Product versus Celebrity – An eye-tracking experiment for the determination of the attention-catcher in advertising

Celebrity endorsement has been frequently used in advertising as consumers are attracted and tend to imitate the behavior of the star. In the past years, celebrities have been a frequent mean of attracting the attention of the consumer towards an advertising. In an era with an over-load of information and ads, the glamour of the celebrities has had the power to increase the visibility of the advertised product. Besides the positive effects which celebrities bring to an increase of attention of the consumers, their endorsement can also have negative consequences. One of these undesired effects is the overshadowing of the advertised product by the celebrity. Consumers will have the tendency to watch the celebrity for a longer time and their attention is distracted from the advertised product. In an eye-tracking experiment we analyze the fact that the celebrity might distract the attention of the consumer from the advertised product and its logo. The results have shown that the participants have the tendency to watch the logo of a product for a longer time in advertising without celebrities. In opposition to this, in advertising endorsing celebrities, the attention is caught by the celebrity.