Classical conditioning and celebrity endorsers: An examination of belongingness and resistance to extinction

Abstract

Three studies attempt to better explain how celebrities are used effectively as conditioned stimuli in the associative learning process. Study 1 establishes that direct affect transfer can occur using celebrities via conditioning. Study 2 suggests that celebrity conditioning will be more effective when there is an appropriate fit (belongingness) between the celebrity and the product endorsed-also known as the match-up hypothesis. Finally, Study 3 examines whether attitudes toward brands paired with celebrities are resistant to efforts to extinguish them using extinction procedures. The findings suggest that conditioning with celebrities yields brand attitudes that are robust and enduring.

Celebrities and shoes on the female brain: The neural correlates of product evaluation in the context of fame

“…Earlier research on celebrity endorsement explained the effectiveness of celebrities in terms of a conditioning process: the pairing of a positively valenced stimulus (a celebrity) with an initially neutral stimulus (a product) results in a transfer of affect from the valenced to the neutral stimulus (from celebrity to product) (Till et al, 2008;Walther et al, 2005). However, this evaluative conditioning account does not elaborate on why the perception of a celebrity results in the experience of positive affect.…”

Behavioural psychology, marketing and consumer behaviour: a literature review and future research agenda

“…Janiszewski, 1989;McSweeney & Bierley, 1984;Till & Priluck, 2000;Till, Stanley, & Priluck, 2008) employ the procedure set out by Rescorla (1967) to demonstrate true classical conditioning from other pseudoconditioned responses (Bierley, McSweeney, & Vannieuwkerk, 1985). The procedure uses both a group subjected to the experimental procedure (pairing of CS and US) and a second random-control group, for which the pairings are presented randomly.…”

“…Whereas early studies (see the first part of Table 1 Extinction is the prediction that the conditioned behaviour will disappear if the predictive relationship between the CS and the US is broken by either omitting the US entirely or by presenting the CS and US randomly (McSweeney& Bierley, 1984). Till et al (2008) explored the characteristic of extinction empirically. Their study paired brands with celebrities and measured attitudes towards the brands after conditioning.…”

“…Smurfs), words, comedy/humour, and celebrities. Regarding the use of celebrities, classical conditioning provides the underlying explanation for 'meaning-transfer' models in advertising, which have been used to explain the effects of celebrity endorsement (McCracken, 1989;Till et al, 2008). Research has also used a range of CSs, from pens to fictitious and actual brands.…”

Consumer preference for electronic consumer durable goods in India: a conjoint analysis approach

“…Celebrity endorsement helps marketers in improving marketing communication, product image, improving purchase behaviour and positive recall rates (Mansour and Diab, 2016;Spry et al, 2011;Seno and Lukas, 2007;Till et al, 2008) and this brand recall ultimately become helpful for purchase intention (Kahle and Homer, 1985). The leveraging of endorsement by the use of celebrity is celebrity endorsement, with a hope that this will enhance product's likability among public to the large extend (Seno and Lukas, 2007).…”