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How negative celebrity publicity influences consumer attitudes: The mediating role of moral reputation

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  • Zhou, Lianxi
  • Whitla, Paul

Abstract

This paper explores consumer reactions to negative celebrity publicity. We draw from the sociological analysis of morality and propose that an individual's concerns with moral norms of the target celebrity's personal conduct (deontology) and perceived wrongness of his/her act to the general public (teleology) have detrimental effects on celebrity endorsements. The results based upon a convenience sample of young Asian consumers reveal the crucial role of the evaluation of moral reputation in shaping respondents' reaction to the poorly behaving celebrity and the endorsed brands. The major implication is that moral reputation is an important bridging connection between the attribution process and consumers' reaction to negative celebrity publicity and therefore the celebrity endorser's moral reputation should be incorporated into celebrity endorsement research. Our approach captures a broad sociological process underlying consumer resistance to erratic behavior of celebrity endorsers.

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  • Zhou, Lianxi & Whitla, Paul, 2013. "How negative celebrity publicity influences consumer attitudes: The mediating role of moral reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1013-1020.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:66:y:2013:i:8:p:1013-1020
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.12.025
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    Cited by:

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    8. In-Hye Kang & Taehoon Park, 2022. "Cultural Differences in Consumer Responses to Celebrities Acting Immorally: A Comparison of the United States and South Korea," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 373-389, September.
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    11. Albert, Noël & Ambroise, Laure & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2017. "Consumer, brand, celebrity: Which congruency produces effective celebrity endorsements?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 96-106.
    12. Opris Adriana & Pelau Corina & Lazar Laura, 2020. "The role of celebrities for the image of endorsed products," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 838-846, July.
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    14. Junzhou Zhang & Lei Huang, 2018. "Loss or gain? The impact of Chinese local celebrity endorser scandal on the global market value of the endorsed brands," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 27-39, March.
    15. Erika KULCSà R & Andrea ANTAL & Hanna BENŠ& Bíborka KERESZTES, 2017. "The Role Of (Action) Movies, Video Clips And Celebrities In Tourism Marketing, Or Presenting James Bond, George Ezra And Prince Charles As Ambassadors Of Tourism," Revista de turism - studii si cercetari in turism / Journal of tourism - studies and research in tourism, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 24(24), pages 1-4, December.
    16. Xuhui Wang & Asad Hassan Butt & Qilin Zhang & Nouman Shafique & Hassan Ahmad, 2021. "“Celebrity Avatar†Feasting on In-Game Items: A Gamers’ Play Arena," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    17. Paydas Turan, Ceyda, 2022. "Deal or deny: The effectiveness of crisis response strategies on brand equity of the focal brand in co-branding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 615-629.
    18. Zhucheng Shao & Jessica Sze Yin Ho & Garry Wei-Han Tan & Keng-Boon Ooi & Prianka Sarker & Yogesh K. Dwivedi, 2024. "How celebrity attributes damage customer–brand relationship in live streaming commerce: a dark side," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(6), pages 593-615, November.
    19. Andrews, Matt & Harrington, Peter, 2016. "Off Pitch: Football's Financial Integrity Weaknesses, and How to Strengthen Them," Working Paper Series 16-009, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    20. Yuanyuan Zhou & Qian Li & Shiyang Gong & Daniel P. Hampson & Zhicen Liu, 2023. "Looking back is better than looking forward: visualization, temporal frames, and new product evaluation in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 829-856, July.
    21. Han-Kuang Tien, 2017. "How Much Should Managers Pay for Celebrity Endorsements?," International Journal of Marketing Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(2), pages 68-77, April.

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