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Kaur, Rajbir (2014) Effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in India. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
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Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ 3
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
BACKGROUND TO THE TOPIC ............................................................................................................. 3
DEFINITION OF CELEBRITIES ............................................................................................................... 4
SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTERS .................................................................................................................. 5
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 5
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT .............................................................. 6
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT IN INDIA ............................................... 7
PRESENT SCENARIO OF CELEBRITY ENDORSERS IN INDIA .................................................................. 8
CELEBRITY ENDORSERS VERSUS NON CELEBRITY ENDORSERS IN TERMS OF EFFECTIVENESS ........... 9
ADVANTAGES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS ................................................................................. 11
DISADVANTAGES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS ........................................................................... 12
MODELS ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS ........................................................................................ 13
SOURCE CREDIBILITY MODEL ............................................................................................................ 13
SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS MODEL ................................................................................................... 15
THE PRODUCT MATCH-UP HYPOTHESIS ........................................................................................... 17
THE MEANING TRANSFER MODELS .................................................................................................. 19
RESEARCH AIM .................................................................................................................................. 20
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................... 21
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 21
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO RESEARCH METHODS:- QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ..... 21
WHY QUALITATIVE DATA FOR THIS RESEARCH ................................................................................ 22
ZALTMAN METAPHOR ELICITATION TECHNIQUE ............................................................................. 24
INITIAL INTERVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 27
SAMPLING STRATEGY ........................................................................................................................ 27
DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................. 28
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 28
Theme 1- Importance of Celebrity Attractiveness ............................................................................ 29
Theme 2- Importance of Celebrity Credibility .................................................................................. 34
Theme 3- Celebrity-Product Match .................................................................................................. 38
THEME 4- IMPORTANCE OF MEANING TRANSFER ........................................................................... 45
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VAMPIRE EFFECT (OVERSHADOWING) ............................................................................................. 49
CHANGING DEFINITION OF BEAUTY ................................................................................................. 51
PURCHASE DECISION ........................................................................................................................ 53
MISSING LINK .................................................................................................................................... 54
Best Representative Image ............................................................................................................... 55
OPPOSITE IMAGES ............................................................................................................................ 57
SENSES .............................................................................................................................................. 59
TASTE ................................................................................................................................................ 60
SMELL ................................................................................................................................................ 61
TOUCH ............................................................................................................................................... 62
SIGHT ................................................................................................................................................. 63
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 65
LIMITATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 68
RECCOMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ..................................................................................... 69
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 71
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 79
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ABSTRACT
In today‘s world, where advertising plays an inevitable role in influencing consumer purchase
decisions, it becomes imperative for companies to create such advertising campaigns that
motivate consumers to buy their products. Celebrity Endorsement is a technique extensively
used by companies today, to promote their brand and products, which help in
generatingpublicity for their brands. These ‗celebrities‘ are typically the famous and
successful actors or sportspeople who are looked up to by the common people.
Especially in India, celebrities play a vital role in advertising. They are loved and idolized by
the people and companies use this to their advantage by using these celebrities to promote
their products and create publicity for their brands. This dissertation thus focuses on
examining the qualities of a celebrity endorser that are most desired for by a consumer and
also the impact of celebrity endorsement on their purchase decisions.
This research project starts with a literature review in which relevant previous work done by
different authors has been discussed. The next chapter discusses the research method used to
achieve the objective of the study. A new technique, i.e. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation
Technique has been used to study the feelings, behaviours and attitudes of people towards
celebrity endorsement. The data collected has then been analysed which has revealed some
very interesting facts which have then been discussed and scope for further research has also
been talked about.
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE TOPIC Theory and practice have proved that the use of ‗stars‘ or celebrities generate a lot of
publicity (Ohanian, 1991). The use of celebrities to promote products dates back to more than
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a century and still continues. Studies have found that almost 25% of the advertisements today
use celebrities (Shimp, 2000).
DEFINITION OF CELEBRITIES
Celebrities are people enjoying recognition by a large group of people, who differ from the
social norm and enjoy large public awareness (Schlecht, 2003). In other words, it refers to a
person who is known well to the public for his or her achievements except for the product
class already being endorsed. In Indian context, it refers to actors like Shahrukh Khan,
Aishwarya Rai, to sportspeople like Sachin Tendulkar, Sanya Mirza and also to businessmen
like Vijay Malya.
Thus, celebrity endorsements occur when an individual or organisation, enjoying a good
reputation are used to endorse products or services. Celebrity endorsements are so widely
used because it is believed that celebrity endorsed products are purchased more than those
products that don‘t have a celebrity endorsing it and so, have greater value (Clark &
Horstman, 2005). In addition, it is believed that using celebrities to endorse products give the
added advantage of increased attention of consumers and also of a higher recall rate
(Friedman& Friedman, 1979).
However, it has been found that there are some risks and negative effects attached with the
use of celebrity endorsements. And one has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of
each side to decide whether the technique is effective or not and whether it actually has an
effect on purchase decisions or not.
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SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTERS
The structure for this research study is divided into different chapters, which are: - the
literature review, methodology, analysis, discussion, conclusions, limitations and scope for
future research.
Chapter 2 contains the literature review, which is part of my secondary research. This section
mainly includes what celebrity endorsement is actually about, it‘s historical development in
general and in India, the advantages and disadvantages associated with it, comparison
between celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers and the four models of celebrity endorsements
namely, the Source Credibility Model, The Source Attractiveness Model, The Match-up
Hypothesis and the Meaning Transfer Model.
Chapter 3 is the methodology which discusses the method to be carried out for this research,
compares quantitative and qualitative methods, discusses why qualitative method was used
for this purpose and lastly discusses the technique used for this study i.e. the ZMET.
Chapter 4 gives the analysis of the information and data that was collected during the
interviews and their interpretation.
Chapter 5 gives the final summary of the results found from the research.
Chapter 6 finally states the limitations of the study and those that were faced while
conducting the research. It also gives the limitations and scope for future research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION The aim of this chapter is to review in detail, previous academic literature on ‗Effectiveness
of Celebrity Endorsement‘. Therefore, this chapter contains historical development of
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celebrity endorsements, in general and in India. Next it contains a comparison between
celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers, advantages and disadvantages of celebrity endorsers.
The last section contains models on celebrity endorsement effectiveness.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
The use of celebrities in advertisements is not a modern phenomenon (Kaikati, 1987). It
dates back to the eighteenth century, when Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of the Wedgwood
brand of pottery, used kingly endorsements for his company that created an aura greater than
the actual characteristics of the product and the brand.
In the late nineteenth century, trade cards popularised celebrity endorsements. These cards
had pictures of celebrities along with the product description and were either given along
with the product or were inserted in the packaging of the product. These cards featured
actresses like Lily Langtry and Sarah Bernhardt and sportspersons like Ty Cobb. Author
Mark twain featured on three brands which were Mark Twain Cigars, Mark Twain flours and
Great Mark Cigars. (Appendix 1, a & b) It was in early nineteenth century, when cigarette
companies like Murad Cigarettes used comedians like Harry Bulger in
advertisements(Ibscdc.org, 2014). Another great example of celebrity endorsements in the
earlier days is that of the Queen‘s association with Cadbury‘s Cocoa (Sherman, 1985). It was
then due to the swelling popularity of cinema, that this technique was extended, even though
it owes its popularity more to growth of radios as a medium of communication in the 1930‘s
and television in the 1950‘s (McDonough,1995).
In those times the supply of ‗stars‘, that is potential endorsers was limited, as it wasn‘t
viewed in a very good light when ‗stars‘ diluted their image by being ‗mere presenters of a
brand.‘ This was the reason that at those times, advertisers were restricted in search of those
‗stars‘ that actually fitted the products, because of their lack of supply. It was in the late
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1970‘s when the celebrities that earlier hesitated to endorse brands and products, underwent a
sort of mental revolution and agreed to be endorsers, that the availability of potential
endorsers increased (Thompson, 1978). In addition, with the increase in number of roles in
cinema and on television, it has become less ‗disgraceful‘ to be commercially exploited i.e.
for the purpose of endorsing brands, which has resulted in greater choice for the advertisers
(Erdogan, 1999).
Use of celebrities in endorsements has clearly risen. In 1979, it was claimed that one in every
six advertisements used celebrity endorsers (Howard, 1979). By another nine years, the
estimates were around one in five (Motavalli, 1988). (Shimp, 1997) claimed that around 25%
of all US commercials used celebrity endorsers. Also, according to the UK perspective, a
report in Marketing (1996) indicated that advertising which used celebrity endorsers was a
way of making national headlines in 1995. According to (Lane, 1996), United States
companies paid a fortune (over $1 billion) to athletes for endorsement deals in 1996. Also,
14% to 19% of advertisements shown in the United States in the recent years featured
celebrities that endorsed products and brands (Creswell 2008). In addition, from a total of
3,000 commercial images we see every day, one in every five ads features celebrities
(Crutchfield, 2010)Therefore, it can be argued that over time the use of celebrity endorsers
has gained world-wide popularity and has become a major part of marketing communication
strategies (Erdogan,1999).
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT IN INDIA
In India, celebrities started endorsing brands in the nineteenth century. Before that, this was
exclusive to models, and it was at this time, that movie and TV stars andsportspeople started
invading this territory. The first celebrity endorsement in India was when Farokh Engineer,
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an Indian cricketer was chosen to endorse a Bryl cream. And now, the Indian cricket team
earns roughly around Ten million pounds per year through endorsements (Anon, 2014).
There are three main phases of celebrity endorsements in India. The first was ‗The pioneering
phase‘ (1950-1980), which was characterized by extremely limited channels of
communication and also strict governmental rules. The company, HLL has used Hindi movie
starts to endorse their beauty soap ‗Lux‘, since the fifties.
Next was ‗The growth phase‘ (1980-1990) in which more and more brands started using
celebrities for endorsements. This was mainly due to television gaining popularity in this
decade and also because of the growing fame of Indian stars with global events like the
Asiads and the victory of India in the Cricket World Cup. Gwalior, Thumsup and Vimal were
some of the brands which took to celebrity endorsements. Mass advertising started at that
time, which featured celebrities like Jalal Agha, for Pan Parag Pan Masala, Kapil Dev for
Palmolive shaving cream and Sunil Gavaskar for Dinesh Suitings.
The third phase is that of globalisation which is characterized by mainly two realities.The
first being thatfactors that differentiate a product can be imitated by other brands and
secondly, all successful brands have some meaning imbibed in their products, where the
meaning has to be consistent. This was the reason why Nirma, a detergent brand was
unsuccessful in launching its tooth paste product(Ganapathy and Amarjothi, 2014).
PRESENT SCENARIO OF CELEBRITY ENDORSERS IN INDIA
Below are the top 10 celebrity endorsers of India along with their rankings and earnings in
2013, where Shahrukh Khan ranks first in terms of his earnings as an endorser, which is
approximately 22 million pounds.
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(Forbesindia.com)
CELEBRITY ENDORSERS VERSUS NON CELEBRITY ENDORSERS IN TERMS OF
EFFECTIVENESS
Research has shown that the use of celebrity endorsers in advertisements can have a positive
effect on the message recall, memory, recognition, credibility and likeability of the
advertisements and finally, also on purchase intentions. (Roy, 2006).
Anon(2008) explains that the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements is better when their
personalities are strictly connected to the brand image. When an organisation cannot find a
celebrity that is in consistency with the brand‘s values, they can create their own endorser,
i.e. a created spokesperson. Organisations can create two types of spokespersons; either real
people acting out a character or animated or fictitious roles.
Companies have greater control on spokespersons (non-celebrity endorsers), than on
celebrities, as the companies build those characters which are consistent with the brand image
and the target audience and also can make sure that these characters are endorsing only their
product (Tom, Clark, Elmer et al.,1992).
Whereas on the other hand, companies cannot control the personality and aura of the
celebrities as they have created their own over the years.A created spokesperson has some of
the following advantages (Erdogan, 1999). Organisations have a better control over the
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created spokespersons and are less costly than the celebrity endorsers and advertisers also
have the opportunity to create a better match between the endorser and the product. The
endorser‘s existence will be for as long as the method is used by the company, whereas ―real‖
celebrities have limited existence for the company. The company can use the same created
spokespersons as many times as it requires.
However, (Atkin and Block, 1983) and (Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983)find that
celebrity endorsements were more successful in creating positive attitudes towards the
advertisements than non-celebrity endorsers. In addition, Sinha, Mahmood, Bisaria (2008)
report that celebrity endorsement gives credibility to a brand, improve brand recall and
recognition. Also, Agrawal and Kamakura (1995) argue that a right celebrity can improve the
image of a wrongly positioned product as well. In addition, McCraken (1989) believes that
celebrity endorsers are a more effective way of transferring meaning to a brand, as celebrities
bring their own symbolic meaning to a brand as well, which is passed on to the product and
further to the consumer. In addition, he says that celebrities offer a range of personality and
lifestyle that cannot be matched by a non-celebrity. Also, according to Tom et al (1992),
created spokespersons are created by the company to promote their brand because of which
they might be perceived as less authentic and trustworthy. The consumers are also more
familiar with celebrities than spokespersons because they are already famous.
However, according to Mehta (1994), no significant differences were found in attitudes
towards advertising or purchase intentions of the brand between celebrity and non-celebrity
endorsements.
The biggest limitation when using a made spokesperson is that he/she will become a popular
faceonly after the organisation has created awareness and a huge amount has been spent for
it. (Tom et al, 1992) suggests that companies use these created spokespersons when
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theobjective is to create a long-term relationship between the organisation and the endorser.
