Sometimes a celebrity holding a negative public image is the best product endorser
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine women's reactions to celebrity endorsers holding positive and negative public images and the consequences for purchase intentions of the endorsed product. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the social comparison literature and applies the theory of upward and downward comparisons to the celebrity endorsement context. Findings Study 1 shows that exposure to celebrities holding a positive public image decrease consumers' temporal self esteem, while celebrities holding a negative public image increase temporal self esteem. Study 2 suggests that this change in self esteem transfers to the product depending upon the type of social comparison focus (similarity vs dissimilarity) which people have. Study 3 shows that for consumers low in true self esteem, i.e. self esteem based upon a stable foundation, celebrities holding a positive public image decrease purchase intentions. For consumers high in true self esteem, there was no difference between exposure to celebrities holding a positive and a negative public image for purchase intentions. Study 4 focused on replicating the results found in Studies 1 3 in the context of an achievement celebrity (as opposed to a regular celebrity) The findings in Study 4 provide further support for the results of Studies 1 and 3, and identify expert celebrities as a boundary condition for the effects found in Study 2. Practical implications The results provide evidence suggesting that celebrities holding a negative public image can be used as celebrity endorsers in product categories in which it can be considered helpful to protect women's self esteem, such as beauty products or self expressive products. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on celebrity endorsement by adding a boundary condition for the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. According to the results, choosing a positive celebrity can, for some groups, have negative effects on purchase intensions and that a negative celebrity might be the safer choice.