The results are in from g-Think’s Celebrity Survey—and thanks to all those who participated. We wanted to find out your thoughts on celebrities: their causes, their use by nonprofits to spread messages, and their use by corporations to endorse and sell products. g-Think also took the opportunity to ask respondents how their values affect their purchasing decisions and attitudes toward companies.
g-Think Celebrity Survey Results
Celebrities and Product Endorsements
When asked “Have you purchased a product or service because it was endorsed by a celebrity?” 65% said they haven’t, while 34% said they had.
The message is a little more mixed when it comes to whether or not corporations should actually use celebrities to help sell a product or service. Just 17% said corporations should use celebrities in this way, 13% said they shouldn’t, 47% said it depends on the product, and 22% said it depends on the celebrity.
Celebrities and Causes
Eighty-seven percent of our responders said they think celebrities have a role to play in helping to get important messages about social causes, such as the environment, out to the world. Only 13% responded that they thought celebrities should not have such a role.
As for the credibility of celebrities, 25% of the respondents indicated that they think a celebrity can help a cause, 14% said a celebity can’t help a cause, and 60% said that it depends on the cause.
Celebrities and Endorsements of a Cause
Nineteen percent of those surveyed said they think that a celebrity’s endorsement adds to a cause’s credibility, 23% said that it doesn’t, and 58% answered that who the celebrity is determines whether or not it the cause is credible.
These results seem to indicate that just because a celebrity attaches his or her name to a product, service, or cause does not guarantee that it will achieve credibility in the eyes of consumers. It depends on a number of factors, including
g-Think Survey on Values and Purchasing Decisions
Just how far do we go when it comes to investigating a product or the company behind it? Slightly more than half of those polled (57%) said they “occasionally” do the research. However, a much higher percentage–-89%—purchase products because they agree with the values of the company behind it.
Of this 89%:
Eighty-six percent of those surveyed said they are willing to pay more for a product from a company that supports what they consider to be a worthy cause. Forty-five percent of this group said they are willing to pay up to 10% more for such a product.
A general question asked about political activism revealed that 38% had contacted an elected official in the past twelve months.