Also,celebrities are a better choice when the company wants to establish a short-term
memorable link.
Therefore, in this light, it can be safely said that celebrity endorsers are much more effective
than spokespersons, in generating the desired results (Erdogan, 1999).
ADVANTAGES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
Erdogan (1999) has exemplified various advantages and disadvantages of using celebrity
endorsements. The advantages he states include increased attention of the audience,
usefulness while introducing or even while repositioning a brand and also helping when the
image of the brand needs to be polished or refined. (Clark & Horstman, 2003) have also
suggested that celebrity endorsements can enhance recall and purchase intention of the
products. Further, Mishra and Beatty (1990) and Petty et al (1983) also have indicated that
celebrity endorsements enhance brain recall. It is also observed that the presence of a famous
personality helps in solving the problem of over communication that has become very
prevalent these days (Kulkarni & Gaulankar, 2005). This problem has arisen because of
increased competition for consumer awareness and also new technological inventions like
televisions which have given consumers greater power over programmed advertisements. So,
use of celebrity endorsements helps increase consumer attention to the specific
advertisements, by making the advertisement stand out of the existing ‗clutter‘ of
advertisements and therefore enhancing the communication process (Sherman, 1985).
In addition, it has also been shown that consumers are more comfortable to spend when the
products they desire are endorsed by the celebrities they like (Internet World 2001). Also,
another benefit from celebrity endorsements is that it leads to improved memory storage in
consumers, which they can retrieve whenever the purchase situation arises (Schultz &Barnes,
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1995). Other positive effects of using celebrities as endorsers include that commercials
become more believable, bring a positive attitude to brands results (Kamins, 1989),
perception of brand names is improved, distinct personalities for products are created(
Dickenson, 1996), new dimensions can be added to the brand( Till, 1998), help overcome
‗cultural roadblocks‘ by using celebrities who are globally famous(Kaikati, 1987) and also
can help build credibility for new brands (Abbot, 2001).
DISADVANTAGES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
On the other hand, there are many disadvantages associated with celebrity endorsements as
well. (Erdogan,1999) observes that celebrities may sometimes overshadow the brand, may
lead to rumours and public controversies, may lead to image change and also overexposure of
the brand, and also, sometimes may lead to loss of public recognition as well can be
expensive for the advertisers. In addition, using celebrities for endorsements can backfire if
they suddenly change their image, experience a downfall in their careers or popularity, get
stuck in a situation related to ethical or moral issues or also if they lose credibility due to
endorsing multiple brands (Kaikati, 1987), which can affect the image of the endorsed brand
as well (Till and Shimp, 1995).
Drawbacks of celebrity endorsements include that consumers sometimes do not believe that
celebrities actually use the products they are endorsing and also that they may get confused
when many celebrities are seen endorsing the same brand (Hsu and McDonald, 2002). In
addition, Louie and Obermiller (2002) state that if a celebrity endorsing a brand is blamed for
a negative event like accidents, then it can affect the image of the brand as well. Another
negative effect can be when there is simply a misfit or mismatch between the endorser and
the brand being endorsed (Till and Shimp, 1998).
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Another issue, when it comes to celebrity endorsements is that sometimes consumers may
focus only on the celebrity and may fail to focus on the brand and product being promoted,
that is that may overshadow the brand which is also termed as ‗vampire effect‘ (Rossiter and
Percy, 1987).
Another issue arises if the celebrity gets involved with a lot of diverse brands, which is also
termed as ‗over exposure‘. Due to this, the identity of the celebrity with each brand can lessen
and lose its distinctiveness (Mowen and Brown, 1981), which can aware consumers of the
nature of endorsements which has got less to do with the brand in question and more to do
with the compensation of the celebrity for the endorsement (Cooper 1984) which can make
consumers question the motives of the celebrities and also the brands.
MODELS ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
As can be seen from above, deciding whether to use celebrities for endorsements or not and
selecting the right celebrities for the task is a difficult job. For this purpose, many models
have been presented, the first one being Cari I. Hovland‘s Source Credibility Model,
following which three other models were presented, which were the Product Match-Up
Hypothesis ( Kamins, 1989) , the Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire, 1985) and the
Meaning Transfer Model (McCracken, 1989), which are explained below.
SOURCE CREDIBILITY MODEL
According to this model, the effectiveness of a message in an endorsement depends on the
perceived level of expertise and trustworthiness in an endorser (Dholakia andStemthai, 1977).
According to Erdogan(1999), message from a credible source helps influence beliefs,
opinions and behaviours and consumers automatically assume that celebrities are credible
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with respect to the brand they endorse (Goldsmith, 2000). The model claims that the
‗effectiveness‘ of a message, depends on the ‗expertness‘ and ‗trustworthiness‘ of the source.
‗Trustworthiness‘ refers to the honesty and integrity of the endorser in question (Erdogan,
1999), so advertisers use this for their benefit by taking those celebrities as endorsers, who
are generally considered to be honest and are respected by the masses (Shimp, 1997).
Friedman and Friedman (1978) has also argued that credibility is determined most
importantly by the trustworthiness of the person and studied that likeability was the most
important aspect of trust. (Liu & Teo, 2007) have also claimed that celebrities having higher
credibility can have a great impact on the purchase intention of a consumer.In addition,
Miller and Baseheart (1969) found that when an endorser is found to be highly trustworthy,
an opinionated or prejudiced message was more effective in changing attitudes than non-
prejudiced ones, whereas this wasn‘t found true for situations where the endorser is not
trusted.
The desire to purchase is created when endorsers can effectively create credibility about their
link with the brand and are perceived to really use the product themselves. (Erdogan, 1999)
‗Expertise‘ is another determinant of the celebrity‘s credibility, which mainly refers to his
skill or knowledge.It is also referred to as "authoritativeness" (McCroskey 1966). (Aaker and
Myers, 1987) are of the opinion that more a source is considered to be an expert, the more
persuasive he is. Also, Speck, Schumann and Thompson (1988)believe that expert celebrities
produce greater recall of product in the minds of consumers than the non-expert celebrities.
In addition, (Crano, 1970) noted in an experiment that consumers exposed to an expert source
showed more agreement than those exposed to an inexpert source, for example, an expert
salesman convinced more customers to buy a product than an inexpert salesman(Woodside
and Davenport, Jr. 1974). (Solomon, 2006) confirms this by stating that a consumer can be
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‗swayed away‘ by an ‗expert‘ celebrity. For example, for technical products, the ‗expertness‘
of the celebrity is a very important factor (Till and Busler, 2000).
However, Martin, Wentzel, and Tomczak (2007) question the credibility of celebrity
endorsers as their research indicates a disposition towards spokespersons.
Erdogan (1999) states that the research in this field is one-sided. It is still not absolutely clear
about the determinants of the credibility of a source and what factors are more important than
the others. So, according to him, it should not be the only factor to be considered while
selecting a celebrity.
SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS MODEL
The source attractiveness model is a component of the ―source valence‖ (McGuire, 1968). It
shows that the effectiveness of a message depends on the ‗similarity‘ and ‗familiarity‘ with
the consumers. Baker and Churchill (1977) observe that use of attractive celebrities has a
positive effect on the consumers due to their emotional reactions. Advertisers selectendorsers
on the basis of their charm and attractiveness to benefit from twofold effects of their status
and physical lure(Singer, 1983). The audience tends to formpositive norms about such people
and research has shown attractive communicators to be more effective at changing opinions
(Chaiken, 1979)and creating intentions to purchase (Petty and Cacioppo, 1980) than the
comparatively unattractive ones.
‗Similarity‘, in regard to this model is defined as a fictional alikeness between the source and
the receiver of the message, whereas ‗familiarity‘ refers to the awareness of the source
through disclosure, and ‗likability‘ as warmth for the source because of the source's looks
(Erdogan, 1999). The role promoted by the source is better acknowledged when the endorser
and the recipient are thought to have alike goals and needs(Kelman, 1961). However,
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attractiveness does not only imply physical attractiveness, but also other characteristics that
consumers might observe ina celebrity endorser, like lifestyle, intelligence or personality
(Erdogan, 1999). (Cohen and Golden, 1972) advocate the use of ‗identification‘, where
attractiveness of the source is concerned, which occurs when the consumers want to identify
themselves with the celebrity endorser.
Kahle and Homer (1985) find that the physical appeal of the sourcecan affect the consumers‘
attitude change process. An attractive model projects sensuality, can increase arousal, which
can in turnaffect consumer‘s attitudes.
In addition, celebrity endorsers are more effective in endorsing products with high social or
psychological products and also those having high financial and performance risks
(Mehulkumar, 2005). The divisionof products into low or high involvement is based on the
risk perceptions that consumers have in mind when buying a product. These can be classified
into four categories(Friedman and Friedman, 1979), which include financial
risk,psychological risk, operational risk and social risk. According to the author, celebrity
endorsement is the best way to get customers to buy these products. However,(Baker and
Churchill, 1977), state that attractive celebrities are more effective for low involvement
products, than for high involvement ones.
Till and Busler (1998) however study that positive attitude towards these advertisements do
not necessarily affect the purchase intentions of the consumers, as these affect the cognitive
component of the people more than their behavioural one(Firework and Friedman, 1977). In
terms of gender communications, between endorsers and consumers, Debevec and Kernan
(1984) found that attractive female models produced more positive viewpoints than attractive
male models across both genders but more among males. On the other hand, Caballero (1989)
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found that males showed moreintent to buy from male endorsers and females hold greater
intentions to buy from female endorsers.
Hence, it is clear that attractive celebrity endorsers bring more positive attitudestowards the
brands, but whether they are able to create purchase intentions is still not very clear, as some
studies have found that endorsers do not have an effect onbehavioural intent while other
studies prove the positive impact of celebrities on purchase decisions. To have more effect on
people‘s behaviour, physically attractive celebrity endorsers, whose images match with the
product image,should be chosen and messages should be delivered in a dual way where the
endorser states both positive and negative characteristics of the brand.
THE PRODUCT MATCH-UP HYPOTHESIS
The Product Match-up Hypothesis posits that information conveyed by the image of the
celebrity and that of the brandshould be consistent for successful marketing (Kamins,1990).
The determining factor of the match between the product and the celebrity depends on the
degree of seeming 'fit' between celebrity and brand image (Misra and Beatty 1990). That is,
endorsing a brand through a celebrity whose image has a high congruency with the product
leads to greater acceptability of the advertisement as compared to an advertisement having
less congruency(Kamins and Gupta 1994).
So as tostress thesignificance of a proper match, Watkins (1989)cited a vice president of a
prominent beverage company where he stated that celebrities are a big and unrequired risk
unless they are somehow related to the brands.Bertrand (1992) also argued that if there is a
combination of a matchup of the company‘s product with the personality of the celebrity,
advertisers are more benefited. Studies have also shown that consumers also expect
consistency between the product being endorsed and the image of the celebrity endorser.
(O'Mahony and Meenaghan, 1997). For example, attractive endorsers are more effective
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when endorsing products used to increase attractiveness (Kamins, 1990) and that the effect
will be not noteworthy in those cases where the product being endorsed is not related to
‗attractiveness‘. Kahle and Homer (1985) also find that the use of attractive celebrities have a
positive impact on purchase intentions and message recall.Hence, it is safe to conclude that
all parties involved in this process, anticipate some match between the brands and the
celebrities.On the other hand, the absence of congruencybetween the products endorsed and
the celebrity endorser may make consumers think that the celebrity has beengenerously paid
to endorse the product (Erdogan, 1999).
However, this modelenvisages that good looking celebrities have greater impactwhen
endorsingproducts used to add toone‘s attractiveness (Kamins, 1990). In addition, the ‗fit‘
between an endorser and the product endorsed also enhance the endorser's
attractiveness(Kamins and Gupta, 1994). The academics argue that this happens because of
the celebrity‘s ‗familiarity‘and issupposedto be connected with internalisation and
identification processes.
Misra and Beatty (1990), noted that this match-up is also found for products that are not
beauty related. They exemplified this by using jeans called Unitough and a board game called
Funnybone and said that if these were matched with Clint Eastwood and Carol Burnett
respectively, this would result in a more positive attitude towards the brand than if done vice
versa.
Celebrity endorsement is also effective in marketing products as status symbols (Erdogan,
1999) as these celebrities are people enjoying a high status and in advertisements, they offer
consumers to enjoy the products with them (Packard, 1957).However, Callcoat and Phillips
(1996) state that consumers are usuallyaffected by endorsers if the products require low
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involvement and are inexpensive. However, Kamins (1989) finds that celebrity endorsers are
able to create positive influence on high involvement products like mobile phones.
However, DeSarbo and Harshman (1985) criticised this model and pointed three major
problems with it. The first drawback they stated was that this model does not provide any
way to deal with the multidimensionality of effects. The second drawback according to them
is that this model ignores the ‗meaning interaction‘ between the celebrity and the brand and
the third drawback states that there is lack of enumeratednorms for different scopes.
Therefore, even though Match-up Hypothesis improvesover some of the limitations of the
Source Effectiveness Models, it still ignoresinfluences of a celebrity endorser's symbolic
meanings in advertisements. With respect to contradictory findings, it is clear that this model
has to go further thancredibility and attractiveness towards a proper fit between the celebrity
and the brand.
THE MEANING TRANSFER MODELS
There are a large number of varied meanings contained in a celebrity. Celebrity endorsers are
more useful for endorsement of brands as they provide consumers with a ‗set of
characteristics‘ that help them in evaluating the brand (Martin, 1996). Advertisers' purpose
for using celebrities to promote brands is that consumers idolize and desire image of
celebrities and advertisershope that consumers will also desirebrandsconnected with
celebrities (Fowles, 1996).
