Marketing budgets have shifted dramatically in the last decade. Brands once relied exclusively on movie stars and musicians to sell products, but the rise of social media created a new category of fame. Social Media Influencers (SMIs) brand themselves as experts and build direct connections with followers. This shift forces advertisers to decide where to allocate their resources for the best return on investment.
A research team led by Chen-Yueh Chen at the National Taiwan Sport University investigated this exact trade-off. They sought to determine when a traditional celebrity is more effective than an internet personality and when the opposite might be true. The study focused specifically on the sports market, testing how different types of endorsers impact consumer attitudes. Their findings were published in the journal PLOS One.
Identifying the Knowledge Gap
Marketing literature offers inconsistent advice regarding endorsement effectiveness. Some previous studies suggested that influencers are more persuasive because consumers view them as relatable and authentic. Other research indicated that traditional celebrities still hold superior sway over consumer behavior due to their established fame. Chen and his colleagues noted that these conflicting results suggest the answer depends on the specific context of the advertisement.
The researchers based their investigation on the concepts of conditioning and associative learning. These theories suggest that people link two seemingly unconnected things when they appear together repeatedly. For example, if a person sees a specific athlete every time they enjoy a summer baseball game, they eventually link the athlete to that positive feeling. The team wanted to measure how this psychological linking process changes depending on who the endorser is.
Defining the Players and Concepts
The study distinguished between two specific types of famous figures. Traditional celebrities were defined as individuals who became famous through professional performance, such as acting or singing. SMIs were defined as individuals who gained popularity by branding themselves as experts on social media platforms.
The researchers also needed to account for specific variables that might change a consumer’s reaction. They looked at “product-endorser fit,” which describes how well the person matches the item they are selling. They also examined “self-congruity” and “similarity.” These concepts measure how much the consumer sees their own personality or lifestyle reflected in the famous person.
Setting Up the Experiments
To test these variables, the researchers designed four distinct experiments. They created mock advertising scenarios involving two sports contexts: a pair of basketball shoes and a badminton tournament. The team recruited participants from online communities in Taiwan, including road racing groups and badminton fan pages.
The researchers created digital posters to serve as the experimental stimuli. These posters featured either a traditional celebrity or an SMI promoting the sporting goods or the event. To control for gender bias, some experiments used all-male endorsers while others used all-female endorsers. Participants viewed these posters five times for 15 seconds each to simulate the repetition required for associative learning.
Measuring Consumer Reactions
After viewing the advertisements, the participants completed a survey. The primary measurement was the participant’s attitude toward the advertisement. They rated the ads on scales ranging from “good” to “bad” and “pleasant” to “unpleasant.”
The survey also asked participants to rate the endorsers on several specific traits. They evaluated how famous the person appeared, how likeable they were, and how similar the participant felt to the endorser. This data allowed the researchers to isolate which specific factors drove the success or failure of the ad.
The Role of Product Fit
The analysis revealed a clear relationship between how well an endorser fits a product and the ad’s success. When the match between the person and the product was considered a “good fit,” traditional celebrities generated more positive attitudes than SMIs.
In scenarios where the fit was low, the advantage for traditional celebrities disappeared. In those cases, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of a movie star and a social media personality. This suggests that the established fame of a traditional celebrity amplifies the message only when the pairing makes logical sense to the consumer.
The Impact of Popularity
The team also analyzed how the perceived level of fame influenced the results. They found that popularity played a distinct role in shaping consumer attitudes. When the endorser was perceived as highly popular, the traditional celebrity generated better results than the influencer.
This finding indicates that the broad reach associated with traditional fame provides a specific advantage. SMIs often engage deeply with niche audiences. However, in high-visibility contexts like sports marketing, the widespread recognition of a traditional celebrity appears to drive a stronger positive response.
Self-Reflection and Similarity
The study uncovered complex interactions regarding how consumers view themselves in relation to the endorser. The researchers measured “self-congruity” and “similarity,” which track how much a consumer identifies with the famous figure. The data showed that when consumers felt they had little in common with the endorser, traditional celebrities were more effective.
When consumers perceived a low level of similarity between themselves and the face on the poster, they responded better to the traditional star. This contradicts some assumptions that SMIs are always preferred for their “regular person” appeal. When the personal connection is weak, the status of a traditional celebrity acts as a safety net for the brand.
Likability Factors
The researchers also tested whether simply liking the person made a difference. They measured “likability,” which gauges how friendly or warm an endorser appears. The analysis showed that this trait did not change the outcome between the two groups.
While likability is generally positive for any public figure, it did not give one type of endorser an advantage over the other. Being perceived as “warm” or “sincere” did not help SMIs overcome the advantages held by traditional celebrities in the high-fit or high-popularity scenarios.
Implications for Business Strategy
These findings offer specific direction for companies allocating marketing budgets. The data suggests that abandoning traditional endorsements for digital influencers is not always the most effective strategy. For high-visibility campaigns where the product naturally aligns with the star, traditional celebrities still provide superior results.
Brands looking to appeal to a broad audience may find better returns with traditional stars, especially if the target customer does not naturally identify with the endorser. In these cases, the elevated status of a celebrity bridges the gap better than an influencer can. Conversely, for campaigns where the product fit is less obvious, the premium cost of a traditional celebrity may not be warranted.
New Questions for Future Research
This investigation highlights the need to look beyond the binary choice of “influencer vs. celebrity.” The results open up new questions about how these dynamics play out in different industries. This study focused strictly on sports products and events in Asia. It remains to be seen if the same preference for traditional celebrities holds true in fashion, technology, or food industries.
The researchers also noted that their stimuli were static posters. Digital marketing increasingly relies on video content, such as Reels or TikToks. Future studies could investigate if the motion and audio inherent in video content change the effectiveness of SMIs, potentially allowing their personality to shine through more effectively than in a still image.
