Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Australasian Marketing Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/amj Effects of multiple endorsements and consumer–celebrity attachment on attitude and purchase intention Jasmina Ilicic ⇑, Cynthia M Webster Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received March 2011 Revised July 2011 Accepted July 2011 Available online August 2011 Keywords: Celebrity endorsement Celebrity attachment Attitude Purchase intention a b s t r a c t This study examines consumer–celebrity attachment within multiple endorsement situations A  factorial design manipulates attachment strength to the celebrity and endorsement situation while controlling for celebrity attractiveness, familiarity and match-up Results show strong attachment to a celebrity encourages positive attitude towards the advertisement and brand regardless of the number of endorsements A significant interaction effect is found for purchase intention, suggesting that both attachment and the number of endorsements influence likelihood of purchase When consumers are more attached to a celebrity and view that celebrity endorsing multiple brands, this negatively impacts their purchase intention Yet, when consumers have a weak attachment, their purchase intention is increased with multiple endorsements Ó 2011 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved Introduction Celebrities are a common feature in the contemporary marketplace, often becoming the face, or image, not only of consumer products and brands, but of organisations themselves In Australia, for example, Hugh Jackman is the face of Lipton Ice Tea, Nicole Kidman features in ads for Nintendo DS and George Clooney teams up with John Malkovich for Nespresso coffee Brands make use of well-known and likable celebrities by leveraging the celebrities’ equity (Keller, 2008) By pairing a brand with a celebrity, a brand is able to leverage unique and positive secondary brand associations from a celebrity and gain consumer awareness, transfer positive associations tied to the celebrity onto the brand, build brand image and ultimately enhance the endorsed brand’s equity (Keller, 2008) Celebrity endorsements lead to higher advertisement recall rates (O’Mahony and Meenaghan, 1997/1998) and improve communication with potential customers by establishing connections between consumers and the advertised brand (Atkin and Block, 1983; Sherman, 1985) Additionally, celebrities aid in breaking down cultural barriers (Mooij, 2004), assist in repositioning brand and company images (Till and Shimp, 1998), and ultimately, improve sales of the endorsed products (Kaikati, 1987) An announcement of a celebrity endorser contract is found to positively affect stock returns, making celebrities a worthwhile investment (Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995; Mathur et al., 1997) ⇑ Corresponding author Tel.: +61 9850 4857; fax: +61 9850 6065 E-mail addresses: jasmina.ilicic@mq.edu.au (J Ilicic), cynthia.webster@mq edu.au (C.M Webster) Celebrities not only sell products and brands, they in fact exert powerful influence across all facets of popular culture and public life, influencing consumer attitudes and perceptions (Time Inc., 2006) As such, celebrities increasingly are sought as endorsers for several brands within different product categories For example, former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins, endorses a department store (Myer), lingerie (Lovable), a soft drink (Pepsi), soap (Lux) and make-up (CoverGirl) While many celebrities endorse multiple brands, overexposure is potentially detrimental (Till, 1998) Advertising professionals (Foote and Belding, 1978) suggest selecting an appropriate celebrity endorser with care, so as not to choose a celebrity tarnished by their associations with other products (Mowen and Brown, 1981) Research shows that consumers perceive celebrities who endorse brands in multiple product categories as less credible than those who only endorse one (Mowen and Brown, 1981; Tripp et al., 1994) Multiple endorsements and consumer attachment Much of the endorsement research focuses on what characteristics constitute an effective celebrity endorser, namely in terms of their personal attractiveness (McGuire, 1985), familiarity (Kamins, 1990; Misra and Beatty, 1990), likeability (Erdogen, 1999), credibility, believability and expertise (Ohanian, 1990) Other research examines whether the celebrity endorser’s image is consistent with the image of the product, brand or organisation (Kamins, 1990; Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Lynch and Schuler, 1994; Till and Busler, 1998) Another stream of research assesses the impact of celebrity endorsements for marketing purposes, including 1441-3582/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved doi:10.1016/j.ausmj.2011.07.005 J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 consumer attitude towards the brand and/or the advertisement and purchase intention (Misra and Beatty, 1990; Lynch and Schuler, 1994; Tripp et al., 1994; Till and Shimp, 1998) Recent research explores the deeper connections between consumers and celebrities Escalas and Bettman (2009) use McCracken’s (1989) meaning transfer model, whereby the symbolic meanings associated with a celebrity are transferred