very insignificant amount of preference for a celebrity endorsed

product”(Rohan)

Apart from this one respondent stated that even though celebrity endorsement does not

directly influence the purchase intention it can to a certain extent make the people at least

consider the product or even ‘alter the image of the product in my mind.’ But it is seen that

once the consumer has the product in his or her hands, however, the design, quality, and price

of the product are what consummates the sale, not the association with a celebrity, which

enlighten us with the verity that celebrities get consumers to try products, not to necessarily

buy products."(Anonymous, 2007)

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“If it’s a luxury product then I do evaluate and compare products, if it’s a FMCG or a less

expensive I would definitely try the celebrity endorsed product first, but if I am not satisfied

then I will switch” (Mithila)

“Personally, celebrity brand endorsements do not induce me to buy a product but it certainly

alters the image of the product in my mind. For example, in the case of aamir khan

endorsing Samsung phones, although it doesn’t make me want to buy a Samsung phone

because of past experiences with it, but it does make me think that samsung’s technology

must’ve taken major leaps and the music range that he’s endorsing must actually be good

enough to give competition to my favourite music phones in the market.”(Snigdha)

There were some respondents who showed an inclination that they were slightly biased

towards the product endorsed by celebrities as according to them it made them ‘feel good’

and in some psyche way make them feel as ‘famous and influential’ as the celebrities. Also

the reason behind purchasing celebrity endorsed product is not just restricted to the feel good

factor. In the words of one of the respondents it made decision making process easy as its

cumbersome to put in extra effort and time to ‘ find out about the intricate details of any

product’. But this was the opinion of a very small percentage of the chosen sample. It would

have been idealistic to have expected the same attitude towards celebrity endorsements from

the participants as “the heterogeneity in consumer’s responses to emotional appeals in

advertising is well documented in the behavioural literature”.(Moore, Harris & Chen, 1995)

“It certainly does. How many people actually go through and find out about the intricate

details of any product!? Personally, I feel a celebrity endorsed product has the power to

influence my choice of the brand. I would rather choose Anne French over Veet only because

my favourite Kareena Kapoor is endorsing it.” (Shreya)

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“It definitely does, because if someone I respect is endorsing a product then I obviously think

that particular product is of a higher quality than its competitors”. (Anshul)

“Yes absolutely. Lets face it, everybody wants to be famous and influential, and the least I

could do is to at least try and emulate their life style in some aspect or the other. So by using

the same car or a product as the celebrity I feel good.(Kiruthiga)

4.3 Effectiveness as an Aspirational Reference group 

Respondents were asked if celebrities were used by the consumers to evaluate themselves in

India and the responses were quite positive.

“Majorly. I feel celebrities like movie stars and sports stars are idols for the masses. People

aspire to be like their characters in the movies or like them on the sports field or lead

extravagant and glamourous lives like them. Thus a product they use works on peoples’

psyche and makes them want it to want to be a little like the person they so look up to. Thus

possessing a product that their favourite celebrities use makes them feel better about

themselves” (Meenu)

“I am sure people evaluate themselves, for example during the time F.R.I.E.N.D.S as a soap

rocked the entire world all my girl friends actually started buying the kind of clothes, styling

their hair like Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox did.”(Anshul)

“....these celebrities have managed to create their own space in the minds of most people. So

the space created does force the common man to associate himself with the product which is

being endorsed by the popular celebrity.”(Nidhi)

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The responses provided by the respondents are consistent with what Choi & Rifon, (2007)

had claimed, saying that “Celebrities are deemed to be referents by consumers, which refers

to imaginary or actual individuals envisioned to have significant bearing on the consumer’s

evaluations, aspirations and behaviour.” The respondents had the unanimous vote towards

the fact that most of the people consciously or subconsciously want to be like the celebrities

as celebrities manage to ‘create their own space in the minds of most people’.

According to one of the respondents this need is restricted to the ‘cosmic’ representation like

the ‘dressing sense, life style’ and does not go beyond this. In contrast another respondent

goes past the external glamour associated with copying celebrities by putting forward the

concept in India where a mother opts for Boost as the drink for her child as she wants her

child to be as strong and athletic as the famous cricket player Sachin Tendulkar.

“.........evaluation happens only on the dressing sense, hair style or fitness level or life style or

comic sense, basically all what they see on the big screen. Nobody actually evaluate on the

other qualities which is highly understandable because you don’t know that person on that

level.” (Kiruthiga)

“In a typically middle class scenario of a mother trying to coax her child to drink boost and

is encouraging her son to be like Sachin does prove that people want to be like these

celebrities.”(Rohan)

One very interesting observation brought to the front by one of the respondents was that there

is no doubt that people at one point or another in their lives does make their favourite

celebrities their referent points but it’s something that is not consistent in their lives. Thus as

stated by one respondent that by using the products associated with the celebrities one can

‘feel better about themselves’ but this may be short-lived

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“for sure people use celebrities to evaluate themselves, but in my opinion as a person grows

older this form of activity loses it excitement and thrill....when I was younger I made it a

point to buy whatever was endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan..I was fascinated by him...but no

longer..now it seems stupid”(Lalit)

4.4 Brand Recall and Brand Recognition 

Respondents were questioned whether they could remember the brands faster when a

celebrity is endorsing it. The responses collected from them are stated analysed below.

“Yes, I believe celebrity endorsements give a face to a brand and makes one recognize it

easier on a shelf with an array of choices.”(Mithila)

“Famous celebrities are always in the back of one’s mind. So when you hear of a particular

brand to you often represent that brand with the celebrity that advertises it, but that doesn’t

really make me buy the product”(Puneet)

“...moreover a brand which has been recently introduced can easily be spoken about or be

made known to ‘unknown’ others by simply taking the celebrity endorser’s name. fiama

wasn’t a famous brand with the Indians until the recent fame ‘Deepika Padukone’ got

associated with it.”(Shreya)

Brand recall seems to have an insignificant impact on the purchase decision of

consumers.The participants believe that due to the occurrence of a celebrity, the act of

product recall is definitely facilitated especially in the case of brands which are being newly

launched as mentioned by one respondent. Many of the participants believe that since

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celebrities are always in the limelight remembering anything associated with them is

comparatively effortless.

“No, the answer was yes, few years back, but now every product is endorsed by some or the

other celebrity, so it is in fact confusing.(Rohan)

In disparity to this there was one respondent who differed in her view stating that when the

use of this particular marketing communication activity was rare then it did smoothen the

process of recalling products but now due to the celebrities endorsing products left right and

centre this process is getting hindered.

The author’s finding is not in coalition with the result shown by previous research and

experience that consumers are highly ready to spend and more comfortable , when products

that relate to their desired image is endorsed by celebrities. (Internet World 2001) as it helps

them to take more notice of celebrity endorsements and improve their level of product recall.

(Bowman 2002)

4.5. McCraken‐ Transfer of Meaning 

Celebrities are known to be full of different meanings in terms of age, gender, personality and

lifestyle which go beyond the person itself and is passed on to the products. (McCraken,

1989; Brierley, 1995). The respondents were questioned whether and how the respective age,

gender, personality and the lifestyle of the celebrity matter. The following answers were

given.

