The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on the

A PROJECT REPORTonThe Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on theIndian Consumers Purchase Decision

Submitted byMUDASIR RASOOLIn the partial fulfilment for the award of the degreeOfMASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

Submitted to the Department of Business AdministrationRIMT (Regional institute of management and technology)

PUNJAB TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY,JALANDHAR PUNJABSESSION: 2012-2014 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that MUDASIR RASOOL is the bonafied students of the MBA programme of this Institute for the academic year 2012 - 2014 having M.B.A Roll No.1275033 has completed their Research Methodology Project title The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on the Indian Consumers Purchase Decisionas partial fulfillment of the Master of Business Administration Course.

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that all the work presented in the project report entitled The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on the Indian Consumers Purchase Decisionat, RIMT(Regional institute of management and technology) PUNJAB is an authentic record of my own Work carried out under the guidance of Prof. NatinThapar.

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that MUDASIR RASOOL the bonafied students of the MBA programme of this Institute for the academic year 2012 - 2014 having M.B.A Roll No.1275033 has completed their Research Methodology Project titledThe Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on the Indian Consumers Purchase Decision as partial fulfillment of the Master of Business Administration Course.

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Abstract

The focus of this dissertation is to understand the impact of celebrity endorsement on the consumers purchase decision. The research focuses on the Indian consumers who have shown a very different yet interesting way of recognizing celebrities and stars. In a place like India where stars and cricketers are idolized and looked up to, marketers can see this opportunity promote their products and create a wider consumer base. The study uses a qualitative research style to collect data, using interviews as the form of data collection method. This research helps providing how celebrity endorsement impacts on the Indian consumers purchase decision.

Acknowledgement

Working on this dissertation has been an incredible experience for me. For this, I would like to thank a lot of people without whose co-operation and support; this research would not have been possible. Firstly, I would like to thank my coordinator and mentor, Professor NitinThapar for his continuous guidance and support. He has been of remarkable help to me in assisting me throughout my dissertation and would like to appreciate from my side. Her valuable feedback and comments have greatly helped me to structure my dissertation and also to complete my dissertation on time. I am grateful to my parents for their never-ending support and faith in me. Without their presence and blessing, carrying out this research would have been rather difficult. I would also like to sincerely thank all the interviewees for their precious time and useful insights on the research topic and who have patiently expressed their views to help me carry on with my dissertation. In the end, I am thankful to my friends directly and indirectly, for their constant source of encouragement and being there for me always, even when I was de-motivated during the course of my dissertation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................101.1 Background Research............................................................................................101.2 Research Motivation and Research Question........................................................ ..101.3 Research Methodology...........................................................................................111.4 Outline of the Dissertation......................................................................................11CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................122.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................122.2 Celebrities as Spokespersons...................................................................................142.3 Positive and negative effects of celebrity endorsement..................................................152.4 Models on Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement Strategy.........................................172.4.1The source credibility model.................................................................................182.4.2 The Source Attractiveness Model..........................................................................192.4.3 Product Match-up Hypothesis..............................................................................202.4.4 Meaning Transfer Model.....................................................................................212.5 Multiple Celebrity Endorsements............................................................................222.6 Celebrity Endorsement An Indian Perspective.........................................................232.7 Research Objective...............................................................................................27CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................................283.1 Introduction........................................................................................................283.2 Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research.........................................................283.3 Method of Data Collection....................................................................................283.3.1 Primary research...............................................................................................293.3.2 Interviews........................................................................................................293.4 Selection of participants.......................................................................................293.5 Research Design..................................................................................................303.5.1 Interview Design...............................................................................................30CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................324.1 Introduction........................................................................................................324.2 Understanding of Celebrity Endorsement..................................................................324.2.1 Understanding of Celebrity Endorsement...............................................................324.2.2 Celebrity advertising attractive than non-celebrity advertising....................................344.3 Issues pertaining to celebrity endorsement................................................................364.3.1 Celebritys Attractiveness having a direct impact on the product................................364.3.2 Product Match Up - Connection between Celebrity and Product................................384.3.3 Multiply product endorsements............................................................................394.3.3.1 Negative publicity..........................................................................................404.3.4 Economic Assessment of Celebrity Endorsement....................................................414.4 Consumers Perspective.........................................................................................424.4.1 Celebrity Endorsements having an impact on their purchase decisions.................................................................................................................424.4.2 Celebrities actually use the product.......................................................................434.4.3 Vampire Effect..................................................................................................444.4.4 Too much celebrity advertising on TV...................................................................444.5 Dats interpretation...46CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................515.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................515.2 Conclusion............................................................................................................51CHAPTER 6: LIMITATIONS, MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH...............................................................................................................546.1 Limitations of the study.........................................................................................546.2 Managerial Implication..........................................................................................55 6.3 Future Research...................................................................................................55REFERENCES..........................................................................................................56APPENDICES...........................................................................................................57Appendix- A..............................................................................................................57Appendix- B..............................................................................................................58Appendix- C.............. .59

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Research:

Today Celebrity Endorsements is a billion dollar industry today with companies signing deals with celebrities aiming to stand out from the clutter and give them a distinctive and significant position in the mind of consumers (Temperley and Tangen, 2006). Across the world, celebrities have been used for a variety of brands. India has opened its markets only recently and its witnessing an era of competition that it never experienced before (Ramesh, 2001). In todays very volatile economy, an increasing number of markets are signified by overcrowding of markets with products and speedy entry and exit of products into the marketplace (Mustafa, 2005). As a result of such overcrowding, it is a challenge for firms releasing their products, to capture consumer attention where consumers are being flooded with information from firms about their brand popularity and product features (Mustafa, 2005).Friedman & Friedman (1979) suggest that a celebrity endorser is someone known to the public for their achievements in areas other than of the product class endorsed. Undoubtedly, the celebrity endorser could reinforce a companys marketing communications, positioning and represent its brand (Endogen, 1999). However, the main purpose of using celebrity endorser is to influence consumer behavior, especially purchase intention that is directly linked to revenue of the company. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity endorsers (e.g. athletes, actors) in the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness of theirMarketing for at least a century. One of the early examples is Queen Victorias endorsement of Cadburys Cocoa (Sherman 1985). Regardless of these hindrances, celebrity endorsed advertising is an important marketing tool which when used at the correct time, may prove to be far more rewarding.

1.2 Research Motivation and Research Question Since India consumers have always idolized celluloid stars (Katya, 2007) and looked up to them, hence it makes great logic to use celebrities as spokespersons and influence consumers purchase decision. As the market has now become very competitive and with so many celebrities endorsing various brands and some also involving in multiple product endorsements, it makes for a great research study to understand the Indian consumer behavior and purchase decision, through the influence of these celebrity endorsements. Keeping this in mind the purpose of this dissertation is to understand the impact of celebrity endorsement on the Indian consumers purchase decision. Also focusing on how consumers perceive the difference between endorsements with celebrities and non-celebrities. It also aims at discussing the extent to which the masses are influenced by these popular celebrities appearing on screen to influence their purchase decisions.1.3 Research MethodologyMy research will focus on investigation the impact of celebrity endorsement on the consumers purchase decision. In doing this I aim to follow a qualitative research method style. This would comprise of face to face interviews with the research participants and these interviews conversations would be recorded with the consent Of the research samples. The research subjects would comprise of students, employed personnels and trainees from the different within the age group. A qualitative approach would be used to answer the research question mentioned in the earlier section.

