Actors versus Their Fictional Personas: How Character Endorsements Mitigate Real Scandal

Celebrity endorsements are a time-tested tactic, but marketers have added a twist: endorsements featuring not actors as themselves but as the characters they play in film or television. In two experiments, the authors investigate these "character endorsements." Study 1 establishes that a construct that is new to endorsement research, certainty of meaning, helps to advance understanding of how character endorsements operate. Study 2 shows that character endorsers buffer a paired brand against scandal. The authors conclude by discussing theoretical and managerial issues.