onto the brands the celebrity endorses, and in turn, these meanings are then transferred from the celebrity to consumers through selecting brands that communicate their self-concept, ultimately forming a self-brand connection Thomson (2006) investigates consumer–celebrity (or human brand) connections through the varying levels of attachment consumers feel for celebrities Although, Thomson’s (2006) study identifies the existence of consumer–celebrity connections, research is yet to investigate whether these celebrity connections influence consumer attitude and purchase intention in an endorsement context Although the business case for celebrity endorsement may explain why multiple endorsements by a celebrity are common features in today’s marketing world, too little research is devoted to examining the effectiveness of multiple brand endorsements (Mowen and Brown, 1981; Tripp et al., 1994) In addition, the impact of consumer attachment to celebrities on consumer brand evaluations is not known As research only identifies the existence of consumer–celebrity attachment (Thomson, 2006), it is not known whether consumer attachment to a celebrity affects their attitude towards brands endorsed by that celebrity While the implicit suggestion of the meaning transfer process (McCracken, 1989) is that a positive relationship exists between consumer attachment to a celebrity and consumer attitude towards brands endorsed by that celebrity, these relationships have not been empirically tested The influence of attachment within the brand endorsement context is still unknown The purpose here is to contribute to the body of marketing research on celebrity endorsements in three areas Firstly, the multiple endorsement situation is further examined to determine the effectiveness of multiple endorsements by a celebrity Secondly, the present study extends the research on consumer–celebrity relationships by investigating the degree to which attachment to a celebrity impacts consumers’ evaluations of endorsed brands, in terms of their advertisement and brand attitude, and purchase intention Thirdly, the present study examines the extent to which consumer–celebrity attachment influences consumer attitude towards the advertisements, their attitude towards the brands, and their purchase intention for multiple brands endorsed by a single celebrity 2.1 Celebrity characteristics: attractiveness and congruency Empirical studies in the area of celebrity endorsement focus on how specific celebrity characteristics influence consumers’ evaluations and recall of advertisements as well as the featured products and brands (McGuire, 1985; Misra and Beatty, 1990; Ohanian, 1991; Lynch and Schuler, 1994) The Source Attractiveness Model posits that the effectiveness of a message is dependent on the similarity, familiarity, liking and attractiveness of an endorser (McGui re, 1985) Experimental research demonstrates that attractive communicators are able to generate greater likeability, intent to purchase and higher recall rates for the products and brands endorsed (Kahle and Homer, 1985) Although the Source Attractiveness Model is valuable in researching celebrity endorsement effectiveness, it has received criticism (McCracken, 1989) The model proposes that if the attractiveness condition is satisfied, ‘‘any celebrity should serve as a persuasive source for any advertising message’’ (McCracken, 1989, p 311) The model identifies the importance of attractiveness but fails to explain the extent to 231 which a celebrity must be seen to be appropriate for the brand endorsed The Match-Up Hypothesis (Kamins, 1990; Misra and Beatty, 1990; Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Lynch and Schuler, 1994; Till and Busler, 1998) introduces the need for an appropriate fit between the celebrity and the brand being endorsed The match-up hypothesis occurs when ‘‘highly relevant characteristics of the spokesperson are consistent with highly relevant attributes of the brand’’ (Misra and Beatty, 1990, p 160) In other words, the spokesperson must be perceived as an appropriate match with the brand and product category in which the brand is located For example, a muscular spokesperson is seen as congruent when endorsing a stamina-associated product such as Nautilus weightlifting equipment (Lynch and Schuler, 1994) Results from experimental work show that a spokesperson is perceived as more knowledgeable, credible and persuasive when s/he matches the product and brand Congruency results in higher brand recall (Misra and Beatty, 1990) and positive attitude towards the brand endorsed, while incongruence leads to negative brand evaluations (Kamins and Gupta, 1994) Kamins’ (1990) work investigates the match-up between the attractiveness of a celebrity and a product that is related to enhancing personal appearance The results reveal that for a product that is attractiveness-related, such as perfume and cosmetics, an attractive celebrity outperforms an unattractive celebrity on likeability and familiarity An attractive model also significantly enhances spokesperson credibility and attitude toward the ad when endorsing an attractiveness-enhancing product Conversely, when an attractive model endorses an attractiveness-unrelated product, such as a computer, no significant effects are found Till and Busler (1998) further investigate the match-up hypothesis and the importance of attractiveness contributing to the effectiveness of fit between endorser and product Results of their study show that the combination of attractiveness and expertise results in higher attitude toward the brand and purchase intention Overall, the research on celebrity endorsement shows that it is important to control specifically for product/brand and celebrity associations, celebrity-product/brand congruency, as well as familiarity and attractiveness of the celebrity, as these factors significantly impact consumer evaluations of the brands endorsed by celebrities 2.2 Endorsement situation: single versus multiple Limited research examines the impact of celebrities endorsing multiple products Mowen and Brown (1981) utilise Attribution Theory (Kelley, 1967) in their study of multiple product endorsements According to Attribution Theory, consumers view advertisements featuring celebrity endorsers and then seek ‘‘to determine the causal reasons for a celebrity endorsing a product’’ (Mowen and Brown 1981, p 437) This suggests that consumers perceive celebrity endorsers as believing in the brands they endorse, rather than endorsing brands purely for monetary reasons They find that subjects react more favourably to a branded product and evaluate a celebrity more positively when the celebrity endorses only a single product compared to when the celebrity endorses multiple products Findings also show that advertisements are perceived more favourably and are more interesting when a celebrity endorses only one product Tripp et al (1994) use the Source Credibility Model to investigate the impact of multiple product endorsements, whereby the effectiveness of a message is dependent on the perceived level of expertise (knowledge, experience and skills) and trustworthiness (honesty, integrity and believability) of an endorser (Hovland and Weiss, 1951; Hovland et al., 1953) An endorser who is perceived to be an expert is found to be more persuasive (Aaker and Myers, 232 J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 1987) and to generate greater intentions to buy the brand (Ohanian, 1991) Tripp et al.’s (1994) results suggest that a celebrity is seen as more trustworthy and more of an expert when only endorsing one brand Trustworthiness, expertise and liking of a celebrity significantly lessen when the celebrity endorses multiple products Taking into consideration past research on multiple product endorsement, celebrity-product/brand congruency, celebrity-product/brand associations and controlling for celebrity attractiveness and familiarity, the following hypothesis is put forward: H1 Consumers’ evaluations, in terms of (a) attitude towards the advertisement, (b) attitude towards the brand and (c) purchase intention are greater when celebrities endorse a single branded product than when they endorse multiple brands 2.3 Consumer–brand connections Building a strong brand, and therefore consumer based brand equity, partly relies on creating Consumer–brand connections Marketers now stress the importance of creating brand resonance or brand relationships (Keller, 2008), due to their enduring nature Consumers’ attachment to brands is at the ‘‘core of all strong consumer–brand relationships’’ (Fournier, 1998, p 363), is a crucial component of brand resonance (Keller, 2008) and, therefore a critical driver of brand equity (Park et al., 2007; Keller, 2008) 2.3.1 Consumer–celebrity brand attachment Researchers argue that, through the marketing communication process, brands take part in active relationship roles, qualifying them as reciprocating relationship partners (Fournier, 1998; Thomson et al., 2005) Thomson et al (2005) investigate consumer–brand relationships under attachment theory Recognising the basic human need to make strong emotional attachments to particular others, attachment is defined as an emotion-laden target-specific bond between a person and a specific object, such as another ordinary person, celebrity or brand (Bowlby, 1979, 1980) Attachment theory rests on the notion of ‘‘separation distress’’, which is the degree to which individuals express strong emotional reactions when threatened with real or imagined separation from an object of affection This separation distress is a useful indicator of the strength or intensity of an attachment bond (Berman and Sperling, 1994) Thomson et al.’s (2005) study points up the strong relationship between brand attachment (feelings of connection, affection and passion) and psychological separation distress Thomson (2006) further applies Self-Determination Theory (La Guardia et al., 2000; Ryan and Deci, 2000) to investigate the existence of consumer–celebrity, or human brand, relationships According to Ryan and Deci (2000, p 262), self-determination is based on the basic psychological needs of Autonomy (freedom to make choices), Relatedness (closeness to others) and Competence (achievement) and these A–R–C needs are ‘‘crucial in predicting feelings of attachment’’ Thomson (2006) examines the extent to which individuals feel a celebrity satisfies their A–R–C needs Thomson’s (2006) study shows that participants have a stronger attachment towards celebrities who make them feel they are cared for (relatedness) but also free to as they wish (autonomy) The