Do Young Consumers Abandon Ship after a Celebrity Endorsement Scandal? Evidence from an Emerging Market

Abstract

Celebrity endorsement is an effective method of advertising due to the great influence they exertover the members of a society. The success of a brand can be completely intertwined with thesuccess of a celebrity. The research investigates the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements asa method of promotion in the minds of consumers today. Another major goal of this research isto explore whether Turkish consumers are affected by celebrity scandals and will continue similarpurchase behaviour subsequent to the publicizing of a scandal. Descriptive research is conductedon a sample of 390 participants to establish the overall attitudes, and purchase behaviour ofTurkish consumers.Through the data obtained via face-to-face surveys, it is concluded that themajority of consumers are highly critical about the private lives of celebrities and when acelebrity is involved in a scandal, this ultimately leads to an adverse influence on the decision topurchase a product or service endorsed by that celebrity. The results from this study hasconfirmed that there is a great risk for companies who use celebrity endorsements in the Turkishmarket, since consumers care significantly when the reputation of a celebrity is tarnished.Companies need to figure out how to distance themselves from a celebrity and do damage controlfollowing the eruption of a scandal in order to avoid the collapse of their brands.