1.4Outline of the Dissertation This dissertation is divided into six chapters, where each chapter targeting at a different area with reference to the research objective. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the research topic and briefly discusses the objectives and the methodology used for the study. Chapter 2 which presents an overview of the advertising industry as well as presenting the literature review which consists of the various sectors such as celebrity as a spokesperson, celebrity and non-celebrity advertising, different models on effectiveness of celebrity endorsement strategy. Further it also talks about celebrities endorsing multiple products and finally concluding with an Indian perspective on the consumer. Chapter 3 discusses in detail the methodology and the data collection process for the purpose of conducting the research. Chapter 4 analyzes the outcomes of the interview process and provides a further discussion on the finding. Chapter 5 provides a summary of the findings and the discussion presented in the earlier section. It also provides recommendation for it as well. Chapter 6 aims at sighting the limitations of the study, further providing managerial implications and also recommending issues to be tackled for future research.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter introduces the concept of celebrity endorsement, providing a definition. Sequentially it talks about celebrity as spokesperson of companies and also draws out the positives and negatives of celebrity endorsements. Furthermore it also discusses the different models on effectiveness of celebrity endorsement strategy along with talking about the impact of multiple celebrity endorsement. Lastly it provides an Indian perspective on celebrity endorsement in India. 2.1 Introduction Definition McCracken (1989) provides a clear definition describing celebrity endorser as any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement (p.310). He further explained celebrity endorsement as a ubiquitous feature of modern marketing. Friedman and Friedman (1979) describe celebrity endorser as an individual who is known to public for his or her achievements in areas other than that of product class endorsed.Celebrity endorsements are an omnipresent feature of present day marketing (Meaghan and OMahony, 1998). The billions of dollars spent on celebrity endorsement contracts illustrates the importance celebrities play in the advertising industry (Kambitsis et al., 2002). According to research conducted by Stephens andRice (1998) in USA showed that celebrity endorsed advertising increased from 15% to 25% between 1979 and1997 for all advertising. The use of celebrities in advertisements is not a recent phenomenon (Kaikati, 1987). Celebrities have been endorsing products since the mid nineteenth century. For instance one of the early examples involves Queen Victoria associating with Cadbury Cocoa (Sherman, 1985). With the emergence of cinema and later television more and more celebrities from different background were used commercially in television commercials and print advertisements. Arawak and Kamakura (1995) cited that approximately 20% of all television commercials in USA feature famous people. Shrimp (1997) further justifies Arawak and Kamakura point, through his research findings that around 25% of all US-based commercials used celebrities. On the contrary from a UK perspective, a report in Marketing indicated that advertising which used celebrities was a key to gaining national headlines (Endogen, 1999).Friedman and Friedman (1979) describe celebrity endorser as an individual who is known to public for his or her achievements in areas other than that of product class endorsed. These celebrities act as roles models for a large group of people in terms of their qualities such as trustworthiness, attractiveness and likeability. Marketers exploit these qualities in a celebrity to influence the consumers purchase decision, thus making the advertisement believable to the consumers. Endogen (1999) cites that celebrities can be used to communicate and reinforce companies marketing communications and positioning effectively. Today, use of celebrities as part of marketing communications strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate and brand imagery (Endogen, 1999). Firms are drawing Parallels with their products and themselves to celebrities in expectation that they will enhance their communications and increase revenue.2.1.1 Impact of Celebrities on Consumers WorldwideCelebrity endorsement may not be as effective as many believe, and in some major westernmarkets, has no strong influence on a consumer to make a purchase, according to a pollconducted by GMI Inc., the worlds leading provider of global online market research serviced software (Couzens and Ablett, 2005). The effectiveness of Celebrity endorsement inpromoting brands varies across the globe, reveals the research. Western nations were mostInternational Journal of Marketing, Financial Services & Management ResearchVol.2, No. 1, January 2013, ISSN 2277- 3622Online available at www.indianresearchjournals.com22indifferent to the use of Celebrities in advertising. In the US, 79% of respondents said thatCelebrity endorsement does not have any effect on how valuable they think a product is and only13% thought that it made a product more valuable. 79% of German and 71% of French andBritish also said Celebrity endorsement did not work for them. In China and Japan, however,there is a stark contrast. In Japan, 60% of respondents think that the use of Celebrities inadvertising makes a product more valuable and a similar number of respondents in China (52%)and in Russia (58%) agreed. The GMI poll also found that Celebrity endorsement was ratedbelow other techniques (like free samples, word-of-mouth, test-runs, etc.) to influence thepurchasing decision of consumers. The country which most valued Celebrity endorsement wasRussia with 12% of respondents claiming it influenced their buying decisions, making it the thirdmost popular form of promotion there after free samples (46%) and word-of-mouth promotion(30%).Global media can make global stars, but it does not mean they translate into universal marketingassets that can transform any brands value and market share in any country anywhere.Worldwide, people are becoming more sophisticated consumers who are less ready to acceptsimple, uniform marketing messages. Very strong indifference to the power of the Celebrity insome western markets may even point to how overt Celebrity endorsement may be working inthe reverse, turning consumers away from the very products being endorsed and so having anegative impact.The use of a Celebrity is one of the most successful ways of gaining the consumers attentionand getting him or her to infer the right message in a limited amount of space and time. Celebrities are used by marketers to build their brands. Branded products are successful becauseconsumers prefer them to ordinary unbranded products. In addition to the psychologicalfactors, brands give consumers the means whereby they can make choices and judgments. TheSecret to successful branding is to influence the decisions, i.e. the way consumers perceive theproduct, and brands can affect the minds of the consumers by appealing to the informationacquired and analysed. And this is what a Celebrity does. He/she tries to manipulate the purchasebehavioural intention of a customer by promoting the endorsed brand. Friedman and Friedman(1979) suggested that the promotion of branded luxury goods by Celebrity endorsers would leadto a significantly more positive purchase intention thanadvertisements using an expert ortypical consumer endorser. Further, in a study concerning adolescents, Bush, et al. (2004)advocate that Celebrity sports athletes have a positive influence on adolescents favourableword-of-mouth and brand loyalty. Though studies are in disagreement that whether it is thephysical attractiveness of the Celebrities or perceived expertise that affect purchase intentions,they broadly converge in suggesting that use of Celebrities in brand endorsements resulted instronger purchase intention.The present paper highlights the trends in Celebrity Brand Endorsements on Indian Television.