need for achievements to be recognised (competence) is not a factor in participants’ attachment to celebrities As such, Thomson’s (2006) results confirm the importance of autonomy and relatedness components of self-determination, but not competency, for the development of a consumer’s attachment for a celebrity Thomson (2006) also examines more positive outcomes of attachment, such as satisfaction, commitment and trust Once more, results show attachment strength results in higher satisfaction, trust and commitment with the celebrity brand relationship Although, Thomson (2006) identifies the existence of consumer– celebrity attachment bonds, the importance of consumer–celebrity relationships for marketing purposes in an endorsement situation is unknown Research is yet to integrate the brand attachment literature with the celebrity endorsement literature The examination of the attachment literature leads us to hypothesise that a relationship exists between consumer–celebrity endorser attachment and consumers’ evaluations of single and multiple endorsed brands Based on multiple product endorsement and consumer– celebrity relationship research, the following hypotheses are put forward: H2 Consumers’ evaluations, in terms of (a) attitude towards the advertisement, (b) attitude towards the brand and (c) purchase intention, are greater in a strong celebrity endorser attachment condition than in a weak celebrity endorser attachment condition H3 Consumer–celebrity endorser attachment has a greater influence than does celebrity endorsement on (a) attitude towards the advertisement, (b) attitude towards the brand and (c) purchase intention H4 Consumers’ evaluations, in terms of (a) attitude towards the advertisement, (b) attitude towards the brand and (c) purchase intention, are similarly more positive in a strong celebrity endorser attachment condition than in a weak celebrity endorser attachment condition, regardless of whether the celebrity is seen endorsing single or multiple brands Consistent with the literature, more positive evaluations will occur when celebrities endorse a single brand as opposed to endorsing multiple brands, regardless of the attachment strength Consumer–celebrity attachment strength, on the other hand, will have a positive impact on consumer evaluations, regardless of the number of brands endorsed by celebrities The current research extends the research on celebrity endorsement by examining the extent to which attachment and endorsement situation influence consumer attitude towards advertisements, attitude towards brands and purchase intention Method To test the hypotheses and ensure that celebrities and endorsed brands are critically evaluated without any pre-existing brand associations, a  between subjects factorial design is employed to manipulate attachment strength to the celebrity (strong versus weak) and endorsement situation (single versus multiple), while controlling for the extraneous variables, through pretesting of celebrity attractiveness, celebrity-product match, and pre-existing brand associations Attachment strength is manipulated by using two celebrities, one celebrity for the strong attachment condition and one celebrity for the weak attachment condition Hypothetical brands in generic product categories are used for the single and multiple endorsement conditions (see Fig 1) Two pre-tests are arranged, the first of which determines the celebrities to be used within the main experiment and the second assists in the selection of the products and brand names to be used in the main experiment 3.1 Pre-test 1: celebrity selection Pre-test is undertaken to select two celebrities who are not known for endorsing any brands, are perceived to be equal on attractiveness and familiarity, and yet are seen to differ on J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 233 Fig  Factorial research design attachment While sports, music, and movie celebrities are appropriate, TV celebrities are chosen, as ample opportunity exists for frequent exposure, increasing the likelihood of varying levels of attachment The Hottest on TV website (2007) is used to identify attractive and familiar Australian TV personalities The website allows the public to vote for whom they believe is the hottest Australian celebrity on television for the month of July In order to be an eligible candidate for the website, the television personalities have to be a regular presenter, panelist, actor or reporter on a television show produced in Australia Celebrities are evaluated on various characteristics including looks, charisma, personality, hype, freshness and popularity In total, 16 celebrities meet the criteria and eight males and eight females are selected for pre testing An extensive web search shows that none of the 16 celebrities have previously endorsed any products or brands A convenience sample of 25 students from an undergraduate marketing course is asked to rate their familiarity with the 16 celebrities and evaluate the attractiveness of each Familiarity is assessed with a single item 7-point likert scale Five items of attractiveness are measured on a 7-point likert scale based on Ohanian (1990) including attractive, handsome or beautiful, classy, elegant, and sexy The 25 informants then evaluate their attachment to each of the 16 celebrities