The Effect of Ad Skepticism and Celebrity Preference on Brand Attitude Change in Celebrity-Endorsed Advertising

The use of a celebrity endorser who is well recognized and favorably evaluated by the target viewers is a common strategy used by advertisers to increase the persuasiveness of an advertisement. Yet, at the same time, being skeptical of the claim being made by the celebrity endorser is the typical response of the viewers to such persuasion attempts. The present research examines how these effects potentially counterbalance each other as viewers evaluate the advertised brand in a low-involvement setting. The results show that the degree of ad skepticism and the relative allocation of attentional resources to celebrity and brand elements in advertisements determine how preference for a celebrity endorser is transferred to the advertised brand. The findings provide a more complete understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which celebrity preference influences brand attitude change than has previously been available. They indicate that ad skepticism may be the missing link in understanding the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising.