THE INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR OF GLO SUBSCRIBERS: A STUDY
OF AWO HALL RESIDENTS, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
PRESENTED BY
ADEYEMI EYITAYO LATEEFAT
MATRIC NO: 121006
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR
APPLIED SEMINAR (LAC 724)
COURSE COORDINATORS
DR. B.A. LANINHUN
DR. A.A. OJEBODE
DR. G.O. SHOKI
SEPTEMBER , 2010
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BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Advertising is a form of persuasion that aims to get people to patronize some product,
service or idea. Whether an organization manufactures goods or provides services, it is
imperative that product and service providers reach prospective customers and maintain existing
ones. Advertising aims at ensuring that a product does not fade out of existence. To achieve this,
the use of people who are famous in the society to endorse a product, service or idea has become
one of the various marketing tactics of advertisers.
Celebrity endorsement is expensive. Yet the companies are willing to pay for the
powerful endorsement embedded in the celebrities whose name, face and/or voice recognition
can draw considerable attention of millions of consumers. Agrawal and Kamakura (1995)
estimate that approximately 20% of all advertisements use some form of celebrity endorsement
to inform and persuade. It is believed that when a celebrity endorses a product or service, the
indirect information inferred by the consumer becomes more credible and more relevant.
In the Nigerian telecommunication industry, competition is at its peak as people have
various telecommunication networks to choose from. Thus, each telecommunication service
provider strives to retain existing customers and attract new ones. To achieve this purpose, all the
tools of marketing communication are employed. Public relations, advertising, sales promotion,
event sponsorship and direct marketing have become necessary promotional tools to ensure
survival in the telecommunication industry.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF GLOBACOM NIGERIA
Glo mobile or Glo is one of the most subscribed to networks in Nigeria. In its first year of
operation, it had one million subscribers in over 87 towns in Nigeria. Glo has an estimate of over
25 million subscribers (June 2009) and it is a 100 percent Nigerian owned company. It has a
reputation as one of the fastest growing multi-national carrier in the world and the vision for Glo
is to be the biggest and best carrier in Africa.
Glo mobile made its debut in Nigeria on August 29, 2003. Globacom, as Nigeria's Second National Operator (SNO) defied all known and unknown challenges to enter into the cost-expensive, money spinning telecommunications business. Coming two years behind the other two leading GSM services providers- Zain (formerly Econet) and MTN, it couldn’t have been easy to break into the market.
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Today, Glo has risen to become Nigeria's second leading GSM operator with over 20million subscribers covering the widest of communities, towns and States of the country.
www.nigerianmusicmovement.com
Globacom has over 300 roaming partners in 170 countries worldwide and these include all major
commercial hubs such as UK, USA, France, Germany, UAE, Belgium, South Africa, Saudi
Arabia, Brazil, India and China. The telecom company has the reputation of being the pioneer in
prepaid roaming and GPRS roaming services in Nigeria.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
No doubt, advertising has been one of the most effective means of creating awareness for
the Glo telecommunication company. Music and drama are effective elements employed in the
company’s adverts to attract people to the network. These adverts feature close to 25 celebrities
in the Nigerian entertainment industry.
However, celebrities who appeal to some audience may serve as a turn off to others. Not
all celebrities can endorse a product. The loss of public acceptability of an endorser can ruin the
product or brand endorsed by the celebrity. Thus, the study aims to determine if the acceptance
or non-acceptance of a celebrity will affect the customer’s patronage and opinion about the
organization.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is customers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts?
2. Does the use of celebrities in Glo adverts prompt people to emulate the behaviour of
these celebrities?
3. How has celebrity endorsement influenced customers’ disposition towards the
organization and the services rendered by it, thereby facilitating increase in patronage?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to find out subscribers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts. To
find out if celebrities featured in adverts affect their patronage. Finally, the study aims to
discover the extent to which people’s preferred celebrity endorsers affect their lifestyle.
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SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is a pilot study designed to examine how customers respond to celebrity
endorsement in Glo adverts. Samples of residents of Awo hall, University of Ibadan will be
studied to collect data.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will:
serve as reference for further research work and contribute to existing information on the
subject.
reveal to service marketers people’s opinion about the use or non-use of celebrity in
advertising.
depict whether the use of celebrities by service providers can change the image of the
organization in people’s mind or not.
