Celebrity Commercials: Pure Business Perspective

Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Analysis
Conclusion
Works Cited

Abstract

This paper takes the article in the New York Times Nothing Sells Like Celebrity by JULIE CRESWELL as a starting point to discuss the appearance of the celebrities in ads as a business, which is a pure commercial junction. The paper addresses many aspects of this business in terms of profitability and possible failures, and the examples that make this tradition a commercial deal merely for good earnings.

Introduction

In the New York Times article Nothing Sells Like Celebrity by JULIE CRESWELL, the main issue of the relation between the advertisements and the celebrities is considered. The article goes through a story of the success of an ad campaign that took the mutual benefit of supporting the product and raising celebrities as the main guideline in the overwhelming movement toward using celebrities in ads.

The article showed many aspects that celebrities and advertisement companies take into consideration when signing individual popularity for a marketing campaign.

This essay expands the idea by pointing out the too positive picture brought by the article and analyzes the usage of celebrities in advertisements in terms that demonstrates that the relation of ads-celebrity is merely a business deal, that takes advantage of the current high position of the celebrity to promote a product or low/starting position of the celebrity to promote the celebrity or earn him money and as an experience is subject to errors and mistakes.

Analysis

Advertisement one of the carriers of the marketing policy. Marketing continuous process, in which it is necessary to participate constantly, rising to its new apexes, improving its craftsmanship, increasing the volumes of sales.

It cannot be allowed to disappear from the system of marketing. The comeback will require too much time and means both to the advertisement of concrete goods or services and for the restoration of its picture (image) among the consumers.

It should be added that the celebrity also is a product in the sense that the previous statement could be applied in the same manner to his/her image among the consumers.

In general, before going further with the analysis it should be mentioned that the usage of the stars of show business, well-known athletes, and other celebrities in the advertisement can occur. It is necessary to be extremely careful with this method, strictly by connecting it with the nature of the goods itself or the service.

It could be justified, for example, when a fashionable collection of clothing, adornment, accessories, or automobiles is advertised and, as a convincing argument, the opinion of this celebrity is given, or when in the advertisement of sports goods the statement or a photo of a well-known athlete is used.

In this case, the opinions of celebrities can considerably raise the interest of the consumers in the advertised goods.

If the opinion is written honestly, in essence, it could be believed, but it could be agreed that it is already much less convincing, when a television advertisement of chocolate appears from the mouths of a well-known football player.

The slight usage of the celebrities in ads as it was written in the article has risen through the interest of the people in their lives, but it could be additionally stated that especially for the small cities and towns that are far from the show business centers the consumer can relate the product to the celebrity in an attempt to be closer to the celebrity he admires, which if not used carefully could be a risk depending on the category of the products used.

The reaction of the consumer to the celebrities in the advertisement directly depends on its quality and appearing associations. Each celebrity has its unique image. The star, it appeared in the advertisement, must be harmoniously associated with the created image of goods, or services.

However, the ads and the celebrities remain a business and a profitable one, the marketing companies seek attention that brings profit, and the celebrity seeks the opportunity to stay in focus.

Apart from the examples mentioned in the article when the celebrities start a campaign to promote products that they put some personal creativity and imagination in the making, this could be considered as self-promoting, it is highly unbelievable that most of the celebrities really use the products they are promoting, so they really are cheating the consumer. E.g. a famous promo campaign held by Pepsi, that used Michael Jacksons image, it is rarely believable that the artist himself used the drinks of the famous trend.

Furthermore, when the tour that the artist held in 1993 went off, as a result of the trials that the artist went through Pepsi stopped their support. If there was a link that was tried to be established between the celebrity and the brand, it can be easily cut off, if the deal is no more profitable, and it has nothing to do with the image of an artist as many resources state. The Jackson popularity never went down even in the middle of the trials and accusations, however, it was just business.

As a confirmation of the business approach of the celebrities as well, the phenomenon of many American celebrities that did ads for foreign companies on conditions that they were not to be demonstrated outside of the intended country. According to Brian Dubin, senior vice-president at the William Morris Agency, stars can net between $1m and $5m for a single overseas ad campaign.