A series of rank order questions are used to measure six different items and outcomes of attachment based on Thomson (2006) including relatedness, autonomy, separation distress, satisfaction, trust and commitment Following McGuire (1985), a combination of the familiarity and attractiveness guides the choice of two male celebrities: Rove McManus and Eddie McGuire Both Rove and Eddie receive high mean scores for familiarity (5.6 and 5.5, respectively), are perceived to be similarly attractive (4.64 and 4.89, respectively) and neither is thought to have endorsed brands previously Rove receives very high mean rank scores on all levels of attachment, whereas Eddie is ranked lower by respondents on all levels of attachment (4.99 and 2.55, respectively) Accordingly, Rove is used in the Strong Attachment condition and Eddie is used in the Weak Attachment condition 3.2 Pre-test 2: product and brand name selection Pre-test is undertaken to ensure that product categories chosen are seen as attractiveness-unrelated and seen as neither congruent nor incongruent with the image of the two chosen celebrities (Rove and Eddie) Previous studies utilise products such as a pen (Mowen and Brown, 1981; Till and Busler, 1998), home computer (Kamins, 1990; Kamins and Gupta, 1994; Biswas et al., 2006), coffee (Misra and Beatty, 1990), and camera (Tripp et al., 1994) Translating the product name into another language creates fictitious brand names for the products If a subject understands the word, no attributes are associated as the translation is purely the name of the product The brand names for the test products are: Gafae Coffee, Marc Pen, Ordinateur Home Computer and Photographica Camera A convenience sample of 19 students in an undergraduate marketing course completes the survey Informants are provided with a list of 10 products (six attractiveness-related and four attractiveness-unrelated) and asked to indicate the degree to which each of the products is attractiveness-related (1 = attractiveness-related and = attractiveness-unrelated) and to evaluate whether the products and brands are congruent with or match the image of the celebrity (1 = match and = mismatch) Only those products that are seen as attractiveness-unrelated and neither congruent nor incongruent with the celebrity are chosen Although the camera (attractiveness mean = 5.21, Rove congruence mean = 3.53, Eddie congruence mean = 3.79), pen (attractiveness mean = 6.16, Rove congruence mean = 4.47, Eddie congruence mean = 3.73), coffee (attractiveness mean = 5.37, Rove congruence mean = 4.73, Eddie congruence mean = 4.57) and home computer (attractiveness mean = 5.37, Rove congruence mean = 5.84, Eddie congruence mean = 5.05) are all perceived as attractiveness-unrelated products, the home computer is seen as incongruent with the images of both celebrities As such, Photographica Camera, Marc Pen and Gafae Coffee product categories and brands are selected for use in the main experiment, with Photographica Camera chosen as the test brand 3.3 Main experiment In total, 237 undergraduate students participate in the experiment, all of whom are enrolled in marketing courses at a regional university in Australia Undergraduate students are specifically chosen as suitable subjects for this particular study as research indicates that young adults are more susceptible to celebrity endorser influence (Kaikati, 1987) and consumers’ aged between 16 and 34 are twice as likely to purchase products from a celebrity they like (The Future Data Foundation, 2004 cited in Pringle and Binet, 2005) In addition, Thomson’s (2006) study investigates the existence of consumer–celebrity attachment bonds specifically in undergraduate students This study uses the same sampling frame in order to replicate and extend Thomson’s (2006) research to the endorsement context Valid responses are obtained from 198 subjects with roughly equal numbers in each condition A total of 50.5% of subjects view Eddie McGuire the Weak Attachment condition and 49.5% view the Strong Attachment condition of Rove McManus Females comprise 48.5% of the subjects, with 51.5% male Females and males report similar mean attachment levels for Rove McManus (females mean = 3.09, SD = 1.13, n = 48, males mean = 3.04, SD = 1.14, n = 50) Males, however, are slightly more attached to Eddie McGuire than females (males mean = 2.53, SD = 0.84, n = 52; females mean = 2.10, SD = 0.77, n = 48) 234 J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 3.3.1 Materials: stimuli and measures Ad booklets containing 12 ads each are constructed for the single and multiple endorsement conditions In the single endorsement condition, the ad booklets contain one test ad featuring either Rove McManus (strong) or Eddie McGuire (weak) endorsing Photographica Camera Another five Australian TV personalities, who in the pre testing process rank highly on familiarity, attractiveness and neutral on attachment, feature in five filler ads endorsing other fictitious brands Six additional filler ads feature attractiveness-unrelated products with fictitious brand names, but no celebrity endorser In the multiple endorsement condition, subjects view either Rove (Strong) or Eddie (Weak) endorsing one fictitious test brand (Photographica) and two functional brands (Marc and Gafae) There are nine filler ads with