Abstract: Celebrity advertising, as one of the most ordinary modes of advertising appeal at the present time, is an advertising that is expected to add value to the target product by associating celebrity image or reputation with the brand. It is found that the communication effects of celebrity advertising are obviously under the influences of many factors such as the traits of celebrity, the state of audience, the characteristics of products and advertisements, and the context of advertisement. Researchers had put forward some theories on celebrity advertising, for example, the Four “Fs”, the Model of Aspirational Reference Group, and the Associative Learning Theory. After a review of some relevant researches, a systematic discussion was provided about the problems that should receive consideration: The external validity was a lower, research methods should be innovated, and more factors influencing the communication effects of celebrity advertising needed to be studied.

Key words: celebrity advertising, associative learning theory, the match-up hypothesis