Celebrity endorsements are examples of a general process ofmeaning transfer (McCracken
1989). According to him, there is a route for the movement of cultural meaning ,which
involves three stages; the formation of celebrity image, transfer of meaning from celebrity to
product and finally from product to consumers. It is the consumers who recognise or find a
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similarity between the two, thereby transferring the meaning from the celebrity to the
product. Levy(1959) states that the next step is also carried out by the consumers, who are
able to recognise the symbolic meaning in an advertisement and are then able to transfer them
into a meaning for themselves. In addition, Batra, et al. (1996) finds that people consider their
possessions to be an extension of them and support their identities through what they
purchase.
After the companies have determined the symbolic meaning of their brands and products,
their next step is to select that celebrity who has these characteristics and matches the
meaning and image of their brand. For example, L‘Oreal Paris has chosen Katrina Kaif, to be
their beauty brand ambassador. Katrina Kaif, who is perceived to be a very stunning,
attractive and young lady is chosen as her image is in congruence with that of the brand‘s
symbolic meaning. To further illustrate, Shahrukh Khan, one of the richest and most affluent
actors in Bollywood, is the brand ambassador for Tag Heuer, a big Swiss watch brand, which
is completely in consistence with his image.
To conclude, McCracken (1989)proposes that advertisers should take into account the
cultural meanings a celebrity brings to the advertisement; however the identification of these
meanings depends on the advertisers.
RESEARCH AIM
Since Indian people idolize their celluloid stars (Katyal, 2007), a large number of
endorsements in India use celebrities as their spokespersons. However, research needs to be
done further on what is the most important factor a consumer looks for in a celebrity that is
credibility, attractiveness or expertise. In addition, research also needs to be done on whether
celebrity endorsement, in actual, affects the purchase decision of consumers or not.
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As most of the advertisements are targeted on youth and also because they are usually the
ones on whom advertisements have the most effect, the research has been focused on them.
Focusing on them enables us to understand their feelings, behaviours and attitudes towards
celebrities, spokespersons, and celebrity endorsements in general and also the most current
incidents in the country if any.
Hence, my Research questions are as follows:-
1. What qualities in a celebrity endorser are desirable to a consumer?
2. Do celebrity endorsements affect purchase decisions of consumers?
METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Methodology is used to give a simple and clear idea on what topic the research is being
carried out. In order to justify the chosen method for the purpose of this research, this section
first contains difference between qualitative research methods and quantitative research
methods. Next, it justifies the method chosen. This is then followed by an introduction of the
research samples, after which the method of analysis is discussed.
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO RESEARCH METHODS:- QUANTITATIVE
AND QUALITATIVE
Research is simply defined as a process where questions are asked and their answers are
looked for. In detail, it includes systematic investigation, structured questionnaires, going
through old information and producing new ones as well (Bertrand & Hughes, 2005).
Quantitative analysis contains numbers, statistics, ratios to help measure people‘s attitudes,
thinking and their emotional and mental state (Twycross and Shields, 2004). The questions
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asked usually include how much, how often, how many. It is more commonly used when a
lot is already known about the subject and there is a need to learn more about it and find out
the causal-effect relationship (Kayrooz & Trevitt, 2005). The quantitative paradigm has its
roots in Positivism. Its basic characteristic is based on empirical research, where everything
can be brought down to simple empirical indicators. The main hypothesis here is that just one
truth or reality that exists. Therefore, the one doing the investigation and the thing being
investigated are entirely independent, which helps the researcher study the topic without
influencing it in any way (Sale, Lohfeld and Brazil, 2002).Its major strength is that it can be
easily generalised.
On the other hand, Qualitative analysis is used when something‘s meaning needs to be found.
It doesn‘t make use of numbers, statistics or proportions but instead words and descriptions
(Twycross and Shields, 2004). Instead of testing a hypothesis or measuring something,
qualitative study helps in understanding the topic in detail and on a deeper level (Mayring
2000). Techniques used include interviews and participant observations. The samples chosen
for this purpose are very small, and are not chosen because they necessarily represent the
whole population, but because they can give a lot of valid and important information (Reid,
1996). In contrast to quantitative study‘s positivism, qualitative study is based on
interpretivism (Kuzel and Like, 1991). In other words, it exists on the belief that multiple
truths and realities exist. Also, another difference is that in this study, the investigator and
investigated are not independent, but interact with each other. Its main strength is its ability to
study new phenomenon and such subjects which have not been explored before.
WHY QUALITATIVE DATA FOR THIS RESEARCH
Qualitative research refers to the definitions, metaphors,features,symbols and descriptions of
things (Berg, 2007).
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Qualitative methods help in understanding thosesubjects that are not possible through the use
of quantitative-based investigations. Qualitative research is anapproach that places primary
importance on how people experience and work withinsurroundings that are dynamic and
social.
However, this method is more likely to take place in a naturalsituation (Marshall & Rossman,
1989), implying that topics for research are usually focused on everyday activity as
madechallenging by people going on with their daily routines. (Van Maanen, 1983).
Qualitative research has less chance to impose restrictions on data collection. It is helpful in
providing a general view of the subject being investigated (Patton and Patton,
1990).Qualitative approach is concerned with, how people make sense of the world and how
they observe and experience events from their perspective (Willig, 2001).
Qualitative methodology has been used for this research as one can interact with the
respondents in their own way (Kirk & Miller, 1986). It also gives the advantages of a deep
analysis, and the ability to observe an assortment of features of a social situation (Babbie,
1986). While conducting a face-to-face interview, the interview process can be easily
adjusted. Moreover, by developing questions on the spot, it helps in gaining a deeper insight
into the respondent's beliefs and attitudes. During the process of the interview, it helps the
researcher observe changes in body language and also external factors that might influence
the interviewee's responses. Such data can be important when a participant‘s body language
is observed to be the opposite of what he is saying.
There are thus many benefits of qualitative research because of which it is the research
method chosen for this project. In addition, the views of people on celebrity endorsement are
very subjective, difficult to measure and need a proper detailed explanation for the purpose of
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research. In addition, whatever an interview‘s form, the purpose of qualitative research is to
enter into the respondent‘sperspective and way of thinking (Patton and Patton, 1990).
ZALTMAN METAPHOR ELICITATION TECHNIQUE
For this research project, the method of primary data collection being used is a technique
called the ‗Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique‘, developed by Gerald Zaltman and
Robin Higie Coulter, which was designed basically to improve research in advertising. It is
basically used to surface the mental models that initiate consumer behaviour and thinking and
then use these models in actionable ways using metaphors given by consumers. The
importance of a metaphor," according to Lakoff and Johnson (1980) "is understanding and
experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another". Many of these metaphors are mental
images and most of these are visual(Kosslyn, Koenig, 1992).
This new technique depends on seven basic premises, which makes it possible to provide
valid market information. The first premise being that most of human communication is non-
verbal, which can include para-language, tone or other qualities of speech that determine if
we actually believe what we say or not. The second premise is that even though thoughts are
expressed verbally, they usually occur as images and the combination of a consumer‘s verbal
or non-verbal message which helps them convey deeper meanings. The third premise is that
metaphors are essential for viewing the thoughts and feelings of a consumer, as we can‘t
know anything unless we know what it is not. A fourth premise is that our senses provide us
with important metaphors, so analysing sensory including visual, tactile, auditory provide
insight into the consumers‘ feelings and thoughts. The fifth premise is that consumers have
mental models which represent the stories they have which gives access to their knowledge,
and it is the task of managers to animate stories or mental models among the consumers. The
sixth premise holds that in addition to conscious thoughts, consumers also have hidden
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thoughts that can be accessed using a variety of techniques. The seventh and last premise is
that it is more correct and productive when reason and emotion are considered together than
when one is given importance over the other.
The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique is basically used to understand the images of
brands, products, purchase and life experiences and furthermore. The process of ZMET
begins with at least 20 participants for the project, who, after they have qualified for
participation, are given instructions on the subject. They are then asked to collect or take
pictures indicating what the topic means to them or what reminds them about the topic. The
reason they are asked to collect pictures is that these help exploring the concepts of the
customers (Ball and Smith 1992). Pictures contain some basic concepts, which are first
identified by the customer. After they have identified these, only then can they identify the
deeper concepts of the picture (Smith 1988).
The next interview is scheduled for after about seven to ten days from the first interview. The
next step i.e. the personal interview or the guided conversation is audiotaped. This process
includes different steps, but not all steps are used in all interviews and the inclusion or
exclusion of the steps are based on the nature of the data and the problem and also the way
the data has to be used. The first step in the interview is ‗storytelling‘. As they have enough
time, participants come to the interviews with stories in minds regarding the pictures they
bring and how these relate to the subject topic. And because the customers have collected
their own pictures, it is the customers who are in control of the stimuli during the interview
and not the interviewer. This step helps the interviewer to learn not only people‘s initial
thoughts but also go deeper in the topic.
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In the second step, the participants are asked if they had any issues in finding a particular
picture, which helps to understand the issues that might have come in the mind of the
participant during the process.
The third step is the ‗sorting task‘ where the participants are asked to sort the pictures they‘ve
brought into different piles and then asked to describe each pile, helping in establishing major
themes. There are no restrictions on the number of piles that the pictures can be sorted into
and also the number of pictures that can be put in each pile.
In the fourth step, the participant is asked to choose the image that he/she thinks is the best
representative of their feelings towards the product.
In the next step, the participant is asked for images they think might be the opposite of the
topic in question, as to understand what something is, it is also important to understand what
it is not. This is because any concept contains the trace of its opposite meaning (Brunette and
Wills, 1989).
In the next step, the participant is asked to use senses to convey what the topic means to
them. This is because people think through their senses and such thoughts are images
(MacDougall, 1992). Hence, it is important to capture such thoughts and analyse them. The
participants are asked to tell what is the taste, colour, smell, sound or feeling related to the
topic.
This technique does have some limitations though. Although it identifies factors that
influences consumers and also leads to clarification of both positive and negative
experiences, it does not provide with numbers from the whole population who feel the same.
In addition, the pictures that participants bring to the interview represent images they find
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familiar, which are not however a substitute for thinking about other images that could be
more helpful in accessing the mental model of consumers(Coulter and Zaltman, 1995).
INITIAL INTERVIEW
An initial test was conducted with the help of an Indian student from the University of
Nottingham, to check for any difficulties that may arise in the process. This proved to be of
great help, as it helped the researcher understand that in the case of people who had difficulty
in story-telling, it was best to ask them questions in order to make them talk and understand
their view point, thoughts and feelings. Also, as this method is not commonly used and also
because the researcher is not very experienced in interviewing, it gave the researcher an ease
with the whole process.
SAMPLING STRATEGY
A sample is a collection of people chosen for a given research study (Frankfort-Nachmias,
1997). It basically involves a process of selecting a representative population from the whole
population depending on the study, availability of money and time and also the effort put in
the research study (David, 2005). As it is not easy or practical to study the whole population,
so sampling is an immensely important step during a research project.
The sampling method chosen for this research project is the ‗Judgement Sampling‘, also
known as Purposeful Sampling, in which the researcher selects the most productive sample to
answer the research question(Marshall, 1996). The participants selected are observant
members of the specific community and are able and willing to share their knowledge
(Bernard, 2002). The sampling frame chosen for this purpose were people in India from age
18-24, who were exposed to advertisements, Indian celebrities and who were capable of and
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ready to share their knowledge. This age group was chosen as generally most of the
endorsements are focused on this age group, are aware of what celebrity endorsement and its
concept is, and also because they are mature enough to identify metaphors in pictures, share
their true feelings while telling stories about each picture, answer questions intelligently and
also identify themes. The sample size for the purpose of this study is twenty, as required by
the ZMET.
DATA ANALYSIS
After collection of data, the next step is to analyse it, in order to arrive to a valid conclusion.
As the approach chosen is qualitative, narrative analysis will be used to analyse and interpret
the data. Narrative analysis refers to approaches to different kinds of texts, which have in
common a storied form (Riessman, 1993). They basically are in a story form and represent
way of knowing and communicating (Hinchman and Hinchman, 1997). The narratives were
analysed to determine what metaphors were used by the participants to discuss their thoughts
and feelings about celebrity endorsement. The focus was on metaphors as thoughts are
mainly imaginative and through the analysis of metaphors we can gain better insight into the
participant‘s thoughts.
The method of analysis used here is ‗Thematic Analysis‘. In this method, emphasis is more
on the content of the text that is more on ―what‖ is being said rather than ―how‖ it is being
said. Which means more on what is being ―told‖ rather than on the ―telling‖. The interviews
were audiotaped, transcribed and then analysed to look for meaningful themes.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Four main themes emerged from the analysis of the pictures brought by the respondents.
These were:-
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1. Importance of Celebrity Attractiveness
2. Importance of Celebrity Credibility
3. Importance of Celebrity-Product Match
4. Importance of Meaning Transfer
Theme 1- Importance of Celebrity Attractiveness
The first theme to emerge from the analysis of the images was ―Importance of Celebrity
Attractiveness‖. The following excerpts clarify how the respondents feel about celebrity
attractiveness and how it influences them. Either the nicknames or the initials of the
respondents have been used.
