celebrity endorsement

McCracken's (1989) definition of a celebrity endorser is, "any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement”. Friedman and Friedman (1979) found empirical evidence that, in the promotion of products high in psychological and/or social risk, use of celebrity endorser would lead to greater believability, a more favorable evaluation of the product and advertisement, and a significantly more positive purchase intention. Advertising endorsers are often famous celebrities or experts who hold expertise, awareness and attractiveness. They can transmit product messages to catch consumers’ eyesight in a short time and further enhance consumer purchase intention. Thus, advertising endorsers has become one of major advertisers’ advertising strategies in their advertising plans. Endorsers must be reliable and have positive characteristics that relate with a product or a brand. So, business advertisers must evaluate whether an endorser’s image matches with a product image and choose one advertising endorser. In other words, if an endorser can connect well with a product, it can intensify consumers’ memory on brand awareness and image of a product. Miciak and Shanklin (1994) pointed out that a celebrity’s exposure rate can stimulate consumers’ familiarity on a product. When consumers’ familiarity of a product increases, consumers’ confidence and their product preferences and attitudes on will also rise.