2.2 Celebrities as Spokespersons Companies frequently use spokespersons to deliver their advertising message and convince consumers of their brands. A widely used and very popular type of spokesperson is the celebrity endorser (Tom et al., 1992). According to Arawak and Kamakura (1995) celebrities make the advertisements believable and enhance the message in the minds of the consumers. Furthermore, celebrities increase awareness of a companys advertising, creating a positive feeling towards the brand. Thus using a celebrity in a companys advertising is likely to have a positive impact on the consumers brand perception and purchase decision. One of the main reasons behind the popularization of celebrity used in advertisements is the companys belief that the message when delivered by well-known personality will achieve a high degree of attention and recall (Hainan, 1991). This only happens when there is an appropriate connection between the celebrity and the product endorsed or when the celebritys represents of some aspect of product endorsed.Todays modern corporation invests insignificant amounts of money to draw parallels between its products and a celebrity in the belief that it would help attract attention to the products/services endorsed and help transfer the image values of the products/services through the celebritys profile (Meaghan and OMahony, 1998). For instance Venus Williams, tennis player had a signed a five year $40 million contract with sportswear manufactures Reebok International Inc. in 2003. Theory and practice prove that the use of super stars in advertising generates a lot of Publicity and attention from the public (Hainan 1991). The essential question to be asked here is, if and how the interest of the consumers in these well-known celebrities can be effectively be used by companies to promote their brands and consequently increase revenues. Firms often build fancy pay package for celebrities attracting them to endorse for the firms products, for examples Michael Jordan, a retired basketball player, endorsed a range of products which include sports and non-sports products, earning more than $45 million by just endorsing for different brands, but one of his prime endorsements was for Nike, which earned him $20 million annually in 1992. But when Michael Jordan retired later in his career, Nike sales dipped by 4 percent (Walsh, 1999). This example clearly illustrates the power of celebrity endorsements and also explains why companies are ready to pay such huge amounts to get celebrities to endorse their products. Overall the use of celebrities as spokesperson in advertisements comprises of a significant investment in intangible assets by the sponsoring firm. An investment which the firm hopes to compensate with greater future sales revenue and profits in return (Arawak and Kamakura 1995) 2.3 Positive and negative effects of celebrity endorsementEarly researches have shown that about 20 percent of all television commercial use celebrity as their endorsers and increasing competition for seeking consumers attention has encouraged marketers to use attention- creating media stars to assist in product marketing (Endogen, 1999). Marketers believe that using popular celebrity can effect consumers feeling and their purchase intention and also believe celebrity to influence consumers persuasion of the product according to the image of it (Belch & Belch, 2001). Use of celebrity as endorsers may have a significant positive impact, Increasing profits, on the contrary when associated with a celebrity whose credibility has been tarnished may hurt the company and its product. There are several benefits to having celebrities endorse products, one of the most common effects of using a celebrity endorser is it helps to maintain consumer attention. Research has indicated that customers are more likely to choose goods and services endorsed by celebrities than those without such endorsements (Arawak& Kamakura, 1995) and celebrities help advertisements stand out from the surrounding clutter, thus improving better communicative ability in conveying the message to the consumers (Sherman, 1995).There are a number of advantages to using celebrities in advertising, whether you are running print, Internet, radio or television commercials. The key for small companies is making sure the local celebrity is relevant and has broad appeal. Popular celebrities often work best because they naturally generate lots of attention. However, despite their following, celebrities are most effective if they promote products or services they are most likely to use. In other words, they must be plausible consumers, such as a local newscaster wearing a business suit from an area men's store.Water Treatment SystemInfluence Consumer PurchasesThe affinity consumers have for certain celebrities can greatly influence their purchases. People may have the attitude, "If the product is good enough for her, it's good enough for me." This philosophy is often the impetus behind advertisements for makeup, skin creams, hair products and attire. Consumers want the wavy hair of a local celebrity, for example. Hence, they purchase the brand that the celebrity uses to achieve her hair's fullness and bounce. Local consumers may also desire the same soft drink as their team's best baseball player. Essentially, the testimonial of the local celebrity adds instant credibility to a small company's product.Build AwarenessCelebrities in advertising build brand awareness, according to "Supermarket News," a publication covering the food distribution industry. And they build it much more quickly than traditional types of advertising. Brand awareness measures the percentage of people who are familiar with a particular brand. Small businesses spend lots of money and time for exposure to incrementally increase brand awareness among consumers. The use of a local celebrity can do much to enhance consumers' awareness and understanding of what a small business offers.Position a BrandSome small companies use celebrities in advertising to position their brands. Product positioning is placing a company's products in the best possible light in the minds of a target group, according to Inc.com. For example, a small investment firm may use a well-respected and retired local disc jockey to market a retirement plan for people ages 50 and over. The fact that the disc jockey falls in the consumers' age group and has a good reputation in the community makes the company's product and message more believable.Attract New UsersOne challenge small companies face is finding new users for their products. Local celebrities in advertising appeal to customers as well as those who have never tried the brand. The latter may be users of competitive brands. However, those who continually see the local celebrity in a commercial for a certain product may be convinced to try the product.Breathe Life into Failing BrandThe use of a celebrity in an advertisement may also help to breathe life into a failing brand. For example, a small soap manufacturer might think about dropping a brand or product, especially if production and overhead costs are leaving little or no profit. However, the use of a celebrity to tout the benefits of the brand could help create new interest and excitement in consumers.Although the potential benefits of utilizing a celebrity endorser are considerable, so are the costs and risk associated with it. Arawak and Kamakura (1995) in their research suggest that there are decreasing returns associated with celebrity advertisements. The cost incurred to get a celebrity onboard and associate him/her with the product and company are raising, the negative publicity generated by some celebrities, adds a possible risk of negative publicity generated towards the brand and company. Proving this point, researches shows that only a portion of consumers react positively after a negative publicity (Arawak and Kamakura, 1995). Celebrity endorsement is big business and any marketers who choose to utilize a celebrity have no control over his/her future behavior and reactions (Till and Shrimp, 1998). Therefore any negative publicity about the celebrity can reduce the appeal of the brand which the celebrity endorses. Marketers must find the celebrity who can best fit and represent the image of the product and its meaning (Belch &Belch, 2001). Celebrity, who is linked to positive information, has a greater possibility to reach to its target consumers. While on the other hand celebrity with negative Information reduces the trustworthiness of the celebrity and its relationship with the brand. Michael Jordan and Nike is a very good example of a perfect brand- celebrity fit. Michael Jordon and Nikes trust between them was at such a high level that Nike developed a new brand called Air Jordon. With Michael Jordans expertise and his trustworthiness with the larger audience, strengthened the brand-celebrity fit (Belch & Belch, 2001). Celebrity endorsement contract are for a long term relationship, therefore because of this long term relationship the celebrity and the brand can affect the audience and have an impact on the consumers. For example Kate Moss and brand H&M, after Kate Moss was pictured taking drugs in Daily Mirror newspaper, a lot of brands she endorsed such as Chanel, H&M cancelled their campaigns and contracts with her (Shrimp 2003). In order not to generate negative publicity towards the brand, from the behavior of the celebrity, companies pull back from the celebrity contracts and engage in reestablishing themselves.Another very prominent drawback of celebrity endorsements is the Vampire Effect or the celebrity overshadowing the brand (Kulkarni and Baulker, 2005). This happens when the audience forgets the brand advertised and concentrates more on the celebrity endorsing the brand. As Cooper (1984) states in his study, the product, not the celebrity, must be the star (pp.64-65). Similarly another problem is celebrity greed and overexposure, when a celebrity becomes an endorser for many diverse products (Endogen, 1999). Tripp et al. (1994) and Redenbacher (2005) both investigated and suggested that when as many as four products are endorsed, celebrity credibility and likeability, as well as attitude towards the ad, may be taken carelessly. In conclusion the good match with product and celebrity can make the advertising more believable, can improve the brand recognition, create a positive attitude towards the brand name and create a distinct personality for the brand (Arawak & Kamakura 1997).2.4 Models on Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement StrategyTempered and Tangent (2006) in their research said that its a critically important decision for the marketers in the choice of celebrity they decide upon. As selecting celebrity endorsers is a difficult job, many scholars have made an effort to construct models to assist in the selection of celebrity endorsers. One of the earliest models was contributed by Holland et al (1953), which is the Source Credibility Model. Consequently, the Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire, 1985), the Product Match-Up Hypothesis (Forman, 1980; Kamans, 1989, 1990), and the Meaning Transfer mode (McCracken, 1989) was put forward through observed researches in turn. Source credibility Model and Source Attractiveness Model a central goal of advertising is the persuasion of customers, i.e., the active attempt to change or modify consumers attitude towards brands (Solomon 2002). In this respect, the credibility of an advertisement plays an important role in convincing the target audience of the attractiveness of the companys brand. Pursuing a celebrity endorsement strategy enables advertisers to project a credible image in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and objectiveness (Till and Shrimp 1998).Source credibility and source attractiveness reflect the study of source effect theory/source influence theory, which argues that various characteristics of a perceived communication source may have a positive impact on message receptivity(Kerman, 1961). Shrimp (2003) found that credibility andattractiveness are the general features of celebrity endorsers effectiveness. Therefore to examine critically the impact of celebrity endorsers on the consumers purchase decision it is necessary that we discuss the source credibility model and the source attractiveness model. 2.4.1The source credibility model Source credibility suggests that the effectiveness of a message depends on the "expertness" and trustworthiness" of the source (Holland, Janis, and Kelley, 1953). In general, a message source with higher credibility tends to be more effective than one with less credibility (Stendhal et al., 1978). Since higher levels of source credibility tend to be associated with more positive attitudes toward the messageand lead to behavioral changes (Craig and McCann, 1978), advertisers will opt to use celebrities if they think that they have a high level of credibility.The basis of the model is that the effectiveness of the message depends on the consumers perceived level of expertise and trustworthiness of the celebrity endorser (Holland et al., 1953). If a source is perceived to be credible, a consumer will probably accept the influence (information) as truthful and use it. It is accepted because it is demanded by ones own values (Kerman, 1961). Hence, an endorsement of a product by a credible source may influence the purchase behavior (Danes vary and Schwarz, 2000). This psychological process is called internalization, which occurs when receivers accept a source influence in terms of their personal attitude and value structures (Endogen, 1999). Companies have considered pursuing strategies of celebrity endorsement as advertisers seek to project a credible image in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and Objectiveness (Till and Shrimp 1998). According to Holland et al. (1953), source credibility mainly categorizes into expertise and trustworthiness. Expertise is defined by Holland et al (1953) as the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions and refers to the knowledge, experience or skills possessed by an endorser. What is interesting here is that it does not matter whether the endorser is an expert or not, what really matters is the viewers perceive them to be. Furthermore, expertise of a celebrity endorser should relate to the product he/she endorses (Till &Busler, 1998). Greater the success the celebrity gains, the more expert or credible he/she is perceived to become in his field. Friedman and Friedman (1979), using the internalisation process said that consumers were more likely to purchase complex and expensive products which were endorsed by experts rather than by typical consumers. Meaning the public was more likely to buy products when the endorsers credibility is high, when compared to be low. In Danes vary and Schwarz (2000) article, they propose that Consumers are more prone to adopt behavior by an association (group) if they identify with the group (identification). Besides, if they perceive the source (association) as credible and as an expert in the products which it endorses, consumers are likely to purchase the product (internationalization). Therefore, identification and internalisation processes of social influence will affect behavior change, resulting in increased purchases from endorsements by the association (Danes vary and Schwarz 2000).Endogen (1999) suggests that the use of the word trustworthiness in the celebrity endorsement literature refers to the honesty, integrity and believability of an endorser. Deplaned and Stay man (1994) contributed to the study regarding the factors that influence the trustworthiness of celebrity endorser. They found that celebrity endorsers ethnic status would affect the trustworthiness, because people trust individuals who are seen as comparable to them. This study suggested that while selecting a celebrity endorser the ethnic background has to be considered, when the company targets a particular ethnic group. Endogen (1999) findings in the source credibility state that factors which construct source credibility and other important factors in certain situation are still ambivalent. Conversely, the fact that high credible source do not always have more effect when compared low credible source, should me noticed. Stendhal et al. (1978) stated that the low credibility source may have stronger persuasibility than the higher one, when the audience is already inclined to a message. 2.4.2 The Source Attractiveness ModelThe source attractiveness model is a psychological research resulted from McGuire (1985) study. Source attractiveness model is more related to the physical attributes, such as similarity, familiarity and likeability. These are important initial judgment of another person at first instance (Ohanian, 1991). Advertisers have chosen celebrity endorsers on the basis of their physical attractiveness to gain from the dual effects of celebrity status and physical appeal (Singer, 1983), e.g. Carol Vordermans dual role as expert and attractive presenter of the benefits of Benecol. There is no doubt that attractive celebrity endorsers enhance attitudes towards advertising and brands, but whether they are able to create repeat purchase intentions is less obvious (Byrne Etal, 2003). Debevec et al (1986) suggested in their study, higher source attractiveness led to higher verbal and behavioral compliance, in order to examine the relationship between purchase intention and attractiveness. Kahlo& Homer (1985) mentioned in his study that, purchase intention participants are easily influenced by an attractive celebrity endorser than unattractive celebrity endorser. Finding from Debase and Kerman (1984) study showed that male consumers are more easily influenced by attractive female endorser than attractive male endorsers. Furthermore Baker and Churchill (1977) study found that unexpected interaction among female models, product type and intentions to purchase products among male subjects. For example when the product endorsed is a perfume; males reacted optimistically to an attractive female model. Research done by Joseph (1982) proves that attractive communicators are repeatedly liked more than unattractive ones and also have a positive impact on products with which they are associated. In short, it is evident that attractive celebrity endorsers enhance attitudes and recall towards advertising and brands than unattractive celebrity endorsers. Under the influence of halo effect that occurs when rank high on one dimension are assumed to be excellent on other dimensions, people tend to assume that good-looking people are smarter and more persuasive (Solomon, 2002).One of the best examples of source attractiveness model is tennis player Anna Kournikova (Shrimp, 2003). According to Shrimp (2003), who has never won any tennis tournament in her career, Kournikova was chosen to endorse various different brands only because of her attractiveness merely, and none so ever of her credibility in tennis. On the more contrary angle, Cooper et al., (1974) in their study found out that a deviant-appearing person, in an income tax commercial proved to be more effective than an attractive person. Furthermore Maddux and Rogers (1980) found that explanation of arguments and expertise, influenced consumer attitude rating towards sleep while physical attractiveness did not. 2.4.3 Product Match-up Hypothesis Byrne et al. (2003) suggests that the problems many marketers facing is choosing the right type of celebrity to associated their product with. Marketers must match the product or companys image, to the features of the target market, and the personality of the celebrity, in order to establish effective messages and the determinant of the match between celebrity and brand depends on the degree of perceived fit between brand (brand name, attributes) and celebrity image (Misra, 1990). If at all there is no connection between a celebrity endorser and product; a celebrity and consumer, then it will only result in audiences remembering the celebrity, but not the product (Evans, 1998). As mention by Tempered and Tangent (2006) marketer can always match a celebrity with the desired image of a brand/product, but it will not be successful if the viewer does not perceive the fit correctly. Further added by Bertrand and Todd (1992), who stated if there is an appropriate tie-in between the companys product and the celebritys persona, reputation or the line of work that the celebrity is in, then the brand can get both the recognition and the tie-in working with them.Kahlo and Homer (1985) in their analysis found that physical attractiveness of celebrity endorsers has a positive influence on consumers' brand attitudes, purchase decision, brand recall, and recall of advertisement arguments. Contrast to this claim by Kahlo and Homers, another analysis conducted by Till and Busler (1998) suggested that an endorsements featuring Kate Jackson for Lincoln Mercury proved to be ineffective, despite Kate Jackson having attractive looks. Till and Busler (1998) cited another instance where celebrity and the product are a perfect fit citing at Cindy Crawford endorsing for Revlon commercial. Their research proved that not physical attractiveness, rather expertise is more important in affecting consumers. Citing an example of Zidane (a retired footballer player) endorsing football products, Shimps (2003) suggests that endorsers are most effective when strong and positive relation between endorsers and the target audience is achieved. Hence Zidanes fans, who is their idol of football, will go buy the products he endorser, especially the one in he endorses for football products.2.4.4 Meaning Transfer ModelMcCrackens (1989) 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). According to Endogen (1999) the strengths of this model are that it considers celebrity status, class, gender, age, lifestyle and personality.An example of this is James Garners endorsement of Mazda- Garners qualities of maturity, maleness; confidence and good humour were made the qualities of Mazda vehicle. When this clear association is consciously made, the meaning transfer acts as an amplifier to product signalling, this could overcome the information noise facing consumers and attract their attention (Mustafa, 2005). According to Martin(1996, p.29), celebrity spokespersons are useful in marketing because they providea set of characteristics that supports consumers in evaluating the presented brand. The meaning transfer model (McCracken, 1989) introduced is an appropriate tool to describe the endorsement process that comprises of three stages including culture, endorsement and consumption. This model involves the creation of celebrity image, transfer of meaning from the celebrity to the brand and the third stage is how the brand transfers image onto the consumer (Schlecht, 2003).Source: Meaning transfer in the endorsement process (McCracken 1989)

