Celebrity Worship: Critiquing a Construct

McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran (2002 ) proposed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) to identify celebrity worshipers, useful for identifying individuals who are overly absorbed or addicted to their interest in a celebrity. Problematic is the absence of a conceptual definition for celebrity worshiper and how this term relates to use of the term fan. Currently, these terms are most often used as if they were synonyms ( Haspel, 2006 ; Maltby, Day, McCutcheon, Gillett et al., 2004 ; McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002 ). Sampled groups of serious fans contained many individuals who met none of the criteria for celebrity worship, as identified by the CAS. The use of celebrity worshiper as a synonym for fan appears to be conceptually flawed.     

The Effect of Ad Skepticism and Celebrity Preference on Brand Attitude Change in Celebrity-Endorsed Advertising

The use of a celebrity endorser who is well recognized and favorably evaluated by the target viewers is a common strategy used by advertisers to increase the persuasiveness of an advertisement. Yet, at the same time, being skeptical of the claim being made by the celebrity endorser is the typical response of the viewers to such persuasion attempts. The present research examines how these effects potentially counterbalance each other as viewers evaluate the advertised brand in a low-involvement setting. The results show that the degree of ad skepticism and the relative allocation of attentional resources to celebrity and brand elements in advertisements determine how preference for a celebrity endorser is transferred to the advertised brand. The findings provide a more complete understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which celebrity preference influences brand attitude change than has previously been available. They indicate that ad skepticism may be the missing link in understanding the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising.     

Codes of online sexuality: Celebrity,gender and marketing on the web

Marketers use the combination of sex and celebrity to sell movies, music, and more. this qualitative project uses content analysis to track sexualized images on the official Web sites and fan sites of 41 celebrities. An official Web site may construct a celebrity’s sexuality as part of overall marketing, with all images as tightly controlled as trademarked images. Over time, these celebrity images become a public sexual iconography. While such images have been studied in other mass media, few studies have scrutinized sexuality on mainstream Web sites. This analysis finds that female musicians are more likely than other celebrities to be represented by sexualized images, and that all types of female celebrities are sexualized more than males. In general, a female celebrity who uses sexuality to promote her public image wears this sexuality like a uniform on both official and fan Web sites.     

名人推荐者道德声誉对名人广告效果的影响

多数有关名人广告的研究,以信息源可信性模型、信息源吸引力模型、匹配假设和意义迁移模型为理论基础,关注的主要是：名人的可信性、吸引力和名人-产品形象一致性。且在西方消费者中进行。本研究探索在中国文化背景下,消费者对名人广告评价的影响因素。发现一个名为“道德声誉”的因子,影响对名人推荐者及所做广告和所推荐产品的评价。该因子通过“可信赖性”的中介作用对广告态度产生影响。道德规范在中国消费者社会化过程中被认同和内化是该因子存在和产生作用的原因。     

广告代言人参与度研究:深层代言还是浅层代言?

有关广告代言人效果、消费者卷入的研究都曾引起学界的重视并已取得了丰硕的成果,然而,代言人在品牌代言时实际参与(卷入)的程度是否影响消费者对其代言效果的认识,当代言不同类别的产品时这种代言效果是否依然存在,此外,消费者的个性特点是否也会影响这种代言效果等仍需要理论上的深入探讨。本文通过2(代言人高参与度/代言人低参与度)×2(高认知需求/低认知需求)×2(享乐型产品/功能型产品)的实验设计,全面、系统地探讨了代言人参与的深浅程度对消费者品牌态度和品牌文化感知的影响,以及消费者认知需求对两者之间的调节作用。结果表明,无论是代言享乐型还是功能型产品,代言人参与程度都会对消费者品牌态度和品牌文化感知有显著的影响,而且消费者对于明星代言享乐型产品的品牌态度显著高于功能型产品。特别地,这种作用还受到消费者认知需求水平的影响。即当消费者认知需求水平高时,名人参与代言的程度会对其品牌态度造成积极的正向的影响;而当消费者认知需求水平低时,名人参与代言程度则不会对其品牌态度造成显著影响。     

“一”人代言的魅力：品牌代言人数如何影响消费者的品牌态度

有的品牌仅邀请一位名人代言, 而有的品牌由多位名人代言, 那么一人代言还是多人代言会更有效?为了回答该问题, 研究基于形象转移视角和单人积极偏差, 深入探究了品牌代言人数因素(一位代言人vs.多位代言人)对品牌态度的影响机制和边界条件。研究发现：相比品牌多人代言, 品牌单人代言使消费者的品牌态度更高。原因在于消费者与一位(vs.多位)品牌代言人的自我-品牌联结更紧密, 进而促进品牌态度。该品牌代言人效应仅局限于象征型产品, 而对于非身份象征型产品, 品牌单人代言(vs.品牌多人代言)对品牌态度无显著差异。此外, 当多位品牌代言人为一个团体时, 品牌代言人数效应将被逆转, 即品牌多人代言(vs.品牌单人代言)对品牌态度的影响更高。     

