Social Influence of Princess Diana

Social Influence of an International

Celebrity: Responses to the Death of
Princess Diana

By William J. Brown, Michael D. Basil, and Mihai C. Bocarnea

When Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in 1997, a massive public outpouring of
grief occurred. Six years after her death, the public and the tabloids still debate
whether the paparazzi were to blame for her fatal car accident. Previous studies of
celebrities suggest that psychological involvement with a celebrity will determine to
what extent stories of the celebrity and their subsequent social influence will affect
the general public. The same process was examined in this study of Princess Diana.
To study this phenomenon, a survey administered immediately after her fatal car
accident compared people’s level of involvement with Princess Diana to their view-
ing of stories about her funeral and their attitudes toward the press. Results showed
that gender and age similarities predicted involvement with Princess Diana. This
involvement, in turn, predicted people’s media use in response to her death and
their attitudes toward the press. This finding reinforces previous studies that have
shown involvement is an important variable that influences both media consump-
tion and media effects. The authors consider implications of this research for in-
vestigating the growing international influence of celebrities through mass media.

Perhaps no other celebrity’s death in the 25 years since the death of Elvis Presley
has had as much social influence as the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
One could hardly find a news magazine without Princess Diana on the cover in
the weeks following her death in August 1997. Elton John’s memorable perfor-
mance of “Candle in the Wind” at Diana’s funeral, a song originally written to
memorialize Marilyn Monroe, quickly became the biggest and fastest best-selling
single of all time in both the U.S. and Great Britain, selling nearly 3.5 million
copies in its first week of release (MTV News Online, October 2, 1997). Just 37
days after its release, the Guinness Book of Records declared “Candle in the Wind
’97” to be the biggest selling single recording in history (Associated Press, October
22, 1997).

William J. Brown (PhD, University of Southern California) is a professor and research fellow in the
School of Communication Arts at Regent University. Michael D. Basil (PhD, Stanford University) is an
associate professor of management at the University of Lethbridge. Mihai C. Bocarnea (PhD, Regent
University) is an assistant professor in the School of Leadership Studies at Regent University.

Copyright © 2003 International Communication Association

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Journal of Communication, December 2003

More than one million mourners lined the 3-mile funeral route in London to
pay their respects to Diana. People who had never met the former princess and
who had no personal contact with her traveled to England from around the world
to place flowers along the funeral route. Two thousand celebrities, including fash-
ion designers, film and television stars, political leaders, musicians, and writers,
attended Diana’s memorial service. Donatella and Santo Versace, Hillary Clinton,
Luciano Pavarotti, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg, Henry Kissinger,
Tom Hanks, and hundreds of members of royal families from around the world
came to pay their respects (Kantrowitz, Pedersen, & McGuire, 1997).
An estimated 2.5 billion people watched the worldwide satellite transmission of
the funeral to 200 countries in 44 languages, from small villages in Iceland to giant
screens in Hong Kong (Blowen, 1997), making it the most watched event in
history (Payne, 2000, p. x). “If the whole world was watching,” reported Tom
Shales of the Washington Post (1997, p. A-23), “then the whole world was prob-
ably weeping, too.” In homes, coffee shops, bars, hospitals, restaurants, offices,
and wherever television reached them, people mourned the loss of an interna-
tional celebrity like they mourned the loss of a family member or friend. Books
about Diana immediately became best sellers as people consumed media to learn
about her life. Princess Diana is one of the few women in the 20th century whose
popularity penetrated every continent in the expanded global marketplace of
international fame, making her an important source of social influence.
The purpose of the present study is threefold. First, we will discuss Princess
Diana’s international influence and how involvement with celebrities like Diana
can affect people’s attitudes and behavior. Second, we will assess the degree to
which segments of the public became involved with Diana through the processes
of parasocial interaction and identification and analyze how people’s involvement
affected their media consumption. Third, we will determine if the public’s in-
volvement with Princess Diana is associated with their attitudes toward the tabloid
press, an institution implicated in her tragic accident. In these analyses, we will
also assess if any demographic variables are related to these processes of social
influence. Before we investigate these forms of celebrity influence, we first pro-
vide a brief rationale for choosing to study Diana.

Princess Diana’s International Influence

Princess Diana embodied the archetype of the princess myth. She was a relatively
unknown, beautiful young woman, discovered by the heir apparent prince, who
became the “people’s princess.” Despite her personal moral failures, psychologi-
cal struggles, and clashes with the house of Windsor, Diana was seen as one who
reached out to help those less fortunate. These actions made her a heroine to
many admirers who sought to protect her reputation.
We chose to study Diana because of her international celebrity status and the
pervasive media coverage of her life since she became involved with the British
monarchy. Study of the widespread social influence of celebrities is important,
given the large numbers of people who follow their lives through the mass media
and who look to them as people to emulate. Many scholars have observed that
the mass media encourage the replacement of traditional heroes with celebrities