According to McCracken (1989), in the first stage the celebrity draws meaning from their public persona (i.e.) the meaning associated with the famous person moves from the endorser to the product or brand. In the endorsement stage, this meaning is transferred from the endorser to the product and the process of creating a product personality takes place, based on the symbolic properties conveyed by the endorser. At last, in the consumption process, the brands meaning is acquired by the consumer. In this stage the consumers role in the endorsement process. These meanings are transferred to the consumer who identifies with those symbolic properties and the process of transfer of meanings from endorser to product/brand to consumer is complete (McCracken, 1989). Schlecht (2003) describes when determining the brands representative feature, consumers needs should be considered. Then the company decides how which celebrity to choose and who possesses the most appropriate similar characteristics in relation to the brand. Lastly there has to be equivalence or a brand fit between the celebrity and the brand/product. 2.5 Multiple Celebrity EndorsementsAn advertising technique used by marketers is using either some celebrities to endorse several brands or a specific brand is endorsed by different spokespersons. These theories are known as multiple brand endorsement or multiple celebrity endorsement respectively. Tripp et al. (1994) states that advertising firms might share certain spokesperson, thus celebrities end up promoting for more than one brand (p.535). For example golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed brands such American Express, Nike and Rolex. Another example is of actress Catherine Zeta-Jones who has been used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden to endorse their brand. On the other hand, brands, more specifically sports brands such as Nike, Reebok and Adidas, often use more than one celebrity as their spokesperson. Celebrities are chosen to associate with a brand on the bases that they in a certain way represent the target audience. When more than one or two celebrities are chosen to endorse one particular brand, its beneficial for appealing to various audiences to which the products caters to (Hsu and McDonald, 2002). Endogen and Baker (1999) in their research indicated that at times it is beneficial for the brand to have multiple celebrities endorsing a particular brand, so it can reach out to its entire target audience. But what is important to notice is that all the celebrities should reflect the brands core values (Endogen and Baker, p.13). It can also be useful to endorse a product with multiple celebrities has they can represent a different mix of types such as age, gender and social class. According to (Hsu and McDonald, 2002), the Milk Mustache campaign in the USA, recruiting more than 100 celebrities to wear a milk mustache in ads since 1995, can be considered one of the most noticeable multiple celebrity endorsements. Another example is the Lux beauty soap commercials. They have successfully endorsed using most of the leading ladies from the Indian film industry. Marketers should think carefully while having multiple celebrities endorsing a single product. Today, consumers are becoming are becoming more knowledgeable and might think that these celebrities are just to doing it for the money and do not really care about the transfer of meaning to the product, which might the consumers purchase behavior (Belch and Belch, 2001). Research done by Redenbacher (2005) shows that endorsement of four different brands/products does in fact influence the celebritys trustworthiness, expertise and likeability. This is because the celebrity instead of focusing on one brand, it endorses multiple brands and eventually lacks distinctiveness (Redenbacher, 2005). It also so happens that because of the celebrity being associated with so many different brands, the people just remember the star while not recollecting the brand/product being advertised (Hsu and McDonald, 2002).2.6 Celebrity Endorsement an Indian Perspective Celebrities are involved in endorsing activities since late nineteenth century (Endogen, 1999). The latter part of the '80s saw the mushrooming of a new trend in India; brands started being endorsed by celebrities (Katyal, 2007). The advent of celebrity endorsements in advertising in India began when Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons began making inroads on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models (Kulkarni and Baulker, 2005). One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh Engineer became the first Indian cricketer to model for Bryl cream (Kulkarni and Baulker, 2005). Probably Lux the soap brand has managed to realize and made it synonyms with celebrity endorsement in India till date (Katyal, 2007). Early instance of celebrity endorsing brands in stars featuring like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure Cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), KepiDev. (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings) (Roy, 2006). Figure 1 shows the increase in celebrity endorsement advertisements since 2003 and 2007. This clearly indicated the growth and acceptance of celebrity endorsements on the Indian television. In fact, celebrity endorsement is growing at six times in volume terms between 2003 and 2007.

