Effects of narrowed social distance on local and

international celebrity-endorsed
advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno
Department of Business Administration, Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business, University of the Philippines,
Quezon City, Philippines, and
Jeff Jianfeng Wang
Department of Marketing, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effects of narrowing social distance with celebrity endorsers (i.e. via close relationship social categories)
and their origin (i.e. local or international) on consumer attitudes about advertisements. It is proposed that using such a relational approach to
celebrity endorsement, where celebrities are framed as socially close social categories, leads to more favorable attitudes toward the advertisement.
Design/methodology/approach – A pilot test on actual advertisements and three laboratory experiments tested the proposed hypotheses on the
effects of varying celebrity social distance levels, with self-referencing as mediator, on attitudes toward the advertisements.
Findings – Celebrity endorsements are more effective when the advertisement features celebrities as socially close social category; furthermore,
these effects are more pronounced when the celebrity is local as opposed to foreign. The study also proposes that consumer self-referencing vis-a-vis
celebrities’ social distance through framed social categories mediates these effects.
Originality/value – Anchored in the identity and social identity theories, implications on relational approaches to celebrity endorsements and
international marketing communications are discussed together with the fact that Asian culture inherently subscribes to relational celebrity
endorsements.
Keywords Social distance, Relational approach, Attitudes toward the advertisement, Celebrity endorsements
Paper type Research paper

Introduction discrepancy of perception and judgments between the self and

Celebrities have come to play a major role in contemporary
international consumption culture, and marketers seeking
effective ways to use celebrity star power to create emotional
bonds with consumers and avoid animosity (Leong et al., 2008)
are turning to celebrity endorsement research streams for
answers (Escalas and Bettman, 2009; Thomson, 2006).
Marketers must address two significant practical challenges
when designing celebrity endorsement strategies. First, they
must ensure that a celebrity evinces emotional appeal and
bonds with consumers; second, they must devise strategies that
are effective in cross-boundary scenarios, particularly in the
case of international celebrity endorsements. This study
attempts to address these practical issues through the notion of
celebrity social distance.
Social distance is defined as the perception of distinction
between the self and another social entity on the dimensions of
perceived similarity, familiarity and group membership
(Liberman et al., 2007). As social distance increases, the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
37/5 (2020) 521–532
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]
[DOI 10.1108/JCM-10-2019-3455]
the other also increase.
Celebrity endorsement approaches traditionally exist in
models of source credibility (Goldsmith et al., 2000; Hovland
and Weiss, 1951), source attractiveness (Ohanian, 1991) and
congruence and match-up hypothesis (Rifon et al., 2004). The
source credibility model says that a celebrity as a source of
marketing communication messages should have positive
characteristics such as expertise, trustworthiness and sufficient
knowledge about the endorsed object. The source
attractiveness (or source valence) model posits that the
effectiveness of a message depends on the source’s likability and
attractiveness (including physical attractiveness). Finally, the
match-up hypothesis focuses on the congruence of the images
that the celebrity spokesperson has and the appropriateness of
these images for the brand. These traditional models of
celebrity endorsement provide an inadequate heuristic for
appropriate celebrity endorser selection (DeSarbo and
Harshman, 1985) for various reasons, including insufficient
multidimensionality of the source effects and lack of “overtone-
meaning-interactions” between the celebrity and the product
endorsed.
Dr Centeno acknowledges the funding support from the University of the
Philippines Enhanced Creative Work and Research Grant (2018-0204).
Received 16 October 2019
Revised 10 February 2020
Accepted 21 February 2020

521
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
The approach differs from more traditional explanations of
celebrity endorsement effects on persuasion, focusing instead
on the relational meanings and social intimacy consumers feel
with celebrities through social and cultural distances. Apart
from the work of Hung et al. (2011), this type of relational
approach has not been closely examined, particularly with a
nexus on cross-origin effects as another manifestation of social
distance. By turning to the identity and social identity theories,
this research proposes that a celebrity’s relationship-based
persuasion increases as social distance narrows via social
categories of relationship appeals. These social categories
activate relationship schema and interpersonal involvement vis-
a-vis the celebrity through mass media consumption and its
humanistic representations of media figures (Giles, 2002).
The identity and social identity theories posit that a self is
reflexive wherein it can see itself as an object that can be
categorized, classified and named in ways that can relate and
respond to particular social categories (Turner and Onorato,
1999). Social identity theorists call this process as self-
categorization, while identity theorists name it identification.
An individual’s identities have different self-views because of
this reflexivity that both act on self-categorization or
identification in contexts where similarity of roles and
memberships in particular groups are activated (Turner and
Onorato, 1999).
This activation of social categories with varying social
distances brings about different degrees of favorability toward
the advertisement. Additionally, social identity that deals with
activated intergroup relations (i.e. in-group versus out-group),
as indicated by celebrity origin (i.e. local versus international),
is examined to investigate the circumstances that interplay with
celebrity social distance in the international marketing
communication arena.
Through the ways in which celebrity endorsers are
construed as social intimates, the first objective of the
research is to explore on the effects of social distances, as
expressed through social categories of the endorsers, to the
consumers’ formed attitudes toward the advertisement
material. It also examines the mediating role of self-
referencing – the processing of information by relating it to
aspects of one’s self-structure (Burnkrant and Unnava,
1995). It is proposed that narrowing social distance activates
self-structure, particularly its relational aspects, during
endorsement evaluation. Thus, the second objective of this
research is to explore the cognitive-based consequence of
social distance by looking at the cognitive structure of self-
referencing to explain an underlying mechanism that could
explain how social distance evokes favorable attitudes
toward advertisements. More and more celebrity endorsers
reach across regional boundaries with their brand and
product endorsements. In international contexts, as the
source of the message impacts the effectiveness of the
advertisement via familiarity and similarity to the target
consumer (McCracken, 1989), local and foreign celebrities
find themselves subject to cognitive and affective activity,
such as judgments based on the origin. Thus, the final
research objective is to investigate the differences on the
effects on attitudes of varying social distances levels of
endorsers depending upon their origin – local versus foreign.