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(Boorstin, 1961; Braudy, 1988; Campbell, 1988; Gamson, 1994; Loftus, 1995). Ce-
lebrities have become primary role models for many people. Prior to the prolifera-
tion of visual media, particularly television, role models were commonly found
among family members, the military, political leaders, clergy, and community
public safety workers who demonstrated extraordinary acts of courage and achieve-
ment. In many Western cultures, character and achievement have been bifurcated,
largely due to the power of the media to create and manipulate public images.
Thus, a person who can generate intense media coverage can become a powerful
source of social influence. Very few people attracted more media attention than
did Diana, both during her lifetime and at the time of her death.
One important consequence of the media attention given to celebrities is their
influence on the public agenda. More than 3 decades of agenda-setting research
indicates that the media not only influence what we think about but also frame
issues and influence how we think (McCombs & Shaw, 1993). Over the past few
years several scholars have investigated how celebrities influence people’s atti-
tudes, beliefs, and behavior (Basil, 1996; Brown & Basil, 1995; Brown, Basil, &
Bocarnea, 2003; Brown, Duane, & Fraser, 1997; Dearing & Rogers, 1996; Leets, de
Becker, & Giles, 1995). It is this process of celebrity influence that we seek to
explore in this study. In order to foster an understanding of celebrity influence,
we will next discuss how people become psychologically attached to celebrities.

Audience Involvement With Celebrities

Research on media effects indicates that people who become psychologically
involved with popular media personalities are susceptible to their persuasive in-
fluence (Basil & Brown, 1997; Boone & Lomore, 2001; Brown & Basil, 1995;
Brown, Duane, & Fraser, 1997; Goldsmith, Lafferty, & Newell, 2000). The level of
involvement is an important predictor of attitudinal and behavioral changes that
result from exposure to these media personae. Involvement is a broad concept
that regards media consumers as active seekers rather than passive receivers of
information. Rubin and Perse (1987) identified two types of involvement: (a) a
motivational state that reflects the attitudes that people bring with them to the
communication situation, and (b) the cognitive, affective, and behavioral partici-
pation induced by the media during media exposure (i.e., becoming emotionally
and cognitively involved with a television character while watching a program).
One conceptualization of audience involvement was proposed by two psy-
chologists who explored the sense of intimacy that television viewers develop
with television personalities through repeated exposure to television programs.
They called the imaginary relationship between a television viewer and television
personality or “persona” a parasocial relationship and the process of developing
pseudo-relationships with television personae parasocial interaction (Horton &
Wohl, 1956). Levy (1979) observed that people who are repeatedly exposed to
media stars often develop a sense of friendship or intimacy with them. Parasocial
relationships form when audiences look to media personalities as “friends” and
those with whom they feel “comfortable,” thus contributing to the audience’s
enjoyment during media consumption. Parasocial relationships have been ob-
served between television viewers and newscasters, talk show hosts, and televi-

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sion stars of situation comedies and soap operas (Babb & Brown, 1994; Brown &
Cody, 1991; Levy, 1979; Rubin & McHugh, 1987; Rubin, Perse, & Powell, 1985;
Shefner-Rogers, Rogers, & Singhal, 1998).
Brown and his colleagues (see Basil & Brown, 1997; Brown, Duane, & Fraser,
1997; Brown & Basil, 1995; Fraser & Brown, 2002) have extended the concept of
parasocial interaction beyond television viewers’ relationships with personalities
who fill recurring roles in television serials and newscasts. Their research shows
that media consumers establish parasocial relationships with many kinds of celeb-
rities through multiple mediums. For example, audiences develop parasocial rela-
tionships with popular athletes through their exposure to sports events, sports
broadcasts, movies, and product advertisements.
Parasocial interaction can produce powerful effects on audiences. Parasocial
relationships with the stars of “Hum Log” (We People), India’s first television soap
opera, promoted the status of women (Brown & Cody, 1991). A popular radio
soap opera in India, “Tinka Tinka Suhk” (Happiness Lies in Small Things), pro-
moted abandonment of the practice of dowry by Indian families who developed
strong parasocial relationships with the characters (Singhal & Rogers, 1999, pp.
138–139). Many thousands of television viewers joined literacy programs in Peru
through parasocial interaction with “Maria,” star of the Peruvian telenovela
“Simplemente Maria” (Simply Mary; Singhal, Obregon, & Rogers, 1994).
The public’s strong parasocial relationship with “Magic” Johnson promoted
HIV prevention practices, especially among young heterosexual adults (Brown &
Basil, 1995). Parasocial relationship with O. J. Simpson predisposed many people
to disbelieve evidence linking him to the deaths of his former wife Nicole and her
friend Ronald Goldman (Brown, Duane, & Fraser, 1997). Adolescents’ parasocial
interaction with Will Smith was closely associated with learning from the televi-
sion program, Fresh Prince of Bel Air (Babb & Brown, 1994). Fans of Mark McGwire
who developed a strong parasocial relationship with him became more concerned
about child abuse, one of McGwire’s social causes, and were more likely to con-
sider taking androstenedione, the muscle-enhancing drug that McGwire had used
(Brown, Basil, & Bocarnea, 2003).
Parasocial interaction research generally supports the notion that audience mem-
bers who become more psychologically involved with a television personality or
persona, whether a newscaster, a famous athlete, or a soap opera star or other
type of fictional character, will be more likely to use the media to see that person
or persona and to seek information about him or her. People who closely follow
the lives of celebrities are more likely to acquire the celebrity’s attitudes and
beliefs concerning specific social issues. Although Diana was involved in a num-
ber of charities, our focus here is on how she may have influenced the way in
which people think about the role of media in their coverage of celebrities.
A second conceptualization of audience involvement is identification. Identifi-
cation is a fundamental process of social change that has been discussed by sev-
eral important theorists and social scientists. Freud (1922, p. 29) defined identifi-
cation as “the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person.” Lasswell
(1965) also discussed this concept in the context of group behavior, referring to
mass identifications such as nationalism. Johnson, Johnson, and Heimberg (1999)