4.5.1 Age

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“Yes it does have, I mean its only natural as we would want to be associated with something

that we relate to and its applicable to the celebrity endorsement as well. I mean how funny

would it be to have an older celebrity endorsing a bike…. There are exceptions but it all

depends upon how the charisma of the celebrity to pull it off and that’s rare.”(Kiruthiga)

Big AB (Amitabh Bachchan) and his son Abhishek were found endorsing together a car

called Versa, I think the aim was to target both the youth and elderly segment of consumers.

So I guess age does matter. (Mithila)

“Age to me is no bar with the exception that it should suit the image of the product.”(Nidhi)

The responses clearly indicate that the age of the celebrities is a matter of consideration to the

consumers as according to them it helps in deciding which age bracket the product is meant

for. Like according to one participant the car ‘Versa’ used both father and son Bachachans to

attract ‘both the youth and elderly segment of consumers’. This has emerged as a new facet

as the previous literature has highlighted that different age groups perceive the celebrity

endorsement process differently.

4.5.2 Gender

“If an attractive person endorses that product people look at that product regardless of there

sex or interest. For example Katrina Kaif’s ad is noticed both by males and

females.”(Anshul)

“Lux bodywash which is known to be for women has recently been endorsed by King Khan

(ShahRukh Khan). Many people might have found it opposing but I personally feel that by

doing this it has captured the attention of the male segment by implying that it could be used

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by males and also the female sector as Shah Rukh Khan is a national heartthrob for girls in

India.”(Nidhi)

From the discussions above we can figure out that even though gender does not rate very high

in the criteria list of the consumers but it is of importance. Indian consumers does not

necessarily appear to be gender biased in terms of celebrity endorsements as the celebrities

have a fan following from both the sexes, but with the exception that certain kinds of

products are best endorsed by a particular gender. This rule should be followed in order to

bring clarity of the audience being targeted.

“Products used personal use such as clothes, skin products are meant to be gender

specific..as in we cannot have a female celebrity endorsing men’s shaving cream; but for

products like cars, electronic.These can be endorsed by either of the genders.”

4.5.3 Personality

“Personality of the celebrity helps you to connect the product to yourself and see if it suits

you” (Nidhi)

“No doubt about that, personality plays a big role...after all it was the overbearing

personality of the Big B (Amitabh Bachchan) which dragged Cadbury out of the

controversial issue and instilled life back into it.” (Mithila)

Personality holds high in the criterion list of the participants, in one respect to the extent that

the ‘overbearing personality’ of a famous Indian celebrity helped a tarnished company

recover its reputation. Also the personality of the celebrity helps in connecting to the product

better.

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The above dialogues show that the McCracken’s model of Meaning Transfer stands true. In

the first stage of the model the meanings associated with the famous person moves from the

endorser to the product or the brand, and this meaning is drawn by the celebrity from its

public persona like in terms of ‘age, personality and gender’. In the second stage, the

creation of product personality takes place as the meaning is transferred from the endorser to

the consumer. As what can be deduced from the remarks passed by the respondents the

symbolic attributes of the celebrity does influence the judgement of the consumers regarding

celebrity endorsement.

4.6 Match‐up Hypotheses 

In this part of the study, respondents were asked to give their views on whether they thought

that the logical association should exist between the chosen celebrity and the product. The

findings have been illustrated below.

“yes: there should be a sense of commonness between the celebrity and the product that he or

she is endorsing eg if we take a men's suit for example, we should make sure as a brand who

has a high definition style statement that speaks for the clothes that he wears and moves

around....”(Anshul)

“obviously...I wouldn’t identify with a male celebrity endorsing cosmetics or a not so

successful celebrity endorsing a Ferrari”(Rohan)

“yes, by designing advertisements which shows a common link with the celebrity, one makes

the advertisements more believable, and also improve the image of the brand...” (Nidhi)

Through the information gathered, it can be comprehended that the respondents are in

complete accord to the fact that a logical association between the celebrity and the endorsed

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product is crucial as according to one respondent the presence of a common link aids in better

understanding and acceptance of the endorsed brands and this is in analogy with the research

done by Kamins (1990) which illustrate that ‘there is a necessity for the existence of a

meaningful relationship between the celebrity, the audience and the product’.

From the responses it was derived that the emphasis was not only on the presence of a

relationship between the two, but also that the absence of the same could adversely affect the

endorsed product as stated by one of the participants because an advertisement without the

celebrity and product bonding is seen as one which is ‘difficult to attach meaning and hence

hard to digest’ leading to the non-understanding of the advertisement with a consequent

failure of the endorsed product.

“The presence of a link with the celebrity is a must!.. If you have some one like Dhoni to

endorse Bryl cream for men’s hair it makes sense and is easier to connect to and remember

that particular brand...but if you have a high class actress like preity Zinta appear for low

end network like MTNL landline advertisement it becomes difficult to attach meaning and

hence hard to digest”(Lalit)

An arresting and unusual thought of one of the respondent was that just as a common linkage

proves to be beneficial to the product an utter divergence between the product and celebrity

could be equally attention grabbing and could work wonders for the product. The example

sited here by the respondent is fascinating, Laloo Prasad Yadav a famous politician in India is

known to have fathered nine children and so when appears in an advertisement endorsing a

family planning program will be remembered due to the ‘sheer mismatch’

“Yes and no both. Either there should be something common or there should be nothing

common at all. For example if Laloo Prasad Yadav does an advertisement for a family

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planning program the audience will be able to have a higher recall because of the sheer

mismatch.”(Puneet)

4.6.1 Examples

In order to corroborate the above thinking, all the respondents were asked to voice their

opinion in regards to the suitability of the chosen celebrities in each of the 4 provided

examples on celebrity endorsements.

Product Celebrity Endorser Number of people who saw

the link

Thums-up Akshay Kumar 10

John Players Hrithik Roshan 5

Olay total Effects Sushmita Sen 8

Reliance Communication Virendar Sehwag 5

“Thumbs up has chosen akshay kumar and he fits the role of its ambassador perfectly.

Generally you associate the word thumbs up to a victor. Someone who has won or achieved

something. The advertisements show akshay performing some wild action like jumping off the

cliff and more complimenting his screen image.”(Kiruthiga)

Of all the respondents there wasn’t even one respondent who did not agree with the

suitability of choosing Akshay Kumar for the advertisement of Thums up. All the

respondents immediately associate the link between the celebrity and the endorsed product.
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Furthermore, prior research has indicated that advertising a product via a celebrity who has a

relatively high product congruent image relative to an advertisement with a less congruent

product/spokesperson image ,leads to a greater advertiser and celebrity believability (Kamins

and Gupta 1994 in Erdogan 1999; Kotler 1997).

“Absolutely. Makes the consumer think the clothes from john players defineth the man that’s

ruling the box office of bollywood. Makes you want to buy one for yourself !”(Meenu)

“I don’t think Hrithik is suitable for John Player because the look she has in the ad does not

suit his character in the movies that he has done. Hritik Roshan appeals more towards

teenagers and John Player is more for a middle aged person. “(Anshul)

“Sushmita sen lives up to the title of diva. A strong woman of today’s time blessed with

captivating and great looks. Olay has tried to captivate on this early thirties woman who still

looks youthful amidst the regular make up, heavy lights on set and frequent travels leading to

water and climate changes etc”.(Kiruthiga)

“I think they are a decent pair as Shewag represents the New India and the new Indian and

Reliance was a revolutioniser in the Mobile space”.(Puneet)

“indifferent to virendra sehwag’s reliance telecommincation advertisement. I couldn’t figure

out a link”.(Shreya)

Respondents have aired difference in their opinions in regards to the last three advertisement

confirming that different people decode the same message conveyed in an idiosyncratic

manner. Some consumers perceived Hrithik Roshan unsuitable for this advertisement as he
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being young is endorsing a product meant for a higher age bracket while some were in favour

of it. Sushmita Sen endorsing Olay total effects cream was known to have a fairly

recognizable link as most of the participant were in favour of it. There was seen an

inconsistency in the last example though most of the respondents couldn’t seem to identify

with the union between the celebrity and the product, because of which one participant was

even ‘indifferent’ to the advertisement as the link seem difficult to decipher.

