INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITIES ON CONSUMER BUYING DECISIONS By             Course Name Professor’s Name University State/City Date of Submission   Abstract The use of celebrities to influence consumer behavior has been a highly effective marketing tool for organizations. Since the early 80s, the inclusion of famous individuals in advertisements has helped companies increase their sales and make more profits. Celebrities influence the customers purchasing decision through their association with the brand which makes it easier for the customer to recall the product whenever they are shopping. Nonetheless, celebrity advertising also has negative effects, and in some instances, does not have any influence at all. Such cases occur when the celebrity is associated with more than one product, which makes it difficult for the customer to decide whether the celebrity really likes the product, and instead, fails to purchase it. Additionally, celebrities can overshadow the brand rather than concentrating on the product; the attention of the customers is directed towards the celebrity. In such cases, the celebrity does not influence the purchasing decision of the customer. The research entails conducting qualitative research, which will use a survey and focus group meeting to determine how celebrities’ impact on the consumer buying decisions. The findings of the study will help in decision-making to ensure that the marketing strategies are strategic.     Influence of celebrities on consumer buying decisions

Introduction

Background

The modern business environment has become substantially competitive, and the approaches employed by businesses are impacted by consumer behaviors. This has made it imperative for businesses across the globe to focus on different strategies that are designed to increase competitiveness as well as efficiency in how they engage in the market (Hendrayati, Gaffar, and Dwiyanty, 2016). The dynamic consumer behaviors imply that there are various factors that impact on how the business and the customers interact. The marketing strategies used in the modern business environment make use of different channels to engage the customers. This ranges from the world of mouth to high investments in mainstream media and social media. Capturing the attention of the target customers entails focusing on specific characteristics of the information to foster efficiency in how the consumer perceives and understands the information (Ginsberg, 2015; Mansour and  Diab, 2016; Chen, 2017).  Communicating the value of the product or brand is achieved through various approaches in marketing strategies. The strategies adopted are subject to the investments in the marketing initiatives, the target customers, as well as the product or service being marketed. The increased use of advertisements both online and on mainstream media has resulted in the notion that the constant bombardment of the people with marketing products has made the target population emotionless towards the advertisement practices (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Resultantly, marketers across different industries are focusing on grasping the attent...