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traced the concept of identification to both Freud and Lasswell. Organizational

communication scholars who have studied identification within organizations cite
both Lasswell (1965) and Burke (1969), who wrote extensively about this process
(see Cheney, 1983; Cheney & Tompkins, 1987; Johnson, Johnson, & Heimberg,
1999).
According to Burke, identification occurs when one individual shares the inter-
ests of another individual or believes that he or she shares the interests of another
(1969, p. 180). Burke noted that two individuals could be joined and still be
distinct. He conceptualized identification as compensatory to division (p. 182). In
a pragmatic sense, identification is simply the common ground held by people in
communication (Rosenfeld, 1969). Although Burke focused on the efforts of speakers
identifying with audiences, identification also is a way in which audiences can say
to a communicator, “I am like you” or “I have the same interests as you” (Cheney,
1983, p. 147).
Kelman (1958) viewed identification as one of three processes of persuasion
that occur through actual or perceived relationships, along with compliance and
internalization. He sought to build a theoretical framework for understanding
public opinion formation and for making predictions of behavior change. Kelman
described “classical identification” as “attempts to be like or actually be the other
person” (1961, p. 63). This type of identification is illustrated by the many thou-
sands of Elvis Presley impersonators who seek to “be like” Elvis (Fraser & Brown,
2002 ) or the Jennifer Lopez fans who want to “be like J-Lo.” Although Kelman’s
work focused on identification within face-to-face interpersonal and group rela-
tionships, the self-defining relationships that occur in parasocial interaction can
activate the closely related process of identification that occurs when people are
influenced by the lives of celebrities.
In our study of Princess Diana, we theorized that the public’s involvement with
her occurred through both parasocial interaction (relating to her as a friend) and
identification (taking on her attitudes and beliefs). We expected that people who
regarded her as someone they knew and cared about will adopt her projected
negative attitude toward the press.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Based on existing theory and research, we developed a theoretical framework for
assessing specific aspects of Princess Diana’s influence after her tragic death. First,
we determined what variables might influence involvement with Diana; second,
we predicted three consequences of that involvement.
We theorized that two demographic variables, gender and age, should be scru-
tinized as possible predictors of involvement with Princess Diana. Much public
discussion had centered on the behavior that Princess Diana modeled for women.
Barron (2000, p. 14) believed much of the Diana hysteria was fueled by women
who gravitated with the theme of empowerment. Bandura’s (1986) extensive re-
search on social learning indicated gender can influence behavior adaptation,
such that people are more likely to model the behavior of others of the same
gender. People give selective attention to and associate with same-sex models
(Byron & Luria, 1978; Bandura, 1986, p. 94), especially when the gender-role

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content of the model fits the sex of the model. The influence of gender on affec-
tive involvement with celebrities has been supported by previous research
(Bocarnea, Quicke, & Quicke, 1998; Singhal & Rogers, 1999). Other research,
however, suggests that gender is less important than other factors such as the role
that is modeled (Bocarnea, 2001). Bandura’s (in press) review of entertainment-
education media indicates many belief and behavior changes in women have re-
sulted from modeling women characters. We therefore posed the following question:

RQ1: Did women become more involved with Princess Diana than men did?

A second demographic variable we considered important with respect to in-

volvement was age. Again, previous theory and research suggested that age simi-
larity is positively associated with involvement. Bandura (1986) found that age
similarity enhanced the role modeling of others’ behavior. People felt they had
been a part of Diana’s life by following media presentations of the announcement
of her engagement to Prince Charles, her wedding, the birth of her children, her
struggles with eating disorders, the dissolution of her marriage, her relationships
with other men, and other important activities during the course of her life. There-
fore, we predict that:

H1: People of similar age to Princess Diana, those in the 25- to 35-year-old age
group, will show more involvement with Princess Diana than will people in
other age groups.

The artificial intimacy created by television is predicted to lead to a higher level

of involvement with Princess Diana than alternate forms of media consumption.
Media richness theory proposes that media vary in their balance of knowledge,
which reduces task equivocality, and information, which reduces task uncertainty
(Daft, Lengel, & Trevino, 1987; Lengel & Daft, 1988). Although Daft and Lengel
(1986) developed their theory while studying how organizations process informa-
tion, particularly focusing on new computer technologies, their prediction that
face-to-face communication is the richest form of communication suggests that
communication media that create an emotional attachment between people are
also richer. Thus, television, which facilitates parasocial relationships and a sense
of intimacy, is a richer medium than print media, radio, and computer-mediated
communication. We predict that:

H2: People who have greater involvement with Princess Diana will use televi-
sion more than any other information source to access news about her death.

