I think in exactly the same way as you do but if it didn't work at scale then corporations wouldn't do it. Most people are falling for it.

Even if 'most' people aren't falling for it, enough people are falling for it that it's very profitable.

Personally, I don't know specifically about building trust, but your average person seems to be more likely to buy a product if a celebrity they like is endorsing it. At the very least, a lot more people are going to /hear/ about whatever product some celebrity is endorsing.

Agreed I've never seen a celebrity endorse something and thought "Ah they clearly actually love this product so it must be good!"

It works incredibly well, that's why it keeps happening. Most people do follow pretty much exactly that thought process.

Merely by participating on this forum etc etc etc

That's fair. I just don't get it. It's obvious to me that it's paid for and my assumption is that the person probably hasn't even used the product. So for me, yeah it doesn't work. But you're right, there's a reason these celebs keep getting insane payments for these ads.

> Are celebrity endorsements actually useful for building trust?

I can't imagine this is highly controversial. Of course celebrity endorsements can be useful for building trust. This is supported observationally and by years of research in marketing psychology. It's not even necessarily limited to megastars : even endorsements from niche influencers and small-fish content creators can be marketing goldmines, nevermind the kind of overnight headwinds your product can get if someone with the reach of Oprah, Rogan, Musk et al starts pushing it.