Chinese celebrities are often wooed into endorsing brands, sometimes promoting more than 20 brands at the same time.

In China, 40 percent of advertisements geared toward youths feature at least one celebrity. Personalities, such as former NBA basketball star Yao Ming, actor Jackie Chan and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang, are frequently featured in advertisements for a wide range of products and services as diverse as soft drinks, credit cards and life insurance.

Some of the reasons behind such frequent use of celebrities in branding in China can be found when exploring traditional Chinese cultural values, such as collectivism and risk aversion.

According to my research, younger generations across China, while still possessing these traditional values, also value success, status and elitism. Added together, these traditional and modern values represent the perception among many Chinese people of the typical celebrity, no matter how he or she achieved fame.

For example, Yao is perceived as much more than just a successful athlete. Yao's image could be described as powerful, a winner and pioneering. Such an image closely matches the brand image sought by a multitude of products and services.

China remains an environment where product and service quality and reliability are often in doubt. This suspicion, coupled with a natural tendency to avoid risk, also explains why celebrities are often used to promote brands. Celebrity endorsement acts as a form of reassurance; the public feels safe seeing a famous person, and, in effect, has risked his or her reputation by supporting a particular brand.

It is important to note that building awareness for a brand does not necessarily lead to the desired image. And even if this is achieved, there is often a huge gap between desire and following through and purchasing a product.

Most research studies the phenomenon of celebrities in advertising with the assumption that the celebrities' image will eventually transfer to the brands' image. Such an image transfer is thought to be most effective when credibility, attractiveness and image combine to form one message. While this research stands up to initial scrutiny, it lacks intellectual rigor when considering any transfer of values in various cultures.

The Chinese culture, which values relationships or guanxi, has not been the subject of much research in this area.

To Chinese consumers, famous people represent more than success and status; they reflect the values and ideals of a particular culture.

The Chinese culture also includes loyalty at its core. It was, therefore, no surprise when Nike retained Liu after his disappointing, injury-induced performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Many of Liu's sponsors dropped him, but Nike's move demonstrated much greater insight into the cultural context of brand-building and celebrity endorsements.

There are much stronger relational bonds in China between consumers and celebrities. Patriotism and nostalgia are also far more prominent than in many other cultures.

Even so, if we examine source credibility, research usually suggests that suitability or "fit" occurs when the celebrity endorses a brand with image congruence, or the sharing of a similar image or idea.

This is more likely to be the case when the brand and celebrity are seen to be from the same or similar industries. For example, if they are both related to sports or they both are from the fashion industry or entertainment sector.

Many Chinese advertisers need to reflect carefully on this point, especially when one celebrity endorses a vast amount of brands.

Jackie Chan, for example, an undoubtedly successful kungfu comedic actor, has in recent years promoted an incredibly wide range of products, from international credit cards to air conditioners and even anti-baldness shampoo. Clearly, this creates serious source credibility concerns.

Source credibility is built around the consumer's perception that the celebrity possesses some knowledge and experience related to the product being endorsed and can even be considered some form of an expert. It is difficult to parlay Jackie Chan's immense acting expertise into insight on washing powder and financial services.

Source attractiveness, which often refers to the celebrity's personal appearance and/or personality, may counter any lack of credibility.

Chinese tennis star and current French Open champion Li Na is a good example of excellent source attractiveness. Li possesses good looks and is extremely likeable, humorous and has an infectious personality that makes her a suitable celebrity for products beyond tennis and even sports. Li's current brand endorsement portfolio includes Mercedes, Haagen-Dazs and Rolex.

For brands in China to succeed, rigorous investigative research is needed into the relational bond between possible celebrity endorsers and the brand's intended target market, especially before a celebrity agrees to endorse a product.

Most research suggests that there are three different types of relational bond between consumers and celebrities. The most common is based on entertainment, closely followed by an intense personal attachment and finally a relationship driven by a pathological urge.

Also requiring more research among the Chinese public is over-endorsement, when a celebrity signs contracts for multiple products. The over-endorsement effect should be a huge concern given the ease in which celebrities are worshipped. Over-endorsement could lead to a substantially negative effect on all brands endorsed by a celebrity and influence the credibility of any future endorsements by the celebrity.

If a suitable representative is found, then careful management over the long term of the celebrity's image and freedom to endorse other products is important if a sustainable competitive advantage is expected.

Another area of research necessary in China centers on the need for a valid typology of celebrities as perceived by the Chinese public. Currently, even in China, the common practice is to use sports or entertainment celebrities as the face of the product, but the public's perception of how celebrities differ has not been studied.

The context in which a celebrity endorses a brand is also a key factor in any successful brand-building campaign. A sports celebrity versus an entertainment celebrity is likely to be different because of the celebrities' image and relationship with the consumer. Sports celebrities are typically focused on achieving the highest possible performance level, such as Liu, Yao or Li. Those from the entertainment industry often branch out into a variety of related but slightly different performing roles, such as a film star moving into theatre acting and even singing.

Over-endorsement, therefore, is more of a concern with sports celebrities, unless the sports celebrity possesses and/or develops charismatic appeal beyond his or her sporting prowess, as tennis star Li has done.

For Chinese consumers who traditionally value patriotism and nostalgia and revere past and present public figures, typology of celebrities should also include politicians, scientists, writers, historians, artists, poets and entrepreneurs. Famous fictional characters, such as the central characters of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280): Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, play a huge role in the Chinese culture and should also be classified.

Entrepreneurs are often cited by younger generations in China as worthy of far more respect than those successful in other professions. Chinese history is rich in iconic characters, which could present fresh, imaginative endorsement opportunities that international competitors may not be able to duplicate.

As China's incredible economic transition appears to continue unabated, despite the economic turmoil in the United States and Europe, change continues to seep through every aspect of the Chinese society. As a result, celebrity endorsements may not appeal to consumers as much as before, especially to younger consumers. A more independent and adventurous Chinese consumer may value a "slice of life" brand-building strategy in which unknown people are used to market a product.

When celebrities are used, research into any value-transfer is needed. It may be the case that companies need to change their spokespeople more often as consumer demand changes and product life cycles are becoming shorter.

Don't be afraid to use celebrities in Chinese ads, but just use them caution.

The author is a visiting British professor of brand management at China Agricultural University. The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.