Fifty years of celebrity endorser research: Support for a comprehensive celebrity endorsement strategy framework

• Published in: Psychology & marketing 2020-03, Vol.37 (3), p.488-505
• Main Authors: Schimmelpfennig, Christian, Hunt, James B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertising campaigns; advertising psychology; brand attitude; branding; campaign strategy; Celebrities; celebrity endorsement; consumer behavior; consumer psychology; endorsement strategy; Endorsements; Marketing
• ISSN: 0742-6046; 1520-6793
• DOI: 10.1002/mar.21315

Half a century of research on celebrity endorsement has led to the advancement of four grand celebrity endorsement theories. Most scholars have adopted the meaning transfer model, proposed 30 years ago by Grant McCracken, as the most appropriate theory to explain effective celebrity endorsements. In this conceptual study, we present a literature search and analysis that finds strong support for the validity of all four grand endorsement theories (source credibility, source attractiveness, match‐up hypothesis, and meaning transfer model) and thus show that each theory constitutes an effective construct for a particular set of endorsements. We argue that, contrary to the assertion in the literature, no single theory is able to holistically explain celebrity endorsements. Only a comprehensive framework comprising all theories can explain the great variety of different celebrity endorsements executed in advertising praxis. Moreover, we present a prescriptive framework that allows marketers to identify the most effective celebrity endorsement strategy based on a product's or brand's value proposition, as we believe traditional product categories are no longer an appropriate concept on which to base an effective advertising strategy.