Some celebrities’ endorsements such as Frank Sinatra Holiday Inn testimonial performs poorly in product pitching while others such as Nike’s Michael Jordan endorse the products effectively (Dimed & Joulyana, 2005). The reason behind such disparity is the celebrity’s credibility values, symbols, and images. Effective product endorsement entails three major factors, that is, trustworthiness, expertise, as well as likeability (Shahrokh & Arefi, 2013). Lack of these factors in addition to the familiarity of the celebrity makes it impossible for some celebrities to pitch products efficiently. Thus, for advertising firms, selecting and employing the suitable celebrity endorser to advertise their products remains a crucial task. Therefore, this paper elucidates the three factors, that is, likeability, trustworthiness, and expertise, as well as why likeability is the most effective attribute associated with the pitching of products.
Likeability is the fondness of an endorser developed by assessing the endorser’s external and innate qualities (Hussain & Khan, 2017) . From all the celebrity’s characteristics, the major likeability qualities a celebrity is perceived to exemplify are attractiveness, intellectual skills, and personality. For instance, most advertisements that we encounter are from attractive individuals such as models and good-looking celebrities. Therefore, physical attractiveness plays an important role in celebrity endorsement field. Most advertising practitioners choose the celebrity endorsers on the basis of attractiveness so that that they can gain from both the celebrity’s physical attractiveness and status ( Guided Selling, 2016 ). Moreover, research indicates that consumers tend to think that physically attractiveness of celebrity endorsers portray positive traits such as kindness, outgoing, and happiness (Dimed & Joulyana, 2005) .
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On the other hand, to realize efficient communication, the addressee must understand and acknowledge the communicator’s message. But, the decision by the receiver to either believe the assertions or disregard them depends on the communicator’s credibility which is composed of two factors, that is, expertise and trustworthiness. According to (Hussain & Khan (2017) , trustworthiness is the amount of confidence of the receiver in the communicator's objective of communicating the assertions he or she regards legitimate. Some advertisers capitalize on the value of trustworthiness by choosing celebrity endorsers who are considered reliable, authentic, and candid ( Guided Selling, 2016 ). Despite possessing other qualities, untrustworthy endorsers can be seen as questionable message sources. Similarly, expertise is defined as the receiver’s view of the communicator as a source of valid information (Hussain & Khan, 2017). Being an expert implies the endorser has long-term knowledge, practice, and experience that he or she can translate into well-established skills in a given area. A receiver uses different aspects to establish the communicator’s expertness such as leadership position, age, or the level of similarity they share in terms of needs, interests, status, and values.
Overall, in the context of celebrity endorsement, what is important is how the target audience views the endorser but not the individual’s expertise. Since some of the celebrity’s likeability qualities entail personality, which encompasses trustworthiness, it means that the most effective endorsement factor is likeability.
References
Dimed, C., & Joulyana, S. (2005). Celebrity Endorsement. Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:3943/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Hussain, D., & Khan, K. (2017). Understanding the Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements. Retrieved from http://www.iimidr.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/Vol9-1-UEC.pdf
Guided Selling. (2016). Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.guided-selling.org/impact-of-celebrity-endorsement-on-consumer-buying-behavior/
Shahrokh, Z., & Arefi, A. (2013). Identify Factors Influencing on the Effectiveness of Celebrities Advertising. Retrieved from https://www.textroad.com/pdf/JAEBS/J.%20Appl.%20Environ.%20Biol.%20Sci.,%203(12)112-121,%202013.pdf
