Consumer attitudes towards celebrity endorsed products Dissertation

Consumer attitudes towards celebrity endorsed products - Dissertation Example Celebrity endorsements are considered to be scary and unstable but still the trend continues. Thus with the aim to establish whether celebrity endorsement on products have an effect on consumer purchasing such products, four objectives were stated in Chapter I. After extensive literature review in Chapter, qualitative research strategy based on content analysis method was adopted for this study. This study is purely based on secondary data and no fresh data has been collected. The study has achieved all the objectives. The study concludes that celebrity endorsement on products have limited effect on consumers. They create awareness and knowledge about the brand and the product but may not change the attitude towards the brand or alter the purchase intentions. The image of the celebrity should be able to communicate the message and this is based on the personality of the endorser. To survive in the competitive marketplace companies need to have a strong brand name and they use celebs to enhance their brand image. However, the marketers and advertisers appear to become over enthusiastic over time and enter into multiple endorsements and over exposure which potentially damages the brand. Advertisers have to be cautious in using a standardized approach across cultures and markets because consumer perception greatly differs across cultures. Strong celebs can generate high willingness to buy that product. It can create a brand narrative, increase the awareness of the company’s advertising, and use of celebrities has a positive impact on the stock returns of the company. However, over exposure of the celebrity may dilute the importance of the brand as the attention remains focused on the celebrity. Celebrity image is not static and this could impact the celebrity endorsement strategy of the company. This also impacts the consumer perception of the brand and the endorser. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale for the study 2 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 3 1.4 Organization of the Study 3 Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 Chapter Overview 5 2.2 Definitions 5 2.3 Product and Brand 6 2.4 Celebrities and Brands 7 2.5 Advantages and disadvantages of celebrity endorsement 10 2.6 Brand enhancement through celebrity endorsement 12 2.7 Negative association with celebrity endorsement 14 Chapter Three: Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy 16 3.2 Research phenomenon 16 3.3 Research methods 17 3.4 Research Strategy 17 3.5 Justification for content analysis 18 3.6 Data analysis 19 3.7 Sampling 19 3.8 Reliability and Validity 19 3.9 Ethical concerns 20 Chapter Four: Findings & Discussions 4.1 Celebrity endorsement and consumer purchase intention 21 4.2 Importance of brand name and the role of celebrity 25 4.3 Advantage and disadvantages of celebrity endorsements 26 4.4 Discussion 28 Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation 5.1 Conclusion 32 5.2 Limitations 34 5.3 Recommendation for further research 34 References 35 Tables Table 4.1 Successful and Unsuccessful Celebrity Endorsements 22 Table 4.2 Table 4.2 Successful and Failed Endorsements with reasons 27 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background Globalization and the power of the modern media over consumer societies have contributed to the phenomenon of using celebrities to endorse consumer products. Celebrities today have become an important part of the marketing communication process because brands love