International Journal of Advertising

The Review of Marketing Communications

ISSN: 0265-0487 (Print) 1759-3948 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rina20

Celebrity endorsements for luxury brands:

followers vs. non-followers on social media

Sanga Song & Hye-Young Kim

To cite this article: Sanga Song & Hye-Young Kim (2020) Celebrity endorsements for luxury
brands: followers vs. non-followers on social media, International Journal of Advertising, 39:6,
802-823, DOI: 10.1080/02650487.2020.1759345

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1759345

Published online: 19 May 2020.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING
2020, VOL. 39, NO. 6, 802–823
https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1759345

Celebrity endorsements for luxury brands: followers vs.

non-followers on social media
Sanga Songa and Hye-Young Kimb
a
School of Business & Economics, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN, USA; bRetail Merchandising,
University of Minnesota Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN, USA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study investigated luxury brand celebrity endorsements on Received 6 September 2017
social media by focusing on the relationships among three pairs Accepted 19 April 2020
of image congruence (i.e., brand-celebrity, self-brand, and self-
celebrity), three constructs of consumer evaluations (i.e., ad atti- KEYWORDS
tudes, brand attitudes, and self-brand connections), and two fac- Ad attitudes; brand
attitudes; celebrity
ets of behavioral intentions (i.e., engagement and purchase). This endorsements; engagement;
study also examined whether celebrity endorsements’ effective- image congruence;
ness differs between brand followers and non-followers. This social media
results showed that image congruence in the self-brand pair posi-
tively influenced all three constructs of consumer evaluations. In
addition, self-brand connections were significant in predicting
both engagement and purchase intentions. There were differen-
ces between followers and non-followers concerning the congru-
ence-consumer evaluation-behavioral intention relationship. This
study extends the existing literature on celebrity endorsements
and provides luxury brands with valuable insights regarding
celebrity endorsements on social media.

Introduction
The use of celebrities to promote a product or service is not a new phenomenon in
the luxury industry. Many people still associate Givenchy with Audrey Hepburn, who
wore a black dress made by the designer in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Chanel
No.5 gained huge popularity because Marilyn Monroe, the face of the perfume in
advertisements, revealed that she wore only the perfume to bed. As seen in these
exemplary cases, celebrity endorsements can be effective in raising brand awareness,
enhancing brand image, drawing attention to advertising messages, and increasing
message recall (Erdogan 1999; Fleck, Korchia, and Le Roy 2012; Knoll and Matthes
2016; Rahman 2018). Indeed, luxury brands that emphasize symbolic and aspirational
benefits have employed celebrities who have a significant influence on various facets
of society, ranging from arts and entertainment to business, politics, and even the reli-
gious (Dwivedi, Johnson, and McDonald 2015; Okonkwo 2007).

CONTACT Hye-Young Kim hykim@umn.edu Retail Merchandising, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 240
McNeal Hall,1985 Buford Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
ß 2020 Advertising Association
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 803

Nowadays, luxury brands actively use celebrity endorsements not only in traditional
offline media but also in new digital media (Bezjian-Avery, Calder, and Iacobucci 1998;
Khang, Ki, and Ye 2012; Park and Yang 2010). In particular, luxury brands are now
embracing social media to extend their online presence (Chu, Kamal and Kim
2013; 2019; Mart
ın-Consuegra et al. 2018; Ko and Megehee 2012; Ko, Phau, and Aiello
2016). The use of celebrities on social media can deliver brand messages to customers
among the clutter of advertisements from competitors and capture the attention of a
wider audience including those whom the brands did not target before (Godey et al.
2016; Jin 2012). Moreover, with growing skepticism toward advertising in online envi-
ronments, celebrity endorsements provide a sense of authenticity to consumers
(Cunningham and Bright 2012; Soh, Reid, and King 2007).
Although luxury brands have increasingly showcased various celebrities on social
media to promote their products, studies about this topic are quite limited. Why do
some luxury brand celebrity endorsements succeed on social media while others fail?
Previous research has indicated that a more relevant and congruent celebrity and
brand pair produces more positive marketing outcomes (Fleck, Korchia and Le Roy
2012). Following the match-up hypothesis (Kamins 1990; Till and Busler 2000), celebrity
endorsements are more effective when there is a “fit” between the endorser and the
endorsed brand.
However, the brand-celebrity fit does not seem to be enough to account for con-
sumers’ various responses toward celebrity endorsements on social media. Considering
that there are differences in consumer responses toward traditional advertising and
new digital media advertising (Bezjian-Avery, Calder, and Iacobucci 1998; Gensler et al.
2013), it is necessary to investigate the mechanism underlying consumer evaluations
and behavioral responses toward celebrity endorsements on social media. In addition,
celebrity endorsements on social media should consider the role of consumers’ iden-
tity expression. Identity expression is an important motivator when using social media
(Boyd 2008), and “liking” or “commenting” on a specific post allows consumers to
express themselves to others, which involves a certain level of social and psychological
risk (Escalas and Bettman 2017).
Therefore, to better understand consumers’ responses to celebrity endorsements on
social media, three pairs of image congruence should be considered: not only the brand–-
celebrity pair (i.e., the congruence between brand image and celebrity image) but also
the self–brand pair (i.e., the congruence between self-image and brand image) and the
self–celebrity pair (i.e., the congruence between self-image and celebrity image). Besides,
the effects of these three pairs of image congruence (i.e., brand-celebrity, self-brand, self-
celebrity) may vary depending on consumer types, that is, whether they are fans/followers
of the luxury brand or not on social media. Therefore, this study was designed to (a)
investigate how three pairs of image congruence (i.e., brand-celebrity, self-brand, self-
celebrity) of luxury brand celebrity endorsements on social media influence consumer
evaluations and behavioral intentions, and (b) examine whether the effectiveness of celeb-
rity endorsements differs between brand followers and non-followers.
We suggest a new perspective on the different pairs of image congruence to
expand the current literature on celebrity endorsements and luxury brand advertising.
Moving beyond traditional brand–celebrity pairing, this study emphasizes the
804 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

importance of self-related pairs that would capture the essence of social media adver-
tising. This study also examines self–brand connections as key customer evaluations
toward luxury brand celebrity endorsements that would strongly indicate consumers’
behavioral intentions but have not been sufficiently investigated. This study also
addresses differences between followers’ and non-followers’ interactions with luxury
brand social media advertising. This study offers insights for luxury brands to consider
a specific target to achieve intended outcomes to maximize the effectiveness of celeb-
rity endorsements on social media.

