Influence of Celebrity Advertisements

Influence of Celebrity Advertisements India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less than 24 years of age. Maximum youngsters are using TV as a source of information. The study reflects that Young generation is highly influenced and convinced by celebrity advertisements. They feel celebrity advertisements increase credibility of TV advertisements. Physical appearance and personality of celebrity are also important factors to make TV advertisements more effective and convincing. The buying behavior of young generation is influenced by celebrities knowledge and experience. They prefer female celebrities for TV advertisements. According to them celebrity should be young/adult with appealing figure and celebritys Status, class, and lifestyle should match with the product which they are going to endorse. This study reflects few interesting result that Indian youth and adult majority do not give any importance to the caste, regional and religious background of celebrity for TV advertisement s. * Professor and Head, Accurate Institute of Management and Technology,Greater Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, (Uttar Pradesh India) ** Scientist, Center for Science Communication, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore (Madhya Pradesh, India) *** Professor and Head, School of Social Science, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya,, Indore (Madhya Pradesh, India) Introduction In Indian family life cycle, young members of family play a vital role in buying behavior. The term young refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for retail investment in the A. T. Kearneys Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. The Indian young segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population live in the rural areas with least influence of globalization and have high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy luxury items. They are internet savvy the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east west, developing developed countries etc.), highly influenced by western music, food, fashion culture yet Indian at heart. According to The Financial Express Special, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 New Delhi young (age 13 to 35 years) population in India is 459 million in which literate young population is 333 million. More specifically age group (13 to 19) population is 36.7 million, age group (20 to 24) population is 22.1 million and age group (25 to 35) population is 44.3 million. Out of 333 million young populations, male young population is 186.5 and female young population is 146.2 million. However Television is most popular source of information with 78 % (91% urban, 70% rural) young viewer-ship. Newspaper comes second with 53 % (65.3 % urban, 45.9 % rural) readership, though it scores over television when it comes to being the primary source for news current affairs. Data also shows that maximum youngsers are using TV as a source of information. The importance of advertising has been widely accepted all over the world and has profound recognition in the global market. In India the role of advertising is getting more stress day by day and every businessman wants to invest willingly in advertising. The advertising business in India grew from Rs10 crores in 1955 to Rs 8000 crores in 2000* and in Nov 2005 it is estimated Rs.19900 crores and it is expected that it will reach Rs 55,800 crores by 2010 as estimated by Dainik Bhaskara. The fast growth of advertising industry in India is because of the phenomenonal development of such media as television, radio, and computer and in addition to the large number of new products introduced due to rapid industrialization new economic policy and economic development of the country. Billions of dollars are spent on celebrity endorsements, which show its importance for the advertising industry. A recent estimate notes that one quarter of all commercials screened in the USA include celebrities. In UK one in five (20%) marketing communication campaign features celebrities. (Journal of Advertising Research) In India, 20% of advertisements is endorsement by celebrities. Dainik Bhaskar estimates the total expenditure on advertising as Rs 19900 crores (Nov 2005) while on celebrity endorsement Rs 950 crores. Theory and practice prove that use of super star in advertising generates a lot of publicity and attention for public.( Ohanion 1991 ) At present the business companies prefer the use of celebrities as spokespersons in order to position and promote the sale and popularization of products or brands. The use of celebrities has become a favorable marketing strategy. Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition by a large share of certain group of people, whereas attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special status are just examples and specific common characteristics can not be observed. It can be said that within a corresponding special group, celebrities generally differ from their source name, and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. The main reason for using celebrities, as spokespersons is their high potential influence. The celebrities get higher degree of attention recall. They increase awareness of a company advertising, create positive feeling towards brands and areperceived by consumers as more entertaining (Soleman 2002). Using a celebrity in advertising is therefore likely to positively affect consumers brand attitude and purchase intention. It is estimated that approximately 20 percent of all advertisements use celebrity spokespersons payment to celebrities account for around 10 percent of all advertising dollars spent. Literature Review Researchers in the fields of marketing, communications and social psychology have tried to identify factors related to the endorser that are central to understanding and improving their effectiveness. The theoretical basis for assuming that an advertisements effectiveness increases relative to the trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness of the communicator stems from two research streams: source credibility (comprising of source trustworthiness and source expertise) and source attractiveness (also referred to collectively as the source models). From their study in 1953 Hovland et al. established the source credibility model and defined expertise as the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions and trustworthiness as the degree of confidence in the communicators intent to communicate the assertions he considers most valid. Source Attractiveness does not refer to physical attractiveness per se it is related to three more general concepts: similarity, familiarity, and liking. The model holds that the effectiveness of a message depends on the sources familiarity, likeability, similarity, and attractiveness to the respondent. Familiarity is considered knowledge of the source through exposure, whereas likeability is affection for the source as a result of the sources physical appearance and behavior; and similarity is the supposed resemblance between the source and the receiver of the message (McGuire, 1985). According to the source models, endorsers are effective when they are seen by consumers as trustworthy (Friedman Friedman, 1976; G. Miller Basehart, 1969), experts (Crano, 1970; Crisi Kassinove, 1973; Woodside Davenport, 1974), and attractive (Joseph, 1982; McGuire, 1985). Although there are a number of moderating influences (e.g. fit with product and audience; low vs. high purchase decision; prio r attitudes), in general, the more trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness the endorser has, the more effective they are at changing consumer attitude and opinion. (Brinol, Petty, Tormala, 2004; Gotlieb Sarel, 1991; Grewal, Gotlieb, Marmorstein, 1994; Harmon Coney, 1982; Hovland, Irving, Kelly, 1953; Hovland Weiss, 1951; Sternthal, Dholakia, Leavitt, 1978) Empirical evidence in support of source credibility is abundant. Source credibility is credited with improved consumer confidence (Brinol et al., 2004), reversing negative predispositions (Sternthal et al., 1978), increasing product purchase intentions (Harmon Coney, 1982), and altering consumers reactions to advertisements and brands (Goldsmith, Lafferty, Newell, 2000). Additionally, research has shown that highly credible sources induce more behavioral compliance than do less credible sources (Ohanian, 1990, p. 42); OBJECTIVES OF STUDY To analyze the influence of celebrity TV advertisements on young generation. To find out impact of buying behavior factors on young population HYPOTHESIS 1. H01: Young generation is not influenced by celebrity TV advertisements 2. H02: There is no impact of buying behavior factors on young generation 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Survey was conducted in district Gautam Budh Nagar. The 300 sample size was selected in such a way that both the young and adult were represented proportionately. In most of the situations many respondents had refused and some respondents had not cooperated to fill the questionnaires. Hence 450 respondents were selected by non-probability convenience sampling method to fill thequestionnaire. Only 300 respondents have given appropriate and complete information on sent questionnaire. Rests of the questionnaires were dropped because of incomplete information. A five-point interval Likert scale from strongly agree (5) to strongly not agree (1) was used to measure the response to each statement (items). Z Test used to test mean difference between two samples Z Test: SE= Standard Error = Standard Deviation (Adult) Standard Deviation (YOUNG) = Mean of Adult = Mean of YOUNG = Number of Observations (Adult) = Number of Observations (YOUNG) Z= Z Test DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis shows that out of 300 respondents, there were 166 (55.33 %) young respondents and 134 (44.67 %) were adult respondents in this study age group of 12 year to 21 years considered as Young respondents and Age group of 22 year to 45 years considered as Adult respondents. (Table-1) More specifically data analysis shows that in male respondents, young were118 (39.33%) and adult were 80 (26.67%). Similarly in female respondents, young were 48 (16 %) and adult 54 (18 %) (Table-1.1) INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITIES ON RESPONDENTS (CONSUMERS) THROUGH T.V. ADVERTISEMENTS 6.1. INFLUENCE To measure the influence of celebrity through T.V. advertisements on respondents, eight questions were asked from respondents. (Figure-1) According to Table No.2 results shows that both young and adult respondents have similar opinion. They were in favor of the fact that Celebrity advertisements are more effective; create more attention and trust than non celebrity advertisements. However young generation feels that celebrities have more expertise than non-celebrities for T.V. advertising. They feel more convinced by celebrity advertisements. According to them, use of celebrities increases advertisements credibility. Physical appearance and personality of celebrity are also important factors to makes T.V. advertising more effective and convincing. 