This thesis examines contradictory stereotypes navigated by Latina celebrities within dominant representations of Latina identity. On one hand, Latinas are represented as traditional and family-oriented and on the other hand are understood as exotic and hypersexual. I argue that the marketing and content of cookbooks by Eva Longoria and Gloria and Emilio Estefan serve to perpetuate dominant stereotypes about what it means to be/cook/eat Latina, which limits the possibilities for relating to food and creates a narrative of a static, homogenous Latina identity. By performing rhetorical analysis of cookbooks by Eva Longoria and Gloria and Emilio Estefan, I illustrate the ways in which the cookbooks function to legitimize both the ethnic authenticity of the celebrity author and of the cuisine itself.

Thesis (M. S.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Jeanne Heitmayer, Florida State University, College of Human Sciences, Dept. of Textiles and Consumer Sciences. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 18, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 76 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Senior Honors Thesis--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / "May 2006." Date of submission on Certificate of Authorship: 30 April 2007. Title from PDF title page (viewed June 26, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

The research project explored the value of the personified celebrity endorser to brand endorsement and the effect on the original brand and the personified celebrity endorser. Endorsement has proven to be an effective marketing tool to increase purchase intent and positively influence consumer attitudes towards a brand and, as a result the use of endorsers, particularly celebrities, has grown. However the use of celebrities does have its challenges as aligning the celebrities brand with ones’ own brand can be a risk. Overcoming these challenges usually results in brands using personified endorsers, characters designed to personify the brand, designed to reflect, and share features of, the brand’s personality through endorsement. These characters require large amounts of investment in time and finance, which later are often terminated after a period resulting in sunk costs and loss of the characters’ equity. This loss of equity in turn leads to these personified endorsers losing credibility in the market and subsequently losing economic value when made redundant, particularly if they have celebrity status. While many studies have been done on personified endorsers, few have focused on human personified endorsers. Thus, to understand the potential impact of the personified celebrity endorser’s credibility on consumers and other brands, a quantitative study was undertaken that looked at the source credibility of an original brand (Hansa Pilsener) and a personified celebrity endorser (The Vuyo character). The source credibility was measured across three attributes: attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. These attributes were measured pre and post respondents being shown fictional stories involving Vuyo endorsing other brands or products. The main finding of the research was that the personified celebrity endorser has his/her own credibility that is separate from the original brand and if the personified celebrity endorser promotes another brand or product, the original brand’s credibility remains unharmed. This suggests that the personified celebrity endorser’s value can be extended to other brands in order to gain further economic value / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

ABSTRACTIn the last decade, celebrities’ philanthropic activism has emerged into the global phenomena. In order to raise the awareness about the global problems and suffering of others, as well as increase public funding of humanitarian organizations, celebrity figures are becoming ever more representative for the humanitarianism issues between the global North and South. Whereas celebrity interventions were previously considered to be important for media studies only, growing body of academic research admits it significance for the international development studies and global issues of communication. Through analysis of the most prominent researchers in the field of celebritized involvement in the global development, as well as independent discourse and semiotic analysis, this thesis proves the emergence of celebrities as new global actors of the development. The main objective of this paper is to both evaluate and debate on how celebritized humanitarians are depicted in the media in comparison to Haitians in immediate aftermath of earthquake in 2010. The results show that despite good intentions, the analysis shows that the images, which are being manifested by the celebrities within the North-South relations, are heavily criticized for inhibiting the development of Haiti and expanding the global inequality. Nevertheless, celebrities are not acting in own interests only and are suppose to present themselves in accordance to political forces and societal frames of reality of the global North.

Celebrity endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement from a publicly known person, proclaiming the benefits of some product or service. Previous research on celebrity endorsement has proved it very successful in promoting brands or companies. Even though many marketing strategies exist, it can be especially effective for newly started ventures to apply celebrity endorsement in their approach. While celebrity endorsement may be a good way to overcome weaknesses, such as liability of newness and lack of legitimacy, new ventures often cannot afford to implement this strategy. Therefore, an option to this might be local celebrity endorsement. This thesis investigates the impact of local and well-known celebrity endorsement on communication effectiveness. Through a quantitative study, the authors have concluded that local celebrity endorsers are perceived more trustworthy and emotionally involved in the endorsement process than well-known celebrity endorsers. Local celebrities and well-known celebrities are perceived equally expert, attractive and capable of transferring meaning to the endorsed product. Local celebrity endorsement is overall more effective than well-known celebrity endorsement in communicating the endorsement message. It can therefore be a suitable tool for newly started ventures that cannot afford to employ more expensive, well-known celebrity endorsement in their quest for gaining quick reputational capital.

