Consumer Behavior

The Kobe Bryant Effect: Celebrity Death, Consumer Grief and Product Attachment

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Abstract

In January of 2020, the world lost Kobe Bryant. Kobe was a globally recognized retired professional basketball player. As people mourned the loss of a legend, they began to consume. There was a rush to purchase Kobe Bryant jerseys and sneakers, and every pair of Kobe Bryant shoes sold out (Pesce, 2020). Little is known about underlying consumption motives following the sudden death of a celebrity (Radford & Bloch, 2012), which can impact the consumer market if individuals are looking to purchase memorabilia items. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that explains consumption motivations resulting from a celebrity death. The framework links the loss of a beloved celebrity manifested through public grief and public desire to "consume" the celebrity as a coping strategy by acquiring celebrity-related products. Group affiliation, memories, pleasure, and centrality as motivators of developing product attachment are mediated by grief. 

Keywords: grief, celebrity death, product attachment, consumer grief

How to Cite:

Rose, R. L. & Karpova, E. E., (2020) “The Kobe Bryant Effect: Celebrity Death, Consumer Grief and Product Attachment”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 77(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.12136