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Introduction
Leveraging the endorsement of products by celebrities, as a marketing practice, has a distinguished history. Josiah Wedgwood, the famed eighteenth century potter, was a pioneer in using celebrities to his advantage. Once Queen Charlotte began to use his products, Wedgwood capitalised on his new status by referring to himself as "potter to Her Majesty" ([3] Dukcevich, 2004). Centuries later, celebrity usage in brand management strategies has become a familiar scenario. In early 2001, approximately one in five marketing programs in the UK featured some type of celebrity endorser, with the number closer to one in four programs in the US ([5] Erdogan et al. , 2001).
The widespread use of celebrity product endorsement in marketing programs is not an accident. Research has found that celebrities are more effective than other types of endorsers, such as "the professional expert", "the company manager", or "the typical consumer" ([8] Friedman and Friedman, 1979). To capitalise on this effectiveness, in 2003, Nike spent $US 1.44 billion on celebrity endorsers, two of whom were the basketballer Michael Jordan and the golfer Tiger Woods ([2] CNN Money , 2003). In 2004, Gillette signed an endorsement deal with soccer celebrity David Beckham worth between $US 30 and $US 50 million ([32] Thomaselli and Neff, 2004).
Concurrent with the growth of celebrity product endorsement in marketing practice is the development of a body of literature on third-party endorsement. In this body of literature, the research stream concerned with celebrity endorsement (a particular type of third-party endorsement) has focused on: celebrity credibility and attractiveness (e.g. [15] Kahle and Homer, 1985; [29] Ohanian, 1990; [34] Till and Busler, 1998), celebrity-brand congruence (e.g. [8] Friedman and Friedman, 1979; [16] Kamins, 1990; [17] Kamins and Gupta, 1994), cultural foundations of endorsement (e.g. [25] McCracken, 1989), celebrity performance and information (e.g. [7] Farrell et al. , 2000; [35] Till and Shimp, 1998), celebrity usage (e.g. [12] Hsu and McDonald, 2002; [33] Till, 1998), and celebrity selection (e.g. [4] Erdogan and Baker, 2000; [27] Miciak and Shanklin, 1994). Comparatively little research has been conducted on the equity effects of celebrity product endorsement. This lack of attention is surprising given that the Marketing Science Institute rated the assessment of the impact of marketing programs on equity as a...