The author’s finding of the perceived suitability of all the three celebrities endorsing the

respective brands confirmed the notion that a celebrity product link is very subjective, which

is in alignment with Kahle and Homer (1985) assumption that the Match-up Hypothesis of

endorser selection fits well with Social Adaptation theory which implies that the adaptive

significance of the information will determine the impact.

A positive aspect brought to the front is that just the presence of celebrities in the

advertisement is not enough to capture and allure the consumers. Consumers are rational

thinkers and the will get influenced if at all by celebrity endorsements only if they can

comprehend and remember the link between the two. These findings highlight the postulation

made by Evans (1988) according to which in the absence of a distinct and specific

relationship between the product and the celebrities, “celebrities suck the life blood of the

product dry.”

4. 7Source Attractiveness 

Advertisers have often chosen celebrities on the assumption “what is beautiful is good”,

intending to gain from the dual effects of celebrity status and physical appeal (Friedman and

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Friedman, 1979; Singer, 1983). Respondents were asked to what they thought of this which

seemed congruent to the above assumption.

“Celebrities be it sportsman, actors, politicians, all need not be greek gods but yes they

should be decently good looking in order to endorse something. Again, if you are endorsing a

beauty cosmetic product then someone like rakhi sawant won’t fit in, but if you have someone

like Aishwarya Rai endorsing say the Loreal range of skin and hair products then you feel the

craving to buy them.”(Kiruthigai)

“Good looks are extremely important to strike a chord with the consumer and catch his

attention and hence a product must be endorsed by a celebrity who appeals to the eye...when

I saw Fardeen Khan endorse Provouge clothes... he looked so dashing and sexy in it that

advertisement and left such a lasting impression in my mind that I went and bought the same

brand for my boyfriend...” (Meenu)

“An attractive and good looking celebrity certainly convinces one better than one who looks

frail and ugly....I mean if you have who is unattractive or ugly to endorse a beauty product

then the entire meaning of the advertisement would be lost”(Mithila)

“.....believe me if there was some ugly hairy chested man in a Palmolive ad I would want to

puke! For any person the endorser to look at has to be appealing.”(Nidhi)

The attitude of the respondents in the sample conveyed that good looks matter a great deal to

them. According to the participants views it is clear that using good looking personas in the

advertisement is expected by default. The author’s findings and the previous research which

are consistent with each other reveal that consumers have a tendency to form positive

stereotypes about attractive individuals and also that as compared to their unattractive

counterparts, physically attractive communicators celebrities are more successful at changing

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beliefs (Baker and Churchill, 1977) and generating purchase intentions (Friedman et al. 1976;

Kahle and Homer, 1985).

4.8 The ‘Familiarity’ Aspect  

In this part of the study a sub-element of ‘attractiveness’ which is familiarity of the proposed

celebrity is put to test. The following lines give you an idea about what the consumer feels

about it.

“Not just being familiar there has to be more to it. There are so many stars in the industry

but not all are liked by all. It differs from individual to individual” (Shreya)

“Familiarity is not so much a factor. I should be able to identify with the celebrity to trust his

opinion of the product.”(Meenu)

“No, it is one of the means but ultimately it is quality or feature of the product that plays the

vital role.”(Kiruthiga)

“No. I think the celebrity being one whom you actually respect and admire is important and

not just being familiar with him/her.”(Puneet)

“I like kajol and think of her as someone who I could possibily relate to but doesnt mean that

I would necessarily by a product just because she is familiar to me.” (Nidhi)

The dominant opinion of the participants was that jus being familiar with the celebrity is not

enough to get influenced by the celebrity. Some respondents who appear to be ‘Product

lovers’ did not give much importance to the familiarity aspect of the celebrities, but the

surprising element was that even for the ‘Celebrity lovers’ being familiar to the celebrity was

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not enough. The respondents have used terms such as ‘trust’, ‘admire’ and ‘respect’ which

point towards the importance of the celebrity’s credibility factor for consumers belonging to

this sample.

4.9 Source Credibility 

The research conducted by psychologists demonstrates that a source which is distinguished as

highly credible is likely to be more persuasive than a low credibility sender (Aaker et al.

1992, Erdogan, 1999; Atkin& Block, 1983). The following quotes from the participants

reinforce the above finding.

“.......when an individual feels so deeply about a particular star or happens to be a great fan

of the star then intentionally or unintentionally his purchase decision gets influenced. The

love for the star automatically brings in the trust factor. The same goes for me. If I’m really

fond of a celebrity then at least for the first time I will believe the information coming in from

the reliable source”(shreya)

Yes,the integrity plays an important role because for example product ads done by a

celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachan are preferred over the product who use

local models in ads. For instance I prefer Santro car to a Swift car because Santro is

advertised by Sharukh Khan which made it easier for me to trust and choose it over buying

Swift.”(Meenu)

From the above it is obvious that for the respondents it was very important that they can trust

the celebrity who is endorsing the product. This is consistent with the findings of Belch &

Belch (2001) which articulates that Information from a credible source such as a celebrity has

64
the power to influence the opinions, belief, attitude and behaviour through a process called

internalisation based on the assumption that the information from the source is accurate.

In contrast to the above the ‘product enthusiasts’ were quite unconcerned about the credibility

of the consumers. They are under the impression that it is just a job for the celebrity and ‘they

are paid for the same, so there is no sense of assurance regarding the product.’

“Probably a psychological perspective could be that every person needs some sort of

reassurance on the quality front and may take comfort that if X celebrity is endorsing a

product and is attaching his/her name to it then there maybe credibility. To me it makes no

difference at all.(Nidhi)

“No, they do their job, and they are paid for the same, so there is no sense of assurance

regarding the product.”(Ruchi)

“Not really because it does not necessarily mean that the celebrity uses the product in his/her

life and actually feels that the product is worth using” (Rohan)

Also the credibility is quite questionable according to one of the celebrities on the grounds

that they are never seen to sport their self endorsed brands in personal. This is an important

element and hence has been examined more in depth in the following section.

4.10 Celebrities are Endorsing One Brand and using another 

The expression source credibility is used commonly to entail the communicator’s positive

attributes that affect the recipient’s acceptance of a message. (Ohanian, 1990). But this

credibility is being questioned on the grounds of celebrities not using the products they

endorse. The comments of the respondents stated below reveal the truth.

