Companies sometimes employ celebrities to sell their products. This expensive marketing approach has often been used with little regard to its effectiveness in the purchasing decision, especially when the same celebrity is used for products ranging from noodle soup in sachets to condos and footwear.
Celebrities need not have any particular expertise on a product’s effectiveness. Sure, maybe a skin whitener endorsed by a fair-skinned actress still in her prime is able to convince the dark unknown to buy the product to somehow transform herself into the goddess holding the item in the billboard. If the product whitened her skin, it should do the same for everybody else, presuming of course that she used to be dark, before using the product, if she used it.
Celebrity marketing offers a straightforward proposition. It is the aspirations of the consumers that are being stoked — I too can have white skin and be fussed over by hunks in tank tops. Maybe, the hunk part also broadens the product appeal to more than one gender.
The most important quality a celebrity offers is her fame and instant recognizability. The brand then, maybe by image osmosis, acquires the same celebrity status, along with attributes like youth, vivacity, coolness, and chic that are deemed transferable to the brand.
The popularity of using celebrity endorsers is evident in how they dominate billboards in major thoroughfares. And, here’s where the problem lies. Can a celebrity really be credible as a product endorser (or user?) if she’s pushing 43 brands? Are we supposed to believe that she owns or uses (or at least has tried) all the products she is associated with, like gadgets, cosmetics, and funeral services? Does her virtual lifestyle in her digital world exist in real life?
What happens when a celebrity ceases to be well known due to lack of exposure in traditional media? Will a boxer-turned-politician still be sought as endorser when he starts losing and simultaneously eroding the brand appeal of being a champ? Is an inability to book a fight, except as an undercard, with more famous fighters publicly and noisily turning him down as a has-been still make him viable selling a cold tablet? Will it still knock out the cold and cough?
Scandals too can erode the celebrity’s pulling power. When the endorser is damaged with a brawl in a bar or some embarrassing video making the rounds, does the brand she is promoting suffer the same fate? The “integrity clause” of most endorsement contracts provide for a quick exit when certain unsavory attributes attach to the personality holding the burger — will you still buy her bun?
Another kind of endorser is the expert. He does not need to be recognizable, just that he wears the right costume. Is the one checking tartar deposit in your teeth as you come out of a mall a real dentist? The toothpaste commercial does not specify so it cannot be accused of misrepresentation. Does a commercial model in a white lab coat with an infrared instrument need to be even identified by his qualification?
Real experts can be endorsers too, even if not well known. These personalities are employed for products not intended for mass marketing like dental implants, nutritional supplement, or gym equipment. Still, real practitioners are loath to recommend products that may have harmful effects. Such endorsements are only viable for the specialist when he has a stake in the company promoting the product like skin care and surgical enhancements.
One area where celebrity endorsement has not seemed to work is politics. Celebrities singing and dancing with the candidate in a TV commercial do not ensure that a well-funded politician can win. The irony of celebrity marketing is clear — the endorser is seen not as a believer but someone out to make a buck.
With a hot celebrity currently in high-profile TV shows or still wearing her sash from an international beauty contest, the fees for endorsement can be astronomical. These are usually covered by a contract for one year. This time limit assures both sides of the return on their investment: the celebrity’s continuing fame and the product’s attachment to that status.
The more traditional approach in advertising has been to tell a story with generic actors following a script. They evoke emotions like love and longing attached to the product. Of course, hit commercials can transform the once unknown model into a celebrity who can then endorse other products… for a higher fee.
A. R. Samson is chair and CEO of Touch DDB.
