HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.

There is no way one can really talks about celebrity endorsement without tracing it down to
one of the marketing 4Ps, (which is promotion). Promotion as defined by Pride & Ferrell
(1997) “is a means of communicating with individuals, groups, or organisations to directly or
indirectly facilitate exchanges by informing and persuading one or more audiences to accept
an organisation’s products, brands or services”. Therefore, promotion is often saddles with
the following objectives: (a) creation of awareness (b) stimulation of demand (c) encourages
product trial (d) to identify prospects (e) to retain loyal customers, (f) to facilitate reseller
support, (g) to combat competitive promotional effect and to reduce sales fluctuation. For the
aforementioned objectives to be achieved, promotion uses promotional mix which includes:
Advertising, Personal selling, Public relation, Sales promo etc. for the very purpose of this
study, advertising will be look into.
Advertising has gone through a major phase of change over the past century and half, from
classical to modern view. Today, marketers are employing strategies using various appeals
including sexual, emotional, humour among others (Belch and Belch, 2001). The Motive
behind formulating such strategies is to gain high brand exposure, attention, interest, desire
and action (Belch and Belch, 2001). Therefore, advertising was defined by Pride &Ferrel
(1997) “as a paid non-personal communication about an organisation and its product that is
transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium such as television, radio,
newspapers, magazine, direct mail, mass transit vehicles, or outdoor displays”. Therefore,
marketers use various tools and strategy to advertise their products to both current and
potential customers. These, marketers’ do by employing well known and famous
personalities. As stated by McCraken (1989), celebrities try to make greater impact on the
consumers’ buying behaviour.
McCraken (1989) further states that “celebrity endorsement advertising is a ubiquitous
feature of modern marketing”.
According to SilveraAustad (2004), “Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition
among a large group of people and possess distinctive qualities like attractiveness,
trustworthiness among other things”. There is need be to states that many big companies and
brands have recognised the importance of celebrity endorsement as a marketing
communication tool (Soderlund, 2003). Katyal (2007) was of the opinion that “marketers
spend huge sums of money on celebrity endorsement contracts annually”. Thus, showing the
importance of celebrities in the advertising industry.
Recently, the famous Ice Prince has turned down an endorsement deal from major telecom
company Globacom. He said” the offer doesn’t worth it” little, knowing his worth, therefore
demanded for a whooping sum of $1m (N157,000,000) or no deal (Tope Orekoya, 2013).
Similarly, the famous golfer Tiger Woods refused a 75 million Dollar endorsement offer from
bookies Power Paddy saying, “The deal wasn’t lucrative enough”. It was reported that Tiger
Woods earned around 110 million Dollars through endorsement, with Nike being the largest
contributor with 30 million Dollars (Celebriscoop 2010). Looking at the prices companies are
willing to pay and the effect it has on consumers’ buying behaviour, celebrity endorsement
appears to be a very popular advertising tool in today’s modern day marketing (McCraken,
1989; Belch, 2001; Soderlund, 2003).
Celebrity endorsement: could be defined according to ([Link]) “as a form of
brand or advertising campaign that involves a well-known person using their fame to help
promote a product or service”. Therefore, celebrities with a large number of fans are always
sought for in order to endorse a product which will capture the minds of their fans or target
market, as people like to associate themselves with a product or service endorsed by a well-
known celebrity.
Celebrity endorsement has become inescapable in advertising industry in Nigeria, as it
becomes a multi-million Naira venture. Therefore, marketers use celebrity endorsement to
influence the purchasing decision of consumers so as to increase sales as well as expanding
the market shares.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Over the years, Marketers in Nigeria have adopted the use of celebrity (Christian,
Entertainment Industry, Sports, Fashion stylist among others) endorsement as a marketing
communications tool. Though it was not clear when the first celebrity endorsement took place
in Nigeria, the practice is known to have existed in the country for a number of years.
Examples of some of the early endorsement deals in the country were Sunny Neji, Omotola
JaladeEkeinde and Jide Kosoko endorsement for Chivita Juice Drinks, Kate Henshwa for
Onga Magi, Pastor E.A Adeboye (G.O. of Redeemed Christian Church of God) and
FunkeAkindele for Lagos State Inland Revenue (Tax payment).
How effective these endorsements are on consumers’ purchase decisions, is a question
researchers are still finding answers to.
Research proves that celebrity endorsement advertising strategies can, under the right
circumstances escalate the selling power of a brand to unimaginable heights. Celebrity
endorsements if used effectively, make the brand stand out, galvanize brand recall and
facilitates instant awareness. In Nigeria, some firms are using celebrities to market their
products and reaping the enormous benefits but it is woefully inadequate (Baidoo, 2009).
Telecommunication companies in the country are utilizing this marketing communications
tool, signing entertainment and sports celebrities among others, all in the bid to influence
consumer buying behaviour, due to research works business and entertainment reasons, now
form a big part of telecommunications’ customer base. Therefore, the effect of celebrity
endorsement decision making is a subject worth looking into. Etisalat sealed an endorsement
deal with Bankole Wellington (aka BankyWaRenowned Hip-hop artiste), AffezOyetoro (aka
Saka a Renowned Comedian), Stephen Keshi (Super Eagles Coach) sealed an endorsement
with Friesland Wampco Nigeria limited (producer of Peak Milk) and Innocent Idibia (aka
Tuface) also sealed an endorsement with Airtel Nigeria Limited among others. John Mikel
Obi (A Nigerian born top Chelsea player) sealed an endorsement with Samsung. And
Balogun Ibrahim Ayodeji (aka Wizkid) sealed an endorsement deal with Pepsi Cola among
others.
Globacom Nigeria limited is not left out of celebrity endorsement as it can be seen as a
leading firm in Nigeria today as regards using celebrity endorsement. Recently, Glo endorsed
Peter and Paul Okoye (aka P-Square), OdunladeAdekola, FunkeAkindele, DapoOyebanjo
(aka D’banj), Adeleke David (aka Davido), all are entertainers, as Ambassadors for one of
the leading telecommunication giants, Globacom Nigeria limited, with a deal reported to be
in the region of over 600Million Naira annually.
However, not all celebrity endorsement always has a positive influence on companies. Some
of the endorsements turn out to adversely affect the image of the companies and the product
endorsed.
The issue now, is how to effectively use celebrity endorsement to positively influence the
consumer buying behaviours. It is this curiosity that has driven me as a researcher to explore
the effect of celebrity endorsements on the purchase decision of consumer of Globacom
Nigeria Limited.

1.3 Research Objectives

The following are the main objectives of this research:
i. To assess the effect of celebrity endorsements on consumer buying behaviour.
ii. To evaluate the influence of celebrity endorsers as compared with ‘non-celebrity.
iii. To evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in motivating consumers to
purchase telecommunication products.

1.4 Research Questions

i. Does celebrity endorsement affect consumer buying behaviour?
ii. Is celebrity endorsement a worthwhile venture for Globacom Nigeria in today’s
competitive telecommunications market?
iii. Does celebrity endorsement promote sales than non-celebrity?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The research tends to test the following hypotheses
Where H0 is Null hypothesis
H1 is Alternative Hypothesis
Hypothesis One
H0: Celebrity endorsement does not affect consumer buying behaviour
H1: Celebrity endorsements affect consumer buying behaviour
Hypothesis Two
H0: Celebrity endorsement is not a worthwhile venture
H1: Celebrity endorsement is a worthwhile venture.
Hypothesis Three
H0: Celebrity endorsement does not promote sales than non-celebrity
H1: Celebrity endorsement helps to promote sales than non-celebrity

1.6 Significant of the Study

This study is aimed at making plain the significance of celebrity endorsement as a marketing
communications strategy and how to best utilize this tool for organizational success in
today’s competitive markets. The researcher aimed to:
 To make suitable recommendations concerning the use of celebrity endorsements to
market telecommunication products.
 To add secondary data, as reference materials for academic and corporate use in future.

1.7 SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study could have been done on all the telecommunication companies in Nigeria, but the
researcher chose to concentrate its study on Globacom Nigeria Limited. This is because
Globacom Limited (or GLO) is a privately own Nigerian multinational telecommunications
company with its headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, which started operations on 29 August
2003. It currently operates in four countries in West Africa, namely Nigeria, Republic of
Benin, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. As of June 2009, the company could boast of over 2500 staff
strength across Africa. Therefore, a searched that had been carried out have shown that there
has not been as much research about GlobacomNigeria Limited on similar or related topics as
there have been about the other telecommunication companies. The research seeks to
evaluate the effect of Globacom Nigeria’s celebrity endorsements, since 29thAugust, 2003
when they started operation in Nigeria, on the buying behaviour of its clients.
The researcher will select Globacom Subscribers from all works of life and particularly to
major on Students within the four-walls of Lagos State University, as my respondents,
because majority of the young people are followers of celebrities. And students are very
incline with various telecommunication products/packages and services due to frequent
communication needs browsing (for fun- the aspect of social networks) stemming from
business, research works and entertainment.
1.9 HISTORY OF GLOBACOM NIGERIA PLC
Telecommunication:
Telecommunication is an important economic sector in the world economy. It also has a
growing impact on our lives as individuals, on business terms in efficiency and customer
service and on every country’s competitiveness as a profitable economy. In this highly
competitive market telecommunication companies are forced to deliver new services to their
customers.
1.10DEFINITION OF TERMS
Celebrity: “is a person who enjoys public recognition and who often have distinctive
attributes such as attractiveness, credibility, and trustworthiness” (McCracken 1989; Silvera
and Austad 2004). The term celebrity “refers to an individual who is known to the public,
such as actors, sport figures, entertainers‘ and others for their achievements in their respective
areas other than the product endorsed by them” (Friedman and Friedman, 1979).
Celebrity Endorser McCracken (1989) defined celebrity endorser as any fellow who enjoys
overtly recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing
with it in an advertisement
Endorsement: is an act of giving public approval or support to someone or something.
[Link]
Credibility: refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source
or message. [Link]
Trustworthiness: is based more on subjective factors, but can include objective
measurements such as established reliability. [Link]
Expertise: can be similarly subjectively perceived, but also includes relatively objective
characteristics of the source or message (e.g., credentials, certification or information
quality). [Link]
Consumer: is a person, or group of people, such as the household who are the final users of
products or services. The consumer’s use is final in the sense that the product is not usually
improved by the use
Consumer Buying Behaviour: This refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer.
It is also the decision process and an act of people involved in buying and using products.
Problem Recognition: (Awareness of Need) it is the difference between the desired state and
the actual condition.
Information Search: This is the rigorous steps that a consumer must go through in order to
get solution for the identified problem. This includes Internal and external searches.
Evaluation of alternative: This is comparing between two or more products, so as to pick
the one that can be of quality to the identified need.
Purchase decision: This is the will to choose from the various alternatives the items that can
best satisfy the identified need.
Purchase: This is a clear decision that is taken to buy the product
Post Purchase Evaluation: This is the outcome of the purchasing decision which can be
favourably or unfavourably, satisfactory or dissatisfactory.
Divestment: this is how consumers would dispose the product after its useful life
Cognitive Dissonance: this is the inability of the product to meet the need of the consumer or
dissatisfy the consumer
Cognitive Consonance: this is when expectation equal performance i.e. what the consumer
is expecting from the product is equal to the performance of the product.
Telecommunication: This is a communication at a distance by a technological means,
particularly through electrical signals or electromagnetic waves.
Globacom: is a Nigerian multinational telecommunications company.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Preamble
This chapter reviewed the works that have been done by other researchers on this topic and
its related, topics. For the purpose of this study, we are reviewing literature on the following
themes:
An assessment of the effect of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behaviour; Impact
of celebrity endorsement on a brand; celebrity versus non-celebrity endorsements, positive
and negative aspects of celebrity endorsements, consumer buying behaviour, models for
celebrity endorsements, Winning celebrities and companies they endorse; Celebrity
endorsements gone bad; Corporate firms, Nigerian entertainers and endorsement deals.