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“Well maybe a few products are used by the celebrities but most of the products that are

endorsed are done more for the money. For a matter of fact Shah Rukh Khan drives a BMW

X-5 while endorsing Hyundai I10.”(Anshul)

“...I honestly dont think that Katrina would actually use Veet or Preity Zinta be loyal to

Liril” (Nidhi)

“well...kind of a tricky situation...like cosmetics, skin products and shampoos can’t really be

speculated about as one can’t be sure whether the celebrities are actually using it or

not,...but I am sure they don’t as if they did then wouldn’t everyone using that endorsed

product have skin and hair like theirs..”(Ruchi)

‘............the celebrity comes across as a commodity as he is everywhere and true you start

questioning the credibility if the advertisement in terms of the product quality.”(Kiruthiga)

From the above it is evident that the Indian consumers are not very convinced that the

celebrities are not using the products that they so blatantly endorse, thus losing their integrity

in the eyes of these respondents. This result is in congruence with the ‘credibility gap’ as

stated by Solomon et al. (1999) , where the lack of credibility is aggravated by incidences

where celebrities endorse products that they do not really use” It seems as though by mutual

consent all the participants are in the notion that celebrities jus endorse products mostly for

the ‘great amount of money’ offered to them. This has been referred to by Solomon et al.

(2002) as the “hired gun” problem, where the spokesperson is perceived as endorsing the

product only for the motive of money. This also supports the review by King (1989) which

had found that especially among young people the perceived credibility of celebrity endorsers

has fallen drastically, with 64% believing that celebrities appeared in the ads only for money.

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As per the comments of one of the participants in the recent times have seen a slight pick up

on celebrities using their endorsed products like two of the them have vouched for Shah Rukh

Khan wearing the same brand of watch that he is the brand ambassador of and John

Abraham following the same path, but this concept doesn’t seem in full swing and is yet to be

executed with perfection.

“....... for example Shahrukh khan endorse Tag heur and he was seen wearing them in his

movies and functions in recent times...prior to this I can’t recall any celebrity using his self

endorsed product...So Brands encourage the ambassadors to use their products in public so

that it increases the integrity of the product.”(Kiruthiga)

One out of the ordinary remark was made by a respondent where she gave a benefit of doubt

to the celebrities stating that as long as they ensure that the products endorsed by them will

not have an adverse effect on the consumer, they also like any other person have the

discretion of choice of the product they want to consume. From the perspective of a celebrity,

if they had to attach their name to a brand or product then they should do their research on

what the brand is all about and whether it is bad or good on an overall basis but how much of

this is actually done is quite questionable.

“No, not really... Some celebrities get associated with a product because they are offered a

great amount of money and some due to personal relationships or genuinely having a

fondness for the product. So I feel it’s a fifty-fifty situation. If we can make our personal

choice of product then so can they. But having said this, a celebrity should certainly make

sure that the product he or she is endorsing doesn’t prove to be harmful or adversely affect

the people” (Shreya)

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4.11 Multiple Product Endorsement 

This part of the interview deals with the consumer’s view on multiple celebrity endorsements.

The consumers when questioned on this aspect had interesting thoughts to contribute. Some

of which are listed below

“Yes, why not. If a certain aspect of one celebrity’s life and persona adds to the image of the

product and another aspect of another celeb adds another characteristic factor to it then the

more the merrier, as long as these characteristics are not conflicting.”(Meenu)

“Yes I do support this idea. It is beneficial as every individual cannot associate with every

celebrity and with more than one celebrity endorsing a particular product the probability of

connecting with a larger audience increases.”(Puneet)

“yes. endorsing a single product by multiple celebrities enhances the face value of the

product and opens it up to a wide array of people and interests everyone has their favourite

in some form or the other as in celebrities”(Anshul)

A number of participants were very much in support of multiple celebrity endorsement.

According to their judgement multiple celebrity endorsement ‘enhances the face value of the

product and opens it up to a wide array of people.’ As stated by one of the participants when

multiple celebrities endorse a single product then ‘the probability of connecting with a larger

audience increases.’ This find is similar to the result revealed in the article by Hsu & Donald

(2002) which stated that ‘a brand has a wide range of consumers and sometimes the use of

multiple celebrities is needed to cover the whole target audience, though it must be made sure

that each celebrity’s values reflects core brand values.’

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The thought of one particular respondent was quite unique which stated that multiple

endorsements are in fact a necessity in this era of cut throat competition and rapid change. In

order to cope up with this the products should be endorsed by more than one celebrity

depending upon their popularity and market value during a specific period of time. Also with

‘the need to move on with the changing generation,’ using multiple celebrities to endorse can

help the product in maintain consistency in its appeal over time. This characteristic of

multiple celebrity endorsement is novel and has not been mentioned in the previous literature

“The best example that I can bring in for your question is the advertisements made on the

refreshment drink PEPSI. Aamir was the first to endorse it but with shah rukh’s increasing

fame the product was passed onto him. Later, when the younger generation actors like john

Abraham, ranbir kapoor and deepika padukone started endorsing it , it clearly showed the

need to move on with the changing generation. Shah rukh is a big name in himself but the

fact that the new upcoming actors like ranbir and deepika were signed to endorse the same

product states the importance of multiple celebrities endorsing a single product. Moreover,

it’s not important for all the consumers to like shah rukh. They can even have a fondness for

either ranbir or deepika".(Shreya)

“Yes. It gives better brand recognition as people from diverse backgrounds will accept the

product more easily.”(Ruchi)

Moreover, as underlined by one of the participants the phenomena of multiple celebrity

endorsement can be really useful specially in a country like India. This is because the Indian

market is not by a large space, an easy audience to target for the advertisers. The one billion

people of the country are speckled in terms of beliefs, ethnicity, states, culture, language,

dialects, norms and values. Other aspects such as the economic discrepancy in the country

separates it in a way which has resulted in a large number of lower and upper middle class,
69
with a very small class falling under in the middle class.(Dixit,2005). Thus multiple celebrity

endorsement would enable ‘people from diverse backgrounds will accept the product more

easily’.

The interview also unveiled another interesting finding under this topic of discussion, the find

being that the consumers do not necessarily find multiple celebrity endorsement confusing as

‘the same celebrity doesn’t endorse similar product type.’ And thus does not lead to negative

feelings in the consumers regarding the endorsed product. This result contradicts the

assumption made by Tripp, Jensen, Carlson, (1994) which had hinted that ‘in order to erode

consumer’s acumen of endorser’s trustworthiness, as well as advertisement and brand

evaluation, by simply knowing that the celebrity is endorsing multiple products’

“Well its not confusing since a celebrity does not endorse two products of the same kind..For

example Sharukh Khan does not endorse Pepsi and Coke at the same time. So if a two

products that are different like Pepsi and “ Fair and Handsome” are endorsed by Sharukh

Khan one does not get confused between the two”(Anshul)

“.......I don’t think so its confusing, again advertisers keep in mind, that the same celebrity

doesn’t endorse similar product type.”(Nidhi)

4.12 The Vampire Effect (Overshadowing) 

There is always a risk of the celebrity overshadowing the brands with celebrities endorsing

brands. This is normally seen as a negative aspect about celebrity endorsement but the

following thoughts of the respondents’ state otherwise.

Most of the participants were in agreement that the captivating magnetism of the celebrity

does take the focus away from the product as in the words of one of the celebrities the ‘the

70
ad then becomes more about the celebrity and his/her looks and appearance rather than the

product it is promoting’. This judgment is parallel to the concern of Erdogan, (1999)

according to which ‘a universal concern here is that consumers will fail to notice the brand

being promoted because they are focusing their attention on the celebrity.’

