Isabella Huerta
Staff Writer
Astrid Keel, professor of marketing, discussed the effects of celebrity endorsements’ on business revenue Tuesday during her talk in the Randall Lewis Center.
For her lecture titled “Examining the Impact of Celebrity Endorsers’ Transgression, Expectancy, Apology, and Brand Continuation in a Cross-Cultural Context,” Keel used statistics accumulated from her six-years of work on the research project, which she worked on with Subhadip Roy, a professor of marketing at the Indian Institute Of Management in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
“Celebrities have a strong impact on low-information consumers,” Keel said. “When celebrities misbehave, that can wake up the consumer to other potential options.”
Keel’s research found that some large brands spend a half-billion dollars a year on endorsement deals.
Some brands have begun signing elite high school athletes before they go pro, she said, adding that these rising stars appeal to brands in large part for their social media presence.
These young athletes and social media influencers have established audiences, Keel said.
Familiar brands like Adidas manage well over 200 celebrities.
But celebrities come with some baggage, and their bad behavior affects brands and consumer behavior, the researchers found.
Keel’s research found that among celebrities’ “transgressions”, 60% of the transgressions were done by athletes, 70% of whom were male.
She shared examples of those who betrayed the clean-cut images brands had sought, including Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who was photographed smoking marijuana from a bong. Golfer Tiger Woods’ sex scandals lost his sponsor Nike more than $1 million in golf ball sales, Keel said.
“We’re so far into a cultural space where we market with peoples’ lives,” said University Chaplain Zandra Wagoner, who attended the Tuesday talk. “This is an interesting place where we’re selling things by other people’s popularity or reputations.”
Isabella Huerta can be reached at isabellahuerta.huerta@laverne.edu.
Isabella Huerta is a sophomore journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. She is also a staff writer for La Verne Magazine and a former staff writer for the Campus Times.