Previous audience research has indicated that involvement with media perso-
nae can affect media use (Rubin & Perse, 1987; Rubin, Perse, & Powell, 1985;
Rubin, Step, & Hoffner, 1996). People who become involved with their favorite
media stars tend to seek out more information in the media about them than those
who aren’t involved. Therefore, we predict the following:

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H3: Involvement with Princess Diana will be positively associated with media
consumption after her death. Those more involved with Diana will (a) watch
more television news, (b) read more print news, and (c) listen to more talk
radio programs to learn more about her death.

H4: People who indicated they definitely planned to watch Princess Diana’s
funeral or who reported they had watched her funeral on television will be
more involved with Princess Diana than will funeral nonwatchers.

Finally, existing research indicates that involvement with certain celebrities is

closely associated with the public’s attitudes toward issues important to them
(Basil, 1996; Basil & Brown, 1994; Brown & Basil, 1995; Brown & Cody, 1991;
Fraser & Brown, 2002). Princess Diana often expressed her strong displeasure of
the media intrusion into her life, particularly of the paparazzi. Oehlkers (2000, p.
5) concluded that Diana’s death united people against the paparazzi, tapping into
an international concern about the imposition of news media.
The attributions people made about the paparazzi’s culpability in Diana’s death
is expected to be influenced by how people felt about her. Heider (1958) has
shown that people make different attributions for success and failure, depending
on whether the agents are themselves or others. Ross and Fletcher (1985) ex-
plained how the attribution process can affect event perceptions. An extension of
this approach suggests that people would make different attributions of behav-
ioral causes and consequences of people they feel emotionally close to compared
to others. Those with a stronger emotional attachment to Diana are more likely to
make external attributions of responsibility for her death, such as blaming the
press, than would those who felt less emotional attachment to her. We predicted
that:

H5: People who are more involved with Princess Diana would have a more
negative attitude toward the news media than those less involved with Diana.

This effect was expected to mediate the attribution of blame for Princess Diana’s
death. Those who were strongly involved with Princess Diana were expected to
be more likely than those less involved to accept the conclusion that the
paparazzi were partly responsible for her death, a subject of intense public
debate (Cooper, 1997).

Method

A survey questionnaire was administered beginning 3 days after Princess Diana’s

death to assess people’s psychological involvement with her, media consumption,
and responses to her death. The total sample for this study was 796 people who
were interviewed through multiple data collection methods. The first method uti-
lized a telephone survey of U.S. residents in eight major metropolitan areas: Ho-
nolulu, Seattle, Los Angeles, Orange County, Denver, Chicago, from Virginia Beach

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to Richmond, and Boston. In each location, a single area code was chosen. (The
area codes used in each location at the time of data collection were 808, 206, 213,
714, 303, 312, 804, and 617, respectively). We chose multiple cities to provide a
diverse cross-section of U.S. residents.
Data collection for the telephone survey followed a multistage cluster sampling
approach. The sample prefixes were selected from telephone directories. A ran-
dom digit dialing program designed by Paul Flanagan of the New York Times
Company generated seven-digit random numbers within each area code—enough
to provide 30–40 interviews in each location. This was achieved in all locations
except Boston, which provided fewer than 20 completed interviews. Because we
did not conduct interviews with people at work, the final sample included only
people at home. A total of 261 interviews were completed by phone. The demo-
graphic characteristics of this sample were as follows: 14% were between 18 and
25 years old; 24%, 25–35; 37%, 36–55; and 26% over 55; 71% of respondents were
female.
Concurrent with the telephone interviews, 274 respondents completed the ques-
tionnaire on a website. The site was housed within a university website and ad-
vertised on several major search engines. The demographic characteristics of this
sample are as follows: 19% were between 18 and 25 years old; 45%, 25–35, 34%,
36–55; and 2% over 55; of these respondents, 65% were female.
The third data collection method employed was the distribution of the ques-
tionnaire to students at four universities in the U.S.: one in the Pacific region, one
on the West Coast, one in the western mountain region, and one on the East
Coast. A total of 261 students completed the self-administered questionnaire, of
whom 93% were between 18 and 25 years old and 50% were female.

Instrument and Measured Variables

The survey consisted of a total of 56 questions. Most of the questions were adopted
from earlier studies of involvement with celebrities (Basil, 1996; Brown & Basil,
1995). The survey examined demographic information, knowledge of Princess
Diana’s death, interpersonal communication, media use, involvement with Prin-
cess Diana, and attitudes toward the press.
Demographics. Six questions assessed the age, gender, cultural background
(Caucasian, Asian American, Black/African American, Hispanic American), educa-
tion, political orientation (conservative, moderate, liberal), and marital status (never
married, married, not married now) of respondents.
Media use. Media use questions assessed respondents’ general media use and
their specific media use with regards to following the news about her death.
Three questions assessed respondents’ consumption of television news, newspa-
pers or news magazines, and radio news. Three questions asked, prior to her
death, how many television programs about Princess Diana they had watched,
newspaper or magazine stories they had read, or other people they had talked to
about her life. Three other questions asked about media use in response to Prin-
cess Diana’s death, scaled in terms of how many hours they had watched televi-
sion stories about her death, read news stories about her death, or listened to
radio discussions about her death. One question assessed how many hours re-

