In this study, I report the results of a pretest-posttest, control group experiment in which some of my more than 500 respondents were exposed to factual information about celebrity support for political parties and some were not. I proceed from the assumption that celebrity political activity is more likely to influence citizens’ views of political parties than it is to affect either citizens’ vote choices or views of individual candidates. I make this assumption based on the work of Green, Palmquist, and Schickler, who posit that party identification is a social identity. The results provide support for this notion. Specifically, they show that celebrity political activity can indeed influence some citizens’ views of political parties. The results show also that celebrity political activity can affect citizens’ views of politically active celebrities.
AgrawalJ.KamakuraW. A. (1995). The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: An event study analysis. Journal of Marketing, 59, 56-62.
2.
AustinE. W.VandeVordR.PinkletonB. E.EpsteinE. (2008). Celebrity endorsements and their potential to motivate young voters. Mass Communication and Society, 11, 420-436.
ButlerR. J.CowanB. W.NilssonS. (2005). From obscurity to bestseller: Examining the impact of Oprah’s book club selections. Publishing Research Quarterly, 20, 23-34.
5.
CampbellA.ConverseP. E.MillerW. E.StokesD. E. (1960). The American voter. New York, NY: Wiley.
6.
DruckmanJ. N.KamC. D. (2011). Students as experimental participants: A defense of the “narrow data base.” In DruckmanJ. N.GreenD. P.KuklinskiJ. H.LupiaA. (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of experimental political science (pp. 41-57). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
7.
ErdoganB. Z.BakerM. J.TaggS. (2001). Selecting celebrity endorsers: The practitioner’s perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 41, 39-48.
8.
FarrellK. A.KarelsG. V.MontfortK. W.McClatcheyC. A. (2000). Celebrity performance and endorsement value: The case of Tiger Woods. Managerial Finance, 26, 1-15.
9.
FiorinaM. P. (1981). Retrospective voting in American national elections. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
10.
FrizzellC. (2011). Public opinion and foreign policy: The effects of celebrity endorsements. Social Science Journal, 48, 314-323.
GreenD. P.PalmquistB.SchicklerE. (2002). Partisan hearts and minds: Political parties and the social identities of voters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
13.
InthornS.StreetJ. (2011). “Simon Cowell for prime minister”? Young citizens’ attitudes towards celebrity politics. Media, Culture and Society, 33, 479-489.
14.
JacksonD. J.DarrowT. I. A. (2005). The influence of celebrity endorsements on young adults’ political opinions. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 10, 80-98.
15.
JacksonD. J. (2007). Selling politics: The impact of celebrities’ political beliefs on young Americans. Journal of Political Marketing, 6, 67-83.
16.
LopezM. H.MarceloK. B.KirbyE. H. (2007). Youth voter turnout increases in 2006. Medford, MA: The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
17.
McCrackenG. (1986). Culture and consumption: A theoretical account of the structure and movement of the cultural meaning of consumer goods. Journal of Consumer Research, 13, 71-84.
18.
McCrackenG. (1989). Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the endorsement process. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 310-321.
19.
PeaseA.BrewerP. R. (2008). The Oprah factor: The effects of a celebrity endorsement in a presidential primary campaign. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 13, 386-400.
20.
ShadishW. R.CookT. D.CampbellD. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
21.
StreetJ.HagueS.SavignyH. (2008). Playing to the crowd: The role of music and musicians in political participation. British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 10, 269-285.
22.
VeerE.BecirovicI.MartinB. A. S. (2010). If Kate voted conservative, would you? The role of celebrity endorsements in political party advertising. European Journal of Marketing, 44, 436-450.
23.
WoodN. T.HerbstK. C. (2007). Political star power and political parties: Does celebrity endorsement win first-time votes?Journal of Political Marketing, 6, 141-158.
