Usually we refer TV stars,
movie stars, sportsmen and women as celebrities. Actually, that was the list
when I was growing up, now in the age of Social media anyone with millions of
followers on Twitter, YouTube or Instagram are called social influencers and
they are also known as celebrities because of the social following they have. Brands
use celebs because celebs are basically known to us, popular and credible faces,
and when they endorse something the audience tend to believe that.
I remember watching ads
where cricketers were drinking “Boost” and saying “Boost is the secret of my
energy”. And it made an impression that the product was something special and
as a result my mother had to buy the health drink for me. So, celebrity
endorsements definitely work.
In recent times
smartphone took over our world and social media glued us to our screens. I do
not remember when I watched live television last or read a newspaper, so social
media ads and endorsements are targeted towards audiences who are usually on
social media platforms. And the social influences with huge following usually
do not charge as much as the movie star or sports guys would. So it makes sense
for the companies to let the social media guys endorse their products. And I
believe there is one more strong reason why brands are endorsing their products
using social celebs. Most of us know that the celebrities on TV or newspaper
either do not use the product that they are endorsing or the product is not as
excellent as they are claiming it to be. Wherever, the social influencers
actually use the product or give a live demo which makes them more credible.
“Impact of
celebrity endorsements..." study astutely points out, "It
is the combination of several factors especially the price and
other elements that work together for the success of a brand and
its acceptance in the minds of consumers as well as for its
market offering.(Olenski,2016)”. I believe Celebrities should be really
careful about what they endorse, since they are popular and can make an impression,
they should be really aware of the negative side effects of products they
endorse. And may be before they endorse something they should be more
responsible and use it themselves to decide if he or she should endorse it. So,
I am not against celebrities endorsing products, I would like to be more
responsible about what they endorse. I do not think they will have to like the
product all the time, but as long as the product does not come with any health
hazard ( for example sugary drinks, often promoted by celebrities) it should be
good.
If
the product does not taste sweet at all I will talk to the management why
manufactures the product and will let them know that the “Sweet Treats”
actually taste sour. I will talk to them just to find out if there was any
mistake, if they actually have a sour taste or it is not the product they want
me to endorse. If there was a confusion hopefully this meeting will clear that.
But, in case I find out that “Sweet Treats” actually does not taste sweet, then
I would not endorse it. It will be unethical and as a person I will lose my
reputation and credibility.
But
then, I want to give another disclosure: Whether or not I endorse the product
might depend on my financial condition too, if I did not have any job or money,
I might have taken the job just for the money, knowing that it is not ethical
and I would be lying to people.
Explore where the line is between harmlessly
implying that someone is promoting a product, and someone dishonestly claiming
that they genuinely believe the product is the best.
As a consumer we will not know until
we try an endorsed product, whether or not the endorsement was dishonest. For
celebrities it is just a work most of the time, they use their brand to promote
a product and they receive compensation to do that. At times, celebrities try
to promote their own product, and either way, we as consumers have lot of ways to make sure that
we do not get duped.
Amazon, yelp, Facebook,
Google all these sites allow reviews for products, and if we are not happy with
the product, we can write reviews and the sale of the product will
automatically go down unless the quality improves. Or before buying anything we
can check the reviews of the product, but this might not work for brand new
products.
A
celebrity can end up endorsing a brand that is against his or her own values,
and I would consider this to harmless (at least most of the times). For
example, Nicole Kidman who was U.N Goodwill ambassador endorsed Etihad, that
airline allegedly is not nice towards its female employees (Bukszpan, 2015).
Nicole Kidman has to face public backlash, but this is possible she was not
aware of Etihad’s behavior.
But
some endorsements are just transactional, brands use celebrities or celebrities
just promote their own brands. According to Eric Schiffer, chairman of
Reputation management Consultants, when Celebrities endorses brands consumers
gets a sense of familiarity, so when they go to store they feel they already
have a relationship with the brand (Schlossberg, 2016). And celebrities take
advantage of this fact, they can manipulate consumer into thinking something is
great. But we as consumers have to more careful, we can use the review sites on
internet, and most celebs are on twitter or Instagram. We can directly express
our feelings to the celeb who endorses a brand that we did not like. This are
the things we can do, and of course the celebrity should be responsible and
ethical, and should test and like the product before he or she decides to
endorse it. We can help that happen if we hold the celebrities responsible for
what they say on those advertisements. But, celebrities should not endorse sin
products or services such as tobacco, alcohol or gambling or anything that can
be potentially harmful. They should be mindful of the fact that if they endorse
something and that product or service turn out to be bad, it will be the
celebrity who will lose reputation and respect along with the product and the
company.
References -
Olenski, S (July,2016). How Brands Should Use Celebrities For
Endorsements. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2016/07/20/how-brands-should-use-celebrities-for-endorsements/#33f837b75593
Bukszpan, D (April,2015). 6 celebrity endorsements
that enraged consumers. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/04/19/celebrity-endorsements-gone-wrong/
Schlossberg, M (August,2016). Brands are playing a
'deadly game of Russian roulette' with celebrities that's costing them millions.
Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrity-endorsements-can-be-dangerous-2016-8
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