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spondents had engaged in interpersonal discussion about her death. Three ques-
tions also asked whether they had seen Princess Diana’s wedding on television in
1982, whether they were going to watch or had watched the funeral on Saturday,
and with how many people they intended to watch (or had watched) the funeral.
Because the hypotheses predicted differences in how people relied on infor-
mation sources to follow the story of Princess Diana’s death, we did not intend to
combine the media use measures into a single scale. A factor analysis of these
measures confirmed the appropriateness of this decision.1 Results using a princi-
pal components extraction yielded two factors with eigen values above 1.0. The
first factor, which represented use of information sources to follow Diana’s death,
accounted for 39.3% of the total variance. The second factor, which represented
information sources used to follow Diana’s life before her death, accounted for
14.7% of the variance. The correlation between the two factors was .33. The
media use items did not load well on the two factors. Rotating the factor matrixes
using varimax and oblimin factor rotations did not yield satisfactory results. Sev-
eral items loaded on both factors and only three item correlations exceeded 0.70.
A reliability analysis utilizing the four information sources that people used to
follow Princess Diana’s death (television, radio, print news, interpersonal relation-
ships) yielded a low Cronbach’s α of .62. We decided that it was best to keep
media use items as separate variables in the regression analyses.
Involvement. Involvement with Princess Diana was measured with 19 items
utilizing a 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) Likert scale.2 The scale was
constructed after conducting a factor analysis using a principal components ex-
traction method with nonrotation. Three factors yielded eigen values above 1.0,
but the scree plot (eigen values = 9.9, 1.2, and 1.2) and variance estimates sug-
gested a single factor (the single factor solution accounted for 52% of the total
variance across these items). We conducted another analysis extracting two fac-
tors to determine if there were sufficient grounds for separating the parasocial
interaction and identification items. Results indicated that both the parasocial in-
teraction and identification items loaded well on a single involvement factor. The
second factor accounted for only an additional 6.5% of the variance and did not
yield any factor loadings above 0.5. In addition, the correlation between the two

1
We used standard decision rules for interpreting the results of the factor analyses. Factors with eigen
values exceeding 1.0 were extracted. We reviewed the scree tests for each analysis to evaluate the
additional variance explained by each incremental factor. We also evaluated the factor loadings. If
questionnaire items had a factor loading of 0.60 or higher with loadings below 0.40 with all other
factors, it was considered to be a good measure. Factor correlations were reviewed to make sure there
were no high correlations.
2
Most of the questionnaire items measuring involvement have been used in previous studies (see
Brown & Basil, 1995; Rubin & McHugh, 1987; Shefner-Rogers, Rogers, & Singhal, 1998). Sample items
included the following Likert-scale items (based on a 1–5 agree–disagree scale): I am personally grief
stricken by the death of Princess Diana; Princess Diana was a personal role model; Princess Diana is a
hero to me; I used to look forward to seeing Princess Diana on television or in print media; I felt I
could easily relate to Princess Diana; I thought of Princess Diana as a friend; I strongly identified with
Princess Diana; I felt I understood Princess Diana’s life; Princess Diana has shown me values that I
want to live by.

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factors was .55. Therefore, we chose to measure involvement as a single composite

variable. Two negatively worded questions were reverse-coded. A correlation analy-
sis yielded a very reliable 19-item involvement scale with a Cronbach’s α of .94.
Attitude toward the press. The degree to which respondents had an overall
negative attitude toward the press was measured through 12 questionnaire items.
These items asked whether they felt the press was responsible for Diana’s death,
whether they had changed their attitude toward press coverage of celebrities, and
whether they intended to alter their purchase of tabloid magazines and newspa-
pers.3 A principal components extraction with nonrotation yielded two factors
with eigen values above 1.0. Factor 1 accounted for 35.9% of the total variance,
and Factor 2 accounted for 10.2% of the total variance. A review of the factor
loadings and scree plot indicated a single factor solution best fit the data. Only a
single item loaded above .60 on the second factor, and no items loaded above .70.
One question that assessed the public’s right to see photos of celebrities was
not worded specifically with regard to Princess Diana, and, as a result, did not
load well (the factor loading was .30). This question was dropped from the atti-
tude scale. A reliability analysis confirmed the appropriateness of a single attitude
scale. The resulting 10-item scale was shown to be reliable, yielding a Cronbach’s α
of .80.