“A lot of time it does because the ad then becomes more about the celebrity and his/her

looks and appearance rather than the product it is promoting”(Rohan)

Well yes at times, if the celebrity is as big as Sharukh Khan or Sachin Tendulkar and the

brand is as big as Pepsi or MRF then I think the celebrity does justice to the product. But if

Sachin Tendulkar endorses a product like Aviva Life Insurance then yes the celebrity over

shadows the product”(Anshul)

“The image of the celebrity is often psychologically associated with the brand so I do think in

some cases popularity does overshadow the brand like AB and Navratna oil. The topic of

discussion about this advert is more over the fact that AB made a decision to be a part of this

advertisement than the brand of the oil by itself being worthy of it.”(Nidhi)

Two of the participants were in the view that the question whether the presence of the

celebrity overshadows the endorsed product or not is very much dependable on the type of

product being endorsed. If the product’s existing standing equals the current reputation of the

celebrity then the product deviates from the risk of being overshadowed by the overwhelming

persona of the celebrity. But it’s not the case for products which are not so well known as the

celebrity endorsing it. In their opinion the not so popular brands are more susceptible to

getting overshadowed.

“It does, but that only works for the benefit of the brand. Because if the celebrity grows, the

consumer automatically wants to attach himself to the brand or product more”.(Meenu)

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The respondents are in the opinion that the fact that the celebrities take the limelight in the

advertisement is true but it should not be viewed as a negative facet of celebrity endorsement.

This is because according to most of the participants the larger than life persona of the

celebrities ‘only works for the benefit of the brand’ and because of this as one of the

respondents states ‘consumer automatically wants to attach himself to the brand or product

more’

“I’m sure this wouldn’t really be a problem. ........the brand is being recognized and

appreciated because of the endorser. From my paradigm I feel that most of the times at an

initial stage the popularity of the celebrity does take over or overshadow the product. I think

that it is done to create a hype, to make the product known to all and there is no harm in

doing so.”(Shreya)

According to one of the respondents, in case of a new product the celebrity being the prime

focus all the more acts in the favour of the brand as it gets the new product instant recognition

and popularity that could work wonders for the brand and wouldn’t damage the product’s

image. Many of the above responses towards the celebrity overshadowing the product have

provided a new outlook to the issue in comparison to the viewpoint present in the previous

literature.

4.13 Negative publicity 

Just like two sides of a coin everything has good as well as bad elements to it. Newsom et al.

(2000) argue that celebrities can increase recognition, but an inappropriate celebrity, has the

capability of actually harming it. The interviewees were asked to state their thoughts on this

which has been discussed below.

72
“As we say any publicity either negative or positive is good publicity. But it all depends upon

the advertiser, if they want to risk harming the image of the product as at a subconscious

level the ill portrait of the celebrity does make one doubt the reliability of the product. I

personally would avoid purchasing anything endorsed by Rakhi Sawant due to her

contaminated status.”(Puneet)

“Personally I feel that negative publicity does tend to leave a depressing impact on the

consumer…going back to the match fixing scandal…I would find it difficult to believe and

buy any product endorsed by the once my favorite cricketer Ajay Jadeja as he has been

accused of betraying our country..advertisers should avoid using celebrities facing negative

publicity”(Lalit)

A respectable number of respondents were in support of the fact that negative publicity of the

celebrity prevents them from buying a product as it tends to leaves a ‘depressing impact’ on

their minds. This is in concurring with the assumption made by Till (1996) according to

which ‘If the celebrity is strongly associated with the brand then the impact of the negative

publicity will brim over to the product.”

Some participants have pointed out that the so called unpopular celebrities should be replaced

by celebrities whose reputation is good amongst the consumers. One particular respondent

has gone to the extent of suggesting that the advertisers should be smart enough to not chose

such celebrities as ‘at a subconscious level the ill portrait of the celebrity does make one

doubt the reliability of the product’ thus reinforcing the verdict passed by Till and Shimp

(1998) that ‘Celebrity endorsers may now and then become a liability to the brand they

endorse.’

73
“Well every Brand or Product gets the most popular celebrity to endorce the product.So a

celebrity that has a negative publicity should be removed.For example when Rahul Dravid

was at the peak of his career he was endosing every second product but the moment he was

removed from the cricket team his advertisements were minimized.”(Anshul)

In contradiction to the above there was one particular participant who blames that the doings

of the celebrity being ‘overhyped’ by the media and hence the implied negative publicity of

the celebrities as displayed by the media is rarely believable. There are some respondents to

whom the negative publicity aspect does not matter because they support the notion that the

media unnecessarily evade the private lives of these celebrities. They believe that the gossip

associated with their personal lives , as flashed by the media should not be tried to be linked

to their professional lives.

“The new bollywood love birds Deepika and Ranbir were very much in speculation for airing

their intimate gestures on camera. In my opinion the media overphyped the situation by

constantly showcasing their private moments on news, which worked negatively for them.

Regardless of this, I would still buy the products endorsed by them.”(Shreya)

Another interesting observation that can be derived by the remark above is that the Indian

youth’s thinking is different from the traditional perspective of people. India is by far a

conservative thinking country which is the reason for the ‘intimate gestures’ of ‘Deepika and

Ranbir’ to have been perceived in the negative light by the general public. Hence bringing to

light that the perceived negative publicity of the celebrity could be age biased. This element

has not yet been touched upon in the previous literature.

74
Chapter 5: Conclusion 

Celebrity endorsement is truly a multifaceted and debatable research topic. After mulling

over the analysis it is evident that all the participants were very much aware of the fashion of

celebrity endorsing products. There appeared to be a clear demarcation between consumers,

one being the ‘celebrity enthusiast’ and the product enthusiast’. It was observed that even

though celebrity endorsement as a marketing communication activity is viewed in a positive

light since the consumers used terms like ‘glamorous’ and ‘eye catching’ to define it, the

general view relating to opting for celebrity endorsed product as a personal choice was

pessimistic. During the interviews, participants had articulated that in India the ‘middle and

the lower class’ people were the ones for whom celebrity endorsement was of value in terms

of their purchase decision, but it’s not meant for them.

Looking back at the analysis it can clearly be seen that the celebrities are quite often viewed

by people in some phase of their lives as their icon if not consistently throughout their lives.

The consumers follow the trends set by them both in terms of external beauty and valuable

characteristics. But this phenomenon is deemed to be short lived in the consumer’s lives.

In relation to ‘good looks’ it was seen that the for the consumers the advertisements should

include attractive models to endorse the product as no one wants to view or be like their

unattractive counterparts. For the consumers who opted for celebrity endorsed products their

need for good looking models seemed to influence their purchase but on the other hand the

consumers who were in favour of product quality and features, for them good looking
75
personas appearing in advertisements were a mere source of entertainment. In either case the

presence of good look was asked for, even though the need for it differed.

Credibility of the celebrities appeared to be of utmost importance for the ‘celebrity

enthusiast’ for influencing their purchase decision, where on the other hand the ‘product

enthusiast’ gave the impression of being indifferent towards it. For them credibility of the

celebrity endorsing the product was of no value. The ‘familiarity’ of the celebrity as an

essential criterion for inducing a purchase of a celebrity endorsed product had to

acknowledge rejection at the hands of all the consumers. As per their thought process a

celebrity being familiar is not enough.