LIMITATIONS
The researcher faced challenges like unwillingness of some respondents to fill the questionnaire
and time constraint.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
CELEBRITY ENDORSER: is a popular person who could be an entertainer to the public, using
his/her fame to promote a product or service.
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT: is a type of branding, or advertising in which a famous person
uses his or her status in society to promote a product, service or charity.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: is the process of searching for, selecting, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of products and services by consumers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This section of the study will focus on the review of relevant literature which will give a
better understanding of the concepts that are central to this study.
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CONCEPT OF PERSUASION
“Whenever communication goes beyond the objective of providing information,
education and entertainment, and seeks to influence the attitude or behaviour of the target, it
becomes persuasion” (Onyenyili-Onuorah, 2005: 44). Persuasion is the use of appeals, emotions,
beliefs and values to convince a target audience and it is mostly done through promotion
communication such as; marketing, advertising and direct selling.
Folarin (1998:74) citing Bradley (1984) defines persuasion as “an attempt to change
attitude and behaviour through involvement of a person’s cognitive and affective processes”.
This process is symbolic and it occurs only through cooperation between the source and the
receiver. “Persuasion is the process of co creating a state of identification between a source and a
receiver that results from the use of verbal and/or visual symbols” (Larson, 2004:11). From the
foregoing, it is apparent that persuasion is essential in getting across information about ideas,
goods and services to the target audience. The three forms of persuasion are; public relations,
propaganda and advertising. Out of these three, this study will focus on advertising.
ADVERTISING
“Advertising is a marketing communications element that is persuasive, non-personal,
paid for by an identified sponsor, and disseminated through mass channels of communication to
promote the adoption of goods, services, persons, or ideas”. (Bearden, Ingram and Laforge,
2007:392). Assael (1998:8) observes advertising as “a paid non-personal communication from a
commercial source such as a manufacturer or retailer”. From the foregoing definitions, we can
deduce that advertising is a communication that is non-personal in nature and is intended to
persuade the audience about a cause. Advertising informs buyers about product characteristics
and availability, stimulates demand, helps build brand success, develops and shapes buyer
behaviour.
Different types of media are employed to get these messages across to the target
audience. These include traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio,
outdoor and direct mail; or the new media such as the internet. Adverts may be placed by an
advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organizations. Commercial advertisers often
seek to generate increased patronage of their products or services through branding, which
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involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with
the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise
items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious
organizations and governmental agencies.
WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?
“Consumer behaviour is the study of human responses to products, services, and the
marketing of products and services” (Kardes, 1999:5). It attempts to understand the buyer
decision-making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual
consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's
wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends,
reference groups, and society in general.
Arnould, Price and Zinkhan (2005:5) describe consumer behaviour as “individuals or
groups acquiring, using, and disposing of products, services, ideas, or experiences”. Consumer
behaviour is the mental and emotional processes and the physical activities that people engage in
when they select, purchase, use and dispose of products or services to satisfy particular needs
and desires (Bearden et al, 2007).
FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The factors affecting consumer behaviour as identified by Arens, Weigold and Arens
(2008:146) are three; the personal process, interpersonal influences and non-personal influences.
The Personal Process: involves the perception, the learning and persuasion, and the motivation
processes. The perception process explains how the consumer perceives, accepts and remembers
an advert or other stimulus aimed at patronage of a product or service. Learning and persuasion
determine our interests, attitudes, beliefs, preferences, emotions, habits, brand loyalty, needs and
wants. Motivation is based on the Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which maintains that
the lower physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before the higher, socially acquired
needs or wants. These three processes determine how consumers see the world around them, how
they learn information and habits and how they actualize their personal needs and motives.
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The Interpersonal Influence: This affects and sometimes dominates the personal process, it is
made up of three factors, which are; family, society and cultural environment. The family
influence is very strong and it affects consumers’ attitude towards products from an early age.
Societal influence comprises of the consumer’s social class, reference groups and opinion
leaders. Cultural influence refers to a whole set of attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things that
are transferred from generation to generation within social groups. Subculture can also influence
the decision of the consumer, it is a segment within a culture that shares a set of values, beliefs
and attitudes, which differ from the overall culture.