Literature review and hypotheses

Brand-celebrity image congruence Since celebrity endorsements lead to huge impacts
and inappropriate celebrity selection can greatly harm brands, researchers and practi-
tioners have focused on discovering how to select an appropriate celebrity. Early stud-
ies have focused on source effects, such as source credibility (e.g., expertise and
trustworthiness) or attractiveness (e.g., similarity, familiarity, liking), indicating that
these positive characteristics or qualities increase the persuasiveness of advertising
messages and enable advertising receivers to have positive beliefs, opinions, attitudes
and behavioral intentions toward the endorsed products or brands (see Ohanian
1990). Several researchers later introduced the match-up effect between the celebrity
and the brand/product (Kahle and Homer 1985; Kamins 1990). The match-up hypoth-
esis suggests that even though the celebrity is attractive, credible or likable, the celeb-
rity endorsement can fail if there is no “fit” between the brand or product and the
celebrity (Erdogan 1999). In the early stage of this research stream, most match-up
studies focused on celebrities’ physical attractiveness; that is, attractive celebrities are
more effective when they promote appearance-related products (e.g., cosmetics or lux-
ury cars) (Kamins 1990)). Later, studies suggested that congruence, defined as a per-
ceived fit or belongingness between a brand and an endorser (e.g., energy bars
endorsed by athletes), drives endorsement effects (Till and Busler 2000).
Although a variety of terms have been used to refer to match-up, fit or congruence,
the general concept is assessing the fit between the highly relevant characteristics of the
endorser and the highly relevant attributes of the brand (Misra and Beatty 1990). Among
the different dimensions of congruence—including attractiveness, personality, product
category, or image—image congruence, defined as a similarity between a brand’s image
and that of a celebrity who endorses the brand, serves as an important criterion influenc-
ing the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements (Erdogan 1999; Kamins and Gupta 1994;
Paul and Bhakar 2018). The higher the degree of congruence perceived between a brand
and a celebrity, the more favorable the evaluations of the advertisement and the brand
(Choi and Rifon 2012; Forgas and Eich 2012; Pradhan, Duraipandian, and Sethi 2016).
Self-brand image congruence Consumers often have favorable attitudes toward
products that have matching images with themselves (Parker 2009). The self-congruity
theory posits that the congruence between the images of consumer and brand
increases brand attitudes (Sirgy 1986; Sirgy 2018; Woodside and Bernal Mir 2019).
When consumers perceive a product as self-congruent, such as perceiving similarity to
their self-image, the use of the product serves as a symbolic function of self-
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 805

expression (Govers and Mugge 2004), enabling consumers to be more attached to the
product and to exhibit positive responses toward the product (Govers and Mugge
2004; Usakli and Baloglu 2011). Therefore, a higher level of congruence between a
brand and the self allows consumers to perceive the brand as expressive of their sense
of self, which subsequently increases positive attitudes toward the brand (Pradhan,
Duraipandian, and Sethi 2016; Taylor, Strutton, and Thompson 2012). In the context of
social media, the self-congruity theory may hold true. For example, a study that exam-
ined sports sponsorships via social media found that brand-customer congruity influ-
enced affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of the brand relationship quality
(Do, Ko, and Woodside 2015).
Self-celebrity image congruence The meaning transfer model posits that celebrities
provide a range of cultural meaning to products or brands and the cultural meaning
can be transferred to consumers. Celebrities have particular configurations of positive
meanings drawn from the roles in their careers that can be transferred from the celeb-
rities to the products they endorse, and from the products to the consumers (Erdogan
1999; McCracken 1989). This allows consumers to construct a satisfying self-concept
derived by celebrities while using the products (Choi and Rifon 2012; McCracken
1989). This theory is in line with the match-up hypothesis since this cultural meaning
is transferred to consumers as they use the brand to achieve a self-image (ideal or
aspirational) that is consistent with the image of the celebrity (Pradhan, Duraipandian,
and Sethi 2016). The congruent qualities between the self and a celebrity, such as
demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, and ethnicity), personalities, or images,
enable consumers to better relate to the celebrity, perceive the advertising messages
more relevant to them, and be more likely to have positive attitudes toward the celeb-
rity or the endorsement (Kamins and Gupta 1994). For example, Choi and Refon’s
(2012) study found that when consumers perceive a celebrity as similar to themselves,
they view the celebrity as possessing an image that is close to their self-image, and
they subsequently display more favorable attitudes toward the endorsement and
eventually the brand. Therefore, the positive influence of image congruence in each
pair on ad attitudes and brand attitudes is expected.
H1. Image congruence (a. brand-celebrity, b. self-brand, c. self-celebrity) is positively
related to ad attitudes.
H2. Image congruence (a. brand-celebrity, b. self-brand, c. self-celebrity) is positively
related to brand attitudes.

This study also investigates the relationships of three pairs of congruence and self-
brand connections. Self-brand connections refer to the extent to which individuals
integrate a brand into their self-concept (Dwivedi, Johnson, and McDonald 2016;
Ferraro, Kirmani, and Matherly 2013). Self-brand connection construct is relevant to
understanding celebrity endorsement effects because consumers often utilize celebri-
ties to construct and redefine their desired self-image (Escalas and Bettman 2017).
Few studies have investigated the relationship between celebrity endorsements and
self–brand connections. Knoll and Matthes (2016), based on the balance theory,
explained that individuals desire consistency in their cognitive structures to create less
tension. In the case of celebrity endorsements, the cognitive triad consists of the
endorser, the brand or product, and the consumer (Mowen 1980). A consistent state is
806 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

achieved if the consumer believes each entity of celebrity endorsements (i.e., the
brand–celebrity, the self–brand, and the self–celebrity) has similar attributes or
valence, which increases self-brand connections (Escalas and Bettman 2005). Dwivedi
et al. (2016) tested self-brand connections in their celebrity endorsement study and
explained that celebrity endorsements imbue brands with symbolic meanings associ-
ated with the celebrity and as a result, consumers use the associated meanings to
shape their self-concepts and behaviors. Consumers use a product or brand to repre-
sent their self-image to others (McCracken 1989); and it consequently increases the
level of self-brand connections (Escalas and Bettman 2017). It would be possible that if
celebrity endorsements were well-designed with appropriate pairs of each entity (i.e.,
brand, celebrity, and self), then the transferring process will result in more desirable
outcomes. Therefore, we posit the following:
H3. Image congruence (a. brand-celebrity, b. self-brand, c. self-celebrity) is positively
related to self-brand connections.