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Literature review and hypotheses
Social distance from social categories as persuasive
appeals
The social identity theory suggests that when an individual self-
categorize as a result of exposure to a concept of a social
category, the accentuation of perceived similarities between the
self and an in-group (versus out-group) happens. Meaning,
when certain social categories with different social distances are
salient, different degrees of attitudes and affective reactions
are constructed toward the object carrying the social category.
The social identity theory lists down three levels of identity
salience and classifies them into three: superordinate (e.g.
membership in a group), intermediate (e.g. similarity with a
generalized category from a social circle) and subordinate (e.g.
relationship to an immediate social category). These
classifications consider contexts and salience of classifications
depending upon the changes in relevant stimuli.
Similarly, social distance is described by Bogardus (1933) as
people’s willingness to engage in varying degrees of social
contact with various social categories such as neighbors, close
friends and members of diverse social groups, including other
racial and ethnic groups. Park (1924) defines social distance as
the “grades and degrees of understanding and intimacy which
characterize personal and social relations generally” (339).
Previous research has shown that individuals tend to perceive
in- and out-groups differently. Compared with in-groups, out-
groups are perceived as more homogenous as having more
predictable sets of properties and are described in more abstract
terms (Fiedler et al., 1995). For example, Ebert (2005)
investigated the influence of social distance on the way people
make judgments. Ebert’s research suggests that social
categories with lesser social distance tend to be more influential
in forming judgments for a socially proximate entity (e.g. self)
than for a socially distant entity (e.g. a friend).
Magee and Smith (2013), in their social distance theory of
power, argue that asymmetric dependence between individuals
(i.e. power) produces asymmetric social distance; high-power
individuals feel more distant than low-power individuals. They
assert that because high-power individuals experience greater
social distance, they tend to engage in more abstract mental
representations.
However, as the idea of a relational approach develops
(Hung et al., 2011), social distance (close vs distant) appeals as
frames of persuasive communication present a rich opportunity
for empirical exploration. Previous studies on social distance
and power assert that power creates asymmetric social distance,
and that high-power individuals experience greater social
distance (cf. Magee and Smith, 2013); the paper contends that
narrowed social distance can be used to frame persuasive
communications engendering relationship-based persuasion by
media personae (i.e. celebrities) via social relationship category
appeals. These social categories activate relationship schema
and interpersonal involvement by way of self-referencing
toward the media persona through its representations of the
media figure.
Arguably, narrowed social distance as a psychological
dimension can be integrated with related cultural dimensions of
distance and categorization, such as celebrity origin. As social
distance decreases, judgments and perceptions about the self
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
and the other become convergent. The activation of social
categorization leads to an increase or decrease of perceived
social distance. In other words, if people see a celebrity as a
close friend or a family member, they perceive the celebrity as
familiar, similar to them in important ways (e.g. attitude toward
life, personality, etc.) and part of the same social group. All of
these are dimensions of social distance. Thus, perception of
close friendship with the celebrity reduces social distance felt
toward the character of the celebrity (Klimmt et al., 2006).
Liviatan et al. (2008) argue that interpersonal similarity is
indeed a form of social distance, with similar others being
perceived as socially closer to oneself than dissimilar ones. Such
social distance has important implications for information
processing about other people (Liberman et al., 2007; Trope
et al., 2007).
Social distance from social categories develops from schema
of social intimates, such as friends and family members, as the
corresponding knowledge system for known persons
(Anderson, 1968). When the schema of a social intimate is
made salient through a celebrity, the celebrity assumes the said
persona characteristics. This activates a schema of social
relationships (Hartmann and Goldhoorn, 2011) among
consumers and transmits stimulates an intimate feeling toward
the celebrity, which influences the consumer’s judgment about
the endorsed product.
Endorsers could imply intended learning, in that viewers
think about how their own lives could benefit from the
experiences the persona communicates, for example, in
endorsements (Fritchie and Johnson, 2003). Viewers are
more likely to establish such relations between a persona
and themselves in conditions of social closeness than social
distance. The socially distant celebrity is perceived as less
relevant, so establishing relations with them does not
produce much valuable information among consumers, as
compared to socially close appeals. Meanwhile, construing
a celebrity as a friend (moderately close level) versus a
family member (socially close) produces different effects.
Although no empirical research has investigated the degree
to which these two categories of intimacy vary, a study by
Gleich (1996) suggests that when celebrities are
characterized as good neighbors vs close friends, relational
attitudes vary in dimensions such as confidence, proximity
and strength of character. In terms of passion and
sociability, media characters are perceived to be similar to
close friends. Hermes (1995) likened media figures to an
extended family and posited that narratives about
celebrities are important in developing shared standards of
morality and in personality development among young
consumers (Giles and Maltby, 2004). This spectrum of
para-social (i.e. “illusionary intimacy” or one-way
perceived interpersonal relationship with media personae)
interaction and relationship is verified by Klimmt and
colleagues (2006) when they illustrate that the intensity of
social distance can vary considerably and should be
understood as a continuum. They visualize two general
prototypical poles of social distance intensities: distant,
moderately close and socially close (framed as family
members) levels, akin to para-social interactions.
Based on these arguments, the first and central hypothesis is:
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H1. In celebrity-endorsed advertisements, when perceived
social distance with a celebrity decreases, consumers’
attitudes toward the advertisement improve.
This prediction notes that when celebrities are portrayed as
themselves (celebrity being a socially distant category),
attitudes toward an ad are less positive than when they are
framed as a friend (moderately close social category).
Moreover, “being a family member” (socially close category)
would evoke more favorable attitudes toward the ad than the
“being a friend” framing.
