Title: I like you, but I don't need you: the diminishing returns of celebrity endorsement for popular brands

Authors: Eduardo Fons; Maria-José Miquel-Romero; Manuel Cuadrado-García; Juan D. Montoro-Pons

Addresses: Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Department of Marketing, EDEM Escuela de Empresarios, Valencia, Spain ' Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain ' Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain ' Department of Applied Economics, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Abstract: This research analyses the effects of celebrity endorsement on consumer attitudes and decisions in the case of brands that are already prominent; it also explores the influence of fan identification on the effectiveness of endorsement. The aim is to identify whether brands of high status need celebrities, to trigger positive reactions. A confirmatory method is applied, using a questionnaire survey completed by 324 supporters of the Spanish football league. Brand recall, brand attitude and purchase intentions towards celebrity-endorsed sporting brands are analysed. We determine celebrities' differential effects on consumers versus endorsed brands, by calculating descriptive statistics and conducting multivariate analyses. Although previous research indicated that celebrities improve fans' reactions, our findings suggest that brands, when prominent, do not appear to require the effect of the celebrity to boost the attitude of the fans and their purchase intentions.

Keywords: celebrity endorsement; advertising effectiveness; brand management; consumer behaviour; sport marketing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2024.138985

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2024 Vol.24 No.3/4, pp.244 - 261

Received: 11 Nov 2022
Accepted: 11 Oct 2023
Published online: 06 Jun 2024 *

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