Does Gender in Celebrity Endorsed Advertisements Influence Audience Perception? A Study of University of Ghana Students

Abstract

One of the exciting ways of telling stories about brands is by leveraging celebrity fame, admiration and love to enhance effective communication. This strategy is called celebrity endorsement. It has become a reliable formula with which brand communicators break through the clutter of many advertisements and other similar promotional communications to reach their targets. This study set out to investigate implications of gender in celebrity endorsed advertisements. Based on assumptions of the source credibility model and the match-up hypothesis model, a 2×3 factorial within-subject experimental design was adopted to test participants’ perception of gender effects in celebrity endorsed advertisements. The following findings were revealed: Gender of a celebrity endorser has consequences for advertisement believability depending on the nature and gender of the advertised product. In addition, the study saw that respondents’ perception of a match between celebrity endorser gender and product gender increased advertisement believability. Moreover, the researcher discovered that even when the gender of the endorser and the product were inconsistent, participants still perceived a good fit and this resulted in a favorable evaluation of the advertisements. Informed by these findings, the study concluded that a negative match between an endorser’s gender and a product’s gender does not necessarily lead to a negative or positive evaluation of the endorsement. Actually, what matters is whether audiences perceive a fit. Thus, audiences’ perception of endorser gender and product gender fit directly relates to a favorable assessment of the endorsed advertisement. Based on these conclusions, the researcher suggested that future studies should look more into factors which inspire audience members’ definitions of endorser gender and product gender fit.