Abstract:
Indonesia as the 4th largest-population country in the world, provides appealing
opportunities for cosmetics industry. Cosmetics available in Indonesia are both imported
and local, thus creating tougher competition. In order to survive, local cosmetics must
strive hard by improving efforts on Promotion, which one of the tool is celebrity
endorsement shown in advertisement. Wardah, as one of the local cosmetics player, is
striking on using this tool and spending huge budget on it. Though the use of celebrity
endorsement is common, its effectiveness is still questionable. This research analyzes the
influence of Celebrity Endorsement, which will be mediated by Attitude toward the Ad
and Brand, toward Consumers’ Purchase Intention on Wardah. The survey is conducted
on female young-adults whose age ranging from 17-30 and live in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok,
Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) region. The result of this research is expected to be
helpful for local cosmetics to evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. The
primary data were collected through electronically distributed questionnaire spread on
internet. With the total 360 respondents as sample size, the data obtained was processed
through statistical software by using factor analysis and structural equation modelling. It
was found that consumers’ Purchase Intention is not necessarily influenced only by
Celebrity Endorsement, rather by the series of significant relationship between Celebrity
Endorsement – Attitude toward the Ad – Attitude toward the Brand. Therefore, local
cosmetic companies are recommended to not only hire attractive and famous celebrity to
be endorser of products, but also improve the quality of advertisement to improve
consumers’ positive attitude toward brand and greater purchase intention.