Informational and Transformational Responses to Celebrity Endorsements

Using three studies, this research examines the relationship between dimensions of celebrity endorser credibility (attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness) and consumer motivation (informational and transformational). Studies 1 and 2 reveal celebrity expertise and trustworthiness are the primary determinants of informational processing, while attractiveness is the principal variable driving transformational processing. The third study finds that teenage consumers, though affected by informational and transformational motivations, are less likely than adults to discriminate between attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, forming their judgments instead on the basis of a unidimensional perception of celebrity credibility.