ABSTRACT:- The present study examined the effect of  multiple celebrity endorsement on purchase intention of public university students in Western Kenya and employed Proctor & Gamble’s Ariel detergent as the study object. All the 57,715 students of the public universities in Western Kenya were targeted, they include: Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology with a student population of 25,000, Kibabii University with a student population of 11,715, and lastly Maseno University with a population size of 21,000. The study used disproportionate stratified simple random sampling to sample 397 students of the three picked public Universities in Western Kenya, purposive sampling was utilized to sample three Ariel merchandisers promoting Ariel detergent in the three major towns in Western Kenya where the universities are located (Kakamega county, Bungoma county and Kisumu county). Data was then gathered through structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Pilot study and was then done to ascertain the study tools reliability as well as validity. Content of the tool was affirmed to be relevant to the study, and construct validity was tested using factor analysis. Reliability was tested using Cronbach (Alpha – α) which found out that the tool was valid and reliable. Both descriptive (means, standard deviations and frequency distribution) and inferential analysis (Pearson correlation and linear regression models) were utilized. The study also employed the use of multiple linear regression to determine the strength of the four variables in influencing consumer purchase intention of public university students in Western Kenya.  The investigation uncovered that Multiple Celebrity Endorsement possessed a statistically significant positive influence on the consumer purchase intention of public university students Western, Kenya = 0.0.661, p-value = 0.000 < 0.05. The study recommends that brands and marketers to have proper consideration of celebrity attributes while selecting celebrity endorsers. Marketers should consider other salient factors involved when using celebrity endorsement as a promotion tool.

Keywords:- Celebrity, endorsement, Consumer, Purchase, Intention