Consumer evaluations and behavioral intentions

Previous studies argued that ad attitudes are significant antecedents of brand atti-
tudes. For example, Lafferty, Goldsmith, and Newell (2002) suggested that researchers
consider the relationship between ad attitudes and brand attitudes, and how these
attitudes influence consumers’ purchase intentions. Bergkvist et al. (2016) found that
attitudes toward a celebrity endorsement mediated the relationship between the
brand-celebrity fit and brand attitudes. Choi and Rifon (2012) also demonstrated that
attitudes toward a celebrity endorsement ad, which were increased by the celebrity-
consumer and celebrity-product congruences, also increased brand attitudes.
With respect to self-brand connections, self-brand connections differ from brand
attitudes but they are strongly correlated with each other (Ferraro et al. 2013; Schmitt
2012). Self-brand connections represent the consumers’ strong belief that the brand is
relevant to them while attitudes represent individuals’ internal evaluations that are
not necessarily related to perceived relevance (Ferraro et al. 2013). It may seem that
consumers are more likely to incorporate a celebrity-endorsed brand into their self-
concept, i.e., high self-brand connections, when they perceive the celebrity endorse-
ment or the brand more favorably. Applying McCracken’s meaning transfer model
(1989), a celebrity endorsement transfers the celebrity’s meanings to a brand through
advertising, and these meanings eventually move to consumers (Escalas and Bettman
2009). Consumers use these symbolic meanings to construct their self-concept, ultim-
ately leading to self-brand connections (Escalas and Bettman 2017).
In the social media era, consumers increasingly use celebrities in their identity for-
mation. Social media platforms provide useful meanings and connections with celebri-
ties that help consumers meet their social identity needs (Escalas and Bettman 2017).
Moreover, social media provide important venues for self-presentation, enabling indi-
viduals to make favorable impressions to others that correspond to their ideals
(DeVito, Birnholtz, and Hancock 2017). Thus, when consumers perceive a celebrity
endorsement and the brand endorsed by the celebrity favorably, consumers may find
the symbolic meanings associated with the brand to more effectively represent their
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 807

desired self-image or to communicate their self-concept to others. Previous studies

have provided evidence that consumers’ positive attitudes toward an advertisement or
a brand are related to self-brand connections. For example, in a comparison study
between Western and Asian models, Chang (2014) found that favorable ad responses
lead to stronger self-brand connections and brand attitudes. Another study examined
the relationship between self-brand connections and brand attitudes among various
brands—well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands—found that brand attitudes
increased self-brand connections for well-liked brands (Tan, Salo, Juntunen, and Kumar
2018). Based on these findings, we posit the following:
H4. Ad attitudes are positively related to brand attitudes.
H5. Ad attitudes are positively related to self-brand connections.
H6. Brand attitudes are positively related to self-brand connections.

Researchers have found the strong causal sequence of ad attitudes, brand attitudes,
and purchase intentions in advertising studies (Muehling and McCann 1993). Studies
on celebrity endorsements also support this notion (Choi and Rifon 2012; Erdogan
1999; Knoll and Matthes 2016; Lafferty et al. 2002; Paul and Bhakar 2018). Paul and
Bhakar (2018) pointed out that customers’ positive attitudes toward an advertisement
or a brand are important mediators of the effect of celebrity endorsements on pur-
chase intentions. Further, previous studies showed that self–brand connections, as link-
ages between a brand and consumers’ self-concept, serve as important indictors of
customers’ behavioral responses (Cheng, White, and Chaplin 2012; Escalas and
Bettman 2017). For luxury brands in particular, celebrities represent aspirational refer-
ence groups whose images are superior to those consumers who want to mitigate
(Moore and Homer 2008; Pradhan et al. 2016). If consumers derive proper meanings
from celebrity and brand associations, they can use celebrity endorsements to con-
struct their ideal self-image that is similar to that of the celebrity (Pradhan et al. 2016).
Moreover, self–brand connections inherently involve the consumers’ strong bond or
attachment to the brand, which then leads to strong behavioral intentions, such as
purchase intentions, willingness to pay, or word-of-mouth intentions (Fedorikhin, Park,
and Thomson 2008). Therefore, we posit the following:
H7. Consumer evaluations (a. ad attitudes, b. brand attitudes, c. self-brand connections)
are positively related to purchase intentions.

Social media marketing is based on users’ active engagement in sharing and gener-
ating brand-related content. Engagement intentions are defined as “behaviors that go
beyond simple transactions and may be specifically defined as a customer’s behavioral
manifestations that have a brand focus, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational
drivers” (Van Doorn et al. 2010, p. 254). Engagement includes all kinds of behaviors
but, in particular, for social media activity, it often refers to liking or commenting on a
post (Kabadayi and Price 2014; Wallace, Buil, and Chernatony 2014). Since liking and
commenting on a specific branded post appears on the user’s profile and can be seen
by friends or unknown individuals on social media, it involves a certain level of risk
(Kabadayi and Price 2014). However, if consumers favorably evaluate the ad or the
brand, they are more likely to share the post with other users on social media. If the
808 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

brand is more tightly linked with the consumer’s self-identity as their self-brand con-
nections increase, the perceived risk of sharing the advertising post with others will be
diminished (Eelen, Ozturan, and Verlegh 2017). Therefore, we assume the positive rela-
tionship between consumer evaluations and engagement intentions.
H8. Consumer evaluations (a. ad attitudes, b. brand attitudes, c. self-brand connections)
are positively related to engagement intentions.