Analysis Procedures
Multiple regression analyses were used to test the research questions and hypoth-
eses. This allowed us to control for other predictors of the outcome behaviors and
assess which of these were responsible for determining people’s involvement
with Diana, their media use, and their attitude toward the press. Multiple regres-
sions were used to control for other predictors of the dependent variables. The
means of the dependent variables in the regression models were analyzed across
samples to determine if any research findings differed across the three samples.
Although significant differences were found in the means of certain variables, results
for the five hypothesized relationships and research question did not differ.4

3
Questionnaire items used to measure an overall negative attitude toward the press included these: The
media photographers that chased Diana should be held partly responsible for her death; I will try and
persuade others I know not to buy tabloid papers and magazines because of the death of Princess
Diana; I will decrease my purchase of tabloid magazines and newspapers as a result of Princess
Diana’s death; As a result of Princess Di’s death I have less respect for the news media; and I believe
Princess Diana was mistreated by the news media.
4
Significant differences in means among some of the major variables of interest were found. For ex-
ample, for the scale measuring involvement with Princess Diana, the telephone survey sample and
Internet sample both yielded means of 58.9 (range of 19 to 95). The sample from college campuses
yielded a mean of 57.0, which was statistically lower. For the scale measuring negative attitudes toward
the press, the mean of the telephone sample was 35.7 (range of 10 to 50), the Internet sample mean
was 36.1, and the college student sample mean was 35.6. These were not statistically different. For the
variable “seeing Diana’s funeral,” 33.0% of the respondents saw the funeral on television or said they
definitely planned to watch it. This percentage increased to 38.7% of the college student sample and to
62.1% of the telephone survey sample, a significant difference across the three samples, χ2(6, N = 796)
= 177.7, p < .001. A detailed analysis explaining why these differences did not change the results of the
hypothesis tests is found in Basil, Brown, & Bocarnea (2002).

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Variable recoding. For the purpose of this analysis, outliers were trimmed. For
analyzing age effects, age was recoded as 1 if between 25 and 35 years old, 0
otherwise. This was done so we could test the relationship predicted in the first
hypothesis. Similarly, gender was coded as “0” for males and “1” for females in
order to facilitate the analysis of the first research question.

Results

A correlation analysis of the major variables in the study was first conducted to
assess the linear relations within the data. Results of this analysis are presented in
Table 1.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Involvement. A regression analysis was employed to examine predictors of in-
volvement with Princess Diana.5 The analysis revealed significant differences in
involvement based on education, gender, and age. Respondents with less educa-
tion exhibited stronger involvement with Princess Diana (β = -.11, p <. 001).
Related to the research question, gender was associated with involvement (β =
.27, p < .001), with women showing a higher level of involvement with Princess
Diana than men. Consistent with H1, the 25–35-year-old age group showed the
highest level of involvement with Princess Diana (β = .07, p < .05). Supporting H2,
respondents’ consumption of television coverage of Princess Diana was signifi-
cantly related to involvement with her (β = .35, p < .001). None of the other forms
of media use tested was associated with involvement with Diana. These findings
suggest that television viewing is a critical factor to assess when examining in-
volvement with celebrities. The total R2 for the regression equation was .27.
Television viewing. A second regression analysis was conducted to assess vari-
ables associated with people’s use of television to follow stories about Princess
Diana’s death. Results indicate that both gender and age were related to television
viewing. Women spent more time following her death on television than did men
(β = .09, p < .01). Respondents closest in age to Princess Diana in the 25–35-year-
old age group spent more time following her death on television than did the
other age groups (β = .07, p <.001). In addition, respondents who spent more time
reading news (β = .08, p < .05) and watching television news (β = .31, p < .001)
were more likely to follow the television news stories about Princess Diana’s
death, although time listening to the radio was not related to following her death

5
All regression analyses were conducted with the direct entry method. In addition, we conducted the
collinearity diagnostics provided by SPSS version 10.0. Our analysis of the tolerance statistic (which
indicates the linear relationships of the independent variables) and variance inflation factor (the recip-
rocal of the tolerance) for each analysis indicated the data did not have a problem with multicollinearity.
A careful review of the correlation matrix of the independent variables also indicated the correlations
are not very high. Only one Pearson correlation exceeded .35 (age and marital status were highly
correlated). Among the multiple media use measures, again, the correlations are not very high. Only
one Pearson correlation was above .40 (for reading print news and watching television news to follow
Diana’s death, r = .47). Print news and radio use yielded an r value of .24, and television use and radio
use yielded a r value of .18.

597
598
Table 1. Zero-Order Pearson Correlation Coefficients for Major Variables Analyzed in the Study

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. Gender 1.000 -.074* .123** .150*** .208*** .249*** .052 .029 .253*** .367*** .289***
2. Education 1.000 -.044 -.029 .148*** .142*** .065* -.034 .008 -.114 -.133***
3. Hours of TV exposure 1.000 .188*** .109** .203*** .141*** .087* .381*** .189*** .137***
4. TV progams about Diana 1.000 .501*** .419*** .252*** .115** .358*** .367*** .272***
Journal of Communication, December 2003

5. News stories about Diana 1.000 .580*** .214*** .060 .316*** .322*** .227***
6. Talk to others about Diana 1.000 .267*** .087* .327*** .361*** .201***
7. Following Diana in papers 1.000 .217*** .315*** .147*** .078*
8. Following Diana on radio 1.000 .175*** .121** .078*
9. Following Diana on television 1.000 .441*** .286***
10. Identification with Diana 1.000 .674***
11. Attitude toward pess 1.000