The Non-personal Influence: This influence is in the form of time, place and environment. The
time of purchase of a product or service could be as a result of the consumer’s need at that time,
or the advertiser through certain benefits that are attached to the product or service could trigger
it. The place where the purchase is made is based on the marketer’s distribution strategy. The
social, political, economic, technical, ecological environments can affect the consumer’s choice.
While these factors are beyond the consumer’s control, they are not necessarily beyond the
advertiser’s.
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
More recently, advertisers have begun attempting to quantify and qualify the use of
celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to
a brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior. The crescendo of
celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past years. Marketers overtly
acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer-purchasing decisions.
Bergstrom and Skarfstad (2004:1) citing McCracken (1989) define celebrity endorsement
as “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a
consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement”. He can be an entertainer to the public,
a movie superstar, a television actor or a sportsman owning special entertaining qualities
respectively. “Advertisers hire popular figures and entertainment stars to persuade people to
buy their products. Such advertisements are effective because viewers and readers transfer their
feelings about the star to the product itself” (Winterowd and Murray, 1985:266).
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Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change for a variety of reasons. They may attract more attention to the advertisement than would non-celebrities or in many cases, they may be viewed as more credible than non-celebrities, consumers may desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally, consumers may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire. The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a firm's product can generally be improved by matching the image of the celebrity with the personality of the product.
(Gupta, 2007)
IMPORTANT SOURCE EFFECT VARIABLES
Effect variables that may endear the consumers to the source are;
Source Credibility: Amos, Holmes and Strutton (2008) citing Ohanian (1990) describe source
credibility as the communicator’s positive characteristics that affect the receiver’s acceptance of
a message. Source credibility is the extent to which a celebrity is assumed to have enough
exposure to impart an objective attitude towards the product or service that he or she promotes. It
is believed that the information attributed to a credible source can influence the opinions of
consumers.
Source expertise: Celebrity endorsers’ expertise is the extent to which a communicator is
perceived to be a source of valid assertions. This indicates that a receiver’s perception of the
source’s expertise positively influences source effectiveness. Respondents’ actions in response to
the source’s recommendations seem to vary directly with the source’s perceived level of
expertise and the target person’s level of agreement with those recommendations. Subjects
exposed to a source perceived as highly expert are said to exhibit more agreement with the
source’s recommendation than did those exposed to a source with low expertise. The level of
perceived celebrity expertise should predict celebrity endorser effectiveness.
Source attractiveness: This source does not just encompass aspects of physical attractiveness,
but also entails personality. Certainly, physically attractive celebrities are generally viewed more
favourably on various personality traits than less attractive ones.
Other source effect variables identified by Amos et al (2008) are; celebrity performance,
negative information, celebrity trustworthiness, celebrity familiarity, celebrity likeability, and
celebrity/product fit.
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Advantages of a celebrity endorsing a Brand
Katyal (2010) believes that the accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by
the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:
Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for
that brand among the target audience, especially in case of new products. It ensures that
brand awareness is created in a market.
Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter
of advertisements and making the advert and the brand more noticeable.
PR coverage: This is another reason for making use of celebrities. Managers perceive
celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage.
Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity
with the brand thereby increasing the recall value.
Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message -
because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.
Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers,
thus marketers capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic
segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).
Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to
generate interest among the masses.
Disadvantages of a celebrity endorsing a brand:
The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:
1. The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product:
Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may
become liabilities to the brands they endorse.
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2. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing
the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the
audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand.
3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his
or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances.
4. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure: The
novelty of a celebrity endorser gets diluted if he does too many advertisements.
5. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities manifest a
certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian
congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each
celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and
lifestyle.
THE PERCEPTION PROCESS
The perception process is the greatest challenge posed at advertisers. This refers to the
way consumers sense, interpret and comprehend stimuli (Arens et al, 2008). Perception explains
the way we give meaning to the world around us and it plays a major role in the consumer
buying-decision process. It depends on internal factors like beliefs, experiences and expectations,
thereby people can emerge with different perceptions of the same stimulus. The processes of
perception are;
Selective attention: This occurs when consumers notice certain adverts but not others.
Advertisers frequently utilize colour, humor, sexual images and celebrity endorsers to
gain attention of the audience.
