Celebrity and politics: Effects of endorser credibility and sex on voter attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors

While much research examines the effects of celebrity endorsements in commercial advertising, scholars have only recently sought to investigate the effects of celebrity endorsements of politicians on voter perceptions and behavior. This study expands existing research on celebrity political endorsement effects via an experiment exploring effects of different versions of a news story describing a celebrity's endorsement of a political candidate on participants’ voting attitudes, perceptions of candidate credibility, and voting behavioral intent. Although participants perceive credibility differences between high- and low-credibility celebrities, neither endorser credibility nor endorser sex impact attitudes toward the endorsed candidate, perceptions of the candidate's credibility, or intended voting behavior. Conceptual relationships to other studies on celebrity endorsement effects are discussed, as are implications, limitations, and directions for future research.

► We test whether credibility and sex of a celebrity affects voter perception and voting intent in relation to an endorsed candidate.
► Results indicate that credibility of the celebrity does not affect voter's perceptions of a candidate's credibility nor voting intent.
► Results indicate that the sex of the celebrity does not affect voter's perceptions of a candidate's credibility nor voting intent.
► Results suggest that candidates may act as brands when endorsed by a celebrity.