Although not stated as a formal hypothesis, celebrities
compared to non-celebrities could elicit more favorable
attitudes because of reasons that could be attributed to the
media effect of celebrity personae (Giles, 2002). Such
mechanisms include familiarity, para-social interaction, recall
among others.
Endorsers’ social categories leads to self-referencing
Self-referencing is a processing of information by relating it to
aspects of one’s self-structure. It represents a cognitive process
where communicated information becomes saliently related to
one’s self-concept, such as the relational self-concept
(Burnkrant and Unnava, 1995). A person relates to a stimulus
by comparing it to self-relevant information stored in memory
(Debevec and Romeo, 1992). This happens either through
narrative transportation or analytical elaboration that affects
persuasion (Escalas, 2007).
Social distance response is based on prior media and life
experiences (Wicks, Nairn and Griffin, 2007). Thus, another
aspect of a viewer’s cognitive response to a media persona is the
activation of “memorized” context-relevant information.
Viewers may compare a situation and the actions of a celebrity
with circumstances in which they have observed the celebrity in
the past or with events they themselves have experienced. This
retrieval of personal information allows consumers to judge a
media product in reference to both knowledge about the
celebrity’s fictional character (Konijn and Hoorn, 2005) and
the actual life of the individual who portrays the fictional
character (Wulff, 1996). Celebrity social distance leads to self-
referencing where consumers process the content of an
advertisement by relating it to some aspect of themselves and
past para-social (virtual encounter) experiences with the
celebrity. Narrowing social distance leads to greater self-
referencing where aspects of the self-concept (relational self,
self-identity, social identity, reference group and origin) are
driven by the celebrity (Lee et al., 2002). According to previous
advertising research, self-referencing leads to favorable
judgments and evaluations in advertising attitude formation
and preferences (Lee et al., 2002).
Social distance and self-referencing are conceptually separate
but may be directly connected. While both concepts are
cognitive representations of psychological distance, social
distance is a mental representation of an object’s nearness (e.g.
a celebrity endorser) that influences one’s formation of
judgment (Liviatan et al., 2008), while self-referencing is an
activation of one’s connection to the object. In other words,
presentation of social nearness activates one’s social connection
to the object itself.
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
Thus, an advertising message that contains self-relevant
information encourages recall and elaboration (Martin et al.,
2004) because the content is more easily accessible and the
consumer has greater cognitive capacity to process the
persuasive message (Campbell and Kimani, 2000). Given these
findings, self-referencing is believed to bolster advertising
persuasiveness (Meyers-Levy and Peracchio, 1996). From
these arguments, the second hypothesis is:
H2. Self-referencing inversely mediates the effects between
social distance and attitudes about a celebrity-endorsed
advertisement. That is, greater social distance from an
endorser (i.e. socially distant celebrity endorsements)
leads to lower consumer self-referencing, which
consequently leads to less favorable attitudes toward the
advertisement. Similarly, lower social distance (e.g.
socially close celebrity endorsements) leads to greater
self-referencing and consequently leads to more
favorable attitudes toward the advertisement.
Endorser origin: local vs international
The identity and social identity theories posit that social
comparison as a process involved in social identity formation
results in selective application of the accentuation effect that
leads to self-enhancing outcomes for the self. In other words,
evaluating the in- and out-group on dimensions that lead the
in-group to be judged positively and the out-group to be judged
less favorably enhances and maintains one’s self-esteem and
self-verification (Turner and Onorato, 1999).
The cultural identity of a celebrity endorser as a social
category affects a viewer’s self-categorization and identification,
thus, impacts judgment of the advertising message (Pehrson
et al., 2009). Perceived cultural identity similarity between the
celebrity and the consumer suggests psychological proximity.
For example, one may construe a local celebrity more similar
and aligned with one’s identity than a foreign celebrity.
However, this kind of social categorization is abstract and more
high level (i.e. superordinate) as it pertains to group
membership (McCrea et al., 2012).
The judgment a consumer makes about similarity when
exposed to an advertisement and the ability to imagine oneself
relative to the endorser in the ad prompts cognitive evaluation
in the form of spontaneous self-referencing (Lee et al., 2002).
Figure 1 Conceptual framework
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From these arguments, it appears likely that social distance
from a local celebrity endorser could get a more favorable
response. It is hypothesized that:
H3. In celebrity-endorsed advertisements, the effect of social
distance from social categories on attitudes toward the
advertisement varies depending upon the perceived
origin of the endorser. Local endorsers elicit more
favorable attitudes toward the advertisements compared
to foreign endorsers.
Three studies were done demonstrating the relationships
discussed in the preceding sections as well as the underlying
mechanism and boundary conditions of such a relationship, the
mediation by self-referencing and moderating effects of
culturally related social categorization such as celebrity origin.
Figure 1 illustrates the hypothesized conceptual framework.
Methods
PRETEST: social distance manipulation pretest
To test whether the manipulations designed to be used in the
study actually led to social closeness, a pretest of the vignette
(which includes a feature article serving as priming material and
an actual advertisement) to be used in the actual experiments
was conducted with 56 undergraduates in a general education
course divided into three groups. They were asked to read one
of three variations of a write-up about a local celebrity: the
celebrity’s profile as a singer-actress vs as a friend vs as a family
member. After reading the write-up, the students were exposed
to an advertisement for mineral water (pretested to be a neutral
product, M = 2.85 in a 1/utilitarian –5/hedonic scale, Voss
et al., 2003). The advertisement included text on the celebrity’s
signature designed to narrow social distance (i.e. “a reminder
from” vs “a friendly reminder from” vs “a family reminder
from”). Finally, the subjects were asked to respond to a
semantic differential scale using keywords relevant to
measuring social distance (Magee and Smith, 2013).