only three of the five Australian TV celebrities from the single ad booklet featuring with multiple attractiveness-unrelated products (e.g rice, milk and water) and fictitious brands All test ads, functional ads and filler ads within the booklets follow a similar layout The celebrity is featured only from the shoulders up so as not to enhance attractiveness (as attractiveness is not a component investigated within this particular study) The two celebrities within the test ads and functional ads are both wearing black suits and are featured from mid chest upwards, with a grey studio background Measures used to quantify attachment are taken directly from Thomson (2006), who adapts four items from La Guardia et al (2000) based on self-determination and four items from Hazan and Shaver (1994) based on attachment Two items for Autonomy and two for Relatedness are adapted from La Guardia et al (2000) and measured on 7-point likert scales ended = not at all, = very much Separation distress is measured with four items taken from Hazan and Shaver (1994) Satisfaction (two items), Trust (three items) and Commitment (two items) are sourced from Fletcher et al.’s (2000) Perceived Relationship Quality Scale and measured on 7-point likert scales ending = not at all, = very much Attitude towards the Ad and attitude towards the brand are measured using four items Mitchell and Olson’s (1981) 5-point semantic differential scales Purchase intention is measured using one item from Kamins and Gupta (1994) and two items from Choi (2002) 3.3.2 Procedure With course coordinator approval, the researcher greets students within classes and distributes project information statements Students who agree to take part in the study sign consent forms and are randomly assigned a questionnaire plus ad booklet Subjects are given a brief time to look over the ad booklet First, subjects provide information on their TV viewing and on their familiarity with the celebrity endorser (either Rove or Eddie) They are then asked to view a photograph of either Rove or Eddie and evaluate their attachment to the celebrity Subjects then are direc- ted to view a specific ad and to presume that the celebrity had signed a contract with one fictitious brand (Photographica Camera) or all three fictitious brands (Gafae Coffee, Marc Pen and Photographica Camera) In the multiple brand endorsement conditions subjects are asked to view three ads (functional ads for Marc and Gafae and test ad for Photographica) Finally, subjects evaluate their attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand, and their purchase intention of the test brand Photographica Camera Results An independent samples t-test manipulation check finds a significant difference (t = À6.812, p < 0.001) in attachment, regardless of endorsement condition, between Rove and Eddie, with subjects reporting a stronger attachment to Rove (mean = 3.00, SD = 0.61) and a weaker attachment to Eddie (mean = 2.15, SD = 0.96) Table presents means for attachment and outcome evaluations for the test brand Photographica On average, subjects report positive levels of attachment with significantly higher levels of attachment for Rove (strong attachment) Subjects report a neutral attitude towards the brand and neutral attitude towards the ad in which the test brand Photographica featured, with a slightly more positive attitude in the strong attachment condition Purchase intention is low, with greater intent to purchase in the strong attachment condition Table presents means for the outcome evaluations of the four experimental conditions on the test brand Photographica Subjects report stronger attitude towards the brand in the single endorsement situations in both the strong and weak attachment conditions, providing support for Hypothesis 1b Attitude towards the ad and purchase intention are inconsistent with the current explanations of the effect of multiple endorsements on consumer evaluations Attitude towards the ad is stronger when the celebrity is seen endorsing multiple brands, rejecting Hypothesis 1a Purchase intention is more likely in the single endorsement situation only for the strong attachment celebrity, showing partial support for Hypothesis 1c Table also shows subjects report stronger ad and brand attitude and greater likelihood of purchase in both of the strong attachment conditions, compared to those in the weak attachment conditions, providing support for Hypothesis 2a, 2b and 2c Table shows the results of the main effects of all the dependent variables, attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention Results indicate that the main effect for attachment is significant (p < 0.001), with the endorsement situation not significant In other words, attitude towards the ad, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention all are influenced by attachment but are not significantly influenced by the endorsement situation, showing support for Hypothesis 3a, 3b and 3c Table Means for attachment, ad attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention Variable Mean weak attachment Mean strong attachment Mean single endorsement Mean multiple endorsement Attachment Ad attitude Brand attitude Purchase intention 2.1502 2.4948 2.9651 3.0067 3.0022 2.9867 3.1413 3.4082 2.5812 2.6684 3.0842 3.1987 2.5614 2.8091 3.0194 