Selective comprehension: This involves consumers’ interpretation of information
provided in adverts. Persuasion researchers have documented the tendency of individuals
to perceive incoming information consistent with their own opinions and preferences.
Selective retention: Has to do with what parts of the advertised information consumers
remember. Advertisers make use of symbols, rhymes and unique images, which assist the
learning, and remembering of brand information (Bearden et al, 2007).
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EMPIRICAL STUDIES
Adebamigbe (2005) discovered that while advertisers believe in the effectiveness of the
use of celebrity endorsers in influencing consumer purchasing behaviour, a large number of
consumers do not share this opinion. Although the adverts tend to be more memorable,
consumers will not purchase products that do not appeal to them. She goes further to explain that
most consumers believe that the use of celebrities in adverts is deceitful, as most of these
endorsers do not patronize the advertised products.
Amos et al (2008) underscored the high risk associated with using celebrity endorsers as
well as the huge impact negative information about that celebrity can have on consumer
perceptions. They also found that when negative information about a celebrity endorser emerges,
the revelation could dilute the equity of the product/brand associated with the celebrity. It was
also revealed that college students might represent an ideal target market for advertisements that
use celebrity endorsers as it has been observed that the influence on students is greater than on
members of more cross-sectional samples. Finally, celebrity endorsers were found to be less
influential in non-US studies. This suggests that non-US populations are less responsive to
celebrity endorsers.
Ang, Dubelaar and Kamakura (2010) observed that celebrity endorsement could change a
product’s worth. When a product is paired with different celebrities, it takes on different brand
personalities. When the fit is good, the transfer of the personality is more likely to occur and this
tends to be positive. On the other hand when the fit is bad, transfer is less likely to occur, and
when it occurs tends to be negative. They also found that if the product has a very strong brand
personality, it may not be worth paying any celebrity to endorse it (regardless of image-fit) since
the celebrity will not be able to shift the personality any higher due to ceiling effects.
From the foregoing, celebrity endorsement has been found to have either a positive or
negative effect on consumers. Some people may perceive a celebrity endorsed product as more
valuable while others may believe that it is deceitful. Also, not all products need to be endorsed
by celebrities especially when the product/celebrity fit is poor. However, these previous studies
emphasize more on product endorsement than service endorsement. This pilot study will
investigate the influence of celebrity endorsement on services.
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THEORETIC FRAMEWORK
Congruity Theory is one of the Consistency Theories of attitude change. It was
developed by Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum in 1955 to improve on the first
consistency theory, Fritz Heider’s Balance Theory. According to Strong, Cook and Lemore
(1996:68) “congruity theory enables us to match a celebrity with a product or idea and
mathematically predict the image outcome for that promotional mix. This theory teaches us how
efficiently a credible person, by virtue of association, can improve the image of an organization.
It also teaches us how efficiently that image can be destroyed when endorsers lose public trust”.
This implies that a change of attitude to both the source of information and the message is bound
to take place when there is internal inconsistency.
Cultural Norms Theory posits that, “through selective representation and tendentious
emphasis on certain themes, the mass media created the impression among their audience that
such themes were part of the structure or clearly defined cultural norms of society. These media
presentations account for the behaviour of certain members of the public” (Folarin, 1998:69).
This means that the audience emulates what the media portrays.
Meaning Transfer Model of Mc Cracken (1989) cited by Joshi and Ahluwalia (2010) is
a comprehensive model which suggests that the meaning associated with the celebrity endorser
moves to the product or the brand. This model portrays that the audience can transfer their
feelings towards the celebrity to the product itself. Compatibility of the celebrity's persona with
the overall brand image is very important, as a celebrity imparts credibility and inspirational
value to a brand thus, his or her image should perfectly match the brand's image.
METHODOLOGY
This part of the study describes in detail the steps taken by the researcher in carrying out
this study. It highlights the research design, the population, the sampling techniques, the research
instruments, method of data collection and data analysis.
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RESEARCH DESIGN
This study employs the survey design. The method was considered appropriate in view of
the fact that people’s opinion and attitude are the focus of the study.