Specifically, subjects indicated on a seven-point scale how
much they (1) “like” (2) “love” (3) “feel close” to the celebrity
in the vignette. The results showed that the three manipulation
vignettes differed in their average effects on perceived social
distance with the celebrity (Msinger-actress = 3.45; Mfriend = 5.7;
Mfamily = 6.1; F(2, 58) = 16.54, p < .001). It is important to
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
establish that being a “celebrity” evokes social distance among
consumers than framing the celebrity as a “friend” and as a
“family member”.
STUDY 1: celebrity social distance and advertising
evaluations
The first study explored the central idea that different levels of
social distance lead to more positive attitudes about the ad
(H1). Furthermore, based on the reasons stated previously,
celebrities will elicit a greater effect than non-celebrities
because of the prior connections and pseudo-relationships
consumers have formed with these celebrities. These are
further tested with a celebrity and non-celebrity acting as
controls to eliminate the possibility that consumers may simply
have been thinking about their own social intimates, such as
friends and family members (e.g. generalized social nearness).
Method
Participants and design
In total, 193 (105 females) student–participants from the
Philippines were randomly assigned to one of the six
experimental conditions: 3 (social distance: distant vs moderate
vs close)  2 (endorser type: celebrity vs non-celebrity)
between-subjects design.
Pretest for celebrity and non-celebrity stimuli
To ensure that the endorsers featured in the advertisement
stimuli did not significantly differ in attractiveness, a pretest
was conducted to eliminate attractiveness of the endorsers as a
source of systematic bias (Mattractivenessceleb = 3.15,
Mattractivenessnonceleb = 3.05, p = 0.75, NS). Also, the celebrity
selected was pretested to embody moderate likeability,
attractiveness and familiarity compared to other contemporary
celebrities included in the pool of names where the celebrities
were chosen. For the celebrity condition, singer-actress Sarah
Geronimo was selected to be featured in the advertisement
stimuli. For the non-celebrity condition, a model of similar
attractiveness who was not familiar to the subjects was selected
(i.e. no significant difference on attractiveness, p = 0.75 in a
five-point semantic differential scale: attractive–unattractive).
The two differed in familiarity levels (p < 0.01 on a five-point
semantic differential scale: familiar–unfamiliar). Finally, no
cross-gender difference between male and female respondents
on perceived attractiveness (p = 0.10) and familiarity (p = 55)
were found.
Advertising stimuli
The advertising stimuli consisted of a description of a fictitious
mineral water brand “drink4life” with a photo of the product
and an endorser photo (celebrity vs non-celebrity), name and
signature. The photos of the celebrity and non-celebrity were
edited to make them appear almost similar to avoid potential
confounds because of the photographs themselves. Only the
faces of the endorser are different, but all other parts were
similar.
To manipulate social distance, two aspects of the stimuli
were varied: a feature article about the endorser prior to the
subjects’ exposure to the advertisement material and
advertisement material with a caption (i.e. product description
closing). The feature article in the socially distant condition is
about the endorser being herself as a celebrity (or non-celebrity:
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a commercial “model”). The article in the moderate social
distance condition is about the endorser being a “friend.”
Finally, the article used in the socially close condition is about
the endorser on being a “sister”.
The advertising materials differed in the product description
close (close: “[. . .] for yourself and our families too,” moderate:
“[. . .] for yourself and our friends too,” distant: “[. . .] for
yourself and for everyone else”). Also the endorsers’ closing
signature copy differed (close: “A family reminder from [. . .],”
moderate: “A friendly reminder from [. . .]” and distant: “A
reminder from [. . .]”).
Procedures
Each subject was asked to go to a particular website link where
an “advertising market test” was shown. The subjects were first
asked to read the feature article about the featured endorser
which sets the manipulated presentation of the endorser. Then,
they were tasked to carefully examine an advertisement of a
new product on the webpage using a computer. To ensure that
the exposure time of the advertisement was the same for all
subjects, the advertisement was embedded on the page for 90 s
before they could move to the next pages. After their exposure
to the advertisement, they were asked to answer a series of
questions, including the manipulation check questions.
Advertising attitude scale
Seven items on a five-point semantic differential scale
(Cronbach’s a = 0.85 in Martin, Lee and Yang, 2004) were
used to evaluate advertisement attitudes. The items
include polar adjectives: bad–good, unconvincing–convincing,
uninformative–informative, not interesting–interesting,
unpleasant–pleasant, not likeable–likeable and not enjoyable–
enjoyable. Some items were reversed for consistency. The
scores were averaged to obtain a single score for advertisement
attitude.
Self-referencing questionnaire
To measure the proposed mediator, self-referencing questions
were adapted from previous research to measure the cognitive
processing of context-relevant information and recall and
elaboration of the context-relevant material by relating it to self-
structure (Burnkrant and Unnava, 1995). Self-referencing
items included the following: “The ad made me think about my
personal experiences with such product,” “The ad seems to
relate to me personally,” “I can easily relate myself to the
advertisement’s celebrity model,” “I can easily form similarity
judgment between myself and the advertisement’s celebrity
model,” “I can easily picture myself using the product featured
in the advertisement,” “The advertisement’s celebrity model
seems to speak for someone I know of.” These questions were
to be rated on a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree/strong
disagree, Cronbach’s a = 0.85). The scores were then averaged
for analysis.
Manipulation and confound check questions
To check whether the manipulation of social distance indeed
created the intended effect on the celebrity’s social closeness, a
similar measure was used capturing celebrity effects on
celebrity social closeness (or distance) or para-social interaction
and relationship (PSIR) scales (Rubin et al., 1985). Audience-
persona relationship-based comparative evaluation (Auter and
Palmgreen, 2000) and sense of companionship, immediacy and
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
feeling of a face-to-face meeting (Hoerner, 1999) questions
were asked of the subjects (Cronbach a = 0.75). Items included
the following: “I know persons close to me that are similar to
the celebrity model,” “I seem to have the same belief or attitude
towards the celebrity model,” “I wish I could have handled
problems or challenges like the celebrity model does,” “I felt
included in the celebrity model’s social group.” Also, the
subjects were asked about their perceived attraction to the
models (five-point semantic differential scale: attractive–
unattractive). Finally, they were asked to indicate their
familiarity with the models by stating whether they thought the
model was a celebrity or a non-celebrity, and their
attractiveness level was again asked (five-point semantic
differential scale).