A.S brought three pictures depicting attractive celebrities. The first picture was of Aishwarya
Rai endorsing L‘Oreal, a cosmetic brand. The second picture was of Hrithik Roshan
endorsing Mountain Dew, a soft drink and the third picture of Kareena Kapoor endorsing
Lakme, again a cosmetic brand. He said-
“I think it‟s a very good decision by the company for having chosen Aishwarya to endorse
L’Oreal. She is considered the most beautiful lady in the world.So she has been chosen to
endorse such a big brand and the brand must have immensely benefitted from such a
personality as all the girls want to look like Aishwarya Rai and they would obviously want to
go and buy the product she‟s endorsing.” (Appendix 7, fig.1)
“To be very fair it was a very sensible decision by the company because Hrithik is very
young, smart and energetic. I think he is the handsomest man on this planet.They have chosen
a very right person for this ad and who better than Hrithik. He is everything a man wants to
be.” (Appendix 7, fig. 2)
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“Kareena is perfect for this cosmetic ad. She is very pretty. She is amongst the prettiest stars
in Bollywood, so the company has done a very good job.” (Appendix 7, fig. 3)
Jain brought a picture of Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, endorsing Coca Cola, and
noted:
―Basically as Coca Cola is a carbonated drink, so the company doesn‟t have to show it‟s
features. Hrithik and Aishwarya, both being attractive on screen, people look at them and
buy the product. The company recognises that their drinks are not good for health, and if they
try to show the quality of the product, it will never be successful, so for this they need to use
the attractiveness of the celebrities.”(Appendix 7, fig.4)
The third respondent, Prateek, brought Kareena Kapoor‘s picture endorsing Malabar‘s gold, a
jewellery brand and said:
―This endorsement fits well because Kareena Kapoor is very beautiful and attractive. And
women would like to dress and style like her and try to copy and imitate her, so being a brand
ambassador of gold jewellery, will definitely have an impact on the women target of the
company.”(Appendix 7, fig.5)
The next pictures corresponding to attractiveness was brought by M.S. She brought a picture
of Katrina Kaif endorsing Lux, a beauty soap and said:
―I can empathise with this ad, because she‟s quite pretty to look at and she is quite apt for the
product because her skin is pretty good, not just on screen. Even without makeup she can
endorse the lux ad.” (Appendix 7, fig.6)
The next respondent, Simrat, brought pictures of the products she had bought, where the main
factor was the attractiveness of the celebrity endorsing the product. She brought two images,
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the first being that of a lip gloss which Sonam Kapoor endorses and the next one being that of
a bag which is endorsed by Kareena Kapoor.
“It‟s the lip-gloss which Sonam Kapoor has advertised. This is what I bought when I saw the
advertisement on the television. It really appealed me as she was looking very attractive with
the lip gloss on, so the next thing I did was to buy the lip gloss. She was looking pretty so I
thought it‟s going to look good on anyone.”(Appendix 7, fig.7)
“It‟s the Lavie bag, which is promoted by Kareena Kapoor. I was very unaware of these
bags, but since she‟s been promoting it, I‟ve definitely given a try to these bags and I think
they are worth it.And in this case it was attractiveness which appealed to me.” (Appendix 7,
fig.8)
The next respondent, K.N showed three pictures which included an image of a lady with long
hair, Alia Bhatt endorsing Maybelline and Kareena Kapoor endorsing Lakme.
―The first pictureis of a woman with long hair. It shows feminism. Celebrities have face
beauty and that matters a lot, so when you see a celebrity with long hair, beautiful skin, it
does matter. That‟s why we love them and that‟s why they are onscreen” (Appendix 7, fig.9)
“I really like Alia Bhatt. I am very attracted towards her, like the way she looks on screen.
So, I am very influenced. I just consider that she‟s using the product, that‟s why she‟s looking
like that, so I am going to use it and make myself attractive like her.”(Appendix 7, fig.10)
“I bought this product because of Kareena Kapoor’s attractiveness and she‟s very gorgeous,
so if she‟s endorsing something it influences other people to buy the product.”(Appendix 7
fig.11)
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S.G, showed two more pictures representing attractiveness of celebrities. The first picture
was again of Kareena Kapoor endorsing Lakme, and the next picture of Sonam Kapoor
endorsing Colgate, a toothpaste brand.
―I think Kareena Kapoor is a very attractive actress and when anyone looks at her the first
thing they think is how good her skin is. So I think the fact that she takes care of her skin so
well, I would want to take advice from her, as far as my skin would be concerned. So I would
definitely buy a beauty product that she‟s endorsing.” (Appendix 7, fig.12)
“I think being an actress, any facial aspect be it Sonam Kapoor’s eyes or her teeth is
definitely an important feature. And I think she‟s very beautiful and has a good set of teeth,
so if she‟s endorsing a tooth paste I would definitely go for it.”(Appendix 7, fig.13)
It is quite evident from the above descriptions that for the youth ‗attractiveness‘ plays a major
role. Physical attractiveness is usually used to measure the effectiveness of celebrity
endorsement as it is assumed that whatever is beautiful is good (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster,
1972). All the above responses show that an attractive celebrity creates favourable attitudes
towards the product in the minds of people. However, most, though not all of these images
also show that the attractiveness of the celebrity is most important when the product they are
endorsing is an attractiveness related product, for example, Aishwarya Rai and Kareena
Kapoor‘s beauty are evidently quite important in regard to the brands they are offering, that is
L‘Oreal and Lakme respectively, which are both beauty brands. This result is in congruence
with the study of Kamins (1990), where he noted that the physical attractiveness of the
celebrity was most evitable when he/she was being paired with an attractiveness-related
product. This can also be linked with the study where it was suggested that physical
attractiveness is considered a form of expertise as well (Till & Busler, 2000). So a beautiful
female endorser may be considered an expert on makeup and cosmetics, which she might be
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using to look prettier (Simmers, Damron-Martinez and Haytko, 2009). And this might well be
the case here, in the above pictures, example in the case of Sonam Kapoor and Alia Bhatt
endorsing cosmetic brands.
However, two pictures also depicted attractiveness to be a desirable factor even when the
products being endorsed were not beauty-related products. This was seen especially in the
case of Hrithik Roshan endorsing Mountain dew and Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan
together endorsing Coke.
Mehulkumar (2005), stated that using celebrity endorsers are an effective way to promote
products having high performance or financial risk, that is, high involvement products. But
the opposite was noted by the pictures brought by three participants.
S.G brought three pictures relating to this. The first was of Kareena Kapoor endorsing a Vaio
laptop and she said ―This does not make a lot of sense, because I would not relate a computer
brand with a celebrity like her, who I don‟t know if she‟s tech savvy or not. So as compared
to the other ad of a beauty brand, I would not really be concerned with this one much.”
(Appendix 7 fig.14)
The other two pictures were of Shahrukh Khan. The first image is of him endorsing a tea
brand and the second of him endorsing a car. S.G. noted ― As compared to the image of a tea
brand, this ad may not be that influential because cars are something very expensive as
compared to tea, so a person will not just look at the celebrity who‟s endorsing the product
but they will have to look at various other aspects as well. This is the main difference between
the two products.”(Appendix 7 fig.15 and fig.16)
The next image was brought by Nitin and was that of a laptop endorsed by Ranbir Kapoor.
Nitin noted that ―Whenever I see my laptop, I am reminded of Ranbir Kapoor endorsing it.
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But before buying the product, I have looked for the general specifications of the product,
whether it‟s good or not, after that only I bought it. Not just because of the celebrity
endorsement but because I like the product.” (Appendix 7 fig.17)
These pictures make it clear that celebrity endorsers are more effective at endorsing low
involvement products like tea or cosmetics, but not those products in which high financial or
performance risk is involved. This is in congruence with the study which states that celebrity
endorsers are more effective at promoting low involvement products rather than the high
involvement ones(Baker and Churchill, 1977). Another thing to be noted was that though
‗attractiveness‘ is just not supposed to refer to physical appeal, but also to skills like
intelligence, personality traits or lifestyle (Erdogan, 1999), here, in all the pictures it was the
physical traits of the celebrities that appealed to the respondents the most. Also, even though
all the respondents showed a desirable attitude towards these advertisements having attractive
celebrities, most of them did not show any purchase intention, except for a few.
Theme 2- Importance of Celebrity Credibility
The second theme that developed was that of the importance of credibility of the celebrities
and its influence on the consumers.
T.S brought a picture of Shahrukh Khan endorsing Hyundai cars.
“Shahrukh Khan is a credible source of information as he has been endorsing many
products and he himself owns few cars. I think he uses Hyundai cars as he has mentioned
this in his interviews.” (Appendix-8-fig.18)
Nitin, the next respondent brought two pictures, the first one being of Wonderchef Pan
endorsed by Sanjeev Kapoor, a chef and the second one is that of Boost, an energy drink
endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar, a cricketer.
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―When we see an expert endorsing a particular product, in which they generally have
expertise, on that picture you can see an authentication. So Sanjeev Kapoor is an expert at
cooking, so if he is endorsing a pan, people can trust him. So if someone is endorsing a
product which is based on their living hood, you can authenticate the product.” (Appendix-8-
fig.19)
“Sachin Tendulkar endorses Boost, and he is the perfect person to endorse it as he is very
good in sports. He is the person who rejected 20 million bucks for endorsement of liquor, so
it means he is credible regarding the products he endorses. I‟ll definitely go for the product.”
(Appendix-8-fig.20)
Jain brought two pictures where celebrity credibility was an important factor. The first image
was of M.S. Dhoni, a cricketer endorsing Reebok, a sports brand and the second image was
of Nargis Fakhri endorsing Reebok for women.
“M.S. Dhoni is a sportsman and Reebok is a sports brand, so I think he is a credible
source.” (Appendix-8-fig.21)
“Basically Nargis Fakhri is very fit, though she‟s not a sportsperson. I think she‟s credible
because she uses these shoes in her daily life for dance and aerobics.” (Appendix-8-fig.22)
Simrat brought two pictures corresponding with celebrity credibility. The first image was of
Diana Penty, an actress endorsing a shampoo brand Tresseme and the second image was of
Kareena Kapoor endorsing Geetanjali Jewellers.
―I think Diana Penty has very beautiful hair and everyone‟s going to be attracted by it, the
time I saw that, I thought I‟ll try it with my hair as well and it proved to be good. I think she‟s
credible because she has very beautiful hair herself.” (Appendix-8-fig.23)
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“I have jewellery which I brought from Geetanjali jewellers. It was a time when I was
confused as to where to buy it from because you always think about the worth and purity of
the gold. And I‟ve always Kareena Kapoor advertising for Geetanajli jewellers so it just
influenced me to buy it, because if she‟s promoting something, I don‟t think we can doubt
about the purity. (Appendix-8-fig.24)
G.R showed one picture where this theme was relevant. It was an image of Karishma Kapoor,
an actor endorsing Babyoye.com, which is a website for products for babies.
―Karishma Kapooris a mother and nobody better than her can explain about the baby
products. It makes her a more credible source.” (Appendix-8-fig.25)
The next image was that of Sachin Tendulkar endorsing Adidas.
―Sachin Tendulkar is the God of Cricket, the whole country worships him and he‟s the
perfect person for this campaign. I think he‟s credible and people take his word for it.”
(Appendix-8-fig.26)
Simar, the next respondent, had two pictures to show where this theme was relevant. The first
picture was of Shahrukh Khan.
―Shahrukh is a very big star and also a global star. People have a lot of trust in him and he
speaks with so much conviction that everyone is forced to believe. He has so much fan
following all over the world.” (Appendix-8-fig.27)
The next picture was of Diana Penty again endorsing Tresseme.
―I think Diana Penty is a credible source, not because she‟s a very famous actor but because
I have seen her interviews and I think she can convince people well.” (Appendix-8-fig.28)
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There are two dimensions of source credibility, which include ‗Trustworthiness‘ and
‗Expertise‘. All the pictures described above are thought to be credible advertisements by the
respondents either because of their trust in the endorsers or because of the perceived expertise
of the endorsers. The example of Shahrukh Khan, Diana Penty and Nargis Fakhri being
perceived as ‗credible‘ here, by the respondents is because of the main reason that they
actually use the products they are endorsing. This is in congruence with (Erdogan, 1999) who
states that credibility is created when the endorser is actually perceived to be using the brand
that he endorses.
However, a larger number of pictures were of those celebrity endorsers that are thought to be
an ‗expert‘ in the product they are endorsing. Sanjeev Kapoor is thought to be a credible
source in the ad, as he is a famous chef and so, is perceived to have more knowledge about
kitchen appliances, which creates a credible link between him and the Pan he‘s endorsing.
Similarly, M.S. Dhoni, the captain of Indian cricket team, is perceived to be a credible source
while endorsing Reebok, a sports brand and same in the case of Sachin, a very famous
cricketer, is perceived to be an excellent choice for Adidas, a sports brand and are thus
thought to be credible. These are in congruence with Till and Busler (2000), where they state
that celebrities‘ professional accomplishments and expertise helps create a credible link
between them and the products being endorsed.
Another example when the source was perceived to be credible was in the case of Karishma
Kapoor, an actor and a new mother, endorsing an online shopping website for babies. The
reason here was ‗expertise‘ again, however not because of her occupation, but because of her
role as a mother in her real life, which makes the advertisement more believable. These
examples were in correspondence with the Aaker and Myers (1987), who stated that an
expert source is more persuasive.
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Sachin Tendulkar is perceived to be a credible source as he denied endorsing a liquor brand
even though he was offered a sum of 2 billion to do it. This has made him a very trustworthy
source in the eyes of public and now any product he endorses can be accepted easily by the
public, like shown by one of the respondents where he said he‘ll buy any product Sachin
Tendulkar endorses, because now, he‘s perceived to a trustworthy source. Hence,
‗Trustworthiness‘ is the major determining factor of source credibility (Friedman and
Friedman, 1978), where trustworthiness refers to a person‘s integrity and honesty (Erdogan,
1999). In this example, it is quite evident that trustworthiness does indeed affect credibility of
the source and in this case purchase decisions as well, which however, contrasts to Ohanion‘s
(1991) view that trustworthiness is not related to purchase intentions of a consumer.