POPULATION
Being a pilot study, the sample comprises residents in Obafemi Awolowo Hall of the
University of Ibadan who are subscribers to glo network. The rationale behind this choice is
because it is the only residential hall that accommodates both male and female undergraduate
and postgraduate students.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
The sampling techniques employed in this study are three;
The researcher employed the stratified random sampling by grouping the respondents into the
nine blocks of the hall. The purposive sampling technique was utilized because the parameter for
choosing the respondents was based on being a glo subscriber. And finally, the convenience
sampling technique because the views of people who were willing, able and qualified of all the
two, three or four occupants in the rooms were sampled.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
In carrying out this study, questionnaires numbering up to 36 were administered on the
selected sample of the population. The questionnaire was divided into two sections. Section A
that consisted of 12 questions sought to elicit information on how celebrity endorsement
influences glo subscribers’ purchase habit and opinion about the organization and its services.
Section B was based on demographic variables. The questionnaire contained a total of 16 items
comprising open-ended, close-ended, multiple choice questions and rating scales.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
The questionnaire was self-administered in order to ensure objectivity, thus terms that
could be found ambiguous to the respondents were explained. Out of the 36 copies of
questionnaires which were administered on the sample, 30 copies were retrieved.
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METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The responses from the administered questionnaires were analyzed and recorded in a
tabular form in order to get the distribution of respondents in percentage. There will be further
explanation of findings for easy comprehension.
ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
This section of the study focuses on data analysis and discussion of findings gathered through the
questionnaire.
TABLE 1: Respondents’ views about Glo’s advert style
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Dull 1 3.3
Catchy 7 23.3Interesting 9 30Creative 12 40Others 1 3.3
TOTAL 30 100
In table 1, 12 respondents (40%) of the sample believe that Glo adverts are creative,
9(30%) believe that these adverts are interesting, 7(23.3%) is of the opinion that the adverts are
catchy while 1(3.3%) feel that Glo adverts are dull. One of the respondents thinks that the
adverts although creative and full of ideas, are not effective. This shows that most people like the
Glo advert style.
TABLE 2: Responses on how respondents became aware of celebrity endorsement in Glo adverts
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Television 9 34.6
Newspapers 3 11.5Internet - -
Billboard 4 15.4Radio 1 3.9
All of the above 9 34.6TOTAL 26 100
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Table 2 shows that the highest frequency is television and the combination of all the
media 9(34.6%). Billboard awareness is 4(15.4%), newspaper is 3(11.5%) while radio is
1(3.9%). Thus, while all other means have been quite effective in creating awareness for the
network, more emphasis should be laid on the internet and the radio.
TABLE 3: Respondents’ familiarity with glo celebrity endorsers
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)
9-7 1 3.3
6-4 10 33.4
3-1 15 50
Void 4 13.3
TOTAL 30 100
Item number 3 was an open-ended question and majority of the respondents were able to
recall the names of the celebrities that they have seen in the media advertising for Glo. Only
1(3.3%) of the respondents was familiar with between 7-9 celebrities, 10(33.4%) of them could
recall between 4 and 6 celebrities while 15(50%) respondents could remember 1-3 names of the
celebrity endorsers.
From this findings, it is obvious that people pay attention to celebrities in Glo adverts and
this is a good indication that the endorsers have an effect on them.
RESEARCH QUESTION 1
What is customers’ perception about the use of celebrities in Glo adverts?
In order to answer this question, items number 5, 10 and 12 of the questionnaire are
selected.
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TABLE 4: Respondents’ views on the likability of the celebrities featured in glo adverts
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Yes 22 91.7No 2 8.3
TOTAL 24 100
Table 4 indicates that 22(91.7%) of the respondents agree to liking the celebrity
endorsers, 2(8.3%) say that they do not like the celebrities who endorse for Glo while 6
respondents did not give their opinion on this question.
This shows that more than average of the sample likes the celebrities.
TABLE 5: Responses on the credibility of Glo celebrity endorsers
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Very credible 11 39.3Not credible 4 14.3Indifferent 13 46.4TOTAL 28 100
From the data above, 11 of the respondents (39.3%) are of the opinion that Glo celebrity
endorsers are credible, 13(46.4%) are indifferent to the credibility of these endorsers while
4(14.3%) do not think that these sources are credible at all.
This indicates that although a large percentage of the respondents are indifferent to the
celebrities’ credibility, the number of people who think that the sources are credible is
encouraging.
