The Dysfunctional and Functional Effect of Celebrity Endorsement on Brand Patronage

Abstract

The ever increasing brand multiplicity and competition on the market of goods and services have dictated the pace of growth in the usage of celebrity endorsement across the globe. The use of celebrity endorsement has become a prime brand communication strategy in organizational management that aids the sale and promotion of brands across the globe. It is a popular approach in marketing communication for all brand management. This paper examines celebrity endorsement as a brand communication tool that serves as an aid to expedite brand image and purchase. However, it can also become horrific unless accompanied by a powerful idea, effective and impeccable positioning.On the application and practice of celebrity endorsement, there are several models and concepts that explain the underlying function and importance of celebrity endorsement.In this paper, source credibility, transfer of meaning model and the match up hypothesis were used to discuss the nature and use of celebrity endorsement 1.Source Credibility: Source credibility suggests that the effectiveness of a message depends on the "expertness" and "trustworthiness" of the source (Hovland, Janis, and Kelley, 1953; Sternthal, Dholakia, and Leavitt 1978). The central goal of advertising is the persuasion of customers i.e., the active attempt to change a modify consumers attitude towards the brands (Soloman, 2002). Hence, in order to convince the target audience of the attractiveness of the company's brand. The creditability of the advertisement is immense.Researchers and scholars in marketing communication have identified three components as making up the credibility construct: knowledge or expertise, trustworthiness, and appearance or attractiveness (Baker and Churchill, 1977; Joseph, 1982; Kahle and Homer, 1985; Maddox and Rogers, 1980). Attempts to measure the impact credibility on consumers' intentions to purchase indicate that only "expertise" had any significant influence on intentions to purchase. There also seems to be a direct correlation between believability and overall advertisement effectiveness, as measured by purchase intentions (Kamins, Brand, Hoeke, and Moe, 1989). 2.Transfer of meaning model: McCracken (1989) has reasoned that the meaning transfer model is based on the effectiveness of the endorser depends on the meaning the celebrity is bringing into the endorsements process and the brand. Celebrities are full of different meaning reflecting such as demographic (age, gender) and lifestyle types, thus making it evident that celebrities convey not one but a variety of meaning. The cultural meanings that are connected with the celebrity will be transferred to the endorsed product/brand (Brierley, 1995). Mc Cracker explains this meaning transfer model in 3 stages.

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