Consumer Endorsements and The Balance Theory: How a Celebrity’s Image Can Impact a Network
[1] https://www.jstor.org/stable/2489757
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/693775/instagram-sponsored-influencer-content/
Consumer behaviorists and advertising practitioners have been looking to celebrity endorsements as a method to positively affect consumers’ attitudes towards products. This powerful market strategy came about by building upon existing social psychology theories, including the Balance theory. The three nodes in this model include the consumer, the product and the celebrity. If a consumer has a positive connection with a celebrity online (eg. follows the celebrity on social media as a fan), and if they perceive that said celebrity likes a product (as emphasized on their social media page), the said person will tend to like the product more, therefore achieving psychological balance.
Before the celebrity endorsement, there is no positive connection between the consumer and the product, but there is a positive connection between the consumer and the celebrity. After the celebrity endorsement, the positive connection between the celebrity and the product becomes public. When the user sees the positive connection between the product and celebrity, it is likely that they will also like the product (Case A). Based on the balance theory, having either 3 positive edges or two negative edges maintains psychological balance. Therefore, the balance theory also works in the case that the consumer already dislikes a product (negative connection). If a celebrity endorses this disliked product, it is likely that the consumer will develop a negative connection with the celebrity as well (Case B).
Original work by writer of this blogpost.
This next question that comes to mind is how can we further strengthen positive connections between the consumer and the product? One thing celebrities should not do is endorse too many products too frequently. A study by consumer behaviorists supported this idea, revealing that as the number of products endorsed increases consumers’ perceptions of credibility, celebrity likability and attitude toward the ad become less favorable [1]. Too many products being advertised may tarnish a celebrity’s image as a credible reviewer of products.
Overall, celebrity endorsements use human’s psychology and the balance theory to drive sales all over the social media realm. In 2018, there were over 3.7 million brand sponsored influencer posts on Instagram alone [2].