Another aspect which came to light was that the respondents did not relate just
‗trustworthiness‘ or ‗expertise‘ to credibility, but a popular face, a celebrity with a star status
was also deemed to be a credible source, like evident through the picture of Kareena Kapoor
endorsing a jewellery brand, where the respondent stated that the purity of the jewellery
could not be doubted because she was endorsing it. Another example was of Shahrukh Khan
being termed ‗credible‘ by a respondent because he‘s a famous star and speaks with a lot of
conviction.
Theme 3- Celebrity-Product Match
J.S. brought one picture relevant to this theme, which was of Virat Kohli, a cricketer,
endorsing Nike, a sports brand.
“Nike is a sports brand. It sponsors India team‟s jersey. Virat Kohli and Nike make a very
good match, as Virat Kohli is a very daring type of cricketer, gives his 100% whenever he
goes on the pitch to play for the team. And Nike also says „Risk Everything‟. So they make a
perfect match and that‟s why I like it.” (Appendix-9-fig.29)
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A.S, the next respondent‘s threepictures were very relevant to this theme. The first image was
that of Salman Khan, a Bollywood actor, endorsing Wheel, a detergent brand:
―It doesn‟t feel very plausible to me to see Salman Khan endorsing a detergent powder. I
don‟t think he might have ever felt and seen and touched a detergent powder in his life. He is
a very rich and busy guy to wash the clothes himself, so I don‟t think I can relate him with a
detergent powder. He is a very macho man on screen and has a larger than life image and
these I don‟t think go hand in hand with his image which is wheel detergent powder. So I
cannot correlate with him. When I see the Wheel ad, I hardly remember the detergent
powder, its Salman all the way. There‟s no recall. Since he has a good physique, he should
endorse medicines, multivitamins or some strength building products like protein powder, or
maybe a motorcycle, or some other macho thing.” (Appendix-9-fig.30)
The next image was of John Abraham, a Bollywood actor, endorsing Garnier Men, a fairness
cream.
―Even though I don‟t like this idea of John Abraham having advocated the idea of fairness
creams, but still I think people in general would want to buy it because he‟s a very handsome
man and a very successful hero. People would tend to buy this fairness cream and the
company must have benefitted in terms of sale by recruiting this particular model. It was a
good decision by the company.” (Appendix-9-fig.31)
The next image was of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachan endorsing Prestige cooker, a
kitchen appliance.
―I can really laugh at this ad. Aishwarya is trotting about the globe. One day she‟s here, the
next day she‟s there. I don‟t really feel that she has time to cook and that to in a cooker. I
can‟t imagine her cooking food in her kitchen. I don‟t think it‟s a good ad. It doesn‟t sound
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and feel very real. The company has not chosen the models very sensibly.” (Appendix-9-
fig.32)
The next respondent, Prateek‘s pictures were very evident of this theme. The first picture was
that of Akshay Kumar, endorsing Canada‘s tourism.
―I feel that he‟s not the perfect guy to endorse the tourism of Canada because being an
Indian he should actually endorse some state of India itself.” (Appendix-9-fig.33)
The next image was that of Shahrukh Khan endorsing Lux, a beauty soap for women.
―I think this ad is stupid because Lux is actually a soap which is meant to be used by ladies.
Being a very successful actor and endorsing this soap, I think the company has just hired him
for his image so that they can sell the product but the ad is not that effective don‟t think the
product matches with his personality because lux is a product to be used by ladies and
Shahrukh Khan being a top actor of Bollywood is endorsing this ad.” (Appendix-9-fig.34)
The next two images were of Dhoni, in the first he was seen endorsing Pepsi, a soft drink
brand and in the second he was endorsing Reebok, a sports brand.
―Dhoni is not a perfect fit for this ad, because I think being a sportsman he should endorse
products related to sports or something that he does in his daily life. Like the other photo of
Dhoni endorsing Reebok and this fits him perfectly because being a sportsman and Reebok is
also a sports brand, so this suits him perfectly. There are many sportsmen who are getting
involved with cola companies to endorse the products, but according to me I think they
should endorse the products which are related to their field.” (Appendix-9-fig.35 and fig.36)
The next image he brought was of Sachin Tendulkar, a cricketer, endorsing Ujala, a detergent
brand.
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―Sachin Tendulkar is also a sportsman and should endorse something to his field, that is
sports. And that‟s the reason this ad does not fit. According to me a brand like Ujala should
be endorsed by a lady who uses the product on daily basis which would prove to be more
effective.” (Appendix 9-fig.37)
Simrat had two pictures to show where the importance of a match of the product and the
celebrity were quite important for her. The first one image was that of Katrina Kaif endorsing
Olay, a beauty product.
―I think it matches Katrina Kaif’s personality because she has flawless skin so I thought if
Olay gives that actual effect to the skin, I thought I‟ll give it a try.”(Appendix-9-fig.38)
The next image was of Priyanka Chopra endorsing oat biscuits. ―This is the image of the
biscuits that I consume, the oat biscuits promoted by Priyanka Chopra. She‟s my favourite
celebrity and she‟s very fit, so if she‟s endorsing a slimming product, I‟ll go for it.”
(Appendix-9-fig.39)
The next respondent K.N. had one picture which represented a favourable attitude when the
product and the image of the celebrity matched, which was of Deepika Padukone endorsing
Kellogg‘s Special K .―I am very diet conscious. If you see Deepika, she‟s a fitness freak,
she‟s got a very healthy living lifestyle, and she‟s very fit. So when you see a woman celebrity
endorsing such a product, its specially a tendency with the girls they feel like that if the
actress is eating that product that‟s why she‟s fit. She‟s fit for the advertisement and when
you see an advertisement fit for the product you feel like it‟s a true thing and you trust the
advertisement.” (Appendix-9-fig.40)
The next respondent, S.G. brought three pictures which represented this theme. The first
picture was of Kareena Kapoor endorsing a Vaio laptop.
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―I think this does not make much sense for Kareena Kapoorto be doing such an endorsement
because I would not relate a computer brand with a celebrity like her who I do not know is
tech savvy or not would not be concerned with this one as much.” (Appendix-9-fig.41)
The next image was of Kajol, an actress endorsing Olay, a beauty brand.
―It‟s very common for actresses to be endorsing beauty products but this one does not make
any sense as Kareena Kapoor endorsing a beauty product, because relatively Kajol is not as
attractive and her complexion, her facial features, she‟s not the most attractive celebrity you
can find and owing to her wheatish complexion, I think she does not do justice to the brand,
so it would not influence me that much.” (Appendix-9-fig.42)
The next image was of Hrithik Roshan, an actor, endorsing Mountain Dew, a soft drink.
―I think the celebrity does not exactly match or suit the product because he is very attractive
and if he was endorsing a clothing brand or a gym, I would probably pay attention, but
mountain dew is a product which does not suit his image and he tends to overshadow the
product.”(Appendix-9-fig.43)
The next respondent, G.R. brought four images representing this theme. The first one was of
Deepika Padukone endorsing Lux, a beauty soap.
―I think she‟s very pretty and attractive and the product suits her. The way she puts it, she
puts it in a very elegant way and not in a vulgar way. So it‟s a very good thing. And since the
youth looks up to her, so she‟s creating a lot of brand awareness.” (Appendix-9-fig.44)
The next image was that of Akshay Kumar endorsing Sugarfree, a low calorie sweetener.
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―As we have heard from his interviews, he‟s a person who has a very healthy lifestyle, so I
think this product is perfect to be endorsed by him because he preaches of healthy lifestyle.”
(Appendix-9-fig.45)
The next image was of Virat Kohli endorsing Celkon Mobile Phone.
―It‟s a very baseless ad as it doesn‟t make sense because when you consider a sportstar, you
connect him with sports activities rather than a phone.” (Appendix-9-fig.46)
The next image was of Dia Mirza, an actress, endorsing Wild Stone Red, a men‘s deodorant.
―It‟s a very dumb advertisement, a woman endorsing a men‟s deo as it doesn‟t make sense.
It‟s not creating any awareness either”. (Appendix-9-fig.47)
The above pictures are in congruence with the study that whether the celebrity and the brand
match, is determined by the level of perceived ‗fit‘ between the brand features and the
celebrity image (Misra, 1990). The respondents seemed to like and show more inclination
towards those advertisements where the image of the celebrity matched with that of the
product being endorsed and showed a dislike to those endorsements where the endorser did
not seem to fit with the product at all. Respondents liked the advertisement where the
celebrity was endorsing a product related to the field they actually belong to, like in the case
of Virat Kohli endorsing Nike and Dhoni endorsing Reebok, both of them being sportsman
and both the brands being sports brands. This result is in correspondence with the study that
if there is a match between the company‘s product and celebrity‘s reputation and line of
work, advertisers get the benefit of fame and the benefit of match from it (Bertrand and Todd,
1992).
Another outcome was that attractive celebrities were found to be have a proper match with
products that are used to enhance one‘s attractiveness (Kamins, 1990), for example John
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Abraham was perceived to be a perfect face for Garnier‘s fairness cream and Deepika
Padukone, a very pretty actress was perceived to fit best for Lux, a beauty soap, and also,
Katrina Kaif, a very beautiful celebrity was again thought to match the beauty brand, Olay.
However, something to be noted was that according to the respondents, Shahrukh Khan was
misfit for endorsing a female soap and even Dia Mirza was not perceived to be a good choice
for endorsing a men‘s deodorant. No match was seen in these cases, even though both
Shahrukh Khan and Dia Mirza are very attractive and both were endorsing attractiveness-
enhancing products. The possible reasons for this could be that the customers could not see
what the company was trying to portray by using these two celebrities in the respective
endorsements. What the company wanted to portray was possibly that by using these
products, one‘s attractiveness increases, which would lead to more men/women getting
attracted towards the person, but if it wasn‘t perceived to be a proper match by the customers,
then it wasn‘t a very successful advertisement (Temperley and Tangen, 2006).
Other pictures that were liked by the respondents included fit and healthy celebrities
endorsing fitness products. This is similar to attractive celebrities endorsing attractiveness
related products. In this case, the examples shown were that of Akshay Kumar endorsing
Sugarfree, Priyanka Chopra endorsing oat biscuits and Deepika Padukone endorsing a
healthy cereal.
Another outcome was the unfavourable attitude of respondents when they saw an
advertisement of an endorser endorsing a product, which according to them, did not match
each other at all. This was clear in the advertisement of Salman Khan endorsing a detergent
powder, where the respondent thought that the celebrity and the product did not ‗fit‘ with
each other, and also did not have any recall, which is in correspondence with Evans (1988),
where he says that if celebrities do not have a specific relationship with the product being
endorsed, it could produce the ‗Vampire effect‘, which occurs when the audience remembers
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the celebrity and not the product. This was also observed in the advertisement of Katrina Kaif
endorsing Berger Paints as well as the endorsement of Hrithik Roshan endorsing a soft drink.
The respondents noted that in all these ads, the celebrities were overshadowing the product.
According to another participant, who had said that she would buy Lakme after looking at
how beautiful Kareena Kapoor looked in the advertisement, said that it did not have much
impact when Kareena Kapoor was seen endorsing a laptop. This was due to the reason that
Kareena Kapoor‘s not seen as a very tech-savvy person. Another explanation for this could
be that celebrity endorsements work better when the product being endorsed is a low-
involvement product (Callcoat and Phillips, 1996).
In addition, the respondents did not seem to like some other endorsements, which included
Sachin Tendulkar endorsing a detergent brand, Dhoni endorsing a soft drink and Kajol
endorsing a beauty brand. These endorsements, according to the respondents, were examples
of sheer mismatch between the product and the celebrity, because of the celebrity‘s image not
fitting with the product‘s features. This was because they saw no association between a
cricketer and a detergent or a soft drink or a comparatively less attractive celebrity with a
beauty brand. Consumers expect congruency between the image of the celebrity and the
endorsed products (O‘Mahony and Meenaghan, 1997) and there was none to be seen here.
THEME 4- IMPORTANCE OF MEANING TRANSFER
J.S brought a picture of Akshay Kumar endorsing Thumsup, a soft drink.
“Thumsup is a soft drink, which is mainly a manly drink and reminds us of daring attitudes
and it suits with Akshay Kumar‟s attitude because of the image created by him. He has done
very daring reality shows and his movies are also action packed. So this makes a brilliant
match.‖ (Appendix-10-fig.48)
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The next image was of Katrina Kaif endorsing Berger Paints.
―I think the company hasn‟t chosen the perfect model, but still Katrina‟s a good choice. She‟s
right now growing great tons, enjoys a lot of popularity among the masses and whatever
products she‟s endorsing will be accepted by the masses. She‟s a top heroine and Berger
paints is a premium brand, a high end brand. So when I want to use a high-end brand for my
house, then I would obviously like to follow Katrina, who‟s very rich, very affluent. The
company did the right thing by choosing Katrina who has an image of a very rich lady, very
pretty and a top heroine and I can identify with this thing.‖ (Appendix-10-fig.49)
The next respondent Jain, showed a picture where this theme was very evident. It was a
picture of Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan endorsing De‘décor, a home furnishings brand.