Manipulation and confound checks
Degrees of social distance
To ensure that the manipulation of social distance varied in its
effects, subjects were asked toward the end of the experiment
about their PSIR with the celebrity endorser using existing
combined scales of PSIR. An ANOVA shows that there are
significant differences among the average PSIR scores for the
three levels of social distance in the celebrity condition,
implying that the manipulation was successful in eliciting/
activating increasing levels of PSIR with the celebrity endorser
(Mdistant = 2.58, SD = 0.74; Mmoderate = 3.06, SD = 0.62;
Mclose = 3.61, SD = 0.75; F(2, 90) = 16.54, p < 0.001).
Familiarity
The endorsers featured in the advertising stimuli were meant to
be distinguishable among the subjects. The subjects were asked
to rate the model’s familiarity on a five-point familiarity scale
(unfamiliar–familiar). The subjects clearly indicated familiarity
with the celebrity (M = 4.9) and non-familiarity with the non-
celebrity (M = 2.1). The familiarity levels of the two models
significantly differ (p < 0.01).
Attractiveness
To eliminate the possibility of attractiveness driving the results,
the respondents were asked about their perception of the
attractiveness of both endorsers. As with the pretest, there was
no significant difference in the perceived attractiveness of the
models used in the advertising stimuli (p = 0.3).
Table I Study 1. Effects of social distance and endorser type on attitudes toward the advertisement
Dependent variable Independent variable
Attitude toward the advertisement Social distance
Endorser type
Social distance  endorser type
Social distance levels Attitudes toward the advertisement
Aggregate
Distant 2.4
Moderately distant 2.89
Socially close 3.15
Notes:  F(2,190) = 26.85, p < 0.001;  F(2,93) = 310.59, p < 0.01;  F(1,191) = 350.34, p < 0.01; absignificantly different at p < 0.05
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H1: main effects from social distance
Social distance
The main effects of social distance on attitudes about the
advertisement are striking F(1,192) = 249.62, p < 0.01, h p2 =
0.727. A one-way ANOVA reveals that the differences among
social distance levels are significant, F(2,190) = 26.85, p < 0.001.
Furthermore, planned comparisons show that there are
significant differences among the three levels of social distance.
The first comparison confirms that the mean of the socially
distant condition (Mdistant = 2.4) is lower than both the moderate
(Mmoderate = 2.89) and socially close (Mclose = 3.15); t(190) =
6.92, p < 0.001) conditions. The second comparison reveals
that moderate social distance condition is significantly lower than
socially close condition, t(190) = –2.502, p = 0.013. These results
support H1 pertaining to the linear relationship between social
distance and attitudes about celebrity-endorsed advertisements:
narrowing social distance improves attitudes about the
advertisement (Table I).
Endorser type
The significant main effects are also observed relating to the
endorser type F(1,192) = 1,420.9, p < 0.01, h p2 = 0.884.
There is a significant difference between the effect of a celebrity
vs a non-celebrity F(1,191) = 350.34, p < 0.01. The findings
reveal that the effect of a non-celebrity model (Mnon-celebrity =
2.3, SD = 0.5) is significantly lower than that of a celebrity
model (Mcelebrity = 3.35, SD = 0.22). A post hoc comparison was
done to compare the effects of celebrity and non-celebrity
separately. An ANOVA of the social distance factor shows that
attitudes toward the advertisement differ significantly among
the three levels of social distance F(2,93) = 310.59, p < .01.
The first comparison reveals that the socially-distant condition
(Mcelebrity = 3.09) is significantly different than the moderate
(Mcelebrity = 3.38) and socially-close conditions (Mcelebrity =
3.6) of social distance, t(91) = 22.55, p < 0.001). The second
comparison demonstrates that the moderate appeal evokes less
favorable attitudes than the socially close condition, t(91) = –
11.04, p < 0.001). An ANOVA of the social distance of non-
celebrity spokespeople also reveals significant differences in
effect, F(2,96) = 130.31, p < 0.01.
Interactive effects
A regression analysis of social distance and endorser type
factors revealed a significant interaction F(2,193) = 32.43, p <
0.01, h p2 = 0.258. Two-way planned comparisons were
performed on the attitudes about the advertisement elicited by
two endorser types in a three-level social distance factor. The
F h p2 df p
249.62 0.727 1 0.01
1,420.9 0.884 1 0.01
32.43 0.258 2 0.01
Celebrity ,a Non-celebrity ,b
3.09 1.71
3.38 2.43
3.6 2.73
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
first comparison reveals that the effects of the socially distant
condition (Mcelebrity = 3.09, Mnoncelebrity = 1.71) are lower than
those of the moderate social distance condition (Mcelebrity =
3.38, Mnoncelebrity = 2.43) p < 0.001, and that socially close
conditions (Mcelebrity = 3.6, Mnoncelebrity = 2.73) are higher than
distant and moderate conditions p < 0.001. The second
comparison confirms that celebrities elicits more favorable
attitudes (Mcelebrity = 3.35, SD = 0.22) than non-celebrities
(Mnoncelebrity = 2.3, SD = 0.5) p < 0.001.
This supports H1. Additionally, the differences are
prominent between celebrity and non-celebrity. Celebrities can
elicit more favorable attitudes than non-celebrities across all
levels of social distance conditions. The findings support
previous literature that a celebrity endorser is more effective
than a non-celebrity endorser because a celebrity can create
and activate social meanings and para-sociality (Giles, 2002)
prior to the advertising context more than a non-celebrity.
