If Childish Gambino Cares, I Care: Celebrity Endorsements and Psychological Reactance to Social Marketing Messages

Abstract

Background: Increasingly, celebrities are used as spokespeople for nearly all types of marketing. Endorsements can build positive celebrity-brand associations, resulting in favorable brand, product, or issue knowledge. Focus of the Article: This project examines the impact of celebrity influence in social marketing campaigns. Source and receiver characteristics are used to explore how people react to such persuasive messages from celebrities and how those reactions influence behavior. Research Question: Do race (RQ1) and gender (RQ2) of celebrity influence perceptions of (a) credibility, (b) similarity, and (c) heuristic evaluation? How do these factors influence message evaluation (RQ3)? Perceptions of (a) source credibility and (b) similarity as well as (c) heuristic evaluations will increase positive message evaluations (H1). Such positive message evaluations will increase behavioral intentions (H4). Level of (a) perceived source credibility, (b) perceived similarity, and (c) heuristic evaluation of a message is negatively related to message reactance (H2). The level of psychological reactance to a message source is negatively related to behavioral intent related to the message topic (H3). Importance to the Social Marketing Field: The objective of this study is to better understand how characteristics of celebrities, perceptions of the celebrities, and psychological barriers impact intended behavior change attributed to a social marketing message. Because social marketing seeks behavior change as part of an exchange with the targeted audiences, this study contributes a basic understanding of how attributes of the speaker impact social marketing effectiveness. Methods: An experiment was conducted ( N = 798) comparing how persuasive messages from celebrities of different genders and races are perceived. Results: Results indicate that there are significant differences in how persuasive messages from female celebrities are received as compared to messages from male celebrities. Further, race was shown to play a role in feelings of psychological reactance in response to the persuasive messages. Recommendations for Research of Practice: Results suggests marketers should seek out celebrity spokespeople who have the ability to be well-liked by members of the targeted market. The desire to identify with the message source can be a significant enough benefit to inspire behavior change. Having a spokesperson the audience wants to align themselves with is positively correlated with behavioral intentions.

When celebrity endorsements collide with social activism: exploring athlete celebrity endorsements, social issues and brand perception

“…Behavioral i ntention was measured using a 12-item inventory of potential behaviors related to the message topic, using a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The measure was adapted from the behavioral intention measure used in by Schartel Dunn and Nisbett (2020) to evaluate intentions in response to endorser messages and included questions related to social media, information seeking and civic engagement ( α = 0.938, M = 3.9 and SD = 1.4). A one-way between subjects ANOVA was run to see if the different conditions independently inspired different levels of behavioral intention.…”

“…Much of the research on celebrity endorsement suggests perceptions of credibility, evaluations of a speaker's expertise and trustworthiness (Berlo and Lemert, 1961;McCroskey and Young, 1981), contribute to overall effectiveness in celebrity endorsement (Winterich et al, 2018;Sato et al, 2016;Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020). Most of these previous studies made the assumption that messages from endorsers would be associated with the sponsoring brand.…”

“…The source of a message can IJSMS 24,3 influence how a message is received (Irmak et al, 2020). Studies have shown that individuals are generally more receptive to messages from individuals they perceive to be more similar to themselves and those they have positive heuristic evaluations of (Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020). Research has long demonstrated consumers' reactance in response to environmental regulations (Irmak et al, 2020) and messaging (Clee and Wicklund, 1980).…”

“…When a social position is advocated, it is, generally, the intention of the speaker to influence attitudes. Studies have demonstrated the impact of perceived credibility on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in a variety of contexts (Erdogan, 1999; Sato et al ., 2016; Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020; Winterich et al ., 2018). Positive relationships have been found between credibility and attitude change (Goldsmith et al ., 2000), behavioral intentions (Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020) and brand credibility (Spry et al ., 2011).…”

“…Studies have demonstrated the impact of perceived credibility on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in a variety of contexts (Erdogan, 1999; Sato et al ., 2016; Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020; Winterich et al ., 2018). Positive relationships have been found between credibility and attitude change (Goldsmith et al ., 2000), behavioral intentions (Schartel Dunn and Nisbett, 2020) and brand credibility (Spry et al ., 2011). It is important to note that perceptions of credibility play a larger role in attitude and behavior change than a speakers' actual expertise (Lee and Thorson, 2008).…”