Celebrity endorsements are popular advertising methods that are implemented globally. Despite the frequent use of celebrities as product endorsers, few studies, if any, examine the cross-cultural effects of celebrity-endorsed advertisement on consumer response. This study focuses on Korea and the United States as representative of Eastern and Western cultures, respectively, in terms of various cultural values, such as (a) those described by cultural dimensions theory (individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance), (b) those described by information context theory (communication styles) and (c) those described by moral foundations theory (intuitive domains of social judgment). Findings generally suggest that Koreans respond more favorably, in terms of enjoyment and purchase intention, to celebrity-endorsed advertisements than Americans. Also, individual-difference measures for the cultural dimensions above yielded patterns consistent with the overall cultural differences. Detailed discussion, including implications and limitations, are provided for both researchers and practitioners. / text

Titel: Celebrity endorsement är väl ingen sport – En studie om hur sportmodevarumärken använder celebriteter i varumärkesbyggande syfte Författare: Erik Hagberg & Niklas Radhammar Handledare: Thomas Helgesson Nivå: Kandidatuppsats, Marknadsföring 15 hp, VT 2012 Nyckelord: Varumärke, varumärkeskapital, celebrity endorsement, celebrity endorser, sportmodevarumärke, varumärkesbyggande Problemformulering: Hur arbetar sportmodevarumärken på den svenska marknaden med celebriteter i sina varumärkesbyggande processer? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att med utgångspunkt i den teoretiska referensramen och en abduktiv fallstudie av fem varumärken, kartlägga hur sportmodevarumärken arbetar med celebriteter i varumärkesbyggande ändamål på den svenska marknaden. Vi vill även analysera positiva effekter och risker vid användning av celebriteter i varumärkesstrategier. Metod: En kvalitativ ansats med ett abduktivt angreppssätt har använts, där beslutsfattare från fem varumärken har intervjuats inom uppsatsens ämne. De fem företagen är adidas, Craft, Tenson, Peak Performance samt Unihoc. Alla dessa arbetar aktivt med celebrity endorsement som strategi i varumärkesbyggande och marknadskommunikation. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Avsnittet inleds med en grundläggande beskrivning av varumärkeskapital samt hur celebriteter kan addera ytterligare värde till kapitalet. Därefter behandlas fenomenet celebrity endorsement samt processen vid urval av celebritet inom samma ämne. Teoriavsnittet berör även de positiva effekter samt risker som kan uppstå vid användningen av celebrity endorsement. Avslutningsvis behandlas även return on investment gällande celebrity endorsement. Empiriskt perspektiv: I det empiriska kapitlet presenteras de intervjuer vi utfört med ansvarig för respektive varumärke. Empirin speglar deras användning av celebrity endorsement. Slutsats: Studien visar att celebrity endorsement kan användas på olika sätt för att bygga varumärkeskapital, men även för att stärka varumärket i sin helhet. Vi anser att celebrity endorsement är en långsiktig strategi och inte som många teorier hävdar, en kortsiktig. Vi kan även dra slutsatsen att den risk som tas upp i samband med de teorier som präglar uppsatsen inte överensstämmer med våra fallföretags upplevda risk. De anser att risken är liten vid användning av celebrity endorsers.

When do children begin to realize that the authenticity of an object is not inherent to an object itself, but instead depends on the information one has about the object in question? In two studies I investigated elementary school children’s reasoning about authenticity violations. How we reason about authenticity violations, or cases in which the purported history of an item is shown to be false, is important in that it provides an example of how people can reason about the underlying, non-obvious features of objects. Participants (N= 64, ages 7-9) were first asked to rate the value of a series of everyday objects using a Likert scale (one to ten). Next, information about the individual history of these objects was presented and participants were asked to re-rate them and provide explanations for their ratings. Using a between-subjects design, participants were then informed that the information they had been given about the objects’ histories was the result of intentional deception (Study One) or a mistake (Study Two) and were again asked to re-rate the objects and provide explanations for their ratings. Results from value ratings and explanations from both studies indicate that elementary school children are sensitive to the authentic nature of objects as well as intentional and accidental violations of authenticity. I propose that reasoning about associative essences, a novel term described in this paper, can be productively examined using violation of authenticity paradigms, providing insight into the development of reasoning about authenticity. / text