A profound number of consumers were not in favour of the notion that the celebrities were in

the habit of using the products which they endorse. With the exception of one celebrity Shah

Rukh Khan as stated in the analysis, none of the consumers have witnessed celebrities

sporting their self endorsed brand. This negative element was significant as for the ‘celebrity

enthusiast’ credibility has been stated as a very important criterion. This makes consumers

overly aware of the true nature of endorsement which has more to do with generous

compensation for the celebrity and less to do with brand/product attributes. Thus, leading for

consumers to feel overt cynicism about their motives. (Tripp et al. ,1994). Such actions make

the consumer believe that it’s all about money for the celebrities.

In respect to the perfect fit, for both categories of consumers a logical association between the

product and the proposed is a must. In terms of the ‘celebrity enthusiast’ the perceived fit is

of great importance to develop the linkage on the basis of which it would purchase the

product. The existence of a common link is also important for ‘product enthusiast to derive

meaning of the product.’

76
Hence it can be concluded that since there is a heavy advertising clutter and almost no room

left for actual product differentiation in markets ,celebrity endorsement strategy can be used

to differentiate products from that of the competitors’ in mature and saturated markets,

provided the ‘right celebrity’ is found.(Erdogan, 1999)

The results obtained in respect of multiple celebrity endorsements were quite unanticipated.

The respondents showed tolerance towards this aspect of celebrity endorsement with the

condition that same celebrity refrains from endorsing product from the same category. In the

case of brand recall, respondents agree that the existence of celebrities does help in recalling

the product faster and in some cases also leads to consumers going ahead and purchasing the

goods. But in most of the incidences it does not result in inducing a purchase.

In terms of the popularity of the so called ‘vampire effect’ of the celebrity has revealed really

interesting findings. Some participants were in the view that the celebrities do take away the

limelight from the product as it is believed that the consumers are so mesmerised by the

presence of the celebrity that they tend to overlook the product. In contrast to this some

respondents voiced that it is because of the presence of these celebrities that the product is

noticed and remembered by the consumers.

The results of this study regarding negative publicity are quite contradicting to the previous

literature where negative publicity of the celebrity is taken in a cynical attitude. There were

some respondents whose thoughts were synonymous to the previous literature. While the

thought of the remaining respondents were in contrast stating it’s not always the fault of the

celebrities and in many cases the media who unnecessarily evades the privacy hypes up the

situation.

77
Some candidates have stressed on the importance of age and personality of the celebrities

while attaching meaning to the product. It was observed that the gender of the celebrity on

the other hand, is not much of a concern with the consumers.

All in all, the positive or negative impact of celebrities on the brand is open for further

pondering. But till the time the corporate world keep footing the large sums of pay demanded

by celebrities and till the consumers continue picturing celebrities sporting a halo over their

heads, celebrity endorsement as a marketing strategy will be prevalent till then. (Katyal,

2007).

78
Chapter 6: Limitations, Managerial 
Implications and Future Research 
 

6.1 Limitations 

No research is complete without admitting the limitations that was faced while conducting a

study which will contribute to present learning. This study too like the others have certain

constrains which has been discussed below.

The first constraint is that the chosen sample size is small and hence not sufficient enough to

make concrete recommendation. The limited sample makes it difficult to generalise the data

and view it as the undisputed thought process prevalent amongst Indian consumers. It could

be lacking and also might prove to be different. Another facet to this is that all the

participants were students and not from any other field of life which thereby restricting the

inflow of diverse opinions on the issue at hand. Moreover, all these participants belonged to

the urban sector, hence the rural sector which comprises the major part of the population has

not been taken into consideration.

Time was another big concern in this research. In the short duration of only three months it

was not possible to cover the varied sections of the society because of which this research has

been restricted only to the students and the upper-class segment of the society. As a

consequence the data submitted is less in comparison to what this research has highlighted.

79
The research also focuses on the age group between 21- 26 years, which limits the inflow of

different viewpoints that could have been considered for final evaluations. Due to such

reasons an overall view in regard to different age groups couldn’t be concluded. Probably, if

an older generation or the kids were taken into consideration then a completely diverse

perspective could have been assumed.

Moreover, it cannot be assured that the respondents put across their feelings in the truest of

the manner as their impression or beliefs regarding a particular product or over a particular

issue is influenced by various aspects such as family, religion, fellow mates, colleagues,

surroundings, friends’ circle etc. Also, there are times when the respondents answer

according to the needs of the researchers, not taking the interview on a serious note. This

hinders the progress of the research to be conducted in an absolute authentic manner.

Even though the choice of qualitative research has provided the most appropriate results for

this particular research, it limits the estimation of the accuracy of the results. Had it been

quantitative in nature the results would have not been on approximate terms rather it would

have been less subjective and more exact.

Also despite being an Indian myself, as a novice researcher I was limited in my skills and

experience in conducting the indepth interviews from with the help of which the proposed

results were arrived upon.

80
6.2 Managerial Implication 

Having summarised the various findings of this research, the following managerial

implications have been proposed which if taken seriously can prove to be of value to both in

theory and pratice. Businesses stand to gain if they from the suggestions made known below.

Firstly in order to be successful, businesses should be able to differentiate between different

kinds of consumers namely the ‘celebrity enthusiasts’ and the ‘product enthusiasts’ and

promote their product accordingly. So they need to play it safe and cater to the demand of

both of them. Also marketers should come up with contracts which bind the celebrities to use

or wear their endorsed product at least in public in order to counter the problem of lack

credibility of the celebrities in the eyes of the consumers.

The research has identified that the consumers are tolerant towards multiple celebrity

endorsement with the stipulation that there should exist a common link between the product

and the celebrity. Thus the managers should take immense pain and care to ensure that the

celebrity chosen to endorse the product is ‘right’ in terms of age, personality and the all the

other symbolic properties associated with the celebrity. A very popular and good looking

celebrity is not enough; the endorsement should be backed by an appropriate linkage. Also

marketers should refrain from choosing celebrities who are already endorsing a

complimentary product within the same product category.

Managers should cultivate appropriate means to handle the negative publicity that can

descend on the celebrities during their careers. This is because some consumers do get

pessimistically influenced by it and this could be dangerous for the endorsed product, some to

such an extent that they suggest that the celebrity facing a crises period should be replaced.

This is because the credibility of the celebrity is a very important plays a very big role in

81
influencing these consumers. Viewing this from another perspective, any business should

ensure that they have consumers who get influenced by the quality and features of the

product as opposed to the presence of a celebrity as negative publicity anyways does not

make much of a difference to them. Therefore they can play the role of a safety net for the

business.

Also the presence of genuine reasoning for the use of celebrities to endorse products is

essential is the recommendation for the managers and also that they should take trouble to

stick to the suggested guidelines when planning to utilise and execute celebrity- based

promotions. (Erdogan and Baker)

6.3 Future research 

As suggestions for future research, replication and expansion of the same study should be

made by doing a comparative analysis study of the consumer perceptions towards celebrity

endorsements between a developed country and a developing country like India. This would

serve to bring clarity to this research conducted by the author. Furthermore as this study has

focused its research only on consumers within the age bracket 21-26 years, future research

can be undertaken targeting different age groups in India which would probably bring to light

different perceptions regarding the topic in hand.

Also consumers from different walks of life as in the people who are working, the

housewives and even kids as quite a number of advertisement in India today such as health

drink advertisements are targeted at the kids. By including them in the future research would

help get an overall perception of the Indian consumers. Moreover future research would

bring interesting insights if conducted using the lower and middle class segments.
82
The usage of focus groups in future studies could also aid in obtaining consumers thoughts

and beliefs from varied angle, hence apart from the conducting semi-structured interviews for

understanding the consumers’ perception, focus group as a data collection method seems very

promising.