6.2. ANALYSIS OF FACTORS, WHICH INFLUENCE THE BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF YOUNG GENERATION Twenty-four specific attributes of celebrities (factors) have been analyzed under the major four factors expertise, trustworthiness, physical appearance and personality (Figure-2) 6.2.1. EXPERTISE Seven statements were asked to respondents to analyze specific expertise attributes of celebrities, which may influence the buying behavior of respondents Table No. 3 shows that buying behavior of young generation influenced, if celebrities are experienced and users of product. However, adult respondents feel that celebrities should have knowledge of the products which they are going to endorse by TV advertisements. According to both type of respondents (adult and young) celebrities should be educated and skilled, qualified and Justified for that product which they are going to promote. Result also reflects that technical knowledge about product/brand to celebrity is not required to convince purchase. 6.2.2. TRUSTWORTHINESS Specific attributes of trustworthiness of celebrities have been analyzed on the basis of five statements According to table no.3.1 Young and adult both respondents purchase their products on the trust, honesty, truthfulness and dependability of celebrities. However adult respondents feel celebrities should be sincere and Reliable also to influence their buying behavior. 6.2.3. PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS To analyze specific attributes of physical attractiveness of celebrites five questions were asked from respondents to measure the infuluence on buying behaviour of respondents Table 3.2 results shows that young generation feels that celebrities should be young/adult and they should have appealing figure (sexy and beautiful) they prefer female celebrities for TV advertisement. However, both (young and adult) respondents feel that celebrities should be smart (body constitution) to convince to purchaser. They also believe that Voice and gesture of celebrity is also important factors that affect on their purchase decisions. 6.2.4. PERSONALITY To measure the impact of specific personality attributes of celebrities, seven questions were asked from respondents that may influence their buying behavior. According to findings of Table 3.3 young generation feels that Status, class, and lifestyle of celebrity should match with product/brand and advertisement for effective and convincing advertisement. However adults believe that social cultural background of celebrities influences their buying behavior. Both young and adult respondents have similar thinking towards Image, Reputation and popularity (public figure) of celebrity which plays important role to influence buying behavior of respondents. Analysis also reflects few interesting results that Indian young and adult respondents do not believe in the caste, regional and religious background of celebrity CONCLUSION Young generation is highly influenced and convinced by celebrity advertisements According to them, celebrity advertisements increase credibility of TV advertisements. Physical appearance and personality of celebrity are also important factors to make TV advertisements more effective and convincing. The buying behavior of young generation is influenced by celebrities knowledge and experience about such products which they are going to promote by TV advertisements. They prefer female celebrities for TV advertisements, according to them celebrity should be young/adult with appealing figure (sexy and beautiful) and celebritys Status, class, and lifestyle should match the product which they are going to endorse. Young and adult population commonly feels that celebrity advertisement is more effective; creates more attention and trust than non celebrity advertisements. According to them celebrities must be educated, qualified justified with that product to which they are endorsing through TV advertisements. They dont feel that technical knowledge is required to celebrities to endorse the products. They feel motivated to purchase their products by the trust, honesty, truthfulness and dependability of celebrity. They believe that celebrities should be smart (body constitution) to convince purchaser, they also feel that Voice and gesture of celebrity are also important factors to have effect on their purchase decisions. They have similar thinking that Image, Reputation and popularity (public figure) of celebrity plays important role in influencing the buying behavior. However adult generation believes that social and cultural background of celebrity should match product and TV advertisement. They also feel that celebrities should be sincere and Reliable to influence their buying behavior. This study reflects few interesting results that Indian young and adult majority do not give any importance to the caste, regional and religious background of celebrity for TV advertisements.