Positive and Negative aspects of celebrity endorsement
Positive
Aspects
According
to Amos et al (2008) , marketers have been
encouraged to make use of celebrities for endorsing their products due to
increasing competition. This process helps in attracting increased number of
customers towards the product. In addition to this, advancements in the
technologies used in media such as cable, video control systems, satellite
televisions and DTH has influenced heavily the consumer power over
advertisement. This advancement has made the process of advertisement more
challenging for organisations, which urges them to find new and attractive
means of marketing. It is observed that renowned celebrity assist in solving
the problem of over communication, which is spreading increasingly in recent
time. Till et al (2008) highlighted the fact
that in order to reduce the level of threat and to attract the attention of
customers towards products and services, celebrity endorsement strategy is
preferred as the advertisement technique.
Celebrities
contribute in making the attractive unique and different from the
advertisements of competitors due to their well knowness. This technique also
helps in increasing the communicative activity as it conveys positive message
among the individuals. Moreover, Halonen-Knight and Hurmerinta
(2010) said that for the
tarnished company, the image of the brand could be improved among people all
over the world by hiring a famous celebrity as the endorser. This can be done
in the manner that customers like to adopt he processes and products that are
being used or advertised by their favourite celebrity and perceive the opinion
that the quality would be good as the celebrity is endorsing it. The tarnished
company can gain their brand position in the market full of competitors in this
way. Furthermore, with the help of celebrity endorsement, the image of the
organisation can be polished and restored effectively.
It
is noticed from the research study of Austin et al (2008) that many of the
multinational companies at the time of expanding into different countries has
to face the problem of cultural difference such as language, space, power,
time, relationships and others. These problems can be overcome by making use of
celebrity endorsements as it serves as the powerful device for the purpose of
entering foreign markets. In addition to this, hiring the famous celebrity of
the expanding countries can assist in overcoming these types of issues as
individuals would ignore this aspect and focus on the prospect that one of the
leading celebrities of the country is marketing and using the product. For example, Pepsi Co increased their market
share in India with the help of endorsing through their famous celebrities such
as Ms Dhoni, Salman Khan, and others.
Edwards and Ferle
(2009) further argued that
the products, which are endorsed by celebrities, help the organisation in
making their brand more notice by customers while shopping. This ultimately
assists in increasing the level of product among individuals all over the
world. Moreover, advertisements that make use of celebrity spread strong impact
on the memory and learning style of the customers, which is regarded as a
significant impact of marketing communication success. With the help of
celebrities, the ad becomes more memorable in the mind of customers no matter
whether there is need of the advertised product or not. The advantage of this
stored information in the mind of customers can be taken by the marketers as it
can be retrieved readily at the time of shopping or when need arises. Based on
this, it is evaluated that celebrity endorsement has positive influence on the
buying behaviour of customers and it increases the sales level of the brand.
Negative
Aspects
White et al (2009) stated that despite
positive impact of celebrity endorsements, many of the negative aspects are
there that must be considered at the time of using celebrities for endorsing
products. One of the major risks that are linked with celebrity endorsement is
negative publicity and information related to the personality. Some of the
other factors are also there which would take to serious concerns such as drop
in popularity, sudden change in the image, moral issues, vampire effect, or
losing credibility by over endorsing. According to Ilicic and Webster
(2011) , negative
information related to the celebrity not only influences the perception of
consumers but it also affects the endorsed product adversely. This would ruin
the brand position and reputation among customers all over the world and the
demand will fall. However, it is observed that many of the organisations has
paid big price for the misdeeds conducted by their endorsed celebrities. For example, Pepsi Co suffered from three
strained celebrities such as Madonna, Mike Tyson, and Michael Jackson. Apart from this, serious embarrassment has
been faced by the brand at the time when the celebrity endorsers or
spokespersons were involved extensively in the controversy.
Previous
studies (Choi &
Rifon, 2012; Amos, et al., 2008; Ilicic & Webster, 2011) highlight the fact
that in an advertisement, customers are not able to focus on the products that
is being endorsed because of popularity and glamour of the celebrity. This
ultimately results in the failure to promote the brand and the company has to
face loss in the advertisement investments made by them. Vampire effect also
known as overshadowing takes place when the celebrity endorser comes in the
multiple other stimuli and adopts some negative role. People link this negative
role with the celebrity and hence do not prefer to purchase the product or
service that is endorsed by such personality. It also leads to lack of lucidity
for the customer. Another significant issue that takes birth because of this is
that people does not notice the brand instead their complete attention is on
the celebrity due to which the products passes unnoticed and they do not
remember the brand.
According
to Anjum et al (2012) , another important
negative aspect of celebrity endorsement is overexposure. This issue takes
place among well-identified and highly demanded celebrity endorsers due to the
fact that most of the organisations want to hire them due to their popularity
among people. Over endorsement done by a celebrity for different products makes
the customers confuse and they are unable to recall accurately about the brand
that is being endorsed by the celebrity. This problem is known as hired gum
problem where the spokesperson endorses the product for the sake of money. This depicts the fact that overexposure by a
celebrity not only influences the image of the personality but also damages the
brand reputation and positioning as it would directly have the influence on the
mind of the customer about the products or services.
Patel (2009) further argued that
in case a celebrity lends the image to different brand through advertisements,
the positive influence on the mind of customers would also be low and the
message would remain undelivered. This is because the relationship between the
endorsed brand and celebrity would not be distinctive and the fans will be left
disappointed. it is noticed that the customers will also become aware of the
fact that celebrities endorse the products just for the sake of money and they
has no concern with the attributes and features of the product. Many of the studies highlight the fact that
negative information regarding a celebrity not only affects the perception of
customers for the celebrity but also develops adverse image of the product in
the minds of consumers.
Spry et al (2011) stated that some of
the other new limitations are also being faced which includes celebrity
credibility, celebrity trap and celebrity cluster. Celebrity trap occurs when
the marketers face difficulty in separating the role of the celebrity and the
message at the time of selling brand. This also occurs when the celebrity
becomes an addiction for the marketing team and they does not prefer nay other
personality as appropriate for their product.
This also makes it difficult for the marketing team of the organisation
to find substitute for their brand. Moreover, according to Zhou and Whitla (2013) , credibility of
celebrity is questionable because customers are now aware of the fact that
celebrities endorse the products for the sake of money and they have nothing to
do with the product or its attributes or features. The credibility of the
celebrity would decline if he or she endorses a brand in different categories.
While on the other hand, celebrity cluster occurs when the celebrity endorses
multiple brands and products in the same category. This makes the customer
confuse about which product to purchase. It forces them to make comparisons
among the celebrities at the time of selecting the product
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