自强还是自嘲?名人代言如何提升社会化媒体广告的营销效果

企业为了促进产品推广, 不惜重金聘请名人为产品代言。已有的文献主要探究名人代言的自强型模式, 很少研究名人代言的自嘲型的表达方式。本文则基于社会影响理论和产品差异理论探究了两种类型名人代言在不同产品情境下对消费者口碑推荐的影响。通过二手数据分析和实验法研究发现：自强型的名人代言更有利于提升消费者对享乐型产品的口碑推荐; 自嘲型的名人代言更有利于提升消费者对实用型产品的口碑推荐; 自强型的名人代言主要是通过强化其规范性影响, 进而增强消费者对享乐型产品的口碑推荐; 自嘲型的名人代言主要是通过强化其信息性影响, 进而增强消费者对实用型产品的口碑推荐。     

Popular culture fandoms,the boundaries of religious studies,and the project of the self

The starting point of this paper will be studies that view popular culture as religion. First, I examine a selection of recent works that argue certain popular culture communities—namely, music subcultures, sports, and television and celebrity fandoms—look like, act like, and indeed are religions for participants. Methodologically, the studies under examination proceed by starting with a definition of religion and then looking for parallels between the pop culture fandom and the definition. I suggest that popular culture as religion scholarship is at best creative, always problematic, and tends toward what Samuel calls ‘parallelomania’. In the second part of the paper, I use the studies under examination, as well as original research, to argue that contemporary fandoms are better understood as late modern ‘projects of the self’, affiliational choices that act to establish self-identity and community in a time period when these things are not given, but reflexively made and remade.     

Loneliness is associated with a greater self-reference effect in episodic memory when compared against a close friend

Loneliness describes a negative experience associated with perceived social disconnection. Despite the clear links between loneliness and mental and physical health, relatively little is known about how loneliness affects cognition. In this study, we tested the effect of loneliness on cognitive distance between the self and others, using a task in which participants completed a surprise memory task for adjectives implicitly encoded in relation to the self, a close friend or a celebrity. We assessed item memory sensitivity, metacognitive sensitivity, metacognitive efficiency and source memory for positive and negative words. In addition, participants reported their trait loneliness and depression. Results revealed an overall self-referential advantage compared with both friend and celebrity encoded items. Likewise, a friend-referential advantage was identified compared to celebrity-encoded items. Individuals who experienced more loneliness showed a greater self-referential bias in comparison to words encoded in relation to a close friend, and a smaller friend-referential bias in comparison to words encoded in relation to celebrity. These findings suggest that loneliness is reflected in a greater cognitive distance between the self and close friends in relation to memory biases. The results have important implications for understanding the social contextual effects on memory and the cognitive ramifications of loneliness.     

Personality and coping: A context for examining celebrity worship and mental health

The adaptational‐continuum model of personality and coping suggests a useful context for research areas that emphasize both personality and coping. The present paper used Ferguson's (2001) model integrating personality and coping factors to further conceptualize findings around celebrity worship. Three hundred and seventy‐two respondents completed measures of celebrity worship, personality, coping style, general health, stress, positive and negative affect and life satisfaction. Celebrity worship for intense‐personal reasons is associated with poorer mental heath and this relationship can be understood within the dimensions of neuroticism and a coping style that suggests disengagement. Such findings suggest the utility of examining the relationship between celebrity worship and mental health within both personality and coping variables, which have practical implications for understanding and addressing mental health problems that may occur as the result of engaging in celebrity worship for intense‐personal reasons.     

Publishing,Celebrity, and the Globalisation of Conservative Protestantism

Christian bookshops and publishers are helping to create an international conservative Protestant movement that brings together Charismatic and Evangelical Christians. This is in part because the power of many conservative Protestant leaders and teachers is derived from their popular appeal, which can be compared with the affective power of celebrity. This celebrity power is linked with publishing and today prominent individuals in conservative Protestantism act as brand names for the Christian publishing industry. Through this branding, books can be produced more easily in the form of series and often books are carefully worded to appeal to wider readerships. Branded series of books are also used to connect members of a mega-church to their pastor and to promote their pastor internationally.     

Beyond Knowledge Gaps: Examining Socioeconomic Differences in Response to Cancer News

This article tested a model, informed by the knowledge gap hypothesis, to predict information seeking about cancer immediately following news about the diagnosis or death from cancer of a national celebrity. I identified five celebrity news events and examined their impact using data from the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey. News coverage about celebrity news events was more likely to promote information seeking among people with greater education than among those with less education. These differences were explained, at least in part, by the fact that highly educated people had greater health knowledge and community involvement than less‐educated people. These factors may contribute to widening socioeconomic gaps in prevention behaviors. I suggest strategies to address these gaps.     