Figure 1: Celebrity Endorsements on television since 2003 Source: www.thehindubusinessline.comIn the Indian context, it would not be bold to state that celebrity endorsements can enhance the overall brand. For instance, Coke example illustrates this claim. The Coke advertisement featured India film star Aamir Khan endorsing the brand. The result was a universally appealing Aamir cheekily stating Thandamatlab Coca Cola (Katyal, 2007). The Parker pen brand, which by itself commands equity, used Amitabh Bachchan to revitalize the brand in India. According to PoojaShahnawazn, Director, Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd (LWIL), post Bachchan, Parker's sales have increased by about 30 per cent (Katyal, 2007).The tastes and preference of the Indian consumer and how they treat their celebrity is different when compared to countries like United States of America and the United Kingdom. According to a saying by Confucius all people are the same. Its just the habits that are different. Hosted (1991) in his research classified all the countries into 5 basic cultural dimensions. In his analysis Hofstede ranked India in having high Collectivism, having a more collective behavior and individuals having close ties with each others. Along with this Hofstede also positioned Indias name in having high power Distance Index. This implies that the society emphasizes on the differences between citizen's power and wealth. Relating Hofstedes finding to why Indians look up to their stars and want to be like them, makes for a better understanding. Today, India is one of the fast growing economies, and celebrity endorsing has become big business. India is one country, which has always idolized the stars of the celluloid world; therefore it makes tremendous sense for a brand to procure a celebrity for its endorsement (Katyal, 2007). Advertisers are offering stars like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and many others huge pay packages to get them on board with a certain brand. In India there is an exponential likelihood for a celebrity endorsement to be perceived as genuinely relevant, thereby motivating consumers to go in for the product (Kulkarni and Baulker, 2005).2.6.1 Celebrity Endorsement on TV by Profession (2003-12)India is a land of three Cs Cinema, Cricket and Curry. The citizens just love their film andsports stars and would go to any extent to show their support for their favourite celebrity. India isamongst the biggest producers of films in the world and many superstars like AmitabhBachchan, Shahrukh Khan, KareenaKapoor, AishwaryaRai and many more are the heart-throbsof many a Indian. Film actors and actresses have always held the majority share of celebrityendorsements on TV as shown in Table-1. Sports persons are another big group of endorsers onIndian TV. This group mainly comprises of Indian cricket team members who have proved theirmettle on the global cricketing scene. The top cricket stars who have got a huge fan following areSachin Tendulkar, M. S. Dhoni, ViratKohli and others. Other games like tennis (SaniaMirza),badminton (SainaNehwal) and chess (ViswanathanAnand) also feature in some TVadvertisements promoting some or the other brand.Marketing firms, both MNC and Indian, are well aware of the kind of excitement and obsessiongenerated by these celebrities and are forever ready of sign them. These firms sincerely believethat celebrity stars would definitely propel their respective brands towards the top by attractinghordes of customers. TV actors and actresses are also sometimes roped in by firms but theirnumbers are negligible as shown by Table-1. Their fan following is mainly confined to theIndian housewives who are glued to daily family soaps whenever they find any free time fromtheir household chores. They consider the protagonist in any popular serial (like ShwetaTiwariin KasautiZindagi Kay) as one amongst them and are prepared to spend money on brandedproducts made popular by these TV stars.International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services & Management ResearchVol.2, No. 1, January 2013, ISSN 2277- 3622

Profession 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008a 2009 2010 2011b 2012cFilm Actress 21 70 80 78 31 34 43 44 39 40.8Film Actor 44 50 47 37 41 37 42.4Sports Person 27 24 17 16 14 16 15 12 19 11.7TV Actor 1 6 4 6 3 1 2 1 2 1.6TV Actress 7 2 2 2 1 2 1.6

aFigures for 2008 are for H1 from January-June, 2008 Source:- http://www.tamindia.com/tamindia/Adex_News_TV.htmbFigures for 2011 are from January-September, 2011cFigures for 2012 are for Q1 from January-March, 2012