―Shahrukh has a very decorated house. Actually his lifestyle is very different and earns in
billions and when he endorses such a product, it means that product is completely different
from the other products. Every Indian has a wish to live like Shahrukh.” (Appendix-10-
fig.50)
The next image was of Aishwarya Rai, endorsing Lodha‘s Park, a real estate company in
Bombay.
“I feel that this is very perfect and the personality of Aishwarya Rai is very flamboyant and
Lodha‟s are mainly targeting the upper class people, so matching these two I feel that this is
the perfect image the public will see. It depends on the person that how successful he or she
is. So I feel Aishwary Rai is already very successful in what she‟s done so I think it matches
with the ad” (Appendix-10,fig.51)
Rashi, the next respondent brought a picture which was related to this theme. The picture was
that of Aishwarya Rai endorsing Longines watches.
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“I think it‟s a perfect match as she personifies beauty and these watches are high-
end.”(Appendix-10, fig.52)
The next respondent again had to show the picture of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachan
endorsing Prestige cooker and said:
―The reason why I felt this ad is quite funny is you can‟t really imagine Aishwarya Rai and
Abhsihek Bachan cooking together. I don‟t think those two have any time to cook for
themselves, endorsing a cooker was quite silly. You need to empathise with the advertisement,
not really feel oh this celebrity is doing it, I want to do it too. Rather than that if they had got
an actual housewife I would have been more influenced by it. I would rather see them
endorse a beauty product or clothing line but never a kitchen appliance.”(Appendix-10,
fig.53)
The observation gained from the analysis of the above responses signifies how consumers
relate the celebrity to the brand and how they transfer meaning from the celebrity to the
brand. The first example of Akshay Kumar, matching the image of the soft drink, which
portrays the image of a ‗manly‘ or ‗macho‘ drink, has a tagline which says ‗Risk Everything‘,
is because Akshay Kumar is perceived to be a very daring hero, due to his roles in the
movies, which are mostly all action packed and also because of the reality shows he has
anchored, like ‗Khatron ke Khiladi‘ which is the Indian version of ‗Fear Factor‘. His image
leads the customers to believe that Thumsup is a drink for daring, macho men, though it‘s
just a simple soft drink. Hence, Akshay Kumar offered meaning of power from his character,
into the endorsement (Schlecht, 2003).
The next image of Katrina Kaif ,endorsing a paint brand shows that according to the
respondent, Katrina‘s image is that of an immensely rich and powerful lady, a very successful
and popular actor, because of which, the respondent likes the ad and says that if needed, he
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would be very likely to go for this brand because of this reason. The product instantly
becomes a high end one in the mind of the consumer because of the celebrity‘s
characteristics. Even though the same advertisement was thought to be a mismatch between
the product and the celebrity by another respondent, who thought that Katrina should stick to
endorsing beauty products, it was perceived to be an excellent advertisement by this
respondent. This is because of the reason that a famous person represents not one single
meaning, but a variety of meanings (McCracken, 1989), which for one customer can be
beauty and for another customer can be success, and is up to the customer to identify these
symbolic meanings.
The next image, of Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan, endorsing a home furnishings brand, is
evident of this theme as Shahrukh is the most famous actor of Bollywood, earns in billions
and is considered to be amongst the richest people in India. His residence is one of the most
expensive ones in India worth approximately 200 million pounds. His lifestyle, as every
Indian knows is very prosperous, and every Indian indeed, does wish to live like him
someday. And when he is seen as the face of a home furnishings brand, the brand
automatically becomes a very high-end one in the minds of the audience. The ad itself is
designed to suggest the similarity between the endorser and the brand (McCracken, 1989).
And as consumers are always looking for consumer goods which can fashion their home and
other areas of the world they live in (Tian and Belk, 2005), this ad tends to be very
successful.
The next two images, both of Aishwarya Rai, endorsing a real estate company in the first one
and a luxury watch in the other one are again examples of this theme. Aishwarya Rai, again,
is a very beautiful actress, but along with that she‘s a very successful and rich person as well.
She has this flamboyant personality, which people relate to the products being endorsed in
these pictures. The real estate project in Bombay is worth approximately 1600 million pounds
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and Longines, as we all know, is a luxury brand. Aishwarya Rai endorsing it gives an
additional meaning to the brands, of lushness and extravagance.
The last image, relevant to this theme, was of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachan. This
couple enjoys a lot of popularity in India, because of their success in their field, that is acting,
and also because of their affluence and wealth. According to the respondent, one could not
empathise with this ad, as one could not imagine a billionaire like Aishwarya Rai, cooking in
a kitchen that too with her husband, as everyone recognizes how busy they are. Therefore, the
meanings possessed in the celebrities, of beauty, of affluence and wealth could not be related
or transferred to the product being endorsed, in this case, a kitchen appliance. The respondent
noted that instead, if a housewife had endorsed it, the endorsement would have made more
sense. It could also be because she has always endorsed beauty or luxury brands and this one
did not match with her earlier promotion campaigns (Newsom, 2000).
Overall, celebrities represent an ‗inspirational‘ figure to the consumers, like seen in the case
of Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai (when endorsing luxury brands). This is because
consumers are constantly trying to build their self in the world, and so look up to those
celebrities who have already achieved this (McCracken, 1989). Both these celebrities have
reached that position which motivates consumers to work hard and possibly achieve it too,
like in this case; have a nice house or a nice watch.
VAMPIRE EFFECT (OVERSHADOWING)
Whenever, a celebrity is used to endorse a product or a brand, there is permanently a risk of
the celebrity overshadowing the brand. Some of the respondent‘s pictures and replies proved
that this does happen, especially when the celebrity in question is very attractive. The
examples of the pictures shown by respondents where this theme was observed included the
picture of Salman Khan endorsing a detergent brand and Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai
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endorsing Coca Cola, a soft drink. The other pictures, where the respondent thought that the
brand was being overshadowed by the product included the picture of Deepika Padukone
endorsing Nescafe coffee and Katrina Kaif endorsing Berger Paints. Two respondents
thought that in the endorsement of Slice by Katrina Kaif, the main focus is usually on Katrina
Kaif, whenever you see the endorsement.
―Nescafe has shown Deepika Padukone‟s attractiveness on screen more than the features of
the product, which doesn‟t work”. (Appendix-11, fig.54)
“Instead of taking in the image of the paints, people look more at Katrina Kaif”. (Appendix-
11, fig.55)
“It‟s basically an ad of a juice, but you end up looking at Katrina who‟s looking extremely
dazzling in the advertisement. You don‟t look at Slice.” (Appendix 11, fig.56)
The above statements exemplify how celebrities overshadow the product, especially when
they do not match the brand‘s features. The next picture was of Kareena Kapoor endorsing
Malabar Gold, a jewellery brand. (Appendix 11, fig.57) Consumers pay so much attention on
the celebrity that they fail to notice the brand being endorsed (Rossiter and Percy, 1987).One
respondent said that ―I do feel that apart from looking at the product that the company‟s
trying to sell, people look at her and get carried away.”The consumers are so absorbed by
the celebrity on screen, that the brand being endorsed gets neglected (Erdogan, 1999). This
leads to lack of clarity for consumers, because the relation between the celebrity and the
brand is almost lost (Evans, 1988).
However, another respondent, who brought a picture of Aishwarya Rai endorsing Kalyan
Jewellers, (Appendix 11, and fig.58), said that she did not overshadow the brand, even
though she‘s very pretty and glamorous, because the brand being endorsed is equally
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good.But this was the only one exception, rest all thought that celebrities tend to overshadow
the product, especially if they are very attractive or if they do not match the product‘s image.
CHANGING DEFINITION OF BEAUTY
Another surprising observation that came up from the analysis of these interviews was the
subject of beauty, which according to the respondents was being redefined by celebrities and
endorsements. Celebrities, shown onscreen are usually very fair skinned, have straight hair,
the perfect features and the perfect body. The products, used to enhance attractiveness, are
endorsed by celebrities,who possess ‗perfect beauty‘, which is not achievable by the common
people, which might affect their self-esteem and confidence. Another finding which came to
light was the influence of this new definition of beauty on little children, especially on little
girls, which is affecting their innocence and making them conscious about their looks at a
very young age. This observation was very evident from the interviews of the respondents.
One respondent brought a picture of a little girl with a toy in hand, with the face of the girl all
made up. ―This picture represents a young girl, who‟s brought into the adult world, by using
cosmetics made for women and not for children like her. Little girls like her are badly
influenced by endorsements which make them want to look like celebrities. This affects their
innocence and self-esteem as well.” (Appendix 12, fig.59) The next respondent said in regard
to John Abraham endorsing a fairness cream (Appendix 12, fig.60) that ―I don‟t think that a
big celebrity should be doing fairness creams ads, as this is something I correlate with
apartheid. Had it been some moisturizing cream I would have loved to buy it but I don‟t
really believe that fairness increases or decreases your beauty”. The next respondent brought
two images to show regarding this topic. The first image was of a girl looking into a mirror.
(Appendix 12, fig.61) ―This picture reminds me of a girl who‟s looking into the mirror and
feeling that she‟s not good looking or fit to be in this world. So, it is showing her alter image
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which is not true. I chose this particular image which is not true. I chose this picture because
I think celebrities these days are making people feel low about themselves because of all their
size zero and perfect skin image that they have given about themselves. I think people want to
follow them because of which they don‟t have a good image about themselves, because of
which teenagers of late are very much prone to anorexia, bulimia and many such eating
disorders.” Another picture which she brought was of a little girl with a doll in her hand,
whose face was made up with cosmetics. (Appendix 12, fig.62) ―I just shows how kids are so
affected by makeup that the things they usually play with, they want to make it beautiful as
well. Even though it‟s very superficial, a clean doll is given to them and all they do is take out
their mother‟s makeup and just pour it all over the face.I think celebrity endorsements are
affecting children, because kids these days are quite addicted to television, videogames and
all other visual communication.” The next respondent also had two pictures to show
regarding this. The first picture was of a mirror and second was that of a toy. ―I think a
mirror symbolizes vanity because all these ads and endorsements are basically trying to
endorse beauty, so I think people have started getting more beauty conscious and not just
being the way they are.(Appendix 12, fig.63)Regarding the toy she said ―Even children are
not spared when it comes to celebrity endorsed products, so the toy just symbolizes the
innocence of early life, where children are not under much pressure and they are just
themselves.”(Appendix 12, fig.64) The last picture where this theme was evident was the
picture of a closeup of a lipstick and mascara and their blurred reflection in a mirror. ―It
basically shows that the nature of the cosmetic industry is changing, they are redefining
beauty, as according to me you don‟t have to have a straight nose or a light skin tone or
straight hair or done up eyebrows or the perfect teeth to be beautiful. Everyone‟s beautiful in
their own special way.” (Appendix 12, fig.65)
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These were some of the arguments that the respondents laid down about how the concept of
using celebrities has redefined beauty, as well as how this affects the self-image and self-
esteem of many people.
PURCHASE DECISION
Even though the respondents reacted positively towards endorsements and showed a positive
attitude towards them, the analysis showed that this did not necessarily mean that it would
lead to the purchase decision of the customer. This may be because a favourable attitude
towards endorsements or brands, do not compulsorily translate into purchase intentions (Till
and Busler, 1998) as it seems that celebrity endorsements have more effect on cognitive
rather than behavioural components (Fireworker and Fiedman, 1977). Out of twenty
participants, thirteen said that they wouldn‘t buy a product just because their favourite
celebrity was endorsing it, whereas only 5 people said that they would buy the product if their
favourite celebrity was endorsing it. The rest two said that they weren‘t sure.
―Before buying a product I usually go for the brand name and quality of the product and if it
suits my budget.”
“I think before buying a product it‟s important to go for the quality of the product and not the
celebrity.”
“For me, the product‟s features, cost effectiveness and the technology the product is using.”
“I am very brand loyal so I don‟t think any celebrity can make me or prevent me from buying
a product.”
“Only if the product is credible enough, I‟ll buy it.”
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“Depends on the product, if it‟s not suiting me I won‟t buy it even if my favourite celebrity
was endorsing it.”
“Depends on the product, not on the celebs in it.”
“As a consumer I will focus more on the product than the actor or actress onscreen.”
All the respondents who said that their purchase decisions are not affected by celebrities said
they focus more on the product, the brand and the features, which was opposite to what the 5
respondents said. This result shows that there is no major difference in attitude towards the
brand being endorsed and intentions to purchase it, between non-celebrity and celebrity
endorsement situations (Mehta, 1994).
The responses from the participants who said that they will definitely buy the products being
endorsed by their favourite celebrities because ―The product will have credibility and if
someone like Shahrukh Khan is endorsing the product, I would be inclined to purchase it.”
“If somebody else is endorsing the product, I may take sometime in endorsing it, but when
Sachin Tendulkar is endorsing it, I am more than inclined to purchase it.”
All the participants who said that their purchase decisions are affected by celebrity
endorsements said that it‘s because they trust or like the celebrity so much that they would
buy the products they are endorsing.
MISSING LINK
After each participant described the story and relevance of each picture, they were then
asked if there was a particular picture that they wanted to find, but could not find. Out of the
twenty participants, nine of them responded that they didn‘t have any difficulty in finding the
pictures and that they got all the pictures they wanted to find. However, two of them said that
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they could not find pictures of a celebrity who actually uses the product he/she endorses.
Another two participants responded that they were looking for a picture in which two or more
contemporary actors were endorsing a brand together but could not find such a picture. The
pictures which the other respondents could not find were related to celebrities endorsing or
campaigning for a social cause. For example, one participant said that she could not find any
picture of a celebrity campaigning for saving the nature and environment. Another participant
said that she could not find a picture of a star endorsing an N.G.O, whereas another
participant specified that she wanted to, but could not find a picture of Shahrukh Khan,
endorsing a social cause. Another picture which a respondent wanted to find was Katrina
Kaif endorsing a gym or a fitness product and yet another respondent said he wanted to find a
picture of Salman Khan endorsing a product, but both these respondents could not find these
pictures.
