By Kelli Hulea
Have you ever wondered why you feel a sense of attachment to athletes, celebrities or advocates, to the point that you’re affected by their decisions, even when you’ve never met them?
We’ve seen a lot of this in northeastern Ohio. Cavs fans lit jerseys on fire when Lebron James signed with Miami Heat and were devastated again when he moved on to the Lakers. A Browns fan was arrested because he couldn’t contain his excitement over the news that Odell Beckham Jr. had signed with the Browns.
Even Youngstowners feel a sense of loss when local celebrities leave the area for professional reasons. This spring, Valley residents mourned when Phil Kidd, defender of Youngstown and an advocate for the city, said he was moving to Cleveland for a new job.
We feel connected to and can identify with these high-visibility individuals. That’s why celebrity endorsements can be so effective and powerful — and potentially detrimental.
Dr. Adam Earnheardt, a sports and social media researcher, author and chair of the Department of Communication at Youngstown State University, describes eight different motivations that can drive us to draw closer to celebrities.
“Whether it’s a person, city, sport, TV series or other interest, we feel a sense of attachment based on our motivations,” says Earnheardt. “And those motives are wrapped tightly around our identity.”
Here are the eight motivators:
• Geographical identity
• Family & social ties
• Entertainment
• “Eustress” or euphoric stress
• Escape
• Aesthetics
• Parasocial relationships and living vicariously through the success of others
• Information seeking
Geographical Identity
Do you cheer for a certain sports team just because you’re from that region?
“During the downfall of the steel industry, groups of people from Cleveland and Pittsburgh were displaced and moved to areas like Chicago, Austin and San Diego to find work,” explained Earnheardt. “You’ll still find Browns and Steelers bars in those cities because those people continued to identify with their home cities, with the regions they left behind.”
For that same reason, northeast Ohioans felt betrayed when Lebron left his home region.
Earnheardt, a Texas native, explained how our geographical identity can stick with us, regardless of how long we lived somewhere.
“I moved from Texas when I was just three years old,” he said. “Yet people still buy me stuff from there. And, I actually feel slightly offended when someone says something bad about Texas.”
We absorb the identity of the people and characteristics of the region in which we live, which is why we feel connected to high-visibility individuals who share that same identity.
Family and Social Ties
If you have family from a certain region or social ties to different places, you may feel motivated to support athletes or celebrities from those areas. You might also support them because your friends or family do.
“You may feel connected to someone because it feels like an extension of your family or friends,” explained Earnheardt. “It could also be that you grew up in a home that celebrated certain teams and athletes, so much so that a big part of the family identity requires cheering for certain teams. Those family members who buck the trend and choose another team to cheer for are sometimes considered outcasts by some family members.”
Earnheardt went on to say that there’s also a healthy side to being in families and having close friends with allegiances to different teams. “There’s a lot of good trash-talking that goes on between our family (Steelers fans) and my mother’s boyfriend (a Cleveland Browns fan).”
Entertainment
Some people feel motivated to follow or support certain individuals purely because they’re entertaining. This is common in the sports, music and film industries.
“When we do research on the motives people have for watching certain kinds of media or following certain celebrities, it almost always points back to entertainment,” Earnheardt said. “And let’s face it: most athletes are great entertainers, and those who are really good on and off the field tend to land the best endorsement opportunities.”
Escape
For many people, the number one reason for watching sports is to escape from reality, explained Earnheardt.
“Take for instance the guy who comes home from work, sits down on the couch and turns on ESPN,” he said. “This is how he forgets about the rest of his day, whether that means forgetting about his problems at work or in his personal life. He may feel a strong sense of connection to certain athletes.”
Whatever we choose to connect with as a way to forget about our daily responsibilities, we may gravitate toward a person that we connect with during our escape — either on TV or in real life.
Parasocial Relationships
“When we follow a celebrity, athlete or other figure in the media or on TV, we may be motivated by our desire to live vicariously through their success,” said Earnheardt.
Some people experience a strong attachment to certain figures and start to feel like they’re friends with them. They can even start to act, sound and look like them, as a way to try to embody some value they pull from that person, says Earnheardt.
“Think back to pre-social media times to the ‘I want to be like Mike’ commercials,” said Earnheardt. “People wanted to drink Gatorade or buy certain basketball shoes because they wanted to be more like Michael Jordan.”
Information
We are often times motivated by our desire to be the gatekeepers of information. We want to know about the latest brands, advancements, news and trends so that we can be in-the-know.
“We’re motivated to learn because we want to lead the conversation at the water cooler,” said Earnheardt. “This same idea can be said for wanting to know about highly visible people.”
Feelings of Eustress
Euphoric stress, or eustress, is the feeling you get when you watch an intense sports game or thriller movie, or even when you work out, explains Earnheardt.
“Hans Selye was this amazing scientist who found that when we’re excited or scared, it actually does something to our bodies,” Earnheardt said. “But it’s not just mental, it’s physical. It’s a good kind of stress, and it’s almost like giving your heart a work out.”
The excitement and thrill of these activities sends off endorphins and makes you want to want more. Athletes or actors that keep you on the edge of your seat may leave you wanting to watch them more.
Aesthetics
Some people feel connected to highly visible people because of their attractiveness, says Earnheardt. But he says there’s also another side to aesthetics when it comes to sports.
“We watch sports contests and athletes, not just because the athletes themselves are beautiful, but because the sports they play, the moves they make are beautiful,” Earnheardt said. “Sports can be aesthetically pleasing to many people, so we watch, for example, the Olympics because there’s a beautiful artistry to the performance.”
Different aesthetics may also trigger feelings of nostalgia. A character from a TV show you watched as a child may trigger childhood memories whenever you recall a connection to him/her. Earnheardt recalled Mr. Rogers Neighborhood as an example of his generation’s motivation for nostalgia, and to feel young again.
People Connect with People
It’s human nature for us to feel motivated to connect with people, places or things, based on environmental factors. So what does this mean for marketers?
“Marketers have to be careful about who is endorsing their brand,” Earnheardt said, “because although it can be a powerful tactic to attract customers and fans on a more personal level, it can backfire, too.”
Earnheardt went on to say that knowing more about what motivates your audience can go a long way when picking the right celebrity endorser.
“Find people who can do this kind of market research for you,” Earnheardt said. “Find consultants who know how to pinpoint the rituals and habits of your market before you start crafting your next big campaign. That early research will pay dividends long after your star athlete endorser is voted in to the hall of fame.”
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Kelli Hulea is a project manager with Pecchia Communications and a former student of Dr. Earnheardt. She enjoys working with clients to understand their motivations so she can help them achieve their communication goals. To learn more, contact Kelli at kelli@pecchiacomm.com.
