Advertising is the most visible portion of the entire marketing effort. Behind every advertisement, there are thousands of hours spent in the research and development, data analysis, and creative conceptualization. The ultimate goal of advertisers is to attract the consumers’ attention.

1. Risk associated with celebrity endorsements-
An empirical analysis from Punjab
Reference:
Indian Journal of Marketing
Volume: 41 Number: 5 May, 2011 Page: 10-19
Abstract
Introduction:
Advertising is the most visible portion of the entire marketing effort. Behind every
advertisement, there are thousands of hours spent in the research and development, data
analysis, and creative conceptualization. The ultimate goal of advertisers is to attract the
consumers’ attention.
Celebrity endorsement can be tracked back to the 1870s when Reverend Henry Ward
Becher (Brother of famous literature Harriet Becher Stowe) endorsed Waltham watches in a
print advertisement in Harpers Weekly.
The first female celebrity endorser was Lillie Langtry, an English actress, who in 1893
appeared on the packaging of Pears Soap.
Celebrity endorsement has become an integral part of advertisement, this is a celebrity who
makes the advertisements more effective in the growing competition between the
endorsements now-a-days. But there are always some potential risks that can tarnish the
image of an endorsed brand.
Purpose:
The purpose of the study was to find out the consumers’ perception regarding potential risk
related to celebrity endorsement.
Research Methodology:
Sources of data: The study was based on the primary data which have been collected
through a suitably framed questionnaire and by interviewing the respondents
personally.
Sapient Institute of Management, Indore Priya Soni

2. Samples selected for the study: A sample of 300 effective number of respondents
were selected on the basis of judgement sampling, which is justified for exploratory
studies. Respondents were also classified into two categories i.e. male and female.
Area of the study: The study was conducted in the different rural and urban areas of
Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab. An attempt was made to take equal
number of respondents from urban and rural areas.
Framework of analysis:
Correlation matrix, Kaiser-Meyar-Olkin Measures of Sampling Adequacy (MSA),
Bartlett’s test of Sphericity, Cronbach’s alpha scale
Findings:
The above study reveals that celebrity endorsement have become integral part of
advertising, but there are some potential risks related with the use of celebrity
endorsements. It was found that:
Using celebrity endorsers is a risky business.
There are five important factors related to the potential risks of celebrity
endorsements, these are:
o Multiple product endorsement
o Financial risk
o Tarnished brand image
o Misleading advertising
o Negative publicity
All these factors indicate that celebrity endorsement itself are a great risk to the
company because advertisers do not have control over these risks directly.
Limitations:
The study was conducted in the rural and urban areas of the Punjab only.
Information gathering was a time consuming and costly affair in the physical market.
Conclusion:
Effectiveness of endorsement depends upon the involvement of consumers in the
advertisement. In the low involvement conditions, celebrity endorsements are very effective,
but in the high involvement conditions, advertisers should use the facts and strong arguments in
advertisement to make an impact.
Sapient Institute of Management, Indore Priya Soni