2.1 Conceptual Review

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF CELEBRITIES ENDORSEMENT ON

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
2.2.1Who is a Celebrity?
So many definitions have been given to celebrity by various scholars. Celebrity was defined
by Schlecht2003, as cited in Khatri, 2006) “as a person who enjoy public recognition by a
large share of a certain group of people”. Therefore there are some features such as
attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle which are just examples and specific common
characteristics which cannot be seen, though it can be said that, within a corresponding social
group celebrities generally differ from the social norm and enjoy a high degree of public
awareness. Silvera&Austad, (2004), defined Celebrities to be “people who enjoy public
recognition by a large share of a certain group and they have distinctive characteristics, such
as attractiveness and trustworthiness”. In our day to day activities, we perform many acts, at
home, at the work place, in school, in sports, in social life, etc. But these acts may be daily
routine or just "acts" per say giving no extra-ordinary results, not noticed by anybody
surrounding us, and not taken into notice by the media, but if a person acts or performs
something which gives spectacular results and is noticed by the masses, then that person has
"done something" special that most of the masses cannot do. He is regarded as a special
person with some "extra" gifting from “God”. Therefore, it will leave an impression in the
hearts of the people, which will make them to start feeling that he/she is great and
exceptional, and start celebrating his/her acts which produce success. If the success rate for
that person is very high to "deliver" same results, he becomes a "CELEBRITY". It may be in
field of sports, cinema, music, comedy, theatre, education, social life, politics, science, and
anything but something with some special results. Celebrities are popular among the public
and they take pleasure in being recognized by numerous people. Good looks, classy lifestyles
and special skills are only some of celebrities’ special features that are different from non-
celebrities, and are seen by the public, which grants them a large amount of the public’s
attention. Friedman and Friedman (2002) explain, that a celebrity could be anybody such as
actor, sportsman, presenter, entertainer, etc., whose attribute is different from the general
public and is recognized by them, because of his or her achievements. Celebrities such as
Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Usain Bolt, RafealNadal and Michael Jordan
have made hundreds of millions of dollars from endorsements and in return have helped the
sports apparel company Nike become dominant global brand. Michael Jordan once claimed
“I never thought a role model should be negative” this is because when a role model is
negative, the person is perceived to have adverse effects on his or her audience (Arens,
Weigold&Arens, 2011).
In recent years, using celebrity endorsers has become more and more common. According to
Byrne & Breen, studies have indicated that a more positive response, along with higher
purchasing intentions have been gained by using celebrity endorsers compared to non-
celebrity endorsers (Byrne & Breen, 2003). Sales will greatly rise due to the availability of
celebrity endorsed products that attract customers. So long as celebrities add up to a brand’s
image, corporate firms must also understand that they take a risk when they associate their
brands with a celebrity this is because their conducts might go against the image of a
company and the norms of society.
It therefore suffices to say that it is the duty of every company to ensure that celebrities
endorsing their brands are morally upright and socially responsible. Initially, this strategy
seems a non-risk and all-gain situation, but, as with any dynamic marketing communication
strategy, there are potential hazards. Individuals can change, and endorsement relations can
sour. In a sense, celebrity endorsement strategy can be a two-edged sword, which makes
selecting a celebrity endorser from innumerable alternatives in the presence of potential
marketing pitfalls very challenging. It has been found that “negative information about a
celebrity endorser not only influences consumers' perception of the celebrity, but also the
endorsed product” (Till and Shimp1995). Therefore, a celebrity can invariably attracts
attention to an advertisement, his or her impact on other variables such as brand awareness,
recall of copy points and arguments about the message, brand attitudes, and purchase
intentions must also be considered (Belch & Belch 1995). A general phenomenon is that
consumers will focus their attention on the celebrity and fail to notice the brand being
promoted (Rossiter and Fercy, 1987). In the above case, the celebrity is always seen as the
star, because his image has overshadowed the product, therefore the product will be
neglected. As Cooper (1984) puts it "the product not the celebrity, must be the star."

2.2.2 What is Product Endorsement?

A product endorsement is a form of testimonial from someone which indicates that they like
or approve of a product. Product endorsement could be in form of positive word of mouth
from people who are socially prominent, allowing companies to advertise their products with
statements like “as used by such-and-such an actress,” or “the official product of a company.”
It's hard to miss a Celebrity Endorsement & Brand Building product endorsement on product
packaging and in advertisements; most companies keep their endorsements front and centre
so that they are always in the public eye. The concept of the product endorsement is quite
ancient. In England, for example, so many companies have associated their brands with the
Queen, in order to enjoy patronage of the British royal family. Consumers are always enticed
with the idea of purchasing a product which is endorsed by someone influential or famous, as
though by buying the product, the consumer also becomes affiliated with the endorser.
Modern product endorsements can come with contracts worth substantial amounts of money.
For example, many sports stars agree to participate in product endorsement campaigns with
the understanding that the company will compensate them for the trouble; some stars donate
the proceeds to charities they support, using the product endorsement as a public relations
campaign. In exchange for an endorsement contract, someone may agree to use the product
publicly whenever possible, and they may be restricted from using competitor’s products.
Endorsement of product does not necessarily mean that a product is good. It just means that
the company has managed to work its public relations connections to get a big name
associated with it. Some endorsements take the form of written testimonials, where people
write about how the product changed their lives. Modern testimonials are more commonly
included in advertising campaigns, with excerpts only on the packaging.
2.2.3 Who are Celebrity Endorsers?
According to McCracken's (1989, as cited in khatri, 2006) definition, “a celebrity endorser is
an individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a
company’s good by appearing with it in an advertisement”. Generally, research has shown
that celebrity endorsement influences the feelings of the consumers and can also influence the
attitude consumers have towards the advertisement and attitude towards the brands, which
can increase the purchase intentions and, consequently, increase sales. A brand will result in
an. advertising practitioners believe that using a celebrity endorser will foster an increase in
consumer recall of the brand, and creates a connection between the celebrity endorser and the
endorsed brand in the mind of the consumer. Celebrities have tremendous mass followers.
For example, when the likes ofDapoOlabanjo (aka D’banj) and Innocent Idibia (aka Tuface)
are seen coming to shoot a musical video, at a particular location on a particular day, the
crowd will trope out just to take a glance at them. Friedman and Friedman, a “celebrity
endorser is an individual who is known by the public for his or her achievements in areas
other than that of the product class endorsed”. Compared to other endorser types, famous
people always attach a greater degree of attention, recall and loyalty. Increasingly,
researchers question empirical evidence validating a direct link between using a celebrity
endorsement to achieve higher brand recall. A celebrity endorser used in an advertisement
can be interpreted as a reference group. A reference group is defined “as any person or group
of persons that serves as a point of comparison (or reference) for an individual by
communicating values, attitudes and providing a specific guide for behaviour”
(Shiffman&Kanuk, 2006). Given the high costs associated with using celebrity endorsements,
marketers have relied on rating systems to evaluate the potential value added by celebrity
endorsers. When brands use celebrities for endorsements, the “meaning” of the celebrity will
be transfers to the brand. That can be a double edged sword. When negative information
about the celebrity is publicized in the media, the brand can suffer. The worse the perception
of the information, the worse the brand suffers, but in this age of intense competition, where
capturing a position in the consumers’ mind space is extremely tough, celebrity endorsements
give an extra edge to the companies for holding the viewers’ attention. Celebrities can create
brand acceptance and provide the enormous momentum that brands require by endorsing the
intrinsic value to the brand.

2.3.1The scope of a celebrity on the incumbent brand:

Simply put, a brand is a differentiated product and helps in identifying your product and
making it stand out due to its name, design, style, symbol, colour combination, or the
combination of all. Before we can scrutinize the effects of celebrity endorsement on the
overall brand, we have to search the implicit distinctions that act as sources of strong brand
images or values.
According to Entsiful,Ahmoah and Mensah (2013) the following are the source of strong
brand images values:
Experience of use: This encapsulates familiarity and proven reliability.
User associations: Brands acquire images from the type of people who are seen using them.
Images or prestige or success are imbibed when brands are associated with glamorous
personalities.
Belief inefficiency: Ranking from consumer associations, newspaper editorials etc.
Brand appearance: Design of brand offers clues to quality and affects preferences.
Manufacturer’s name & reputation: A prominent brand name (Sony, Kellogg’s, Bajaj,
Tata) transfers positive associations.
The realm of the celebrity’s impact is confined to bestow a distinctive identity and provide
added value to the brand; the celebrity does not have the power to improve the efficiency and
features of the core product. Therefore, “celebrity endorsements help to improve the health of
a brand to an extent. But one has to remember that endorsing a celebrity is a means to an end
and not an end in itself.” An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively
powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the impression of cautiousness
should always be there. The fact to be emphasised is that celebrities alone do not guarantee
success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising better than ever before. They know
what advertising is and how it works. People realize that celebrities are being paid a lot of
money for endorsements and this knowledge makes them pessimistic about celebrity
endorsements.