Note. Because of missing data, Ns range from 663 to 783. All tests are one tailed.
* p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
 Social Influence of Princess Diana

on television (β = -.01, p > .10). Finally, consistent with Hypothesis 3a, involve-
ment with Diana showed a positive relationship with television news consumption
following her death (β = .26, p < .001). The R 2 for the regression equation was .35.
News reading. A third regression was conducted to assess how people’s time
reading stories of Princess Diana’s death might be associated with the other im-
portant variables in the study. The results of this regression analysis revealed
significant differences in this dependent variable based on age. No gender differ-
ences were observed (β = .01, p > .10), but respondents in the 25–35-year-old age
group (β = .12, p <.01) spent the most amount of time reading news stories about
Princess Diana’s death. Hours reading print news was associated with reading
stories about her death (β = .15, p < .001) and watching television news stories
about her death (β = .16, p < .001). Finally, inconsistent with H3b, involvement
with Diana was not significantly related to reading stories about her death (β =
.06, p > .10). The R2 for the full equation was .13.
Radio listening. A fourth regression was used to examine people’s listening to
radio discussions of Princess Diana’s death. Results indicate none of the demo-
graphic variables were related to following the news about her death by radio.
Only general radio use was associated with monitoring the news about her death
by radio (β = .45, p < .001).
Finally, consistent with H3c, involvement with Princess Diana was associated
with listening to radio stories about her death (β = .12, p < .01). The R 2 for the
regression was .20. Two of three associations predicted in H3 were supported by
6
the results.
Funeral viewing. A fifth regression was used to test the fourth hypothesis,
which predicted that those with a greater involvement with Princess Diana would
more likely watch her funeral on television. Results of this regression analysis
revealed significant differences in this dependent variable based on age and gen-
der. Women reported that they had watched or intended to watch the funeral
more than did men (β = .06, p < .05), and people in the 25–35 age group were
more likely to report watching or an intention to watch (β = .06, p < .05) than
people of other age groups. Hours of television viewing also was related to watching
the funeral (β = .12, p < .01), but news reading (β = .06, p > .10) and radio listening
were not (β = -.03, p > .10). Finally, involvement with Diana was positively asso-
ciated with watching the funeral on television (β = .30, p < .001), providing sup-
port for H4. The R 2 for this regression analysis was .20.
Attitude toward the press. The last regression analysis examined people’s atti-
tude toward the press to test H5. No gender (β = -.03, p > .10) or age differences
(β = .03, p > .10) were observed. Newspaper reading was associated with people
having a less negative attitude toward the press (β = -.10, p < .01). Hours of radio
listening (β = .01, p < .10) and hours of television news (β = .04, p > .10) were not
related to people’s attitude toward the press. Finally, involvement with Princess
Diana was strongly associated with people having a negative attitude toward the

6
The decision rule used to determine support for the third hypothesis was that two of the three parts of
the hypothesis (designated a, b, and c) must be supported by the regression results in order for the
overall hypothesis to be supported.

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Journal of Communication, December 2003

Media use
Gender RQ1 H3 (after her death)

H1 H4 Watch
Age Identification
funeral
H2 H5

TV use Blame press

Figure 1. Theoretical framework reflected by the results of the hypotheses and research
question examined.

press (β = .61, p < . 001), providing support for hypothesis 5. The total R 2 for this
regression analysis was .44.

Mediated Effects
We also tested our expectation that involvement with Princess Diana would medi-
ate people’s attitude toward the press. To test a mediating effect, Barron and
Kenny (1986) suggested examining the reduction in the contribution of previous
factors to the dependent variable of interest. By this criterion, most zero-order
correlations were almost completely mediated by involvement. Gender differ-
ences dropped from .19 to .03 (p > .10) when involvement was included. Age
differences dropped from -.13 to -.03 (p > .10). Hours of newspaper reading
dropped from -.14 to -.10 (p < .05). The results, therefore, support the importance
of involvement in altering people’s attitudes toward the press, and specifically
support the role of involvement with Diana as mediating the effects of press
coverage about blame. This suggests that media effects are modified dramatically
by viewers’ existing level of involvement with a media persona. Figure 1 illustrates
this finding.

Discussion

The results of this study demonstrate that gender, age, and television use are
important variables associated with people’s involvement with a celebrity. Women
of the same age as Princess Diana generally had a stronger attachment to her than
others. This finding is consistent with Bandura’s (1986) social learning theory.
People are more likely to identify with those who are similar in age and of the
same gender. These results also resonate with the anecdotal and popular press
accounts that women showed a great deal of sympathy for Diana.

