Understanding Indian Consumer Attitudes towards Celebrity Based Television Advertising (CBTA)

Despite the obvious economic advantage of using relatively unknown personalities as endorsers in advertising campaigns, the choice of celebrities to fulfill that role has become common practice for companies competing in today's cluttered media environment During the past decades, celebrities have had a growing influence on consumers through mass media such as television. The proliferation of entertainment media worldwide has increased the exposure of celebrities to consumers and given them i.e., celebrities, an iconic status. In this article, we explore few important research questions. First, we seek to determine how attractive is celebrity based television advertising (CBTA) to the Indian consumer and what is the effect of CBTA on consumers' brand choice behavior? Next, we seek to explain how important is the celebrity-product match up? Lastly we seek to explain whether consumer attitudes towards CBTA, with respect to brand-choice behavior, vary by demographic variables such as sex and income. These research objectives were pursued through the empirical study of respondents in New Delhi. The data was analyzed primarily by One Sample t-test and One Way ANOVA. The main findings showed that the Indian consumers were interested in celebrity endorsements in advertising and found it attractive. Further, CBTA was found to positively influence consumers' brand choice behaviour. The study also found that celebrity-product match up was important for customers and that consumers' brand-choice is influenced by CBTA, due to demographic characteristics such as sex and income.