2.3.2 Compatibility of the celebrity’s persona with the overall brand image.
A celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspirational values to a brand, but the celebrity
needs to match the product. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic link between the
celebrity and the message are musts for a successful campaign. Celebrities are good at
creating attention, recall and positive attitudes towards advertising provided that they are
supporting a good idea and there is an explicit fit between them and the brand. On the other
hand, they are rendered useless when it comes to the actual efficiency of the core product,
creating positive attitudes to brands, purchase intentions and actual sales. Certain parameters
that postulate compatibility between the celebrity and brand image are:
 Celebrity’s fit with the brand image.
 Celebrity Target audience match
 Celebrity associated values.
 Costs of acquiring the celebrity.
 Celebrity—Product match.
 Celebrity controversy risk.
 Celebrity popularity.
 Celebrity availability.
 Celebrity physical attractiveness.
 Celebrity credibility.
 Celebrity prior endorsements.
 Whether celebrity is a brand user.
 Celebrity profession.
Some successful on-going Africa endorsements are as follows:
 Celebrity endorsements have been the bedrock ofGlobacom’s advertisement. Over the
years, Globacom has used and continues to use a number of celebrities for general market and
targeted advertising, including DapoOyebanjo (D’banj), Paul and Peter Okoye (P’square),
FunkeAkindele, OdunadeAdekola, Rita Domnic, etc., who did a targeted ads for
Globacomvarious bundles and packages.
 Bankole Wellington (Banky W) for Etisalat who did a jiggle of 0809aja for live
 Pepsi has used and continues to use a number of celebrities for general market and targeted
advertising, including Jay JayOkocha, Stephen Keshi, Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Balogun
Ibrahim Ayodeji (aka Wizkid), etc.

2.3.3 Advantages of a celebrity endorsing a Brand

Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories, whether in
products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of celebrities.
The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by the following advantages that
are bestowed on the overall brand:
 Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for
that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products. We had
the Etisalat Nigeria campaign. At launch, Etisalat endorsed Banky W. (a famous Nigerian
hip-hop star) and this ensured that brand awareness was created in the Nigeria market.
 Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the
clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.
 PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as
topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns is
one of the Nigeria’s leading Musician, the D’banj, who have not only appeared in
advertisements for Koko mobile, but also in product launching, Official jiggle for Jonathan
campaign (Nigeria presidential election 2011) and Ambassador of Globacom.
 Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the
celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has
endorsed American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is used by T-
Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico.
 Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive
message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.
 Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers
use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
 Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic
segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).
 Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet
to generate interest among the masses such as OladapoOyebanji (D’banj).
 Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the
stagnant product category and staving off competition from various brands.
 Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

2.3.4 Disadvantages of a celebrity endorsing a brand:

The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:
 The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product:
Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael
Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may
at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse.
 The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity
overshadowing the brand. There are chances that celebrity is remembering more than the
brand. Example is the advertisement of Kate Henshaw for Onga seasonal (magi). The advert
didn’t make large sales due to the overshadowing of the celebrity used.
 Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose
his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. For example, when
BabatundeOmidina (aka Babasuwe a popular Yoruba actor) went through a prolonged drugs
crime issue with NDLEA (Nigerian Drugs Enforcement Agency) which actually left a
rhetoric question in the hearts of his fans –if he actually does it?
 Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to over-exposure: The
novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many advertisements. This may
be termed as commoditisation of celebrities, who are willing to endorse anything for big
bucks. Example, WasiuAlabi (Pasuma) was once an Ambassador to Globacom. But now
endorses for Naira Bet Nigeria.
 Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsbury’s
encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe
advertisements, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A similar case happened with
Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another
brand of cola on tape.
2.5 POSITIVE ASPECTS OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
The increasing competition between firms in order to attract more consumers towards their
products has encouraged marketers to use celebrities to endorse their products. Moreover,
recent technological advances in the media such as DTH, video control systems, cable and
satellite television has increased consumer power over programmed advertisement and made
advertising more challenging (Croft et al. 1999). It is also perceived that the featuring a
renowned celebrity helps in solving the problem of over communication that is becoming
more and more prevalent these days (Kulkarni &Gaulakar, 2005).
Marketers to ease this threat and attract more consumer attention towards their products and
advertisements use celebrity endorsement strategy. Due to their fame, celebrities help
advertisements to stand out from the surrounding clutter by appearing in them, increasing the
communicative ability by cutting through excess noise in a communication process (Sherman
1985). Hiring a famous celebrity as their brand endorser may also help improving the image
of an already tarnished company. Celebrity Endorsement may also help in restoring or
polishing a company‘s image (Erdogan, 1999).
For most of the multi-national companies while expanding to different countries may face
some issues like cultural 'roadblocks' such as time, space, language, relationships, power, risk
masculinity, femininity and many others (Mooij 1994; Hofstede 1984).
Celebrity endorsements can be a powerful device to enter foreign markets. Hiring a world
famous celebrity or a celebrity from the expanding country may help companies to overcome
many such issues. For Instance, Pepsi Co International increased its market share in India by
Endorsing through famous celebrities and crickets such as Shahrukh Khan, MS Dhoni, and
Kareena Kapoor etc.
It is been experienced that the products endorsed by celebrities help them to standout and
take more notice while shopping due to their improved level of product recall (Bowman
2002). Advertisements featuring a celebrity make a strong impact on the learning style and
memory of a consumer which is an important aspect of marketing communication success.
Celebrities often make the ad more memorable in the mind of the consumer even if there is
no immediate need of the advertised product. Marketers use this advantage of information
storage in the minds of the consumers which can be readily retrieved at the time of shopping
or when the need arises (Schultz & Barnes, 1995).
All these arguments lead to the conclusion that celebrity endorsements likely to have a
positive effect on consumer buying behaviour (Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell 2000;
Mathur, Mathur&Rangan 1997)

2.6 NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Despite the various benefits of celebrity endorsements, there are still many potential risks
involved in using celebrities to endorse their products as a part of a marketing communication
strategy for a company. Negative information and publicity concerning the celebrity is one of
the major risks associated with the celebrity endorsement. There can be other factors as well
which may lead to serious consequences for instance suddenly changed image, drop in
popularity, moral issues, losing credibility by over endorsing, or overshadow endorsed
products or vampire effect (Cooper 1984; Kaikati 1987).
Negative information about a celebrity endorser not only impacts consumers' perception
about the celebrity, but also the endorsed product (Klebba and Unger 1982; Till and Shimp
1995) and may also ruin the brand reputation (Till 1996). In fact many companies have paid a
very big price over the celebrity‘s misdeeds. For instance PepsiCo suffered with three stained
celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson (Katyal 2007). Companies have
faced serious embarrassment when their spokesperson or celebrity endorsers were deeply
involved in a controversy (Erdogan 1999).
Sometimes in an advertisement, consumers fail to focus on the product being endorsed due to
the glamour and popularity of the celebrity, hence fails to promote the brand (Rossiter and
Fercy 1987). As Cooper (1984) said "the product not the celebrity must be the star."
Overshadowing or commonly termed as the vampire effect" occurs ‘when the celebrity
endorser occurs in the presence of multiple other stimuli which all competes to form a link
with the celebrity endorser. (Till 1996). It leads to lack of clarity for the consumer. (Evans
1998). The major issue arises out of this problem is that consumers fail to notice the brand
being endorsed because they are more focussed over the celebrity (Erdogan 1999).
Overexposure is a common issue among highly demanded and well recognized celebrity
endorsers because every major company wants to hire them to endorse their brands which
ultimately leads to making the consumer more confused and unable to recall correctly as to
which brand the celebrity stands for (Tripp [Link]. 1994).
Another important issue concerning the celebrity endorsement is that sometimes most famous
celebrities often indulge in endorsing much different type of products and services just for the
sake of their greed for money. For example Shahrukh khan endorses more than 20 different
brands from hair oil to automobiles. Solomon et al. (2002) referred this as the hired gun‖
problem, where the spokesperson is perceived as endorsing the product only for the sake of
money.
If a celebrity lends his image to various brands by appearing in advertisements it also has less
impact on the consumers mind and the message being delivered since the relationship
between the celebrity and the endorsed brand is not distinctive (Mowen and Brown 1981).
This may not also disappoint the celebrity fans (Graham 1989) but also make the consumers
aware of the real fact of endorsements that celebrities are endorsing the products just for the
huge amount of money they get and has nothing to do with the product attributes or product
being endorsed (Cooper 1984; Tripp, et al. 1994). Many researchers have also proposed that
negative information about a celebrity not only influences consumers' perception for the
celebrity, but also the product endorsed by him (Klebba and Unger 1982; Till and Shimp
1995).
There are some other new limitations being faced these days called Celebrity Trap, Celebrity
Credibility and Celebrity Clutter. Celebrity trap is when it becomes difficult for marketers to
separate the role of the message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand and when
celebrity becomes an addiction for the marketing team. It becomes more and more difficult to
find the substitute. Celebrity credibility has become questionable these days. Consumers have
now become aware of the fact that celebrities are endorsing brands just for the sake of
money. The credibility which celebrities used to possess in the past is bound to decrease if a
celebrity begins to appear and endorses a brand in every possible category (Patel 2009).
Celebrity Clutter is when each celebrity endorses multiple products and multi-brands in a
category, make the customer more confused. It makes consumer to make comparisons such
as whether this celebrity is bigger or that one to make product choices.
Celebrity endorsers have now become a liability to the brand they endorse (Till and Shimp,
1998, as there are decreasing returns associated with celebrities (Agrawal and Kamakura
1995, as cited in Khatri 2006). Some researchers also referred celebrities as a puppet in the
hands of marketers implying that they perceive the celebrities to be fake and lying, while
endorsing certain brands (Temperley&Tangen, 2006).
2.10 IMPACT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
According to Jain (2011), the increasing number of endorsements throws a valid question to
the consumers. Is there a science behind the choice of these endorsers or is it just by the
popularity measurement? What are the reasons which lead to impact of celebrity endorsement
on brands? Through research and analysis, (Jain, 2011)in his study he developed a 12 point
model, which can be used as a blueprint criterion which can be used by brand managers for
selecting celebrities, and capitalizes the celebrity resource through 360 degree brand
communication, since our research proposes it as the foundation brick of the impact of
celebrity endorsement. Our study reveals that the impact of celebrity endorsement is
proportional to the 14 factors discussed in the model. The success of a brand through
celebrity endorsement is a cumulative of the following 14 attributes. The greater the score of
the below parameters, the greater are the chances of getting close to the desired impact.
1. Celebrity Target Audience Match D’banj endorsing the Glo recommended Padi
package in Nigeria. Young people can associate with D’banj through the facets he projects on
screen or in regular life which helps develop a connect with the target audience.
2. Celebrity Values Friesland Wampco Nigeria (producer of Peak Milk), endorsing
Stephen Keshi and Victor Moses campaigning for Peak Milk as the official Milk for Super
Eagle or Governor Fashola campaign for immunisation against polio in Lagos State are few
examples, which reflect the transfer of celebrity values to the brand, creating an impact that
generates recall.
3. Costs of Acquiring the Celebrity Recently, a newspaper report showed how cola firms
had gone beyond their advertising budgets to get the best celebrities. Small firms that use
celebrities’ services run greater risks if they invest large amounts. Although nobody is willing
to say exactly how much celebrities get paid, industry sources say Sachin Tendulkar’s price is
believed to be between 10 Million Naira to 400million Naira pending on the when the
contract is terminated per endorsement, and musician P-Square, who had signed up with
Globacom, is believed to have picked up 240 million Naria for A-4 year contract. Tiger
Woods endorsement for Nike was said to amount to 700 million Dollars and D’banj
endorsement with Globacom was said to have fetched him between 80-100 million annually.
4. Celebrity Regional Appeal Factors D’banj endorsing Agriculture in the Northern part
of Nigeria is an example of how celebrity is chosen to reach out to target audiences for
brands in regional markets.
5. Celebrity - Product Match Basket Mouth a comedian is the brand ambassador for
Globacom since both the celebrity and the brand are considered as friendly, young, mood
boosting, humorous and outspoken. Globacom’s brand personality overlaps Cyrus Broacha’s
image as a brand. Some more examples of compatible celebrity product match in which
celebrity brand attributes get transferred to the brand and increases the brand equity is of
JideKosoko and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde for Chivita, etc.
6. Celebrity Controversy Risk The perfect example here is of Salman Khan and the
controversy in which he crushed a man to death with his Pajero when he was driving under
the influence of alcohol. Also, any act on the part of the endorser that gives him a negative
image among the audience and goes on to affect the brands endorsed. The brand, in most
instances, takes a bashing.
7. Celebrity Popularity Celebrity Brand association like Garnier endorsed Tara Sharma
& Simone Singh, Agni Diamonds &Riama Sen don’t get much brand recall, and even if they
do, it’s difficult to attribute it to the celebrities’ endorsing the brand. On the other hand,
HPCL has had increased popularity and share of voice due to the endorsement of the brand
through SaniaMirza.
8. Celebrity Availability In case of various brands, there are situations in which they
prefer to go without a brand face, since there is no brand-fit between the celebrities available
and the brand. Also, due to multiple endorsements by certain celebrities, brands refuse to
adopt celebrity endorsement since they fear dilution of the brand image.
9. Celebrity Physical Attractiveness Genniveve Nnaji endorsing Genniveve Magazine
and D’banj endorsement for Koko Fashion are some examples which portray the celebrities’
physical attractiveness that helps create an impact.
10. Celebrity Credibility The most important aspect and reason for celebrity endorsement
is credibility. In a research carried out among 43 ad agencies and companies, most experts
believed that the most important dimensions of credibility are trustworthiness and prowess or
expertise with regard to the recommended product or service. One of the most obvious
reasons of endorsing multiple of brands is the credibility of the celebrity and his recognition
across consumers. To site one of the most successful campaigns in which the celebrity’s
credibility has had an indelible impact on the brand and has saved the brand is of Cadbury’s.
After the worm controversy, Amitabh Bachchan’s credibility infused into the brand through
the campaign, helping it to get back on track. The campaign has won an award for the same.
2.11 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour referred to “the study of the processes involved when ,individuals or
groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy
needs and desires” (Solomon, 2006). If the company can understand consumer behaviour
well, they will able to develop good business. For instance, they must understand the way to
satisfy the consumers’ needs, gain more knowledge and data about customers. So they could
define the market and identify threats or opportunities to a brand easier (Blackwell, Miniard,
and Engel, 2006).

