Essay 1.3- Behind the Make-up

Dear Anita Elberse,
Have you ever wanted something so badly, that you would do anything to have it in your possession? Has that something ever happened to be a product endorsed by a celebrity or athlete? As you pointed out in your 2009 article “Risks and rewards of celebrity endorsements”, today more and more companies are relying on famous people to sell their products. As an associate professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, you stated your opinion on how essential it is to have celebrity endorsements to be successful. You claim that endorsements are flourishing in three major ways. Celebrities help tap into the companies fan base, endorsements trigger sales by reassuring consumers of the quality of the endorsed brand, and that an alliance with an endorser can convey important information about an attribute that helps differentiate a brand from its competitors. Although endorsements, according to you, may seem like a positive incentive for most major companies, you fail to also note the risks involved. By endorsing celebrities, companies are potentially portraying a bad image causing a smaller fan base, false advertising on the quality of brand, and gaining a negative reputation.

First off you explain that celebrities help tap into the companies fan base. This can be seen in a negative light though. In 2005 Paris Hilton did a very risky commercial for Carl’s Jr., a fast food chain. She was wearing nothing but a bathing suit and heels, washing a car, eating their six dollar hamburger. How does this tap into Carl’s Jr.’s fan base? What does washing a car have to do with their new burger? This poses a problem for the younger Carl’s Jr. fan base. Although this commercial was intended to catch the attention of the male crowd, that doesn’t mean that children aren’t going to see it on television. Some kids idolize Paris Hilton, and seeing her scarfing down a greasy burger in her bathing suit gives them the impression that they should too. Parents seem to be picking up on this, though, and are not happy. The Parents Television Council even stated their opinion on this commercial, saying that it is “soft core porn” (Caldwell, par 3). You say that celebrities “open new markets”, but after that commercial, will those parents ever let their kids eat Carl’s Jr. (par. 10)? They could have potentially lost customers because of the dirty image advertised, instead of gaining new ones. This commercial has nothing to do with the product trying to be sold. Obviously, recruiting Hilton had a negative effect on their fan base, at least according to the angry parents, because the commercial was only on air for a limited amount of time. Commercials have become so farfetched that any celebrity can end up misrepresenting any brand.

Endorsements could also be seen as successful because they reassure customers that the quality of the brand is good, but just because a celebrity is endorsing a brand doesn’t mean they know anything about it. A great example of this is Maria Sharapova, a 23-year-old female tennis star, endorsing the camera brand Canon. Sharapova is a phenomenal athlete, but what does she know about the quality of cameras? This just seems to be false advertising. People who are looking for a camera probably aren’t going to buy one based on what the tennis star endorsing it says alone. Eli Portnoy, a branding strategist, states that; “The reality is people want a piece of something they can’t be” (Creswell, par. 11). But in reality using a product endorsed by celebrities isn’t going to make you become a celebrity. Furthermore, celebrities also use their endorsers as a way to promote themselves. Pop star Rihanna has been involved in about a dozen endorsement and licensing deals in the few years as a celebrity. Her commercial for CoverGirl lip gloss, begins with scenes from her latest music video, and then moves into a close-up of her wearing the lip gloss and ends with a shot of her album cover; this leaves viewers wondering if they just saw a commercial for lip gloss or for her newest album. Some celebrities, such as Rihanna, use endorsing as a way to promote their career, and could care less about the sales of the product being endorsed. “Her representatives say they vet every offer for two key criteria: how does it support the brand known as Rihanna, and will it help sell more albums?” (Creswell, par. 17). To me this just seems to be false advertising, masking the truth, because she is clearly more concerned with her album than the quality of CoverGirl lip gloss that she only has to wear for a day.

You also state that celebrity endorsers are successful because an alliance with an endorser can convey important information about an attribute which helps differentiate a brand from its competitors. Tiger Woods had a six year partnership with Accenture, which is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. While with Accenture Woods “emphasized the attributes such as strategic focus and discipline, the payoffs of its risk-taking behavior, and its ability to recover from setbacks” (Elberse, par. 11). These qualities described Woods, so it was an obvious choice for him to endorse them. But after his affairs with several women were publicized, “the firm decided to cut ties with him to limit a negative impact on its reputation” (Elberse, par.11). They believed that this public affair would put their brand in a negative light, and that he no longer obtained these qualities, so they decided to do away with Wood’s altogether. Reputation is everything to major companies, and if it is in jeopardy they will recover in any way they can. The same thing happened to basketball star, Magic Johnson, in 1991 when he announced that he contracted HIV. He lost nearly twelve million dollars worth of endorsement deals, and companies such as Pepsi and Converse wanted nothing to do with him (Smith, par.7). You are correct that companies use celebrities to try to differentiate from other companies similar to their own, but you fail to note that they have no problem dropping them as soon as their endorser makes a bad judgment just so their reputation isn’t tarnished. Although the endorser may have been loyal to the brand for several years, that means nothing compared to their reputation. When a company signs a celebrity endorser they are signing and image, and under any circumstance they will do anything to salvage it.

As you can now see, endorsements are not all they are cracked up to be. There are risks involved such as creating a smaller fan base by only appealing to a certain crowd, not gaining repeat customers because the quality of the brand isn’t up to par on how celebrities hyped it up to be, and attaining a negative reputation due to the mistake of an endorser. Celebrities are used to trick consumers into buying their endorser’s products, and “Years from now, our descendants will look at us and say, ‘God, these were the most gullible people who ever lived’ “(Creswell, par. 11).

Sincerely,
Railey Hiser







Works Cited

Caldwell, Melissa. "No Apologies for Sexy Paris Hilton Ad." CNNmoney.com. CNN, 1 June 2005. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.

Creswell, Julie. "Nothing Sells Like Celebrity." Media & Advertising. The New York Times, 22 June 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.

Elberse, Anita. "Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Endorsements." CNN Opinion. CNN, 16 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2010.

Smith, Erin G. "10 Celebrity Endorsement Deals That Went Way Wrong." Law Review. Business Insider, 9 Dec. 2009. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.