But the ads are made on the condition that no one will see them outside the country for which they were made. Websites that have tried to expose the endorsements of Meg Ryan and Leonardo DiCaprio have been threatened with legal action. Al Soiseth, Japanders founder, received a stern letter from DiCaprios lawyers accusing him of wrongful use and misappropriation of our clients name after Soiseth put one embarrassing endorsement up on the site (Blake, 2004, p. 16)

Going further, the theme presented by the article that demonstrates the celebrities personal interest in the product they promoting, as was mentioned earlier aside from the goods that involve personal participation in the product making, is not so honest after all, if not so why should an artist be ashamed of the promotion made by him, or to state it differently why would an artist participate at first place, if he is going to ban the and pursue legally the promotion companies in case they breached the rules.

US stars wish to be seen by their home fans endorsing only products that bolster their image. Its fine for Sarah Jessica Parker to look snazzy plugging Gap clothes, while Governor Schwarzenegger proves that hes no girlie by acting as an unofficial spokesman for the celebrity off-road vehicle of choice, the Hummer. (Blake, 2004, p. 16)

Indeed, the example given in the article is hard to be convinced with, and the author does not go far from the concept of the business in the celebrities-ads interaction. However, the too-bright picture brought is yet serving as an exceptional example rather than a rule when the celebrity and the product so smoothly interacted and mutually benefited each other.

The beneficial exploitation of the celebrity image can be compared to a direct shot that was preceded with many missed ones, in the sense that the ad did not just raise the popularity or the sales percentage but additionally added something that made the ad associated with the celebrity. In the discussed article when it was said that Nicole Kidman sashays in ads for Chanel No. 5 perfume. Eva Longoria, the bombshellette star of Desperate Housewives, sells LOreal Paris hair color.

Jessica Simpson struts for a hair extension company, HairUWear, and the acne skin-care line Proactiv Solution. And Jamie Lee Curtis spoons up Dannon Activia yogurt while promoting environmentally friendly Honda cars. these examples were rather suitable and if analyzed found out that the makeup and the accessories ads especially have a magnetic effect that despite the known fact that their look is not connected to the makeup advertised the consumers still have the belief that they will have similar look/effect when using them.

It should be mentioned that even when people believe that these ads are nothing more than business, similarly to the journals and magazines when there is a special mark that distinguishes the paid advertisements from the magazines personal opinion, the ads that the celebrities engage in should be treated the same way and accept the fact that this is merely a business that they are paid for. In contrary to the business concept that can be beneficial or failure to stars, the same thing can be applied to marketing companies.

Along with the increase in the number of stars in marketing ads, the possibility of errors also increases, as happened with many advertisements, which has shown a model Kate Moss, who was deplored for drug use. That is, not only a star can make a product popular, but also can cause rejection by the consumer.

The oversights of managers, who desire to use popular names for advertising their goods, consist not only of the previously mentioned.

Those who are going in the wake of their own ambitions are usually assured, that their goods, promoted, as an example by the world champion in tennis, a famous singer or a star of a new film will become rather demanded. The presence of a star in the advertisement alone is not sufficient for the success, as the ad-celebrity relation implies, for the business deal.

Among minuses it is possible to name the limitedness of the use of the actor, for example, there is a danger of the creation of the vampire-like image, which will draw off the attention to him and will be memorized only by this image, rather than the connection with the advertised product or the brand. In this case, the brand, naturally, will not be memorized. Many will remember for example that a certain actor did a commercial promoting chewing gum, but what brand exactly was promoted will be hard to recall.

Conclusion

The essay might not oppose the opinions of the discussed article but rather attempted to deliver the idea that celebrities ads are merely a business that could be profitable or not, and can have an exclusively commercial aspect in some cases that many would rather not mention those experiences. In addition as a business, it has many flaws and mistakes that prove that despite the high price of the celebritys participation it cannot guarantee success.