<p>Celebrity endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement from a publicly known person, proclaiming the benefits of some product or service. Previous research on celebrity endorsement has proved it very successful in promoting brands or companies. Even though many marketing strategies exist, it can be especially effective for newly started ventures to apply celebrity endorsement in their approach. While celebrity endorsement may be a good way to overcome weaknesses, such as liability of newness and lack of legitimacy, new ventures often cannot afford to implement this strategy. Therefore, an option to this might be <em>local</em> celebrity endorsement.</p><p>This thesis investigates the impact of local and well-known celebrity endorsement on communication effectiveness.</p><p>Through a quantitative study, the authors have concluded that local celebrity endorsers are perceived more trustworthy and emotionally involved in the endorsement process than well-known celebrity endorsers. Local celebrities and well-known celebrities are perceived equally expert, attractive and capable of transferring meaning to the endorsed product. Local celebrity endorsement is overall more effective than well-known celebrity endorsement in communicating the endorsement message. It can therefore be a suitable tool for newly started ventures that cannot afford to employ more expensive, well-known celebrity endorsement in their quest for gaining quick reputational capital.</p>

With the rise of the mass media over the last century, fame and celebrity seem to have evolved into ever-growing phenomena. Likewise, audience members have sought increasing involvement with people or activities related to the focus of their interest. These individuals are not content to simply watch their favorite actors or films from home. Instead, they take a more active approach, engaging in activities related to their fandom as well as seeking interaction with each other in organized groups (in person and on the Internet), attending conventions, and seeking interaction with celebrities. This study presents a discussion of fame, celebrity, and participatory fandom, to examine what motivates certain individuals to seek active involvement in fandom. Using the theories of Uses and Gratifications and Social Learning, it looks at this unique relationship and possible causes for certain members of an audience to actively participate in fandom and seek interaction with each other and with celebrities. Areas examined include social group identification, personal identification with celebrities, false intimacy with celebrities, parasocial interaction, the possibility of meeting celebrities and a feeling of empowerment as a member of a fan community. This qualitative research took an ethnographic case study approach, using in-depth interviews and participant observation of attendees and activities at DragonCon, a large annual media convention in Atlanta, Georgia. This study sought to examine what themes might emerge to identify motivations for fans' active participation in fandom. Seventeen participants were chosen using convenience sampling and interviewed about their experience at the convention. In data analysis, three major concepts emerged in regard to the participants' motivation for attending the convention: Fans seek out social interaction, interaction with celebrities, and enjoy being a part of a participation environment.

AbstractTitle: Private or public? A study of the content in the celebrity blog and the readers'comments. (Privat eller offentlig? En studie av kändisbloggens innehåll och läsarnaskommentarer)Number of pages: 36 (37 including enclosure)Author: Karoline FrankTutor: Else NygrenCourse: Media and Communication studies CPeriod: Fall semester 2009University: Uppsala UniversityAim: The aim of this study is to examine the boundary between the private and the public asit is expressed in a number of blogs written by Swedish celebrities.Material/Method: Qualitative textual analysis of four blogs written by Swedishcelebrities.The total amount of analyzed blog posts were 120, since 30 posts from each of theblogs were selected. Also the comments on the blog posts, given by the blog readers wereexamined.Main results: The examined blogs written by celebrities contain both issues that can beconsidered as private and public. The celebrities write about their families, especially theirchildren but, also about their partners as well as they write about things such as movies orrestaurants that they recommend. They also express their emotions relatively often. Only twoof the celebrities wrote something that can be considered to associate with their professionbut, only in one blog post each. Also, two of the celebrities made a treatment against media.Keywords: celebrities, blogs, private, public, Thompson, Giddens, qualitative analysis,comments

Recently, the reputations of celebrities have been scrutinized. Reputation management was a concept thought to be beneficial for celebrities. Image restoration theory has been a concept formulated for use by individuals; therefore it was used for this study. This study is one of the first to review the theory's use in public relations, and its influence on celebrity status.Celebrity R. Kelly was the subject because he was involved in legal scandal. The objective was to determine if Mr. Kelly's publicist utilized image restoration theory as the basis for constructing response statements.A case study approach was utilized to provide an understanding of how this strategic plan might salvage reputations. The researcher reviewed documents and interviewed persons who had knowledge of the R. Kelly crisis. This study found use of elements of image restoration theory in this case as a form of reputation management, thereby confirming the usefulness of it as a cogent public relations tactic. / Department of Journalism