The study seeks to discover whether different cultural orientations will result in individuals making dispositional attribution or situational attribution regarding negative information about a celebrity endorser. Second, the study seeks to discover whether consumers in different cultures evaluate different types of negative celebrity information differently. Third, the study seeks to discover whether dispositional or situational attribution of the negative information about the celebrity endorser will produce different evaluations of the endorser and, subsequently, of the endorsed brand. Finally, the study seeks to discover whether the level of consumers’ identification with celebrities (low vs. high) will moderate the relationship between attribution and consequences. The study found that cultural orientation affects people’s attributional styles and dispositional attribution leads to more negative impacts on celebrity evaluation, brand evaluation, and purchase intention than situational attribution. It is found that Korean consumers reacted more negatively on other-oriented negative information than on self-oriented negative orientation. People with a low level of identification responded more negatively to the negative celebrity information than people with a high level of identification. Implications and suggestions for future research in this area are provided. / text

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Background: Nowadays, companies globally utilise various branding strategies to win and build strong brand loyalty. One of the marketing strategies tools that companies utilise since the 21st century is celebrity endorsement. The idea of a celebrity endorser can be defined as a well-known individual who is glorious in the field of a brand's target audience. Celebrity endorser characteristics, including trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise, are all sub-components of celebrity endorsement credibility that play an essential role in consumers’ minds and are considered as relevant dimensions in this study. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the celebrity endorsers’ characteristics impact on brand loyalty in the context of consumers in Sweden.  Methodology: This study used the deductive approach, quantitative research to conduct the study. Cross-sectional was used to test the developed conceptual model with the three hypotheses. While, non-probability and convenience sampling methods were used on the way to choose the sampling. The data collection was done through the self-completed questionnaires that ran on google survey to various online social media platforms and the total participants was 203 which is a valid number of respondents for the study.  Findings: The expertise of celebrity endorsers positively impacts brand loyalty and it is the most significant one, hypothesis three (H3) is accepted. The trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers positively impacts brand loyalty and it is the second significant one, hypothesis one (H1) is accepted. However, the attractiveness of celebrity endorsers results in no impact on brand loyalty. It showed an insignificant result. Hypothesis two (H2) is rejected.  Conclusion: This study revealed that only the trustworthiness and expertise of celebrity endorsers have a positive impact on brand loyalty in the context of consumers in Sweden. Finally, the findings of this research paper were applied to the research implication. Keywords: Celebrity endorsers’ characteristics;  the trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers; the attractiveness of celebrity endorsers; the expertise of celebrity endorsers; brand loyalty.

Celebrity endorsements are a widely used marketing strategy, through which a popular celebrity is paired with the brand in order to enhance brand meaning in the eyes of consumers. However, endorsement strategies are not without risk, as evidenced by popular media revealing celebrities’ negative behavior. While much research has addressed factors enhancing endorsement effectiveness, limited research exists that examines the effects of negative celebrity information on consumer responses to the endorser and brand. The current research seeks to understand the potential differentiating effects of failure type (functional vs. nonfunctional) on related consumer attitudes and intentions. Three experiments (between subjects factorial design) were conducted to examine the phenomenon of interest. Contrary to expectations, results of the first two experiments suggest an absence of significant differentiating effects of failure type, overall, although various exceptions surfaced. These experiments represent a unique research attempt to disentangle the effects of functional and nonfunctional information on consumer responses to endorsement strategies. In addition, it contributes to the growing research interest in understanding the important effects of negative information on consumer attitudes and intentions.