3.2146 Table Means for attachment, ad attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention by attachment strength and endorsement situation Dependent variable Strong attach/single end mean Strong attach/multiple end mean Weak attach/single end mean Weak attach/multiple end mean Ad attitude Brand attitude Purchase intention 2.9583 3.1719 3.5933 3.0163 3.1080 3.2153 2.3900 2.9947 2.7959 2.6064 2.9384 3.2133 235 J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 Table Main effects and interaction effects Dependent variable Source Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig Attitude towards the ad photographica Attachment Endorsement Attachment à endorsement Attachment Endorsement Attachment à endorsement Attachment Endorsement Attachment à endorsement 11.413 898 299 1.418 177 000 7.865 019 7.789 1 1 1 1 11.413 898 299 1.418 177 000 7.865 019 7.789 23.401 1.841 614 6.269 783 001 4.309 010 4.267 000 177 434 013 377 977 039 919 040 Attitude towards the brand photographica Purchase intention for photographica Figs and graphically show those subjects in the strong attachment condition report a significantly and similarly higher attitude towards the ad and brand for both the multiple and single endorsement situations than those subjects in the weak attachment condition, providing support for Hypothesis 4a and 4b This finding indicates that when consumers are more attached to a celebrity, their attitude towards the ads and brands in which the celebrity is featured not decline when the celebrity endorses multiple brands In fact, attitude towards the ad is higher in the multiple endorsement situations in both the strong and weak attachment conditions, again highlighting inconsistencies in the current multiple endorsement literature and rejection of Hypothesis 1a Purchase intention is a more complex behaviour A significant interaction effect between attachment and endorsement situation exists for purchase intention Fig shows that purchase intention Fig Interaction effect of the dependent variable purchase intention Fig Attitude towards the ad is most likely in the strong attachment/single endorsement situation and least likely in the weak attachment/single endorsement situation Endorsement situation is found to play a crucial role in purchase intent, rejecting Hypothesis 4c When consumers are more attached to a celebrity and view that celebrity endorsing multiple brands, this negatively impacts their purchase intention, a finding consistent with the research undertaken on multiple endorsements (Mowen and Brown 1981) Yet, when consumers have a weak attachment to a celebrity, their purchase intention is increased if the celebrity is seen to endorse multiple brands Overall, consumer attachment to a celebrity does impact consumer attitude towards the ad, brand and purchase intentions Attachment to a celebrity has a significant role in explaining consumer attitude Consumer attachment to a celebrity results in higher attitude towards the ad and attitude towards the brand the celebrity endorses, regardless of whether the celebrity is seen endorsing a single brand or multiple brands Interestingly, attachment also has a positive influence on consumer purchase intention, but only when the celebrity endorses a single brand Consumer purchase intention in fact decrease when they see a celebrity to whom they are strongly attached endorsing multiple brands On the contrary, consumer purchase intention increase when they are weakly attached to a celebrity and view this celebrity endorsing multiple brands The findings suggest that it is a combination of the number of endorsements made by a celebrity in addition to the degree of attachment strength that influences consumer purchase intent Managerial and theoretical implications Fig Attitude towards the brand Practitioners continually face the challenge of identifying appropriate and effective celebrity endorsers for their brands 236 J Ilicic, C.M Webster / Australasian Marketing Journal 19 (2011) 230–237 who have the ability to enhance their brand equity through the transference of awareness and image associations (Keller, 2008), and symbolic meanings linked to the celebrity (McCracken, 1989) Previous criteria are based purely on the characteristics of the celebrity such as their attractiveness (McGuire 1985), familiarity (Kamins, 1990; Misra and Beatty, 1990), likeability (Erdogen, 1999), credibility, believability and expertise (Ohanian, 1990) However, findings from this study indicate that brand managers can significantly benefit from selecting celebrity endorsers with whom consumers have a connection, in terms of an attachment bond Results of this study suggest that celebrities to whom consumers are attached may be more effective endorsers of brands than those celebrities to whom consumers are less attached When consumers are attached to a celebrity, they possess significantly more positive attitude towards the advertisement and brand with which the celebrity features and a greater likelihood to purchase a brand when the celebrity is seen only to endorse one brand Findings from this study suggest that managers can significantly enhance the equity of their brands by leveraging the associations of celebrities to whom consumers of their target market are attached Much of the theoretical research within