Does Gender Impact the Perception of Negative Information Related to Celebrity Endorsers?

The study examines the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements by examining how a respondent's gender impacts identification with a celebrity spokesperson and the processing of negative information about that celebrity's behavior. The authors found that negative information is harmful to both celebrities’ reputations and sponsors’ brands across a variety of effectiveness measures. Gender congruency between consumers and celebrities did impact attitudes, but was not found to interact with the processing of negative information. Implications for advertisers are addressed.