Over the past several years, the physical appearance of pregnant and new mothers has been evolving within Western society. In particular, celebrity mothers who are templates for contemporary ideals within society (Tyler 2011) experience heightened levels of surveillance and normalizing practices. The shifting ideal, maternal form illustrates how the bodies of women continue to be subjected to discipline and control within society. Furthermore, the flourishing of consumer culture within some neoliberal societies pressures women to consume in order to fully realize their maternal identity. Increased articulation of individual identity through consumption, coupled with increasingly specific appearance standards, narrow the scope of what idealized motherhood embodies. In order to best investigate the issue of the shifting, ideal maternal form, various issues of tabloid magazines will be analyzed. Relying on social constructionism in conjunction with Foucault’s theories of the disciplining of docile bodies and biopower, along with Lyotard’s desire-based, libidinal economy, the literature on the public presentation of maternal bodies will be analyzed with focus on newly developed, rigorous appearance and fitness standards for mothers. Additionally, how these disciplinary practices function within neoliberal climates that champion desire-based consumption, freedom, liberty, individualism and self-subjectification will also be investigated. A cultural analysis of thirty-seven tabloid publications from 2012 to 2013 will be examined for both visual and written discourse pertaining to the cultural construction of ideal motherhood. Through this analysis the interplay between the two seemingly contradictory messages of excessive, desire-based consumption and restrictive, corporeal discipline will be explored in order to gain a better understanding of how these incongruous scripts affect the lives of mothers today. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-26 13:25:26.234

This thesis examines publicity exploitation in practice and the possible legal response of Scots law to that exploitation. It argues that the common law in Scotland is not capable of providing a coherent and principled right of publicity for individuals, and that a statutory right is instead required. By examining the nature of publicity exploitation and the activities that constitute publicity, it becomes clear that there are a number of different methods by which an individual’s “persona” – name, image, identity and reputation – can be used to enhance the goods and services of others, and that this enhancement is something for which other parties are willing to pay. The first part of this thesis explores publicity in practice, in order to derive a framework and vocabulary on which to build the subsequent legal analysis. One conclusion reached here is that, whereas much case law and academic commentary focuses on the unauthorised use of persona, authorised exploitation is more common and more lucrative for the individual. Both authorised and unauthorised use therefore need to be represented in a publicity right. The second part explores justifications for establishing a legal right to regulate the exploitation of publicity and to enable the control of such exploitation by the individual in question. These justifications reflect the dual interests at stake in publicity rights, being dignitarian interests in the use and control of one’s persona, and economic interests in the financial value of such use. The third part of the thesis draws upon the findings of the first two parts in order to assess the most appropriate legal classification of a right of publicity. The conclusion reached is that publicity cannot be sufficiently protected through established real rights or personal rights. Instead, the hybrid nature of publicity, comprising dignitarian and economic interests, should most appropriately be protected through a right in the nature of exclusive privilege (a concept already known in Scots law). This right is capable of enabling the necessary control of persona for the individual, subject to appropriate limitations to recognise the competing interests of other parties. These limits include freedom of expression and cultural communication. The final conclusion is that such a statutory right of exclusive privilege would be best placed to give principled and coherent effect to a right of publicity in Scots law.

Thesis advisor: Bonnie Jefferon / Kanye West is a musical artist whose shocking public statements often remain in the news for weeks on end. Throughout the past six years of his extremely successful career, at least three of these public acts have received tireless media coverage both for their perceived offensiveness, and for their direct connection to larger societal issues. This project examines three statements: (1) West’s 2005 claim during Hurricane Katrina that “[President] George Bush doesn’t care about Black people;” (2) the moment in 2009 when West stormed the MTV Video Music Awards stage during singer Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech and grabbed her microphone, stating that he would let her finish, “but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time;” and (3) West’s 2010 appearance on NBC’s Today Show and the series of angry messages he posted to his Twitter page claiming that the interviewer, Matt Lauer, tried to “force” his answers. These statements are analyzed to determine whether West may have unwittingly employed the rhetorical method Theodore Windt describes as the diatribe. The paper concludes that West’s statements in 2005 and 2010 meet the criteria for the diatribe, using a shocking act or message to catalyze important discussion of major problems existing in society. However, West’s 2009 incident fails to meet the criteria, and cannot be categorized as a diatribe, but instead as simply an offensive act that provided no greater benefit to society. The process of these analyses may serve as a way to examine future celebrity statements to determine whether certain individuals are striving to elevate society or, through their offenses, may be adding to a cultural downfall. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Communication Honors Program. / Discipline: Communication.