The impact of celebrity endorsement on attracting customers in the health and fitness industry

Abstract

To break through the cluttered market environment and grab customer attention is one of the essential issue business sectors are faced with today. Brand endorsement has become a driving force for most business operations. The purpose of this study is to determine whether celebrity endorsement in the health and fitness industry will encourage more gym membership. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires that were distributed to the target sample in Johannesburg city. Over 250 questionnaires were collected to get a reliable and valid sample for the research study. The main findings indicate that a celebrity's trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness have a positive impact on purchase intention. Therefore, marketers need to forecast and project attitude and behaviours of celebrities to ensure that they are choosing the best celebrity to promote a positive image of the brand. Furthermore, marketers should note that trustworthiness is the most influential factor on intention to purchase gym and fitness membership.

Keywords: Customer, expertise, trustworthiness and purchase intention