Celebrity Scandals and their Impact on Brand Image: A Study among Young Consumers

Master's Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, The University of Surrey, course: International Business Management - Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, language: English, abstract: Celebrity endorsements can be seen as a powerful and effective advertisement tool to cut through today's thick media clutter, grab the attention of consumers by underpinning a brand's image. The use of celebrities as a spokesperson for products and brands has been steadily increasing over the past decades. Celebrity Endorsements are perceived as a ubiquitous feature of modern marketing. Especially young consumers, who are considered to be brand conscious as well as regarded to idolise their favourite celebrities are a prime target of celebrity endorsements. Despite the many benefits celebrity endorsements entail, companies must also be aware of the potential drawbacks it brings along. Particularly celebrity endorser scandals are perceived to have an impact on a brand's image. Owing to the steady growth of celebrity endorsements as an effective advertisement tool to boost a brand's image, and to the fact that young consumers will remain the prime target of celebrity endorsements, this dissertation aims at investigating the impact of celebrity scandals on the brand image perception of young consumers. Based on a critical literature review, the author develops a conceptual and theoretical framework, in which this dissertation is set. An empirical study by means of an online survey distributed among 222 participants was conducted. Findings demonstrate that the brand image is hardly affected due to celebrity endorser scandals. However, the findings also reveal that felonies such as murder may lead to instant termination of consumption of a brand. The results of this research study provide some novel and useful insights into celebrity scandals and their impact on brands image, which can be used as guidelines for practitioners and as a starting point for further research.