H2: self-referencing as a mediator
Preacher and Hayes’ (2008) bootstrapping procedure and
corresponding SPSS macro was used to assess any significant
indirect effect of social distance on attitudes about an
advertisement via self-referencing. In total, 1,000 bootstrap
resamples were performed. The overall effect of social distance
on advertising attitude via self-referencing was statistically
significant (c path), B = 0.36 (SE = 0.05), t(184) = 6.78, p <
0.001. Social distance influences self-referencing (a path), B =
0.18 (SE = 0.07), t(184) = 2.47, p = 0.0143. Furthermore, self-
referencing directly affects attitudes about the advertisement (b
path), B = 0.40 (SE = 0.04), t(184) = 8.8, p < 0.001. The
direct effect of social distance on advertising attitude, after
controlling for the mediated influence of self-referencing, was
not significant (c’ path), B = 0.19 (SE = 0.045), t(184) = 6.35,
p = 0.10. These results suggest a complete mediation of the
relationship between social distance and attitudes about the
advertisement by self-referencing. In other words, H2
(mediation by self-referencing) is supported. This explanatory
role of self-referencing was assessed by means of a
bootstrapping mediation test encompassing 1,000 bootstraps
(lower bound 95 per cent CI = 0.0161, upper bound 95
per cent CI = 0.1388) (Preacher and Hayes, 2008).
STUDY 2: social distance with local vs international
celebrities
Study 1 confirms that social distance from a celebrity has more
impact on a consumer’s attitude about an advertisement than
that of a non-celebrity. However, in international marketing
contexts where the origin of a celebrity endorser may differ
from that of the consumer, the effect of social distance may
differ. H3 predicts that social distance vis-a-vis local celebrities
has a more favorable attitudes than that of foreign celebrities.
Study 2 provides evidence for H3.
Method
Participants and design
In total, 243 undergraduate student–participants (148 females)
from the Philippines were randomly assigned to one of six
experimental conditions: 3 (social distance: socially distant vs
moderate social distance vs socially close)  2 (celebrity origin:
local vs foreign).
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Volume 37 · Number 5 · 2020 · 521–532
Pretest for local and foreign celebrities
A pretest determined which celebrity endorsers were similar in
degrees of attractiveness and popularity among the consumers
with a similar profile as the actual subjects. Two celebrities (one
local and one foreign) with no significant difference in their
level of attractiveness (p = 0.50) and familiarity (p = 0.34)
compared to their other local and foreign counterparts were
eventually selected. They ranked in the middle in terms of
attractiveness and popularity compared to their counterparts.
This ensured that extreme popularity and attractiveness factors
were systematically eliminated. Local celebrity, singer-actress
Sarah Geronimo, and foreign (American) singer-actress Taylor
Swift were selected to be featured in the advertisement stimuli
in Study 2.
Procedures
This second experiment examined the effects of social distance
in three conditions (distant vs moderate vs close) on two
celebrity origins (local: Filipino Sarah Geronimo vs foreign:
American Taylor Swift). The participants were exposed to an
advertisement for a fictitious boutique restaurant “Eat.Drink.
ShopManila”.
Results and discussion
Manipulation check
As in Study 1, a manipulation check was done via PSIR.
Manipulation was successful in eliciting/activating various
levels of social distance to the celebrity endorser (Mdistant = 2.5,
SD = 0.84; Mmoderate = 2.96, SD = 0.68; Mclose = 3.3, SD =
0.55; F(2, 241) = 10.34, p < 0.001).
Social distance
There was a significant main effect of social distance F(2,245)
= 167.93, p < 0.001, h p2 = 0.584. Furthermore, a set of
planned comparison tests reveals that there were significant
differences on the effects of social distance, F(2,244) =
122.096, p < 0.001. The first comparison reveals that the
socially distant condition (Mdistant = 2.64) produces less
favorable attitudes toward the advertisement than the moderate
(Mmoderate = 3.45) and socially close (Mclose = 3.83) conditions,
t(242) = –14.78, p < 0.001. The second comparison confirmed
that moderate social distance elicited less favorable attitudes
toward the ad than the socially close condition, t(242) = –4.85,
p < 0.001. Consistent with H1 and with the findings in Study 1,
there is a direct relationship between social distance and
attitudes about the advertisement: when perceived social
distance with a celebrity decreases, consumers’ attitudes
toward the advertisement improve.
H3: celebrity origin as a moderator
The main effect of celebrity origin on attitudes about an
advertisement is significant, F(1,245) = 124.56, p < 0.001,
h p2 = 0.343, as was the interaction with social distance F
(2,245) = 6.020, p = 0.003, h p2 = 0.048. A planned
comparison reveals that the socially distant condition (Mlocal =
2.84, Mforeign = 2.48) has less favorable attitude toward the ad
than the moderate condition (Mlocal = 3.71, Mforeign = 3.14)
p < 0.001, and that the socially close condition (Mlocal = 4.18,
Mforeign = 3.39) elicits more favorable attitudes than socially
distant and moderate conditions, p < 0.001 (Figure 2). Socially
close categorization of celebrity endorsers influences
 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
Figure 2 Effects of social distance on advertising attitudes with local
vs international (foreign) celebrities endorsers
advertising evaluations more positively compared to socially
distant appeals such as mere celebrity profile, and the effects are
more pronounced with local celebrities than foreign celebrities
(Table II).
Across the three social distance conditions, local endorsers
trigger more favorable attitudes than foreign endorsers. Thus,
the subjects have relatively less favorable attitudes toward an
advertisement when the endorser is foreign and even weight the
endorser more heavily (thus the influence of social distance is
less). The preference for a local vs a foreign endorser increases
with the social closeness of the ad’s target consumer. These
findings confirm H3 that the effects of social distance are more
pronounced with local celebrities than with foreign celebrities.
Consistent with the distinctiveness theory, the origin of an
endorser serves as cue for self-construal relating to social
identity and influence of the notions of social and cultural
distances.
