Celebrities, products, and presentation styles: A content analysis of celebrity-endorsed TV commercials in China

Celebrity endorsement advertising has become a remarkable phenomenon in many countries as well as in China. China's advertising industry has been experiencing a boom since the 1980s as a result of the economic reform and development and social and cultural transition. Given the rising popularity of celebrity endorsements in China during the past two decades and the lack of relevant descriptive studies, this dissertation seeks to fill the research gap and provide a thorough presentation of Chinese celebrity-endorsed commercials. An analysis of the use of celebrities in advertising may deepen our understanding of contemporary consumption culture and celebrity culture.;This study mainly employs the method of content analysis over an extended sample of Chinese television commercials to generate new research evidence about the nature of celebrity advertising. To achieve the purpose, first, a set of codes is drawn from past research to include celebrity endorsers' characteristics and products' attributes and used to describe Chinese celebrity TV commercials. Second, informed by the match-up hypothesis, the meaning transfer model, and visual rhetoric theory, the study examines the matching relationships between the different characteristics of celebrities and products. Third, the presentation styles of celebrity TV advertising, for example, celebrities' role-playing and verbal claim modes, are also examined and described.;The findings generated in this study display a panoramic picture of Chinese celebrity TV advertising and provide evidence for the popularity of celebrity endorsements in China. They also lead to a few conclusions that have important implications for both theory and practice. Some characteristics of celebrities are conventionally associated with specific products and the presentation styles of commercials. The whole picture that celebrity advertising has woven in China does not seem to differ much from what other types of advertising do. Advertising practitioners may find the study results useful in determining the match relations between celebrities and products and then selecting the most appropriate celebrity endorsers.;This study represents an initial effort in exploring the use of celebrities in Chinese advertising. It generates some important unanswered questions that future content analyses and effectiveness studies of celebrity advertising can dive into.