Would you forgive Kristen Stewart or Tiger Woods or maybe Lance Armstrong? Exploring consumers’ forgiveness of celebrities’ transgressions

ABSTRACT

Employing a qualitative approach, within the context of Generation Y consumers, this research investigates the internal justification processes used by consumers contemplating to forgive a celebrity who has transgressed society’s norms of acceptable behaviour. A thematic analysis of data from in-depth interviews identified nine emergent categories, grouped into four themes or core drivers: celebrity-related drivers, consumer-related drivers, context-related drivers and time-related drivers. The findings show that although there is generally no personal relationship between consumers and celebrities, consumers tend to bond with celebrities in para-social relationships. Many consumers see these relationships as similar to how they connect with friends thus leading them to show forgiveness tendencies towards a celebrity comparable to forgiving friends. The paper presents a conceptual framework highlighting the consumer’s forgiveness justification process.

KEYWORDS:

• Celebrity
• forgiveness
• consumers
• qualitative research
• grounded theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jörg Finsterwalder

Dr Jörg Finsterwalder is Associate Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at The University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is interested in the following at times intertwined research topics in Services Marketing: co-creation of service, customer-to-customer interaction, group service and consumer tribes, value networks and service (eco)systems, service consumer behaviour, customer experience, disasters and service, and film and airline industry. His work has been published in international journals such as Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services and The Service Industries Journal. Jörg is regional associate editor Australasia for the Journal of Service Theory and Practice and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Service Management Research.

Thomas Yee

Thomas Yee holds a BCom Hons in Marketing and is a graduate of The University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Thomas is an Account Manager with Novo Strategic Advertising & Design in Christchurch. He has previously worked in a senior promotions role for NZME (formally known as The Radio Network) in Christchurch.

Alastair Tombs

Dr Alastair Tombs is a senior lecturer and researcher in marketing at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Prior to gaining a PhD in Marketing Management in 2005 he has had extensive experience in both the commercial and public sectors. His main area of interest lies in the field of service environments and their impact on consumer behaviour, as well as the effects of customer-to-customer interactions. To date Alastair’s work has been published in: academic journals (Journal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Theory, Managing Service Quality, Journal of Management and Organisation, Australasian Marketing Journal); books (Research on Emotions in Organizations, Research Companion to Emotions in Organizations, Streaming Media in Higher Education, Serving Customers) and at numerous international conferences. He has received best paper awards at Australasian, American and European marketing conferences.