The most desired image which the majority of people had trouble finding was that of
celebrities endorsing social causes. This implies that respondents recognise how influential
and famous these figures are and want them to endorse social causes, so that they have an
effect on the audience.
Best Representative Image
The respondents were next asked to pick the picture, which according to them was the most
representative. The first respondent stated that according to him, Akshay Kumar endorsing
ThumsUp was the best representative image as in his words ―they make a perfect match.
The next best representative picture was of Aishwarya Rai endorsing Loreal, a cosmetic
brand. ―It‟s a good decision on the company‟s part to choose Aishwarya for this particular
product as she is considered most beautiful lady in the world.”
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The next participant chose the picture of Sachin Tendulkar endorsing Boost as the most
representative as ―he is endorsing something of his field, like he is endorsing boost which
gives energy for playing sports.‖
The next participant, said it was the picture of Aishwarya Rai endorsing Lodha‘s, a real-estate
company in Bombay. ―Because Lodha‟s is meant for the upper class people, and Aishwarya
Rai has developed a personality surrounding that area, I feel this endorsement is perfect,
because her personality is very flamboyant.”
A picture of Priyanka Chopra endorsing oat biscuits was chosen as the most representative
image by the next participant as, ―and she‟s very fit as well, so if she‟s endorsing a fitness
product, I‟ll definitely buy it.”
The next participant chose a picture of Kareena Kapoor endorsing Lakme brand, as best
representing celebrity endorsement. ―The fact that she‟s so beautiful herself, so when she
recommends a beauty product, not just her attractiveness counts but also her credibility.”
Babyoye.com, a website for baby products, endorsed by Karishma Kapoor, was the best
representative picture chosen by the next respondent, as ―she is a mother, and no one except
her can explain about the baby products.”
The best representative picture chosen by the last respondent was Priyanka Chopra
campaigning for female nutrition and against female foeticide, ―A perfect match, as she is a
very independent woman. The whole country‟s proud of her, she has brought laurels to the
country and she definitely personifies woman empowerment.”(Appendix 13, fig. 66)
The analysis of the best representative pictures showed that most of the respondents chose
those pictures as the best representative, where the celebrity matched the product‘s image. It
is evident that according to the respondents, the best advertisements, or advertisements that
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leave an impact are the ones in which there is a perfect fit between the product and the
celebrity, maybe because it leads to greater brand credibility and also greater recall.
However, only one respondent chose a picture that was based on the attractiveness of the
endorser, as the best representative, that of a pink rose, which for the respondent symbolised
beauty and freshness. And again only one respondent chose a picture where the source was
thought to be credible, which was a picture of a father holding a son‘s hand, which
symbolised guidance from a credible source. Two pictures that were chosen to be best
representative by respondents included the image of a little girl with a doll and of a toy, both
representing a lost childhood and innocence. Another picture chosen to be the best
representative was of a lipstick‘s reflection in the mirror which symbolizes again the
redefinition of beauty by the cosmetic industry. Hence, the analysis signifies the importance
of a proper match up and also the negative influence of the beauty industry.
OPPOSITE IMAGES
Next, the participants were asked for an opposite image of the concept of celebrity
endorsements according to them. Three respondents said that according to them the Vodafone
endorsement having Zoozoos (animated characters) were opposite images (Appendix 13,
fig.67)
―this particular ad doesn‟t have any celebrity endorsing it, but still it‟s a very successful ad,
so it‟s an opposite image for me.”
“One picture that comes in my mind is the Vodafone ad, in which they use the characters
Zoozoos, there is no involvement of celebrities, but definitely it attracts.”
I think it would be of Vodafone Zoozoos. I think that was an advertisement without a celebrity
that worked very well."
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For these respondents, the opposite image was that of a Vodafone advertisement, where the
company has used animated characters instead of celebrities. Even though it has not used
celebrities, it‘s still a very popular and successful ad.
The other respondents‘ opposite images were based on their liking or disliking the idea of
celebrity endorsements. The respondents who disliked celebrity endorsements gave positive
pictures as an opposite image for the concept of celebrity endorsement according to them.
Two respondents said that the opposite image for them was a glass with clear water as
“I don‟t think they are very transparent, unlike a clean glass of water, which is very
transparent”.For these respondents, celebrity endorsements are not the whole truth and are a
mixture of both false and true elements, so for them the opposite image is of a clear glass of
water.
Two more respondents said that according to them the opposite image was that of a baby,
―They are unaware from advertisements, away from materialism. A baby is just himself and I
think this is the opposite image.‖ According to them, celebrity endorsements negatively affect
people, increase their desires and make them hedonistic, whereas a baby is away from these
things and is not affected by such endorsements.‖
The participants that liked celebrity endorsements chose images that were negative and not
desirable in the least. The next participant replied that according to him the opposite image
was of stagnant water. ―Stagnant water which means no movement and no growth." For him,
celebrity endorsement represents a positive change for people, which helps them become
better.
The next participant, when asked about an opposite image, said that in her opinion, the image
of dark clouds was opposite to the concept of celebrity development. ―Dark clouds symbolize
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despair, dark and gloomy days and helplessness whereas celebrity endorsements symbolize
hope and better changes in life and happiness.” For this respondent, the concept of celebrity
endorsement signifies hope and positive changes, whereas clouds symbolize hopelessness.
SENSES
When the respondents were asked for different sensory images of celebrity endorsement, that
is what would celebrity endorsement feel like to them if they could smell, look, hear, taste
and feel it, the answers were quite interesting.
First each respondent was asked that if celebrity endorsement was a sound, what would it be,
to that the participants had quite distinctive replies. Most of the people had negative replies to
it. Some said that for them the sound would be like sounds of ‗loud noises, loud television,
lots of people typing together, like a storm, strong winds, a plane flying very close, lots of
people talking or singing at the same time and heavy rainfall‘.
―Loud noises, because all the celebrities are promoting their products, which doesn‟t make
any sense as they are not true”
“Sounds like a plane overhead or flying really low as it makes a lot of noise and is really
loud.”
“Loud television because there are many ads on television and the television is flooded with
different ads and celebrities endorsing ads so people tend to get confused.”
“Heavy rain because there are lots of advertisements on tv and lots of celebrities endorsing
them.”
“Lots of hushed voices speaking together because there are so many endorsements of so
many different brands but of the same category.”
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“Like a boring lecture, it keeps coming on the television and it‟s boring now.”
“Sounds like rainfall as I am very neutral about it.”
One respondent said that celebrity endorsements are hurting to the ears. ―It feels like my ears
are hurting. They are just talking don‟t think they mean anything.”
Respondents who were in the favour of celebrity endorsement had quite interesting replies as
well.
―For me it‟s like a baby‟s voice as it‟s so pure and soothing to the ears.”
“It‟s like a nice melodious music or tone.”
It was interesting to note that though most of the respondents like the concept of celebrity
endorsement, most of them related negative voices with it. The voices associated by them
with celebrity endorsements were loud, strong and unpleasant. This is possibly due to the fact
that there are so many brands trying to get their products noticed and so many endorsers
promoting these brands, that all together they create chaos, confusion and also monotony
because of all brands using celebrities to endorse their products. Only two people related it
with pleasant voices, as they very much like the idea of celebrity endorsements and also the
celebrities that endorse the product.
TASTE
When the respondents were asked how the celebrity endorsement concept tasted to them, the
responses were again quite varying. A lot of respondents said that for them, the taste would
be that of desserts or chocolates.
―It tastes as sweet and as indulging like desserts.”
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“Tastes like desserts. Desserts are indulging even if you know they are not very good for
health.”
“Like desserts, as they are very indulging.”
“Tastes like desserts, which are indulging and advertisements make you want to buy the
product.”
“Chocolates because basically chocolates are for all ages and everyone likes them.
Chocolates are for happiness and suits everyone.”
The other respondents who were in favour of celebrity had different answers “Tastes like
something powerful and sophisticated like wine.”
The interesting thing to note was that most of the respondents said it tastes like desserts or
chocolates. It was a very common answer by most of the respondents. Desserts can signify
something that is very indulging or even self-rewarding, symbolizing how celebrity
endorsements make you want to indulge in them. It could also symbolize guilty pleasures, in
the context of buying something that one does not really require. Also, it can be the ‗extra
thing‘ that a consumer expects from the company. Similarly, chocolates can also signify
pleasures and luxuries. The next famous answer was that it tastes like wine, which usually
symbolizes sophistication and elegance and is an appropriate drink during celebrations.
However it can also signify sinful or guilty desires or even aspirations.
SMELL
When the respondents were asked about what smell celebrity endorsement was to them, some
common answers were noticed.Two respondents said that for them celebrity endorsement
smelled like alcohol. “Alcohol, because it has a very strong smell and people get carried
away by endorsements.” Alcohol may represent not only sophistication of wine but also the
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averageness of drinks like beer. It can also symbolize a lack of restraint, possibly what people
feel after looking at a celebrity endorsement of a product they desire to have. It may also
symbolize the desire for joyful experiences.
Another two respondents said that for them, the smell of celebrity endorsement was like
morning air. “Because these celebrity endorsements are so fresh and positive, I get attracted
to it.” There were two respondents who said that for them the smell is like homemade food.―I
like homemade food. It‟s very delicious. Every time I eat homemade food it brings back
nostalgia.” Homemade food can possibly signify basic needs of a person, old childhood
memories .Another said that for her, the smell was like that of a new book, representing new
knowledge.
There were some negative responses here as well. One respondent said that to her celebrity
endorsement smelt like garbage and for the other, it smelled like pollution, which might
symbolize contamination of the advertising industry by celebrity endorsements and their
negative impact on people.
TOUCH
When the respondents were asked about how celebrity endorsement would feel to them if
they touch it, the answers were quite mixed. The ones in the favour of celebrity endorsement
said that ―It would feel like silk.”
“Soft and smooth as velvet.”
“As smooth as polished wood”
“Feels like wool. It feels good during winters but u can‟t wear it during summers.”
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“Feels like a table surface, smooth to the touch, nothing which has a lot of friction but
nothing like velvet either which is completely smooth.”
“Feels like a stone in hand.”
Silk and velvet may represent luxury and something very smooth to the touch. However, it
may also signify a feeling of sensuality, which may be aroused by the attractive celebrities on
screen. Polished wood and table surface may represent something lovely, deep and dark,
again symbolising unconscious desires. Wool may represent a basic necessity, but only
during winters. During summers, the same wool is very uncomfortable and unrequired. This
may represent how celebrity endorsements are useful for some people and not others and also
for one person at different times and not all times. Stone in hand may symbolize power.
The respondents who were not in favour of celebrity endorsement had replies like:-
“It‟s smooth in the middle and rough in the edges. It might hurt you.”
“Feels like rough wood because they hurt the mentality of the people
“Feels like broken glass as if you are careless and blindly touch it, it may hurt you.” These
may represent the negative effect of celebrity endorsements on people, which may not be
evident initially, but later may hurt the self-esteem of many.
SIGHT
The respondents were then asked that if celebrity endorsement was a colour, what colour it
would be for them. A lot of respondents said that it looks like the colour red.
―Red because it implies materialism for me.”
“Red because it resembles greediness, anger, materialism.”
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Red, being a very emotionally strong colour, usually symbolizes danger, energy, desires or
love. In this context it may symbolize hedonism or materialism. However, in the Indian
context, red is thought to be a pure and lucky colour and is usually used in the wedding
gowns.
There were many respondents who said that for them, it was the colour blue.
“Blue, because it creates a positive impact on people and blue means peace and calmness
and gives the brand a good image.”
“I would go for a neutral colour like navy blue which everybody likes.”
Blue often symbolizes loyalty, trust, transparency and also signifies reliability. For these
people, the concept of celebrity endorsement is positive and can signify their trust on the
celebrities or the brand and their loyalty towards the latter. It may also symbolize inspiration
for many, signifying how celebrity endorsements motivate them.
Two of the respondents said that for them, celebrity endorsement was orange colour.
―I‟ll go for orange as I think it represents materialism.”
“Something very powerful, and I think orange is a very powerful colour.”
Orange colour can symbolize desires, pleasures and greediness. It can also symbolize distrust
for some. However, for the youth, it may also symbolize impulsiveness and attractiveness and
something that catches one‘s attention.
Other respondents had different answers. For one respondent, it was the colour pink,
symbolizing attractiveness and feminism. For another, it was white, symbolising honesty.
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CONCLUSION
Celebrity endorsement is truly a topic that requires more research. The objective of this study
was to determine the factor which is most desirable by consumers in celebrities and also to
find out if and how celebrity endorsements affect purchase decisions. A new negative side of
celebrity endorsements has also been observed and discussed. From a general perspective
most of the respondents were of the opinion that celebrity endorsement is an effective source
of communication, still when it came to a personal choice, most of the respondents said that
they wouldn‘t buy a product just because it was endorsed by a famous or well liked celebrity.
This is in consistence with Mehta (1994), where he says that there is no difference in attitudes
or purchase intentions between a brand endorsed by celebrity and a brand endorsed by a non-
celebrity.