Followers vs. non-followers

Each social media platform allows users to connect with others based on shared inter-
ests. Many brands operate their official brand pages on various social media in
attempt to build relationships with a wider audience (Kwon et al. 2014) while pursuing
more targeted personalized marketing communications with their followers or fans. To
the authors’ best knowledge, there has not yet been an attempt to empirically test
the moderating effect of this consumer type (followers vs. non-followers) in the con-
text of celebrity endorsements. However, recent business reports have claimed that
there should be different social media marketing approaches when targeting brand
followers (vs. non-followers). For example, celebrity-endorsed content was one of the
least engaging topics in luxury brand social media pages for their followers than other
types of content such as questions to followers or behind-the-scenes views of fashion
shows (business2community 2012). Non-followers, on the other hand, may not be
interested in developing a stable relationship with the brand or utilizing the brand as
a symbolic function of self-expression (Govers and Mugge 2004).
Based on the self-congruity theory, consumers have more favorable attitudes when
they perceive a product as self-congruent (Sirgy 1986). Considering the fact that brand
followers participate in the community to reinforce and express themselves through
interacting with the brand (Burnasheva, Suh, and Villalobos-Moron 2019; Kwon et al.
2014; Rasheed Gaber, Elsamadicy, and Wright 2019), it may be a reasonable assump-
tion that followers would be more likely to be influenced by the self-brand pairing of
image congruence than non-followers. That is, when followers perceive a celebrity-
endorsed ad as self-congruent, such that they found similarities to the brand, they
would have more favorable attitudes toward the brand or the ad, or are more likely to
incorporate the brand into their self-concept. Non-followers, on the contrary, would
be more influenced by the brand-celebrity or the self-celebrity pairing since the
match-up effect is often more effective in low-involvement conditions (Till, Stanley,
and Priluck 2008). Thus, we posit the following:
H9. There are differences between followers and non-followers in the relationships
between image congruence and consumer evaluations.
H9-1. The influence of brand-celebrity image congruence on consumer evaluations (a. ad
attitudes. b. brand attitudes, c. self-brand connections) is stronger for non-followers than
for followers.
H9-2. The influence of self-brand image congruence on consumer evaluations (a. ad
attitudes, b. brand attitudes, c. self-brand connections) is stronger for followers than for
non-followers.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 809

H9-3. The influence of self-celebrity image congruence on consumer evaluations (a. ad

attitudes, b. brand attitudes, c. self-brand connections) is stronger for non-followers
than followers.

Followers or fans of a brand are those who wish to interact and engage with the
brand (De Vries, Gensler, and Leeflang 2012). Followers often have positive brand eval-
uations, are more loyal, visit the store more, communicate positively by word of
mouth, and are more attached to the brand than non-followers (Dholakia and Durham
2010; De Vries et al. 2012). Followers would be likely to be influenced by brand atti-
tudes that they have developed while interacting with the brand via social media
pages (Ilicic and Webster 2014). Non-followers would be likely to be influenced by ad
attitudes after being exposed to a single post, as was done in the study. In addition,
non-followers are less likely to have a stable relationship with the brand. Therefore,
their behavioral intentions would be less likely to be influenced by self-brand connec-
tions. Therefore, we posit the following:
H10. There are differences between followers and non-followers in the relationships
between consumer evaluations and behavioral intentions.
H10-1. The influence of ad attitudes on consumer behavioral intentions (a. engagement
intentions, b. purchase intentions) is stronger for non-followers than for followers.
H10-2. The influence of brand attitudes on consumer behavioral intentions (a. engagement
intentions, b. purchase intentions) is stronger for followers than for non-followers.
H10-3. The influence of self-brand connections on consumer behavioral intentions (a.
engagement intentions, b. purchase intentions) is stronger for followers than for non-followers.

Methods
This study developed and tested a model explaining the relationships among
image congruence in each of the three pairs (i.e., brand-celebrity, self-brand, and self-
celebrity), consumer evaluations (i.e., ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and self-brand
connections) and behavioral intentions (i.e., engagement intentions and purchase
intentions) toward luxury brand celebrity endorsements on social media. The research
model is presented in Figure 1.

Process
A series of pretests was conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to select stim-
uli for the main test. The first pretest was to select a luxury brand that was most famil-
iar to our participants who were 40 young female adults (18-35 years old) in the U.S.
The initial list of luxury fashion brands was from “best global brands 2016 ranking”
(Interbrand 2017). Among the six brands (i.e., Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci, Chanel,
Prada, and Burberry), Chanel was chosen as the most familiar brand for our sample
(M ¼ 6.05, SD ¼ 1.08). The second pilot study was to select a list of celebrities who
matched with the chosen brand. Similar to the first pilot test, 40 young female adults
(18-35 years old) in the U.S. recruited via Amazon Mturk. The results compiled 98
celebrities including Beyonc
e (n ¼ 11), Kim Kardashian (n ¼ 11), Rhianna (n ¼ 8),
810 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

Figure 1. Research model.

