Do celebrity controversies turn away consumers or attract them?

Celebrity controversies aren't new and they undoubtedly tend to have an effect on the brands that they work with or the work that the celebrities do moving forward. Research from YouGov Realtime Omnibus last month found that 62% of baby boomers in Indonesia are less likely to consume the work of a celebrity who is in the news for controversial reasons. This includes watching their sporting events, movies or TV series in which they appear.

Meanwhile, 37% of Gen Z in Indonesia are also less likely to do so. Millennials, on the other hand, are more likely (39%) to watch the work produced by celebrities that have been embroiled in controversies.

As for the proportion of consumers in Indonesia being influenced by celebrity endorsements, YouGov's data showed that 93% of Indonesians said celebrity endorsements influence their purchases like companies with a moral message. Only 1% disagreed with this. Meanwhile, 51% of Indonesian females tend to be the ones influenced by celebrity endorsements while 44% of males said the same.

Similar to their Indonesian counterparts, most Malaysian consumers (86%) are influenced by celebrity endorsements when making purchases and this is more common among females (32%) than males (28%). On the other hand, men in Singapore are more likely than women to be influenced by celebrities when it comes to the things they purchase (20% versus 17%). That said, baby boomers in Singapore are also less likely to watch content featuring personalities that have been entangled in controversies, just like those in Indonesia.