TABLE 6: Respondents’ opinions about the use of non-celebrities in Glo adverts
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Yes 10 35.7No 10 35.7
Not sure 8 28.6TOTAL 28 100
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From the data, while 10(35.7%) of the respondents want celebrities in adverts, another
10(35.7%) do not mind the use of non-celebrities while the remaining 8(28.6%) is not sure about
this.
Respondents were further asked to state the reason for preferring non-celebrity models in
Glo adverts and they observe that it will give more employment opportunity to people, some
believe that it portrays the network as being expensive while some people are of the opinion that
celebrity endorsements do not determine patronage of the network.
Other respondents who are of the opinion that celebrities are good in Glo adverts gave
their reasons as the celebrities doing a good job of promoting the network while some think that
the celebrities featured in Glo adverts are too many and that one or two would be sufficient.
The data gathered on research question 1 reveals that majority of the respondents like
Glo’s celebrity endorsers and think that they are credible to an extent although the number of
people that want celebrities in adverts is the same as that of the people who prefer non-celebrity
models. This research question can be traced to the congruity theory which posits that there must
be internal consistency on the part of the target audience if celebrity endorsement is going to
benefit the organization.
RESEARCH QUESTION 2
Does the use of celebrities in Glo adverts prompt people to emulate the behaviour of these
celebrities?
Questionnaire items 4, 6, and 11 are found appropriate to answer this research question.
TABLE 7: Responses on subscribers’ view on how convincing Glo adverts that feature
celebrities are
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Convincing 10 34.5
Unconvincing 5 17.2Indifferent 14 48.3TOTAL 29 100
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Majority of the respondents 14(48.3%) claim to be indifferent to these adverts, 10
respondents (34.5%) are of the opinion that the adverts are convincing while 5(17.2%) think that
the adverts are not convincing.
This portrays that although most people are conscious of the motive of the advertisers and
so are indifferent to the adverts, some still find the adverts convincing while the least number of
respondents think that the adverts are unconvincing.
TABLE 8: Respondents view on how realistic claims made in Glo adverts are
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree - -
Agree 12 44.4Neutral 8 29.6
Disagree 6 22.2Strongly disagree 1 3.7
TOTAL 27 100
In table 8, most respondents, 12(44.4%) agree that Glo adverts are realistic, 8(29.6%) are
neutral to this while 6 of the respondents (22.2%) disagree.
Thus, claims made in Glo adverts are mostly perceived to be realistic.
TABLE 9: Responses on how often customers imagine to be like the celebrities in the
adverts
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Very often 2 6.6
Often 6 20.0Rarely 11 36.7Never 11 36.7
TOTAL 30 100
Table 9 shows that 11(36.7%) respondents rarely and never wish to be like the celebrities,
8(20.6%) of the respondents agree to often wishing to be like the celebrities. Thus, a large
percentage of the respondents do not wish to be as the celebrities portrayed in the adverts.
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Based on the data collected on research question 2, it can be deduced that a good number
of respondents perceive the Glo adverts to be realistic, less than average of the respondents find
celebrity endorsed adverts convincing and quite a good number of the respondents disagree with
ever wishing to be like the celebrities in glo adverts. Research question 2 will revisit the cultural
norms theory which maintains that people tend to emulate certain things portrayed in the media.
The adverts could have been appealing to the respondents however, they do not clamour to be
just like the people being portrayed therein.
RESEARCH QUESTION 3
How has celebrity endorsement influenced customers’ disposition towards the organization and
the services rendered by it, thereby facilitating increase in patronage?
Items 7, 8, and 9 of the questionnaire answer this research question.
TABLE 10: Responses on the influence of celebrity endorsement on customers’ patronage of the
network
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree 2 6.7
Agree 4 13.3Neutral 2 6.7
Disagree 13 43.3Strongly disagree 9 30
TOTAL 30 100
Table 10 portrays that most respondents 22(73.3%) feel that the celebrities do not
influence their patronage of the network. 6(20%) are influenced by the celebrity endorsers to
increase their patronage while 2(6.7%) are indifferent.
This implies that most people do not put the celebrity endorsers in consideration before
patronizing the network.