2.11 Consumer decision process

2.11.1 Consumer decision process model
The consumer decision process model illustrated a roadmap of consumers’ minds that the
marketers and managers could use to help and guide product mix, communication as well as
sales strategy. The model captured the activities which would occur when decisions are made
in a schematic format. It also showed how different internal and external forces would
interact and affect consumers’ thinking, evaluation, and acts. Furthermore, it could help
people to solve the problems which lead them to make a purchase and consume the products
(Blackwell, et al. 2006). Thus, culture, social class, personal factors, group association,
celebrities and celebrity endorsement advertising were some of the examples of external
forces. For the internal forces, it included own attitudes, personality, perceptions, self-
concepts, emotions, knowledge, value and lifestyle.
2.11.2 Need recognition
First of all, significant differences were existed between the current state of affairs and the
ideal state. So consumers recognized there was a need to find the product or service which
could deliver some benefits (Blackwell, et al. 2006). For instance, the product or service had
the ability to fill consumers’ needs or to solve the problems which was worth more than the
cost of buying it. On the other hand, opportunity recognition could be occurred when
consumers were exposed to different or better quality products (Solomon, 2006). In fact, need
recognition could occur naturally or induce by marketers’ efforts. The marketers created
primary and secondary demand for the consumers. Primary demand referred to the consumer
was encouraged to use a product or service regardless of the brand which they chose.
Secondary demand referred to the marketer persuaded the consumer to use specific brand of
product (Solomon, 2006). For example, when consumers were exposed to the advertisement
which the celebrity endorser using Glo latest package and the flexibility of the package being
communicated by the celebrity, it might enlarge the difference between consumers’ current
state and ideal state. Then a need was created. As a result, they would like to make a purchase
on the Glo products which featured in the advertisement which endorsed by the celebrity.

2.11.3 Information search

After the consumers recognized a need was existed, they needed to acquire sufficient
information to resolve it. So the process of information search was necessary for them to
survey on their environment to collect appropriate data to make a reasonable decision.
Information could be searched internally or externally. Internal search of information referred
to scan and retrieve the decision-relevant knowledge which stored in our memory, such as
experience. External search referred to the information was collected from the external
environment. Consumers were able to gather information from the source which was non-
marketer-dominated and marketer-dominated. Non-marketer-dominated source was simply
come from word-of moth, which was considered as an objective source. For instance, it
included family, friends, opinion leaders, reference group, consumer reports and government
and industry reports. On the other hand, marketer-dominated source was anything that the
marketers did for the purpose of persuasion, which included advertisement in fashion
magazines, catalogues, books and newspaper, salespeople, fashion show, web-site and
window and in-store displays (Blackwell, et al. 2006). Besides, the intensity of information
research depended on the risk which consumer perceived, such as the cost of wrong choice.
Furthermore, celebrity was one of the common information sources for consumers. It is
because celebrity acted as a reference group for the consumers, which could influence
individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behaviour (Park and V. Parker, 1977). Consumers
might imitate the behaviours of their admired celebrities in order to enhance self-esteem
through identification with certain desirable images (Alsmadi, 2006). So celebrity
endorsement was one of the persuasive sources of information which might affect consumers’
purchase decision.

2.11.4 Pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives

After the search process, there would be possible amounts of alternative options which
generated by the consumers. They believed the selected products or brands were able to
resolve their needs. Because of limited resources, consumers had to narrow down their
choices by assessing some standards. They might use pre-existing evaluations, prior purchase
or consumption experience which stored in memory to assess the selected options that could
provide the greatest satisfaction with the purchase and consumption. They could also rely on
the experiences or impressions gained second-hand. Moreover, they could construct new
evaluation standards based on the information they search in the previous process. Although
different consumers had different standards in the evaluation process, the decision rule was
usually based on appropriate to personal style, economy, aesthetics, quality, other-people-
directed, country of origin and so on. For example, the consumer was totally enthralled by the
celebrity which endorsed in the advertisement. Then the consumer would evaluate the
products based on the celebrity endorser.
2.11.5 Purchase
After narrowed down the product choices, consumers could purchase the products by
choosing a specific retailer and in-store choice. Meanwhile, consumers must decide whether,
where, what, when and how they buy. Usually, they would like to choose a store which the
image matched with their personality and purchase characteristics. Their past experience was
able to influence their store choice too. Even in the stage of purchasing, consumers’’
purchase intention still could be influenced by several factors. For example, in-store
promotions, discounts, persuasion of salespeople, failure to find the product in a store or lack
of financial resources. As a result, if consumers saw an in-store advertisement with their
admired celebrity, it could reinforce their purchase intention.
2.11.6 Consumption
After the consumer purchased and owned the product, consumption would be occurred.
Consumption was the process of utilizing the purchased product or service to satisfy the
needs of consumer. However, it did not guarantee consumers’ needs could be satisfied. It is
because positive and negative feeling could be resulted from consumption. Positive feeling
resulted in positive reinforcement, which occurred when consumer received positive outcome
from product usage. Besides, negative reinforcement could occur when consumption helps to
avoid negative outcomes. On the contrary, negative feeling resulted in punishment, which
referred to consumption lead to negative outcomes. As a result, it was a key for the
companies to enhance positive feeling while eliminate negative feeling. So a pleasant and
positive experience could be created.
2.12 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
According to Oyeniyi (2014), said that there are three main theories of celebrity endorsement
in literature which are:
2.12.1 The Meaning Transfer Theory (McCracken, 1989).
This theory is based on the premise that celebrity endorsers have cultural and symbolic
meanings which could be transferred to the product that they endorsed. In order to adopt this
theory, the firm must identify the attributes of the product, in relation the features of the
celebrity or the features of the celebrity that the firm wants associated with the product,
which the consumer can relate with (Erdogan, 1999, Johansson &Sparredal, 2002, as in cited
in Oyeniyi, 20014)
2.12.2 The Elaborate Likelihood Theory (ELM) Petty, Cacioppo& Schumann 1983)
“The above theory is based on the persuasive element of marketing communication
(advertising) to influence behaviour and attitude” (Oyeniyi 2014). The theory believes that
the formation of attitude is a function of the amount and nature of important and appropriate
information that is available as a result of persuasive message received. Therefore, the
celebrity endorsement can only be effective if the receiver’s involvement is low as the
celebrity effect on attitude is more significant (Johansson &Sparredal, 2002).
2.12.3 Three-order Hierarchy Theory
The theory is based on learning, dissonance/attribution and low-involvement models (Floyd,
1999) relating to product differentials and product involvement. It is a useful theory
2.2. Empirical Reviews on Study Variables
Studies have been carried on influence of celebrity endorsement in the past, and are reviewed
as follows;
2.2.1 Consumers Perception of Celebrity Endorsement
According to Johnson (1984), the realm of the celebrity’s impact is confined to bestow a
distinctive identity and provide an effective audio visual to the brand; the celebrity does not
have the power to improve or debilitate the efficiency and features of the core product, he
insist that the health of a brand can definitely be improved to some extent by celebrity
endorsement, but one has to remember that endorsement by a celebrity is a means to an end
and not an end in itself. An appropriately used celebrity according to him can prove to be a
massively powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of
cautiousness should always be there. He emphasized that celebrities alone do not guarantee
success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising. They know the nuances of
advertising. Customers have realized that celebrities are paid heavily for endorsements and
this makes them cynical about celebrity endorsements.