celebrity endorsement focuses on trustworthiness as a significant factor affecting source credibility and consequently consumer evaluations of the effectiveness of a celebrity as an endorser (Hovland and Weiss, 1951; Hovland et al., 1953) Trust is an important positive outcome of strong celebrity attachment Although previous research identifies trustworthiness of the celebrity as an important factor predicting consumer evaluation of their effectiveness as endorsers, research to date does not identify how trust can be formed or influenced This study confirms Thomson’s (2006) discovery of the existence of attachment bonds between consumers and celebrities using both Attachment and Self-Determination theories The results of this study suggest that the constructs that explain the degree of relationship strength can be used in the creation and formation of an attachment towards a celebrity endorser Brand managers can benefit from incorporating the dimensions that foster attachment bonds into marketing communication strategies to encourage consumer–celebrity connections with those celebrities who endorse their brands Strategies to create stronger connections between consumers and celebrity endorsers should focus on emphasising the two key basic human needs of autonomy and relatedness, as these needs are highly related to consumer attachment to celebrities Communication executional frameworks can portray celebrity endorsers with brands in a way that empowers consumers to express themselves If celebrities are perceived as people who value and appreciate consumers’ expressions of their individuality, then possibly consumers will develop a sense of freedom to value their choices with regards to endorsed brands This will encourage consumers to feel that the celebrity enables them a degree of autonomy Brand managers also can aim to create a connection or closeness between the endorser and consumers If celebrity endorsers are represented as individuals who genuinely care about consumers, this can encourage a sense of belonging and recognition, facilitating consumers’ needs for relatedness Furthermore, increasing the frequency of interactions between consumers and celebrity endorsers can perhaps reduce consumer uncertainty and foster the creation of attachment bonds (Berman and Sperling 1994) By carefully crafting communication messages and designing media strategies with appropriate levels of reach and frequency, the development of attachments to celebrity endorsers can be fostered and, in turn, alter consumer attitude to the brands endorsed By fostering such attachments, brand managers can then perhaps be able to influence consumers’ degree of satisfaction, trust and commitment, leading to purchase In effect, the brand will benefit by encouraging positive consumer attitude and purchase intention These strategies may also be effective for creating an attachment to celebrities who will in the future endorse a brand Although previous studies identify negative effects for brands that attempt to leverage equity from celebrities who endorse multiple brands (Mowen and Brown, 1981; Tripp et al., 1994), the findings of this study suggest that consumer attitude towards the advertisement and brand are positive even when a celebrity is seen endorsing multiple brands Purchase intention, on the other hand, are found to decrease when a strongly attached celebrity is seen to endorse more than one brand An increase in consumer purchase intent is found only when a weak attachment celebrity is seen to endorse multiple brands If practitioners are only interested in consumer attitude towards their ads and brands, selecting celebrities to whom consumers are attached and who have been seen endorsing multiple other brands are of no concern However, if practitioners focus on purchase intention, then care should be taken with regards to utilising celebrities to whom consumers are attached who also have multiple brand endorsements Future research directions Results from this study show an interesting relationship between strong consumer attachment to a celebrity and purchase intention Although purchase intention is high when a strong attachment celebrity is seen endorsing a single brand, purchase intent decreases when that celebrity is seen endorsing multiple brands On the other hand, purchase intent is found to significantly increase when a weak attachment celebrity is seen to endorse multiple brands Since an interaction effect has occurred, the findings for purchase intention require further investigation Future research also is needed to explore the relationship between consumer strong and weak attachment to celebrities and their purchase intentions for the multiple brands they endorse For example, experimental work incorporating purchase simulations will aid in clarifying the conditions under which multiple endorsements have either positive or negative ramifications for brands Although the use of fictitious brands provides a strictly controlled situation that restricts consumer associations in order to identify the purest assessment of the brand, the use of these brands also limits the generalisability of the results to new or unknown brands Practitioners will benefit from understanding the impact that consumer–celebrity attachment has 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