Oh influencers, doncha just love ’em? Well, to be honest, if you do, you’d better look away now as personally I would rather take advice from an amoeba than the likes of Charlotte Crosby, Scott Timlin and Amber Gill, who appear not to know their arse from their elbow when it comes to taking brand owners’ cash.
Still, some wags out there – and I’m not talking Vardy or Rooney – reckon celebrity influencers could have a vital role to play in combatting the global food crisis.
You see, new(ish) research from the BI Norwegian Business School, Chuo University, Miyagi University, and Oxford University has found that using celebrity endorsements in ads for insect-based foods can increase people’s willingness to include the little critters in their diet.
No lesser organisation than the United Nations has already started to urge people to consider the consumption of insects as they are nutritious, sustainable, and readily available worldwide. However, apparently many people struggle with the concept of chowing down on pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta.
In the study, Carlos Velasco, associate professor from the BI Norwegian Business School’s department of marketing (where else?), explored if endorsements from celebrities, such as Angelina Jolie or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, can influence people to eat insects.
They created 66 fictitious ads for insect-based products – a cricket bar and mealworm burger – with 64 featuring endorsements from different celebrities (actor, musician, or athlete) and two featuring no celebrity endorsements.
Participants were given information on insect-based foods and the benefits of eating them before viewing the ads and then indicating their willingness to eat the product.
The findings showed that celebrities’ perceived trustworthiness, knowledge about insect-based foods, and appropriateness are crucial factors in increasing people’s willingness to eat insects.
However, different genders responded differently: For men, ads featuring actors or athletes were most effective, while only actors were effective in influencing women. In comparison, musicians did not appear to be as influential. In fact, using musicians in ads made women less willing to consume insect-based foods.
Professor Velasco said: “Our findings demonstrate that celebrity endorsement can be a very effective strategy to increase consumer interest in eating more insects, as long as the right celebrity is targeted at the right gender.”
In other words, most people who are influenced by influencers will do anything they are told to – and stick anything in their mouth – but, hey, that’s the power of marketing for you…
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