Reading between the lines of “Celebrity Endorsements”
Coming back home from work one day, I turned on the TV. While I was trying to tune in to my favourite sitcom, I came across an advertisement where two celebrities were bantering about how one of them had never used anti-ageing crème while the other acted disgusted over the lack of skincare regime. All I could do was to roll my eyes in disgust. It seemed like a forced endorsement deal to me. It brought me to think of the numerous advertisements, endorsed by an even bigger set of celebrities and how many products do actually do what the celebrities claim! Or for that matter, do these endorsing celebrities use the products that they endorse?
Endorsement is one of many effective marketing strategies out there. And there was a time when the consumer used to not only believe, but copy, to what the celebrities said. And that was the time when social media was not a part of the consumers’ life. Nobody had heard of customer forums and posting product/service reviews was a non-existent entity. Coming back to the world today, were social media is a big chunk that drives advertising to a large extent, it has made the customer more attentive and smart. Gone are the days when the consumers just “saw”. Now they question, what they see. Brad Pitt is seen endorsing women’s perfume and critiques range from hilarious to pretentious (T.L. Stanley, Oct 15, 2012). The prospective customers view celebrities endorsing multiple brands and it is difficult to tell if they are really passionate about the product or is it just about the money. I put my stakes on money (let’s face it Brad Pitt would not be spraying a women’s fragrance all over him). Now the consumer is not won over by just a legendary race. They are well informed and are difficult to impress with just flashing a celebrity on screen.
Consumers might tend to relate themselves to the celebrity image for their first buy, but on all subsequent buys it’s the mind that matter over the liking. In the same lines exists a scenario when the celebrity shifts its brand loyalty. This tends to bring about questions in the customers mind. They might doubt the brand or in some cases the celebrity also. This brings a negative impact on the brand strength. In such