600
Social Influence of Princess Diana

Involvement with a celebrity through parasocial interaction and identification

appears to mediate a celebrity’s influence. Although our a posteriori analysis does
not allow us to make causal connections, the strong associations we found among
the variables imply that involvement with celebrities is both an important conse-
quence and predictor of media consumption. For example, when involvement
with Princess Diana was included in the regression equations and tested, almost
all differences in media use that appeared to be due to gender were mediated by
involvement. Similarly, the degree to which respondents blamed the press also
was mediated by people’s involvement with Diana.
One implication of these results is that the attitudinal and behavioral influences
of celebrities are contingent on people’s feelings toward them. Consistent with the
studies of Magic Johnson (Basil, 1996; Brown & Basil, 1995), O. J. Simpson (Brown,
Duane, & Fraser, 1997), Mark McGwire (Brown, Basil, & Bocarnea, 2003), and
Elvis Presley (Fraser & Brown, 2002), our findings suggest that when people feel
connected to a celebrity, they are more likely to pay attention to stories about that
celebrity, perform the behaviors advocated by them, and adopt similar attitudes
and beliefs. In each of these celebrity studies, media exposure to the celebrity was
a strong predictor of involvement through processes of parasocial interaction and
identification. Strong involvement, in turn, was related to the degree to which
each celebrity influenced people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Results of our mediation analysis suggest that involvement acts as a sort of filter
through which people process information. Because the effects of celebrities are
not universal, we cannot completely attribute these effects to the mass media.
Many people did not feel a connection to Princess Diana. Yet, for those who did,
the feeling of familiarity and intimacy they developed was facilitated by media
exposure. The model provided in Figure 1 to illustrate our results should be
analyzed using path-analytic methods in future studies.
Celebrities also wield social influence by promoting media consumption. The
mediation we found suggests the effects of various media that feature celebrities
are influenced by people’s existing degree of involvement with them. In this
study, involvement appears to have driven media use, as has been observed in
studies of news and soap opera consumption (Rubin & Perse, 1987; Rubin, Perse,
& Powell, 1985; Rubin, Step, & Hoffner, 1996). People’s involvement with celebri-
ties leads to more media use to follow their lives.

Limitations, Implications, and Future Research

There are several limitations to our findings. First, we focused on public responses
to one celebrity at one point in time. The effects we found may be limited to
particular conditions associated with Princess Diana. The strong associations we
found among our variables were likely accentuated by her popularity and may
not be as pronounced with regard to other celebrities.
The reliance on recall data created a second limitation to the study. Although
data collection took place immediately after Princess Diana’s death, several ques-
tions asked people to estimate how much they had followed her life. Emotional
involvement with Diana might have affected people’s recall, perhaps causing them
to exaggerate the amount of time they invested in following the story.

601
Journal of Communication, December 2003

A third limitation is that, although the effects of blame found here are consis-
tent with attribution theory, they have not, to our knowledge, been observed
systematically elsewhere. The idea that involvement with celebrities can influence
attributions of blame has important implications. For example, a number of celeb-
rities raised funds and rallied American response in the aftermath of the devastat-
ing terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the U.S. Did involvement with
public figures such as Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received extensive media cover-
age and who was named Time’s “2001 person of the year,” affect the way people
responded to the terrorist attacks? This is an important theoretical issue that needs
to be examined by future research.
As noted earlier, the limitation of our research methodology did not allow us to
make causal links among the variables in the study. Out of necessity, we had to
rely on a posteriori analysis of nonrandom samples of respondents. However, we
were able to test theory with our data, and none of the results of our hypothesized
relationships were affected by the sample source (see the second footnote). Clearly,
the enrolled college students in the sample were less interested in Princess Diana
than those interviewed by telephone, who were mostly women. Although Internet
samples are increasingly reflecting a more general population, they are still more
educated and have higher incomes than the general population. They also tend to
be heavy media users, giving them greater access to the Princess Diana story.
An additional limitation was related to the media use items. We did not attempt
to measure the potential effects of negative stories about Princess Diana in the
press. Diana’s failed marriage, eating disorders, infidelity, and spending habits
were constant sources of irritation to her and perhaps to her admirers. This media
exposure could have contributed to people’s negative attitudes toward the press,
long before her death. Future research of celebrity influence should consider
press coverage prior to a defining event in their lives.
Despite these limitations and others associated with spontaneous field research,
our findings add to the growing body of literature that shows involvement with
media personae, whether famous athletes, professional entertainers, or celebrities
like Princess Diana, mediates their social influence.
The theoretical and practical implications of this conclusion are important. A
number of celebrities are strategically involved in the advancement of specific
social causes. Princess Diana drew attention and financial support to a number of
social problems, including HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and the clearing
of land mines. We suspect that she not only affected people’s attitude toward the
news media and their intrusion into the personal lives of public figures, but also
influenced attitudes toward these social causes. Future research is needed to as-
sess the growing social influence of celebrities on a variety of social issues across
a broad range of social, cultural, and media use variables.
In addition, current theories of social influence do not adequately explain the
powerful ways in which celebrities influence public attitudes, beliefs, and behav-
ior. Clearly the processes of parasocial interaction and identification partially ex-
plain people’s psychological involvement with celebrities, but neither theory as
currently articulated provides an adequate explanation for celebrity effects. Future

602
Social Influence of Princess Diana

theory should seek to disentangle the relationship between people’s imagined

friendships with celebrities and their attempts to take on the attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors of those celebrities they strongly admire and like. Why was Princess
Diana so influential throughout the world? When a celebrity is seen as a close
friend or family member, we are more likely to keep track of their lives, think
what they think, do what they say, and grieve at their passing.

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