JK Rowling has backed the Better Together campaign but academics are undecided on whether people care what Irvine Welsh or Susan Boyle say

The endorsement of the anti-independence campaign by JK Rowling begs the question: do celebrity endorsements matter in the independence debate?

Political campaigners will tell you that celebrity endorsements are not a big factor in their campaigning: there is little evidence, they say, that open support from a pop star, celebrity chef or famous actor will change someone's vote.

Yet conversely, campaigners spend a great deal of energy cultivating and promoting them because it validates their cause. The pro-independence campaign Yes Scotland has a growing roster of celebrity endorsements: one member of its team is employed solely to negotiate them. Her little black book is famous in its Glasgow offices.

If celebrity endorsements were a Top Trump's card game, Yes Scotland would try to outscore JK Rowling with actors Sean Connery, Brian Cox and Alan Cummings, or musicians Annie Lennox, Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil and the Proclaimers, as well as the writer AL Kennedy. It has Andrew Fairlie, celebrity chef at the Gleneagles hotel, on its advisory board.

Last month, the Scottish National party's leader at Westminster, Angus Robertson, was delighted to be seen photographed with Leslie Benzies, head of the Edinburgh-based games company Rockstar North, which makes the world's best-selling game Grand Theft Auto, as he wore a yes badge at the Scottish Business Awards on his lapel.

Such support builds visibility and promotes the cause, says the pollster John Curtice at Strathclyde University. But it carries risks, too.

"It works two ways – celebrities can provide a wave of positive publicity for your campaign, and if your campaign is below the water in its visibility, fantastic, great," he said.

It can also backfire: Alan Cummings was the most prominent name at the launch of Yes Scotland two years ago but does not have a vote in Scotland, so voters might feel that his is an illegitmate, even interfering, voice.

Curtice believes few voters will be swayed by these endorsements. "Obviously, what is true is that celebrities are rather more trusted than politicians, but remember the fate of the [pro-proportional representation] AV Yes campaign. They thought they could fight their [referendum] campaign simply by using celebrities and got nowhere.

"The Scottish referendum is not on a subject which people know very little about and are therefore looking for people to give them cues: this is a serious debate which touches on people's values and have been arguing about for 40 years."

No to independence



Susan Boyle, singer

"I am a proud, patriotic Scot, passionate about my heritage and my country. But I am not a nationalist."

Michelle Mone, businesswoman

"I am so passionate for Scotland but I have to say that if we do become independent, I will move [my business]."

David Tennant, actor

"I had no great sense of nationalism when I was in Scotland, and I could never understand why the SNP were banging on about it. I was like, why do we want to become smaller? Surely we want to expand and look outward? Let's go into Europe and be one big happy family!"

David Shrigley, visual artist

" I feel like it's a protest vote and it shouldn't be a protest vote, because you can't redress it in four years' time – we won't get to vote for it ever again. So if I voted tomorrow, I'd vote no."

John Barrowman, actor

"We can take this opportunity to embrace the things that connect us, the things that unite us in our family of nations – not to be caught up in searching for grievances or ways to divide people who should stand together and who have stood shoulder to shoulder for hundreds of years.

Bobby Gillespie, singer, Primal Scream

"People in Liverpool have been hammered [by austerity], Manchester and Southampton. All over. Everybody has been hammered, not just the Scottish. We can't be nationalistic about it. Nationalism has never done it for me."

Alex McLeish, former Scotland manager

"I am a proud Scot but also passionate about Scotland being part of the United Kingdom."

Sharleen Spiteri, singer, Texas

"I think it's very important to have a Scottish government who make decisions for Scotland but I can't understand how Scotland would survive independently."

Gavin Hastings, rugby player

"I think [independence] would be the worst possible thing for us.

Janette Tough, "Wee Jimmy" of the comedy duo The Krankies

"Alex Salmond can sod off."

Yes to independence



James Kelman, author

"Independence is not an economic decision, it concerns self-respect."

Alasdair Gray, writer

"Self-rule for Scotland would make us grow up"

David Greig, playwright

"The Scotland whose independence I seek is more a state of mind: cautious, communitarian, disliking of bullying or boasting, broadly egalitarian, valuing of education, internationalist in outlook, working class in character, conservative with a small c. It's a polity formed by the virtues of the manse."

AL Kennedy, author

"The more Westminster disappoints, then the more attractive and untraumatic independence may seem. And perhaps that's a telling detail – when one partner cares about a break-up and the other is halfway to moving on, perhaps the relationship has had its day."

Craig and Charlie Reid, The Proclaimers

"We're voting yes for an Independent Scotland because we believe that we should take responsibility for our own lives."

Eddi Reader, singer

"I'm voting yes for having my own parliament. Poor or rich, leftwing or right, it will be mine and my business!"

Elaine C Smith, actor

"Becoming independent is no magic pill but I believe it is the start, a real start, for this country and its people, on the wonderful journey to a better nation."

Hardeep Singh Kholi

"If anyone can make the people of Scotland believe, it will be Alex Salmond."

Irvine Welsh, novelist

"I always think the Union is nature's way of stopping the Scots ruling the world. We'd be unstoppable if we were independent."

Liz Lochead, Scotland's national poet or Makar

"There is a very powerful drive towards cultural and political autonomy. A desire to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves. You can feel it in the air."