Jennifer Lawrence (n ¼ 8), and Emma Stone (n ¼ 6). Among them, Rhianna and
Jennifer Lawrence who were main advertising campaign models for other luxury
brands in recent years were excluded to avoid bias. Therefore, Beyonc
e, Kim
Kardashian, and Emma Stone were selected as focal celebrities for the main study.
For the main study, 378 female adults aged 18-35 years were recruited from Amazon
MTurk. Although it is not a probability sampling method, MTurk has produced reliable
data that are equivalent to those data sampled using traditional methods and is consid-
ered more representative of the U.S. population than convenience sampling methods
(Berinsky, Huber and Lenz 2012; Walentynowicz, Schneider, and Stone 2018). This
method has been widely used in recent studies concerning luxury brand strategies on
social media (Huang, Ha and Kim 2018; Lee and Watkins 2016 Park, Im, and Kim 2018).
In addition, the millennial consumer group was appropriate for this study because social
media users fit the demographics (Gangadharbatla 2008) with growing interests in
celebrities and fashion (Park, Song, and Ko 2011; Stallen et al. 2010). Moreover, millenni-
als are important target audiences for luxury brands (Kim et al. 2010).
After providing informed consent, participants were asked to read brief definitions
of luxury brands and celebrity endorsements and then directed to a self-administered
online questionnaire. At the beginning of the survey, a fictitious Facebook post was
shown to participants. With Chanel official Facebook account logo on the left side, the
Facebook post showed one of three celebrities wearing a white dress on a red carpet
with a short promotional sentence “meet the best look from Spring Summer 2017 col-
lection worn by 0000 (Celebrity’s name)” (See Figure 2). This type of post is one of the
most frequently shown celebrity endorsements on social media because luxury brands
prefer to use an implicit and subtle way of endorsing products. Next, purchase inten-
tions, engagement intentions, congruence, ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and self-
brand connections were measured. Additionally, participants responded to general
questions concerning their social media usage, monthly spending on luxury goods,
and demographic characteristics.
Those participants who completed the survey were given $.40 in exchange for par-
ticipation. After excluding incomplete responses, the final sample consisted of 368
female adults in the U.S.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 811

Figure 2. Stimuli for the main study.

Measurement
The measurement scales were identified through literature review. Purchase intentions
were measured with four items from the work by Bian and Forsythe (2012) and
engagement intentions were measured with three items developed by De Vries and
Carlson (2014). Ad attitudes were measured by three items from Kim, Haley, and Koo
(2009), brand attitudes were assessed by three items from MacKenzie and Lutz (1989).
Self-brand connections were measured by five items from Escalas and Bettman (2017).
Lastly, each image congruence was measured by three items from Dwivedi et al.
(2016) by changing the pair between brand-celebrity, self-brand, and self-celebrity. All
items were measured on 7-point Likert scales with endpoints of ‘1: strongly disagree,
7: strong agree’ Details of the measurement items are presented in Table 1.

Results
Sample characteristics
The mean age of our respondents was 27.67 years (SD ¼ 4.36) and a large portion of
the respondents was white/Caucasian (76.1%). More than 34% of participants spent 1
or 2 hours on social media every day. Facebook was the most frequently used social
media platform (65.5%), followed by Instagram (14.7%). In terms of household monthly
income, 25.5% of participants earn between $20,000 and $39,999 and 24.5% earn
between $40,000 and $59,999. Lastly, for monthly spending on luxury brands, 45.9%
of them spend less than $50 and 24.7% spend between $101 and $500.follows

Preliminary analyses
Principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was used for each of eight con-
structs independently. Factor loadings ranged from .984 to .924 and Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient ranged from .975 to .943. AVE scores were greater than .599 and CR esti-
mates were above .818. Details including factor loadings, reliability estimates, and AVE
scores are presented in Table 1. Furthermore, the square root of AVE for any construct
was greater than the standardized correlation coefficient of each construct with all other
812 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

Table 1. Reliability and validity estimates.

Average
Factor Cronbach’s Composite variance
Construct and items loading alpha reliability extracted
Purchase intentions .958 .897 .685
If I were going to purchase a luxury product, I would consider .938
buying Chanel.
If I were shopping for a luxury brand, the likelihood I would .949
purchase Chanel is high.
My willingness to buy Chanel would be high if I were shopping .953
for a luxury brand.
The probability I would consider buying Chanel is high. .934
Engagement intentions .943 .818 .599
I will share Chanel’s content on social media in the future. .958
I intent to click “like” on Chanel’s brand page content on .946
social media.
I will comment on Chanel’s brand pages on social media in .939
the future.
Ad attitudes .961 .862 .676
The post that I saw is appealing to me. .959
The post I saw is attractive to me. .971
The post that I saw is interesting to me. .948
Brand attitudes .969 .936 .830
Unavorable:favorable .975
Negative:Positive .973
Bad:Good .972
Self-brand connections .967 .898 .637
The brand reflects who I am. .942
I can identify with this brand. .927
I feel a personal connection to this brand. .940
I consider this brand to be “me.” .938
This brand suits me well. .924
Congruence (brand-celebrity) .973 .908 .768
There is a match-up. .967
The combination goes together. .975
The combination is appropriate. .979
Congruence (self-brand) .969 .930 .815
There is a match-up. .966
The combination goes together. .975
The combination is appropriate. .966
Congruence (self-celebrity) .975 .918 .789
There is a match-up. .984
The combination goes together. .974
The combination is appropriate. .971

constructs, supporting discriminant validity (Dwivedi et al. 2016) (see Table 2). Then, a
confirmatory analysis was conducted on the measurement model using maximum likeli-
hood estimation. The model showed satisfactory fit-indices of CFI ¼ .975, NNFI ¼ .955,
SRMR ¼ .023, RMSEA ¼ .057, v2 ¼ 643.358, df ¼ 295, p ¼ .000, CMIN/DF ¼ 2.181.

Hypothesis testing
Structural equation modeling using maximum likelihood estimation was utilized to
test the proposed hypotheses. The fit indices (CFI ¼ .973, NNFI ¼ .953, SRMR ¼ .031,
RMSEA ¼ .058, v2 ¼ 658.753, df ¼ 301, p ¼ .000, CMIN/DF ¼ 2.255) were within
acceptable ranges, indicating a good fit of the hypothesized model to the data.
Table 3 summarizes the results.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 813

Table 2. The correlation matrix.

Mean S.D. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Purchase intentions 4.72 1.54 .83
2. Engagement intentions 3.54 1.80 .598 .77
3. Ad attitudes 4.50 1.72 .474 .519 .82
4. Brand attitudes 5.49 1.48 .617 .514 .627 .91
5. Self-brand connections 3.55 1.71 .586 .704 .511 .545 .80
6. Brand-celebrity image congruence 5.16 1.60 .294 .189 .474 .329 .129 .88
7. Self-brand image congruence 3.76 1.72 .616 .614 .481 .566 .836 .327 .90
8. Self-celebrity image congruence 3.31 1.82 .312 .500 .511 .545 .556 .327 .602 .89
Note: significance p < .001. Diagonal elements are the squared root of AVE.