Another empirical review is by Pedhiwal (2011) on the impact of celebrity endorsements on

brands. According to him, the use of celebrity endorsement has become a winning formula
for brand building. Firms are very careful when hiring celebrities because of huge amount of
money spend in hiring their services. This makes consumers to always perceive brands
endorsed by celebrities as having superior qualities.
Pedhiwal conducted a research in Akola city with a sample size of 50 and a hypothesis,
‘celebrity is an effective method of persuasion’. The result signified that 80% of the
respondents agreed that celebrity endorsement is an effective tool for persuasion, while 20%
disagree. From the above result, it can be deduced that celebrity endorsement is an effective
tool for persuasion for brands patronage. In his conclusion, he insists that successful celebrity
brand partnership have resulted in significant gain association in terms of income for brand
owners, but advert managers should always ensure quality of the products, right fit of the
celebrity and credible sources in their choices for endorsers.

2.2.2. Celebrity Relationship and Impact

Batra and Homer (2004) have put forward in their research that brand image beliefs have a
great impact on brand preferences when the consumer product plan fits the product category.
They used in their research two celebrities as endorsers to test their impact on image beliefs
(fun and sophisticated), and found that the effect of image beliefs on brand preferences were
reflected in the purchase intentions, but only when the image beliefs were relevant and
schematically fitted with the product category. This implies that categorization of information
facilitates an understanding of stimuli aroused by the sponsorship. According to them,
although it is easier to choose a celebrity, but tougher to establish strong relationship between
the brand and the endorser. Sujan, Bettman, & Sujan (1986) use this theory to show that prior
consumer beliefs and expectations significantly affect selling outcomes.

A number of studies have been undertaken on the subject of brand personality, the initial
idea that a brand should be considered as a person or a human being was given in the work of
Aaker and Fournier (1995), who defined brand personality from three perspectives which
were, conceptual, methodological and substantive, and also developed a brand personality
inventory based on personality traits from psychology and marketing literature. They also
discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the existence of the big five factor
structure and developed a 45 item pool which they called Brand Personality Inventory. This
was followed by a study by Aaker (1997) in which she tried to develop a scale to measure
brand personality. Aaker (1997) came up with five distinct brand personality dimensions
which were Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, sophistication and Ruggedness. She also
opined that the five dimensions could be further divided into fifteen facets which were: down
to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful, daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date, reliable,
intelligent, successful, upper-class, charming, outdoorsy and tough. Aaker's (1997) BP scale
was later on used by a number of studies in different contexts. Supphellen and Gmnhaug
(2003) did a study to test the applicability of the BP scale. The two major findings of their
study were (a) Brand personalities of western brands had a significant impact on brand
attitude, and (b) the effect of western brand personalities was found to be by the consumer
ethnocentrism.

A study by Rose and Gilbert (2003) which intended to measure brand personality of the non-
profit sector brands found out four dimensions out of the five by Aaker (1997), to be included
in their study. Diamantopoulos et al (2005), used Aaker's (1997), BP scale and found out that
brand personality of the parent brand did not have any adverse effect on the extensions.
However, the generalizability of Aaker's (1997), BP scale has been questioned by some
researchers. Azoulay and Kapferer (2003) pointed to the flaws in the Aaker (1997), BP scale
and opined that the scale does not actually measure the brand personality construct but only
aggregates some dimensions of hrand identity. Austin, Siguaw, and Mattila (2003), tried to
find out the generalizability of Aaker's (1997), BP and concluded that the framework does not
generalize to individual brands in a broadly defined product category. Another important area
where researchers have delved, is that of measuring brand personality of online brands
personality (Okazaki 2003; Park, Choi, and Kim 2005, Muller and Chnadon 2003). The
relationship between self-concept or consumer's own personality and BP has also been
studied (Phau and Lau 2000; Thomson 2006), where the researchers that found out that
consumer's own personality has an impact on the perceived brand personality.
2.2.3. Consumers’ Preference of Celebrity Endorsement
According to Sujan (1985), when a person encounters a stimulus, their product plan tries to
integrate the stimulus with categories of information (brand attributes) stored in memory. In
Smith (2004), consumers use this plan to judge if the image beliefs transferred from an event
in a sponsorship, matches with the product and their expectations of the product category.
Also Goodstein (1993) supported that these product plans can influence consumers’ attitudes
and behavioural intentions toward advertised brands and their marketing
[Link] findings suggest that brand preferences are related to consumer
product plan (schema), which is constructed by associations of the product category. It can be
assumed that when these plans are well-defined, consumers are less likely to accept the
transferred beliefs if it is not consistent with their product category. This implies that
Consumers with strong brand preferences will have well defined product plan, which in turn
can lead to less brand image transfer, as opposed to consumers without defined product
schemas (mediation effect). It emphasized the positive impact of a congruent environment on
brand image transfer in sponsorships. It also showed that the more fit between brand and
event, the more likely image transfer will be increased. Interesting is to find out what the
influence is of brand preference. Unfortunately, not many studies have been conducted on
brand image issues in sponsorships or on the impact of brand preferences in sponsorships.
However, based on the above, we can assume that brand preference will influence the
interaction of image transfer in a congruent context.

2.3.2. Source Credibility and Attractiveness

In Solomon (2002), the central goal of advertising is the persuasion of customers, i.e. the
active attempt to change or modify customers’ attitudes towards brands. Celebrity
endorsement strategy enables advertisers to project a credible image in terms of expertise,
persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and objectiveness (Till and shimp, 1998). To create effective
message, celebrity advertisers have to consider the attractiveness of the spokes persons.
Source attractiveness refers to the endorsers’ physical appearance, personality, likeability and
similarity to the receiver, thus, to the perceived social value of the source (Solomon,
2002).The use of attractive people is commonly practiced in television and print advertising.
And physically attractive communicators have proved to be more successful in influencing
customers’ attitudes and believe than unattractive spokespersons (ohanian, 1991). This
behavior mainly goes back to a halo effect, where persons who perform well on one
dimension e.g. physical attractiveness, are assumed to excel on others as well, e.g. happiness
and coolness (Solomon, 2002). Hence, in order to convince the target audience of the
attractiveness of a company’s brand, trust worthiness, and expertise should reflect in the
celebrities’ endorsement of the advertisements. Researchers and scholars in marketing
communication have identified three components that make up credibility. They include
knowledge, or expertise, trust worthiness and appearance, or attractiveness (Baker et al,
1979). Also (Kahle, 1985). All these reflect what celebrities carry, which they intend to
transfer via the advertisement. A credible source attracts and retains both actual and potential
customers.
2.4. Conceptual Review
A lot studies have been carried out on the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumers’
brand preference of beverages and are reviewed below.

2.4.1. Celebrity Endorsement

The use of celebrities or testimonials by advertisers dates back to the 19 th century, when
medicines were patented. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with end
users (e.g. Athletics, Actors etc), in the hope that celebrities may boast effectiveness of their
marketing and or corporate communication attempt for at least, a century. One of the early
examples was Queen victorious endorsement of Cadbury’s cocoa (Sherma, 1985). It was not
until the 1920’s however, that advertisers used famous people for product endorsement.
Actresses Joan Crawford, Clara Bow and Janet Granor, were among the first celebrities to
promote products (Fox, 1984). About a decade ago, one in three television commercial used
celebrity endorsement, (Business Week, 1978). Today, advertising approach appears to be on
the increase across all media types, (Sherma, 1985) and (Levin, 1988). Friedman and
Friedman (1977), found that celebrities are featured in 15% of the past time television
commercials.

In Nigeria, it was reported that 20% of television commercials and bill boards feature famous
persons and spend about 10% of naira on advertisements. Thus, celebrity endorsement has
become a prevalent form of advertising in Nigeria and elsewhere. Today, the use of celebrity
advertising for companies has become a trend and perceived winning formula for corporate
image building and product marketing. This phenomenon is reflected by the recent marketing
research findings, that eight out of ten TV commercials scoring the highest recalls are those
with celebrities’ appearances.

Celebrities are people who enjoy special recognition by large number of certain group of
people. They have some characteristic attribute like, attractiveness, extra-ordinary life-style
or special skills that are commonly observed. Thus, it can be said that within a society,
celebrities generally differ from the common people and enjoy a high degree of public
awareness. According to Uduji (2012), celebrity advertising is the use of a public figures
likeness for the purpose of selling a product. In Friedman and Freidman (1979), a celebrity
endorser is an individual who is known by the public for his or her achievements in areas
other than that of the product class endorsed. Compare to other endorser types, famous people
always attract a greater degree of attention, recall and loyalty. Using celebrity can increase
consumers’ awareness of the advert, capture their attention, and make advert more
memorable.

2.4.2. Impact of Celebrity Endorsement and Risks Associated with Celebrity

Endorsement:
The impact of celebrity endorsement and its risks can be seen in the following ways:
Fit with the Advertising Idea: One of the most successful celebrity endorsement campaigns
which reflect the fit between the brand and the advertising is the advertisement involving
Chinedu Ihedieze (Aki) and Osita Iheme (Pawpaw) in promoting Ok Sweets. They were used
by the marketer because the advertisement is targeted to the children. The advertisement is
thus, impactful because children regard these celebrities as children stars, to whom they can
relate and emulate.

Celebrity Target-Audience Match: Using a known celebrity like Patience Ozokwo, (mama
G) in advertisement like, detol antiseptics and modern child’s spacing method recommended
by World Health Organization, will give Nigerian mothers opportunities to get connected to
this celebrity on screen and in regular life, thus boasting these mothers to actually engage in
the use of these antiseptics for bathing and cleaning and also in modern child spacing method.
The selection and fit is also impactful, and thus, rewarding.
Celebrity Value: Nwankwo Kanu and Stephen Keshi in peak milk endorsements and Femi
Ranson Kuti in creating awareness campaign for aids are all examples which reflect the
transfer of celebrity value to the brand, thereby creating an impact that generates recall and
believe.
Celebrity Regional Appeal Factors: Pepsi’s multiple celebrity endorsement by both foreign
and national celebrities like Drougba; Michael Obi, Messi, etc in Nigeria are good example
on how celebrities are chosen to reach out to target audience for brand in regional markets.
This signifies unification of the whole universe by a brand via the use of different world’s
celebrity representatives.
Celebrity Product Match: e.g. of compatible celebrity product match in which celebrity
brand attribute gets transferred to the brand and increases the brand equity is the
advertisement involving Ngozi Ezeonu in her sweet tomato paste advertisement. This
celebrity’s fit with the advert is impactful, because mothers and generally women will want
to use this product, believing that since their favorite celebrity uses it, it will be the best.
Celebrity Controversy Risk: Any advert in which a celebrity is used negatively will affect
the brand and may undergo banishments. E.g. A controversy where a celebrity crushed a man
death with his car while driving under the influence of an advertised alcoholic drink or an
advert recommending the use of hard drug, e.g. (cocaine), to facilitate speed, will give a
negative image among the audience and thus, affect the brand negatively.
Celebrity Popularity: Multiple celebrities advertising don’t have much brand recall, and
even if it does, it is very difficult to attribute it to the celebrities endorsing the brand e.g. the
globacom multiple celebrity advertisement featuring film actors and actresses, including
Nonso Diobu, Monalisa Chinda, and Chioma Chukwuka Akpota, etc. On the other hand, a
single celebrity endorser with different kinds of products shifts the attentions of the
consumers from the products to the celebrity alone. A celebrity endorsing single product at a
time increases the popularity and share of voice due to the endorser e.g. Ini Edo’s Hollandia
Milk endorsement, Genevieve’s power pasta spaghetti’s advertisement, also Whiz kid and
Tiwa’s 7up [Link].
Celebrity Availability: In cases of some brands, there are situations in which they prefer to
go without a brand face, since there is no brand fit between the celebrity’s availability and the
brand. Also due to the multiple endorsements by certain celebrities, brands refuse to adopt
celebrity endorsement, since they fear dilution of the brand image. Celebrity
Physical Attractiveness: The impact of celebrity is felt much when the celebrity endorser is
physically attractive e.g. fans of celebrities expect their celebrities to be beautiful, elegant and
eloquent, especially when endorsing beauty products, because these fans also want to know
the secret of their beauty, thus, helping to satisfy the esteem needs of individuals. The
charisma of the celebrity always entices people and their words are worshiped by a lot of
people. Their influence also goes to the political front, where they are invited for political
endorsement e.g. Ashar, Idris, 2 face Idibiaetc.