2.7 Research Objective This research is undertaken to understand the influence celebrity endorsement has on the consumers purchase decision. All previous research conducted in this area has been done in countries other than India. There has not been any large scale research study undertaken with reference to the Indian consumers views and opinion. All this when India is the one of the fast growing economy in the world and having a great potential in the advertising and marketing industry. Through conducting this research it aims in finding out two main questions as mentioned earlier, firstly the influence celebrity endorsement has on the consumers purchase decision and secondly their preference over celebrity and non-celebrity advertisements? Along with this the study also aims at finding out do consumers believe there should be a connection between the product and celebrity? This study aims to justify the influence of celebrity endorsement advertising on the Indian consumer and also show the growth of this industry as well.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction Burns (2000) describes research as a systematic investigation to find answers to a given problem. The following chapter will justify the choice of research undertaken to carry out the research study. Subsequently, it will draw comparisons between Qualitative and Quantitative research methods and will justify the appropriate method used in this study. Furthermore, data collection method and participants that were recruited for carrying out the research will be justified.3.2 Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been represented as two fundamentally different paradigms (Barnnen, 2004) through which researchers conduct their study. Through, being essentially the two methods to collect data a clear understanding of these two concepts is needed. Each study has its limitation of scope and depth. The essence of qualitative research rests on its naturalistic approach that implies multidimensional study and interpretation of data (Denzin and Lincoln, 2002). According to Denzin and Lincoln (2002), qualitative research stresses on the process and meaning that are not rigorously examined or measured, contrary to quantitative research which emphasises the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, not process. Qualitative research is, more frequently than not, designed as it is been done. It is anything but standard and nonresistant to change in nature. This is a result of its flexibility and emergent characteristics (Van Maanen, 1998, p.xi). Whereas quantitative research is based on a rigid structure, which includes methodology and research techniques, it provides little room for flexibility (Van Maanen, 1998). Also qualitative practice, which tends to be less structured, can therefore be more responsive to the needs of the respondents. Qualitative research is a multi-method research that applies an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its focused theme (Denzin& Lincoln, 2002). Doing a qualitative study has numerous advantages has cited by Rossman and Rallis (1998). To begin with (a) the research takes place in a neutral and natural setting thus helping both the participant and researcher to be more relaxed and less tensed. (b) The research style is more flexible than rigid and is less structured. (c) Data collection method which qualitative style adopts uncourageous more participation by the respondents.

3.3 Method of Data Collection Data collection is the process of collecting data material from the respondents through various ways. In this dissertation primary research data is collected through a qualitative research style using interviews. Both primary research and interviews are explained below: -

3.3.1 Primary research Primary research involves acquiring original first hand data directly from the concerned research subjects. The essence of primary research data lies in the fact that it does not already exist somewhere. Its new and original data collected from the respondents. The various methods used to collect primary research data are face-face interviews, online surveys, telephone interviews and surveys. The method used in this dissertation is the face-face interview style. 3.3.2 InterviewsInterviews are one of the most common methods to for collecting data in qualitative research (Byrne, 2001). He further adds, interviews allow participants to provide ample amount of time to voice their opinion and describe the events freely. The qualitative research interview refers an interchange of views between two conversing about a theme of mutual interest (Kvale, 1996). Interviews can be referred to as depth, exploratory, semi-structured or unstructured. The main goal in qualitative research interview is to comprehend the research topic from the perspective of the interviewee and to understand how and why they come to have this particular perspective (King, 2004, p.11). The key feature in qualitative research interview is the nature of relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee. According to Alexis et al. (2006), another key feature of interviews is that Open-ended interviews facilitated description of the participants experience (p.132). Conducting interviews might be time consuming, resulting for finding the right respondent, availing time and actually making the respondent talk, yet the quality of data generate is rich and very valuable (Byrne, 2001). The interview style adopted in this dissertation is face-face interviews.3.4 Selection of participants The participants the very recruited for this dissertation consisted of people of Indian origin. This is because of the central focus of the dissertation is the Indian market place. The participants used as research subjects were adults ranging from the age of 22- 30 years in age. This age group of was selected as research samples as they are firstly avid watchers of television and are more or less the target audience of most commercials on television. Also according to O' Donohoe and Tynan (1998) study which stated adults aging from 21-28 are known to be skilled and can make sense of complex imagery and illusions to the world, beyond just advertising. This dissertation consists of 12 participants in total, of which the ratio between females and males is equal at 6 each. Since India is a diverse country, the participants have been chosen from across India. Data was collected within a span of 20 days, with ample time given to each participant. Concern about the quantity of participants may suggest and cause the research study to narrow down its object, but according to Kvale (1996) who suggested that smaller amount of interviews provides quality data when compared to quantity.List of ParticipantsName Age OccupationYounis wani 25 Employedshowket lone 27 EmployedVidhi Sheth 25 TraineesNidhi Gupta 22 StudentsNina Frenandis 23 StudentShahnawaz bush 29 EmployedJunaid baba 24 StudentShazia akthar 23 StudentsNaitik Shah 30 EmployedTanvi Desai 24 TraineesRaj Louis 30 EmployedShaira Sehgal 25 Students

3.5 Research Design

3.5.1 Interview DesignAs the research involved collection of primary data, interviews of 12 people from India were conducted. While conducting interviews the number of participants should be decided on the basics that how many people are required to say the same thing Kvale (1996). All the participants are people from the desired age group ranging from 22-30 years. The participants include from three main fields such as employed, students and trainees. All the questions were structured using the literature to gain maximum information from the interviewee. There were 11 questions in all asked to the participants ranging from their understanding of the term celebrity endorsement, what they prefer more a celebrity advertising or non-celebrity advertising, to do they think the celebrity and the product should be linked? Other questions related to consumers perspective on the different aspects of celebrity endorsement. All interviews were conducted in the traditional manner of face-face interviews. Questions formed were all open ended, inviting the participants to talk and converse more. As the questions were open ended and semi-structured, it helps in forming new sub questions in the due course of the interview. The interview questions were designed in a funnel structure, which means that the questions to begin with start broadly and then narrow down to more specific tropic as the interview progress (Burns, 2000).The interviews were recorded, as it would not have been possible to listen and write at the same time. In doing there are high chances of the interviewer missing on important points said by the interviewee. In the course of conducting an interview it is also very important not to drift away from the structure of the interview questions, as it may provide useless information while losing out on vital information (Bernard, 2002). While conducting these interviews the actual motive and sentiments of the respondents could be obtained. Most of the interviews conducted were in-depth, providing rich and useful information. The questions were easily understood and comprehend by the respondents giving prompt answers to the questions. Hence through this process i received in-depth views and opinions on how celebrity endorsement affects these participants and people around, especially Indians. In conclusion, this chapter provides an insight to the methodology followed for the research topic. The research method adopted, the tools used for data collection and the research process have been established for the purpose of drawing up an analysis and discussion on this subject matter.

Research design is a framework or blue print for conducting a research project (Malhotra, 2006). In other words its a plan that guides the collection and analysis of the gather data. It services at guideline to support the investigation and the nature of sampling the data. It therefore is the main part of any research undertaken. A good research would lay strong emphasis on having a well established research design. As Im using a qualitative research style, interviews had to be conducted face-face. Firstly as my research pans across India, thus i would have to short list 12 people, consisting of 6 females and males within the age group, panning across India. As my data collection method adopted is face-face interviews and my sample size was not all the big in number, i decided to conduct them at neutral territory, making it easy for the participants to talk freely. With all the information collected, it now presented a clearer picture as to how celebrity endorsements affect consumers purchase decision. Hence forth the decision to examine and analysis the subjective interviews proved to be appropriate.

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction:This chapter reports the analysis and explains the finding obtained from the qualitative interviews. Furthermore a discussion is also presented bring out the relevant findings with the literature mentioned above. The reported findings are discussed in 3 sections, namely the first section discusses the participants understanding of the celebrity endorsement and attractiveness of the advertisements, celebrity advertising opposed to non-celebrity advertising. The second section discusses issues of celebritys attractiveness, product match-up, celebritys credibility, endorsing multiple products and economic value of celebrity endorsement. Third section discusses consumers perceptive of celebrity endorsements. At last, concluding with a brief summary of the relevant findings.

