How Celebrity Endorsement effects Consumer Behavior Term Paper

How Celebrity Endorsement effects Consumer Behavior - Term Paper Example Do celebrities play a role in changing consumers’ behaviors and purchasing habits? The question remains a major mystery for us but not for the advertisers who have been using celebrities as a tool to increase the sales of companies. Celebrity endorsement has a positive impact on the sales of businesses. It is not only a useful tool to attract young consumers but celebrity endorsement is equally effective on adult male and female counterparts. This paper aims to analyze how celebrity endorsement affects the different groups and provides a number of examples to support the claims made. Children desire to eat, use and wear what is being advertised in an attractive way on television, internet and videogames. They even try to get access to that stuff which their favorite movie or video game character or athlete consumes (Taylor 2005, p. 17). They also try to consume the most popular brands to show their prestige and high living standards. Media has the power of transforming the choices and attitudes of the whole society by merely portraying things in a manner they wish to. People believe in media and somehow take inspiration from the characters on TV, actors in movies, models in magazines, authors of magazines or anchors of Radio. An estimation reveals that on average, Americans probably watch television for 1550 hours, spend approximately 1160 hours in listening to radio programs and nearly 290 hours are spent in reading newspapers, magazines and blogs (Eastman, 2003). This level of interaction with media confirms the reliance of the audience on the information provi ded on these mediums. Celebrity endorsement is one of the major techniques used by marketers to improve the brand image. It has been observed during the research that people are more willing to pay for branded products. The image of brands is largely dependent on its publicity and popularity among the consumers. People make branded objects their choice to make a better social reputation and influence other counterparts of the society (Dhar 2007, pp. 72-78). Celebrity endorsement leads to capture this type of ‘reputation conscious’ people. Celebrity endorsement helps in making the brand name popular in public. People using the products of certain brands can then easily expose their financial stability and excellent choice (Krahmer 2006). A well-known and well-advertised product or service increases the chances of its success as there is a quality conscious group which is not much concerned about the prices but is more concerned to get a high quality and reputable service or product. The rest of people who use expensive brands are trying to participate in the battle of today’s capitalist society. Whichever group is being targeted, celebrity endorsement is a tool of capturing the attention of the consumers and which successfully builds the brand name. Brand names attract people and increase the consumption of such products which are high regarded in a particular region, culture or society. Hence we may say that advertisements involving celebrities are somehow important to build brand names