FROM FAME TO FIT: HOW SOCIAL ORIGINS OF CELEBRITY SHAPE AUDIENCE PERCEPTIONS OF BRAND CONGRUENCE

Apstrakt

This study explores how the social origins of celebrity fame shape audience perceptions of brand - celebrity congruence, addressing the broader question of how fame translates "from fame to fit" in mediated endorsement contexts. It investigates whether audiences differentiate between inherited, achieved, or media-constructed fame and how these distinctions affect perceptions of credibility and symbolic alignment with brands. A quantitative survey was conducted among 902 participants in Croatia, combining recognition tasks, open-ended associations, and items assessing perceived endorsement suitability. Data analysis employed frequency distributions and chi-square tests to examine links between fame perception and evaluations of brand fit.

Findings show that while overall recognition of brands and celebrities is high, spontaneous associations between them remain weak. Respondents tend to anchor brand - celebrity fit in domain relevance, with celebrities identified as having achieved fame generally seen as more credible endorsers. However, celebrities with complex or media - driven visibility were also evaluated positively when their personas aligned with brand values, particularly through authenticity or narrative coherence.

The scientific contribution of this research lies in empirically operationalising the perceived origin of fame as a measurable factor in endorsement evaluation - bridging conceptual celebrity typologies with audience-based measures of brand fit. This communication-oriented approach extends existing models of congruence and credibility by demonstrating that legitimacy of fame origin interacts with domain relevance and narrative framing in shaping endorsement effectiveness.

Limitations include cultural specificity and the focus on a limited set of celebrities. Future studies should adopt cross - cultural and qualitative approaches to capture deeper audience reasoning.