4.2 Understanding of Celebrity Endorsement: In this section, we discuss two questions that of what the participants understood by the term celebrity endorsement and what attracted them more, an advertising which had a celebrity endorser or advertisement which did not have any celebrity endorsers. 4.2.1 Understanding of Celebrity Endorsement:Firstly, the participants were asked to explain their understanding of what the term celebrity endorsement means and what they thought of it. The responses received were quite descriptive and interesting in nature. Everyone expressed a similar opinion and understanding of celebrity endorsement. The majority of the participant felt that celebrity endorser as a known figure to the general public endorsing a particular product. Adding to this, the majority also referred to celebrity as someone who people look up to and idolize. This can be seen as expresses by the following participants.Shazia: Celebrity endorsement is something where a known figure is endorsing a product. For example, Amitabh Bachchan is an actor and the whole nation (India) knows him and if he is your idol as well, and hes endorsing a particular product, then you will obviously go buy that particular product.Shaira: Celebrity endorsements mean that there are advertisements and to promote it people use big names because thats what attracts the masses to advertisements. Its also another reason why people want to look at advertisements because there are celebrities in them which they look up to, their idols... Junaid: Basically when a company uses a celebrity to promote their product, represent their product in a way. Celebrity is someone you know, who people look up to, who people want to be like. So basically when you relate them (celebrity) to the product, people think the product is like their celebrity. Some people like their celebrities choices and do what their celebrities do, so if they relate that to a product even they might switch to that product.Vidhi: According to me celebrity endorsements means some film stars or some famous people endorsing certain brands. Many of the participants agreed upon the definition of celebrity endorsements as someone who is known as a public figure and who people look up to and idolize. These descriptions are similar and matches with the definition provide by both Friedman and Friedman (1979), who describes celebrity endorsement, has an individual who is known to public for his achievements in areas other than that of the product class endorsed and McCracken (1989), who defines celebrity endorser as any individual who enjoys public recognition. Some participants mentioned celebrity endorsements as representing companies or product owners who hire them to appear in advertisement, directed to the consumers on their behalf. This can be seen by views expressed by Shahnawaz and Junaid, as follows:Shahnawaz: Celebrity Endorsements is where companies or product owners use celebrity as a representation of the product or company to enhance sales. Junaid: Basically when a company uses a celebrity to promote their product, represent their product in a way... This is in accordance with the definition provided by McCracken (1989), who states celebrity endorser as any individual who enjoys public recognition and uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer goods appearing with it in an advertisement. Tom et al. (1992) mentioned the most popular type of spokesperson is the celebrity endorsement. This point is further emphasized by answers of Shahnawaz and Junaid, who used phrases such as celebrities representing companies and celebrity as representation of the product or company Another important similarity between most of the responds of the participants is that a majority argued that celebrity endorsements were taking place in order to enhance company sales and to promote the products with the popularity of the celebrity. These views were expressed by the following participants:Tanvi: According to me celebrity endorsement is whenever to want to promote a product or something, in order to increase your sales, you generally have a celebrity endorsing the product, as in he presents your product.Shahnawaz: Celebrity Endorsements is where companies or product owners use celebrity as a representation of the product or company to enhance sales. Nidhi: I think celebrity endorsements means, is when a company hires a celebrity to represents their... to increase sales. Shaira: ...So hence its beneficial for both the company whos hiring the celebrity, gets their products sold and for the consumer who is going to buy the product.. As mentioned by the participants above, who used phrases such as enhance sales, increase sales and beneficial to the company in generating more sales, but as appose to this there is no mention of this fact in the definition provide at all. None of the definitions given by the authors suggest that celebrity endorsement is to increase sales or enhance sales by the company hiring the celebrity. This is an interesting point as the whole purpose of bring a celebrity onboard and he/she acting as a company spokesperson is to generate more interest among the people so that they would buy that particular product, in turn increase companys sales. But there is no mention of this point in the definition of celebrity endorsement provided. Therefore there is a gap created in the definition of celebrity endorsement as described by the consumers and by the literature available. Another interesting view was given by one of the participant Nidhi, who cited that celebrities are got onboard to create positive feeling among the people and to increase visibility. This can be seen as mentioned below:Nidhi: I think celebrity endorsements means, is when a company hires a celebrity to represents their brand to create positive feeling among people to increase sales and visibility. Nidhi descriptively mentions celebrities representing companys brand to create positive feeling among people to increase sales and visibility. This statement further justifies with Arawak and Kamakura (1995) argument, who state that celebrities increase awareness of a companys advertising and create a positive feeling towards the brand. Adding further, they state that using a celebrity would assist in having a positive impact on the consumers and their purchase decision as well.

4.2.2 Celebrity advertising more attractive than non-celebrity advertising: When asked whether advertisements having celebrity endorser attracts them more over advertisements that do not have celebrity endorser in them, a majority response of the participants were similar, while a few mentioned interesting details. Firstly a majority of the participants felt that celebrity endorsements attract them more over non-celebrity endorsements. Some of the participants responded even before i could finish the questions, showing their assertiveness in their answers. A few responses of the participants in this nature were as follows: Shazia: Obliviously a celebrity advertising, because the kind of advertisements it, if its a television advertisement its obliviously more attractive. It stays in your mind, if you know a known figure is doing it, you will obliviously look forward to seeing it. So ya a celebrity advertising is more attractive.Shaira: Hmmm... Definitely the curiosity is more when there is a celebrity endorser, because if there is a celebrity that personally admire and if they using him in an advertisement, then there definitely more curiosity. I would want to go see, more than a normal ad i would want to go open that. So i would say a celebrity advertising attracts me more. Shahnawaz: Personally a celebrity advertising attracts me more than a non-celebrity advertising. Im instantly drawn towards a celebrity endorsed advertisement for the simple reason that i know that person, or he/she is a famous public figure. This also true in a place like India where they actually worship their celebrities. So yes a celebrity advertisement does attract me more than a non-celebrity ad. Nina: Surely a celebrity advertising with a celebrity would attract me more because i know that celebrity or he/she is a well-known person. The fact that a celebrity is endorsing in an ad, hence i would like to see the advertisement. There would be an interest to see the ad. Many of the participants feel that the celebrity advertising attracts them more as appose to a non-celebrity advertising for a basic reason that a well-known public figure is endorsing the product. It draws their attention immediately to the advertisement with the celebrity. There is a sense of curiosity generate with the viewers, in looking forward to viewing the advertisement. The curiosity to see to once favorite celebrity attracts them more a non-celebrity advertising.Some of the participants used phrases such as definitely and curiosity used by Shaira, obliviously used by Shazia, worship by Shahnawaz and surely used by Nina, shows the assertiveness of the participation being attracted by celebrity advertising over non-celebrity advertising. These are strong words which are used by these participants and have no mention of these in the current literature. This may also be because of the cultural difference between in India and USA and UK, where most of the previous research has being done. Therefore it appears to be an interesting new insight in understanding the consumers purchase decision. A couple of respondents such as Junaid and Youniswani cited that celebrity advertising did not attracts them more over a non-celebrity advertisement, because for them it depended on the product being advertised and not the celebrity whos advertising. The following are the responses of Junaid and Youniswani:Junaid: For me a non-celebrity advertising attracts more, because see when they have celebrity in an advertising they really dont really give much thought about the concept of the advertisement or the message they are trying to promote. All they do is that the celebrity does all the work for them. They just put the celebrity in the ad and all the work is done for them. They dont really have to pass the message or anything like that, but when you take non-celebrity advertising they have to pass the message. They actually tell the public what the product is which is delivered to them. So thats where the true identity of the product is shown, but in a celebrity advertisement, as long as the celebrity is there its cool.younis: For me personally i dont think any celebrity advertising makes any difference, because its a false claim that they are promoting. For me the product has to be of good use to me. If my favorite celebrity was to endorse a product which was not all that good then i would not go buy it just because my favorite celebrity is endorsing it. Both Junaid and Youniswani share the view that the products usefulness and products feature should be high-light in the advertisement, which was attracts them both. Junaid cites that in celebrity advertising there is not much research and reasoning done before getting the celebrity onboard, and the entire burden is put on the celebrity to convey the message. This goes against the literature provided by Arawak and Kamakura (1995), researched that customers are more likely to choose goods and services endorsed by celebrities rather than without such endorsements. One participant (Showket) takes a more neutral stand wherein he states that a celebrity advertising attracts him more, but does not mean that he will go buy the product being advertised. He further adds that if a non-celebrity advertisement is selling the same product as the celebrity endorsed ad, and if the product is better in the former he will buy it from the former rather from the latter. This point is further strengthened by Youniswani who cited that If my favorite celebrity was to endorse a product which was not all that good then i would not go buy it just because my favorite celebrity is endorsing it. This is revealed in the response given below:Showket: A celebrity advertising attracts me more, but that doesnt mean that i will go buy the product that the celebrity is advertising. It creates more recall in the consumers mind, but for me the product has to be of good use. The celebrity is just there to draw the consumers attention. So basically yes celebrity advertising does attract be more but if the product in a non-celebrity ad is better i will go buy that. Showket mentions in his argument that celebrity advertising creates more recall in the minds of the consumers. This goes in accordance with Ohanians (1991) research which indicates that, message when delivered by a well-known personality will achieve a high degree of attention and recall.

