ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ON SALES OF PRODUCTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GHANA AND ITALY.

Abstract

Advertisement has been the driving force for businesses to thrive and endorsement happens to be a major form of advertisement that companies depend on for increase in sales. Celebrity endorsement has been studied by many scholars including Kasana and Chaudhary (2014), Sudhakar (2014), Roozen (2008) and Mittal (2018). These scholars recognize that celebrity endorsement employed by companies and firms to promote their products is a powerful tool to persuade consumers to patronize such products and services. This study adopted the descriptive approach design that enabled the data to be analyzed descriptively as they present themselves. Both interviews and questionnaires were adopted to gather the data for the studies. These data collection tools were administered to 110 individuals with 100 respondents used for the questionnaires and 10 individuals interviewed for information. The study also employed secondary data made up of commercials for both Ghana and Italy products to be analyzed so as to ascertain the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumers’ choice for the product. Data analysis indicated that celebrity endorsement is effective in advertising products in both Ghana and Italy. Analysis of the data gathered from Ghana indicated that there are high levels of influence on consumers to patronize products due to their taste and affection for the celebrity endorsers of such products. Though some people tend to buy products because of their need, most of the people are enticed to buy products because of the affinity they have with the celebrity endorsing the products. Analysis of the Italy data also revealed that people patronize products and the celebrity endorsement involved with such product influence them to buy them. The persuasive power of celebrity endorsement on the choices of consumers was also attested to by the data analysis. Data indicated that celebrity endorsement is very effective in Italy; yet comparatively, it cannot be compared to the high influence celebrity endorsement has in Ghana. Various factors were identified to be the reasons companies employ celebrities to endorse their products. Some of these factors included company’s desire to reach countless number of people to build a wider market zone and increase their products’ popularity, the fan-base of the celebrities to influence and boost sales, and most importantly, the surge in sales after celebrity endorsement that helps them to increase production and maximize profits. It was also established by data analyzed that there are both positive and negative effects associated with celebrities endorsing products. In the case of Ghana, data revealed that the sales of a product endorsed by a celebrity goes down when that celebrity in question becomes unpopular, and vice versa. These impacts severely affect companies both positively and negatively as companies tend to maximize profits and incur losses respectively. Assessing the similarities and differences between celebrity endorsement in Ghana and Italy, data indicated that celebrities are used by companies of both countries to endorse products. It was also realized that some people tend to consume products not because of the celebrity endorser but because they have the need for such products. Another discovery made in line with the differences was that Italians tend to buy ostentatious products for the luxury and their love for them and not due to the celebrity endorsement of the product. Compared to that of Ghana, such purchases do not really exist. Celebrity endorsement really have influence on the sales of product and therefore, getting the right celebrity to endorse a product is unequivocally linked to increasing sales and maximizing profit.