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TABLE 11: Respondents’ view on how their favorite celebrity determines their opinion of
the organization
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree 1 3.7
Agree 5 18.5Neutral 4 14.8
Disagree 10 37.0Strongly disagree 7 25.9
TOTAL 27 100
More than average of the respondents 17(62.9%) do not transfer their affection for a
celebrity to the organization, 6(22.2%) agree to this, while 4(14.8%) are indifferent.
It can be inferred from the above that most people see celebrities and the organization
that they endorse for as separate entities.
TABLE 12: Responses on how the dislike of a celebrity will affect customers’ perception about the
network
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Strongly agree 2 6.7
Agree 4 13.3Neutral 6 20.0
Disagree 8 26.7Strongly disagree 10 33.3
TOTAL 30 100
Majority of the respondents 18(60%) will not have a negative opinion towards the
network simply because of a celebrity that they do not like, 6(20%) respondents’ opinion of the
network will be negative as a result of a celebrity which they are not fond of while the remaining
6(20%) do not care about this at all.
Thus, we can assume that the endorsement of a celebrity that people do not like will not
have a negative effect on customers’ perception of the network and the organization.
The data gathered on research question 3 reveals that majority of the respondents feel that
the celebrity is different from the organization. Thus, they do not transfer their opinion about a
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celebrity to the organization. The transfer model is considered here, the people seem to be aware
of the purpose of the celebrity endorsers, thus they regard the organization and its services as one
entity and the celebrity endorser as another.
TABLE 13: Distribution of respondents by gender
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Male 12 40
Female 18 60TOTAL 30 100
Table 13 indicates that 18(60%) of the respondents are female while 12(40%) are male. This
finding reveals that more female views are represented in this study.
TABLE 14: Distribution of respondents by age
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Below 20 years 3 10
20-25 years 24 80More than 25 years 3 10
TOTAL 30 100
As presented in table 18, it is obvious that majority of the respondents fall between 20-25 years
of age 24(80%). Those above 25 years are 3(10%), while respondents below 20 years old are
also 3(10%). This portrays that more undergraduates’ views are represented in this study.
TABLE 15: Distribution of respondents by faculty
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)Agriculture 3 10
Arts 8 26.7Education 4 13.3
Law 1 3.3Medicine 2 6.7Science 5 16.7
Social science 3 10Technology 4 13.3
TOTAL 30 100
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As shown above, majority 8(26.7%) of the respondents recruited for the study are in the
humanities while faculty of law has the least number of respondents 1(3.3%).
TABLE 16: Distribution of respondents by level
RESPONSES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%)100 level 5 16.7200 level 5 16.7300 level 6 20400 level 6 20500 level 3 10700 level 5 16.7TOTAL 30 100
Table 16 shows that 12(40%) of the respondents are in 300 level and 400 level, 10(33%) are in
100 and 200 level, 700 level students are 5(16.7%) while 500 level students are 3(10%).
CONCLUSION
In the course of this pilot study, it has been reaffirmed that celebrity endorsement makes
the brand memorable to the target audience. It should however be noted that people are diverse
hence, their opinions tend to vary. Celebrity endorsers who appeal to a sect of the audience may
not appeal to another and this explains why certain people feel that adverts featuring professional
models are preferable to celebrity adverts.
Findings also revealed that although respondents perceive the glo adverts to be realistic
and convincing, they are not motivated to emulate certain behaviours of these celebrity
endorsers. The endorsement of celebrities does not guarantee patronage of the organization as
people believe that the celebrities who endorse products and services are not determinants of the
efficiency of the organization. These findings are however subject to change as an extensive
study may either add to or negate some of the findings. It is however recommended that future
research works explore the criteria for selecting celebrity endorsers.
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REFERENCES
Adebamigbe, T.O. (2005) “The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on product purchase: A Studyof Peak Milk and Lady Care Sanitary Towel” A B.A. Project, Department ofCommunication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan.
Amos,C.; Holmes, G. and Strutton, D. (2008) “Exploring the relationship between celebrityendorser effects and advertising effectiveness: A quantitative synthesis of effect size”International Journal of Advertising Vol. 27, No 2 pp. 209-234.
Arens, W.F.; Weigold, M.I. and Arens, C. (2008) Contemporary Advertising. 11th edition, NewYork: McGraw-Hill.