4.3 Issues pertaining to celebrity endorsement In this section we discuss issues that are pertaining to celebrity endorsement such as does celebritys attractiveness have an impact on the product? Should there be a connection between the celebrity and the product? And what impact does celebritys credibility have on the consumer purchase decision? Furthermore issues such as celebrities endorsing multiple products and economic assessment of celebrity endorsements will also be discussed. 4.3.1 Celebritys Attractiveness having a direct impact on the product: The participants took time in answering this question and there was no definite answer as the question was open-ended. Almost all respondents did not at once agree or disagree to the question. Most of the participants felt that celebritys attractiveness had some impact on the product, but not every time. When probed further, most of them took the neutral stand that of it does affect the product, but not for all the time. A few responses reflecting this opinion were as follows:Vidhi: Only certain times, when the advertisement is made in the correct way. Otherwise you only see the celebrity and not the product.Shaira: Hmmm... attractive, may be not every ad, but i think most of the ad you do tend to see why those people have chosen this celebrity for this ad. So ya, not all but surely for some or most ad yes.Nina: Yes, celebritys attractiveness does have a direct impact on the product he/she is endorsing. If it had not been for their attractive looks or appearance they would not have been chosen to endorse for the product. For example, if AishwaryaRai was not so attractive and so beautiful she would have never been chosen to endorse so many beauty products such as LOreal and Lux. So yes it does have an impact on the product, but i think its not for every ad.Raj: Yaa there is no questions whether or not celebrity attractiveness has an impact on the product, it clearly does. But i dont think its the same case for all ads and products. It may so happen that an ad for a machine tool does not require an attractive celebrity, so its depends. As seen above the respondents, agree to the fact that celebritys attractiveness does have an impact on the product, but its not the true for all the advertisements. These views are in general, similar to the views of Byrne (2003), who cited that there is no doubt that attractive celebrity endorsers enhance attitude towards advertising and brands. Also to certain extend the view of the participants matches with Singers (1983) view of, advertisers choose celebrity endorsers on the basis of their physical attractiveness to gain from the dual effect of celebrity status and physical appeal. Couple of participants felt that celebritys attractiveness did in fact have a direct effect on the product he/she is endorsing and felt that it was also an important parameter in selecting the celebrity. The views of these two participants were as follows:Shazia: Hmm... yes it does have an impact, because see if you have an attract person endorsing a beauty cream then, then it makes sense because then the product is for enhancing beauty so you will have an attractive celebrity endorsing the product. Also having an attractive celebrity helps in seeing the ad again and again, therefore helping the ad being in the minds of the people.Tanvi: Yes, i agree that celebritys attractiveness has a direct impact on the product he/she is endorsing. For example, if the product been advertised is a fairness cream and if you dont have an attractive looking celebrity endorsing it then people will not look or notice the ad. Also, if the products a fairness cream, so obviously you cant have an unattractive person endorsing it. These two views of Shazia and Tanvi reinforce and match up to the claims made by Kahlo and Homer (1985), who argued that purchase intention participants are easily influenced by an attractive celebrity endorser than unattractive celebrity endorser. Furthermore, Tanis claim that attractive looking celebritys get noticed in ads more or less matches with Joseph (1982) research which proves that attractive communicators are repeatedly liked more than unattractive ones and also have a positive impact on the brand which they are associated with. Shazia mentions that having attractive celebrity in ads helps viewing of the ad over and over again, therefore helping the ad stay in the minds of the consumers. This argument by Shazia reinforces the Joseph (1982) research which states that attractive celebrity endorsers enhance attitude and recall towards advertising than unattractive celebrity endorsers.

4.3.2 Product Match Up - Connection between Celebrity and Product:All most all participants agreed instantly to the fact that there should be a connection between the brand/product and the celebrity endorser. Most, if not all of the participants said that the celebrity and the product being advertised should be linked in a certain way, such as may be the product they are endorsing is from the field they belong to. Most of the participants did not hesitate in giving an example to back their argument, therefore showing the recall celebrity advertising generated. These assessments can be viewed from the response of the participants below: Raj: Definitely yes. Suppose when Shahrukh Khan advertised for the Lux (beauty soap) ad, it was so pathetic; I mean he had no connection. There was no beauty connected to Shahrukh Khan. He should have either advertised for mens deodorant or something else for men. He has nothing to do with the soap that to a ladys soap. So definitely celebrities should be linked to the product they are advertising.Shaira: Yaya... the celebrity should be linked to the product he/she advertising. If i were the firm and had to choose a celebrity, i would choose a celebrity that fits the product. I would pick a celebrity that is linked to what i want to say or tell. People will buy the product because the celebrity and the product are linked and its perfect fit. So yes i would choose a celebrity that fits the product. Shazia: Certainly, I think the celebrity should be linked to the product. If Sachin Tendulkar is advertising for some sports product then it makes sense, rather than he endorsing for something else which is not connected to his field.Junaid: Ya there should be a connection. Thats what these promoters want to establish that is a connection between the brand and the celebrity. So the people who are their fans will also buy the products endorsed by them. For example David Beckham endorse for Pepsi. Now Pepsi is a refreshing drink and David Beckham is a footballer. Now the promoters want to establish that after a tiring game of football David Beckham drinks Pepsi, which is a refreshing drink. So all his fans will do the same and buy Pepsi.Showket: Most certainly there should be a connection. For example when Amitabh Bachchan endorsed for Parker pen makes sense. Because he is well read, he comes from a background where his parents were both writers/authors. Therefore it was a fit for the product with the celebrity. These views of the respondents match with Mirsa (1990) analysis that the effectiveness of the message depends on the fit between the brand and the celebrity. This assessment of Misra is also spoken by the participants namely Shaira, Showket and Junaid, who specifically mentioned the relation between the brand and the celebrity as a fit. Till and Busler (1998) research showed that expertise is more important than physical attractiveness in affecting attitude towards an endorsed brand, with the help an example of Cindy Crawford and Revlon, calling it a natural fit. Another similar example proving Till and Busler (1998) research was given by Showket, who mentions Amitabh Bachchan endorsing Parker pen. This example further highlights Till and Busler (1998) point of expertise more important than physical attraction with an Indian context, as Amitabh Bachchan is a 60 plus actor is and was chosen to as a celebrity endorser for Parker pen because of his background and expertise in literature and his reputation. Raj spoke about how a specific advertisement did not have any connection between the brand and the product, citing the example of Shahrukh Khan endorsing Lux beauty soap. He adds and calls the advertisement as pathetic. These views of Raj are similar to Temperey and Tangent (2006) finding which states that a marketer can always match a celebrity with the want image of a brand/product, but itwill not be successful if the receiver does not perceive the fit. Therefore, Raj