The Various Risks Associated with Celebrity Endorsement are as Follows

Negative Publicity: If the celebrity is strongly associated with the brand, then the occurrence
of the negative publicity can spill over to the brand e.g. when Michael Jackson had a rape
scandal, he lost his endorsement deal. This was to salvage the brand’s image from such
scandal. Celebrities activities are easily transferred to their brands and inappropriate
monitoring can result to loss of customers to competitors.
Over Shadowing: This case arises when celebrity chooses to endorse several different
product simultaneously or when the attention of the consumers shift away from the endorsed
brand to the celebrity endorsing the brand, these might leave consumers confused. Advert
managers should always choose celebrities that have closeness with the products they are
endorsing, also, advertisers should endeavor to use one endorser per product to avoid surfeit
of celebrities.
Over Use: Some times, the company can use many different celebrities to appeal different
market segments. Multiplicity of endorses might blur the image.
Extinction: The favorable response obtained by a particular brand may weaken over time if
the brand gets significant exposure without the association of the celebrity. If the celebrity
contract is for a considerable period of time, then it can lead to drawing out capital without
proper return. With effective monitoring of celebrities to know when to renew their contract,
extinction can be averted.
Financial Risks: The decision for hiring an expensive endorser may not always be feasible,
if there is a poor brand fit. Therefore, for celebrity endorsement to work effectively there
must be some fundamental ground rules. These include: Clear brand promise and brand
personality: the communication objectives for the campaign should be frozen and focus must
be on the synergy between the brand and the celebrity image, to establish explicitly what the
celebrity is going to communicate.
Endorsement: The meaning of transfer model proposes that the marketing/advertising firm
at first should determine the symbolic properties sought for the product. Thereafter, they
should consult a host of celebrities and their associated meaning. Finally, after considering
budget and availability constraints, the celebrity should be chosen to represent the appropriate
symbolic properties. The chosen celebrity will have some meaning associated with him,
which is sought after by the product. The advertisement programme should take care about
keeping the unwanted meanings out of the evoked set and capture only the salient meanings.
The advertisement must be designed to highlight the essential similarities between the
celebrity and the product.

Consumption: consumers constantly search for the object words which give them access to
workable ideas of demography, personality, life style and culture. Mc Cracken suggests that
this stage of the model is most complex as consumers must claim exchange, care for and use
the consumer goods to appropriate its meanings. Celebrities play major roles in the stage as
they have created their own self, which make them exemplary and inspirational figures to the
consumers. Consumers thus, try to emulate the celebrities admired by them and also try to
find out the meaning in the similar fashion. Celebrities bring the dramatic role, fashioning
cultural meanings into a pacticable form. In the endorsement process, they make these
meanings available in the maternal form to the consumers, who are keen to bring a self from
them. Thus, celebrities become essential partners to the meaning transfer process because
they vividly demonstrate the process by which the meanings are assembled.
In multiple endorsements vs. multiple celebrity endorsement, either a celebrity endorsing
multiple brands or multiple celebrities are being used to endorse a single brand. In this case,
Triple et al, says that endorsement of as many as four products, negatively influences the
celebrities spokesperson’s credibility and likeability. Also, the use of multiple celebrities to
endorse a brand may hinder the meaning transfer process, and thus, lead to confusion among
consumers.
In celebrity selection therefore, there are various scientific ways in which the right celebrity
is selected for the product endorsement. These are discussed as follows:

Scientific ways of Celebrity Selection

Stereo- tying: Tellis defined stereotypes as perceptions and depictions of individuals, based
on simplistic biased image of the group to which they belong, rather than on their own
individual characteristics.
Tear Model: The attribute highlighted by the acronym ‘Tear” is a guard for celebrity
selection. These include;
Trust worthiness: for a celebrity to be selected, he must possess a trust attribute. The
company selecting him must ensure he represents them in all ramifications e.g. a celebrity
endorser should not be seen using a competitor’s brand instead of the product he is endorsing.

Expertise: In selecting a celebrity for a particular brand, care must be taken to choose a
celebrity with the best criteria for the brand. He must be knowledgeable enough to know the
brand he is endorsing.
Attractiveness: The celebrity must be attractive enough to make his fans believe in both him
and the product he is endorsing.

Respect: An endorser must command respect. He must have worked out for a perfect image
for himself before the people.

Simplicity: There must be fit, or similarity between the celebrity and the brand he is
endorsing, e.g. a doctor endorsing for a pharmaceutical company.

The No Tear Model: the “NO TEAR” model approach is a tool for managers and their
advertisers, on how to go about selecting celebrities so as to avoid the pitfalls of making an
unwise decision. It gauges the following information: Celebrity and audience match-up;
celebrity and brand match-up, celebrity credibility, celebrity attractiveness, cost
consideration, a working ease and difficult factor, and endorsement saturation factor, and a
likelihood of getting into trouble factor.

Selecting the right celebrity does more than increasing sales, it can create linkages with the
celebrity’s appeal, thereby adding new dimension to the brand image.
Measure and Quantity Performance: The Company should have proper metrics in place,
such as increase in sales, brand awareness and the impact of celebrity endorsement in the
short and long term. The relationship between the endorsement cost and the benefits is
explained further. The endorsement costs are primarily driven by the endorsement fees and
promotion outlays. The benefits that accrue from a relationship can be categorized into two
components.
Value of Hard Assets: The benefits derived from the hard assets are those that have a clear
market value such as increased sales and increased in brand equity. These are the tangible
benefits that a company derives from its endorsement strategy.
Value of Association: Association value is derived from the target customers who associate
the company/brand with the celebrity. There are ways to quantify the potential value of hard
assets and associate value against their impact on company’s celebrity endorsement by
looking at the following categories; incremental sales, companies can quantify the effect of
the celebrity programme on sales, by performing year-to-year, or quarter-to-quarter sales
comparisons for targeted consumers, geographic, regions or specific product lines.
Brand Recognition: One of the objectives of endorsement is to increase brand awareness.
However, companies use popular, though incorrect survey approach, by asking the
respondents which celebrity endorsed their brand, instead of asking the respondent the brands
associated with the celebrity. By gauging the top of mind, recall can enable the company to
find out if a connection is made between the brand and the celebrity.
Brand loyalty: customer Chum can be measured in fix intervals before and after the celebrity
campaign periods, to determine the impact of celebrity on customer retention.
Additionally, primary research can be conducted to evaluate changes in the customer’s
loyalty, customers’ preference etc;

Selection and Renewal of Contracts with Celebrity: The ability to align goals and measure
the value of brand’s celebrity fit is the first step in obtaining optimal value from a celebrity
portfolio. This enables the advertiser determine ways to reduce cost and increase benefit.
Additionally, a company can increase its benefits by re-examining (and altering, if needed) its
promotion strategy to create deeper brand association, identify new celebrities that are
capable of achieving company’s goal and negotiate for additional rights from the existing
contracts. A large extent of this can be successful if the company can develop and execute
coordinated, pre-planned negotiation strategy which will enable it improve the conceptual
fees and media commitment stipulated in the contract, as well as the amount and benefits
conferred on the company. For instance, Whitney Huston, who endorses for Pepsi, was
caught repeatedly taking a competitor’s brand, despite the huge amount of money she was
being paid for the contract.

A few guidelines for formulating a well defined negotiation strategy would include;
Understand The Competition Of Celebrity: Except for few venerable celebrities, most of the
celebrities quote their prices in expectation of negotiation. The company should bench mark
the conceptual fees, and benefits against that of comparable celebrities, to ensure the
packages are equivalent. Understand Celebrity Cluster: There should be a degree of cluster
with the celebrity endorsing many more brands and companies. This cluster can impede the
ability of the company to capture the image and awareness required to generate value from
the endorsement. The company need to understand the risk associated with the signing of
such celebrity and need to devise strategic opportunities to stay clear of the cluster.

Value in kind Payments: Companies can reduce their risks and endorsement cost by
substituting out –of- pocket cash payment with value in kind, which can be traded at the
market price.
Protection against Ambush Marketing: Ambush marketing or adjacent marketing is the
reality of the day and the marketing managers need to be creative to stay one step ahead of
the competition. Advert managers should always be at alert in monitoring both their celebrity
and their competitors’ to know when to either terminate their contract or re-strategize.
Though marketers should remember that celebrities are mere living beings like us and if they
can highlight the benefits or advantages of a brand, they can also have some uncanny
negative impact. Theory and practice suggests that the use of stars and their unleashing power
in advertising generate a lot of publicity and attention from the public but the underline
questions are, do these stars really help a brand by increasing its sales? On the other hand,
can they really have an impact on the person's consumption pattern, thereby changing his
brand preference? Can an advertisement featuring a celebrity influence consumers buying
decision and create an association between a brand and a common man? To answer these
questions, the work will also examine the relationship between celebrity endorsements and
brands, and the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer's buying behaviour as well as
how consumer makes brand preferences.
Brand- A Layman Perspective
Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that you can associate
with a company or the product. Few example Coke – coca-cola; Pepsi.
These examples convey one message that when people watch advertisement, a connection is
being created and result is that people go for experience of buying. They feel by using the
brand, they will portray certain traits or characteristics that otherwise they do not have. This
generates a certain level of emotional affiliation and a sense of fulfillment. It is this emotional
relationship with brands that make them so powerful.
Advertisements enforce what exactly the brand stands for and what to expect by its
consumption and above all what factors, features and attributes make it better from
competitiors’. Advertisements along with other marketing efforts generate expectations and
feelings in a customer and force them to think when they see or hear the brand name. This
thinking process and emotional bonding gets more mature and relevant when a celebrity
endorses the brand. The subjective intangible feelings of a customer become objective and
tangible in the form of celebrity and the level of expectations will rise. The customer will
start to perceive himself in the reference frame of the celebrity after the brand or the
advertised product has been purchased or consumed by him.
Celebrity
Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition and mostly they are the experts of their
respective fields having wider influence in public life and societal domain. Attributes like
attractiveness, extraordinary life style or special skills, larger than life image and demigod
status can be associated with [Link] is safe to deduce that within a corresponding social
setting, celebrities generally differ from the social norm and enjoy high degree of public
awareness, they have universal presence and appeal which they present everywhere, in news,
fashion shows and magazines, tabloids and above all advertisements.

