This study examines how brand-influencer, influencer-users, and user-brand congruences affect perceived fantasy about the influencer and closeness toward the brand when an Instagram ad is endorsed by celebrity (vs. non-celebrity) influencers. The study employed a between-subject online experiment by manipulating an advertisement endorsed by a celebrity and a non-celebrity influencer. The results suggest that congruence between brand-influencer matters in building effective relationships.

According to this tendency, Japanese fashion consumption was characterized as conventional and normative. From a historical point of view, the norms on which the Japanese based their fashion choices were mainly imported from American and European countries or the fashions of movie stars and fashion magazines. However, lifestyles and fashion consumption in Japan has increasingly become diversified and personality-driven, leading Japanese consumers to enjoy fashion based on their individual lifestyles. This has resulted in individuals considering various clothing norms and keeping away from fashion magazines depicting the latest fashion trends in Japan. This currently poses a serious threat to the fashion business, as magazines are the main marketing tools in this industry. Therefore, in addition to a rise in Internet media and decreasing incomes, the sales of many fashion magazines, with the exception of a few, continue to drop. However, some magazines have managed to increase their sales circulation slightly. Through interviews with directors of fashion magazines, I found that the key to increasing sales is focusing on non-celebrity endorsers. Existing studies (mainly advertising studies) declined that celebrity endorsers (e.g., actors, models, and spokespersons) lead to consumption (e.g., Atkin & Block, 1983; Baker & Churechill, 1977; Callcott & Phillips, 1996; Debevec & Kernan, 1984; Friedman & Friedman, 1979, Kahle & Homer, 1985; Langmetyer & Walker, 1991; McCracken, 1989; Pornpitakapan, 2003). This study observes the importance of non-celebrity effects on fashion consumption. I conducted internet research on the declining relationship between fashion consumption and non-celebrity effects. In addition, I compared celebrity and non-celebrity effects for readers of fashion magazines (n=613). As a result of ANOVA (comparing readers committing to foreign celebrity, foreign non-celebrity, national celebrity, and national non-celebrity), significant differences were confirmed in all items of consumer’s evaluation of endorsers