Arnould, E.; Price, L. and Zinkhan, G. (2002) Consumers. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Assael, H. (1998) Marketing. Fortworth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Bearden, W.O.; Ingram, T.N. and Laforge, R.W. (2007) Marketing Principles and Perspectives.New York: McGraw-Hill.
Folarin, B. (1998) Theories of Mass Communication. Lagos: Stirling Horden.
Kardes, F.R. (1999) Consumer Behavior and Managerial Decision-making. New York:Addison-Wesley.
Larson, C.U. (2004) Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility. 10th edition, Belmont:Wadsworth.
Onyenyili-Onuorah, J. (2005) Advertising and Society. Lagos: Raindrops.
Strong, W.F.; Cook J.A. and Lemore, G. (1996) Persuasion. Iowa: Kendall/Hint.
Winterowd, W.R. and Murray, P.Y. (1985) English Writing and Skills. San Diego: Coronado.
INTERNET SOURCES
Agrawal J., Kamakura W. A. (1995) “The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: an eventstudy analysis” Journal of Marketing Vol. 59, Iss. 3 p56-63.www.rondonsja.com/research/economicworthofcelebrities.pdf
Ang,L.; Dubelaar,C. and Kamakura,W. (2010) “Changing Brand Personality through CelebrityEndorsement” www. conferences.anzmac.org/ANZMAC2007/papers/Ang_1.pdf
Bergstrom,C. and Skarfstad, R. (2004) “Celebrity Endorsement: Case Study of J. Lindeberg” ABachelor Thesis, Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences, LuleaUniversity of Technology www.epubl.luth.se
Gupta, D., (2007) “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behaviour and BrandBuilding” Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract
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Joshi, V. and Ahluwalia, S. (2010) “The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer BrandPreferences” www.chillibreeze.com/celebrityendorsement/htm
Katyal,S. (2010) “Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on a Brand”.www.chillibreeze.com/celebrity endorsement/htm .
www.nigeriamusicmovement.com. “Globacom: Five Years of Robust and Innovative Services”An internet source assessed on 20th July, 2010.
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APPENDIX I
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE ARTS,
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
Dear respondent,
This questionnaire is designed to evaluate the impact of celebrity endorsement on globacom subscribers. Celebrity endorsement is the use of a famous person in the society to promote a product, service or charity. For example: Kanu in the Peak milk advert.
This research is for academic purpose only and the confidentiality of all information given is assured.
Thank you.
SECTION A
Please tick in the boxes as appropriate.
1. What do you think of Glo’s advert style?
(a) Dull [ ] (b) Catchy [ ] (c) Interesting [ ] (d) Creative [ ]
(e) Others (Please specify) __________________________________________________
2. How did you become aware of the use of celebrity endorsement in Glo adverts?
(a) Television [ ] (b) Newspapers [ ] (c) Internet [ ]
(d) Billboard [ ] (e) Radio [ ] (f) All of the above [ ]
3. Could you please mention some of the celebrities that you know in these adverts?
_______________________________________________________________________
4. What is your perception about Glo adverts that featured celebrities?
(a) Convincing [ ] (b) Unconvincing [ ] (c) Indifferent [ ]
5. Do you like these celebrities? (a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]
Note that:
SA – Strongly Agree A – Agree N – Neutral
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D – Disagree SD – Strongly Disagree
SA A N D SD
6. Most claims made in Glo adverts are realistic.
7. The use of celebrities in Glo adverts affects your patronage of the network.
8. Your favorite celebrities in Glo adverts determineyour perception about the organization.
9. A celebrity that you do not like will affect your perception about the network.
10. How credible do you think the celebrities featured in these adverts are?
(a) Very credible [ ] (b) Not credible [ ] (c) Indifferent [ ]
11. How often do you find yourself wishing to be like the celebrities used in these adverts?
(a) Very often [ ] (b) Often [ ] (c) Rarely [ ] (d) Never [ ]
12. Would you prefer the use of non-celebrities in Glo adverts?
(a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ] (c) Not sure [ ] Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SECTION B (Demographic variables)
13. Gender (a) Male [ ] (b) Female [ ]
14. Age group (a) Below 20 years [ ] (b) 20-25 years old [ ]
(c) More than 25 years old [ ]
15. Faculty ___________________________
16. Level _________________________________
Thank you for your patience and understanding
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