The Mediating effects of presumed influences on Taiwanese consumers’ skepticism toward celebrity endorsed advertising

Abstract: To explore Taiwanese consumers’ presumed influences of celebrity endorsed advertising, national media consumer panels were carried out to examine how the first-person and third-person perceptions would mediate the impacts of celebrity credibility on advertising skepticism. Results revealed that (a) the third-person perceptions did take place in the context of celebrity endorsed advertising, (b) all three celebrity credibility variables were negatively correlated to advertising skepticism, but only celebrity attractiveness and expertise yielded direct effects, (c) indirect effects by the first-person perceptions were stronger than those by the third-person perceptions on advertising skepticism. Theoretical implications and practical insights were discussed to indicate that Taiwanese consumers did not want to be perceived as celebrity followers for a self-enhancement purpose, but their presumed influence on themselves played a more active role than their presumed influence on others in mediating their perceptions of celebrity credibility and diminishing their skepticism toward celebrity endorsed advertising.