Celebrity endorsement in corporate social responsibility campaigns: Campaign, brand appeal and preference

Conscious consumers and the increase observed in social responsibility awareness of informed consumers are increasing the importance that companies and brands attach to corporate social responsibility issue.In literature, there are many studies that examine the concept of corporate social responsibility. Celebrity endorsement is a research area that is also frequently examined. In this study, these two different subjects were combined and the concepts of corporate social responsibility and celebrity endorsement were examined together. The aim of this study was to determine whether appearance of celebrities, frequently utilized by marketers, causes corporate social responsibility campaigns to be perceived as appealing by consumers and therefore causes to gain consumer support. Hence, in the first part of this thesis, the corporate social responsibility concept was examined and in the second part, celebrity endorsement was studied. In the third part, celebrity endorsement in corporate social responsibility campaigns was examined. In the fourth part of the thesis, questionnaire application of topics examined in previous chapters is utilized within a selected population of bankers and teachers.The findings of the study show that use of celebrity in corporate social responsibility campaigns is considered as appealing by consumers, but celebrities have no impact on the support of those campaigns. Moreover, it was found that celebrity endorsement in advertising is more effective and catchy than use of celebrity in social responsibility campaigns.Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Celebrity Endorsement, Social Responsibility Campaigns, Brand Appeal, Advertisement