Peer-reviewed article
Celebrity appeal effectiveness in donating to the cause: Popular Culture vs. Religious Celebrities
Al-Wugayan A ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how different types of celebrity endorsements (popular culture versus religious figures) influence donation intentions for child welfare causes among Kuwaiti donors. The research tested two advertising appeals with 385 potential donors and measured emotional responses and donation intentions. Results showed that the intensity of emotions evoked by each type of celebrity differed, with stronger emotions leading to more favorable attitudes toward the advertisements and higher donation intentions.
Key points
- Popular culture celebrities and religious celebrities evoked different types and intensities of emotions
- Intensely evoked emotions were positively associated with advertisement favorability
- Advertisement favorability was found to be an antecedent of donation intentions
- Study used MANOVA, CFA and Structural Equation Modeling to test the conceptual model
Limitations
This study focuses on donor behavior and advertising effectiveness rather than on actual child well-being outcomes or the impact of donations on children. It measures only donation intentions among Kuwaiti donors, not actual donation amounts or the effectiveness of funds in improving child welfare.
Abstract
In times of crises and subsiding government support, choosing the most effective advertising message appeal in motivating donation behavior is fundamental to charity success. This study investigates the relative effectiveness of popular culture celebrities (PCC) and religious celebrities (RC) as two message appeals in motivating donation intentions intended for a ‘child suffering’ donation campaign among Kuwaiti donors. The two message appeals were presented in alternated order to a sample of 385 potential donors and the data was used to test the conceptual model using MANOVA, CFA and Structural Equation Modeling. The results showed that the type of emotions evoked (negative and positive), and emotional intensity (strong/weak) differed between the two ad appeals. Intensely evoked emotion was positively associated with ad favorability, and the latter was also found to be an antecedent of donation intentions. Conclusions and practical implications are presented and discussed.