Self-referencing mediation
The overall effects of social distance on attitudes about an
advertisement via self-referencing were statistically significant
(c path), B = 0.59 (SE = 0.04), t(244) = 14.93, p < 0.001.
Furthermore: (a path), B = 0.39 (SE = 0.05), t(244) =7.82, p <
0.001; (b path), B = 0.31 (SE = 0.04), t(244) =6.78, p < 0.001;
(c’ path), B = 0.47 (SE = 0.04), t(244) =11.49, p = 0.10. This
mediating role of self-referencing was assessed with 1,000
bootstraps (lower bound 95 per cent CI = 0.0769, upper bound
95 per cent CI =0.1997) (Preacher and Hayes, 2008). These
results suggest a full mediation on the relationship between
social distance and attitudes toward the advertisement with
Table II Study 2. Effects of social distance and endorser origin on attitudes toward the advertisement
Dependent variable Independent variable
Attitude toward the advertisement Social distance
Endorser origin
Social distance  endorser origin
Social distance levels Attitudes toward the advertisement
Aggregate
Distant 2.64
Moderately distant 3.45
Socially close 3.83
Notes:  F(2,244) = 122.1, p < 0.001; absignificantly different at p < 0.05
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local and foreign celebrities as endorsers by self-referencing. H2
(mediation by self-referencing) is again supported.
The following figure illustrates the structural equations
model through Hayes’ (2013) SPSS Process model 5
(Figure 3).
STUDY 3: fictitious local and international celebrity
endorsers
Study 2 shows that real-life local celebrities evoke a greater
degree of narrowed social distance than international
celebrities. Study 3 replicates these two studies with fictitious
local and international celebrity personae using the procedures
described in Till and Busler (2000). Unlike the previous two
studies, this experiment used a product (i.e. a tennis racket)
that is categorized as high-involvement and gender-neutral.
Student–participants (n = 210) from the Philippines were
randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions: 3
(social distance: socially distant vs moderate social distance vs
socially close)  2 (celebrity endorser origin: local (fictitious
local athlete Manila’s “Nora Hirao”) vs foreign (fictitious
Olympic athlete Vietnam’s “Norah Hao”)).
Following Till and Busler (2000), the main advertisement
material focuses on a half-body shot of generally attractive
female athlete (tennis player) wearing sports attires while
holding a tennis racket. This visual stimulus is used for both
local and foreign endorser conditions with a difference on the
names of the endorser and their indicated origin. Both have
indications that they are “rising stars in the field of tennis” to
Figure 3 Self-referencing mediation analysis in study 2
F h p2 df p
167.93 0.584 2 0.01
124.56 0.343 1 0.01
6.020 0.048 2 0.05
Local celebritya Foreign celebrityb
2.84 2.48
3.71 3.14
4.18 3.39
 Advertisement attitudes Journal of Consumer Marketing
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang Volume 37 · Number 5 · 2020 · 521–532

suggest that they are starting celebrities in the sports domain. influenced the advertising evaluations as compared to socially
The representation of the endorser suggests that the distant appeals such as mere celebrity profile, and the effects
advertisement leverages on the influence of the personality. were greater for local than foreign celebrities even when the
celebrities were fictitious.
Results Consistently with the findings in Study 2, the following
Manipulation check was done via PSIR and was successful in structural model (Hayes, 2013) suggests that the hypotheses
eliciting/activating increasing levels of social distance (or are supported (Figure 4).
closeness) with the celebrity endorser (Mdistant = 2.88, SD =
0.81; Mmoderate = 3.03, SD = 0.62; Mclose = 3.4, SD = 0.52; F General discussion
(2, 211) = 17.34, p < 0.001). Through a recall measure, most
of the subjects (97 per cent of sample) remembered the Situationally accessible cues of social and cultural nearness,
indicated origin of Nora Hirao as someone coming from social distance and celebrity origin both serve as factors that
Manila; while 96 per cent correctly recalled that Norah Hao is attenuate psychological distance (e.g. social distance, Kim
from Vietnam. This simply indicates that the stated origin of et al., 2008) between consumers and celebrities, especially in
the endorsers were, in fact, from distinct places, implying local contexts where such endorsers constrain evaluations due to
and foreign origins. potential inaccessibility caused by social and cultural distance.
One key observation in Studies 2 and 3 is that there is a more
Social distance
pronounced attitude toward local endorsers than their
There was a significant main effect of social distance F(2,211) =
international (or foreign) counterparts. It may be that the
153.93, p < 0.001, h p2 = 0.884. A set of planned comparisons
combination of social distance and celebrity origin diminish
also revealed that there were significant differences on the effects
sensitivity, whereas the impact of one dimension affects the
of social distance, F(2,211) = 152.02, p < 0.001. The first
impact of the other to a lesser degree (Liberman et al., 2007).
comparison revealed that the socially distant condition (Mdistant =
This can be further elaborated and investigated in future
1.54) exhibits less favorable attitudes toward the advertisement
than the moderate (Mmoderate = 3.2) and socially close social studies.
distance conditions (Mclose = 3.7), t(211) = –12.7, p < 0.001. The notion of “family” versus “friend” in relation to
The second comparison confirmed that moderate social distance celebrities elicited greater effects in both local and international
elicits less favorable attitudes than socially close condition, celebrity types. This finding was salient in this study, possibly
t(211) = –2.85, p < 0.001. Consistent with H1 and with the due to the idiosyncrasies of the market where the study was
findings in Studies 1 and 2, there is a direct relationship
between social distance and attitudes about an Figure 4 Self-referencing mediation analysis in study 3
advertisement (Table III).