When it came to attractiveness, many respondents were in favour of it and said that it was
required in celebrities as it gave the advertisements an edge and more recall. According to the
analysis, the interpretation was that according to customers, attractiveness is an important
factor in celebrities, not only when it comes to endorsing attractiveness related products, like
cosmetics, skin care or fairness creams but also while endorsing products like carbonated
drinks, as all such drinks in the market are homogenous, and it‘s the celebrity which helps
distinguish the product from that of the competitors‘.This finding makes it clear that the
Indian society places high importance on physical appeal (Ohanion, 1990), which involve
effects which are persuasive (Erdogan, 1999).
‗Credibility‘ of the celebrities was found to be important too, for the consumers. Many of
them brought pictures where they thought that the advertisement was effective because the
celebrity endorsing it was a credible source. However, the word ‗credibility‘ was observed to
have different meanings for different people. For some respondents, credibility was when you
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could trust the source, for some when the celebrity was an ‗expert‘ of the product he/she was
endorsing then the celebrity was perceived to be credible and for some people, the celebrities
who themselves use the product they endorse were thought to be credible. It shows that the
effectiveness of an endorsement depends on the expertise and trustworthiness of the
endorsers, in the eyes of the celebrity (Goldsmith and Lafferty, 2002). For a fraction of
respondents, credibility of a celebrity was related to his/her star status and popularity.
The meaning transfer from celebrities to products seemed to be recognised by a few
respondents, which was quite unanticipated. One respondent thought that the daredevil image
of an actor was transferred to the product being endorsed, in his case, a soft drink. Rest of the
images were examples of where the consumer identified meanings of success, wealth and an
affluent lifestyle in a celebrity and transferred it to the product, giving it a new meaning, as
the advertisers had desired.
It was observed that the ‗perfect fit‘ between the product and the endorser was the most
important factor for most of the respondents and they showed an inclination towards the
advertisement where the celebrity seemed to match the product‘s image and a dislike towards
those advertisements where the celebrity did not match the product at all. The respondents
showed a liking towards the endorsement, where the celebrity was either endorsing a product
related to his field, or where an attractive or fit celebrity was endorsing fitness or
attractiveness related product. According to the observation, ‗a perfect fit‘ was the most
important factor while endorsing a fitness product. Most of the respondents brought pictures
where this theme was evident and also, be it an attractive celebrity, a credible celebrity or a
celebrity effectively transferring symbolic meanings to the product, a proper match was
desired in all the cases, which proves that consumers expect consistence between the product
and the celebrity endorsing it (O‘Mahony and Meenaghan, 1997).
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The results obtained in regard to the ‗vampire effect‘ were quite interesting. Most of them
believed that use of celebrities did result in the product taking a backseat and the celebrity
becoming the main focus, especially in the endorsements where either the celebrity was very
attractive or where the celebrity did not at all match the product he/she was endorsing (Evans,
1988). But one respondent did say that according to him if the product is as good, the
celebrity does not overshadow the product.
A new observation came to light in respect of the changing definition of beauty due to
celebrity endorsements. It is evident from the analysis how using ‗perfect‘ celebrities for
endorsements is harmful for vulnerable people, especially little children and teenagers. For
the general public also, it might result in a lower self-esteem, a negative body image and low
confidence levels. It does especially have a bad impact on little girls, who due to the beauty
industry, start getting beauty conscious at a very young age.
In regard to the effect of celebrity endorsements on purchase decisions, the results were quite
surprising. Though most of the respondents felt that celebrity endorsements was a good
marketing technique, yet a large number of respondents said that for them it was the
product‘s features which mattered the most, rather than the celebrity endorsing it and they
would rather go for the product with the best features and price and not the one their favourite
celebrity was endorsing. Only a few people said that they have all their loyalties towards the
celebrity and they would buy the brand endorsed by their favourite celebrity. Also, it was
observed that celebrity endorsements are more beneficial when the product being endorsed is
a low-involvement one rather than a high involvement one. Hence, overall it was observed
that though celebrity endorsements help create awareness of the brands and help in greater
recall, they seldom affect the purchase decisions of the consumers, which was in contrast to
the study that celebrity endorsements have a positive effect on the purchase intentions of the
consumer (Erdogan,1999).
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The analysis of the missing images, best representative images, opposite images and different
sensory images lead to quite interesting results. In regard to the missing images, the picture
which most people could not find was that of celebrities endorsing social causes. The most
common answer for the best representative images had one thing in common, which was the
inclination towards advertisements having a perfect fit between the endorser and the brand,
reinstating the above finding. When it came to opposite images, the most common answer
was of an advertisement, featuring no celebrities, but still being very popular. The analysis of
the other pictures showed how, for some celebrity endorsements represents falseness,
exaggeration and materialism whereas for other it represents hope and positive changes. The
most common answer for sensory images included the sound of loud voices, indicating the
large number of endorsements in the media, the taste of dessert symbolising indulgence and
guilty pleasures, the colour red, symbolising materialism, the feel of silk, representing luxury
and last, the smell of alcohol, representing desire for ecstasy.
LIMITATIONS
Every research has some limitation or the other as there is nothing like a perfect research
when it comes to an academic study. This study too has some drawbacks and they are
discussed below.
The first limitation in this study was the small sample size, which makes it difficult to study a
broad view of the Indian customers‘ perspective, because of which the study is very narrow.
For an effective research, a larger sample size is required.
The second limitation was that of age, as students from 18-25 years were mainly selected,
who do not have a very mature view and may have completely different opinions as
compared to the people from other age groups.
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The third limitation was that of time, as three months is a short time to undertake such an
extensive study. Another concern was the geographical restrictions. As the Indian students
here are comparatively less exposed to Indian advertisements, most of the interviews were
taken on Skype from students residing in India, which was very time consuming and tedious,
especially because of the huge time difference.
The next limitation was the limitations of the methodology itself. Also, as a novice in this
technique, my skills were limited in terms of how to take the interviews and also the analysis
of these interviews.
RECCOMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
As recommendations for future research, a larger sample size should be used to be able to
generalize the opinions of the respondents more. Also, the same study can be conducted, this
time using a different age group, for views of different age groups, different occupations and
different walks of life. It would help in getting more perceptions and an overall idea of Indian
consumers of all ages. Moreover, as this study mainly focused on the urban population, a
study should be done keeping the rural consumers in mind.
Also, the finding of the dark side of the cosmetic industry, which is of beauty‘s changing
definition, can be studied deeply and methods devised to overcome this problem. Also, as
ZMET has never been used to study celebrity endorsement before, future studies can use this
technique for an insight into the minds of consumers.
This study can also be done using quantitative research, to overcome the barriers of
qualitative research, which might suffer from biasness of the researcher.
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Also, future research should aim to study further why celebrity endorsement does not result
in purchase decisions by consumers, even if they find it attractive and entertaining.
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Page | 79
APPENDICES
APPENDIX-1
a.
b.
Page | 80
APPENDIX-2
RESPONDENTS
Males (Nicknames/Initials)
1. Tim 6. T.S
2. J.S 7. R.G
3. Rishi 8. Nitin
4. Seek 9. Jain
5. A.S 10. Pratik
Females (Nicknames/Initials)
1. Simar 6. Mel
2. M.S 7. T.J
3. Simrat 8. D.S
4. K.N 9. G.R
5. S.G 10. Rashi
Page | 81
APPENDIX-3
DEMOGRAPHICS
MALES OCCUPATIO
N
MEDIA
CONSUMPT
ION
SPORTSPERS
ONS
FAVOUR
ITE
ACTOR
1. TIM Student Television None Salman
Khan
2. J.S Student Television Rooney Akshay
Kumar/Ra
nbir
Kapoor
3. RISHI Student/Busines
sman
Internet Messi Katrina
Kaif
4. SEEK Student Television Sachin
Tendulkar
Shahrukh
Khan
5. A.S Student Television &
Newspapers
Sachin
Tendulkar
None
6. T.S Student Internet M.S. Dhoni Salman
Khan
7. R.G Student Television Sachin
Tendulkar
Salman
Khan
8. NITIN Student Television/Int
ernet
Sachin
Tendulkar
Ranbir
Kapoor
9. JAIN Student Facebook/Lin
kedIn
Gautam
Gambhir
Shahrukh
Khan
10. PRAT
EEK
Student Television/Int
ernet
Sachin
Tendulkar
Salman
Khan
Page | 82
FEMALES OCCUPATI
ON
MEDIA
CONSUMPTI
ON
SPORTSPERS
ONS
FAVOURI
TE
ACTOR
1. SIMAR Student Television/Inte
rnet
None Shahrukh
Khan
2. M.S Student Internet Sachin
Tendulkar
Naseerrudi
n
Shah/Kaml
a Hasan
3. SIMRA
T
Student Internet/Televi
sion
M.S. Dhoni Priyanka
Chopra
4. K.N Student Internet Sachin
Tendulkar
Salman
Khan
5. S.G Student Internet Sachin
Tendulkar
Shahrukh
Khan
6. MEL Student Internet Sachin
Tendulkar
Aamir
Khan
7. T.J Student Internet Rahul Dravid None
8. D.S Student Internet &
Radio
Marycom/Vijen
dra Singh
Shahrukh
Khan
9. G.R Student Social Media Sachin
Tendulkar
Shahrukh
Khan
10. RASHI Student Television Sanya Mirza Hrithik
Roshan
Page | 83
APPENDIX-4
MOST REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
1. Akshay
Kumar
endorsing
Thumsup
6. Sachin
Tendulkar
endorsing
Boost
11. Priyanka
Chopra
endorsing
oat biscuits
16. A closeup of a
lipstick
2. Poor People 7. Shahrukh
Khan
endorsing
De‘decor
12. Pink rose &
a lady with
long hair
17. Kareena
Kapoor
endorsing
Babyoye.com
3. A little girl
holding a doll
8. Aishwarya
endorsing
Lodha‘s
13. Kareena
Kapoor
endorsing
Lakme
18. Priyanka
Chopra
campaigning
against
female
foeticide
4. Aishwarya
endorsing
Loreal
9. A young
plant growing
14. Waterfall 19. Aishwarya
Rai endorsing
L‘oreal
5. A person
having 2
roads ahead
of him
10. A father
holding a
son‘s hands
15. A child‘s
toy
Page | 84
APPENDIX-5
OPPOSITE IMAGE
1. Amitabh
Bachan
endorsing
polio
vaccination
s
6. A glass
with clear
water
11. Telephone
service
providers
using non-
celebrity
endorsers
16. Innocence
of a baby
2. A
confident,
content
person
7. Dark
clouds
12. A weak,
fragile
spider
17. White Wall
3. Vodafone
ad
8. A glass
with clear
water
13. A white
curtain
18. A glass
with clear
water
4. A dead end 9. Vodafone
ad
14. An innocent
child
5. Stagnant
water
10. Aged
actress
endorsing
beauty
product
15. Vodafone
ad
Page | 85
APPENDIX-6
SENSORY IMAGES
SOUNDS-
1. Loud noises 6. Hurting to
ears
11. A boring
lecture
2. Lots of
people
talking
together
7. A baby‘s
voice
12. Rainfall
3. Storm 8. Melodious
music
13. Lots of
people
typing at
the same
time
4. Strong
winds
9. Hushed
voices
14. Heavy
rainfall
5. Loud
television
10. A plane
flying close
15. Loud
noises
SIGHT
1. Red colour 6. Pink colour 11. Blue colour
2. Blue colour 7. Blue colour 12. Red colour
3. Red colour 8. Orange colour 13. Red colour
4. Grey colour 9. Orange colour
5. White colour 10. Blue colour
Page | 86
TASTE
1. Like
disappointments
6. Bland 11. Desserts
2. Desserts 7. Desserts 12. Water
3. Desserts 8. As sweet as apple 13. Restaurant food
4. Chocolate 9. Chocolate 14. Desserts
5. Wine 10. Wine 15. Desserts
SMELL
1. Homemade food 6. Roses 11. Morning air
2. Alcohol 7. Homemade food 12. A new book
3. Alcohol 8. Freshly baked
cake
13. Alcohol
4. Garbage 9. Pollution
5. Morning air 10. Steam
TOUCH
1. Feels like baby‘s
skin
6. Velvet 11. Table surface
2. Feels like wool 7. Silk 12. Wool
3. Feels like silk 8. Polished wood 13. Cool water
4. Feels like rough
wood
9. Rock/stone 14. Silk
5. Rough on the
edges
10. Broken glass
Page | 87
APPENDIX-7
THEME-1(ATTRACTIVENESS)
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Page | 88
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Page | 89
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Page | 90
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Page | 91
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Page | 92
Figure 16
Figure 17
APPENDIX-8
THEME-2(CREDIBILITY)
Figure 18
Page | 93
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Page | 94
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Page | 95
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Page | 96
APPENDIX-9
THEME-3(MATCH-UP)
Figure 29
Figure 30
Figure 31
Page | 97
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Page | 98
Figure 35
Figure 36
Figure 37
Page | 99
Figure 38
Figure 39
Page | 100
Figure 40
Figure 41
Figure 42
Page | 101
Figure 43
Figure 44
Figure 45
Page | 102
Figure 46
Figure 47
Page | 103
APPENDIX-10
THEME-4 (MEANING TRANSFER)
Figure 48
Figure 49
Page | 104
Figure 50
Figure 51
Figure 52
Page | 105
Figure 53
APPENDIX-11
VAMPIRE EFFECT
Figure 54
Page | 106
Figure 55
Figure 56
Page | 107
Figure 57
Figure 58
APPENDIX-12
CHANGING DEFINITION OF BEAUTY
Page | 108
Figure 59
Figure 60
Figure 61
Page | 109
Figure 62
Figure 63
Figure 64
Page | 110
Figure 65
APPENDIX-13
Figure 66
Figure 67
Page | 111