Introduction:
This study seeks to examine the relationship between famous athletes in television commercials and consumer behavior. The research topic is significant since celebrity endorsements are common techniques used to market products by companies. Many local and multinational brands utilize celebrities in advertising. The main reasons for this is that celebrities have large followings of fans that greatly associate with the celebrity. Therefore, the celebrity can easily sway this target market towards purchasing a specific product. Brands pay celebrities to become brand managers, brand ambassadors, brand characters, offer expert advice, and as role models of a desirable brand quality.
The use of celebrity endorsements helps create consumer and brand awareness. In this case, famous sports athletes have a large number of fans who look up to them and love them. Therefore, a television advertisement featuring a specific athlete reaches a large audience, which directly translates to increased sales for the product. Furthermore, some of the fans will want to relate to the brand due to the attachment they have to the specific sports star. Therefore, when a famous athlete endorses and supports a product a proportion of his or her fans will try the product.
The research question addressed in the study is, “Do you agree that people get attracted to product when they see a famous athlete advertising it in media TV commercials?” The research paper will also provide excellent insight into the use of celebrities in advertising that can form the basis of future studies.
Literature Review and hypothesis:
Many researchers have examined the topic and provided varying points of view. The literature review below will examine some of the past research on the subject that will provide the theoretical basis for this research. According to Poghosyan (31), celebrity endorsements are the most widely used branding and brand promotion strategy. The author states that it is one of the measures of an effective advertising campaign for many companies. The main reason for this is that organizations see the potential to influence consume buying behavior by using a celebrity. Furthermore, according to the article companies continue to spend a lot of money annually on celebrity endorsements due to their effectiveness at influencing consumer purchase decisions. One of the main reasons provided by the author is that celebrity endorsements create a beneficial relationship between the corporation, the celebrity, and the consumer. Ultimately, the main aim of the advertisement is to direct the consumers purchase decision towards a specific product Poghosyan (33). Additionally, the article discusses the negative effects of celebrity endorsements. According to the author, celebrity endorsements are highly risky since a celebrity’s negative image can tarnish the brand image. This in turn also influences consumer behavior negatively.
Another study conducted by Ilicic and Cynthia (231) concludes that celebrity endorsement greatly influences consumer behavior. According to the research, the influence can be positive (consumers buy the product) of negative (consumers do not buy the product). The main factors examined by Ilicic and Cynthia (231) are the role played by celebrity attachment and number of endorsements by the celebrity on consumer behavior. The researchers concluded that both factors under study influence consumer purchases of products. Additionally, it is evident that for consumers with a strong attachment to a celebrity the number of endorsements by the celebrity negatively affects buying behavior. On the other hand, consumers with a weak attachment to a celebrity the number of endorsements by the celebrity positively affect buying behavior. Similarly, Malik and Abhinav (129) observe that celebrity endorsements and the use of mascots are the most common forms of product advertisement. The main reason for this is the appeal, and attention created by celebrities and mascots. According to the article, celebrities help validate claims made by product manufacturers. This is mainly because most of their followers trust their decisions. Furthermore, celebrities also make advertisements memorable to consumers. This in turn helps to shape consumer-buying decisions (Malik and Abhinav, 133).
Graham, Vanessa, and Lee (271) explore the impact of a celebrity’s image and credibility on purchase intentions. The results of the study indicated that a negative image had a negative impact on consumer behavior for products that a celebrity was highly involved. However, for products with low involvement, no significant interaction existed between negative image and consumer behavior. The research concludes that athletes with negative images would be effective at endorsing low-involvement products (Graham, Vanessa, and Lee, 275). According to Hayat, Muhammad, and Arshid (147), celebrity endorsements are effective when an excellent relationship is created between the product and the endorser. The main reason for this observation is that an excellent association will easily sway consumer-buying decisions towards the endorsed product easily. The results of the study indicated a strong relationship between celebrity advertisement and purchase intentions.
In summary, the literature reviewed above shows that the use of celebrities in advertising products is a highly effective method. This is mainly attributable to the fact that it creates a strong relationship between the product, the endorser, and the consumer. Furthermore, because of celebrity association consumers can easily relate to a brand or product. The viewpoints expressed in the articles are important towards addressing the hypothesis of the study.
The proposed hypotheses are:
Hypothesis 1a:People get more attached to the product when they see a famous athlete is advertising in its commercial than will those without celebrities.
