Evaluating celebrity influence on brand attention, emotion, and memory

Why famous faces in travel ads matter to you

From movie stars selling tropical getaways to social media influencers posing in far‑flung cities, famous faces are everywhere in travel advertising. But do these celebrities actually help you remember the place being promoted—or do they simply steal the spotlight? This study uses brain and eye‑tracking technology to peek behind the scenes of how people really respond to celebrity‑driven tourism ads, revealing that the story is more complicated than marketers often assume.

Looking where the eyes really go

The researchers invited 40 adults to watch a series of travel advertisements, carefully designed in pairs. Each pair showed the same destination and layout, but in one version the central figure was a global celebrity, and in the other it was an unknown person. While people watched, highly precise glasses tracked exactly where and for how long their eyes rested on different parts of the ad—faces, scenery, and brand logo—allowing the team to measure attention second by second instead of relying only on what viewers said afterward.

What the brain reveals behind the scenes

At the same time, a lightweight brain‑monitoring headset recorded electrical activity to estimate three hidden reactions: emotional intensity, overall motivational tilt (approach versus avoidance), and mental effort or “cognitive load.” These signals were calibrated individually, so changes in each person’s brain activity could be interpreted on a common scale from low to high. After viewing the ads, participants completed a surprise memory test about the destinations and answered questions about how they perceived the celebrities—such as how familiar, professional, or down‑to‑earth they seemed.

Fame grabs attention, not necessarily the brand

The data showed that celebrities did exactly what advertisers hope—at least at first glance. Viewers spent significantly more time looking at a famous face than at an unfamiliar one, and they also examined the celebrity’s whole body for longer. However, this extra attention did not spill over to the brand itself. Time spent looking at the destination logo and brand area was essentially the same whether the ad used a celebrity or a stranger. In other words, the star pulled the eye, but not toward the name of the place. The study also found that simply looking more at any person’s face—celebrity or not—was linked to better memory of the destination, suggesting that human presence in general can help, but fame alone is not the magic ingredient.

Feelings, mental effort, and the “vampire effect”

Contrary to much marketing lore, celebrity‑filled ads did not reliably boost emotional intensity or overall motivation when compared with the same ads featuring unknown people. Brain‑based measures of emotion and motivation were broadly similar across both types of ads. Mental effort also stayed at comparable levels, with only small, brief spikes during certain seconds when celebrities appeared. Yet when the team looked more closely, a clear pattern emerged: higher emotional engagement and slightly higher cognitive effort—no matter which ad caused them—were both tied to stronger memory for the destination. This means it is the depth of feeling and thinking that cements a place in memory, not the celebrity label itself. The authors highlight a classic “vampire effect”: a dazzling star can soak up attention and mental resources without leaving much lasting imprint of the brand behind them.

What makes influencers actually helpful

Digging into how viewers described the influencers, the researchers discovered that not all famous faces are equal. Ads scored better on destination memory when the featured celebrity was seen as relatable and “down to earth,” and when viewers felt that the person genuinely increased their awareness of the place being promoted. These traits mattered more than simple fame or glamour. Overall, the study suggests that good storytelling, emotionally rich imagery, and a clear focus on the destination can do more for memory than merely inserting a star. Celebrities can certainly draw eyes to an ad, but unless their image is tightly woven with the destination and keeps the brand from being overshadowed, they may add cost without adding much long‑term impact.

Citation: Michael, N., Ramsøy, T.Z. & Michael, I. Evaluating celebrity influence on brand attention, emotion, and memory. Sci Rep 16, 9123 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38902-z

Keywords: celebrity endorsements, tourism marketing, influencer advertising, neuroscience of advertising, brand memory