Celebrity and a Brand

Star power in Nigeria can be gauged by the successful endorsements done by Wiskid and
Tiwa (Pepsi,), bankky .W. (coke) Chioma Ajunwa Akpota (Hapic anticeptic cleanser), and
the others. The inevitable question is, if and how the lively interest of the public in the rich
and famous can be efficiently and effectively used by companies to promote their brands and
consequently to increase their sales revenues.
This fact can be brought out by using certain examples i.e. [Link] promoting Endomy
noudles when the image of the firm went very low in the eyes of people. Soon the company
found a perfect fit and a reliable celebrity to transmit the correct message and help regenerate
the lost trust. The fit between the product and celebrity is evident as [Link] salvaged
the brand which tested troubled times and still stand tall and the love and trust they both share
with the people all across Nigeria. This is a live example of how a celebrity brought certain
attributes to a product like noudles.
According to Advertising research companies, actors are doing well and the ad spent on the
companies is increasing at a phenomenal rate, and these actors are being reliability and trust
worthy in the brands, and above all, they help in increasing the sales revenues.
Celebrity endorsements are powerful, and have become evident from the examples but, why
is it so? This power is offered by the following elements, which also creates a 'Top of the
Mind Position'.
* Instant Awareness, knowledge about the brand and easy recall.
* Values and image of the brand is defined, highlighted and refreshed by the celebrity.
* The celebrity adds new edge and dimension to the brand.
* Credibility, trust, association, aspiration and connectivity to brand.
* Belief in efficiency and new appearance that will result in at least trial usage.

Traditional Factors Affecting Consumer Decision Making of Brand

There are several factors that affect consumer's decision to purchase a brand and a product.
These factors though at times are not very much visible but they make an impact and affect
sales of a product or brand up to a great extent. Below show some of these factors.
 Demographics (age,gender, income, etc)
 Family life cycle
 Life changing events
 Cultural environment
 Socio environment
 Situational environment
Impact of a Brand on Consumer Purchase Decision
Research studies have proven that known products and names are sold more than unknown
ones.
Therefore, a known brand or an optimally exposed brand will find more recognition and
buyers in the market in comparison to completely unknown or unexposed brand. Recognition
of brand and its significance along with the traditional factors plays a very significant role in
consumer decision-making process. More or less every consumer has a brand preference and
given the affordability and societal norms, each buyer would like to buy and consume one of
the highly acceptable, recognizable, and reputed brands.

2.4.3. Iinfluence of Brand preference 0n Customers’ Loyalty

The dictionary of business management defines a brand as a term, sign, symbol or design, or
a combination of these, intended to identify goods and services of one seller or a group of
sellers and to differentiate them from those of their competitors. A leading branding
consultancy management define brand as” “A mixture of tangible and intangible attributes
which, if properly managed, creates influence and generates value”. In Hawkins et al (2001),
brands with good reputation have potential for high levels of brand equity. Brand equity is
based on the extent to which the brand has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived
quality and strong product associations. And brand personality, according to them is the way
a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human trait/characteristics to brands so as to
achieve differentiation. These characteristics signifies brand behavior through both
individuals representing the brands (i.e. the employees), as well as through advertising,
packaging, etc, and brand image or identity is thus, expressed in terms of these personality
traits. E.g. Bankky’s NBC advert, and also that of Widkid and Tiwa in 7up advert.
Thus, Bankky and Widkid’s adverts represent accomplishment, competence and influence.
Brand personality thus; help generate emotional character and associations in consumers’
mind, by helping to get a thorough knowledge of customers’ feelings about the brand. Brand
personality differentiates among brands, specifically, when they are alike in many attributes.
E.g. coca cola vs. Pepsi, and Fanta vs. Miranda, all look alike, and thus, can be mistaken for
another, but with brand personality, the kind of relationship a customer has with a brand can
be indicated. In a nutshell, brand personality is a means by which a customer communicates
his own identity. Trust worthy celebrities ensures immediate awareness, acceptability, and
optimism towards the brand. This influences customers’ purchase decision and also creates
brand loyalty. For instance, nolly wood actress, Ini Edo is a brand ambassador for Hollandia
yogurt and her personality traits draws customers to the brand. Brand personality not only
includes the personality feature /characteristics, but also the demographic features like age,
gender or class.

The concept of “total branding” is slowly emerging and many companies are focusing on
that. They are emphasizing on their best practice of customer relationship management, and
employee training and knowledge management. Internal branding management, under which
the company ensures that employees and channel partners are convinced about the brand, is
becoming particularly important because they are the ones who have to deliver. Thus, the
celebrity endorsement can only be considered a carrier of what is inside.

Types of Brands:
There are two main types of brand – manufacturer brand and own-label brand.
Manufacturers’ brands are created by producers and bear their chosen brand name. The
producer is responsible for marketing the brands. The brand is owned by building their brand
names, and manufacturers can gain widespread distribution by retailers who want to sell the
brand and build customer loyalty.
Own-label or Private Label brands are created and owned by businesses that operate in the
distribution channel, often referred to as “distributors”. These distributors are retailers, but
not exclusively, sometimes the retailer’s entire product range will be own- label. Own-label
branding , if well carried out, can often offer the consumer excellent value for money and
provide the distributor with additional bargaining power when it comes to negotiating prices
and terms with manufacturer brands.
Advantages of Brands.
 Some of the advantages of brands include, earn higher profits for the manufacturer, ties
customer to wholesaler or retailer; less pressure to mark down prices; ensure dealer prestige;
attract new customers and finally enhance customers’ loyalty. E.g., if Coca-Cola were to lose
all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all
consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-
Cola, the company would go out of business

2.4.4. Influence of Celebrity Endorsement

From a brand communication perspective, celebrity endorsement simply stipulates that the
value associated with the celebrity is transferred to the brand and therefore help create an
image that can be easily referred by consumers. Consequently by association, the brand can
very quickly establish the credibility, recognition and increase brand equity, etc. The use of
celebrity endorsement has several functional influences in brand communication. One of such
functional influence is that it helps to maintain attention and recall. Studies in celebrity
endorsement research have revealed that customers are more likely to choose goods and
services endorsed by celebrity, than those without such endorsement (Okorie and Adarogba,
2011). Celebrities help advertisements to carve a niche in a competitive environment thus,
repositioning the brand in the market (Sharma, 1995). Brand communication experts believe
that using a popular celebrity can influence consumers’ feelings and their purchase intents
( Belch and Belch, 2009).Ohanian (1991), studied on how the perceived image of a celebrity
endorser affect the consumer intension to purchase, and discovered that it is only the
expertise of the celebrities that make the customers to purchase. O’mahony and Meenaghan
(1997) supported Ohanian, (1991), and also concluded that source credibility and expertise
were the main things that spur consumers to purchase. In addition, O’mahony and
Meenaghan (1997) found out that consumers’ response to endorsement message was also
linked to relatedness and consumers also look out for a congruity between the celebrity
endorser’s image and the type of products they endorse. Many scholars have argued that
celebrity endorsement is effective due to the influential personalities of the celebrities. In his
own view, uduji, (2012), insist that celebrity advertising is effective because of its ability to
tap into consumer’s symbolic association to aspire the reference group, which provides points
of comparison through which the consumer may evaluate attitudes and behavior. In order
words, Kemins (1990), asserts that celebrity endorsement gives a brand the touch of glamour,
and the hope a famous face provides, adds appeal and name recognition to a crowded market.

Other Benefits of Using Celebrity Endorsement Include,

 Provision of testimony for a product or service, particularly, when the product has
contributed to their celebrities. The more familiar an endorser, the more likely consumers are
to buy the endorsed product. (Migak and Shanklin, 1994). E.g. Michael Jordan endorsed for
Nike and uses various products of Nike when training and playing basket ball. The
endorsement thus, improved the sales of Nike shoes in United States and across the world. A
new brand can benefit greatly if a celebrity endorses it.
 It can attract the consumers’ attention and inquisitiveness to see what product is being
endorsed. Research has shown that consumers have a higher level of message recall for
products that are endorsed by celebrities e.g. when Tu-face idibia, a popular Nigerian
musician endorsed Airtel telecommunication provider, a lot of his fans and other people were
attracted to their products and services.
 Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust
for that brand among the target audience. This is especially true in case of new products. We
had the Genevieve’s campaign on the new mud powder. At launch, Genevieve endorsed new
 Mud powder and this ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, especially to
people who do not even know the brand.
 Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of
advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.
 PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical,
which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns is one of
the World’s leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in
advertisements for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR events. Indeed, celebrity-
company massages are covered by most media from television to newspapers (e.g. The Spice
Girls and Pepsi)
 Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with
the brand, thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed
American Express, Rolex, and Nike.
 Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message
because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, means that the consumer will also benefit.
 Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury wanted to restore the consumer's confidence in its
chocolate brands following the worm’s controversy, the company appointed a movie star for
the job. Sometime, when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drink majors put out high-profile
damage control ad films featuring their best and most expensive celebrities.
 Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use
stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
 Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments
(age, gender, class, geography etc.).
 Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to
generate interest among the masses. [Link] .Messi, Drougha, Michel,
 Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: Celebrity endorsement has the objective of infusing fresh life
into the stagnate product.
 Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

According to Osuagwu (2002), consumer behavior is the behavior or act he displayed when
searching for, buying, using, evaluating and disposing of products which he expects to satisfy
his needs and wants. In his own view, Addediran (1999), explains that consumer behavior
refers to the way consumers/buyers act towards obtaining and using economic goods and
services. The approaches involve in understanding consumer behavior are consumer buying
process and determinant of consumer behavior.

Consumer buying process: consumer decision making process is a system concept; hence,
there is need for proper understanding of how buyers go through problem recognition,
information search, evaluation of alternatives and purchase or post purchase behavior
processes. The influence on consumer behavior can be seen in the following; cultural,
sociological, economic, and individual psychological factor. However, the sequential step
taken by a buyer before a purchase decision is made is term, the buying decision processes.
The steps are; problem recognition: problem recognition is the perceived difference between
the ideal state of affairs and the actual situation sufficient to arouse and activate decision
process. (Osuagwu, 2002).
 Information search: Search for information is systematic in nature, which may proceed from
internal search (memory scan), and can be regarded as habitual or routine response behavior
that will truncate other stages, leading to product choice, or external search.

