Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are getting out of hand. While in a drug store the other day I saw evidence of it. The product endorsement for sale was for an " Electric Justin Beiber Singing Tooth Brush". I'm not kidding. The only thing electric that I would buy that is tied to that Beiber kid would an electric chair with which to electrocute him. But what does that kid have to do with teeth? It seems a lot more celebrities are endorsing products a that they have no knowledge about.

Celebrity endorsements are a good way to sell a product, but it only works if the right celebrity is paired with the right product. If a star athlete is promoting an exercise product it makes sense. But if the athlete endorses a cigarette brand it's not. But some companies attempt to get around this problem by picking a celebrity that has absolutely nothing to do with their product (Justin Beiber's toothbrush), and the commercials that result from these combinations are weird or out of step with logic.

Eva Longoria in advertisements for L’Oreal or Jennifer Lopez’s latest perfume might be ok because they at least feature products that the consumer believes the celebrity herself uses. But rocker Ozzy Ozbourne's butter commercial strain my imagination. Do rock stars also make their own butter? Probably not. No doubt Ozzy will endorse any product that pays him enough to fawn over it. Hmmmm I'm not celebrity but I'll to a commercial praising Justin Beiber's toothbrush if the price is right.

So it gets down to the consumer responsibility. Why do consumers respond so often to celebrity affiliation with a product? Consumers do buy more of the product, whether or not the product is good or bad, after a celebrity endorses it. In advertising the process of a celebrity endorsement selling the product is called 'transfer'. That is, the like-ability or recognize-ability of the celebrity is enough in itself to make the buyer purchase a product that the celebrity endorses. This might be because people feel "closer" to celebrity status themselves when they use a product they think the celebrity uses.

Celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Marketers acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer-purchasing decisions. But I didn't see any of those Justin Beiber toothbrushes missing from the sales rack on which they sat at the drug store. I don't think any endorsement can sell that.