The same research design could be used to conduct a similar kind of study in different

national contents as every country has its own set of cultural values and hence distinctive

thoughts would surface and it would be interesting to observe what attitude and beliefs

influence them.

Future research in this area can challenge what kind of celebrities work best with what type

of products? Also whether all the products are suitable for being endorsed by celebrities or

they need to be categorized accordingly.

Also future research should aim to derive more precisely how advertising accomplishes the

three stages of the Meaning Transfer Model of McCracken (1989), which relates to the

transfer of the meaning from the celebrity to the product. Moreover, how the consumers are

attracted to the different traits of the celebrity, which is assumed to influence buying

behavior, should be studied in detail.

The changing mindset of people calls for inquiry into the degree of consciousness of the

consumers in relation to the advertising world. Some interviewed participants viewed

celebrity endorsement as a negative marketing technique. Future research should look into

the reason for this negativity and try coming up with the explanations of how to overcome it.

83
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Appendix 

APPENDIX- 1

INTERVIEW GUIDE

This interview is conducted as a part of my MA dissertation. The aim of the research is to

understand consumer perception towards celebrity endorsement. The interview will assist me
to examine your perception of celebrity endorsement in the Indian context. I would be really
grateful if you assist me in my research by answering the following questions.

Introduction

o Introduction of myself.
o Brief outline of the research topic
o Explain the presence of a tape recorder

Questions

1. What do you think of celebrities endorsing products in general?

2. Do you think it is hold the power to influence you personally?

3. In your opinion how readily do people use celebrities to evaluate themselves?

4. Does the presence of celebrities in advertisements help you recognize and recall
brands more promptly?

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5. In your opinion does the personality, age, gender, and lifestyle of the celebrity
endorsers has a direct or indirect impact on the brand/product?

6. Do you think that there should be something in common between the product/brand
and the celebrity endorsing the product?

7. I would like to now give you 4 examples of celebrity endorsed products from Indian
advertising; can you please tell me whether the chosen celebrity is suitable for this
product/brand endorsement?
Also state why in your opinion is it suitable or unsuitable?

Product/ Brand Celebrity

Thums-up Akshay Kumar
John Players Hritik Roshan
Olay Total Effect cream Sushmita Sen
Reliance Telecommunication Virendra Sehwag

8. How important are good looks to you? You think attractiveness has a direct impact on
the brand/product?

9. In your opinion, being ‘familiar’ with a celebrity is enough for you to purchase
celebrity endorsed product?

10. Does the assurance that the information about the brand is coming from a reliable
source (celebrity) impact your purchase intentions?
If yes: how?

11. Do you think the Celebrity truly uses the products they endorse?

12. Do you support multiple celebrities endorsing a single product?

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 13. Do you feel that the sometimes the popularity of the celebrity overshadows the
product/brand?

14. How do you feel about celebrities who have negative publicity endorsing products?

Background Information:
• Name:
• Age:
• Occupation:
• Nationality:

Thank you for your time!

103
APPENDIX-2

Transcript 1

What do you think of celebrities endorsing products in general?

“I personally think there are several benefits to have a celebrity endorse a product or a
service. Firstly it helps to hold the viewers attention and also people tend to buy the
product as it has a top of the mind effect with the celebrity appeal. Also the product is
associated with the personal appeal of the endorser, for instance if you have a pretty
actress endorsing cosmetics and a sports person endorsing a sports product or health
products.”

Hmm..do you think it is hold the power to influence you personally?

“Yes absolutely, it somehow connects on the aspiration aspect of the human psychology.
Lets face it, everybody wants to be famous and influential, the least you could do is to at
least try and emulate their life style in some aspect or the other. So by using the same car
or a product as the celebrity you feel good.”

Be famous.. so in your opinion how readily do people use celebrities to evaluate

themselves?

“Well, I would say it highly depends upon the celebrity, and your liking towards them. I
also think that evaluation happens only on the dressing sense, hair style or fitness level or
life style or comic sense, basically all what they see on the big screen. Nobody actually
evaluate on the other qualities which is highly understandable because you don’t know
that person on that level. Though the evaluation does not happen on a regular basis it
certainly happens at one point of time or the other and there is no denying it.”

Does the presence of celebrities in advertisements help you recognize and recall brands
more promptly?

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Yes, it has the top of the mind awareness effect on any individual. Because with loads
and loads of commercials it is difficult to differentiate but for a really catchy
advertisement or a celebrity. And if the celebrity is some one who you look up to or who
you aspire then definitely you recall it. It is something like selective attention. It
definitely has an impact atleast for the firs time and then it all depends of the quality of
the product.

In your opinion does the personality, age, gender, and lifestyle of the celebrity endorsers
has a direct or indirect impact on the brand/product?

Lets start with Age…

“Yes it does have, I mean its only natural as we would want to be associated with
something that we relate to and its applicable to the celebrity endorsement as well. I
mean how funny would it be to have an older celebrity endorsing a bike There are
exceptions but it all depends upon how the charisma of the celebrity to pull it off and
that’s rare.”

What about Gender?

“Products used personal use such as clothes, skin products are meant to be gender specific..as in
we cannot have a female celebrity endorsing men’s shaving cream; but for products like cars,
electronic. these can be endorsed by either of the genders”.

Personality?

“Absolutely. The personality of the endorser adds to the way the brand is perceived in the
minds of the consumer.”

Do you think that there should be something in common between the product/brand and
the celebrity endorsing the product?

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“As I said it all depends upon the charisma of the celebrity. Few of them are blessed with
that innate charm that enable them to pull off anything. But generally if you do not
associate the personality of the celebrity with the product then you would start
questioning the brand positioning and the features and the quality of it.”

Now I would like to now give you 4 examples of celebrity endorsed products from Indian
advertising; can you please tell me whether the chosen celebrity is suitable for this
product/brand endorsement?
Also state why in your opinion is it suitable or unsuitable?

Product/ Brand Celebrity

Thums-up Akshay Kumar
John Players Hritik Roshan
Olay Total Effect cream Sushmita Sen
Reliance Telecommunication Virendra Sehwag

“Thumbs up has chosen Akshay Kumar and he fits the role of its ambassador perfectly.
Generally you associate the word thumbs up to a victor. Someone who has won or
achieved something. The advertisements shows Akshay performing some wild action like
jumping off the cliff and more complimenting his screen image.”

“Hritik Roshan comes across a suave, cool and sophisticated guy with immense
personality with amazing physique and natural charisma. John players have cashed on it
by just bringing these qualities of him in the advertisement.”

“Sushmita sen lives up to the title of diva. A strong woman of today’s time blessed with
captivating and great looks. Olay has tried to captivate on this early thirties woman who
still looks youthful amidst the regular make up, heavy lights on set and frequent travels
leading to water and climate changes etc.”

106
“Reliance Telecommunication was the pioneers in taking mobile to rural India and
basically being within the reach of a common man. It needs a celebrity who is popular in
both rural and urban areas and cricket is the only game that is common between the have
and the have not’s and the rural and the urban people and Sehwag with his popularity for
the kind of game he plays is a perfect fit. “

You seem impressed by Sushmita’ good looks….so how important are good looks to
you? You think attractiveness has a direct impact on the brand/product?

