5 Celebrity Endorsement Deals, Essay Example

Chapter 5 of the text, Advertising and Promotion focuses on the communication process and how the consumer/audience receives and processes messages. Advertisements relay a particular message to the individual and then based on several factors, the individual will either accept or reject that message as a precursor to buy a particular product or services. In this chapter, the cognitive response approach stands out as a reliable method of understanding and predicting consumer behavior. The cognitive response approach refers to the cognitive reactions of an individual while receiving persuasive messages (Belch 165). This seeks to understand this behavior and decision making, and several approaches have been developed to examine the consumer’s response to advertising and persuasive communication.

The cognitive research approach provides an assessment of  of the individual’s cognitive responses. Cognitive responses consist of the thoughts that individual’s have while engaging in communication (Belch 165). This method of research is “usually measured by having consumers write down or verbally report their reactions to the message” (Belch 165). This in turn allows researchers to study the cognitive response of the consumer in relation to the acceptance or rejection of a persuasive message (Belch 165).

The method of this type of study assumes that the recorded thoughts reflect the true thoughts of the consumer (Belch 165). The process by which this works takes part in four steps, which are exposure to the advertisement or persuasive communication, the cognitive response to the persuasive communication, the attitudes reflected from the brand, and lastly the purchase intent of the consumer. The three different types of cognitive response are product and message thoughts, source-oriented thoughts, and ad-execution thoughts (Belch 165).

Product and message thoughts are defined by Belch as thoughts directed at the claims being made in the product or service communication (166). There are two particular responses that are important in communication theory and research, and those are counterarguments and support arguments. Counterarguments are “thoughts the recipient has that are opposed to the position taken in the message” (Belch 166). Support arguments are therefore thoughts that the recipient has during the communication that affirm the claims (Belch 166).

Source-oriented thoughts are responses made in relation to the source of the communication, and two important categories of source-oriented thought are source derogations and source bolsters (Belch 166). This refers to the individual’s likelihood to believe and accept the argument for the product or service based on their attitudes toward the source proving the information (Belch 166). For example, celebrities are often used to endorse products as a method to bolster the communication and argument. If the individual does not see the source in a positive manner, they are more likely to reject the message of the advertisement.

Ad-execution thoughts are “the individual’s thoughts about the ad itself” (Belch 166). Which means that how to advertisement is displayed, executed, presented can affect the attitude and thoughts of the individual. These thoughts can include positive or negative reactions to the ads creativity, quality, voice, tone and images presented (Belch 166).

Research has focused on how consumers react in these methods to advertising and communication because it can accurately provide consumer behavior information about what and how individuals are motivated to make a purchase (Belch 166). All of these thoughts are unique to the individual consumer, yet in a collective and similar community or society, these thoughts are often shared.

In chapter six of the text, the source, message and channel factors of persuasive communication are presented. Out of the concepts discussed in this chapter, a widely used advertising and promotion method for businesses, products and services is to use recognizable sources as a means to transmit their message (180). Celebrities are often used to transmit these messages, therefore giving the product or service more credibility in the eyes of the consumer. Belch gives examples of this advertising method, such as the Got Milk? advertisements that feature celebrities as spokespersons. The particular example in the text shows Hayden Panettiere, a popular and recognizable young actress, as the source of the milk advertisement (Belch 180). The point of using Panettiere as a source for the ad is to associate the product with the celebrity and hopefully attract consumers who respond positively to the actress as a source method. Advertising firms usually spend large amounts of money to attract celebrity endorsers and they spend a lot of time and effort in the research process to find a relevant source (Belch 180).

Advertisement Analysis

In relation to the concepts discussed in chapters five and six of the text, I chose celebrity endorsed advertising as a topic to discuss. There are many, many advertisements out in the media that feature celebrities, in fact most big-name products and businesses use this method of persuasive communication to attract consumers (“5 Celebrity Endorsement Deals”). Celebrity endorsements are extremely popular across all platforms of advertising, such as social media endorsements featuring celebrities posting photos of themselves “using” or “engaging” the product. The following advertisement is a magazine ad featuring Katy Perry as an endorser and user of Proactiv acne solutions.

Proactiv acne solutions has used celebrity endorsement during its advertisement campaigns for years and continues to see success in their products and their methods of advertising. Proactiv has in the past featured Adam Levine, Jessica Simpson, Justin Bieber, Vanessa Williams, Avril Levigne and several other recognizable celebrities to endorse the product. Not only do they feature the celebrities, but also show the celebrities as users of the product, as well. The narrative of the ads focus on the “normality” of the celebrity. This means that the consumer feels a connection with the celebrity because they can relate to their same struggles with acne, and a possible and likely source tought can be “if Proactiv is a solution for the famous endorser, then it must be a perfect solution for me.” Proactiv also features before and after photos of the celebrity endorsers, showing their flaws and how the product has fixed and perfected their flaws.

Proactiv is just one of many brands that has had extreme success with celebrity endorsers.  As mentioned before in the text summary, Milk has had a huge successful run with their Got Milk? celebrity campaigns, as well as Cover Girl cosmetics, Nike, Adidas. The list is practically endless when it comes to big brand names. What is important to also note about celebrity endorsement is the massive amounts of money put into a campaign to attract top celebrities. A large amount of advertising dollars are spent on such sources, as it instantly gives the product relevance, recognition and viability (Mukherjee). In cases of cosmetic products, celebrity endorsement is used consistently, as many consumers spend their money of products meant to perfect their looks and image, and consumers see the celebrity and relate that to how the product can change certain physical attributes (Lofgren & Lee).

Works Cited

“5 Celebrity Endorsement Deals.” Beauty Ramp. 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 22 Sept. 2015 <http://www.beautyramp.com/5-celebrity-endorsement-deals.html>.

Belch George, E., and A. Belch Michael. “Advertising and promotion.” An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. New York: MacGraw Hill Higher Education (2012).

Löfgren, Emma, and Juan Li. “Brand Loyalty: A Study of the Prevalent Usage of Celebrity Endorsement in Cosmetics Advertising.” (2010).

Mukherjee, Debiprasad. “Impact of celebrity endorsements on brand image.” Available at SSRN 1444814 (2009).