TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- As celebrities descend on The Six in droves this film festival season, Canadians look to the red carpet to inform their fall fashion styles. According to a recent survey from leading coupon site RetailMeNot.ca, just over three in four Canadians (76 per cent) believe people are strongly influenced by celebrity style choices, and 71 per cent agree that people are more willing to purchase an item if a celebrity was known to have used or supported it. Forget keeping up with the Joneses; Canadians are likely to face hefty price tags as they try to keep up with the Johnny Depps and Emma Watsons of the world.

Nearly half of Canadians (44 per cent) say they are more likely to purchase clothing that was endorsed by a celebrity they admire. In fact, Canadians who are influenced by celebrity recommendations confessed they would be willing to spend an average of $368 on clothing and shoes, $172 on a bag and an average of $88 on a beauty product to achieve the same look as the star.

"Whether you are head over Manolo heels for celebrity style or prefer to stay on the red-carpet sidelines, there is no reason to blow your budget on film festival fashion," says Kristen Larrea of RetailMeNot, Inc. "You can achieve the same looks for less by using promo codes to score designer duds. Also, try practicing high-low dressing: Invest in one staple piece, like designer jeans or a handbag, then complete the rest of the outfit with budget items. The entire look will be instantly elevated."

The survey revealed that Canadians admire the style of Hollywood actors Johnny Depp (25 per cent) and Emma Watson (11 per cent) more than any other celebrities attending the festival this season. Yet, in typical Canadian fashion, only 45 per cent of those surveyed indicated they would be star struck if they spotted a celeb they admired, proving their reputation as cool Canucks.

Other survey findings include:

• The Big Ticket? Canadians would spend an average of $132 for an event ticket to rub shoulders with the stars. However, that amount wouldn't even get them into the festival's closing night party ($205);
• Accessories Make the Man: Men would be willing to spend more on accessories than women ($131 versus $90) if they were attending an event with A-list celebrities. Men would also outspend women on shoes ($137 versus $103);
• Easy-Going West-Coasters: The majority (60 per cent) of those in the B.C. keep up the hippie vibe and do not get star struck when they spot a celeb they admire;
• Pass the Gossip Rag: Women are more likely than men to keep up to date on the activities of their favourite stars (33 per cent versus 17 per cent).
• Imitation Game: If Canadians found that a product or service promoted by a celebrity they admired was out of budget, many would act responsibly, such as wait until the item went on sale (42 per cent); ask for it as a gift (22 per cent); or search for coupons (17 per cent) to get the item for less.

RetailMeNot.ca regularly conducts consumer trend and spending surveys.

About the survey:
From September 2 to September 8, 2015, an online survey was conducted among 2,525 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 1.95%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representation of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About RetailMeNot, Inc.
RetailMeNot, Inc. (http://www.retailmenot.com/corp/) operates the world's largest marketplace for digital offers. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers for their favorite retailers and brands. During the 12 months ended June 30, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. experienced over 730 million visits to its websites, and during the three months ended June 30, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. averaged 18.4 million mobile unique visitors per month. In 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates $4.4 billion in paid retailer sales were attributable to consumer traffic from digital offers in its marketplace. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio includes RetailMeNot.com, the largest digital offer marketplace in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk, the largest digital offers marketplace in the United Kingdom; Deals.com in Germany; Actiepagina.nl, a leading digital offers site in the Netherlands; Bons-de-Reduction.com and Ma-Reduc.com, leading digital offers sites in France; Poulpeo.com, a leading digital offers site with cash back in France; and Deals2Buy.com, a digital offers site in North America. RetailMeNot, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "SALE." Investors interested in learning more about the company can visit http://investor.retailmenot.com.

For interview requests or more information, please contact:

Erin Banting
Citizen Relations
416 934 8422 office
416 414 8637 mobile
erin.banting@citizenrelations.com

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