Alternative evaluation: Alternative evaluation is the desired outcome from choice or use of
alternative products, expressed in the form of the attribute or specification used to compare
various [Link] criteria are not static, they undergo modifications and
changes, based on new information and experiences.

Purchase decision: Purchase decision is the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction a consumer

experiences. The buyer’s satisfaction is a function of the closeness between the consumer’s
product expectation and the perceived performance. Consumers form the expectation on the
basis of messages received from marketers, friends and other sources. The larger the gap
between expectation and performance, the greater the consumer [Link] purchase
actions are the subsequent behavior influences by satisfaction or dissatisfaction, discovered
from purchase.

Determinants of Consumer Behavior: Concepts, theories and empirical data on human

behavior are very essential in determining consumer behavior and developing efficient and
effective marketing (advertising) strategies.

Consumer behavior can be defined as act of individual in obtaining and using goods and
services, including the decision process that precedes purchase. Consumer behavior is a
product of psychology and environment. C.B=F(PE) consumer behavior (CB) is therefore,
the product of the interaction of consumers personal influence, (P) and the pressure exerted
upon the consumer outside forces in the environment (E). (Addediran, 1997). The basic
determinants of consumer behavior include; Needs and motives, perception, attitude, learning
and culture.

Needs and motives: Need is lack of something useful and it is usually the responsibility of the
marketer to identify these needs and fill them. A need must be sufficiently stimulated to be
considered a motive. Motivation is an attempt to satisfy a felt need. Maslow (1943), as cited
in Kotler and Keller (2002), developed a theory on classification of five sequential stages of
need.

Perception: Perception is the process by which in-coming stimuli received by consumer’s

senses are transferred into meaningful picture. Consumers perceive things through touch,
sight, hearing, taste and smell. The concept of perception among consumer behavior
researchers is divided into two factors, physiological or stimuli factor and individual’s factor.
Perception aids advertisers to obtain consumers on particular brands, and on the proper use of
celebrity

Attitude: Attitudes are those psychological characteristics that affect consumer’s perception
of in -coming stimuli. Kotler and Keller (2012), defined attitude as “a person’s enduring
favorable or unfavorable evaluation, emotional feeling towards a product or idea” Attitude is
learned, and it is formed over a period of time through experiences and contact, and is high
resistant to change. Attitude about things are formed through observation, use and
communication.

Learning: Learning is the relationship between knowledge and experience. Accumulated

experiences on subsequent behavior may be based on the use of a produce or via
advertisement. When customers learn something, their behaviors change from the previous
experience, depending on the consequences of the act. If the consequences are rewarding, the
behaviors are repeated (Osuagwu, 2002).
Culture: This is one of the determinants of behavior. Culture is defined as a way of life of a
group of people. It includes knowledge, belief, morals, norms, laws, customs and habits.
Culture is also learned. It does not only influence how one behaves, but how one expects
others to behave. The knowledge of a people’s way of life will enable the advert manager
know the right celebrity that will best communicate to these customers and get the expected
response from them. Also, the knowledge of ones culture will enable the markter choose the
most appropriate and effective celebrity, this will make the advert and the endorder more
believable and credible. Example, in a culture where women do the cookings, it will not be
credible using a man for any advert pertaining to kitchen or cookings.
2.4.7. Marketing and Advertising
Marketing as a profession has experienced one of the most rapid developments in recent
times. The practices of pre-and early 1960’s are constantly being challenged by new factors
in marketing environment. Businesses cannot survive today without strong marketing
armory. That is why we need to understand the concept of [Link] is the most
misunderstood business subject, which often results in misconceptualization. At one extreme
of this misconceptualization, marketing is taken to mean the same as advertising, at the other
extreme; it is considered to be an appendix to the commercial department. The result often is
failure. Firms with what is regarded as the best product, only end up in terrible losses due,
largely to this misconceptualization. This is as a result of management’s inability to properly
define the relationship between the product and the market place, which is the basic function
of marketing.

2.4.8. Meaning of Advertising

If commerce is the engine of our society, then advertising is the spark, responsible advertisers
are the drivers who keep us on the right track, leading to a richer, more benevolent society.
Like marketing, advertising has been defined differently by many authors and scholars.
According to Advertising Practitioners council of Nigeria, (APCON), “Advertising is defined
as a form of communication through any paid media, about a product, or idea, paid for by an
identified sponsor”, (Nwosu and Nkamnebe, 2006). According to Uduji, (2012), “advertising
is defined as the non personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually
persuasive in nature, about products, services or ideas by identified sponsor through various
media.” He also summarized the salient point \ features that set advertising apart from other
marketing communications. These include; Non personal; paid for; persuasive; identified
sponsor; various media.
Onah (2004), agree with Uduji (2012), when he said advertising can be most appropriate
when there is little technical information to be conveyed, as often occurs with simple
information goods. Advertising attempts to make a mass of potential customers respond more
favorable to a firm’s product or service. It thus, informs, persuades, and convinces the
 customers. It plays the general role of creating awareness. Advertising messages are usually
paid for, by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media, which include; the mass
media, including; news papers, magazines, television commercials, radio advertisements,
outdoor advertising, direct mail, websites etc. Commercial advertisers often seek to generate
increased consumption of their products or services through branding and aggressively and
persuasively pushing it down to the consumers via advertising.
2.4.9 Regulation of Advertising
It should be noted that the practice of advertising in Nigeria is regulated by APCON. It was
established by degree (Now Act) No 55, commencement 27 December, 1988. The major
functions of APCON are;

Determining who advertising practitioners are; determining what standard of knowledge and
skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as members of the
advertising profession, and reviewing those standards from time to time; Securing in
accordance with the provision of this degree, the establishment and maintenance of a register
of persons, entitled to practice as advertising practitioners and publication, from time to time,
of the list of those persons; Regulating and controlling of practice of advertising in all its
aspects and ramifications; Conducting examinations in the profession and awarding
certificates or diplomas to successful candidates as and when appropriate, and for such
purpose, the council shall prescribe fees to be paid in respect thereof; Performing the other
functions conferred on the council by this decree.
Advertising Agency is the outside firm that specializes in the creation, production or and
placement of the communication message and also provides other facilities to facilitate the
marketing and promotion process. Advertising agencies initially focused on print, but the
introduction of radio and later television suppressed the print, because of audio and image
qualities, although the higher cost of TV set and lack of programming made TV advertising
not to be embraced immediately. The emphasis on why advertisers should not skip the roles
of advertising agencies is laid by the code of practice of the advertising practitioners’ council
of Nigeria (APCON) as stipulated in the guide line, direct media.
(a) APCON does not approve of direct media buying and media brokerage services, when these
are contrary to the ethics of advertising profession.
(b) Direct media buying and/or media brokerage service must adequately protect the interest of
the advertiser, the media owner, the advertising agency, and the consumer. These interests
concern the quality of service and economy of rates to the advertiser and consumer on one
hand, as well as the income of the media owner and the advertising agency on the other hand.
(Nwosu and Nkamnebe, 2006). This highlights that, it is not proper for the advertiser to
approach the media directly, because missing the advertising agency means, missing the
professional touch.

Summary
This literature review has shown that advertising and promotion of brands have shifted from
the conventional means, to a more sophisticated method of communication. Companies no
longer engage in the normal means of communicating and promoting their brands and
services to their target customers, but have employed the use of celebrities, who are believed
to have edges over non-celebrities. Celebrity endorsement is a new marketing communication
and promotion strategy, where experts from known fields such as sports, movies, musicals etc
are hired by companies and the images of these celebrities are matched with the company’s
products. This thus, gives the brands touch of glamour, and the hope that these famous faces
provide, add appeal and name recognition to the brand in the crowded market.

Celebrity endorsement has been proved to possess ability of increasing the recall value of a
brand and also transfer the celebrity qualities such as likeability and acceptance to the
endorsed [Link] are only realizable and effective if the companies use celebrities that
are credible, celebrities that are able to transfer their aura and culture to the product,
celebrities personalities that match the endorsing brands and finally, celebrity that can
achieve the company’s objectives. Although celebrity endorsement has positive influences
on both the company and its brands, it can also have negative influences, marketing managers
should therefor be very careful when selecting their celebrities. Also managers should be
smart enough to know when the services of these celebrities are no longer needed e.g. when a
celebrity has a scandal, the manager should be at alert to know when to terminate contract
with him.

The impact of synergy in celebrity endorsement is that people always have role models, and
would always want to attain their role model’s height of achievement by all means. This is
seen in Nwosu and Nkamnebe (2006), when they insisted that advert planners should always
use auxiliary services, such as credible models because the audiences tend to accept,
remember, and act on advertisements based on their influences. In his own view, Assael also
linked the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement to the consumer’s symbolic association to
aspire the reference group, which provides part of comparison through which consumers may
evaluate attitude and behavior. This is known as imitation. For a fan to aspire to be like his
role model, he would prefer whatever brand his role model uses to any [Link] synergistic
impact of celebrity endorsement is that marketers know the influence these celebrities have
on their fans in trying to convince them via the personalities they use. Little wonder, Aristotle
said; beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction. This way, the
company’s return on-investment is increased and the image of the company boasted. Again,
the impact of the synergy in celebrity endorsement can also be seen in the assumption that
says, ‘seeing is believing’. If a well known, educated and respected personality endorses a
product by using that product, there is every tendency that the brand has a higher quality.
This also reflect in the saying that, ‘perfection cannot begat imperfection”.

The issue of celebrity endorsement has always been discussed and treated as integral part of
advertising. Authors and researchers have given lesser attention to some of the most
important aspect of this study. This however, marred the realization of the purpose of
celebrity endorsement. However, the literature review has shown that effective celebrity
endorsement starts from production of good quality products. A veteran marketing
practitioner should first, identify what the prospects need, which are quite unknown to them,
plan for the best quality of such brand, understand the culture of the prospects so as to
organize and use the most appropriate celebrity for both the brand and the target consumer.
This, according to Kotler and Keller (2009), is the marketing communication of the post-
modern era. Most marketers employ services of celebrities, especially, famous ones among
them, without checking if the personalities of the celebrity match with the brands they are
endorsing. This research has therefore, enlightened us that companies should always match
appropriate celebrity with appropriate brand and target, so that the endorsement strongly
influences the thought processes of the consumers, and also creates a positive perception of
the brand on the minds of the consumers, this way, celebrity overshadowing will be avoided.
Also, companies should always be at alert in monitoring the behavior and conducts of their
celebrities, to minimize or avoid scandals and negative publications.