Celebrity Endorsement Impact

Celebrity endorsements cause a lot of debate weather they actually add to a brand or if it is just a lazy attempt to bring in more consumers. Companies invest large amounts of money to hire the "right" celebrity. Companies have to match the value of the celebrity to the value of the brand.

We live in an over-communicated world. A supermarket has thousands of brands, and a typical family has at least one television, computer or phone where one sees hundreds of ads per day. The media-explosion we have seen over the past few decades is incredible. The problem with all the information thrown at people is that most people forget most of the information in just a day. 

Companies endorse celebrities for this reason as well as others. Studies correlating with celebrity endorsement show that consumers react positively with celebrity endorsements. Companies invest large amounts of money to find/use a celebrity that has qualities like trustworthiness and like-ability. There are positive and negative effects of celebrity endorsements.

Celebrities have been involved in endorsing since the 1760s. The first product that used celebrity endorsements used royal endorsements as a marketing device to show value in the company and promote others their product. Cigarette brands became hugely involved in celebrity branding, Kodas cigarettes introduced baseball player cards into the packets of cigarettes as part of a customer loyalty scheme.

Celebrities ambassador for a firm has improved sales hugely. For example, when Nike signed Tiger Woods in 1996 saw a $50million increase in sales on golf balls by 2002.

Celebrity endorsements don't always turn out positive. Sometime bad news breaks about a firm's celebrity which can reflect on the firm itself. For example, Brands like Nutella and McDonalds dropped Kobe Bryant after the Lakers star was accused of rape in 2004. He was also going through a devoice which didn't help his endorsements with family friendly brands. Firms also have to make sure one's celebrity endorsement doesn't bash the firms name. Charles Barkley accidentally called his endorsement (Weight Watchers) a scam during his broadcasting of an NBA game.

"I thought this was the greatest scam going -- getting paid for watching sports," Barkley said. "This Weight Watchers thing is a bigger scam.”

Celebrity endorsement can be interpreted as being positive or negative. Until the time the corporate world stops paying celebrity endorsers and consumers stop being in awe of the stars, celebrity endorsements are not likely to stop.