Endorsements Beyond Mainstream

Although there is a substantial amount of research on the subject of celebrity endorsements, a lot of questions remain, and a multitude of new questions have arisen due to the developments of this advertising strategy over the years. By means of conceptual, quantitative and qualitative studies, this dissertation seeks to close some of the research gaps in the domain of endorsement strategy. The first chapter reviews previous studies and consolidates research findings. A celebrity endorsement theory framework, based on the constructs of credibility, attractiveness, congruence and meaning transfer, is proposed, which might be able to explain a majority of celebrity endorsement campaigns. The second chapter determines the actual use of the six different endorser types that literature has identified: celebrities, experts, typical consumers, company presidents/CEOs, employees and spokes-characters, and looks into their usage in advertising of different industries and for different product categories. I find that in actual advertising, endorsements, and particularly celebrity endorsements, play a much less prominent role than most of the literature assumes. Moreover, I demonstrate that the different endorser types are used to a varying degree in different industries and product categories. The third chapter closer examines the nature of celebrity endorsers featured in advertising and substantiates what kinds of celebrity are used in advertising campaigns. I find that congruent with industry experts' suggestions contemporary advertising campaigns indeed feature new varieties of celebrity that are available to the advertiser as potential endorsers, besides typical celebrity endorsers such as famous actors, comedians, athletes, entertainers, or musicians. The fourth chapter explores advertising campaigns that feature infamous, "ordinary" spokespeople in high-involvement categories. The results suggest that advertisers perceive such.