Table 3. Results of the structural equation modeling (H1–H8).

Standardized Standard Critical Hypothesis
Hypotheses coefficient error ratio P-value testing
H1a Brand-celebrity ⟶ ad attitudes .366 .045 8.971  Supported
H1b Brand-celebrity ⟶ brand attitudes .081 .039 1.845 .065 Not supported
H1c Brand-celebrity ⟶ self-brand connections .057 .034 1.836 .066 Not supported
H2a Self-brand ⟶ ad attitudes .270 .049 5.536  Supported
H2b Self-brand ⟶ brand attitudes .445 .040 9.028  Supported
H2c Self-brand ⟶ self-brand connections .714 .044 16.703  Supported
H3a Self-celebrity ⟶ ad attitudes .342 .048 6.870  Supported
H3b Self-celebrity ⟶ brand attitudes .264 .040 5.203  Not supported
H3c Self-celebrity ⟶ self-brand connections .166 .037 4.403  Supported
H4 Ad attitudes ⟶ brand attitudes .549 .047 9.541  Supported
H5 Ad attitudes ⟶ self-brand connections .053 .047 1.147 .252 Not supported
H6 Brand attitudes ⟶ self-brand connections .089 .052 2.128  Supported
H7a Ad attitudes ⟶ purchase intentions .046 .051 .818 .413 Not supported
H7b Brand attitudes ⟶ purchase intentions .405 .064 6.921  Supported
H7c Self-brand connection ⟶ purchase intentions .359 .045 6.920  Supported
H8a Ad attitudes ⟶ engagement intentions .198 .053 3.658  Supported
H8b Brand attitudes ⟶ engagement intentions .081 .066 1.493 .135 Not supported
H8c Self-brand connection ⟶ engagement intentions .574 .050 11.126  Supported
p<.05, p<.01, p<.001.

Brand-celebrity congruence was positively related to ad attitudes (b ¼ .366,

t ¼ 8.971, p < .001) but not to brand attitudes (b ¼ .081, t ¼ 1.845, p > .05) and self-
brand connections (b ¼ .057, t ¼ 1.836, p > .05). Thus, H1a was supported but
H1b and H1c were not. Self-brand congruence is positively related to ad attitudes (b
¼ .270, t ¼ 5.536, p < .001), brand attitudes (b ¼ .445, t ¼ 9.028, p < .001), and self-
brand connections (b ¼ .714, t ¼ 16.703, p < .001). Therefore, H2a, H2b, and H2c were
all supported. Self-celebrity congruence was positively related to ad attitudes (b ¼
.342, t ¼ 6.870, p < .001) and self-brand connections (b ¼ .166, t ¼ 4.403, p < .001),
but was negatively related to brand attitudes (b ¼ .264, t ¼ 5.203, p <.001). Thus,
H3a and H3c were supported but H3b was not.1
Next, ad attitudes were positively related to brand attitudes (b ¼ .549, t ¼ 9.541, p
< .001) but not to self-brand connections (b ¼ .053, t ¼ 1.147, p > .05). However,
brand attitudes were positively related to self-brand connections (b ¼ .089, t ¼ 2.128,
p < .05). Therefore, H4 and H6 were supported but H5 was not. In addition, brand
attitudes (b ¼ .405, t ¼ 6.921, p < .001) and self-brand connections (b ¼ .359,
t ¼ 6.920, p < .001) were positively related to purchase intentions but ad attitudes
were not (b ¼ .046, t ¼ .818, p > .05). Thus, H7b and H7c were supported but H7a
was not. Ad attitudes (b ¼ .198, t ¼ 3.658, p < .001) and self-brand connections (b ¼
814 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

Table 4. The results of the multigroup analysis (H9-H10).

Hypotheses Followers Non-followers D v2 (df¼1)

H9-1a Brand-celebrity ⟶ ad attitudes .460 .339 3.837

H9-1b Brand-celebrity ⟶ brand attitudes .112 .084 .034
H9-1c Brand-celebrity ⟶ self-brand connections .230 -.006 8.215
H9-2a Self-brand ⟶ ad attitudes .204 .274 .26
H9-2b Self-brand ⟶ brand attitudes .448 .361 .155
H9-2c Self-brand ⟶ self-brand connections .600 .727 3.761
H9-3a Self-celebrity ⟶ ad attitudes .359 .271 .384
H9-3b Self-celebrity ⟶ brand attitudes .315 -.200 .136
H9-3c Self-celebrity ⟶ self-brand connections .207 .133 .128
H10-1a Ad attitudes ⟶ purchase intentions .004 .041 .632
H10-1b Ad attitudes ⟶ engagement intentions .145 .275 1.611
H10-2a Brand attitudes ⟶ purchase intentions .486 .361 1.661
H10-2b Brand attitudes ⟶ engagement intentions .358 .038 7.604
H10-3a Self-brand connections ⟶ purchase intentions .358 .277 1.361
H10-3b Self-brand connections ⟶ engagement intentions .412 .375 .347
p<.01.

.574, t ¼ 11.126, p < .001) were positively related to engagement intentions, but brand
attitudes were not (b ¼ .081, t ¼ 1.493, p > .05). Therefore, H8a and H8c were sup-
ported but H8b was not.
Finally, for testing the moderating role of consumer type (followers vs. non-
followers), a multi-group analysis was conducted by including all mediators because
the effect of each mediator may change in the presence of other mediators
(MacKinnon 2012). Respondents reported that they follow the brand via Facebook
(n ¼ 128), Twitter (n ¼ 68), Instagram (n ¼ 100), and other types of social media plat-
forms (n ¼ 39). Therefore, a total of 159 respondents were identified as followers of
the brand at least one social media platform. Next, a Chi-square difference test
revealed significant differences between two groups (Dv2/Ddf ¼ 1.74, p < .05), indicat-
ing these two groups are different at the model level thereby allowing for the use of
a multi-group analysis. Table 4 summarizes the results.
The results revealed that there were significant differences in paths between brand-
celebrity and self-brand connections (Dv2/Ddf ¼ 8.215, p < .01), and between brand
attitudes and engagement intentions (Dv2/Ddf ¼ 7.604, p < .01). Except for these
two paths, all other paths were insignificantly moderated by consumer type. For non-
followers, brand-celebrity image congruence did not influence self-brand connections
(b ¼ .006, t ¼ .143, p > .05) and brand attitudes also did not influence engage-
ment intentions (b ¼ .038, t ¼ .459, p > .05). On the contrary, for followers, brand-
celebrity image congruence negatively influenced self-brand connections (b ¼ .230,
t ¼ 3.731, p < .001) and brand attitudes positively influenced engagement inten-
tions (b ¼ .358, t ¼ 3.835, p < .001). Therefore, among the last set of hypotheses, only
H9-1c and H10-2b were supported.