Fictitious celebrity origin
The main effect of celebrity origin on attitudes about an
advertisement is significant, F (1,211) = 174.6, p < 0.001,
h p2 = 0.643, as was the interaction with social distance
F (2,211) = 9.05, p = 0.001, h p2 = 0.054. Comparisons
revealed that the socially distant condition of fictitious local
endorser (Mlocal = 1.84) had more favorable attitudes toward
the ad compared to its foreign counterpart (Mforeign = 1.48)
(p < 0.05). Similarly, in the moderate social distance condition,
the fictitious local endorser (Mlocal = 3.1) had a higher score
than the fictitious foreign endorser (Mforeign = 3.07) p < 0.001.
Finally, in the socially close condition, the local endorser scored
higher (Mlocal = 3.95) than the foreign endorser (Mforeign =
3.39) p < 0.001. The socially close endorser appeal positively

Table III Study 3. Effects of social distance and fictitious endorser origin on attitudes toward the advertisement
Dependent variable Independent variable F h p2 df p
Attitude toward the advertisement Social distance 153.93 0.884 2 0.01
Fictitious endorser origin 174.6 0.643 1 0.05
Social distance  endorser origin 9.05 0.054 2 0.001
Social distance levels Attitudes toward the advertisement
Aggregate Fictitious local celebritya Fictitious foreign celebrityb
Distant 1.54 1.84 1.48
Moderately distant 3.2 3.1 3.07
Socially close 3.7 3.95 3.39
Notes:  F(2,211) = 152.02, p < 0.001; absignificantly different at p < 0.05

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 Advertisement attitudes
Dave Centeno and Jeff Jianfeng Wang
undertaken and certain consumer cultural features in the
Philippines where celebrities can easily be framed and
construed as socially close others. Also, as an Asian country,
collectivism is strong and apparent in Filipino consumption
patterns. Celebrity power remains an authoritative, yet
relational, projection, oftentimes in the closest affinity possible
such as being a “family member”.
The paper’s relational approach is seen as a unidirectional
reactive social perception on the part of the consumer, albeit
dependent on a creative and strategic marketing
communications execution. It is suggested that celebrity
endorsements can use distance reduction as an effective
relational approach. Celebrity social distance enhances
consumers’ self-referencing and thus may lead to more positive
attitudes about an advertisement contingent upon the
celebrity’s origin. These insights provide implications for social
and cultural influences among consumers in the context of
advertising and celebrity endorsements.
Furthermore, the managerial implications are explicit with
regard to the use of primed social distance and selection of
celebrity type – local versus international – for the intended
advertising effects to manifest. Does this mean that celebrity
endorsers should be positioned to appear more like “family
members” and “friends”? This strategy may be an
oversimplification of the effects of narrowing social distance.
Though the principles of PSIRs (Horton and Wohl, 1956)
suggest that celebrities may be construed as socially close others
and thereby be more persuasive (Hung et al., 2011), the idea of
social distance takes the path of self-referencing as an effect.
When celebrities talk about their own personal “ordinary lives,”
consumers feel connected and can make reference to their own
self-concept, particularly their relational self-concept or the
relational-representative activation from self-referencing
(Brewer and Gardner, 1996; Buri and Mueller, 1993).
Practical insights can be drawn from the framework and
findings of this paper. Firstly, advertising with celebrity
endorsers can narrow social and cultural distances through
social distance activation. Local celebrities can improve their
appeal through framing them using social categories that
narrow social distances than by merely projecting them as
celebrities themselves.
International marketing planners can draw insights on how
foreign celebrities can more effectively appeal to local
consumers. A foreign celebrity endorser is inherently distant
from the local consumers where the advertisement and other
promotional materials are placed in the local setting. As the
findings in this study suggest, narrowed social distance through
social categories such as “friend” or “family member” frames
can enhance the relational appeal of a foreign celebrity by
merely activating the concepts of these social identities. Seen
this way, a foreign endorser might appeal better if framed
through social categories that narrow social distance compared
to a local endorser who is presented as a distant social entity on
a celebrity status.
Limitations and future research
The student sample used in this research limits generalization
to a broader population. The contrived contexts may overstate
the importance of social distance effects and origin types of
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Volume 37 · Number 5 · 2020 · 521–532
celebrities while omitting extraneous factors that possibly
influence consumers’ evaluation of advertising. Nonetheless,
the findings constitute a conservative test of theory. The
experimental designs limited brand and category choices,
restricting generalizability to other purchasing contexts,
including high-involvement big-ticket items (aside from mobile
phones tested in one of the studies). In some categories such as
aspirational and luxury products, the direction of the effects of
social distances may have reversed findings, as these product
classes invite heightening of social status akin to a “celebrity”
who is deemed carrying high status symbol through possessions
(McCracken, 1989).
Only female celebrities were considered in the experiments,
and although this did not produce any gender effects, it could
possibly affect the findings. Moreover, no competition among
brands was considered in the experiments, as the study only
aimed to demonstrate the effects of differences in social
distance appeals between local vs international celebrities.
Interestingly, testing another type of foreign celebrity can
further demonstrate or challenge the hypothesis posed
regarding foreign celebrity. One possibility is to test another
Asian celebrity treated as a foreign celebrity such as the Korean
pop idols prominent in the current study’s context, the
Philippines. Also, it is equally important to investigate the
varying effects of bi-racial celebrities in different Asian
consumer markets such as Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines
and others, where acceptance of mixed cultures is variable.
Importantly, dependent variables other than attitudes toward
the advertisements should be explored such as brand attitudes,
purchase intention and even, willingness-to-pay variables.
Finally, other celebrity or media personae types (Giles, 2002)
such as athletes, newscasters, political leaders, popular fantasy
figures or cartoon characters (Hodge and Tripp, 1986) could
be studied. Moreover, future studies can investigate product
consumption types such as hedonic and utilitarian usages
(Jones et al., 2006), which may reveal different effects from
social distance and ethnocentricity when the construal of social
and cultural origins and influences are made salient in the
persuasion process.
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Corresponding author
Dave Centeno can be contacted at: dave.centeno@upd.edu.
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