Hypothesis 1b:People get less attached to the product when they see a famous athlete advertising in its commercial than will those without celebrities.
Hypothesis 2a:Brand's image looks more attractive for people when a famous athlete is advertising in its commercial.
Hypothesis 2b:Brand's image looks less attractive for people when a famous athlete is advertising in its commercial.
Methods:
In order to address the research problem the researcher collected and analyzed first hand data. The researcher achieved this using a questionnaire created via Google docs. The questionnaire contained twelve different kinds of questions that sort to gather the respondent’s point of view with regard to the topic. The questionnaire is attached under the appendix section.
The first four questions required a yes or no answer. These questions sought to understand the relationship between celebrity endorsements and consumer purchase decisions. The next five questions were based on a five-point Likert scale that required the respondent to rank different aspects of celebrity endorsements such as ethics, effectiveness, and trustworthiness just to mention a few. The last three questions were demographical questions that collected information with regard to the age, sex, and marital status of the respondents.
The researcher administered the questionnaire online by providing a link where respondents were able to access the Google docs form and provide answers to the questions asked. Once completed, statistical analysis was carried out on the data collected and organized in the form of tables and charts for readability. Cross tabulations were also used in order to examine the relationship between the different factors addressed in the questionnaire and gender.
Results and Analysis:
Twenty-five respondents participated in the study. From the data collected for the research, 52% of the respondent (n =13) were male while 48% of the respondent (n = 12) were female. This is good for the study since gender is evenly balanced. Therefore, it is possible to compare the differences in consumer behavior influence by famous athletes between male and female respondents.
Discussion:
Secondly, the result from the analysis carried out to examine the different between gender and buying product one saw an athlete with it is evident that a majority of respondents (84%, n = 21) have purchased a product they have seen an athlete with. This result also confirms the hypothesis that people get attract to the product when they see a famous celebrity advertising it. In this case, individuals will create a stronger association with a product when they see an athlete use it. One possible reason for this is that consumers are attracted to products promoted by celebrities because of their attachment to a particular celebrity. Furthermore, in the case of sports, a famous celebrity may be considered an expert in a particular field. Therefore, any sport product endorsed by the famous celebrity becomes the best product in the market from the consumer’s perspective. This in turn attracts more consumers and pushes sales.
Third, it is also evident that a large portion of the respondents watches television frequently. Television is the most highly used medium by advertisers. From the results and analysis section above, 80% of respondents from the study watch television advertisements for prolonged periods. According to Malik and Abhinav (133), the use of celebrities makes such advertisements more memorable. Therefore, the individuals who watch frequent television receive exposure to memorable advertisements. These greatly influence their purchasing behavior, as well as, buying decisions. This implies that based on the sample, a larger proportion of the population is watching television frequently. This translated to direct purchase influence.
In conclusion, based on the data collected and analyzed it is clear that there is no significant difference between male and female respondent consumer behavior. Hence, celebrity endorsements greatly influence both male and female purchase decisions and buying behavior
Works Cited:
Graham, Mary A., Vanessa P. Jackson, and Lee Min-Young. "The Effect Of Personal Scandal On Celebrity Athletes And Male Shoppers' Purchase Intentions And Attitude Favourability." Journal Of Customer Behaviour 13.4 (2014): 271-290. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 May 2016.
Hayat, Kauser, Muhammad Ghayyur, and Arshid Zia Siddique. "The Impact Of Consumer Perception Based Advertisement And Celebrity Advertisement On Brand Acceptance: A Case Study Of The Peshawar Market." Journal Of Managerial Sciences 7.1 (2013): 145-157. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 May 2016.
Ilicic, Jasmina, and Cynthia M. Webster. "Effects Of Multiple Endorsements And Consumer–Celebrity Attachment On Attitude And Purchase Intention." Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ) 19.(2011): 230-237. ScienceDirect. Web. 5 May 2016.
Malik, Garima, and Abhinav Guptha. "Impact Of Celebrity Endorsements And Brand Mascots On Consumer Buying Behavior." Journal Of Global Marketing 27.2 (2014): 128-143. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 May 2016
Poghosyan, Anna. "Celebrity Endorsement As One Of Nowadyas Major Ways To Influence Consumer Buying Behaviour." European Scientific Journal SI (2015): 30. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 May 2016.
Appendix:
Appendix A: Survey