Discussion
This study investigates the relationships among three pairs of image congruence (i.e.,
brand-celebrity, self-brand, and self-celebrity), consumer evaluations (i.e., ad attitudes,
brand attitudes, and self–brand connections), and behavioral intentions (i.e.,
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 815

engagement and purchase) toward celebrity endorsement of luxury brands on social

media. In terms of the relationships among the three pairs of image congruence and
consumer evaluations, the self–brand pairing was related to all three customer evalua-
tions. Consistent with previous studies, the higher the perceived similarity between a
brand and one’s self-image, the more positive attitudes toward the brand (Choi and
Rifon 2012; Pradhan et al. 2016).
However, contrary to our expectations, the congruence of brand-celebrity influ-
enced only consumer attitudes toward the endorsement advertisement. According to
the match-up hypothesis, the brand-celebrity pairing is the key to increasing effective
responses (Kamins 1990; Till and Busler 2000), but this was not the case in our study
of luxury brand social media celebrity endorsements. One possible explanation for this
is that luxury brands tend to use multiple celebrities to endorse their products, and
each celebrity often works for multiple brands (Rice, Kelting, and Lutz 2012).
Consumers may therefore not feel strong associative ties to the brand-celebrity pair-
ing, and it may not be easy to influence their attitudes toward the brand or self-brand
connections via a single endorsement advertisement. Additionally, in comparison to
official advertising campaigns in which celebrities more explicitly endorse a brand,
implicit celebrity endorsements (e.g., celebrities’ red-carpet appearances) in this study
may be insufficient to influence consumer attitudes toward the brand or self-brand
connections.
Interestingly, this study found that the self–celebrity pair was a negative determin-
ant of brand attitudes. A potential explanation for this is that without proper meaning
transfer process (McCracken 1989), a rich and famous celebrity serves to augment a
sense of extravagance and exclusiveness already embedded in the luxury brand, ultim-
ately inducing the consumer’s heuristic rather than authentic pride (McFerran, Aquino,
and Tracy 2011). McFerran et al. (2011) explained that individuals with heuristic pride
consume luxury brands for “artificially inflated self-representation” (p. 479) to bolster
their self-image and portray high status, wealth, or accomplishments without authentic
achievements, which could be associated with negative connotations (e.g., anti-social
qualities). These negative associations could be transferred to attitudes toward
the brand.
Furthermore, although consumers’ favorable attitudes toward endorsement adver-
tisements influenced brand attitudes and engagement intentions, they did not influ-
ence purchase intentions. In addition, favorable attitudes toward a brand endorsed
by celebrities influenced self-brand connections and purchase intentions, but they
did not influence engagement intentions. There are different types of users who fol-
low luxury brands, such as trend hunters, who wish to remain current on the latest
trends, or prime, high-income consumers (Ramadan, Farah, and Dukenjian 2018). As
purchase intentions are driven by various elements, including perceived value (e.g. a
mental trade-off between costs and benefits; Zeithaml 1988), it seems difficult to
believe that favorable attitudes toward a celebrity endorsement advertisement
would immediately increase customers’ purchase intentions. In the same vein, even
if a social media user likes a brand endorsed by a celebrity, the user may not neces-
sarily share the content with other users, unless the user perceives positive aspects
of the advertisement that are worth sharing.
816 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

Consistent with previous studies emphasizing the importance of self–brand connec-

tions in advertising (Cheng, White, and Chaplin 2012; Escalas and Bettman 2005), this
study found that self–brand connections were important factors in enhancing consum-
ers’ positive behavioral responses toward celebrity endorsements on social media,
along with the consumer’s positive attitudes toward such an advertisement and the
brand per se. Our findings suggest that self–brand connections can be enhanced
through the self–brand and self–celebrity congruence and in turn explain customers’
behavioral responses. Thus, both brand and celebrity images portrayed in endorse-
ments must be consistent with consumers’ desired imagery which allows them to
incorporate brands into their self-concept (Cheng, White, and Chaplin 2012).
Brand followers are a key part of social media marketing because they are more
likely to purchase from the brand and recommend the brand to others (Zhang et al.
2018). Our results showed that brand followers’ favorable attitudes enhance their
intentions to engage, such as by liking or commenting on a post. Our results also
showed that the brand-celebrity pairing negatively influenced the self-brand connec-
tions, but that was not the case for brand followers. Considering the positive influen-
ces of the brand-celebrity pairing on ad attitudes, this may reduce the concerns of
luxury brand marketers who wish to utilize celebrity endorsements in terms of the
pairing of image congruence. In addition, positive attitudes toward the celebrity-
endorsed ad increase engagement intentions for both followers and non-followers.
Therefore, these non-followers should be also carefully considered in creating buzz
and expanding the online presence of the brand on social media.

