Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 6, No. 3, July 2016 93 ISSN 2277-5056 | © 2016 Bonfring Abstract--- This study analyzes the effects of misleading celebrity endorsements on consumer’s behavior in India. Celebrity endorsement is now a trend in India and is considered as one of the most powerful tools for product markets and brand building in this competitive era as stars are idolized and looked up in a country like India. The goal of every endorser is to convince the consumer that the said product will obtain the same result as the endorser, which plays a huge role in consumer’s behavior. Previous studies have also showed that by making use of luminaries could upsurge the rate of acceptance among consumers towards a specific product. Misleading endorsements by these celebrities violate numerous rights of the consumers such as the right to information, choice, protection against unsafe goods and services as well as from unfair trade practices. To achieve the purpose, we choose to conduct a case study on Nestle's Maggi noodle brand to discuss, analyze and to draw conclusions. Finally, we have concluded that celebrities featuring in such commercials making false claims are accountable for their acts. Keywords--- Misleading Celebrity Endorsements, Consumer’s behavior, Rights of the Consumers, Nestle’s Maggi Noodle, India. I. INTRODUCTION NDIA is a country where stars are idolized and worshipped. Marketers use them so as to influence their existing or potential customers to succeed and reap huge profit. The manufacturers use various immoral methods like Concealment of facts, false claims and false testimonials thus violating several rights of the consumers. Celebrities who endorse the product should test, experiment and try the product to find out its quality. This has given rise to countless controversies in the Indian advertising industry. 1 A. Motives behind Endorsements by Celebrities 1. Improving Credibility 2. Recognition of the brand 3. To refresh the brand/company image. 4. To boost the demand of the product Dr.P. Balasubramanian, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce and Management, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi, India. E-mail:baladiwansapudur@gmail.com Anjali V. Gopal, Student, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi, India. E-mail:anjalihasbrain@gmail.com S. Reefana, Student, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi, India. E-mail:meerabebe@gmail.com DOI: 10.9756/BIJIEMS.7464 5. To bring reliability on the product 6. To bring Retention of the product. The favorite snack of many people is “Nestle’s Maggi” which has always positioned their products with the attributes of health and quality. It adopted robust celebrity endorsements that has resulted in its advent as a brand and grow into market leader in the noodle segment with products MAGGI 2 Minute Noodles, MAGGI Extra delicious Chicken Noodles and Vegetable Atta Noodles, Oats Maggi catering to different consumer segments. According to the research conducted by the researcher Shamily Jaggi[15] more than 90 percent of the consumers preferred maggi noodles irrespective of the age before the controversy. Recently it has been banned by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) because of problems linked with the product quality. The FSSAI acts as an agency of ministry of health and family of the country that is responsible for ensuring protection and promotion of health of the people by regulating and supervising the safety of the food. The notices were issued to many stars who had been endorsing Maggi noodles and the order for lodging FIR against it, has given rise to long legal debates regarding the liability of celebrities for endorsing the product. II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The identification with an endorser then correlates with the buying behavior of the consumers (Ohanian, 1991). He also explains the effect of the endorser’s expertise on the perceived credibility of a company that also affects the purchase intentions of consumers. Atkins and Block, 1983 is of the view that consumers associate a brand with their favorite celebrity due to their attractiveness which makes the advertising more attractive. According to Erdogan et al (2001), managers choose celebrities based on their characteristics for endorsing their product. According to Till and Shimp (1998), celebrity endorsements shows a credible image of the company in terms of trust, expertise, objectiveness and persuasiveness. According to Ellis (2000), the influence of celebrities, sportspersons and models can be seen typically in younger generations. Pughazhendi et al. (2012), feels that advertisers make use of popular celebrities in their ads for promoting their product image. A Case Study on Misleading Celebrity Endorsements and its Impact on Consumer Behavior Dr.P. Balasubramanian, Anjali V. Gopal and S. Reefana I