Multiple endorsers and multiple endorsements: The influence of message repetition,source congruence and involvement on brand attitudes

This paper investigates the effects of source congruence on brand attitudes in two situations: multiple brand endorsements by one celebrity and multiple celebrity endorsers of one brand. Under low involvement conditions, brand attitudes become more negative as a celebrity endorses multiple brands and more favorable with multiple endorsers. In high involvement conditions, strong source congruence overrides the negative effect of multiple brands, and the positive effect of multiple endorsers is found only with strong congruence. We interpret these results as suggestive of a frequency knowledge cue that dominates under low involvement but is non-diagnostic in high involvement scenarios.     

An fMRI study of advertising appeals and their relationship to product attractiveness and buying intentions

This study examines the effects of various visual apparel advertisements on consumers' brain activation during exposure to different types of advertising appeals (i.e., celebrity, non‐celebrity, and rational). The influence on consumer perceptions of products and their subsequent buying intentions are also measured. A repeated measures experimental design was employed, and the total of 27 right‐handed female subjects participated in the study. The results of the quantitative data showed significant differences in perceived product attractiveness for each of the three types of advertising appeals, but not in buying intentions. Regarding the fMRI results, our findings support the notion that celebrity advertising appeals are associated with heightened brain activation of memory‐related/retrieval regions, reflecting how consumers remember the ad and are influenced by the attractiveness of the source. Non‐celebrity advertising appeals were more closely associated with brain activation of regions thought to mediate self‐reflection and also engaging executive functions. For rational advertising appeals, our findings showed significant activation in brain areas associated with logical evaluative decision making reflecting more logical processing value assessments and reward potential. Therefore, retailers/marketers must be particularly mindful to match the appropriate advertising appeal to the specific purpose of the advertisement. This study also provides brain‐based insight into the effectiveness of different types of advertising appeals and whether or not they have the desired impact on the consumer. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

初中生偶像崇拜及其与生活目标和主观幸福感的关系:性别的调节作用

本研究以3587名初中生为对象,采用问卷测量法,考察了初中生偶像崇拜在性别和年级上的差异,及其与生活目标和主观幸福感的关系,并探究了性别在其中的调节作用。研究发现：（1）女生的偶像崇拜水平显著高于男生的,且偶像崇拜高水平组中女生人数显著多于男生,偶像崇拜低水平组中则相反;初一与初二年级间偶像崇拜的水平及在不同水平上的人数分布均无显著差异。（2）外在生活目标能够正向预测初中生的偶像崇拜水平,其中性别起调节作用,外在生活目标对女生偶像崇拜水平的影响大于男生。（3）性别对偶像崇拜影响初中生主观幸福感上也具有调节作用,即偶像崇拜水平负向预测初中女生的主观幸福感,对男生的主观幸福感则影响不显著。     

社会排斥与大学生冲动性消费行为：名人崇拜的中介及自我控制的调节作用

为探讨社会排斥与冲动性消费的关系及其作用机制,本研究采用社会排斥量表、名人崇拜量表、自我控制双系统量表以及冲动性购买倾向量表,对811名大学生进行调查。结果表明：（1）在控制性别、年龄、家庭月收入和每月生活费后,社会排斥显著正向预测冲动性消费;（2）名人崇拜在社会排斥和冲动性消费间起部分中介作用;（3）自我控制在中介路径的前半段及直接路径间起调节作用。本研究有助于对大学生冲动性消费的理解和干预。     

名人与产品一致性对名人广告效果影响的实验研究

本研究通过实验考察了名人与产品的一致性对名人广告效果的影响,结果表明,名人为高档商品做广告时,广告效果优于非名人广告效果,为低档商品做广告时,非名人广告效果优于名人广告效果,进一步分析表明,受众相信名人使用广告中商品的可能性是制约名人广告效果的重要心理机制。     

How does celebrity meaning transfer? Investigating the process of meaning transfer with celebrity affiliates and mature brands

The influence of celebrity spokespersons has largely been examined using source models from the communication literature that feature explicit persuasive messages. Alternatively, theorizing by McCracken (1989) offers a more comprehensive explanation based on meaning transfer. Our research elaborates McCracken's model by investigating a cognitive process underlying meaning transfer. Evaluative conditioning procedures are used as the tool to expose this process. To assess celebrity influence as it may operate in the marketplace, well-known brands and well-known celebrities are featured. The results support, at the individual level, McCracken's theoretical axiom concerning meaning transfer from celebrity affiliate to brand.     

Antecedents of Taiwanese adolescents' purchase intention toward the merchandise of a celebrity: the moderating effect of celebrity adoration

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relative importance of adolescents' attitude toward an act (the degree to which the person had a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or appraisal of the act's behavior in question), perceived norm, and perceived behavioral control in predicting Taiwanese adolescents' intention to purchase the merchandise of a celebrity when they had different levels of celebrity adoration. The present results showed that the relative strengths of attitude toward the act and the perception of behavioral control in predicting purchase intention toward the merchandise of a celebrity were stronger for adolescents in the celebrity adoration group than for adolescents in the celebrity nonadoration group. On the other hand, the relative importance of the perceived norm in predicting the attitude toward the act and the purchase intention was stronger for adolescents in the celebrity nonadoration group than for adolescents in the celebrity adoration group.