The Influence of Celebrity Endorsement on Food Consumption Behavior.

Cristina Calvo-Porral,Javier Orosa-González,Sergio Rivaroli

doi:10.3390/foods10092224

Cristina Calvo-Porral, Javier Orosa-González + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10092224

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Abstract

“Is consumer food behavior influenced by celebrity endorsement?”. This question remains unsolved despite celebrities constantly recommending different products in their social media networks. Much of the literature on celebrity endorsement focuses on the characteristics of celebrities influencing consumers’ behavior, but there is scarce research about how celebrity endorsements about food and food products influence consumers’ behavior. In this context and based on the source credibility and source attractiveness models, as well as on the match-up theory, this study aims to examine whether consumers’ food purchase intention and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price is influenced by celebrity endorsement. For this purpose, an empirical study is developed through Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) based on data gathered from 316 consumers who read celebrity recommendations. Findings report that consumers are most influenced in their food consumption behavior by the congruence between the celebrity endorsement and the product being recommended, and by the celebrity credibility. Interestingly, celebrity recommendations show a similar influencing pattern both for consumers’ food purchase intention and consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for food. The major contribution of this research is to show that congruence is the main route by which celebrity endorsement influences food consumption behavior.

Highlights

Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular tools in marketing communication and has been profusely used in order to promote brands, products and services
The present study reports that consumers are influenced in their food consumption behavior by celebrity endorsement through the celebrities’ congruence with the recommended product, their credibility and their trustworthiness
Celebrity endorsement could be considered an effective communication tool in the food marketing area, as long as the food endorsers are perceived as being congruent and credible by food consumers

Summary

Introduction

Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular tools in marketing communication and has been profusely used in order to promote brands, products and services. Nowadays celebrities are gaining influence among consumers, given the increase in their presence in social media, and evidence shows that recommendations by celebrities on social networking platforms are increasingly important to change consumers’ behavior. In this context, research on celebrity endorsement has traditionally focused on the source characteristics of the endorser and on the transfer of meanings between the endorser and the recommended product or brand. Important efforts have been made in marketing research to understand the underlying factors that drive celebrity endorsement influence on consumers’ behavior. Previous research on celebrity endorsement is mostly developed from three theoretical approaches—source credibility [4] and source attractiveness models [5], affect transfer theory [6], and match-up theory [7]—which aim to examine the bases of the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumers’ behavior

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