“Celebrities be it sportsman, actors, politicians, all need not be Greek gods but yes they should
be decently good looking in order to endorse something. Again, if you are endorsing a beauty
cosmetic product then someone like Rakhi Sawant won’t fit in, but if you have someone like
Aishwarya Rai endorsing say the Loreal range of skin and hair products then you feel the craving
to buy them”

Does the assurance that the information about the brand is coming from a reliable source
(celebrity) impact your purchase intentions?

“Yes, the integrity plays an important role but again as I said earlier it depends upon the
kind of product whether is a one time buy or a daily consumption or expensive or habitual
buy etc”.

In your opinion, being ‘familiar’ with a celebrity is enough for you to purchase celebrity
endorsed product?

“No, it is one of the means but ultimately it is quality or feature of the product that plays
the vital role.”

Do you think the Celebrity truly uses the products they endorse?

“No..not really, though there is an exception to this, for example Shahrukh khan endorse Tag
heuer and he was seen wearing them in his movies and functions in recent times...prior to this I

107
can’t recall any celebrity using his self endorsed product...So Brands encourage the ambassadors
to use their products in public so that it increases the integrity of the product.”

Do you support multiple celebrities endorsing a single product?

“Yes, lets face it people look for changes nobody wants the same old things and it applies
to endorsements as well and also if there are multiple people endorsing one product it
increases the value of the product as a product has multiple facet in forms of features and
quality. It all adds to the grandeur of the product. If you are going to air your products
frequently then it better be loaded”.

Do you feel that the sometimes the popularity of the celebrity overshadows the
product/brand?

“The reason why you need a celebrity to endorse is to catch the attention of the people, to
make your product stand out of the others so it is only natural that the celebrity over
shadows”

How do you feel about celebrities who have negative publicity endorsing products?

“As we say any publicity either negative or positive is good publicity. But it all depends upon
the advertisers, depends on how much emphasis they give for ethics and values.”

Background Information:
Name: Kiruthiga Rathnasamy
Age: 25
Occupation: student
Nationality: Indian.

Thank you for your time!

108
APPENDIX-3

Transcript 2

What do you think of celebrities endorsing products in general?

“Marketing is all about creating an appealing illusion for the customer....and getting celebrities
to endorse products serves this purpose to its best in India where the middle class and lower
class do idolize these celebrities and go buy these brands, people who idolize Shah Rukh Khan
would buy Sun feast biscuits instead of Parle G and people who idolize Dhoni would buy Coke
instead of sprite.”

Do you think it is hold the power to influence you personally?

“Personally, it doesn’t make a difference to my decision of making a purchase. If AB (Amitabh

Bachachan) uses the same hair oil as I do or if I buy the same brand of diamonds as Ash it
absolutely has no impact on me. Probably a psychological perspective could be that every person
needs some sort of reassurance on the quality front and may take comfort that if X celebrity is
endorsing a product and is attaching his/her name to it then there maybe credibility. To me it
makes no difference at all.”

Ok….In your opinion how readily do people use celebrities to evaluate themselves?

“India, it sure does, these celebrities have managed to create their own space in the minds of
most people. So the space created does force the common man to associate himself with the
product which is being endorsed by the popular celebrity.”

Does the presence of celebrities in advertisements help you recognize and recall brands
more promptly?

109
“It would make no difference at all celebrity or no celebrity the only part where I would probably
end up purchasing a celebrity endorsed product is because I remember the advertisement better,
and in some way celebrities aids this remembrance.”

In your opinion does the personality, age, gender, and lifestyle of the celebrity endorsers
has a direct or indirect impact on the brand/product?

What do you think about Age?

“Age to me is no bar with the exception that it should suit the image of the product.”

Does Gender Matter?

“Lux body wash which is known to be for women has recently been endorsed by King Khan
(ShahRukh Khan). Many people might have found it opposing but I personally feel that by doing
this it has captured the attention of the male segment by implying that it could be used by males
and also the female sector as Shah Rukh Khan is a national heartthrob for girls in India.”

Personality?

“Personality of the celebrity helps you to connect the product to yourself and see if it suits you”

Do you think that there should be something in common between the product/brand and
the celebrity endorsing the product?

“yes, by designing advertisements which shows a common link with the celebrity, one makes the
advertisements more believable, and also improve the image of the brand.”

Now I will be giving you 4 examples of celebrity endorsed products from Indian
advertising; can you please tell me whether the chosen celebrity is suitable for this
product/brand endorsement?

110
Also state why in your opinion is it suitable or unsuitable?

Product/ Brand Celebrity

Thums-up Akshay Kumar
John Players Hritik Roshan
Olay Total Effect cream Sushmita Sen
Reliance Telecommunication Virendra Sehwag

“Akshay Kumar – yes as the brand wants to portray itself as an action drink targeted towards
teens and he seems to have the image and appeal to promote such a drink”.

“Hritik – am not sure, the brand is mid segment i.e. not too expensive not too cheap is Hritik
apt for this kind of audience?”

“Sushmita Sen – I admire her and think she brings certain classiness to the product and
therefore targeting all segments of women over all fulfilling the criteria of the brand.”

“Sehwag- It could be anyone endorsing this brand and that’s the mantra of reliance cheap
and effective for anyone. Sehwag shows that he is the common man and therefore reliance a
product for everybody be it for professional use or home use i.e. internet”

How important are good looks to you? You think attractiveness has a direct impact on the
brand/product?

“The fact of the matter is people can tolerate commercials during TV shows or movies because
the ads are either funny or attractive and believe me if there was some ugly hairy chested man in
a Palmolive ad I would want to puke! For any person the endorser to look at has to be at least
presentable if not “good looking”. Yes attractiveness has a direct and important impact on brand
value.”

In your opinion, being ‘familiar’ with a celebrity is enough for you to purchase celebrity
endorsed product?
111
“I like Kajol and think of her as someone who I could possibly relate to but doesn’t mean that i
would
necessarily by a product just because she is familiar to me.”

Does the assurance that the information about the brand is coming from a reliable source
(celebrity) impact your purchase intentions?

“No, they do their job, and they are paid for the same, so there is no sense of assurance regarding
the product.”

Do you think the Celebrity truly uses the products they endorse?

“I honestly don’t think that Katrina would actually use Veet or Preity Zinta be loyal to Liril”.

Ok…so do you support multiple celebrities endorsing a single product?

“I am neutral to this cause it makes NO difference to me or the brand. Over all there could be a
positive impact for the brand if they have multiple celebrity endorsements as various age groups
and interest groups could be targeted.”

Do you feel that the sometimes the popularity of the celebrity overshadows the
product/brand?

“The image of the celebrity is often psychologically associated with the brand so i do think in
some cases popularity does overshadow the brand like AB and Navratna oil. The topic of
discussion about this advert is more over the fact that AB made a decision to be a part of this
advertisement than the brand of the oil by itself being worthy of it.”

How do you feel about celebrities who have negative publicity endorsing products?

“Typical to this question are cricketers. During a certain year Dhoni might be at his best and this
being the current favourite to endorse brands and when theres a slump in his performance Yuvraj

112
 may be signed up. So its all about who is the most alluring and appealing at a given point in
time.”

Background Information:
• Name: Nidhi Ayyagiri
• Age: 24
• Occupation: student
• Nationality: Indian

Thank you for your time!

113