Implications, limitations, and future research directions

Today’s consumers on social media are different from traditional audiences in that
they use luxury brands to satisfy their psychological needs to actively create their self-
concept, reinforce and express self-identity, and differentiate themselves and assert
their individuality (Belk 1988). This new generation of luxury consumers tends to be
“authenticity” seekers who are skeptical of traditional advertising that typically delivers
over-glamorized and over-promised messages (Aroche 2015). Celebrity endorsements
through social media can provide a sense of authenticity to these consumers and can
be effective in delivering authentic brand messages. Our model for understanding
consumer responses to luxury brand celebrity endorsements on social media expands
the current literature on celebrity endorsement and luxury brand advertising while
investigating the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in relation to consumers’ self-
concept. In particular, this study moves beyond the simple brand-celebrity pairing in
celebrity endorsements to discover the importance of self-related pairs, a research
area that has gained little attention from researchers. Moreover, this study suggests
both engagement intentions and purchase intentions as consequences of consumer
evaluations through celebrity endorsements, aiming to reach the different goals of
social media advertising (i.e., buzz or sales).
The findings of this study will provide insights to help luxury brands make the best
use of celebrity endorsements on social media. Although many researchers and practi-
tioners continue to believe that the most effective way to find a proper endorser is to
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 817

consider a brand–celebrity match-up, our findings show that such pairing has a limited
impact on consumer evaluations. Rather, self–brand image congruence is a powerful
factor in deciding overall consumer evaluations (i.e., ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and
self–brand connections). Self–celebrity image congruence, overlooked in previous stud-
ies, significantly influences ad attitudes and self–brand connections. A self–brand con-
nection, defined as a strong and meaningful tie between a brand and a consumer’s
self-identity (Escalas 2004; Dwivedi et al. 2015), is key in cultivating behavioral inten-
tions toward celebrity endorsements on social media. Self–brand connections derived
from celebrity endorsements, if people indeed derive relevant meanings from the
celebrity and brand associations, could encourage consumers to strongly commit
to the brand and take any economic and psychological costs associated with it
(Belaid and Behi 2011), subsequently generating more positive consumer behav-
ioral responses.
This study also suggests the need to target a specific outcome when designing
celebrity endorsements. Our results show that ad attitudes are effective in increasing
buzz on social media by increasing consumer engagement intentions for both fol-
lowers and non-followers, but brand attitudes are effective in increasing engagement
for only followers. These results provide luxury brands with insights about considering
a specific target to maximize desirable outcomes. Creating strong self-brand relation-
ships (Dwivedi et al. 2016) through celebrity endorsements is a long-term investment
that goes beyond a high volume of “likes” or “comments” on a single, short-term
celebrity endorsement post. If luxury brands wish to interact with their followers and
increase their engagement, they should focus their efforts on improving brand atti-
tudes and self-brand connections through their brand pages by considering how their
followers wish to develop and express their self-image in relation to the celebrity or
brand presented in celebrity endorsements.
On the contrary, if luxury brands try to reach a wider audience, our results suggest
that celebrity endorsed advertising targeting non-followers is more effective in creat-
ing short-term buzz. This explains why celebrity endorsements are often disseminated
through the celebrities’ social media accounts, targeting not the brand’s followers but
the celebrity’s. If luxury brand managers attempt to increase online presence through
celebrity endorsements such as announcing new product lines or promoting holiday
specials intended to attract attention from the audience over a short amount of time,
it is best to choose celebrities who are active on social media and have many fans
and followers who keep tabs on these celebrities’ social media activities. For example,
Kim Kardashian posted a photo on Instagram of herself at a Balenciaga fashion show
in 2016. Her post earned almost 1,700,000 likes and 62,000 comments from her 90 mil-
lion followers.
There are limitations associated with this study. It used Amazon MTurk to recruit
participants (i.e., young female adults between 18 and 35 years old). This data collec-
tion process may limit the external validity of our study by not using a probability
sample. Future research may consider collecting data directly from luxury brand social
media pages. Second, this study focuses on diverse populations on social media who
follow luxury brands to provide implications for luxury brands attempting to capture a
wider audience, including those individuals who have not been considered traditional
818 S. SONG AND H.-Y. KIM

luxury buyers (Godey et al. 2016; Jin 2012). However, considering there are various
types of luxury brand social media followers, more than 45% of our study’s partici-
pants spend less than $600 per year on luxury brands, and this could be a limitation
to our study, preventing the study from capturing the varying degrees of social
media users’ propensity to buy luxury brands. Therefore, future research should com-
pare social media users’ different propensities to buy luxury brands. Third, this study
measured the congruence of each pair of celebrity endorsements by using the same
measurement items repeatedly. Rotating the measurement items or randomizing the
order in which the items are presented will reduce the potential for an order effect
in the questionnaire. In addition, this study investigated the moderating role of fol-
lowers and non-followers by asking participants whether they follow the luxury
brand or not. Even in the same group (follower vs. non-follower group), individuals’
engagement levels may vary, and they may spend a different amount of time and
effort communicating with the brand. Thus, in future research, it may be necessary
to investigate other variables for measuring these different engagement levels
among followers. Lastly, this study investigated “red-carpet product placement,”
which places a product on a celebrity attending a red carpet event. However, many
different strategies can be used on social media including a more explicit approach
(e.g. “I endorse this brand”) or an imperative approach (e.g. “You should use this
brand;” McCracken 1989). Furthermore, celebrity endorsements on social media can
either be part of offline advertising campaigns or exclusive to social media advertis-
ing campaigns, and the source of the message can be distributed either by the
brand or the celebrity’s social media account (Jin and Phua 2014). Future research
should therefore further test the proposed model in various contexts of celebrity
endorsement on social media.

Note
1. After controlling for initial brand attitudes measured by a single item (pleasant: unpleasant),
structural equation modeling was conducted. The results were consistent with those
presented above. More specifically, all hypotheses between image congruence and
consumer evaluations were supported except the relationships between brand-celebrity
image congruence and brand attitudes (b ¼ .066, t ¼ 1.551, p > .05), and between brand-
celebrity image congruence and self-brand connection (b ¼ -.058, t ¼ -1.897, p > .05). Also,
consistent with our results, self-celebrity image congruence and brand attitudes were
negatively related (b ¼ -.211, t ¼ -4.166, p < .001).

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors
Sanga Song is an assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University East. Her research
focuses on consumer behavior in digital environments, consumer-brand relationships, and trans-
formative consumer research.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING 819

Hye-Young Kim is an associate professor in the Retail Merchandising Program at the University
of Minnesota. Kim’s research interests revolve around consumer behavior and strategic
retail management.

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